Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3001 to 3025 of 4884 results

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

... about a little boy who really, really wanted a Red Sled for Christmas. He sat down and wrote a letter to Santa pleading his case. He wrote: “Dear Santa: I really, really want a red sled for Christmas. If you will bring me a red sled, I will be a perfect little boy. I will be obedient. Whatever my parents ask me to do, I will do it immediately… if you bring me a red sled. Santa, I really do need a red sled.” He signed the letter and mailed it,… but the he thought he needed a trump card… an ...

3002. Love Came Down at Christmas

Luke 2:15-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... da Vinci received their inspiration from Him. Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton, and scores of the world’s greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratorios they composed in his praise. Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble carpenter of Nazareth. Precisely! The gift of Christ… no question about it…that is the best ...

3003. The Bloodline of Christ

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... from progressive kidney failure and facing certain death without a transplant. But no one in the family was a match. Guess what? The son who had been given away, the son who had conducted his own search for his family, was found to be the perfect biological match for the ailing brother. The bloodline that neither knew they shared became a life line, as the son who had been raised by others offered his healthy kidney to his newly found brother. Bloodlines are important. Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code ...

3004. The Resurrection Changes Everything

Luke 24:13-35

Illustration

Brett Blair

There's a story about a young boy named Walter Elias. Born in the city, his parents one day moved out to the country to become farmers. Walter had a vivid imagination and the farm was the perfect place for a young boy and a wondering mind. One day in the apple orchard he was amazed when he saw sitting on a branch of one of the apple trees an owl. He just stood there and stared at the owl. He thought about what his father had told ...

3005. To Be a Christian

Acts 11:19-30

Sermon

James McCormick

... .” That’s strong stuff. It makes me take a hard look at my commitment. But it’s right on target. Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, if you do not do the things that I command you.” Why indeed! O, none of us does it perfectly, completely. But we’d better be moving in that direction. And if we want to keep company with Jesus, we had better not turn away from the costly expressions of love. The second unsettling story is about Andrew Young. You know he is a former Mayor of Atlanta, a ...

3006. What More Can He Give?

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

James McCormick

... . He is the one sent from God to save us and to give us life abundant. What we Christians affirm is that God accomplished two things in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. There was revelation. And there was redemption. First, revelation. Jesus is the most perfect revelation of God. Paul wrote: “In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. He is the visible image of the invisible God.” Or, as Jesus himself put it: “He who has seen me, has seen the Father.” So, we don’t have to be ...

3007. Righteousness Exalts a Nation - The Fourth of July

Sermon

James McCormick

... say that this nation has been able to provide more food, shelter, clothing, education, medicine, freedom, hope, and dignity to more people than any other nation in the history of the world. When we are at our best, we are a shining city on a hill. Our country is not perfect. It’s not as good as it needs to be. But I, for one, am grateful for all the good that it is. What is required of us, as the children of God and as citizens both of this nation and of the world, is to appreciate what is good ...

3008. I Am The Door

John 10:1-10

Illustration

George Adam Smith

... with him and the man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls, with a way in. Smith asked him, "This is where they go at night?" "Yes," said the shepherd, "and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe." "But there is no door," said Smith. "I am the door," said the shepherd. He was not a Christian man and wasn't speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from an Arab shepherd's viewpoint. Smith looked and him and asked, "What ...

3009. Living as Orphans

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... , television, or radios. 2) Falsely claim that your victim had in some way injured your family. “This will teach you not to shoot my brother, you sidewinder!” Citizens of the Old West often thought that crimes done to avenge a family member were perfectly acceptable. 3) Leave a false trail. Announce that you are traveling North that night, then go South. Announce that you are meeting up with your gang at the Pecos Saloon, then go to Sally’s Saloon instead. 4) Claim that your crimes were committed ...

3010. Ten Days of Prayer

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... ’s song, “Lord, please give me a Mercedes Benz; My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends; Worked hard all my life with no help from my friends; O Lord, please send me a Mercedes Benz.” Come to think of it, that was the perfect Boomer prayer. Of course, Boomers are not alone in frivolous, self-centered prayer. It is a universal phenomenon. Some years back in Britain the national lottery inspired so many Brits to pray that the BBC in its coverage at one stage included what it called “The ...

... or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

C. S. Lewis

3012. God Remembers and Reminds

John 14:15-21

Illustration

Thomas Long

... Jimmie in chapel," they said, "and judge for yourself." So Sacks did watch Jimmie in chapel, and there he observed an astounding transformation. He saw an intensity and steadiness in Jimmie that he had not observed before. As he received the sacrament, there was "perfect alignment of his spirit with the spirit of the Mass." There in worship, Jimmie was no longer at the mercy of a faulty and fallible memory. "He was wholly held, absorbed ...." He whose mind was broken was given in worship, "a continuity and ...

3013. EXEGESIS: 1 Peter 4:12-14; 6:6-11

1 Peter 4:12-19

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... is most likely the final day of judgment, but this argument also emphasizes that "due time" is "God's time" and disciples must wait "humbly" for that moment when God will act. In the words of that old Appalachian saying, "God's clock keeps perfect time." This humility is not born of helplessness. Nor does it suggest a passive posture vis a vis the world. Rather it locates strength in an assurance that God "cares" for them. Why can Christians have confidence before the challenges, the abuses, the rejections ...

