Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2301 to 2325 of 4884 results

Luke 1:46-47

Children's Sermon

Erskine White

... - bad news is louder than good news. The point is, we are the same way with God. We talk to God when we have problems, or when we are worried about something, or when we want something we do not have, and that is all well and good. It’s perfectly all right to share our burdens with God and pray to Him when all is not well. But don’t you think God also wants to hear from us when we are happy, too? Don’t you think we can also talk to God when we are joyful and generally ...

2302. Maximizing Opportunities

Illustration

Barry L. Johnson

... the Ohio State Buckeyes, was the speaker. Halfway through his address, Woody took off on the evils of the forward pass. He explained the horror of trajectory. That’s what happens to the ball between the passer and the receiver. If it’s perfect, the consequence is a completion. If not, two of the three possible effects of throwing a pass result: an incompletion or, perish the thought, an interception. Woody explained why some defensive backs get more interceptions than others. It’s a matter of courage ...

2303. Taking Ourselves Lightly

Illustration

Lori Johnson Rosenkvist

... take themselves lightly. This is the essence of play. Through play comes the freedom to allow the stiff wind of the Holy Spirit to blow through our too-often stuffy and serious lives, tugging at our clothes and messing up our hair. The God who created a perfectly synchronized universe also took time to fashion and paint each bird, to design each cloud formation, and to give us the gift of laughter. These are not the actions of an all-work-and-no-play God. The God of detail and delight, the God of mountain ...

2304. You Can Go Home Again!

Jeremiah 3:6-4:4

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... reconciliation and forgiveness and love to cure the darkness of bitterness and alienation and mistrust. To those who decided to accept the gift he gave the power to live as children of God. We cannot re-live the past. Even if we could we wouldn’t do it any more perfectly than we did the first time. We’d just make a different set of mistakes. What we are offered in the name of God is better than that. We can come home forgiven. We can return to where we are loved. We can shoulder our share of the blame ...

2305. Call Waiting

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... he helped to complete God’s revelatory act to Samuel, for without Samuel’s response there would have been no relationship. God may call us, but the call awaits our answer. The story in the scripture is quick to tell us that Eli was not a perfect example. None of us are. The chief criticism of Eli was that he was unable to control his unruly and contemptuous sons. Still God calls us through the imperfect examples of people like ourselves. (Bible scholars feel the condemnation of Eli may have been a later ...

2306. True Servants of Christ

Matthew 23:1-39

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call To Worship Leader: How marvelous is the Kingdom of God that we are all welcome in it. People: May we all come before God just as we are, imperfect and flawed? Leader: In Christ we are welcome before God, made perfect as without sin. People: Then let us celebrate and share God's grace with all the world. Leader: And let us lift our hearts in praise for God's merciful love! All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, in Your infinite wisdom You have called each ...

2307. Out of Doors: Nature and Supernatural

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... or tomorrow. Jesus cooperated with nature. He understood it better than we do, because it was His creation. He saw nature, not as an obstacle, nor even as a mystery, but as God’s lovely handmaiden. More than that, he knew that it should be a perfect handmaiden; so when he saw a human being who was lame, deaf, blind, or diseased, he reacted against it. He wanted all of God’s nature to be as God has intended it: unblemished, complete, and fulfilling its ordained purpose. Again and again, He touched it ...

2308. Obedience to God

Drama

Curt M. Joseph

... ) "Good teacher, we know that you are an honest man, and that you teach the way of God ..." What garbage! Joseph: And then what? Nathanael: And then they asked if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. Joseph: Yes, go on. Philip: They thought they had laid the perfect trap. If Jesus said it was unlawful to pay taxes to Caesar, they would have accused him of sedition. If he said that it was all right to pay taxes to Caesar, they would have accused him of being a false teacher of the Law of Moses. Joseph: What ...

2309. Jesus Christ, the Truth

Drama

Curt M. Joseph

... It would be a world where there was no more war, no more injustice, no more poverty, no more hatred. Men would lay down their weapons and live as brothers. The lion and the lamb would lie down together and graze in green pastures. There would be perfect shalom. Pilate: A wonderful thought. But just how was all this to be achieved? Ruth: Through God’s Messiah. Pilate: Ah, yes. Caiaphas told me about him. A military champion who would destroy the Gentiles. He’d have to be some general to do that, and this ...

