Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2326 to 2350 of 4963 results

2326. "I appeal to Caesar!"

Acts 24:1-27, Acts 25:1-12

Sermon Aid

CSS

... way they bought some peace for themselves. They also knew that Felix was not their friend and that he regarded them as nitpicking and intolerant, so they were willing to take what they could get from him. Yet they were not ready to drop the case. It remained high on their list, for they craved vengeance against Paul and were not willing to forget this setback, so they watched and waited for a new chance to attack. Felix displayed unusual concern for his prisoner. When the Jews had gone, he ordered that Paul ...

2327. Democracy in Action

Illustration

Adali E. Stevenson

... are impossible without critical thinkers and thinking critics. Such persons must be given the opportunity to come together, to see new facts in the light of old principles and evaluate old principles in the light of new facts by deliberation, debate, and dialogue. For democracy’s need for wisdom will remain as perennial as its need for liberty. Not only external vigilance but unending self-examination must be the perennial price of liberty, because the work of self-government never ceases.

2328. Which Way?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

... facing us, one way brings life, the other death. The cruciform of Jesus still has power to haunt us, terrify us when we turn our back on it, send tremors through us when we face and shoulder it. Much as we’d like to redefine the choices, God remains unyielding on the central fact of human life and death: There are two ways; one leads to life, the other leads to death. 1. Our Way Looks Good - But Kills The shape of all God-interpreted existence is cruciform. A Scripture scholar under whom I studied at the ...

2329. Opportunism? Or Opportunity?

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

... Catechism, says it well: God has given us everything we have - food, clothing, family, friends, good weather, crops, the powers of our bodies and our souls. The universe isn’t ours. It is provided us in trust in order to accomplish something with it. But the fact remains: God trusts us with it. It is given into our possession, for our use. We can misuse, abuse, or rightly use it. He does not hover at our shoulder, watching to see what we’ll do with what he’s given. Quite the opposite. He seems to ...

2330. Faith isn’t Easy - But it Works!

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... Henry Ward Beecher was not going to appear, many started to leave the church. The brother of the great man was not at all disturbed. Calling for silence, he said, "All who came this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may leave now. The rest will remain to worship God." After that, no one left. Let us never disparage the value of seeing our friends at worship, but that is secondary to what is of prime importance. Harry Golden, the wonderful storyteller, tells of a time when he was young and asked his ...

2331. Midnight Turned Into High Noon

Isaiah 42:10-17, Isaiah 42:18-25

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... does care about you and the path you tread that seems so devoid of light. Do you think that for a moment, you, his child, could ever have a problem that God, in his own good time, could not sweep out of the way? And if your difficulty must remain, he will certainly lead you over it or help you bear it. A visitor to the chapel at the Lutheran Seminary in Guntur, India, noticed the unusual height of the altar. He had never seen an altar that was shoulderhigh. The guide explained: "Haven’t you noticed that ...

2332. God Can’t Keep a Good Secret!

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... must tell it or burst! If they manage not to tell it outright, then they are compelled to give clues: "It’s something to eat!" - "It’s something to wear." - "It’s going to happen real soon!" - "It’s smaller than a breadbox." Even nations have difficulty remaining closemouthed. The NBC news reported Egypt, a few months ago, as saying, "No one in Washington can keep a secret." A mother told her son to take some homemade butter house-to-house to sell it. "Get fifty cents a pound for it if you can," she ...

2333. No Longer Spectators - But Participants!

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... uncomfortable silence between the two strangers, Algren said, "It must be nice to come from a country that’s so long and narrow." We can talk of by-gone miracles, we can be avid watchers at the foot of Golgotha’s gory, gruesome gibbet, we can remain awe-struck beholders of the empty grave - but when we have experienced the miracle of forgiveness, when our sins are laid on the shoulders of Calvary’s victim, when we have been raised to walk in newness of life - suddenly we are participants in the divine ...

2334. Jesus Gives Us Tomorrow!

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... , would, because of the Spirit, become a man possessed! He would be possessed of power to heal, power to raise the dead. He would be given wisdom to preach, and 3,000 souls would be added to the church in one day; his wisdom in his letters would remain the heritage of the church to this day. And this transformation happened to Peter because of the Spirit living in him. Before he left, Jesus gave them ... A Blessing (Luke 24:50) What seemed like the disaster of their lives to the disciples was going to turn ...

2335. "Hold Your Horses!"

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... take time to wait!" "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." (Isaiah 40:31) "Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to thy God to order and provide; In ev’ry change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: thy best thy heav’nly Friend Thro’ thorny ways leads to a joyful end." In the business of life and in trusting in God, we need to learn to be still and wait. If we ever learn this good lesson, we would receive far more power ...

2336. Religion at a Minimum

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. Sir Alexander Fleming, upon introducing his newly discovered drug, penicillin, warned against taking too little of it. An underdose, he said would permit germs to remain in the system thereby allowing one to build up an immunity to the drug. These immune germs could be "passed on to other individuals so that the thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatments may be responsible for the death of another" if ...

2337. Laborers Needed for the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... over one billion believers around the world. None of this growth would have been possible had Christians not been excited and supportive of missions or prayed to "the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Of course, there remains much unfinished work for us because the world population numbers well over four billion, leaving over three billion in spiritual darkness yet awaiting the message of Jesus Christ and his salvation. This seems like a great number to evangelize, but compared to ...

2338. The Stiller of Storms

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... of our shortcomings and to make allowances for them - and to remember that we are not all alike but that each of us has a unique function in this world. We don’t have to try and fake our way like the desert traveler in California whose skeletal remains were discovered in the shifting dunes. Clutched in his bony hand was a chunk of mica with pyrites, resembling gold, that had deceived him. He had mistaken the yellow streaks in this rock for gold. On a scrap of paper under the skelton were written the words ...