3014. The Fine Art of Doing Nothing

Acts 2:1-21

Illustration

Leigh Bond

... sign on the stage proclaimed: "The Motionless Man: Make Him Laugh. Win $100." The temptation was irresistible. For three hours boys and girls, men and women, performed every antic and told every joke they knew. But Bill Fuqua, the Motionless Man, stood perfectly still. Fuqua is the Guinness Book of World Records champion at doing nothing. In fact, he appears so motionless during his routines at shopping malls and amusement parks that he is sometimes mistaken for a mannequin. When I heard about Bill Fuqua ...

3015. Is It Well with Your Family? - Sermon Starter

Rom 16

Illustration

Brett Blair

... writes makes an excellent springboard for a Mother's Day sermon. Some people ridicule Mother's Day as a lot of sentimental drivel. They say that it is nothing more than the creation of the greeting card companies and the florists. And, to be perfectly candid, there are many ministers who shun this day because, they say, it is not a religious holiday. Furthermore, they preach from the lectionary, which has an assigned scriptural reading each week, and therefore mother's day is left out. Well, of course, we ...

3016. The 3 Rs of a Holy Life

2 Corinthians 13:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and drive-by shootings being accepted as part of the “normal” landscape of whole communities in America? Are WE responsible for the global spread of hate and the terrorisms birthed by that hatred? Paul urged the Corinthians to do no less than “aim for perfection,” to put all things in good order to work together and be of one mind. These are not pint-sized, puny dreams. These are bhags (big hairy audacious goals), ambitious dreams. But they are not ambitions for the self. They are ambitions for God ...

3017. Be of One Mind

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... dictators and emperors have ruled over the mass of humanity. Only within the past few hundred years has the idea prevailed that people should be free to determine their own destiny. Now, in this election year, it is important to note that democracy is not perfect. In fact, it’s quite messy. But it is terrific compared to every other form of government. It succeeds not because everyone agrees on everything, but because we do not. In every democracy there are people on both the left and the right. That is ...

3018. Don't Worry, The Light Is Still Burning

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... light bulbs lead to longer life. Second, it has not been constantly turned on and off. In fact, it has been turned off only three times during the 107 years it has been burning. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it was manufactured with a perfect seal. This means that the vacuum has been maintained over these many years, which keeps the filament from disintegrating. In order to safeguard the bulb, the “Livermore Light” now has its own generator AND back-up generator. It also has a protective cage ...

3019. What's Holding You Together?

Matthew 7:21-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... trustworthy. Those who do not measure up are politely called “plain,” but we really think they are odd, goofy, nerdy, ugly. In today’s gospel text Jesus exposes this kind of rush to judgment as fatally flawed. Jesus looks at all the positive, perfect people -- those who SAY all the right things (calling him “Lord, Lord”); those who DO all the right things (prophesying, casting out demons, doing “deeds of power”). But what Jesus sees when he looks inside is not success. Jesus sees fraud. All ...

3020. A Sudden Storm that Tests Everything

Matthew 7:24-29

Illustration

Phil Thrailkill

... the top of the tower look straight. Nothing worked. The Tower of Pisa has continued to stand for over 800 years now; it now leans more than 18 feet away from center position. Even with all our modern technology, this building can never be made perfectly straight. Architectural specialists predict that eventually the structure will fall down because Bonnano Pisano didn't do enough research into the soil composition around the building site. How's the foundation of your life doing this morning? Is it rock?

3021. Against All Hope

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... knew about bumblebees and how aerodynamically challenged they are, with those heavy, cumbersome bodies and the tiny, insubstantial little wings. But suddenly this bumblebee did something truly amazing. It headed straight at Millard. And then before it got to him, it suddenly did a perfect loop‑de‑loop, like a stunt plane, and went back to the flower where it had started! “This took Millard totally by surprise. He remembered the Book of Job, and how God at one point had asked Job if he could make a ...

3022. For Those Who Have Received Much (Father's Day)

Matthew 10:5-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... at the concerts and plays that I’m in, even though he lives about an hour away.” A fifth grade girl writes, “. . . You know what else my dad does? He braids my hair. I’m the only girl I know whose dad braids her hair. I think that’s a perfect dad. He already is the world’s greatest dad to me. I just wanted everyone to know that.” A sixth grader writes, “One time I had an assembly and I was a soloist and my dad was in the first row and after my song I smiled at my dad ...

3023. A Call to Action

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

... away from the mourners, so they cannot see the flashing lights displaying inside the bell of the fake instrument. In our culture, even when we try to do something sensitive and notable, we are all about appearance. We substitute style for substance over and over again. We prefer the canned perfection of these fake, false notes, to the real performance of a fallible, fragile human being, offering a genuine final tribute.

3024. The Iron, Silver, Golden, Platinum and Titanium Rules

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... songs you learned as a kid, or endured as a parent. Here is one of the mysteries of the universe: Why do we forget how to do algebra, or where the extra lawn mower blade is stored, or the day of a dental appointment, but we can always recall with perfect clarity the good-bye song of that awful purple dinosaur Barney? Or the Mickey Mouse club theme? Or the Veggie Tale theme song? [If there are kids present, get one to sing it for everyone. Or play it on the sound system.] It gets even worse. For Veggie Tale ...

3025. What's Your Hospitality Quotient?

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... debate. One of the leaders of the church, Uncle Al decided to try to make peace between the warring factions. He chose Brother Fields to help him. Brother Fields had never shown hospitality to anyone, whether they were in error or not, so he seemed perfect for the task. They all arrived one Sunday for Aunt Flo’s famous fried chicken. The grace before the meal posed a problem. Church members were sometimes known to use prayer to beat other people over the head, so Uncle Al suggested a silent prayer. This ...

Showing results