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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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title: 
Online Sermons & Sermon Illustrations

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Mary Austin
Christopher Keating
Katy Stenta
Dean Feldmeyer
George Reed
Thomas Willadsen
For July 26, 2026:

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:
We may sometimes feel as though we are too inferior and too insignificant to be of any use to God. But God can make the tiniest of seeds grow into a huge bush. In our worship today let us offer to God all that we can and ask him to use us as yeast to enable his kingdom to grow.

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, sometimes I'm afraid of being too presumptuous or too proud.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes I feel too small to be noticed by you.
Christ, have mercy.

StoryShare

David O. Bales
Craig Kelly
Contents
What's Up This Week
"Never Again Separate" by David O. Bales
"Switching Treasures" by Craig Kelly


What's Up This Week
Hospital chaplains offer a different perspective on what it means to witness for Christ in desperate times. "Never Again Separate" shows us how reconciliation can help heal years of anger. "Switching Treasures" reminds us that there are things in life worth pursuing no matter what the cost -- but we have to be careful not to be dazzled by things that only look attractive on the surface.

C. David Mckirachan
Larry Winebrenner
Keith Hewitt
Contents
"Jerry Springer" by C. David McKirachan
"Circumstantial Evidence" by C. David McKirachan
"People and Sheep" by Larry Winebrenner
"Learning to Pray" by Larry Winebrenner
"The Wall" by Keith Hewitt


* * * * * * * *


Jerry Springer
by C. David McKirachan
Genesis 29:15-28

SermonStudio

Carlos Wilton
This Psalm is difficult to preach in our modern culture, because of the central section (vv. 3-4) which addresses devout men exclusively, and which celebrates the gifts of a fertile wife and many children as a blessing from God. That portion of this psalm may preach in Amish country, but in any other part of the twenty-first-century Christian church, its message seems quaint at best and archaic at worst. In a world threatened by overpopulation, there are major ethical questions connected with the image of a large crop of children springing up "like olive shoots around your table."
James Evans
Stan Purdum
Carlos Wilton
(See Proper 14/Pentecost 12/Ordinary Time 19, Cycle A, for an alternative approach to vv. 1-6, 16-22, 45b; and see Proper 20/Pentecost 18/Ordinary Time 25, Cycle A, for an alternative approach to vv. 1-6, 37-45.)
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
When she was a little girl her parents bought a cottage by the lake. It was a small and humble place, but it would soon be filled with many memories. Each summer the family would go to the lake. She and her brother and sisters went swimming almost every day. On special occasions her father would rent a boat and the whole family would paddle around the lake. She learned how to fish and even tried her hand at water skiing. Vacations were a constant source of joy because of the little cottage by the lake.
Tempe Fussell
Curtis Fussell
If you have ever made an in-depth investigation of your family history, a genealogy, then you probably came across some ancestors who would qualify as so-called "black sheep of the family." Among my own ancestors my father came across a family will dating back to shortly before the Civil War. In that will it speaks of my great-great-great-grandmother selling off slaves. In fact, the will indicates that the slave family she owned was to be divided up at her death. When I first heard about this I was shocked and horrified. I could not believe it was true until I read the will myself.
Tom M. Garrison
It was the July 22, 1999, CNN live coverage of the burial at sea of John F. Kennedy, Jr. All his family members were dressed in black, knowing that in a few minutes the remains of someone they loved would be forever committed to the sea. When the coverage from the first news of the plane crash began to air -- one of the main subjects was all the tragedy that this family has suffered, beginning with the little boy the press called John-John, standing with a salute for his fallen father, the President of the United States.
Stan Purdum
I'd quit the ministry were it not for what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13! Here Jesus is brutally honest in telling his ministers both then and now what to expect. In the best of times ministry is difficult. In the worst of times it is downright intolerable. But there is hope! For in Jesus Christ, nothing is wasted!
Jeff Wedge
Many people have heard a part of this lesson before. Most particularly, the last two verses, the part about "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Dallas A. Brauninger
First Lesson: Genesis 29:15-28
Theme: Apprentice

Call To Worship
Leader: Remember that God still guides us today. God always finds new ways of shedding light on our paths. We rejoice in an ever-present, ever-creating, and ever-sustaining God.
People: Praise be to God.

Collect

God of purpose, God of design, God who knows the way: We come with open hearts ready to hear your word. We come as students of faith. We come as your disciples. Through Christ. Amen.

Prayer Of Confession
Beverly S. Bailey
Hymns
Sing Praise To God (NCH6, UM126, PH483)
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah (CBH582, NCH18, 19, UM127, PH281)
Like The Murmur Of The Dove's Song (NCH270, UM544, PH314)
O Love That Will Not Let Me Go (NCH485, UM480, PH342)
Jesus Priceless Treasure (CBH595, NCH480, UM532, PH365)
Thine Is The Glory (CBH269, NCH253, UM308, PH122)
By Gracious Powers (NCH412, UM517, PH342)
The Kingdom Of God (CBH224, UM275)

Anthems
The Love Of God, Natalie Sleeth, SATB

Emphasis Preaching Journal

William H. Shepherd
God works in hidden ways.

It's an oft-heard saying, perhaps a cliché, but there is a reason certain phrases become clichés. The Bible gives plenty of evidence of a God who works in hidden ways.
Wayne Brouwer
According to social researchers there are five basic reasons why people fail to make long- term commitments such as marriage. First, some are hurt by a past relationship that came undone in a nasty or painful way. "Once bitten, twice shy" is the way the modern proverb puts it. Troublesome difficulties in a passionate romance where we allowed ourselves to become vulnerable and then felt abused or misused by the object of our emotions can cause us to pull back from similar future possibilities.

CSSPlus

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field. (Matthew 13:31)

Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever visited the kingdom of heaven? (let them answer) Where is the kingdom of heaven? (let them answer) None of you have ever been there, but I suppose all of you want to go there some day, don't you? (let them answer)
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35)

Good morning, boys and girls. Do you feel close to Jesus? (let them answer) When you are in church, can you feel Jesus all around you? (let them answer) Do you feel close to Jesus when you go home from church? (let them answer) When you go to school, or take a ride in your car, or shop in a store, do you feel close to Jesus? (let them answer)
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 11 (OT 16, Pent 8)
28 – Sermons
110+ – Illustrations / Stories
21 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20+ – Worship Resources
23 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 12 (OT 17, Pent 9)
28 – Sermons
130+ – Illustrations / Stories
23 – Children's Sermons / Resources
19 – Worship Resources
22 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 13 (OT 18, Pent 10)
29 – Sermons
120+ – Illustrations / Stories
30+ – Children's Sermons / Resources
20+ – Worship Resources
24 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
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