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Online Sermons

What is SermonSuite

SermonSuite, a division of CSS Publishing, is an online collection of professionally published lectionary and non-lectionary sermons, children's sermons, sermon illustrations, exegesis, homiletical resources, and worship resources which have been developed over the years to help pastors deliver relevant, high impact messages and worship resources.

This site's collection of professionally written, edited and published resources can be accessed online 24/7 giving pastors a versatile collection of fresh, innovative preaching and worship material for building dynamic messages that connect with your congregation and keep your pews filled.

Category  ▶ Sermons Children's
Material		 Illustrations Exegetical
Material		 Worship
Material
Subscription
▼              ▼		          
The Immediate Word Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SermonStudio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Emphasis     Yes Yes  
StoryShare Yes   Yes    
The Village Shepherd Yes Yes     Yes
CSSPlus   Yes      
Gospel Grams 1   Yes      
Gospel Grams 2   Yes      

Components

Click on any of the following component names to learn more...

     The Immediate Word

     SermonStudio

     Emphasis Online

     StoryShare

     The Village Shepherd

     CSS Plus

     Gospel Grams 1

     Gospel Grams 2


The Immediate Word

The Immediate Word a theological perspective on today's headlinesThe Immediate Word gives a theological perspective on today's headlines and popular culture for your sermon, children’s message, and worship service. The Immediate Word gives a theological perspective on today's headlines and popular culture.

Cutting Edge: THE IMMEDIATE WORD gives you the tools to be cutting edge ... to put you in touch with today's most critical issues and to aid you in crafting messages and presentations that will truly help your congregants understand the Gospel in the context of what is current and most important to them.

Collaborative: THE IMMEDIATE WORD is a unique collaboration of some of the sharpest, most contemporary clergy of our day in a web based service that gives you weekly information, inspiration, and presentation material.

Enabling: THE IMMEDIATE WORD will enable you to create messages about matters that your parishioners are discussing and concerned about.

Timely: THE IMMEDIATE WORD posts the topic of the week and a brief introduction on Monday and the final product on Tuesday afternoon, giving you time to digest the material and then incorporate them into your preparations for the coming Sunday service.

Satisfaction Guaranteed: THE IMMEDIATE WORD is not only guaranteed to satisfy you, we believe it will actually energize your ministry. We are so confident that you will find THE IMMEDIATE WORD to be such a great value that if you are not completely satisfied with the service we will refund the balance of your subscription payment, no questions asked.

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SermonStudio

SermonStudioSermonStudio, a flagship product of the site, is home to thousands of sermons, children’s messages, outlines, sermon illustrations, worship services, exigetical resources, dramas, prayers, preaching resources, and more.

Within this component, you will find high quality resources for all liturgical seasons from Advent/Christmas all the way through Thanksgiving. You’ll find lectionary and non-lectionary content as well as funeral and wedding homilies, communion and baptism homilies, special occasion messages and others based on Biblical and general themes.

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Emphasis Preaching Journal

Emphasis Preaching Journal Commentary and illustrations based on the LectionaryEmphasis Preaching Journal provides in-depth, scripturally sound, lectionary-based commentary on weekly texts, plus thousands of illustrations to help you create riveting messages.

For each Sunday, Emphasis writers and editors delve into the heart of the four lectionary readings, providing you with several fresh, solid ideas -- based squarely on the lectionary texts -- for creating messages that speak powerfully to your audience. The writers look for overall themes that hold the readings together, then they home in on the themes and the specific scripture links, suggesting multiple homiletical directions. Since a single idea each week may not provide what you are looking for at that particular time, Emphasis suggests several, giving you the opportunity to select the one that matches your specific needs.

Emphasis is like having a dedicated, thoroughly-versed research team right in your own study to help you create messages that are truly yours, and that speak powerfully to your audience.

Archives
Emphasis gives you even greater value by putting back issues of the journal at your fingertips. This access to the Emphasis archives, combined with the ability to find commentaries and illustrations based on lectionary, scripture, or keyword, makes Emphasis an efficient, indespensible, time-saving tool for your ministry.

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StoryShare

StoryShare -- stories of faith for preaching and teachingStoryShare is a treasure trove of good stories that relate authentic, life-changing experiences that demonstrate the Lord's power and presence. All of the content in StoryShare is lectionary based and serves to help you illustrate the weekly readings. The stories can be used as illustrations or, in some cases, as standalone homilies. Along with new stories being added every week, a subscription to StoryShare also gives you access to the archives, so if the new stories don't catch your eye, it's likely something from the archives will work for you.

