Sermon and Worship Resources

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Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... and hyenas and night hags in the Bible, did you? The King James Version says "the screech owl," but I kind of like the dark mystery and graphic impact of the "night hag." This is powerful stuff. Isaiah uses graphic imagery to capture the feeling of darkness and destruction, the recompense for evil and sin. The Welsh poet R. S. Thomas died in 2000. He was a parish priest as well as a poet. He was not well known to me, but Peggy Rosenthal called him the "finest Christian poet of our day." When he first went ...

2. The Light of Christ

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... understanding. Handel's Messiah is an integral part of this season as scripture comes alive through music and the arts. Thomas Kinkade, hailed as the "Painter of Light," is a committed Christian who gives hope and inspiration through his art: ... all nations might turn from darkness to light. Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12), and so are we, his people. Just as Isaiah brought the message of God's light and salvation to his dark times, so may you as God's people today, bear witness faithfully to Jesus ...

3. Restoration Frustration

Isaiah 63:7-9

Sermon

Tony Everett

... desperately to the sides of the board. "Pa-Pa, you have to move to the center so we don't fall off!" exclaimed Thomas. "Yeah, move to the center so we can play," pleaded Stephen. Pa-Pa did. They played. Nobody fell off. Move to the center ... presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. — Isaiah 63:9 There may have been, in little Mark's prayer, a lot of "Christmasing" going on during the last few weeks. There may still be some ...

4. Fleeced

Judges 6:1-40, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth. "There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.” (Isaiah 48:21-22) “Peace. Do not be afraid.” (Judges 6) The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are, as all other gospel stories, rooted in the metaphors and stories of the Hebrew scriptures. The story of Thomas encounter with Jesus is no exception. When you look to the first testament stories, you find two kinds of stories, twin stories if you will -- stories in ...

5. What's So Great about Going to Church

Isaiah 6:1-8

Sermon

James W. Moore

... to ministry. Let’s take a look at these together… one at a time. I. FIRST OF ALL, GOING TO CHURCH DRAWS US CLOSER TO GOD. Isaiah came to church that day and he had one of those mountain-top experiences with God… an experience much too powerful to express in words… an ... news of all time… and together as a church, family, the disciples all experienced it… all that is, except Thomas! Thomas missed it for one reason and one reason only. He wasn’t there! He was absent! Now, we know in His ...

6. Is It Time Yet?

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

Tony Everett

... invites the people of God to "come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!" (Isaiah 5). That invitation is also given to us, today. Advent is a time to remember how God has been present and active in our experience; times when we were certain of Christ's presence and guidance. At the end of each day, the parents of Thomas (age seven) and Stephen (age five) always ask them what they remember most about their daily activities. After a day of riding their body boards on high ocean waves, their mother asked ...

7. 2025 Lent Sermon Series

Sermon

Various Authors

... Tempted – Luke 4:1-13 3. When We Are Uncertain about the Future - Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 4. When the Drought Gets Really Bad – Isaiah 55:1-9 5. When We Feel Lost – Luke 15:11-32 6. When We Don’t Know God – Philippians 3:1-11 7. When We ... Home – Genesis 12:1-8 4. The Evangelist Has a Shady Past – John 4:1-26 5. Playing the Blame Game – John 9:1-12 6. Daring Thomas – John 11:1-16 7. The Triumph and the Tragedy – Matthew 21:1-11 8. Why Are You Here? – 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 9. Eyewitness ...

8. Live Spelled Backward

Matthew 26:14-27:66

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... my throne above the stars of God... I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14). After that, God was forced to expel Lucifer from the heavenly habitat and Lucifer, whose name means "light," fell into ... Thomas, and shaking him out of his sleep. "Wake up, Thomas," he whispers, "I want to talk with you. I have observed you, Thomas. You have a sharp mind. You are a thinker, Thomas. Thomas, don't you think Jesus has got this thing all wrong? I remember, Thomas ...