2310. Resurrection: From Sin to a Second Chance

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... should have everything we need, sin causes some to starve for lack of bread or lack of love. Even though you have willed that we should live in harmony, sisters and brothers together, sin breaks that possibility. Even though you have willed that we live in perfect trust and obedience, sin fills us with fear and causes us to seek security in false gods. Yet, we bow in prayer beneath the cross, remembering that your Son has determined to straighten out the mess sin has made of our world. It was He who broke ...

2311. Martin Luther: the Shape of Grace

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... shaped by it. He claimed everyone was a priest in God’s sight and had a ministry to carry on in the world. He held up before the people of his day the fact that we are saved by God’s gift of grace, not by living the life of perfection that would earn it for us. You can still see the Augustinian monastery of the black friars at Erfurt where Luther tried in every way to appease God. You can go up to the second floor and see the cell where he lived and where one time he flogged himself ...

2312. Blind Bartimaeus - Model For Healing

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... up to your room and put on your pajamas. It’s time for bed." Tammy, buying time, protests, "I can’t go to bed right now, Mommy. I’ve got to put my dolly’s crib back together." Ten minutes later, she is still putting her perfectly intact crib back together. After Mommy succeeds in thwarting Tammy’s delaying tactics, and, after prayers, has tucked her securely into bed, Tammy tries another maneuver to prolong her day. "Mommy, tell me a story." "Tammy, I have too many things to do right now." "Please ...

2313. All-Out Love

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... and makes us strong even while we are weak. Paul struggled with a "thorn in the flesh," a persistent, possibly life-long affliction. He asked the Lord three times to take it away. But the Lord responded, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." After that, Paul said, "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses ... for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10). B. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your mind." How do we fulfill that ...

2314. Let’s Climb a Mountain

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... intellect, even though it may have unraveled mysteries, if it has not discovered God? When the very skies seem to close in to squeeze you to the ground, when nameless fears torment you in the silence of thea night, when a sudden pain reminds you that your perfect physique is vulnerable to the Grim Reaper, only God will do, only God will see you through. Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing, Were not the right man on our side, The man of God’s own choosing. B. Include mourners ...

2315. How Can We Meet Grief?

2 Samuel 18:19--19:8

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... for souls whom we have loved and see no longer. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Coggan, has written about "the hard lesson of Christian prepositions - that the predominant preposition is not ‘out of’ but ‘through’ and ‘in.’ ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ ‘When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee’ " (Isaiah 43:2). The darkness of the valley of grief through which we must pass reminds us of the darkness on the hill of Golgotha. All griefs lead to ...

2316. Waiting

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... in Christ, they could see that in us which was worth loving, no matter how we may have behaved toward ourselves. Skilled in the depth and seriousness of their lives, they were able to work Christ’s loving order into ours. They were well aware that God does not perfect imperfect natures overnight. Christ gave them wit and will to wait wisely for God’s fullness of time for us so that we, in turn, may do the same for others. So it is that the love of God becomes woven into the fabric of the world, and his ...

2317. Monday in Holy Week

Hebrews 9:11-28, John 12:1-11, Isaiah 42:1-9

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... and sisters, let us ponder the sacrifice made for us by Christ. People: LIKE A HIGH PRIEST, CHRIST ENTERED INTO THE HOLY PRESENCE OF GOD. Leader: He presented himself and his blood to God, and secured for us an eternal redemption. People: HIS WAS A PERFECT SACRIFICE, PURIFYING NOT JUST FLESH BUT SPIRIT. IN HIS NAME, LET US WORSHIP GOD. Collect O Redeemer God, who gave us not only the possibility of salvation, but the reality of it in Christ, open our hearts to appreciate the sacrifice he made for us ...

