Sermon and Worship Resources

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Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

In the middle of the 20th century the fireside chat became a popular event: dignitaries who sit down before a fireplace, and there, in a more or less person-to-person manner, address the listeners. The intention, of course, is that each hearer will feel it is a personal message on an important mater. By radio Roosevelt had his fireside chats. Jimmy Carter did the same thing, only by television. Bi...

2. "A" Lamb to "the" Lamb

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let h...

3. A Word Of Encouragement!

Acts 13:13-52

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

There are a lot of folks around these days who seem to be ready to unload a bit of their discouragement and depression upon you. A man tells that it seemed every time he walked in the door, as he came home from work, his wife would pounce on him with long tales of woe about the day's calamities and problems. Finally, he sat down and talked about it with her. He said that, after some discussion, sh...

4. Are There Two Baptisms?

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Misinformation is often passed around as Gospel truth. It is like the two little boys who were talking between themselves. One of them couldn’t understand why they had holes in their tummies - where did their belly-buttons co...

5. Are You A Basket Case?

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

We have a large, cylindrical basket by our fireplace which holds firewood. And we have another wonderful basket, perhaps a half-bushel in size, which was given to us by friends. It is hand-woven and crafted by a 92-year-old man who cut the tree, shaved off the strips, soaked them, and then created this lovely container; solid and stable, a treasure. I have a bread-basket; dainty, finely woven, and...

6. Beware! Caution! Danger!

Acts 14:8-20

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

We may not always heed warning signs, but we still like to feel we have been told of approaching danger. We see signs everywhere that read: "Beware of the Dog," "Watch Your Step," "Danger! Thin Ice," "No Smoking. Oxygen in Use," "Watch for Wet Paint," "Dangerous Crossing," "Caution! No Lifeguard on Duty," and on and on they go. One cannot help but recall the story of the preacher who stood and ann...

7. Bitter-Sweet Recollections

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away. I gave my back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide my face from sham...

8. Christians Die Well

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good...

9. Consecrate That Trumpet to God

Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:1-13

Illustration

Barbara Brokhoff

While preaching a revival in Florida, a man told me that, as a young man, he had played with Artie Shaw's band. His father had been a concert pianist, but neither of them knew the first thing about Christian music. One day the young man was invited by a friend to play his trumpet at a huge Billy Sunday evangelistic crusade. He did it, and then, at the close of the service, as he stood there watchi...

10. Death Is Damned!

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly." In a secular society, Easter cannot even begin to compete with Christmas! But we try. Sometimes even Christians are ignorant of the facts of Easter. In Clearwater, Florida, a man and his wife took us out t...

11. Death Of A Dream - Birth Of A Church

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Genesis 11:1-9 This Old Testament lesson is a story of failure, but there is a great truth for all of us in it. I had a dear friend who used to say, "Every man is my teacher. I either learn what to do from him, or what not to do." It reminds me of a cartoon, which showed a bum sitting on a park bench; his clothes were tattered and torn, his toes were coming out of his shoes - the stereotypical hob...

12. Deep Depression Or High Hope?

1 Kings 9:1-9

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Hope, for many, is as futile as the philosophy in a "Peanuts" comic strip which showed Linus and Charlie Brown leaning on a fence, talking. Linus says, "I guess it's wrong to be worrying about tomorrow, maybe we should think only about today." Charlie Brown interrupts him to say, "No, that's giving up. I'm still hoping that yesterday will get better!" A lot of people have no hope for today, and a...

13. Defended By the Divine

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Women have sometimes had the reputation for doing some pretty dumb things. My preacher-husband, John, and I drove to a preaching mission in Mississippi recently. Three different times, the same day, we found ourselves behind a woman (a different one each time) who signaled to make a turn, then turned the opposite direction from her signal. It reminded me of the person who said "When a woman sticks...