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The Village Shepherd

The Village Shepherd sermons, children's stories and liturgies, and prayers based on the lectionaryThe Village Shepherd offers sermons, children's stories and liturgies, and prayers based on the lectionary. This content is sure to touch your heart, because they reflect the simple virtues and tranquil serenity that characterize Reverend Janice Scott's English countryside pastorate. The questions "Where is God in this particular situation?" and "Where does the Gospel story cross our own human story?" are always at the heart of these meditations -- but rather than finding overt answers, instead you will be gently led to make your own connections and discover the powerful ways in which God works. Janice Scott has the unique ability to find interesting details in ordinary life that illuminate scripture, while still challenging even the most intellectual reader. And that gift is precisely what also makes her an outstanding communicator with children.

For every Sunday in all three lectionary cycles you will find:
  • A homiletical message for each Gospel, Second Reading, and First Reading.
  • Children's stories based on the Gospel for the week.
  • Children's liturgy and story based on the Gospel. (The story included with the liturgy is different from the story mentioned above.
  • A group of intercessory prayers for your worship service.
The convenient search engine enables you to quickly find exactly what you need -- all the rich content of The Village Shepherd can be searched by lectionary, scripture, or keyword.

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CSS Plus

CSSPlus - children's sermons and activities based on the LectionaryCSSPlus (Children Sermon Service) offers great children's sermons for lectionary and non-lectionary users. CSSPlus is a subscription service of children's messages that provide one new children's message per week for each Sunday of the year based on the lectionary Gospel. In addition to the children’s homilies, each week includes several different children’s activities which are perfect for use in Sunday school or at home during the week.

Lectionary users will find this component useful because every entry is referenced and searchable by lectionary.

Non-lectionary users will find CSSPlus equally useful because every entry is also referenced and searchable by scripture reference and keyword.

So, whether you are a lectionary user or a non-lectionary user, this component will provide you a vast selection of great children's messages from first-rate communicators with children, and you'll quickly find just what you are looking for.

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Gospel Grams 1

Gospel Grams - children's activities for ages 5-7 based on lectionary textsGospel Grams 1 providers lectionary-based children’s activity bulletin to communicate the Gospel for children ages 4-7. Gospel Grams 1 is an activity bulletin designed to communicate the Gospel to young children at their own level. Instead of kids drawing cars or flowers on scrap paper or the regular worship bulletin, why not give them their very own bulletin that will reinforce the Gospel message for the day in fun and interesting ways.

Geared to children ages 4-7, Gospel Grams 1 uses imaginative Bible word games and puzzles, coloring pictures, and stories to engage kids with the Gospel lesson for the day. And because it is lectionary-based, the children will be on the same "scriptural" page as the adults.

In all, there are 56 Gospel Grams per lectionary cycle. Since they are downloadable pdf files, you can print as few or as many as you need -- therefore keeping waste to a minimum.

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Gospel Grams 2

Gospel Grams 2 provides lectionary-based children’s activity bulletin to communicate the Gospel for children ages 8-10. Gospel Grams 2 is an activity bulletin designed to communicate the Gospel to young children at their own level. Instead of kids drawing cars or flowers on scrap paper or the regular worship bulletin, why not give them their very own bulletin that will reinforce the Gospel message for the day in fun and interesting ways.

Geared to children ages 8-10, Gospel Grams 2 uses imaginative Bible word games and puzzles, coloring pictures, and stories to engage kids with the Gospel lesson for the day. And because it is lectionary-based, the children will be on the same "scriptural" page as the adults.

In all, there are 56 Gospel Grams per lectionary cycle. Since they are downloadable pdf files, you can print as few or as many as you need -- therefore keeping waste to a minimum.

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Online Sermons & Sermon Illustrations

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Nazish Naseem
Katy Stenta
Dean Feldmeyer
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
Mary Austin
George Reed
For October 25, 2026:

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Dominic Owl lived in a big, old oak tree, right in the middle of the wood. He hadn't lived there very long, because he was only a baby owl. He loved that big old oak tree, and best all he loved to perch on its broadest branch and watch his mother as she skimmed silently over the tree tops searching the ground for Dominic's next meal.

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
C. David Mckirachan
Contents
"Loving Neighbors, Killing Neighbors" by John Sumwalt
"Coatracks" by C. David McKirachan


* * * * * * * *


Loving Neighbors, Killing Neighbors
by John Sumwalt
Matthew 22:34-46

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
-- Matthew 22:39b
Frank Ramirez
Peter Andrew Smith
Contents
"Within Sight of the Promised Land" by Frank Ramirez
"The Nature of Love" by Peter Andrew Smith


* * * * * * *


Within Sight of the Promised Land
by Frank Ramirez
Deuteronomy 34:1-12

The LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there."
-- Deuteronomy 34:4

SermonStudio

Stan Purdum
Psalm 90 is a prayer, expressing gratitude for God's abiding presence in the face of the transient and frail nature of human life. Any human life, no matter how noble or helpful or wise, is terminal. Time marches on, and generations come and go. Some people have more years than others but none have life unending -- not in this existence, anyway. The psalmist does not bemoan that fact. Instead, he prays that in this lifetime, we will gain the wisdom to value the days we have and the fact that God is with us in them.
Russell F. Anderson
BRIEF COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS

Lesson 1: Deuteronomy 34:1--12 (C)
Moses goes to the top of Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, where God shows him the promised land. Then he dies and God himself buries him. Joshua inherits the spirit of Moses and the mantel of leadership. He will bring the people into the fulfillment of God's promise. The Deuteronomist summarizes the life of Moses by commenting that there has never since been such a prophet who knew God face to face.

