Sermon and Worship Resources

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Ephesians 3:16

Children's Sermon

... way to make things bigger. It's almost like the glass in someone's glasses or a magnifying glass. All these knobs move the specimen up and down or the lenses closer to make things even bigger. I want you to look at what I have in the microscope for ... , you can only see them with a special microscope. (Depending on the time available, you may want them all to see your specimen.) Our lesson today says that Jesus' friends were strengthened in their inner being by God's spirit. (Common) Our lesson today says ...

2. On Being Picked For The "Rework"

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15

Sermon

King Duncan

... . We may go through our lives thinking we are pretty impressive, at least as clay pots go! We observe the other clay jars around us and we are certainly no worse than many of them! We're not so bad. We can come to regard ourselves as very attractive human specimens. However, in God's eyes we are spoiled, and in His grace He brushes us aside into a "catch pan" for the rework. What happens in reality is this one hears the Word of God that declares he is a sinner. As that word becomes more and more real, the ...

3. Acres of Diamonds

1 Timothy 6:10

Sermon

Russell Conwell

... saw one of these scarecrows once and I never tire thinking about it. I was at Niagara Falls lecturing, and after the lecture I went to the hotel, and when I went up to the desk there stood there a millionaire's son from New York. He was an indescribable specimen of anthropologic potency. He carried a goldheaded cane under his arm -- more in its head than he had in his. I do not believe I could describe the young man if I should try. But still I must say that he wore an eye-glass he could not see through ...

4. Robin Hood?

Matthew 5:33-37, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 5:27-30, Matthew 5:21-26, Matthew 5:17-20

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... indeed. Didst thou sneakily track its tender trail through the rooky wood, catching it napping or didst thou warily sneaketh upon it whilst it paused, mayhap drinking its fill from a placid pool? Ah, alas much more, wouldst I be haply viewing a fine antlered specimen from the King's own herd. ROBIN: Shuteth thy overstuffed mouth, John Little, thou louty layabout! Whilst I risketh my life amongst the wild furzy wood thou resteth here safe by thy fire. JOHN: It doth thee no good, Sir Hoodlum, to rail upon my ...

5. Bread of the Eucharist (Bread of Life IV)

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... God’s house now. We are honored guests where God invites us to absorb as much of his likeness as we are capable. Eucharist is a personal encounter, a one-on-one meeting with Jesus Christ. When our companions see us, they may think we are perfect specimens of health and beauty. But no one knows what pain, what struggle, what emptiness, what need for approval, yes, what guilt, we carry behind that good appearance. Right here in these moments we are as near as this life will allow us to being completely free ...

6. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... article appeared in Reader's Digest, telling about a most unusual tree called the "Bristlecone Pine." Growing in the western mountain regions, sometimes as high as two or more miles above sea level, these evergreens may live for thousands of years. The older specimens often have only one thin layer of bark on their trunks. Considering the habitat of these trees, such as rocky areas where the soil is poor and precipitation is slight, it seems almost incredible that they should live so long or even survive ...

7. Death in a Hang-glider Accident

2 Samuel 18:19--19:8

Eulogy

George Paul Mocko

... was worthy of their love and work, their pride, their hope and ambition. Three months from his twenty-first birthday, he stood six-foot-two, one hundred seventy-five pounds. With his broad shoulders and narrow hips, he was a strong, classically Nordic physical specimen. He excelled athletically. In addition he was an "A " student at the University. Hang gliding was in its early days. Norberth and his friends had made a hang glider. They would tow it behind a Jeep bouncing over the open fields of the ...

8. Called in From Off-stage

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... themselves fit. A newscaster announced that a certain senator had lost at least ten pounds over a short period of time. His conclusion: that senator was going to run for the office of the presidency! We put before us those who present good specimens of humanity. Those with athletic abilities are catapulted forward by a sports-crazed public. We have reserved a place on the world's stage for those who meet certain conditions. Consciously or unconsciously we have qualifications that need to be met. What chance ...

