Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2326 to 2350 of 4681 results

2326. The Long Lonliness

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... , or not to be: that is the question...." But then he muses: ... To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others we know not of? -- Hamlet, III, i. 56, 77-83 Is Shakespeare correct in this pessimism? Is the biblical writer of Ecclesiastes correct when he affirms that all is vanity, a chasing after the wind? Is everything futility ...

2327. A Voice to be Heard

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... of his time with his barren wife Elizabeth. While attending to his priestly duties of burning incense at the Temple altar, the old priest Zechariah had a startling vision. The archangel Gabriel appeared to him and said, "Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you shall name him John ... He will be great in the eyes of the Lord ... He will go before the Lord as a forerunner, possessed by the spirit and power of Elijah ... to prepare a people fit for the Lord" (Luke 1:13 ...

2328. The Second Naiveté: Babies, Angels, Shepherds, And God

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... types from the West. But these so-called sappy Westerners are only too happy to get even when the New Yorkers venture beyond the Hudson to the wild unknown of a dude ranch or a big game hunting expedition in the mountains. "You don't like the bears and beans up here, buster?" asks the wiry-muscled, leather-skinned trail boss at 8,000 feet. "Well then, just catch yourself a taxi and go back home." Naive people? We see them everywhere. Want to insult someone? Call them naive. Probably nothing cuts to the ...

2329. God Is Able

Luke 3:1-20

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call To Worship Leader: God is able, People: And so are we. Leader: God is able to do what seems impossible. People: We are able to bear amazing fruit from our resources. Leader: Come, let us worship our able, empowering God. Collect God, who offers us a reason to change our ways and who invites us to discover that we, too, are able to be kind, to share, and to choose fair ways, to you we return ...

2330. Clothed With Love

Colossians 3:1-17

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... ourselves with patience. Collect Through Jesus the Christ, we give thanks to you, O God. Through Jesus, we learn the route of love and peace. Through Christ, we learn the art of being both human and divine. Amen. Prayer Of Confession It is not only that we must bear with the frustration others bring us, O God, but we also get in our own way. Help us do a better job of living, for we want to be more loving. We want to be like Jesus. Amen. Hymns “Angels, From The Realms Of Glory” “Called As Partners ...

2331. Light of the World

John 1:1-18

Sermon

William G. Carter

... Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live” (11:25). Or put him in the midst of people who feel disconnected by life’s difficulties, and Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (15:5). In the Gospel of John, in one situation after another, Jesus defines himself and says, “This is who I am....” In the eighth chapter, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me ...

2332. Today

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... to announce that Jesus said, “Today is the day.” Check the calendar: not last Thursday, not next Tuesday. Jesus said, “Today is the time of God.” And he was right. For anybody who would follow the prophet of Galilee, for anybody who would bear the name of “Christian,” this is the acceptable time to share the love and justice of God. Today is the day. Do you believe that? 1. David Buttrick, Preaching Jesus Christ (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), p. 23. 2. Fred B. Craddock, “Hoping or ...

2333. Getting It Together

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

William G. Carter

... yourself over the edge. One thing I’ve noticed about true-blue hypocrites — they are incapable of laughing at themselves. They ought to know better. Life has a way of unrolling so that all things are revealed. Jesus says, “Look at the results!” Good trees bear good fruit; bad trees have rotten fruit. Build a house on solid ground, and it will survive every storm. Build on a shaky foundation, and sooner or later the whole enterprise will fall apart. So today we are called upon to get it together: to ...

2334. A Note to Fearful Hearts

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... are fed up with the youngest, Joseph. The brothers want to kill him. But Reuben is afraid. As the oldest, he knows that the father will most likely blame him. And, to be certain, he feels a small sense of morality in the matter. Murder is a heavy burden to bear, even if you can justify it to yourself on the basis of little Joseph’s arrogant behavior. But Reuben also wants to look good in the eyes of his brothers. He takes a stand but he doesn’t go far enough. Reuben tries to cover all his bases. He ...

2335. A Fresh Start

Joel 2:28-32, Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... to get free, because when you hit rock bottom you have been in bondage, and the scars of such bondage do not vanish without a radical change. You can see that in our society, in how those segments of American society which have been most oppressed bear the scars of that oppression. It is why there is such a high percentage of the impoverished and African-American males in prison, why alcoholism rates are so high among Native Americans, and why women of impoverished classes have a higher percentage of out-of ...

2336. Living Free

Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... international investments.) The Lord says that he will bring such prosperity, because the gold and silver of the earth, all its wealth, belong to him (Haggai 2:6-9). God is in control, and he delivers his people. In order for these economic initiatives to bear fruit, though, it would take work. And that is precisely the point of our First Lesson. It and the whole book of Haggai teach that this worldly political action, freedom, and divine intervention go together.2 God sets us free, delivers his people, but ...

2337. A Vision of Freedom

Isaiah 65:17-25

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.... — 65:17-19 They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord — and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the ...

