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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
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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

Katy Stenta
Dean Feldmeyer
George Reed
Tom Willadsen
Christopher Keating
Alyssa Spradlin
For November 8, 2026:

SermonStudio

David G. Rogne
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, "Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
Carlos Wilton
Theme For The Day
The eschatological teachings of scripture are meant to instill comfort, not fear.

Old Testament Lesson
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve
William E. Keeney
"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' 7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
James L. Killen, Jr.
Today we are going to talk about one of the biggest puzzles in the study of the Bible. What can we believe about the end of time? For Paul and the early Christians in Thessalonica that was no puzzle at all. They knew exactly what they believed about the end of time. "The Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever" (vv.
Argile Smith
Do you remember the generation gap that existed between you and your parents when you were a teenager? Do you sense the same kind of gap widening between you and your children?
George S. Johnson
What is one of the most foolish things you have ever done? Pay good money for a suit or dress that you never wore? Buy a car that turned out to be a lemon? Invest your savings based on good advice, but end up losing it all? Have an affair that you thought would be brief and secret, but turned out to bring havoc on everything?

But who likes to be reminded of one's foolishness? What is one of the wisest things you have ever done?
John R. Brokhoff
Today's parable is commonly known as the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Some years ago a minister asked a mountaineer of Virginia if he knew the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. After thinking a while, he replied, "I didn't know there were five foolish Virginians in the whole state."

The word, "virgin," is used by the King James Version. Since there are not that many virgins in today's society, later translations wisely use "bridesmaids," "maidens," or "girls." In today's culture unmarried women are not necessarily virgins.
Richard C. Brand
As best I can remember it, the comment came as part of a discussion about the media frenzy immediately following the capture of the two suspected snipers in the Washington, D.C. area. It had troubled some of the participants in the discussion that before these suspects had even gotten charged, before these presumed innocent until proven guilty people had even had a jury trial, there was this zeal on the part of every talk show to get the trial in the place where the death penalty was most severe.
Thom M. Shuman
Call To Worship
One: If we will but listen,
All: God will speak to us in parables;
God will tell us stories lived out by our grandparents.
One: If we will but remember,
All: we will discover all we have heard and known;
all the wonders God has in store for us.
One: If we will but share,
All: we can tell our children and grandchildren --
even those not yet born --
the glorious stories of our God.

Prayer Of The Day
We stand at the crossing,
Holy God,
arms, hearts, souls,
Amy C. Schifrin
Martha Shonkwiler
Gathering
Begin with a choir anthem this morning, as an element of surprise, creating a sense that things will not always be the same. If possible, have the choir sing from a different place in the sanctuary.

Prayer Of The Day
P: O God of mercy, our hope is in you. Open our ears, that the proclamation of your coming kingdom may rouse us from our complacency, so that we would be ready to greet you when you come in glory, our Savior and our Lord.
C: Amen.

Offertory Prayer
A: Let your gifts be gifts of love;

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
One thing about live theatre which you don't get with television, is the hush of expectancy when the lights are dimmed. As the theatre moves from light into darkness, the audience settles back and prepares for entertainment and enjoyment. But the entertainment only starts when the curtain rises on a lit stage. Because the audience remains in darkness, it is able to see the stage perfectly no matter how gloomy the lighting, so the atmosphere can be suggested right from the beginning of the show by the relative brightness of the lighting.

StoryShare

Keith Hewitt
Craig Kelly
Contents
"The Bubble" by Keith Hewitt
"Tell Me a Story" by Craig Kelly


* * * * * * * *


The Bubble
by Keith Hewitt
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Frank Ramirez
Contents
"Keep Your Eyes Open" by Frank Ramirez


* * * * * * *


Keep Your Eyes Open
by Frank Ramirez
Matthew 25:1-13

Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
-- Matthew 25:13

On July 6, 1054, an awe-inspiring sight appeared around the world, an overwhelming light burst into the night sky.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Kalas
If the pitcher spends too much time fingering the rosin bag or peddling the dirt on the mound or looking in at the catcher and shaking off signs, the batter is likely to ask the umpire for a timeout. Some of that is just gamesmanship, of course. At the same time, however, the batter may genuinely need to step out of the batter's box for a moment. It is, after all, a difficult thing to maintain for a long time the intensity of waiting for a pitch.

CSSPlus

Good morning! This morning I brought a medicine bottle with me. Probably all of you have these medicine bottles at home and they are probably in a place that is hard to reach. That is on purpose. Why do you suppose parents put things like medicine bottles in hard-to-reach places? (Let them answer.) To keep them out of reach of very young children. Very young children sometimes put anything in their mouths, and many medicines can be very harmful and dangerous to people who don't know what the medicine is or how much to take or who can take it.
Note: This craft uses candles and is probably best suited for older children.

Materials
Clean glass jars (medium-sized like mayonnaise or pickle jars)
Tissue paper in a variety of colors
Water
Glue
Markers
Baby food jar lid and votive candle or tea light candle
Small paintbrushes
Margarine tubs

Instructions
1. God always wants us to be ready for him, to be a "light for Jesus." Let's make a candle holder to help us keep that in mind.
Leah Thompson
Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (v. 13)

Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about the Boy Scouts. How many of you have heard of the Boy Scouts? (allow answers) The Boy Scouts of America is an organization for boys that started in the year 1910. That's over one hundred years ago! Wow -- that's old! Boys who are in the Boy Scouts learn how to do things like start campfires, cook outdoors, tie ropes, and do other outdoor and camping activities.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 27 (OT 32, Pent 24)
29 – Sermons
110+ – Illustrations / Stories
29 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 28 (OT 33, Pent 25)
26 – Sermons
100+ – Illustrations / Stories
31 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20+ – Worship Resources
25 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Christ the King
30 – Sermons
110+ – Illustrations / Stories
20 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20+ – Worship Resources
25 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
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