9. Becoming What You Are

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Carl Jech

... sticks in your memory is the tomb of Lenin. I have heard visitors comment that the emphasis on tombs and monuments in the Soviet Union almost makes it seem as if the Soviet people worship cemeteries. In contrast to being entombed and put on display like a specimen in a museum, Jesus tells his followers over and over again that he is going away. In John 14:28 he says, "I go away, and I will come to you." Jesus is pictured as deliberately going away and instructing his disciples to rejoice at his departure ...

10. Come, Learn Your Worth

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Various Authors

... by a physician who did medical examinations for the students. As the skinny little fellow left the doctor’s room, one of the nuns asked, "Well, Jimmy, what did the doctor say to you?" Jimmy answered, "He took one look at me and said, ‘What a miserable specimen you are!’ " Now the boy paused for a moment and his face brightened. "But he didn’t know that I’d had my first Communion, did he, Sister?" Perhaps that story will strike you as little more than a quaint bit of sentiment. I report it, however ...

11. Knowing the Secret

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Thomas Long

... of God, through faith. For as many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27). Doc is a character in John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday. A Ph.D from the University of Chicago, Doc now earns his living selling marine specimens he has collected from the tidal pools near his home in Monterey. He has a good life, but when he reflects deeply, Doc is troubled by a nagging sense of discontent. "Have I worked enough? Have I eaten enough? Have I loved enough? ... What has my life ...

12. When You Reach Wit’s End

Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... they should take our life, Goods, honor, child or wife, Though all things pass away They cannot win the day! The Kingdom ours remaineth. When you reach wit’s end, tie a knot of religious devotion and hang on! I close with this. An expedition of naturalists was once seeking specimens. They discovered one on the sheer face of a precipice. There was no way to get down to it and no way to get up to it. Calling to a boy who was helping his father in a nearby field, they asked him to let them put a rope around ...

13. What Are Spiritual Gifts For?

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... he decided to experiment with religion. In another cage he confined an Irish Catholic, a Scotch Presbyterian, a Muslim, a Methodist, a Buddhist, and a Salvation Army Colonel. He stayed away for two days and came home to record the results. Not a single specimen was left alive.[3] This tongue-in-cheek story resonates well with conditions in our world. Certainly the creation of a church that loves and cares about others, regardless of who they are and what spiritual gifts they bring to the fellowship, is an ...

14. You Are A Winner!

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... way. He was eating dinner with Willie Davis, another former Packer, in Los Angeles, and Wilt Chamberlain came into the restaurant and walked over to their table to say hello to Willie. As Kramer was introduced, he stared up at Chamberlainthis incredible physical specimen, sevenfootone, and the thought shot through his mind: Boy, this guy must REALLY be stupid! He couldn't believe it. He saw his attitude for what it wasblind prejudice. And, he found out that Wilt Chamberlain is large, living proof that the ...

15. Be Careful What You Call Me

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... himself so perfectly that it was impossible to tell the reproduction from the original. One day, he learned that the Angel of Death was searching for him, so he produced a dozen copies of himself. The angel was at a loss to know which of the thirteen specimens before him was the scientist, so he left them all alone and returned to heaven. But not for long, for being an expert in human nature, the angel came up with a clever device. He said to the scientist and the 13 reproductions before him, "Sir, you ...

16. Trees

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

... the plant's life. The banyan tree of India has more than one trunk. When the original trunk of the tree attains a certain size, it sends down additional rope-like trunks. So the tree can spread outwards almost indefinitely. A 200-year-old specimen in the Calcutta Botanic Gardens has over 1,700 trunks. It is said that during Alexander the Great's Indian campaign 20,000 soldiers sheltered under a single banyan tree. (1) Trees. Amazing variety. Remarkable beauty. And so necessary to our planet. Necessary for ...

