Sermon and Worship Resources

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2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Donald Zelle

To live at the time of a building boom is exciting! House plans are spread out on the coffee table like an evening paper. Mealtimes are interspersed with comments on a new idea. Caterpillars, cement trucks, carpenters, and utility people make their noisy way to and from the building sites. At every new hole in the ground or downtown construction site, people ask, "What's going up here?" King Davi...

2. Called in From Off-stage

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Donald Zelle

The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. "And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to t...

3. From Rooftop to Valley and to Heaven Again!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Donald Zelle

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and all the King's men Could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. This nursery rhyme tells the story of King David of our text. Those who live in the crowded cities, surrounded by privacy fences, can easily imagine how it happened. Of course, it is not proper to set up a stepladder against a privacy fence to see w...

4. Jerusalem: City for All Time

2 Samuel 5:1-5

Sermon

Donald Zelle

"If you want one simple word to symbolize all of Jewish history, that word would be Jerusalem." So wrote Teddy Kollek in 1981, then mayor of the city. He explained it further. "I do not think you can find any Israelis who are willing to give up Jerusalem. They cannot and will not. This beautiful golden city is the heart and soul of the Jewish people. You cannot live without heart and soul." Simila...

5. Life Always Springs New!

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Donald Zelle

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord, and 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 bo...

6. Our Time Will Come!

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Sermon

Donald Zelle

Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul's servants said to him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is skilful in playing the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well." So Saul said to...

7. The Benefits of Christianity for Nonbelievers

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Sermon

Donald Zelle

"Oh, I don't believe in all of this religious stuff," said a young woman, planning her wedding with a pastor. "I just want to be married!" How many brides are like that, we don't know. If the estimate is correct, that 90 percent of all weddings take place within churches with a clergyperson officiating, then there must be many such brides, because 90 percent is far greater than the percent of Amer...

8. Uzziah is Dead!

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Donald Zelle

Those who look to this well-known Old Testament lesson for some new insight on the interrelatedness of the Persons of the Godhead, look in vain. There is nothing here that especially commends this text for Trinity Sunday. However, there is much for our consideration. "In the year that King Uzziah died ..." These opening words may seem incidental to the rest of this autobiographical account, but t...

9. Walking On the Knees

2 Samuel 7:18-29

Sermon

Donald Zelle

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in thy eyes, O Lord God; thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast shown me future generations, O Lord God! And what more can David say to thee? For thou knowest thy servant, O Lord God! Bec...

10. Walking the Valley of the Lost

2 Samuel 1:17-27

Sermon

Donald Zelle

After the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag; And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said:"Thy glory, O Israel, is slain uponthy high places!How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Ga...

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