Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2351 to 2375 of 4957 results

2351. The Gospel Of Our Calling

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Mark J. Molldrem

... began to think about it. You see, just because we are heavenly-minded does not mean that we are no earthly good. Quite the contrary! You have been called in the forgiveness of sins to life everlasting. It is a gift that comes to you through Baptism to claim you by the grace of God, so that you might know who you are and whose you are as children of the Heavenly Father. You have been called in the forgiveness of sins to life everlasting. It is a gift that comes to you through Holy Communion to strengthen ...

2352. Is It Better To Catch Or Be Caught?

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... hear. "Now it's a badge of status to be away from home four nights a week. But on God's green planet, is there anything more depressing than an empty hotel room at ten at night, and the thought that work, privilege, economic need not only claim the daylight hours but have, however briefly, entitled you to these awesome lonesome instants in which you're remote from the people and the things, tiny, loved and familiar, that sustain a life?" Henry David Thoreau gave us words we still have not heard yet when he ...

2353. Boaz: I Am Blessed!

Ruth 4:13-22, Ruth 3:1-18

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

... or a lawyer, file the deed papers with the courts. We had a simpler system. A man gave away his shoe to the other one to whom he transferred his rights -- in the presence of eyewitnesses. The system worked. I became the husband of Ruth. That is my claim to fame -- not my own achievement -- but as her husband -- You know the rest. She had a son, Obed, the father of Jesse, father of David the shepherd king. That means also that the Messiah, your Jesus, is one of my descendants. That means that David the King ...

2354. Poolside Blessing: Monologue of a Paralytic

John 5:2-16

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

... , the lame, the deaf.We went there because there was a tradition that when an angel troubled the water, the first person in the water would be healed.What do I mean by an angel troubling the water?Well, we didn't actually see an angel -- though some claimed they did.What we saw was a bubbling up of the water -- almost as though the water had come to a boil.When that happened, all the sick dashed to the pool like a thundering herd.In your time, people who know about these things have a simple explanation ...

2355. A Quiet Man · Andrew

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... "with fragments left over." (Matthew 15:29-37; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14) III The second circumstance calling for Andrew's response occurred when a party of Greeks approached Philip asking to see Jesus. Finding Greek culture laying claims and stirring hopes it was powerless to fulfill they were turning to the Master for spiritual uplift. However, they did not approach him directly. Instead -- perhaps because he bore a Greek name -- the party went to Philip and requested to be taken to Jesus ...

2356. A Wilderness Prophet · John The Baptist

Jn 1:6-8 · Mt 3:1-12

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... s growing numbers the threat of an insurrection. The concern was not totally groundless, not because John was politically minded but because the times in general were uncertain marked as they were with numerous uprisings stemming from various messianic claims. Consequently, so far as Herod saw John's activities, far from being spiritually motivated, they were openly seditious, and with the crowds attracting larger and larger numbers to John, the Tetrarch felt he must take drastic action before John snatched ...

2357. A Big Fisherman · Peter

Mt 16:13-20 · Jn 1:35-42

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... capacity to be a mediator for Christ. Not only that. It had likewise awakened him to the realization he had a wide open field in which to exercise the capacity. For he moved freely among Gentiles to whom he was at liberty to present the Master's claims. Nor did he stop with the presentation. Instead, he took a step farther and led them into the fellowship of the church. (Acts 11:1-18) It was a major step forward for the faith. Hitherto converts to the Master were primarily Jewish, and understandably so. Had ...

2358. The Return Of The Lost

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

... this matter of distance and detachment. It is helpful for us to consider the background of this parable, so that we might understand its application to our personal lives. Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees, that group of Jewish men who claimed the interpretation of God's law to be their professional responsibility. The Pharisees were shocked by the fact that Jesus would associate with people whom they had designated as the official "sinners" of the community. It was the deliberate policy of the ...

