Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3051 to 3075 of 4508 results

3051. The Danger within Us

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

French author Victor Hugo has a short story titled, "93." In the midst of this tale a ship at sea is caught in a terrific storm. Buffeted by the waves, the boat rocks to and fro, when suddenly the crew hears an awesome crashing sound below deck. They know what it is. A cannon they are carrying has broken loose and is smashing into the ship's sides with every list of the ship. Two brave sailors, at...

3052. Forgiving As God Forgives

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Someone once said that the scariest, most sobering word in the entire New Testament is that tiny little word "as." "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." That vital connection between God's abiding forgiveness of us and of our in turn forgiving others tells us that we must forgive. This is not some weird demand on God's part, however. This is not some hoop we must jump throu...

3053. Tending to Spiritual Wounds

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Human beings created in the image of God need to be held accountable. If a shark bites you while you are swimming off the California coast, you would never talk about forgiving the shark, much less of trying to find ways to communicate why what he did hurt you. He's just a shark! He thought you were a seal. That's that. But it's very different when a person acts like a shark and takes a bite out ...

3054. Taking the Lumps and All

Illustration

Gary D. Stratman

In his book Down from Troy, surgeon Richard Selzer starts out with memories of his youth. He had great admiration and respect for his mother. In a brief aside, he had to admit she was unable to cook anything without lumps. Mashed potatoes, applesauce, oatmeal, all had lumps. "To this day," he said, "I have some problems facing those foods." Even for the greatest of cooks, part of the adventure of...

3055. House Rules, Forgiveness, and Why Rat Poison Is not Good for You

Sermon

Roy Howard

I have two public school elementary teachers in my family. I’ve learned a great deal about what goes on behind the scenes long before the students arrive and long after they have left: the seating chart, the reading corner, the attractive posters, imaginative strategies for teaching difficult concepts, and much more. There is a lot to teaching. The same can be said for those people who teach congr...

3056. An Example of Christ-like Thinking

Illustration

Staff

Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald Reagan said that her dad made a lasting impression on her the day after the assassination attempt of 1982. She says, "The following day my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley. By showing me that forgiveness is the key to everything, including physical health and healing, he gave me an example of...

3057. I Was Praying

Illustration

Thomas Tewell

A six year old girl named Ruby Bridges taught the world an unforgettable lesson about forgiveness. In 1960, Ruby walked into the William France Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana the first day after a federal judge mandated the desegregation of the New Orleans school district. Ruby was the only African American student in the entire school. Every day she walked through a gauntlet of angry...

3058. Debts in Roman Society

Illustration

James R. Davis

In the ancient world cruel treatment was practiced against debtors, often without regard to the debtor's ability or intention to repay. In Athens prior to the establishment of democratic rights, a creditor could demand slave labor of his debtor or of members of the debtor's family as surety of payment. Roman law provided punishment by imprisonment to the debtors. The reason for imprisonment and c...

3059. Does Forgiveness Really Exist?

Illustration

Scott H. Bowerman

Pastor Tom Long tells of the time he was at the checkout table at the library at Princeton Seminary when a friend of his, a pastoral counselor, approached staggering under the weight of a stack of books. Tom teased him a little, asking what a pastoral counselor was doing with all those books. And the fellow replied he was doing some research on forgiveness. Tom says he was surprised and puzzled. "...

3060. Jesus Startles Us

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

As in so many of Jesus' parables and teachings, we find the message of this parable shocking. As Donald Kraybill writes in The Upside Down Kingdom: Again and again in parables, sermons, and acts Jesus startles us. Things are not like they are supposed to be. The stories don't end as we expected. The Good Guys turn out to be the Bad Guys. The ones we expected to receive a reward get chastised . . ...

3061. Measure for Measure

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Poetic justice!” we say, when we feel a certain “punishment” exactly meets the “crime.” A bad guy in a movie ends up falling into the trap he set for someone else. A thief ends up losing everything. A murderer who prepares a poison ends up drinking it himself. While these make for great plots in fiction, they seldom apply to real life. Or do they? How about the overprotective mother who in her ...

3062. Two Million Dollar Mistake

Illustration

Dale Galloway

John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man's enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn't have ...

3063. Why Forgive?

Illustration

Randall H. Perry

Back in 1981 there was an attempt on the life of Pope John Paul. Fortunately, the Pope lived. After he recovered, he shocked the world when he made a visit to Rome's Rabbibia Prison to see the man who had attempted to assassinate him on Christmas day. Millions watched on television as the Pope visited with Mehmet Ali Agca, who only two years before had tried to assassinate him. The white-robed Pop...

3064. Forgive Us Our Debts - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

As with so many of the stories of Jesus, the parable of the debtors arose out of a question that was posed to Jesus. Simon Peter said to him: "Master, if my brother sins against me, how many times should I forgive him? Seven times? Even as he asks that question my mind cannot help but think about children and how they will sometimes confess something they do wrong expecting to get praise from a te...

3065. Extending Mercy

Illustration

Brett Blair

In Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables, Jean Valjean served a 19 year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread in order to feed his sister's family. Finally, he is set free. A Bishop is the only one who will befriend the embittered man. Valjean rewards him by stealing some of his silver. He is caught red-handed by the police. The Bishop, you will recall, is called to the police station to prefer char...

