Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2301 to 2325 of 2561 results

2301. Life’s Three Guides on the Pilgrim Way

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Do you bring along a sandwich in your coat pocket when you are invited to dinner at a friend’s house? Of course not! Can you imagine inviting twenty people to a party, but only buying enough food to serve ten? Never! Would you send your child out into a snowstorm in a swimsuit? No way! As rude and self-centered and uncaring as we all can be, we still abide by some basics of good behavior. So why do we think God won’t? Jesus’ message in today’s gospel text chides his listeners for “worrying” — worrying ...

2302. Like

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Happy Lent! Oops! No such thing. Of course not. Lent is a solemn season, full of serious stuff. We run special educational courses during Lent. Baptismal candidates are on their “cram course” during Lent. Practicing Christians are supposed to be more intentionally focused on one’s prayer life during Lent. We “give up” things for Lent — chocolates, meat, sweets, smoking, bad TV shows. Forty days is long enough to learn something new, miss something old, and change some habits. Unfortunately, it is not so ...

2303. The Sobering Effect of Truth

John 4:26

Illustration

Brett Blair

When President Kennedy's assassination took place in 1963, British novelist David Lodge, was in a theater watching the performance of a satirical play he had helped write. In one sketch, a character demonstrated his nonchalance in an interview by holding a transistor radio to his ear. The actor playing the part always tuned in to a real broadcast. Suddenly, filling the theartre was the announcement that President Kennedy had been shot. The actor quickly switched it off, but it was too late. Reality had ...

2304. What to Do with the Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Those of you who are gardeners are familiar with Murphy’s First Law of Gardening: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. And, of course, there is a corollary to that law: To distinguish flowers from weeds, simply pull up everything. What grows back is weeds. Last week we dealt with the parable of the sower and we learned that different kinds of soil produce differing levels of ...

2305. Our Magnificent, Mysterious, Mischievous God

2 Kings 5:1-14

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This is a fun story, one of many in scripture that is good for giggles if we allow ourselves that reverent freedom when we encounter them. Engaging characters, international intrigue, and finally a denouement that is just pure fun. It is one more affirmation that our God is not only magnificent and mysterious but occasionally mischievous, as well. The cast. Naaman. His name means charm or pleasantness. Apparently, a relatively nice fellow as standards of his day would define nice. A powerful personage, too ...

2306. Peace In the Midst of the Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Suppose for a few minutes that you are one of them. There is no indication in scripture that you or any of your compatriots have any inkling as you set out in your boats that there might be anything amiss. To be sure, since a number of you are fishermen, you are aware that things like this can happen. After all, the Sea of Galilee is set in a deep gorge between two mountain ranges. The winds sometimes force themselves through the passes around Mount Hermon in the north and virtually explode on the quiet ...

2307. A New Year’s Resolution

Ephesians 4:25 -5:2

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Good instructions. I know we are in the middle of summer according to our lectionary cycle, but this text sounds like a perfect list of New Year's resolutions for Christians. In the For Better Or Worse comic strip, the family is sitting around the breakfast table as Dad says, "Here we are in a brand new year. I think we should all make some resolutions, don't you?" Mother responds, "Okay. I resolve not to criticize, to nag less, and bake more often." The family cheers: "Right on. Neat! Yeah!" Then Dad says ...

2308. Can Anything Good Come out of Our Town?

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

Well, good, old Nathaniel. In a way, he's the mystery disciple of the New Testament. His name doesn't even rate a mention in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Only in John's gospel do we hear about the disciple with the parochial ideas about Galilean towns. Picture, if you will, our man Nathaniel. Like Peter, he is a fisherman by trade. He hails from Cana, another in a long line of undistinguished little hamlets in the Galilean region. The region itself is rather undistinguished. It was like what Newark is to New ...

2309. The Elephant in The Living Room

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

John Smylie

There are times when we do everything we can to avoid the obvious. Some realities that we face are so difficult that we will make every effort to deny their presence. Once again, Peter, a bold and wonderful character full of humanity, so much like us, is the fall guy for this gospel text. He is the one who gives voice to the disciples' concerns about Jesus teaching that, "the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after ...

2310. Silence and Darkness

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

John Smylie

Over the last 25 years, I have experienced many different Good Fridays. A few of them stand out and point out my own humanness and inability to embrace the fullness of what the Lord was offering. In answer to the hymn, my answer is, "No, I wasn't there when you were crucified, Jesus." And I have made vain attempts of entering the experience of that awful day, yet there have been glimpses of grace along the way. Today I hope to share a few of those glimpses and in the sharing perhaps you will find a glimpse ...

2311. Living Upside Down

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

In any list of unusual animals, you are likely to find the sloth. The sloth lives in trees, much of the time hanging from a limb by its four strong feet. The encyclopedia says, "Sloths sleep, eat, and travel through the forest upside down." It's a strange thought ... the idea of living upside down. If we did it, we would certainly see things differently. In a world where flowers grow down and balls fall up, anything seems possible. And, if anything were possible, maybe we would even see the ways in which ...

2312. They Call It Grace

2 Peter 3:8-15

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

What do you hear in Paul's words? Grace or judgment? Law or gospel? Hope or despair? Advent is a time of waiting. Often we wonder, "How long? How long can I wait for his coming? How long can I look off to the horizon? How long can I proclaim his return?" When we see Paul's words through the filter of grace, we realize the answer is just a little bit longer. During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to Christianity. They began ...

