Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 276 to 300 of 832 results

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

... The Gospel struck a responsive chord in their hearts and minds. They asked the tour leader, a missionary who had been born in China and had served there, about the Gospel, about Christ, and about the Christian faith. He obtained New Testaments for them and, later, copies of a catechism, in Chinese, of course, and at the end of a nearly three week stay in mainland China, he promised to keep in touch with them. What began as a routine job for the two national tour guides became a pilgrimage into the Christian ...

277. Healing And Forgiveness

Luke 5:17-26

Sermon

... moved to Arizona. Many months later the minister received a letter from her saying simply that she had a change of heart and that she was enormously sorry for what she had done. Reverend Campbell telegrammed a three-word message: "Forgiven, forgotten, forever." No copy retained. When God extends the blessing of forgiveness to us, we are freed to completely let go of the past.3 James Wagner, in his book titled Blessed to Be a Blessing, asks this question: "How many people ... look upon forgiveness as a ...

278. Living Life The Easy Way

Acts 3:1-10

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... to the top. We all squeezed into her car and rode back down in 10 minutes. We had fought for two hours to get somewhere we could have driven in 10 minutes. It happens all the time. I've watched students pay someone to write a paper for them, feverishly copy a fraternity brother's notes from classes they missed, and stay up all night to study for a test. They eked out a "D" for their many hours of labor. All they had to do was come to class three hours a week and read a book for 15 minutes ...

279. Compassion

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... the wrong crowd and deserved to flunk out; the college coach who made Furman admit me when I did not deserve to be admitted and had a projected GPA of 1.8; the minister who gave me a job when I had no experience; the college cheerleader who copied an extra set of notes from our English and history classes for three weeks while I was in Greenville General Hospital having knee surgery. I thought about the family in South Carolina, whose names I did not know and the university will never give me, who paid my ...

280. Passion Sunday

Matthew 26:14–27:66

Bulletin Aid

... the day. 8. Sit for a few moments in silence. Stewardship Challenge Try this: Consider the resolution you have made on the basis of the meditation. If you choose, write it down and put it in the offering plate with or without your name. Save a copy for yourself. Prayer for the dedication, use these words: "We pray that our gratitude may be as great as our need." Charge to the Congregation Suggestion: Develop the charge around these two statements: 1. "It is not worthy for a person to pray cream, and live ...

281. The Resurrection of Our Lord

John 20:1-9

Sermon Aid

... ; he's not here; he's risen; he's alive." Ask the people to pass along the Good News. Then, sing one of the great Easter hymns. Act of Recognizing our Humanness anil Receiving New Life Consider one of these two approaches: 1. If you can get a copy of Andrew Blackwood, Jr.'s "Jesus, What Have You Done to Us?" use it for the confession. Following several moments of silence, ask the people to sing "Morning Has Broken." Someone has written different words to the song. If you can find them, you might want to use ...

282. A Glory Revealed to Faith Alone

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

... camp could see it, like the ensign on a general’s tent, or like a battle standard. Moses lifted up this strange sacramental sign, which became the focus of the gaze of all the people dying from the bite of the serpents. Why a serpent, I wonder, and not a copy of the stones etched with the Ten Commandments, or the Ark of the Covenant, or of Aaron’s rod that budded, or of a dozen other sacred symbols? Why an image of a serpent, the very thing that was bringing death to the people? In fact, in the light of ...

283. When Old Nick Met Nicodemus

Drama

... mustn’t think about that ... it hurts too much. I’ll just be glad it’s not raining, read the morning paper, and get my mind off Annie and all that ... (begins reading paper) Jim (Comes from stage left, carrying a biblical costume) Morning, Nick! Got an extra copy of the Times? Nick Why, for all get-out, Jim, what brings you out so early on a Sunday morning? (Speaks while he’s getting the newspaper) Used to seeing you here on a weekday, but not on a Sunday. Jim (As he pulls change from his pocket) It ...