Lesson 1: Exodus 22:20--26 (RC); Exodus 22:21--27 (E)
Elizabeth Achtemeier
In the scriptures, the first five books of the Old Testament, or the Pentateuch, are sometimes called "The Law of Moses" (e.g. Luke 2:22; 24:44), and the book of Deuteronomy has the traditional title of "The Fifth Book of Moses." Fundamentalists therefore often hold that Moses is the author of Deuteronomy. But as has often been pointed out, if that were so, Moses would be said to have written the account of his own death. We know, further, that the list of the tribal boundaries in this text are later than the time of Moses.
Mary S. Lautensleger
"Repent! Be saved! The end is at hand!" These are familiar words hailing from the "Brickyard" preachers at North Carolina State University. The university plaza, affectionately known as the Brickyard, is a centrally located gathering place for campus and community activities.

Freedom of speech is exercised frequently in the Brickyard as wandering street preachers avail themselves of an opportunity to announce the end of the world with their Chicken Little "the sky is falling" flair. The message is always the same: "Get right with God, or you're gonna get left!"
James L. Killen, Jr.
What can we believe about the church? That is an important question for us to ask and to answer. An awful lot of people today have a very low opinion of the church. Many people think that it is, at best, unimportant and unnecessary, and at worst, something that is a real hindrance to everything good. You have heard them.
Joseph M. Freeman
In my divinity school days, I took a course on Søren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth century Danish theologian who wrote thirty-some books to deepen people's capacity to understand, appreciate, and appropriate the Christian faith. I remember Professor Paul Holmer sharing that Kierkegaard attributed humankind's greatest illness not to ignorance, but to a lack of peace of mind. Much of Western thinking still seems to cast a heavy vote for the former and not for the latter. If one believes one's greatest illness is ignorance, one will spend lots of time discovering and gathering facts.
Mary Sue Dehmlow Dreier
To hang a cabinet door, you need two hinges. Like a door, our faith hangs from two hinges: love of God and love of humanity. Jesus said:

" 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37--40).

Amy C. Schifrin
Martha Shonkwiler
Confession And Forgiveness
P: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

P: You shall not hate in your heart. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
C: We are guilty, O God, of creating burdens for others to bear. We are guilty, O God, of expecting others to do what we are unwilling to do. We do not practice what we preach. We set ourselves up as little gods. We have turned from you time and again. Humble our hearts, that we might be cleansed.
Dallas A. Brauninger
First Lesson: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Theme: Growing Up

Call To Worship
Leader: Like Joshua of old, we are full of the spirit of wisdom because of those who have gone before us.
People: We enter the millennium with delicately patterned heirlooms of attitude.
Leader: We come with a heritage of experience.
People: We bring the collected learning of science and medicine, of experiment and proof.
Leader: We come with the certainty of being the people of God.
All: We approach the future as the people of God.

Collect

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
In Susan Howatch's novel, Absolute Truths, the main character is a rather perfect man. Oh, to be sure, Charles Ashworth had his little peculiarities in his younger years and he needed the guidance of Jon Darrow to help him understand himself. But all in all he is a portrait of humanity at its best -- sound and sleek in body, steady in temperament, keen in intellect, faithful in relationships, and unwavering in morality. He is the consummate churchman. It is no accident of fate that has placed him in the high post of Bishop of Starbridge.

CSSPlus

Good morning, boys and girls. This morning I brought with me a scary Halloween mask. I brought it because it reminds me of this morning's Bible story. The story is about being brave. This mask may or may not frighten some people. I'd like to ask you what things you are afraid of.
Teachers or Parents: Love is the fulfilling of the law says the Lord Jesus Christ. Keeping the commandments means nothing apart from the love of God. Some of the most hateful people can do an excellent job of keeping the Ten Commandments. Does that rule out the usefulness of the Commandments? Of course not!
Good morning! How many of you know some of the Ten Commandments? (Let them answer.) Let's see what the Ten Commandments are. (Read from the Ten Commandment list you have.)

One day a man tried to trick Jesus by asking him which commandment was the most important commandment. I'm curious -- which one of the commandments do you think is most important? (Let them answer.)

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In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 25 (OT 30, Pent 23)
30 – Sermons
120+ – Illustrations / Stories
30+ – Children's Sermons / Resources
20+ – Worship Resources
26 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
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30 – Sermons
80+ – Illustrations / Stories
15 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20+ – Worship Resources
25 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 26 (OT 31, Pent 23)
30 – Sermons
110+ – Illustrations / Stories
20 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20+ – Worship Resources
25 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
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