Sermon and Worship Resources

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Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

This is one of those times when our gospel lesson tells us too little! To understand today's parable we must first understand the reference to "these things." Events previously reported are the important antecedents to today's reading. "As they heard these things, he [Jesus] proceeded to tell a parable." Luke assumes that his readers know what "things" they (and Jesus' original audience) have been...

2. A Lesson From Prayers Overheard

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

We Watched His Eyes! It was late New Year's Day when the showdown finally came. The number one and two college bowl teams in the nation were set to fight it out in the Fiesta Bowl at Tempe, Arizona, deciding who would lay claim to being the "Beast of the East" and the best in the nation. Among those who predict such things, there was agreement that the nation's number one team would remain numbe...

3. A Plan For Difficult Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Appropriately Impressed! They were impressed! Mark's gospel quotes the comment Jesus overhead in the opening of today's lesson: "Look Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" The contemporary Roman/Jewish historian Josephus writes that the temple "appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain, for all that was not overlaid with gold was of purest white." This temple built by Her...

4. Apocalyptic Literature

Luke 21:5-38

Illustration

Theodore F. Schneider

This is a style of writing popular among the Hebrews from the days of the exile and into the first century. There was the belief that the world of this "age" was evil and unredeemable. As the next "age" of righteousness breaks in with God's intervention, the powers of evil will rage until they are finally defeated and the righteous of God are vindicated. There were, of course, many variations on t...

5. At The Name Of Jesus

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

It was the season of the Passover, one of the three feasts of obligation for the faithful Jews of the first century. Jerusalem overflowed with religious pilgrims - people who by their very definition took the things of faith seriously. Some authorities estimate that there could have been as many as 2,700,000. In one such Passover season, it was reported that 256,500 lambs were sacrificed, about on...

6. Captive To The Word Of God

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

The Zealots had made a courageous stand, holding off General Silva and his elite Roman legion for more than a year. Jerusalem had already fallen months ago, and the mesa named Masada, along the west coast of the Dead Sea, was the site of the last pocket of Jewish resistance. Come morning, that, too, would change. The wooden walls were burning, and within the day's first light the Roman battering ...

7. Christ the King Sunday

Luke 23:26-43

Illustration

Theodore F. Schneider

There was a sense of anxiety as our seminary classmates gathered that day. To a person they had been surprised when the professor announced that there would be a final exam. Everyone was asking, "How can you have a final exam in preaching?" How could one prepare? What sort of questions might be asked? Throughout the year there had been lectures on sermon preparation and style, but mostly it had be...

8. Crown Him Lord!

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

9. Historical Background

Luke 17:11

Illustration

Theodore F. Schneider

There was open hostility among Jews and Samaritans in Jesus' day. Enmity had been brewing for centuries, and especially since the return of the exiles from Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E. Though it may be that by Jesus' day few remembered the stories of its origin, but the hostility was still there and mutually shared. Believed by tradition to be the remnant of the lost tribes of Israel whic...

10. Hope That Did Not Disappoint

Luke 7:11-17; 18:1-8

Illustration

Theodore F. Schneider

Our being able to hang in there in the difficult times is determined by the nature of our hope. For Christians, it has to do with our holding to the promises of God, a holding that is determined by our confidence in the integrity of God. Here alone our hope rests, as do all of life's possibilities and probabilities. Only in this way can we talk of a hope that does not disappoint us, even if that h...

11. Our Living Hope

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Not every question requires an answer. Sometimes the hope is that there will be no answer. Questioning can be "posturing," that is, taking a position rather than soliciting information. By the questions raised, information is given as well as asked. Often playing to the audience of listeners or bystanders, questions are intended to manipulate others while vindicating the posture of the speaker. On...

12. Saints Alive!

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

This is the day when our vision of the church sweeps the horizons of history and of heaven, all at the same time. We embrace with gratitude uncountable yesterdays. They have been the arenas of faithfulness for God and for his people. In these days God has worked our salvation faithfully and with mercy. In these days generation upon generation of the saints have lived and faithfully served, preserv...

13. Sermon Opener - To Be Sure!

Luke 17:11-19

Illustration

Theodore F. Schneider

I am always impressed with the litany-like phrases Martin Luther uses in The Small Catechism as petition by petition he explains the Lord's Prayer: To be sure, God's name is holy itself ...To be sure, the kingdom of God comes of itself, without our prayers ...To be sure, the good and gracious will of God is done without our prayer ...To be sure, God provides daily bread, even to the wicked, witho...

14. Sermon Opener - What Will He Find?

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Theodore F. Schneider

Every pastor has been touched and troubled when there have been those in the congregation who suddenly have faced unemployment. Like an ambush from two sides, unemployment attacks us with the fear of financial insecurity on the one side and the loss of self-esteem on the other. Job searching can deepen both. In just such a moment I encountered Brian. He is a competent and creative person whose ski...

15. The Glorious Company

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Harmless fun some call it. Others suggest it is never harmless or funny to joke about evil, even if we know that the witches and gremlins, devils and werewolves who roam our streets are the little children of our neighborhood, and the glaring faces in our windows are no more than hollowed-out pumpkins whose candles will not even last the evening. While there are some October Scrooges who bemoan t...

16. The Signs Of Salvation

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Would that we could know what Zacchaeus was thinking as he ran ahead of the crowd that day in Jericho! What would he have known or believed about the Galilean preacher? What did he think of the crowds that thronged the streets of Jericho, straining to glimpse the teacher as he journeyed toward Jerusalem? Could he have remembered that more than 500 years earlier Isaiah had promised there would be a...

17. The Spontaneous Routine

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

The Duty Of A Nation History records that the Pilgrims celebrated a good harvest as early as 1621, and that Massachusetts celebrated a thanksgiving day now and again until the 18th century. But our first President, George Washington, is credited with establishing our first national day of prayer and thanksgiving. By proclamation President George Washington set aside November 26, 1790, as a day of...

18. To Be Sure

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

19. What Will He Find ... When He Comes?

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

20. What Will He Find… When He Comes? - Shorter Version

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

In Paul’s great letter to the Corinthians he addresses many issues: conflicts, divisions and hardships abound on every side. The crowning achievement of that letter is the 13th chapter. The chapter on love. At the end of that chapter Paul says that of all the qualities of our faith there are three most important: Faith, hope and love. I would like to spend our time this morning on hope. In diffic...

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