17. CAN WE TALK?

Drama

Angela Akers

... : "That''s a cheap shot. I listen to you." Son: "You listen if you want to hear about my day. But you don''t listen to me." Dad: "What do you mean?" Son: "All of a sudden when I got into high school, you started acting like I was some specimen to study. You gave me the big talk about drugs, and the big talk about sex, and then you just walked off. All you do is stand back and watch for signs that I''m getting out of line." Dad: "What do you want me to do? You don''t ...

18. Million Dollar Christmas

Matthew 19:21

Drama

Matthew Powell

... . Edgar 1: A week later, we were seated at the same table with a pile of essays in front of us. What a wonderful study they had been. First, there were a great many suggestions in which our fallen human nature had played a part, such as this specimen, Essay Reader 1: I think the thing that would give my mother the greatest pleasure would be to see me riding around on one of those bicycles that are in the window of Tontine's Department Store. She has often said that she would enjoy that more than anything ...

19. Attics, Basements, Closets

Psalm 130:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... abuse, depression, bigotry, lying, cheating they all make up as much of the resumes of the great men and women of history as do their triumphs and insights, valor, and selflessness. The twenty-first century isn't anything special in the way of sad specimens and sordid behavior. The standard for gentlemanly behavior was officially set back in the so-called age of chivalry championed by so many who look at our present-day leaders with highbrow disdain. In the 14th century Robert Erdeswick of Stafford was the ...

20. The Lonesome George Church

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... unique results. The difference between reproducible and irreproducible results is the difference between a whole new field of inquiry and insight, new knowledge and possibilities, and a mysterious quirk—-probably due to a mislabeled Petri dish or a contaminated specimen. A unique, astounding discovery can transform our lives. The discovery of a distant relative suddenly transforms an orphaned child into a cherished family member. The discovery of a new source of fresh water turns a desert into fertile ...

21. Do You Have It?

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and a grieving spouse who faces a new and completely unexpected future." Manfred Kets de Vries tells the following story about what CEOs actually do: "A woman went to a store to buy a parrot. Entering the store and seeing a particularly handsome specimen, she asked the proprietor, 'How much is this one?' 'Two thousand dollars,' he replied. 'That's a lot of money,' said the woman reluctantly. The owner said, 'Ah, but he speaks German, French, Italian, and Spanish and knows everything about the regulations of ...

22. When the Pressure Is On

John 6:1-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... scientists predict: If everyone keeps stacking National Geographics in garages and attics, instead of throwing them away, the magazine's weight will sink the continent 100 ft. sometime soon and we all will be inundated by the oceans. If the number of microscope specimen slides submitted to one St. Louis hospital laboratory continues to increase at its current rate, that metropolis will be buried under three feet of glass by the year 2024. If beach goers keep returning home with as much sand clinging to them ...

23. Whose Side Are You On?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... came to the school to give medical examinations for all of the students. As James left the examination room, one of the nuns asked him what did the doctor had to say about him. James answered, “He took one look at me and said, ‘What a miserable specimen you are!’” The sister could see the hurt in James’ eyes, but after a short pause his eyes brightened again and he said, “But he didn’t know that I’ve had my first Communion, did he, Sister?” (4) That’s beautiful, isn’t it? “He didn ...

24. Full Body Scans or Re-spect Spectacles

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... look again and again until we see the full picture. Jesus teaches us to look again at each other, beyond our critical sizing up and breaking down, and to use respect spectacles to receive every person as a gift to be celebrated rather than a specimen to be critiqued, dissected and dressed down. Jesus didn’t look up or down at anyone he met. Instead Jesus treated every person he met with respect. In other words, Jesus looked at, Jesus looked into, and Jesus looked with each person he encountered. He looked ...

25. Living a Well-Storied Life

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... story. Practicing “versitis,” dropping the occasional scriptural gems along the roadside, shooting biblical bullets from our magazine of verses, won’t automatically lead people on a walk with Christ. There are two different ways an ornithologist can study a bird. One method takes a “specimen,” a dead bird, and pins it out in a pan. The study of that bird takes the form of a dissection, a careful, layer-by-layer peeling away of all the structures and organs that enabled the bird to live, to eat, to ...

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