2313. On The Night When He Was Betrayed

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

Have you ever been betrayed by one of your closest friends? After opening yourself up and becoming vulnerable to another person, to have them abuse the trust you placed in them and stab you in the back can cause more pain than if that person had beaten you to a pulp. If a person who claims to love you turns around and hurts you deeply, you probably do what most of us do in that situation — you hurt them back. Certainly, you wouldn't choose to spend your last night alive with that person. Especially if you ...

2314. Hope on The Day of Judgment

Hebrews 9:24-28

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

Standing in the parlor at church that day was not unlike the many other occasions when I had attended a family upon the death of one they had loved. Moving from person to person, group to group, I greeted each with words of comfort, consolation, and hope. I was a pastor going about my normal pastoral work, preparing to begin the funeral rite for yet another saint of the church. Amid the whispers, the tears, the hugs, and even the laughter at memories shared, a pastor also hears many other things spoken in ...

2315. A Four Word Memoir

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Human beings are a terrific source of creativity. Even at the time of death. For example, consider this epitaph on a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket, Massachusetts: Under the sod and under the trees . . . Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there’s only the pod . . . Pease shelled out and went to God. Or this one from a more recent burial: Here lies my wife . . . Here let her lie. Now she’s at rest . . . And so am I. Or this one from the grave of a dentist named John Brown: Stranger! ...

2316. Jesus Would Do What?

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman named Naomi Magdanz in Lodi, California tells about her 6-year-old grandson, Joshua. Joshua attended a Vacation Bible School with the theme, “What Would Jesus Do?” To remind the children of the theme, they made little armbands with WWJD on the band. One evening Joshua’s mother asked him to change his clothes. Joshua looked at his armband and said, “WWJD - What would Jesus do?” His mother replied that she thought Jesus would do what his mother asked him to do and change his clothes. Joshua thought ...

2317. The Water Witcher

Matthew 11:1-19

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

Theme: Difficulty of believing and the possiblity of doubt turned into faith Characters: Grandfather Willard Adamson Grandson Joey (eleven years old or younger) Slick (skeptic neighbor) Tone: Nurturing relationship, encouragement Setting/Props: Imaginary tool shed Paintbrushes Paint Imaginary old-fashioned well pump Cup Y-shaped stick One option that may enhance the scene would be an actual old-fashioned well pump. There are still a few of these around on abandoned farms, museums, and as decorative objects ...

2318. Having a Good Name

Proverbs 1:20-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

Proverbs is right: Having a good name is a terribly important thing. It is important in business, it is important in society, it is important at home, in a family. When we lose our good name, we have lost our trustworthiness. Sometimes it cannot be replaced. How do we know if we have a good name? What is the measurement? Is it the absence of gossip? Or the presence of trust? Is a good name something that we start out with only to find it comes up missing once we have done one or two things wrong? Or does a ...

2319. A Class Act

Illustration

John Berendt

In 1956, songwriter Johnny Mercer received a letter from Sadie Vimmerstedt, a widowed grandmother who worked behind a cosmetics counter in Youngstown, Ohio. Vimmerstedt suggested Mercer write a song called "I Want to Be Around to Pick Up the Pieces When Somebody Breaks Your Heart." Five years later, Mercer got in touch to say he'd written the song and that Tony Bennett would record it. Today, if you look at the label on any recording of "I Wanna Be Around," you'll notice that the credits for words and ...

2320. Forty Martyrs for Christ

Illustration

Lieghton Ford

Many have heard the story about the forty martyrs of Sabaste. These forty soldiers, all Christians, were members of the famed Twelfth Legion of Rome's imperial army. One day their captain told them Emperor Licinius had sent out an edict that all soldiers were to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. These Christians replied, "You can have our armor and even our bodies, but our hearts' allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ." It was midwinter of A.D. 320, and the captain had them marched onto a nearby frozen lake ...

2321. A List of Murphy's Laws

Illustration

Staff

If anything can go wrong, it will. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Everything takes longer than you expect. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will go wrong first will be the one that will do the most damage. Left to themselves, all things go from bad to worse. If you play with something long enough, you will surely break it. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. If you see that there are four possible ways in which a ...

2322. Life's Little Fragments

Illustration

Max Lucado

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength. People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. "This horse is not a horse to me," he would tell them. "It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend?" The man ...

2323. Give Yourself Some Slack

Genesis 2:3

Illustration

According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens, a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity. Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. Then he said to the critical Athenian, "Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bows implies." The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop ...

2324. Fill In the Gaps

Illustration

Staff

I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth. Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She ...

2325. Broken Down

Humor Illustration

The commanding officer was furious when nine GIs who had been out on passes failed to show up for morning roll call. Not until 7 p.m. did the first man straggle in. "I'm sorry, sir," the soldier explained, "but I had a date and lost track of time, and I missed the bus back. Being determined to get in on time, I hired a cab. Halfway here, the cab broke down. I went to a farmhouse and persuaded the farmer to sell me a horse. I was riding to camp when the animal fell dead. I walked the last ten miles, and ...

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