Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2151 to 2175 of 4957 results

2151. Life's Loose Threads and The Tie That Binds

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... manner in which Yahweh dangles it out in front of him. I mean, allowing Moses to approach the Promised Land without ever actually arriving in it appears to serve no other purpose than that of adding insult to injury. Of course, I suppose one could claim that every life is filled with unattainable aspirations, and simply leave it at that. You might even argue that the text practically invites a sermon on our making the best of broken dreams. However, I'm not entirely sure we can exhaust the meaning of ...

2152. Sometimes, You Gotta Get Your Feet Wet First

Joshua 3:1-4:24

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

It doesn't happen often (although I'm always delighted when it does), but every once in a while, as I attempt to wrestle a sermon from the weekly text, a single phrase will seem almost to leap off the page, claim my attention, and demand to be preached. And so it was with this tiny phrase nestled in verse 15 of the third chapter of Joshua: "... and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water ..." (Joshua 3:15b). Now, I'll admit, this ...

2153. Heaven's Wait

Joshua 24:1-27

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... course, I suppose you could argue that that's precisely the way it was meant to be. And yet, even if change weren't part of the overall design, I suspect it would still be one of our greatest desires. After all, don't we often claim that "Variety is the spice of life"? If nothing ever changed, and every waking hour were sort of stirred together into this bland porridge of predictability, with each dull and tiresome day trailing off into the next like so many colorless beads, we would quickly find ourselves ...

2154. Toward A More Sensuous Christianity

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... ," but rather, "It is those who are led by the Spirit who are the children of God." Again in Acts 19 Paul asks those at Ephesus whether they received the Spirit when they took their step of commitment. He expects an answer. As with all who claim to be disciples he expects that they will know whether they have received the Spirit or not. Christians are expected not merely to possess the Spirit, but to possess the Spirit "visibly and tangibly." This possession or lack of possession is the acid test of whether ...

2155. The Church With Nothing

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Thomas Long

... and true, "It already is." Just that -- "It already is" -- but with those words the service was transformed into an event of joy and holy mystery. That small voice captured what the Gospel of John is trying to say. In the midst of a church that can claim nothing for itself, a church of noise, confusion, weariness, and even fear, the risen Christ comes to give peace. The peace of Christ be with you? Because the risen Christ comes to inhabit our empty places, then, as the child said, "It already is," and the ...

2156. Knowing The Voice

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Thomas Long

... ," "Save the Rain Forests," "Buy American," "Question Authority," "Promote Family Values," "Fight Taxes," "Worship Next Sunday," "Work for Justice," "Boycott Lettuce." Jesus' voice may sometimes be heard above these clamoring voices, and it may be heard in some of them, but Jesus claims that his followers will surely know his voice when they hear it, that they will be able to distinguish his clear and true call from the false tones of strangers. But what makes this so? What is there about Jesus' voice that ...

2157. Words, Words, Words

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Thomas Long

... words, worship words, sermon words, words of hope, words of protest, words of praise. Where there is grief, words of comfort. Where there is injustice, prophetic words. Where there is complacency, challenging words. Words, words, words. That is why it is important to hear the claim of the gospel that in Jesus Christ we get our words back, that the words we speak can become filled once again with grace and truth, can be renewed as instruments of redemption. That is part of what this story of Jesus and the ...

2158. The Sure Foundation

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Marc Kolden

Today we have heard two short sayings from the very end of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. First Jesus says, "Not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." Not everyone who says, "I believe"; not all who say they are Christians; not everyone who claims to have done great deeds in Christ's name will be saved. "But only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." And we say, "Oh, my. Does that mean me? Am I one of those who is all talk and no walk?" Then Jesus speaks of ...

2159. The Promising Invitation

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... . Jesus is saying that God the Father has given everything over to the Son; there is no God apart from the Son. None of us really fathoms that on our own; only God the Father really knows the Son. But more than that, despite all the knowledge of God claimed by people of all ages and religions, no one really knows the Father except Jesus, the Son, and those to whom the Son reveals him. Such is the Father's gracious will. It is at this point, with the whole reality and power and being of God concentrated in ...

