Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2226 to 2250 of 4945 results

2226. Payday

Matthew 20:1-16

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: God's generosity to all. Summary: Two workers get their pay. One worked a full eight hours, the other only one hour. The owner paid them both a full day's wage. The worker who worked all day is upset with the owner and wants to take it to court. Playing Time: 4 minutes Setting: A factory Props: Pay receipts Costumes: Marge, Susan -- work clothes Mr. Jones -- suit Time: The present Cast: Jones -- the owner of a small industrial plant Marge -- a worker Susan -- a worker JONES: (ENTERS WITH MARGE) Here ...

2227. Something To Do While The World Falls Apart

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

William G. Carter

A number of years ago, leaders in a church decided to track down the congregation's drop-outs. They combed through the membership list, put together a list of names, and sent out volunteers two-by-two to knock on doors and invite the absent members back to church. As is often the case, the volunteer visitors discovered that most of the people visited had found other things to do on Sunday morning. One person said, "I would come back to church if it didn't conflict with my tennis time." Another said, "We ...

2228. Mission Ready!

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

Picture yourself starting a brand new project. You might want to call it mission. In a parish where most of the communicants were government workers, civilian and military, I was always hearing the word, mission. I had understood mission in a religious context. I learned that mission could have a broader meaning. Life is mission. Business is mission. Career is mission. Mission is a good word. It suggests vision that is supported by good planning. Define your mission clearly. State its purpose briefly. ...

2229. Giants In Your Way

1 Samuel 17:1-58

Sermon

Charles Curley

The hand of the Philistines was heavy upon Israel. The Philistines were an overwhelming, oppressive, intrusive presence in the land. They threatened to take away everything the people of Israel held dear. They threatened life itself, for death followed in their wake as they ravaged the land. Just when Saul and his armies were poised to drive the Philistines out of the land, Goliath appeared - a giant standing in their way. Faced with the Philistines and their giant, Goliath, Saul and his people were ...

2230. Satan Goes to Church

Job 1:1-5, Job 1:6-22

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

THEME: Satan is not a gruesome Halloween figure. Rather, he is remarkably attractive, very much like us, and frequently not only fools, but also uses us for his own devious purpose. SETTING FOR THE SERMON MONOLOGUE: The lectionary called for a sermon on Job. The book of Job invites us to explore the problem of evil. People are fascinated by evil. Why not? It's in them. It's in their environment. Some watch horror shows about him. He seems like a Halloween figure. The Biblical Satan is not always so ...

2231. A Walk With The Devil

Luke 4:1-13

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

The devil came to me the other day, as he often does, and he said, "Preacher, how about joining me for a little walk. It never hurts to walk and talk a little bit, now does it?" I had to admit that I couldn't see any harm in walking and talking, and so I agreed to walk with him for a little while. He led me out the door of the church and up the street to one of our neighborhood convenience stores. He took me up to the counter and said, "I'll tell you what, I'll buy you one of these lottery tickets. He took ...

2232. How Does One Follow Jesus During The Threat Of War?

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

George Johnson

It has been difficult for me to decide what sermon I should preach today. I had planned to preach on the lectionary text in Acts which is assigned for this Sunday. That story of Peter and Cornelius has been occupying my thoughts for several days, and I had a pretty good idea of how the sermon would be developed. But the present historical crisis has been capturing the attention of us all. My sense of call as a pastor has urged me to set aside the sermon on Peter and Cornelius and speak about following ...

2233. On the Art Of Listening To Sermons

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

I cannot imagine a more difficult place to preach than the setting of this parable-sermon. Although they were not out to get him, this surely must have been one of the toughest audiences Jesus had to face, outside of the religious establishment who were not receptive to much of anything he had to say anyway. The assembling of these people is handled in a rather matter-of-fact way by Matthew in his telling of the story. He says simply that they came to the beach where Jesus had gone to relax for a few ...

2234. Every Person’s Great Possessions

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

Jesus was confronted by a man who ran up and knelt before him. You know what? Part of me was right there with that man! I know how he felt, because I have also found reason to kneel before Jesus. What about you? Don’t you know, too? Haven’t you been there along with us? Tempted to follow Jesus, this man was nevertheless compelled by his great possessions to hold back. We are all able to identify with him. We may think, at first, that the only possessions hard to let go of are riches, power, and noble ...

2235. Saved By Water: The Well

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Steve Swanson

The legend of Noah and the flood, and Jesus' miraculous stilling of the storm, are both stories of fear of water and fear of drowning. We are indeed afraid of drowning; most of us would admit it. Too much water scares us. But go to the opposite extreme, too little water, and hardly anyone is afraid. Who ever thinks of dying of thirst? I guess you'd have to live on the desert or maybe back in the old sailing days of dead calms and thirst-crazed sailors. I don't suppose many of us have ever thought of dying ...

2236. The Upside-down Kingdom of God

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Doesn’t it seem to you that our whole culture (when we’re not tuned in to catch the latest nonsense coming out of Washington) is devoted to reminding us that our chief goal in life is to be happy? ("Yes, what he did was wrong. But the economy is good and I’m happy.") There was even a song about the importance and preeminence of being happy a few years ago. Do you remember it? "Here’s a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note: Don’t worry. Be happy!" Advertising sells products based on ...

2237. The Meaning of Life

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Brett Blair

In Act 5 scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character Macbeth has heard that the queen is dead and he knows his own death is imminent. At this time he delivers his famous soliloquy: Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, Out, brief candle Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It ...