2359. Two Are Better Than One

Ecclesiastes 4:1-12

Sermon

Sandra Herrmann

... , forgiven, comforted and reassured. These are not things easily accomplished. And it's a rare marriage where neither partner has ever done this. For example, the day comes, as it must to every wife and mother, when the car is making some odd sound the mechanic claims he can't hear and the washing machine has taken to walking around the basement instead of getting the clothes clean, and your boss has told you you'll be working the next five Saturdays in a row, and just as the spaghetti boils over every ...

2360. When The Boat Keeps Rocking

Psalm 46:1-11

Eulogy

Robert Noblett

... same thing: "It is almost as if to pray is, after Jewish and Jesus' teaching, to stand daily before mystery and before the Giver of Life even in one's most insignificant actions." If prayer has become rote for us, we need to let its mystery claim us afresh. We don't need to analyze it; we need to embrace it, to sit comfortably with its perplexities and allow its hopes to nourish us. A recent scientific study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that hospitalized heart patients ...

2361. The Circle Of Life

Eulogy

Charles R. Leary

... brings. How can we cut through the gloom and doom stuff? I suggest two guidelines: One, treat life as if 10 percent is what happens and 90 percent is how to manage it. And two, I know that life is not easy, but I cling to the victory that Jesus claimed, "In the world you will have trouble, but never lose heart -- I have conquered the world." I invite you to join me in affirming the faith that ____________ believed and practiced in The Apostles' Creed.

2362. God Said It. I Accept It. That Settles It.

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Carl B. Rife

... a radical distinction between intellectual assent to the message of the Bible and doctrinal propositions set forth in creeds, and the personal experience of God's pardoning and healing love." Scripture does not become real for us until we personally appropriate its message. To claim the truth of scripture and not to live its message greatly blurs its truth. Reason is the use of the God-given gift of mind to discern the truths of God's revelation. When we read and interpret scripture we cannot set aside the ...

2363. Jesus In Gethsemane"Jesus -- Misunderstood And Alone"

Psalm 49:1-20, Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

R. Sheldon MacKenzie

... farther on up the side of the hill a little way. The inner three were special friends. Peter had sworn an oath never to deny his master, no matter who else did, no matter what should happen as a result of it. James and John had made a bold claim that they were prepared to share with Jesus whatever might happen to him anywhere. The three men, Peter, James and John, were the obvious men to be with Jesus when he most needed the support of close friends. He shared with them something of his terrible burden. He ...

2364. "The Bitterness Of Betrayal"

Mark 14:43-52, Psalm 55:1-23

Sermon

R. Sheldon MacKenzie

... , when there is nothing with which to back them up. And in this account of the arrest of Jesus Mark warned his readers against a confession of faith that comes too easily. Too easily that is, unless they understood the consequences of what it was they were claiming to be. In the midst of their common sufferings he wanted them to see that even within the first circle of disciples there was betrayal and defection in the face of danger. When Jesus is betrayed it is always his followers who do it. No one else ...

2365. Easter Sunday

Luke 24:33-41 · Psalm 23 · Acts 4:33-36

Bulletin Aid

Jack Brownlee

... and had a bit more success than his father, but Joseph was discouraged by his lack of progress as well as his lack of profit. When the word came of his inheritance he quickly disposed of his household goods, sailed to Joppa, made the short trip inland to claim his inheritance, and become -- well, he was not sure what he was to become. While he told himself that he would celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem and then press on with his life, when he met his neighbors he decided that he might just stay a little ...

2366. Lent 4

Luke 13:18-22 · Joel 2:12-19

Bulletin Aid

Jack Brownlee

... had come, she saw Sarah's dress (she thought) slip into the side street in the direction of the sound. ____________ "Men of Emmatha and the Decapolis," began the Rabbi in his address to the men gathered for Sabbath service, "we must be wary of those who claim to teach the law but do not follow it. There is one, currently, who has taken extreme liberties with the law. We believe, also, that he may be guilty of blasphemy." The Rabbi went on to explain to the men that major disruptions had occurred in most ...

