Showing 226 to 250 of 769 results
Sermon
Larry Powell
Lent is the traditional period of spiritual introspection and abstinence observed by Christians in remembrance of the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, it includes the forty days, excluding Sundays, preceding Easter and is also symbolic of the forty days Christ fasted in the wilderness. Consequently, we have come today not to the first Sunday "of" Lent, but th...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
Carlo Rienzi, an attorney with no prior mission or court case, had never been tested. He was fearful and apprehensive, because he had never been challenged in his chosen profession. He did not want the trial that would test his will and challenge his skill, but he knew it must eventually come. When the case came, it seemed an impossible task for him. A young woman had shot the mayor of a small vil...
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
The season of Lent begins with ashes, a symbolic smudge on the forehead to remind us of our mortality and of the frail, fleeting nature of human existence. Likewise, the entire Lenten season has solemn, serious overtones, a time for intentional study, prayer, fasting, spiritual disciplines and the preparation of the soul for the approaching events of Holy Week. But at the very start of Lent there...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Even if you’re not Irish, and the most Irish thing you’ve ever done is eat Lucky Charms, you know all about leprechauns. The thing everyone knows about leprechauns is they love gold. The thing everyone knows about gold is that in Irish tradition pots of it languish at the “end of the rainbow.” At the end of every rainbow, guarded by a leprechaun, is a legendary “pot of gold.” Sounds like easy pick...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
Genesis 9:1–17 spells out in more explicit detail what God revealed to Noah in 8:20–22 about the postflood stage. That God talks to Noah as he does in verse 1 (“Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth”) indicates that Noah is a second Adam. These are the same imperatives addressed to Adam in chapter 1. But the world of Genesis 9 is not exactly the same as the world of Genesis 1. For ...
Understanding Series
John E. Hartley
God’s Blessing on Noah and His Offspring: After the great deluge God gives to Noah and his sons the same blessing he gave to humans at their creation (1:28), empowering them to prosper and to replenish the earth. Further, we learn that humans continue to bear the image of God; each person possesses intrinsic value.Yet God introduces three drastic changes. First, God grants humans permission to eat...
Sermon
King Duncan
One of the best known stories in all literature is the story of Noah and the Ark. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the more modern version of that story. Let me give you an abbreviated version as posted by somebody on the Internet: The Lord spoke to Noah and said, “Noah, in six months I’m going to make it rain until the whole world is covered with water. But I want to save a few good people a...
Sermon
King Duncan
Do you remember Kipling's classic story titled "Letting the Jungle In"? It is the story of a group of people who went into the jungle, made a clearing, brought their livestock, planted their crops, and built their homes. For awhile it was a veritable paradise, until the rain years came and the jungle crept back. Wild animals killed their stock. The prolific vegetation of the jungle moved in faster...
Sermon
King Duncan
We are all familiar with MURPHY'S LAW, "If anything can go wrong it will." Murphy's Law is the inspiration for a new book by Paul Dickson, titled THE OFFICIAL RULES AT HOME. Here is a sample of laws, rules, and observations collected by Dickson: Rabbe's Rule of the Bedroom: The spouse who snores louder always falls asleep first. Dickson's Gardening Discovery: When weeding, the best way to make s...
Sermon
King Duncan
Jack Coe was a popular evangelist in the first half of the twentieth century. Like many popular evangelists of the time, Coe held his services in a tent. Coe’s tent was a massive structure which would hold ten thousand people. One day Coe had a dream in which he saw a flood. The dream troubled him so much that he told his wife about it. Later, when he was conducting a crusade in Kansas City, he d...
Sermon
"When the (rain)bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." (Genesis 9:16-17) God’s Covenant of mercy extends to all Creation. Noah’s flood was no ordinary flo...
Sermon
King Duncan
If you have more than one child in your family, you have probably faced a familiar dilemma. A mother was telling about her three boys. "My boys are very loyal to each other," she said. When one of them misbehaves, the others will not tell on him." Her friend asked, "How do you know which one to punish?" "It's not too hard," she replied. "When one of them does something wrong, we send all three t...
Bulletin Aid
Frank Ramirez
Call To Worship Storms are raging all about, And destruction seems too near. Dark dissolves and so does doubt. See God's rainbow shining clear. Gather promise people, raise Both your hands in joyful praise! Collect The promises of God are sure and true. The world is a secure system, placed in our hands. As your stewards we will treasure this special gift, nurturing it that we might present it to ...