9. Sitting Shiva Behind Closed Doors

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and/or Psalm 98 Psalm 30 Prayers: The Kaddish and the Tziduk Hadin Song of Moses (Exodus 15) Song of Judah (Isaiah 26) Gospel of John: Jesus’ First Appearances to His Disciples in a Locked Room The Scripture in Story: “Disciples in Hiding ... Him go and to instead go to tell the others. Later in Jesus’ second appearance to the disciples in the locked room, Jesus bids Thomas to touch and see. In both cases, Jesus is breaking through boundaries that cannot contain Him, even while proving He is there in ...

10. The Reversal of the Deuteronomic Curses and Blessings: Replacing Law with Faith

Romans 9:30--10:21

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... se.2In other words, they allow for a more positive understanding of the Torah in this passage. Thomas Schreiner, however, provides a formidable critique of this newer approach. First, the “works” that Paul mentions in ... 20–22).3 10:11–13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Here Paul provides the assurance of salvation. Quoting Isaiah 28:16 in 10:11, which assures Jews that if they trust God, he will vindicate them at the judgment, Paul applies that hope to Christians ...

11. The Holy Spirit As The Dove Of Peace

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... and every person is his child (Genesis 15:5). Israel has a vision of all people drawn into community around the will of God (Isaiah 2:2-4). The church in the New Testament has a parallel vision of all persons being drawn under the lordship and fellowship of Jesus ... have is preserved by a balance of terror based on the might of weaponry. What kind of peace is that? Several years ago, Thomas Edison said, "What the mind of man can create, the heart of man can control." Can we? That seems to be today's question ...

12. John the Baptist

Luke 3:1-20

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... to God, and in this it prepared the way for Christian baptism. 3:4 A voice of one calling in the wilderness. Luke’s full quotation of Isaiah 40:3–5 (cf. the shorter quotations in Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; John 1:23) emphasizes John’s role as the one who prepares for ... Baptist is an outstanding example of a religious leader standing up to a political leader. Biography: Thomas Becket. Thomas Becket, or Saint Thomas of Canterbury (1118–70), was made archbishop of Canterbury under the reign of King Henry II ...

13. The Renewal of Life

Isaiah 43:18-25

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:18-19). God will provide the proper route that will allow us to renew our lives. This certainly must have been a comforting ... renew our lives and not be fearful of letting go are not easy prospects. A true story about the great American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, can show us what the goal should be. In December 1914, Edison's laboratory was virtually destroyed by a fire ...

14. When We Feel Unwanted

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:3-10) So Palm Sunday was a celebration, but it was short lived. And very soon the innocent Galilean was being tried before ... see her. But when he opened the door, the room was gloomy and dark. And from the bed came the voice of his wife: “No, Thomas! Come no nearer! I have resolved that you will never again see me by the light of day!” He hesitated, and then turned slowly ...

15. God Shaves With A Borrowed Razor

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... use the pagan king Cyrus to accomplish his will. He's going to shave with this borrowed razor. I think it's marvelous, the way Isaiah states it. In verse 18 he says, the Lord will whistle for the fly which is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, ... has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at ...

16. Ignorance of the Bible

Illustration

Staff

... in the Bible, and 13% said they did not know whether Thomas is a book of the Bible or not. 65% correctly stated that Thomas is not a book of the Bible. 61% knew that Jonah is a book of the Bible, while 27% said it is not, and 12% had no idea. Among non-Christians, only 29% knew that the Book of Jonah could be found in the Bible, while 27% said it could not, and 34% were not sure. Three quarters of the Christians surveyed knew that the Book of Isaiah is located in the O.T., while 11% thought it is ...

17. An Announcement from the Wilderness

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... announcement by an angel that Mary will conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. This, says the angel, is to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah (7:14), “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). ... to take up a permanent residence in our lives, and that is the greatest gift that we can receive. Pastor C. Thomas Hilton once read of a Christmas pageant with a surprise ending. A certain church was performing Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol ...

18. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... to see something of that Rahab-like dynamic asserted on its behalf. The fact that figures such as Rahab are always defeated would provide Isaiah with one direction in which to take his rhetoric, but he goes for a more devastating one. The Egypt that had once been the ... promise brings a transition to lyricism. NRSV prints most of verses 19–33 as prose, NIV prints half as prose, while Thomas (Biblia Hebraica) lays out the whole as poetry. The lines are not very rhythmic and have little parallelism, but the ...

19. Let Me See Your Hands

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Robert Allen

... side I shall stand, I shall know him, I shall know him. By the print of the nails in his hand. Today, as we look with Thomas at the hands of Jesus, there are three things which I believe his hands say to us. I. The Hands Of Jesus Remind Us Of His ... is the hands of Jesus which remind us that the cross of Calvary was no picnic. Jesus went to that cross and suffered. Isaiah wrote of the Messiah, "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities." Whenever we doubt that Jesus suffered at ...

20. God’s Flowing and Our Ebbing

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... , and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) That’s Isaiah ebbing. In the original Broadway version of Carousel there was a song that for some reason never made it into the film version. The ... in feeling grace and forgiveness has more to do with our unwillingness to accept them than with God not bestowing them. Thomas John Carlisle is insightful: It is not enough to be forgiven though God is prompt. It may take longer to accept ...

21. Tastes Great, Less Filling - Sounds Good, Not True

Proverbs 23:29-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... wonder William Shakespeare said, "Oh God, that men would put an enemy in their mouth to steal away their brain." A woman once asked Thomas Edison, "Why don't you drink liquor?" Edison replied, "To take alcohol into the body is like putting sand on the bearings of ... , "A Christian Perspective on Wine-drinking," Bibliotheca Sacra, January-March, 1982, p. 47. 16 For example, the word is used in Isaiah 16:10: "No treaders will tread out wine in their presses." This refers to the juice that is being mashed out of ...

22. Easter 2

John 20:19-23, Acts 5:12-16, Acts 5:17-42, Job 42:1-6, Revelation 1:4-8, Revelation 1:9-20, John 20:24-31, Psalm 149:1-9

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." And again, pointing to John 20 and "doubting Thomas," Job says, "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see thee; therefore I despise myself and repent ... the other lectionaries, is on the vision of the risen Lord that John had on the island of Patmos, which was reminscent of Isaiah's vision in the temple. But it is the Christ who was crucified and rose on the third day, who reveals himself to ...

23. When Are You Coming?

Isaiah 63:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... that way. ISAIAH FELT FORSAKEN ... Isaiah felt forsaken, first of all, because of the hardships his people were enduring. His people sat in darkness awaiting a great light. ISAIAH ... in someone we love know Isaiah's frustration. It's hard ... Isaiah saw no hope unless God himself would intervene. "Mamma, Mamma, when are you coming?" MOST OF ALL, ISAIAH ... COME. That's the Good News for the day. Isaiah did not live to see the Messiah come, but ... Isaiah's people a sin has snared you and will not let you free. Perhaps God has ...

24. Easter 2

John 20:24-31, John 20:19-23, 1 Peter 1:1-12, Acts 2:14-41, Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... this psalm was composed in the post-exilic period because of (1) the close parallels (perhaps even literary relationship) between v. 4 and Isaiah 57:5-6; 65:4, (2) the presence of Aramaisms in vv. 5-6, and (3) the "wisdom" style of language and ... risen Lord. Verses 19-23 are an account of Jesus' appearance to the disciples in the locked room, vv. 24-29 narrate the skepticism of Thomas, and vv. 30-31 outline a new type of faith. The text can be outlined in the following manner: I. The Appearance to the ...

25. John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the meaning of "wholeness" that shalom contains within it. This wholeness, which is the gift of the "suffering servant" in Isaiah 53:5, is none other than the gift of salvation itself. In his second utterance (v.21), Jesus now passes what ... suggests he is far more than a corporeal body. Just as Thomas had emphatically rejected the good news offered to him by the disciples, so Jesus now emphatically backs Thomas into a confrontational corner. The "signs" Thomas had demanded are now pushed into his face as the ...

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