2339. When You Follow A Star and Find A Stable

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... You have painted enough,” said the friend. “You are established as one of the top artists of France and Europe. Why must you go on, torturing yourself like this?” Renoir hardly looked up at him from his canvas. He said, “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” “Give of your best to the Master,” wrote the poet, “Give of the strength of your youth.” That’s not only a command from a sovereign God, but that’s also a secret of successful living. What do you do when you follow a star and ...

2340. We Are Driven!

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... to dispel the darkness. Civil rights and human rights here and everywhere are the concern of God and his people. Because God’s people are quiet, apathetic, or unconcerned, evil flourishes in our society. Christians with the fire of love for God’s cause cannot remain still. They must speak out and call for justice. They must march for peace among the nations. They are right when they condemn the idiocy of a nuclear arms race. We have a model in Esther when the issue of racism is confronted. As Queen ...

2341. Bad Good News Won’t Sell!

Jeremiah 28:1-17

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... for you slaves. The good news is, tonight the captain ordered steak for all of you. The bad news is that this afternoon the captain wants to water ski!" Again, two golfer-friends made a deal that the one who got to heaven first would report back to the one remaining on earth whether there is a golf course in heaven. After the one died, he came back in the other’s dream, saying, "I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that there is a golf course in heaven. The bad news is that you ...

2342. Does God Give A Damn?

Exodus 5:22--6:12

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... felt sorry for him, but he had no money to give him. Already he had given all of his clothes to beggars but his cloak. Out of compassion, he took his cloak and ripped it in two. The one half he gave to the beggar and covered himself with the remaining half. This attire caused many to deride him as he continued down the road. But that night he had a dream in which he saw his Lord clothed in half of a soldier’s cloak. If we have two coats, Jesus urged us to give one to a person without ...

2343. Heart To Heart

Ezekiel 18:1-32

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... to do with spiritual realities." "Well," responded the preacher, "I suppose when you park your car with your girlfriend, you put your arms around her, look her in the eyes, and soulfully say, ‘I love you with all my pump!’ " If he did, he probably remained a bachelor! A human cannot give himself/herself a new heart, and no other human can give one to you. It is because we are dealing with interior matters and not with externals. The trouble with the heart is that it involves an internal condition. Have ...

2344. Out of the Barnyard

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... with new vision and vigor. God, I believe, has such a blessing of power in store for his Church today. We will inherit the blessing as we respond to the call of Christ who is standing among the lost and wounded. We will forfeit the blessing if we remain in our comfortable barnyard, our tomb of indifference, content merely to flap our wings a little bit from time to time. Pray, then, that the Church may be graced with the ear of faith, with the ear of Lazarus, to hear its Master calling. Our Lord is calling ...

2345. Loving Unconditionally

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... Colony; yet even he despised the Quakers. Someone said once he would rather face a platoon of United States Marines than face one Puritan who was convinced he was on a mission from God and could do no wrong. St. Paul wrote that even the justified remain sinners and so need to have a certain modesty about their beliefs. Strong conviction in itself is not admirable. It needs to be tempered with humility. With this in mind, one can begin to appreciate why the Moral Majority arouses fear in many of our hearts ...

2346. Messages From God

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Brett Blair

A few years ago there were billboards scattered throughout the United States with messages from God. Some guy had purchased the space and conducted an advertising campaign for God. Actually, the person responsible for these "Messages from God" chose to remain anonymous. The Smith Agency in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, launched the advertising campaign in September 1998. Andrew Smith, the agency's president, said that an individual simply appeared in their office one day and hired them on the spot. He said that ...

2347. Abraham’s Promise Perpetuated

Romans 4:1-25

Drama

Richard F. Bansemer

... sick, and you will die, not because you have been evil, nor because you must be punished. You will die, as all of us must, because we are all living in the wrong world. There are many promises made to you today. First, your family who remain will have your benefactor’s special attention and care. Though they will miss you deeply, their love will be forever constant. Second, your death will remind the whole family to put real things first in their lives again. Third, your death will not be fearful. Though ...

2348. General William Booth

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... with Methodism was not to last; but the enthusiasm, the organization, and, above all, the memory of the founder of Methodism were to color all of William Booth’s ministry. Born on April 10, 1829, forty years after the death of John Wesley, Booth remained an unabashed admirer of Wesley all of his life. Paraphrasing the familiar Moslem affirmation, "There is one God, Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet," Booth said, "There is one God and John Wesley is His prophet."1 Still, his respect for Wesley was not ...

2349. A Tale of Two Cemeteries

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

George Bass

... that place, one has to follow the crowds that make their way to what might be called "the church over in the corner." People - Roman Catholics - visit that shrine every day of the year, simply because it is one of the seven pilgrimage churches that remains in the city of Rome. Somehow, the feeling persists that the people who enter that church - St. Lawrence Outside the Walls - to pray are not, for the most part, seeking to gain indulgences that will benefit them after death. The church seems to have deeper ...

2350. A Glimpse of God

John 14:5-14

Sermon

George Bass

... James the Less, the son of Alphaeus, of whom we have precious little information as a disciple, an evangelist, or even - as tradition tells us - as a martyr. Not that much more is known about Philip! Circumstance linked Philip and James the Less together because their remains, or relics, were moved to the Church of the Apostles in Rome on May 1; their bodies still lie together in a crypt under the main altar of this church that has been rebuilt and restored many times. Outside of the fact that both were ...

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