2367. Lent 5

Luke 21:1-4 · Psalm 36:5-9

Bulletin Aid

Jack Brownlee

... Christ we have received the full love of God. Hymn "Jesus, The Very Thought Of Thee" Prayer Of Confession (Unison) O God of all people and places, you are present within this room, within our lives, within our hearts. But we are self-centered, seeking our own way, claiming and clinging to things as if they were more important than that which you give. While we seek to live at peace with all, O Lord, we often fail to stand up for what is just and right. Help us, Lord, to believe that your presence makes our ...

2368. Creative Preaching

Sermon

Michael Rogness

... haven't learned to live with themselves, say nothing of learning to live with anybody in other areas. As the second act begins there is a large piece of cardboard across the chancel, painted to look like a stone wall. A stranger comes down the aisle and claims to have the blueprint for what the designer really had in mind for the construction materials. Much to their surprise he tells them: "A bridge ... Not a wall, not a wall at all. We have far too many of them as it is. We need more bridges -- bridges ...

2369. Uncle Hilbert

1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Psalm 19:1-14

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

... that said Packer Backer, and long bushy squirrel tails dangling from each handlebar. It was the envy of every kid in town. Hilbert used to let us ride it sometimes on the way home from school, until his mother found out, and then that was the end of that. Hilbert claimed to be more than 50 years old. None of us kids believed he could possibly be that old until one Saturday morning, when his mother was gone, he invited some of us up to his room in the second story of their house and let us watch while he ...

2370. The Spirit Bird

Galatians 1:23b

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

... campfire Johnny's friends lured the bird into the woods with some bread left from their supper and then pelted it with sticks and stones until it was dead. Johnny watched from behind a tree, and later, when the director asked him what had happened to the bird, he claimed that he had had nothing to do with it. The next day the old counselor and several of the campers carried the bird's body out to the meadow and laid it gently in a shallow grave beneath the shade of a small pine tree. Then they joined hands ...

2371. Hidden Treasure

Matthew 6:19-21; 13:44

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

... Bible and by following the teachings of Jesus. The time that we give to this study is an investment in obtaining the great treasure of true life that God offers to all who will seek it. The great treasure is offered to us, but we have to accept it and claim it as our own. It is sort of like a treasure hunt that we enter into as long as we live. Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures ...

2372. I Am The Bread Of Life

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Brett Blair

... a strong rabbinic belief that when the Messiah came he, too, would bring manna from heaven. This had been the superman act of Moses and surely, they reasoned, the Messiah could surpass that. In other words, the Jews were challenging Jesus to substantiate his claim of Messiahship by raining bread from heaven. Some might immediately say, well, was not the feeding of the 5000 a miracle in their eyes? Yes and no. They were impressed--no doubt about that--but, you see, Jesus’ critics argue that he merely fed ...

2373. Advent 1

Mark 13:32-37, Mark 13:1-31, Psalm 80:1-19

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... you have declared yourself to be our kin, One who has ransomed us. In some ways you are like a permissive parent, who allows us enough room to get ourselves into trouble when we follow undisciplined instincts. Too often we are more like people who claim no affinity to you than like a people who bear your name. Forgive our tendency to slough off responsibility for our decision. Excuse the incompleteness of many of our confessions. We trust you still because of Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen. Declaration of God ...

2374. Holy Trinity Sunday

John 3:1-21, Psalm 29:1-11

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... . We are estranged if we deny your Son Jesus. We are orphaned if we are not bound to you by the Spirit. Mercifully keep us in your family through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS Hear the Good News! Our lower nature has no claim upon us. We are not obliged to live on that level. All who are moved by the Spirit of God are children of God. Friends, believe the Good News! In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. EXHORTATION By the Spirit put to death all the base pursuits of the ...

2375. Are You Convinced?

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Larry Powell

... convinced that the great work of the kingdom is not something which is designed for the Holy Spirit to do alone. "Concerning judgment (v. 11)." Christians have long professed to believe in a day of accountability. Such a day is not marked on the calendar nor even claimed to occur in proximity to some speculated date. All the more reason to be ready for the event whenever it should occur. All the more reason to, as the saints of yesteryear put it, "warn others of the wrath to come." Someone has told that the ...

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