2338. Do You Know?

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

John W. Wurster

... that he did not even know Jesus. Do you? “With a heavy heart, I watched Jesus hang on a cross, carrying the sin of the world, a victim of its violent ways. He was executed as a criminal because his words were too true for most people to bear, especially people with power and might. When he breathed his last, they shut him up in a tomb, thinking that they were finally done with him. But death is no barrier for my love. They did not know that. Do you? “I raised Jesus from the dead, forever vanquishing ...

2339. True or False?

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

John W. Wurster

... What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I’ve had enough of burnt offerings ... I cannot endure solemn assemblies ... Your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them” (1:11, 13, 14). Know anybody whose religion is like that? People going through the motions, people who worship half-heartedly, part-time, with little investment and less intentionality? Folks mindlessly wandering through the rituals, disinterested spectators of a ...

2340. What If What They Say Is True?

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

John W. Wurster

... sense. Unfamiliar, disorienting, destabilizing. As Jeremiah struggles to put this extraordinary word from God into some kind of framework, he grasps at the language of protest, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how ...” (1:6). That’s the first thing Jeremiah says in the book that bears his name: “I do not know how.” It is something I say all the time. Maybe you have said it, too. “God, I do not know how to do what you are calling me to do. Nothing in my life has equipped me for this task. What ...

2341. The Second Touch for the Out of Touch

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... it with a defective base of reality. When we take our role too seriously we are in trouble. Elijah was going through what the old family doctors called a nervous breakdown. Life was getting on top of him and it was too heavy for him to bear. Now, notice three key factors that brought Elijah to this point. In seeing them you may be saved from a similar disaster. II. Elijah’s Dire Consequences “It is enough,” he said (1 Kings 19:4). The New International Version captures his emotion more realistically ...

2342. The ABC Gospel

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... took captives who would become slaves to the leaders of their society. This young woman was such a person. She was captured from a background in Israel that had brought her up in the ways of God. Even in her captivity she had held onto him, trusting him and bearing witness to his power to do great things. When she learned that her master and captor was a leper, she set aside all the prejudices and bitterness she might have had because of her capture and tried to help him find a cure. She told his wife about ...

2343. Plumb Line Prophecy

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... . Notice, for example, Amaziah, the chief priest of Bethel. Bethel means “God’s house.” Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” — Amos 7:10-11 Amaziah had lost all interest in hearing God’s word. Already he had sold his soul to King ...

2344. The Promise of a Son

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... trials of our lives. Our hope is in Christ, the son who gives to us the power to look upward and outward for a better day. Do you have a legacy of hope for future generations and those who will come behind you? Do you have a seed that will bear the imprint of hope for future generations? A son promised hope for the future! The promise of a son would mean God’s continuing favor. The intent here is not to sound sexist, but the ancients believed that sons were directly a sign of God’s favor for health ...

2345. The List (A Drama about Prayer)

Drama

Dave Marsh

... . Mom: Hmmm… Mom, Dad, Mallory, Grandma, Sparky, homework, sunshine for the game, Justin’s loose tooth, front parking space, finding Mr. Bubble's missing eye, … Dad: Katie, some of these are fine but you can’t pray for a parking space or your teddy bear's missing eye. Katie: Why not? Mom: Well, because, you should be praying about important things. Katie: Important things? Dad: What your mother is trying to say is that you should be praying for sick people in the hospital…and in Congress. Mom: And ...

2346. Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen

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

Sermon

Brett Blair

... the obscure village of Nazareth in what is now northern Israel. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she had been chosen to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. Gabriel told Mary that her aunt Elizabeth, well past the child-bearing age, had become pregnant. Immediately Mary went to visit Elizabeth. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, both women sensed that God has chosen them for special tasks and would do great things through their children. Mary was then given by the Holy Spirit ...

2347. Resting In The Lord (A Drama about Church and Nature)

Drama

Dave Marsh

... no big deal right? I can still do the other things. How about tithing? I can tithe just as well here. I mean, I put my $5 in the box when I entered the state park. That’s just like tithing. You’ve got to admit that giving to Smokey Bear is something that God would definitely approve of. Yeah, got that covered. Dave (v.o.): Alright, what else? How about fellowship? Well, I can talk to, er, um, the animals. Heh. Yeah, (starts singing and doing a little dance from Dr. Doolittle) “If I could walk with the ...

2348. Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen! - Sermon Starter

Luke 2:39-56

Illustration

Brett Blair

2349. His Trial

Luke 22:66--23:25

Sermon

Brett Blair

... it you?” What, says Pilate, am I a Jew? Your own nation and chief priests have brought you before me. Jesus says, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” You are a king then, says Pilate. “King is your word,” says Jesus, “my task is to bear witness to the truth.” This rather unusual exchange concludes with Pilate asking, what is truth? Pilate may be way in over his head with Caiaphas but he is not stupid. He thinks he has come upon an escape clause. Since Jesus started his teaching in Galilee, then ...

2350. The Peace Of Christ In A Chaotic World

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

... are but importunate rascals, I will deal with them as they deserve’; and taking a knotted stick, he seize us by the hood, throwing us on the ground, rolling us in the snow, and shall beat and wound us with the knots in the stick - if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy. And now, brother, listen to the conclusion. Above all the graces and all the ...

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