2160. Yearning For A Loyal Friend

Job 6:14-30 · Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... , an insignificant human being, asking him to explain your predicament. It is his will that you suffer." And Zophar's final speech: "So, Job, repent and set your heart straight. If you do, I promise you that God will fill your life with good things. You claim you have nothing to repent of; then make up something, or otherwise you'll never have anything." This friend from the south had a simple explanation: God has his deck stacked against you if you don't follow the rules. Job yearned for loyal friends, but ...

2161. Responding In Anger

Job 7:11-21 · Matthew 21:12-13

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... cancer. Today we are still following these two men, and discovering that both of them reacted sometimes with anger at what was taking place. Job we can understand because he was just a man. And all of us get angry. After his friend Eliphaz had delivered his oracle, claiming that God had given him a personal revelation on Job's condition, Job from his ash heap began a prayer: "God, I can't be quiet. I am angry and bitter. I have to speak." And then he let all of his anger pour out towards God: "You terrify ...

2162. Hailing The King Of Chaos

Job 12:13-22· Matthew 27:32-44

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... looked more like chaos than the week of Jesus' passion. Where was God then? Where was he when his Son was being ridiculed? Where was he when Jesus was nailed to a cross? The crowd around the cross did even better than Job in hailing the king of chaos. "You claimed to be able to destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, and yet there you are upon a cross. If you are so mighty, come down. You saved others, and you can't even save yourself. So you are the king of Israel. Well, come down from ...

2163. Advent 1

Lk 21:25-36 · 1 Th 3:9-13 · Jer 33:14-16 · Ps 25:1-10

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

... hearts for God's great gift. Invocation O Lord, on this first Sunday of the Advent Season, as we gather in your house of prayer and praise, we ask that the weeks ahead may be a very special time for us. May we arrive at a new awareness of your claim on our lives; may we gain a new appreciation of what it means to have God with us through the incarnation of your Son; and may we make a new commitment to the rule of justice and peace which Christ came to establish upon the earth. Amen. Ritual Of Friendship ...

2164. The Backside Of God

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... coin with Caesar's head. The coin itself declared that they had given in to political compromise. So Jesus told them if they enjoyed the comforts of Rome, they should pay their dues to Rome. After all, who establishes the boundaries to which the emperor's claims extend, the extent to which we allow the dominant culture to mold who we are as people? Who indeed if not we ourselves? If we make compromises that make life a little more comfortable, a little less problematic, that is our business, but we shouldn ...

2165. The Christian Journey III: The Desert

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... was: again, not what we would normally think of a vice or bad habit. He suffered from misdirected religious zeal, a desire to serve God and be faithful to God that led him to persecute the early Christians whom he was convinced were blaspheming God by claiming that Jesus was God's Son. He needed to break loose of old ways of looking at things which he now saw were enslaving him from acknowledging the way that God was working through the resurrected Lord Jesus. In the fairly obtuse passage from 1 Corinthians ...

2166. Sunday Dinner

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... . Good table fellowship was characteristic of him -- so much so that the two followers on the Emmaus Road didn't recognize Jesus in the stranger who traveled with them until he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Jesus claimed his disciples for himself, established their common memory, initiated them into their fellowship, showed them who they were, and taught them their special story to a large extent over the dinner table. Jesus bonded his family of faith just like our families often ...

2167. Prayers for Pentecost

Bulletin Aid

Rolland R. Reece

... people set apart. We resist the idea of being holy, for we have great difficulty thinking of ourselves as virtuous, morally pure, or sacred. Since the day of Adam and Eve we think of ourselves as being blemished, sullied, and marred. And those of our own day who claim the mantle of perfection or near-perfection leave us wondering how they can make such a bold declaration. We simply don't believe ourselves to be holy. Whatever this word may have meant in the first century, we find it to be a hindrance to the ...