Bulletin Aid
B. David Hostetter
CALL TO WORSHIP Look for signs of the covenant which God makes with us and our children to endless generations. No one who hopes in God will be put to shame. PRAYER OF CONFESSION Savior-God, at whose right hand sits the Risen Christ, having received the submission of angels; without our baptism we could not come before you in good conscience. Without the death of Christ for our sins, we would be ...
Bulletin Aid
James Wilson
Call To Worship Leader: Come, let all who have known God's mercy gather now for worship! People: God sought us out even though we were still unworthy and sinful. Leader: God is indeed merciful and great and restores us before our enemies. People: For we are a witness before all who have eyes to see of God's love. Leader: Then let our hearts and voices be lifted in joyful praise and song. All: Bles...
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: Genesis 9:8-17 Theme: God’s first universal covenant Exegetical note: The covenant depicted in this priestly version of the flood story is unprecedented in the Old Testament with respect to its universal scope: it is made with "every living creature that is of all flesh upon the earth," which makes it to that extent a type for the New Covenant in Christ. (That aspect is more produc...
Sermon Aid
Russell F. Anderson
Theme: God's good news. God shows his graciousness through the covenant he established through Noah. God would never again destroy the world through flood. In the Gospel Jesus announces the kingdom of God. All we have to do is repent and believe the good news. COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 9:8-17 Humans become so corrupt that Yahweh drowns them all in a great flood, except for Noah and his f...
Children's Sermon
B. Kathleen Fannin
Object: Ribbons tied into bows. Lesson: Covenant; God's care. This morning I need all of you to help me understand a verse of scripture. It's from the ninth chapter of Genesis, verse 13. It says, I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When God said to Noah, "I have set my bow in the clouds," what kind of 'bow' did God mean? Was it the k...
Bulletin Aid
B. David Hostetter
READINGS Psalter - Psalm 25:1-10 First Lesson—God established with Noah the covenant of the rainbow. Genesis 9:8-17 Second Lesson—Peter says that the water of the flood and the water of baptism both take away sin. 1 Peter 3:18-22 Gospel—After his baptism by John the Baptizer Jesus begins forty days of temptation in the wilderness. Mark 1:9-15 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Ch...
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
Having survived the floodwaters of God's righteous wrath, Noah acts as the human representative for a series of covenant renewal rituals. Genesis 8:20-22 establishes the covenant between God and humanity despite any evil thoughts or deeds that human beings may enact in the future. In chapter 9:1-7 God reiterates the role of humans as the gardeners of Eden. The third covenant, the so-called "covena...
Sermon
Ron Lavin
There was a man, let's call him Rod, who was a fine woodworker. He made cabinets, tables, and mantels for family, friends, and fellow church members. One day his pastor asked him to come to his house and reconstruct a cabinet over his new refrigerator. The new refrigerator was taller than the old one. Rod agreed. When he came to do the work his pastor and his pastor's wife were not at home. They h...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
As Lent begins let your congregation reflect not just on the private, individual journey to the cross, but on the cosmic, communal nature of God's redeeming activity. This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is traditionally thought of as a special period of time, once again forty days, set aside for introspection, self-denial, prayer, and study as the events of Passion week and Easter Su...
Sermon
Ken Lentz
A man from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, died and went to heaven. Saint Peter was directing the activities and explained to him, "Each Friday we have a get-together for the new members. To break the ice, every new member must make a speech to all the others here, on any subject desired." The man from Johnstown said, "I think I'll talk on the Johnstown flood." Saint Peter replied, "I think it's all righ...
Sermon
King Duncan
It sounds like a rock group, doesn’t it--“Noah and the Robots?” Some of you probably think the title of my message is a bit frivolous. It may be, but the subject matter we are going to discuss today is not frivolous at all. I read something interesting about the famous novelist Charles Dickens. It seems that Dickens wrote all his great stories in installments. Week after week, Dickens would spin ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Last April a 9-year-old African-American lad named Willie was kidnapped from his driveway in Atlanta, Georgia. After the man grabbed him, Willie explained later, and threw him in the back of his car, Willie just kept “praising God” with a song he learned in Sunday school. It was a song by Hezekiah Walker titled “Every Praise.” While he was singing, Willie said, his kidnapper yelled expletives at ...
Showing 226 to 250 of 769 results