Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2201 to 2225 of 4977 results

2201. The True Story of The Magi (Old Title: Just The Facts)

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

John Jamison

... were three wise men. They gave three gifts, and from that we have supposed there were three gift-givers. And I'm not sure where we got the notion that they were kings. It must have come from that hymn. Word of their arrival from the east made quite an impression around Bethlehem. The greatest impression was made upon Herod. He was so impressed that he threw an open house for them as a "Welcome to Judea" party. During the celebration he pulled them aside and confided in them. He told them that he was even ...

2202. To Be Sure

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13)." Our faithlessness and ingratitude cannot make of God something that he is not.2 To be sure! All of which brings us to the heart of today's gospel. Rudolph Bultmann is quite correct when he notes that the emphasis of Luke's story is not the miracle of 10 lepers cleansed, but rather the contrast of gratitude and ingratitude depicted on the same dramatic canvas.3 Luke draws the contrast all the more boldly when he notes that ...

2203. A Good Thing To Know

Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... " was not nearly responsible enough for Christian discipleship or for a witnessing church. Far too many contemporary Christians understand the goal of their religious life to be that of staying out of trouble - not making any and not causing any! They look quite busy tending the personal treasures of piety, an actively falling far short of "doing business" with the things of the gospel. Looking cautious, caring and busy is not enough. We need to be about the work of the kingdom. Our congregational and ...

2204. A Lesson From Prayers Overheard

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... "central luminous truth." What the Pharisee says in his prayer is true. His is a prayer of thanksgiving. Though it is true that it asks nothing, many fine prayers of gratitude would fall under the same scrutiny, and wrongly so. The first-century Talmud records prayers quite similar to this man's prayer. People of the first century would not have found this a flawed prayer, neither self-righteous nor boastful. He thanks God that he is not like others (and he is not!) and that he has been able to go beyond ...

2205. The Signs Of Salvation

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... the crowd that day, we do wonder. In the security of his tree, he might even have been a "spectator follower" of the preacher ... a "treetop saint," if you will. Now we all know about "treetop saints." We have been there ourselves once or twice, not quite yet ready to say "yes" to the movements and opportunities that were swirling around us. That may be where Zacchaeus was that day - curious but not yet convinced, driven but not yet converted. A few years ago the comedian Flip Wilson was asked about his ...

2206. Captive To The Word Of God

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... was fulfilled four decades after Jesus' resurrection and ascension. A Heritage Of Freedom To be sure, the flame for freedom burned no less brightly in the souls of the Jewish people during Jesus' time. The command of Moses recorded in Leviticus 25:39-42 was taken quite literally: "You shall not make of him a slave: he shall be with you as a hired servant and as a sojourner ... for they are my servants which I brought out of the bondage of Egypt, they shall not be sold as bondsmen." Josephus writes about ...

2207. The Glorious Company

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... you when men hate, revile, and cast you out...Woe to you when all men speak well of you.(Luke 6:20b-26a) Were the faithful of God asked to be no more than the poor, the hungry, the weeping and the victims of prejudice and persecution, that would appear quite enough. Yet, Jesus goes on! Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold ...

2208. Is It Hard To Believe?

Sermon

Erskine White

... was that someone had stolen the body (John 20:2). When Peter saw the tomb, Scripture says he "wondered" at it; he couldn't figure out what had happened (Luke 24:12). Thomas wouldn't believe until he could touch Jesus' wounds (John 20:25). And quite obviously, many in the early church thought that the Resurrection stretched the limits of rational understanding, since Paul found it necessary to write in 1 Corinthians:"Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no ...

2209. The Victory Of The Cross

Sermon

Erskine White

... song on our lips, "O grave, where is thy victory; death, where is thy sting?" O what strength and confidence is ours by Christ's victory over death! This is freedom in its deepest sense - freedom bought and paid for by the victory of the Cross. I spent quite some times in this sermon describing the crucifixion in all its gory detail. I wanted us to be spectators, witnesses to that terrible event. I did this for a reason. If we suffer to see His agony, we may also know His victory. I learned in my boyhood ...