284. "The Return"

Drama

... confessions. Everything they said was true, all of it. I have been unfaithful to you. I have neglected your brothers. I have been proud, and stupid. Even the rich woman was right. I never did know what to say to her. The truth is. I envied her and tried to copy her. There were many times I knew you had work for me, but I chose not to do it, fearing my own safety. All of it, Lord, everything they accused me of, it is all true. Jesus I know it is true - I saw it all. Woman And yet you ...

285. Salvation: Authentic and Powerful

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... the recent past, Harry Emerson Fosdick, provides a ray of light in his Riverside Sermons. He says, "Theologies change; creeds alter; the world views of one generation are incredible to the next; the mental patterns that Paul, Augustine, Calvin used we cannot exactly copy." Having made that admission and set such a condition, he speaks "of a profound need met in Christ by a great salvation." It "issues in a deep gratitude so that we are inwardly taken possession of by a high compulsion, we not only overpass ...

286. Faithful People in a Fiery Furnace

Daniel 3:1-30

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... facing the back of the elevator. Guess what most people did who boarded the elevators. They turned and faced the back also. Other people have a huge influence on us. You say, "Preacher, I don’t let other people influence me." But when you’re at the copy machine and someone tells a Jessie Jackson joke that is clearly demeaning and borderline racist, do you laugh? Or do you refuse to laugh and say instead, "We need to pray for that man"? Somebody at the office, maybe the boss, wants to have the annual ...

287. Jailbreak at Midnight

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon Aid

CSS

... wildfire along the route he traveled. He was no longer regarded as a harmless Jewish fanatic, making a few converts here and there. He was now "turning the world upside down." What a tribute! For at this time there were no written communications, no copies of the Gospels, no amplified means of communication - only word of mouth. But the fame of Paul had spread so rapidly that a charge like this, even if it was somewhat exaggerated, was accepted. The comfortable doctrines, beliefs, and ways of life which ...

288. Paul’s Midnight Ride

Acts 22:30--23:11

Sermon Aid

... governor along with a letter of transferral written by the Tribune Lysias. Doubtless such letters were not uncommon, since the commanding officer of the garrison at Jerusalem would have to make frequent reports to the Roman leaders at Caesarea. Luke may have come upon a copy of the letter, or it may have been read aloud later during some public appearance of Paul at Caesarea. In the letter, Lysias puts the affair in its best light. He states that he rescued a Roman citizen from a mob of Jews and that the ...

289. A Missionary to His Captors

Illustration

Emerson Colaw

... after what the Sergeant had gone through. Next, he met a young missionary woman, daughter of two missionaries who had been beheaded during the war. He found all this unbelievable. Why would these people want to spend their lives with their enemies? He secured a copy of the Bible to see what is was all about. When he came to that passage where Jesus, hanging on the cross, prays for his enemies saying, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do," he understood. Sergeant De Shazer and the young woman ...

290. Oh, Now I Understand

Illustration

Staff

... participation was needed, and unless Sam signed up, the deal was off. His fellow workers cajoled, begged, and pressured Sam to sign, but to no avail. He claimed the plan would never pay off. The president called Sam into his office. "Sam," he said, "here is a copy of the plan, and here is a pen. I want you to sign. If you don’t, you’re fired!" Sam signed without a moment’s hesitation. "Now," said the president, "tell me why you couldn’t have signed before?" "Because," Sam said, "you’re the first ...

291. "A" Lamb to "the" Lamb

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... a little tabernacle with a cut-away-top so you could peer down inside the entire structure (all made from a cardboard shoe box!) They even had made a little cardboard altar and colored it with crayons. It was very good, a fine replica which they had copied from pictures. As an added touch of realism, they had baked some little cookies which were cut out in the shape of lambs. Then they prepared to lay one of the little lamb cookies on the altar for a sacrifice. They were trying to choose one from ...