2168. A Cultural Breakthrough

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

Rodney Thomas Smothe

... Lydia also represents a cultural breakthrough because Paul and Silas are demonstrating Luke's continued theme of liberating the lowly, the lost and the lame. Women in the Bible and in society today to some extent still have to fight to claim their rightful place in ministry. Though women were the first evangelists and though women are successfully giving leadership to ministries with outstanding results, the traditional place of women in our society still prevents some of us from receiving women in ministry ...

2169. Membership Has Its Privileges

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Rodney Thomas Smothe

... illustrates God's power over demons, the ability of God to bring deliverance, healing and conversion to all who believe. Our story begins with Paul and Silas encountering a slave girl who, as the Amplified Bible says, "was possessed by a spirit of divination -- claiming to foretell future events ..." (16:16). Because her ability made a great deal of money for her owners, they were naturally disturbed when Paul's prayer released her from the spirit that gave her the power to predict. How many times have we ...

2170. Joy For The Journey

Drama

Karren Boehr

... could be possible. (Very softly with much feeling) I know. My mother deserted me when I was only four months old. (Notes her guest's surprise) Oh, you didn't know that, did you? Guess it isn't something one normally talks about over a cup of coffee. She claimed she wasn't ready for motherhood. (Long pause as she studies her guest) If it weren't for the joy, you and I could not endure the journey. KARLA: And God's always been faithful? JAN: And God's always been faithful. The joy is always there. And I ...

2171. It Used To Be The Two-Bottom Plow

Drama

Karren Boehr

... . 1ST MAN: And now the grandkids want the changes. They wear those funny haircuts that look like Barber Bill put a bowl on top of their heads, and they say funny things like "cool" and "rad." And the church worship service -- "Loosen it up, Grandpa," mine say. They claim they like the worship service dramas, the new music with those guitars and trumpets and drums; they want more liveliness and sharing. (Sighs) And, me, I like the old way. It's what I'm used to. 2ND MAN: Me, too. It's how it's been since we ...

2172. The Ugly Duckling

Drama

Karren Boehr

... : On the go, always on the go. Would you believe Amber hates the doll we gave her for Christmas? ANN: Oh, no! I remember you telling me you looked all over for that doll. (Stands and begins doing leg stretches) LINDA: Exactly! That doll took me weeks to find. Amber claims the face is funny. It's even the same doll she saw advertized on T.V. The one she just had to have. She also says the dress isn't the right color. (Begins riding exercise bike) (WOMAN enters, looks for a place to sit, finally sits on the ...

2173. A Call To Worship

Drama

Karren Boehr

... dandy, and, I'm sorry, it's not. Look! (Points to the congregation) There have got to be dozens of people just like me out there. 1ST READER: (Takes command) Okay, what's the hold up down there? We've got a service to start. 2ND READER: Our 4th Reader claims there are people in this sanctuary, her included, who are not as happy as they look. 1ST READER: (Peeved) So! This is not the time or the place to air the dirty wash. We've got a worship service to conduct here. 3RD READER: Okay, everybody, let's put it ...

2174. That Heavenly Call

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38

Drama

Karren Boehr

... God's Son? Oh, he'd believe that all right. He'd have me committed! And my colleagues? I'd be the laughing stock of this entire office complex, all 24 floors no less, not to mention the newspapers who would have a grand party -- "Executive Vice President Claims To Be The Mother Of The Long-Awaited Messiah." No, you just take your silly little idea and that ridiculous thing on your head that's suppose to be a halo, I imagine, and that funny light around you -- that light part is quite effective, I might add ...

2175. To Climb A Mountain

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... , The more precious for the struggle. Continue when it seems as if you can't, Even when you won't ... do! Your reward will be great. You can see in all directions from your mountain home, The air is clear, The sunlight pure, And long life to those who claim the prize of the heights. The prize awaits you, So, continue. (Finally they reach the top) GUIDE: You were all good climbers and this is your reward. What do you think of that view? BOY: It is beautiful. GIRL: And you did get us here safely. MAN: It was ...

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