2210. Checking The Vital Signs

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... of a living presence. If Christ is alive and with you, he’ll be noticed. He’ll be obvious to other people who see the way you make up your priorities and live out your Christian faith. I suppose we could say the respiration hasn’t been quite as exhilarating or as obvious as it was on Easter morning for the Body of Christ, called this congregation. About half of the people who were there that day are here today. One little committee went out and made some evangelism calls since that time. Some shared ...

2211. Death of a Twenty-nine-year-old Athlete

Ephesians 6:1-4

Eulogy

Palmer L. Gedde

... fact that they are each unique and different. Many of you here today have sons and daughters, too. I am certain that you love them and rejoice for them as much as I do mine. But having them and loving them is one thing. Losing one of them is quite another matter. I must confess that perhaps, like many of you, even though I have thought about how I might react or feel were I to lose one of them, thinking about it and actually facing it are two very different realities. Therefore, I know that regardless of ...

2212. For a Ninety-three-year-old Widow

2 Timothy 4:9-18

Eulogy

Walter A. Schmidt

... . She was proud of all of you, right on down to the great-grandchildren. You filled her life with great joy and happiness. It is you, her family, who will certainly miss her the most. I know that after my wife's grandmother passed away, Christmas Eve was never quite the same. For while she lived, everyone, and I mean everyone, made it to Grandmother's house. I know that your family has that same kind of bond and that Grandma will be missed. But I also know that the Lord who offers his love, care, peace and ...

2213. For a Thirty-three-year-old Cancer Victim

Matthew 13:24-30

Eulogy

Harold Warlick

... daughter, his son, his family, and his friends. Through his life and death we have all come to know one another in a special way. One day the disciples of Jesus Christ came face-to-face with disease and suffering in the world. They could not quite understand how indiscriminately disease and evil would appear on this planet. They saw good people dying young from disease. They witnessed bad people living to a ripe old age. So Jesus gathered those people around him and he told them a parable. The kingdom of ...

2214. Athanasius Faithful Teacher

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

... Athanasius ordered the captain to turn around and thus to meet his pursuers head on. The leader of the pursuing boat, not recognizing the approaching ship, called out, “Have you any news of Athanasius?” According to the story, Athanasius himself replied, quite truthfully, “He is not far off,” and the government boat passed without further incident! Reader 1: Certainly Athanasius’ influence was felt in other aspects of the church’s life as well. During an exile in Rome, Athanasius became close to ...

2215. Ludwig Nommensen Missionary To The Bataks

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

... ordained and sailed for Sumatra. He spent the first two years living on the coast and learning the Batak language, because he intended to begin his ministry among them. Finally, accompanied by two Batak guides, he journeyed into the interior. His arrival in a Batak village caused quite a stir; no one there had ever seen a white man before. He was taken to the radja, the leader of the village, where he made his request: Reader 2: “I would like very much to come and live with you here in order to teach all ...

2216. Bartolome’ de Las Casas Protector Of The Indians

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

... . Among other things, Las Casas argued that it was in dying and not in killing that the apostles had spread the gospel. In the end the view of Las Casas prevailed, and Charles V tightened up the laws against Indian slavery. Las Casas appears to be quite the hero, doesn’t he? And yet he, too, had feet of clay. Early on in his crusade to abolish Indian slavery, Las Casas proposed instead that the Spanish crown should import black Africans to work as slaves in the Americas. In fact, some historians have ...

2217. Blessed To Be A Blessing

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Justin Tull

... don’t see and that even fewer pursue? Did you hear this “master plan” in God’s word to Abram? Did you grasp the “purpose” of the Hebrew nation? Did you discover the “overview” of the Old Testament, indeed a key theme of the whole Bible? This theme is quite obvious. Let me simply read again the verses that contain it. Surely you can pick it out! I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you ...