14. Easter - Fact And Fiction!

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

A Family Circus comic strip shows the children of the family on Easter morning. One asks, "Who laid all these eggs?" The reply of another child is, "The Easter Bunny." "Who colored them?" Again the reply, "The Easter Bunny." The first child asks again, "Who gave us the jelly beans?" The reply, "The Easter Bunny." The family is then shown going to church. In church, the minister is preaching, and a...

15. Faith isn’t Easy - But it Works!

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves." So Abram went, as ...

16. Fasting In A Fast-food World

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

If I told you that I have a sure-fire, effortless plan whereby you can lose 25 pounds, with no exercise, and no money, would I have your attention? I thought so. You can't pick up a Woman's Day magazine, Good Housekeeping, McCalls, Red-book, Ladies' Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, or even the National Enquirer without finding at least one article on how to lose weight. It's a multi-mi...

17. For Losers And Cowards

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

You know what a "loser" is, don’t you? A loser is a woodpecker in a petrified forest. A loser is a guy who sticks his hand out to make a left turn and smacks a traffic cop in the face. A loser is a guy who plays hide-and-seek and nobody goes to look for him. That’s what Gideon was - a real "loser," before he teamed up with God. This story is a lesson for all losers, all little people, all those wh...

18. Fresh Bread And New Wine

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Stories of holy communion events abound. Someone has said that the difference between a Lutheran and a United Methodist is that a Lutheran uses real wine and a United Methodist uses real bread. It is true that Lutherans use real wine and United Methodists seem to feel that Jesus turned the water at Cana into Welch's grape juice; that Lutherans use the small, round pressed wafer and the United Meth...

19. God Can’t Keep a Good Secret!

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord, and he set me down in the midst of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me round among them; and behold, there were very many upon the valley; and lo, they were very dry. And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord God, thou knowest." Again he said to me, "Prophesy to these...

20. God Made Me Do It!

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"God sent me," "God made me" - strange words for most people to say! We say instead, "The devil made me do it!" It is almost remarkable then, that in a few short verses in the text, Joseph says four times: "God sent me," "God made me." Joseph feels that all of his life is under the guiding hand of God. Since God is his master, Joseph feels that no matter what happens - of good or bad - sadness or...

21. Grace Is What Christ Has Done

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

We live in a high-gloss, fix-the-outside, cover-up-the-spots world. We believe in making good first impressions, so we are very adept at cover-ups and shining up the outside. We have cover-ups in politics, in the world of high finance, in big business, and in education. Even if you buy peaches or strawberries from a road-side fruit stand you have to watch lest they have put the smaller, maybe rott...

22. Grapes Of Wrath Or Grace?

1 Kings 21:1-29

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

A musician in a camp meeting where I preached wrote a country-gospel song titled, "Sin Will Take You Farther Than You Want To Go and Keep You Longer Than You Want To Stay." Nineteen words is a tad long for a song title, but it does state a succinct and compelling truth: sin will get you in serious trouble. In this lesson, Ahab is king and is married to the wicked, Baal-worshipping Jezebel, and co...

23. Hard Questions!

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Children sometimes ask cute questions, but often they are also incisive. In Children's Letters to God, a child inquires, "Dear God, Where does everybody come from? I hope you explain it better than my father. Ward." Another child queries, "Dear God, Did you mean for a giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? Norma." Then, there are those persons who, in the presence of larger questions, ca...

24. Healing For The Past

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Occasionally I hear a senior citizen complain, "I just can't remember names like I used to," or, "I can't remember a thing anymore." Reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon strip I saw some time ago. Charlie Brown says, "My grandfather loves to sing hymns. He can remember the words to over a hundred hymns." Linus asks, "Does he sing in the choir?" Charlie replies, "No, he can't remember where the church i...

25. "Hold Your Horses!"

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"... wait for the Promise of the Father." When you were a child, did your parents ever say to you, as mine said to me, "Hold your horses!" I must have heard that phrase literally hundreds of times as I was growing up: when I wanted school to be out for the summer, when I fretted because a meal was not ready, when I wanted to do something exciting "now," when I spoke too hastily, when I demanded s...

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