2318. Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13--53:12, Hebrews 4:14-5:10, John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. People: THANKS BE TO GOD! FOR IN JESUS WE HAVE ONE WHO CAN SYMPATHIZE WITH OUR WEAKNESSES. Leader: Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. People: AND BEING MADE PERFECT HE BECAME THE SOURCE OF ETERNAL SALVATION FOR ALL WHO OBEY HIM. Collect Eternal God, whose Son knew both humanity and divinity for our sakes, open our hearts on this Good Friday to the reality of his suffering; that we may appreciate more than ever ...

2319. Easter 3

Acts 3:11-26, 1 John 2:28--3:10, Luke 24:36-49

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... In this passage, John adds new dimensions to the phrase "filial purity," for, having asserted that we are all children of God, he goes on to characterize Christian hope as purifying, completely removing sins from believers. To what extent the Christian moral perfection that the writer attests might be actual, or eschatological, or rhetorical is unclear, but he certainly appears to be disconcertingly close to saying that Christians do not sin at all. Call to Worship Leader: What wondrous love it is that we ...

2320. Proper 9

2 Samuel 7:1-17, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Mark 6:1-6

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... IS NOT IN OURSELVES, BUT IN OUR SAVIOR. Leader: If we boast, we boast of the power of Christ rather than of our own strength. People: NOR ARE WE A PEOPLE WITH "HEADS IN THE CLOUDS," BUT DOWN-TO-EARTH HUMANS IN WHOSE WEAKNESS GOD HAS PERFECTED THE POWER IN CHRIST. Collect Most powerful God, who have redeemed us graciously in Christ, keep us ever mindful of the true source of our salvation and strength; that we may never become conceited or proud of ourselves, but may always give you the credit and glory ...

2321. Proper 23

Genesis 3:1-24, Mark 10:17-31, Hebrews 4:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... BE KNOWN. Leader: Though we may fool others and ourselves, there is one whom we cannot deceive. People: LET US WORSHIP THE GOD WHO KNOWS US BETTER THAN WE KNOW OURSELVES, AND WHO LOVES US ANYWAY. Collect Omniscient God, who see into our hearts and minds with perfect discernment, lead us to self-perception and self-understanding; that we may see ourselves, not as we or others view us, but as you in your infinite wisdom know us to be. In the name of your redeeming Word, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen Prayer of ...

2322. Thanksgiving Day

Joel 2:18-27, Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Timothy 2:1-15

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... the many benefits that we have received from you. Forgive us our ingratitude, and keep us ever mindful that whatever good things we have all come from you, the author of life. Make us especially conscious of your greatest gift of all, eternal life and perfect peace in Christ; let our gratitude be deep and constant; and let our thanksgiving be overflowing and acceptable in your sight. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen Second Lesson: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Theme: Thanksgiving for the highly placed Exegetical ...

2323. How Big is God?

1 John 4:7-21

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... maybe it will help if I can get started by seeing how big you are and then maybe I can tell. I need some volunteers to help me with my problem. (Select some children of various sizes both heighth-wise and also weight-wise). Oh, this group will be absolutely perfect for what I want to do. Now first of all I will see how tall or short they are and I wonder if someone will mark down on this paper the numbers that I give them? That’s fine. (Go about measuring them) Now I think that we will weigh ...

2324. "Why Belong to Church?"

John 14:15-31

Sermon

... Christians especially talk about this: the fact that we are sinners and we are not doing God a favor or the congregation when we join. We are very imperfect as individuals and as an institution. We are open to criticism, and that includes the Pastor! We never claim to be perfect in the first place. If someone asks you what the chief trouble with the church is - you tell them it is you and me. We are in it and we are sinners. And we need to do better and be better and this is where we can learn and get ...

2325. It Might Have Been ...

Luke 22:1-6, Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 26:47-56

Sermon

... he would stop at nothing to bring freedom for his people. Only when Jesus Christ, apparently possessing the power to do something, made it evident that he would not be that kind of a leader, did Judas - sick with frustration - act against Jesus. No analogy is perfect, of course, including this one. But I’m sure you can see some lessons for us. Lesser loyalties - even to great causes - are portents of disaster to us. The returns on Vietnam aren’t in yet - perhaps they’ll never be all in. Maybe a long ...

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