2218. Spirit Full Or Foul?

Deuteronomy 4:32-40

Sermon

Justin Tull

... have experienced God in one of these ways or perhaps in many ways. The question of the Deuteronomist remains: “Have you seen the evidence that God has delivered you, saved you?” Can you say of your God, “There is no other?” Most of us are quite aware of the many alternatives to believing in a solitary Supreme Being. Our culture offers many substitutes for God. You know them: money, power, pleasure, work, security. And many of us pay tribute to all or some of these gods. But our faith declares that ...

2219. Thanksgiving

Ephesians 1:1

Sermon

Brett Blair

... ." Strange words from a man facing execution. Like Job, we are forced to ask the question What has he to be thankful for? The third scenario this morning comes from our own American heritage. It is the story of the Pilgrims. I wish to paint quite a different scene, however, than the familiar painting that we envision of the pilgrims happily dining with their Indian brothers before tables of food.. The scene I would like to paint is much more factual and to the point. It is one of deprivation, hardship ...

2220. Rag Doll #37

Drama

Edward Long

... go away ... Oh ... Oh! You're another one. (To herself). I guess Mrs. Smith and I overdid it with the anchovies on that pizza ... Okay, say your piece and then please go ... RAG DOLL # 23: You may not understand my tale, Laura. I was given by the McKenzies, quite a while ago on Christmas Eve, to a little girl in a poor, poor family. You probably can't imagine how poor "poor" is. They lived in a tarpaper shack down by Rusty Creek. Her father worked part-time and was sick from emphysema which he got down ...

2221. A Compassionate Friend

Eulogy

Joe Barone

... once again face death and resurrection. That's not so with *. Because God sent his Son to live among us, to suffer with us, to be raised again on the third day, we have the sure and certain hope of life eternal for her and us. That may not be quite enough right now. We still feel the tug. We always will, and I can't change that. But we can feel it - openly and honestly, both alone and with others - and we can feel it in the sure and certain hope of God's salvation. Let Us Pray Almighty God ...

2222. Recollections of Enoch, A Jewish Captive In Babylon

Isaiah 12:1-6

Drama

Robert A. Morgan

... food that were provided did little to sustain our strength and, of course, we were weak to begin with, for the siege of Jerusalem had been almost impenetrable, and our surrender came about as much because we were starving as because our weapons were all gone. I've never quite understood, in fact, why the Babylonians wanted to bring us back here, and I guess I never will. It was a bother to them to burden themselves with us, and as it has turned out, they did not make slaves of us as I had expected. In fact ...

2223. Recollections of Abdul, Camel Boy for An Eastern Potentate

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Drama

Robert A. Morgan

... I have gone without that friendship between Casper and my father? What would have been my fate after the execution of my father and the confiscation of his wealth? But Casper made a place for me. Oh, I was telling you about the Magi. The Magi are quite a wonderful group, really. What they have is almost a kind of religion. Certainly it doesn't do any violence to our veneration of Zoroaster, which is the religion of our long tradition. And in many ways, the Magi focus especially on what Zoroaster cared about ...

2224. The Robe

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... , Josh!"Moments later Josh was standing in the elevator waiting while it climbed the 25 floors to his office lobby. Josh thought about how much he loved his new suit but even in his vivacious and exuberant state there was a tinge of anxiety. He wasn't quite sure what his dread was all about. And then it kind of surfaced from his subconscious being. Josh remembered that some guy had called him from First National Bank early last evening telling him that if he did not make a $250 payment on his credit card ...

2225. The Banquet

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... ... I give it so the world may live ... whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him whoever eats me will live ..." In order to make his point of how close his Father desires to be to the people Jesus says quite literally, "Eat me. Consume me. Put me on. Wear me. Take me into yourself. Participate with me in my Father's kingdom work. Lose yourself. Lose your life for my sake. Let go of established ways. Take me into yourself. Receive eternal life." A story: Mark's schedule of ...

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