292. Stuffed Bodies and Skinny Souls!

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... to be discontinued. Apparently the hunger for prayer was far greater than the Episcopal church realized. Spiritual hunger of our time is seen also in the religious book sales. In the last five years, thirty-one religious books sold over a million copies each. A rabbi’s recent book was on the best seller list for many months. While secular books had a ten percent increase since 1967, religious books enjoyed a sixteen percent increase. People are reading religious books for spiritual food. Each religious ...

293. Count Me In!

Isaiah 56:1-8

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... people out. In a polite way we say, "By invitation only" or "Reserved." Books are copyrighted so that no one, except by permission, may duplicate any portion of them. Trade names, such as "Coca-Cola" and "Orkin," are registered to prevent others from copying them. In housing, we may exclude children from adult condominiums or blacks and Jews from selected neighborhoods. A civic club may exclude women from membership. The use of a country club is for members only. Immigration laws are designed to keep out ...

294. Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams

Luke 1:67-80

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

I suggested that the sermon I preached on the life and ministry of Dr. Tom Dooley was begun more than twenty years before it was actually preached and had no real starting point. This message has a more recent and specific beginning. This sermon was begun on Tuesday, August 10, 1976, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On that day and in that place Anne Maguire went for a walk. With her was her daughter, Joanna, aged eight years, who preceded her mother, pushing her infant brother Andrew, aged six weeks, in a ...

295. God's In This

Matthew 5:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

This morning I'd like to do something a little unorthodox and recommend an album (sorry CD....sorry again, a download) to you. So far it has sold more than 4 million copies. It won "Album of the Year" awards from the Country Music Association and the International Bluegrass Music Association, and was nominated for five Grammys. Rolling Stone called it one of the best albums of 2001, and Entertainment Weekly named the musicians one of their "Entertainers of the Year." The remarkable ...

296. On Being a Beautiful Christian

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... at Duke, there was a college mate of mine who was winsome, attractive, lovable. All of us liked to be with him. But there was danger. His level of moral thinking and acting was extremely low, and because we liked to be with him, many of the boys copied his lifestyle. There were other men in my class who were good, moral, correct; but sour, dull and unattractive. Nobody wanted to be with them. Something is wrong. God didn’t intend for it to be that way: for evil to be attractive and goodness to be ...

297. Genuine Imitations

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... could he do great things as Yoda did. When he became a genuine imitation, Luke would he as much like Yoda as Yoda himself. His faith would he such a perfect imitation that it would be impossible to distinguish between the original and the copy. In the opening verses of his first letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul says that the Thessalonian Christians had become Christians like that, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord," he wrote, "for you received the word in affliction, with joy inspired ...

298. Cross-Bearing

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... the leader does, you do, no matter how difficult or silly it may look. That’s a good game. There is that element in following Jesus as our leader. The Christian life is a continual following, mimicking, doing as he did, obeying, in everything we do. We copy him in loving our enemy, submitting our lives to God, standing up for social justice, suffering hurt and embarrassment, being the salt and the leaven and the comfort of life. He is sitting on a powder keg whose fuse has been lighted. He is draining the ...

299. Love of God, Self, and Neighbor

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... of the tomb, and how on Ascension Day we observe the way he returned to his heavenly father - all this to demonstrate how important we are. In dealing with ourselves, we are not dealing with rubbish; we are dealing with precious pieces of well-made machinery, copied after the Creator of the universe. When we finally stop putting ourselves down and respect who and what we are, there are many side benefits: we can much better be able to live with others; we have a new-found peace with ourselves; we can better ...

300. Drastic Surgery

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... him hanging himself after his betrayal of Jesus, he has him escaping to a Mediterranean island. He lives there for ten years under an assumed name, and becomes a successful innkeeper or owner. Then one day his friend, Andigones, brings him some scrolls, apparently copies of what we know as the Gospels. He tells him that they tell of Jesus of Nazareth, what he said and did and what happened to him. Judas is disturbed, but remains silent for a time. Later in reflecting upon this experience, he says, "On ...

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