3066. True Freedom in Forgiveness

Illustration

King Duncan

When Bill Clinton met Nelson Mandela for the first time, he had a question on his mind: "When you were released from prison, Mr. Mandela," the former President said, "I woke my daughter at three o'clock in the morning. I wanted her to see this historic event." Then President Clinton zeroed in on his question: "As you marched from the cellblock across the yard to the gate of the prison, the camera ...

3067. Healing in Your Heart

Illustration

King Duncan

Penelope J. Stokes tells about her reaction to a scene in the motion picture, Waiting to Exhale. A woman, victimized by her husband's infidelity, gathers up his clothes, his shoes, his personal belongings, and stuffs them into his expensive Mercedes. When the closets and drawers are empty, she returns to the car, sets a torch to the contents, and stands there with tears streaming down her cheeks a...

3068. An 800 Year Grudge

Illustration

King Duncan

Many years ago, Colonel Jeff O'Leary served as part of the UN peacekeeping forces in the Sinai Peninsula region. While there, he encountered a number of Bedouin people, a nomadic people who travel this desert region. One afternoon, Colonel O'Leary had tea with a group of Bedouin men. Colonel O'Leary couldn't help but notice that his host kept staring at a man who was tending his camels. The host p...

3069. Holding a Grudge

Illustration

King Duncan

Years ago, a man in Hardeeville, South Carolina went down to the Jasper County Courthouse. There he filed a deed restriction. The restriction barred the sale of any part of his 1,688 acre plantation to anyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line and anyone named Sherman. It seems that more than a century before, General William T. Sherman's troops burned every building on this man's property and Mr. Ing...

3070. The Forgiven and the Forgiving

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

The miracle of Christ is that strange power that enables me to know that I have been forgiven and, therefore, by grace to possess in my own life the strange and wonderful capability of forgiving others. We want justice. No, we don’t! We want mercy. I have done things in my life that I cannot now straighten out. I need mercy. I need forgiveness. I am caught. There is no hope. I have done so much t...

3071. Justice

Sermon

Will Willimon

The story begins with mathematics. Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, how often should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?" Seven times? That sounds reasonable, even mathematically merciful. Jesus responds with a geometrically progressive figure. Forgiveness is limitless. It cannot be tallied. Throw away calculator and slide rule. Stop counting. There are no mathematicians or accountants in ...

3072. Proper 19

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Unlimited Forgiveness The parable uses the analogy of a reverse comparison. On the one hand a huge, almost inconceivable debt is forgiven. The amount of the debt of the first character in the parable is staggering. To the person hearing the parable it would be scarcely possible to imagine a debt so monumental, perhaps as hard as to try to imagine today the size of the national debt in the United ...

3073. Proper 19

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 14:19-31 is the account of how God rescued Israel from the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 is a hymn that celebrates this event, and it is sometimes said to be the oldest text in the Bible. Exodus 14:19-31 - "Rescue at the Sea" Setting. Few would disagree with the statement that the Exodus event is the central story of salvation in the Old Testament....

3074. The Gift of Forgiveness

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Jim Talley and Terry Benner in their book True Colors tell the story of a man named Joe who decided to take an afternoon walk through the foothills just above a lake where he had been fishing. Joe was comfortably dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his leg as he stepped over a small log. It was then he noticed a large diamondback rattler slithering int...

3075. The Subject Is Forgiveness

Sermon

Steve Molin

Elisabeth Elliot was a missionary. She was a missionary to a tribe called the Aucas in a remote section of Ecuador, and that alone may not be very spectacular. What is amazing however is that in January of 1955, Elisabeth’s husband, Jim, and four other missionaries were mas- sacred by a handful of the Auca tribe. They demolished their airplane, they mutilated their bodies with spears, and scattere...

Showing 3051 to 3075 of 4508 results

3051. The Danger within Us

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

3052. Forgiving As God Forgives

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

3053. Tending to Spiritual Wounds

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

3054. Taking the Lumps and All

Illustration

Gary D. Stratman

3055. House Rules, Forgiveness, and Why Rat Poison Is not Good for You

Sermon

Roy Howard

3056. An Example of Christ-like Thinking

Illustration

Staff

3057. I Was Praying

Illustration

Thomas Tewell

3058. Debts in Roman Society

Illustration

James R. Davis

3059. Does Forgiveness Really Exist?

Illustration

Scott H. Bowerman

3060. Jesus Startles Us

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

3061. Measure for Measure

Sermon

Lori Wagner

3062. Two Million Dollar Mistake

Illustration

Dale Galloway

3063. Why Forgive?

Illustration

Randall H. Perry

3064. Forgive Us Our Debts - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

3065. Extending Mercy

Illustration

Brett Blair

3066. True Freedom in Forgiveness

Illustration

King Duncan

3067. Healing in Your Heart

Illustration

King Duncan

3068. An 800 Year Grudge

Illustration

King Duncan

3069. Holding a Grudge

Illustration

King Duncan

3070. The Forgiven and the Forgiving

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

3071. Justice

Sermon

Will Willimon

3072. Proper 19

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

3073. Proper 19

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

3074. The Gift of Forgiveness

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

3075. The Subject Is Forgiveness

Sermon

Steve Molin

Showing 3051 to 3075 of 4508 results