2238. The Flame, The Wind, And The Walk

Acts 2:1-13

Drama

Marion Fairman

A Trialogue For Pentecost (The man and the woman are seated in the audience near the front, one to the right, one to the left of the leader, who is standing, facing the audience. Leader reads Acts 2:1-13. When finished, he or she makes preparatory small actions as if about to teach or speak.) Man: (Stands in place looking a bit awkward but determined) Uh, say, is it all right to ask a question? Leader: (Shocked) On Pentecost? (Incredulous) Just when I'm about to begin? (Trying to recover) Well, well, let's ...

2239. Is He Really Coming?

Sermon

Rolf E. Aaseng

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:2-3). In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!" (2 Peter ...

2240. Speak From Personal Experience

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Robert V. Dodd

They can't refute it! Fatigue is one of the products of modern society: We tend to either get excited about the wrong things, or we don't get excited about anything. Perhaps an appropriate contemporary paraphrase of Matthew 6:25-34 would be, "Don't get excited about food and drink to keep you alive or clothes to cover your body. Surely there is more to life than this. Those who are without God get excited about such things, but you should not, because your heavenly Father already knows your needs and will ...

2241. Come From Anywhere

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

"... Great is your faith!" - Matthew 15:28 When Jesus walked with his disciples among the hills and valleys and towns of Palestine, he often led them in directions they had not expected to go. Traveling from Judea to Galilee, he chose to take his disciples through Samaria, although the Jewish people, who had no dealings with the Samaritans, normally went around another way. Although there was grave danger to them in Jerusalem at the time of that final Passover, and although his disciples objected ...

2242. Killing A King

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

"I was treated like a king!" is a common saying when one received the best possible treatment. This is to say that a king deserves and gets the very best. A red carpet is laid out for the king to walk on, lest he dirty his feet. Only the best food is served. His clothes are made of the finest material with top class and style. A king wears genuine jewels, no artificial diamonds or costume jewelry, for a king deserves only the best. A king is given honor, respect, loyalty, obedience, and love. All of this ...

2243. Easter 7

Jn 17:20-26 · Acts 7:55-60; 16:16-34 · Rev 22:12-20

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Acts 16:16-34 The experience of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. Paul's exorcizing a demon from a slave girl leads to a riot formented by her owners because their business was threatened. Paul and Silas had their clothes torn from them, were beaten, and then thrown into solitary confinement with their feet in the stocks in the Philippian jail. While singing hymns at midnight, an earthquake occurred and the jailer, scared to death, asked how he could be saved. He and his family were ...

2244. Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

Our "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude concerning God is evidence that we do not always fully appreciate who he is. You may have watched Marlin Perkins of TV's "Wild Kingdom." This wonderful animal lover and trainer has been trying to get people on a first-name basis with animals for most of his seventy-seven years. His wife, Carol, gave this account: "When Marlin and I were dating, I wanted him so badly that I never let him know how little I knew about animals. Soon after our marriage we went to the Belgian ...

2245. The Secret Story of Gabriel

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.... (Luke 1:26) From our text in Luke you have heard the Bible’s account of how God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary. But this is not the only version of the story. There is another, unofficial, version which came to light recently when an ancient manuscript was discovered in Bethlehem. For those of us who like to stay on the cutting edge of biblical research, this new discovery is exciting and has changed forever the ...

2246. Two Bodies for Two Worlds

Isaiah 26:1-21

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise, O dwellers of the dust, awake and sing for joy! But some one will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" (1 Corinthians 15:35) "Body Shop," "Body Control," "Body Power," "Body Wisdom," "Body Glow" - so say the newspaper ads urging us to do something about our bodies. Today we are a body-conscious people. We believe in body building through exercise. In America, there are 10,000,000 joggers, 15,000,000 serious swimmers, 25,000,000 ...

2247. The Surprise of Absolute Victory

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

In this day of overwhelming defeatism, we look longingly for the absolute victory. Paul declares it in today's Scripture: "Nay, (even) in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Do you believe that? If you do, you are more steady in the midst of the collapse all around you. A great pessimism has to be conquered by a great faith. Edith Lovejoy Pierce uncovers a challenging insight: Even though we escape now We shall not escape Turning a key in a lock, Dropping a well-placed ...

2248. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR ALL SAINTS’

Drama

Tom Eberle

A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR ALL SAINTS’ [Placed in the chancel area of the sanctuary is a large cardboard box, about two to three feet high, with a chair setting in it. At the end of the prelude "Box" takes his place on the chair. Immediately in front of the pews, on both sides of the center aisle, is an arrangement of candles. Five candles are necessary for the chancel drama, plus a candle for each member of the congregation who died in the past 12 months.] Prelude Box: Before we go any further, let’s lay all ...

2249. Not For Sale at Any Price

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it." [Matthew 13:45-46] Before you answer this question, think deeply for a minute. What is your most valuable possession? What is so valuable to you that if someone would want to buy it, you would say, "It’s not for sale at any price"? The person who answers like that is saying to the prospective buyer that the article is considered so valuable that ...

2250. EPISODE 4: THE FOURTH WEEK IN LENT

Drama

Robert Clausen

ACT II EPISODE 4: THE FOURTH WEEK IN LENT JOHN MARTHA JESUS MARY SECOND CLERGYMAN LAZARUS (Non-speaking: PETER, THOMAS, JUDAS) [MARTHA is alone. JOHN enters to her.] JOHN: Martha! MARTHA: John ... you’ve finally come? JOHN: We didn’t know how bad things were. MARTHA: But we sent word to Jesus days ago. JOHN: I know. It’s very strange. He didn’t seem ... MARTHA: He didn’t seem to care? JOHN: No. Not that at all. I can’t explain it. MARTHA: Where is he now? JOHN: Just up the street. MARTHA: Isn’t he...? JOHN ...

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