Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3151 to 3175 of 4508 results

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

One of my favorite courses to teach is "Introduction to Biblical Literature." It is a 200-level course, and therefore only open to upperclassmen. These are college students who have already been around the block once or twice, and they know the rules of the game for getting good grades. Because the course is a biblical survey, there is a lot of material to cover, and little that can be pursued in...

3152. God’s Generosity Resented

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Here is the crazy story that Jesus told: A man owned a vineyard and needed to get the grapes harvested before the rains came. He hired some men at the early morning hour and agreed to pay them a silver coin for the day’s work. At nine and noon, and then at five p.m., he hired more men to help with the harvest. When evening came, the owner called all the workers together. They were all paid the sam...

3153. To Drown Hell and Burn Heaven

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

My dad was a good storyteller. He grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota in the days when there were no movie theaters or other kinds of entertainment, so my dad and his friends made their own fun. Judging by his stories, their entertainment involved a lot of pranks. Their imaginations really went wild at Halloween. Some of his stories I can't tell in public, but here's one I can tell. One Hallow...

3154. That's Not Fair

Sermon

King Duncan

Some years back an anonymous dialogue circulated on the Internet. It was aimed at parents. It went like this: Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God’s omnipotence did not extend to His own children. After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. And one of the first things God said was “DON’T!” “Don’t what?” Adam replied. “Don’...

3155. Deathbed Confessions

Sermon

King Duncan

Did you know that Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis and one of the most important figures of the early 20th century was a teller of jokes? He was. In fact, way back in 1915 he told a joke about a minister who was summoned by a group of anxious relatives. They wanted him to extract a deathbed conversion from an atheistic and unrepentant insurance salesman. The meeting between the minist...

3156. Surprised By Grace

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

Let us pray: Gracious and eternal Father, we come to you this day seeking to understand the ways in which your Spirit moves in our lives. Lord, in these moments, may we be moved by love in our hearts and receive wisdom in our minds. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has been called America's "greatest gathering of words."1 Lincoln's message was given over 130 year...

3157. Envy - Where Is The Grass Greener?

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

I have a friend by the name of Robert who has always enjoyed playing jokes, especially at the expense of others. One day Robert was expecting a visit from his childhood friend Larry, whom he hadn't seen in over ten years. In their teens Robert and Larry had a friendly rivalry going between them. So Robert came up with this idea of trying to impress Larry that he had become extremely wealthy. There...

3158. Caring for the Vineyard We Did Not Plant

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How many of you have seen an episode of “This Old House”? How many know what I’m talking about? The show, on television for nearly 40 years (since 1979), now also has a website and a magazine. The innovative show has developed a “buzz” as the “go-to” site for creative hands-on remodeling --for men and women alike! Its premise is simple: how to take an ordinary, drab, old, crumbling, or even condem...

3159. No Fair!

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: a ruler or yardstick We love our measuring sticks. When our children are young, we measure their growth and notch little marks in the wall, as they grow taller and taller. We measure our flour and our water to make just the right bread. We measure how much money we put into the bank, so that we can save for college for our kids and our grandkids. We measure our anniversaries, our birthdays,...

3160. Proper 20, Pentecost 18, Ordinary Time 25

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Prayer Of The Day Leader: Gracious God, you welcome us at your table whenever we arrive. Speak your word of grace to us, so that rather than judging others, we would lift our voices in thanksgiving for grace beyond measure and love beyond deserving, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. All: Amen. Intercessory Prayers After each petition: Leader: O Giver of life, All: bring in your kingdom. O...

3161. THE DAY LABORER

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Deuteronomy 24:15 - "you shall give him his hire on the day he earns it, before the sun goes down (for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it); lest he cry against you to the Lord and it be sin in you." Matthew 20:1 - "For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." In every city there were many people who worked by the day. I...

3162. Fairness

Illustration

This parable goes against the business mentality that dominates our lives. We have always been taught: You get out of something directly in proportion to that which you put in it. Yet, that is not what happened in Jesus' story. In our way of thinking, the laborers who came to the field late got something for nothing. This parable challenges us not to look upon the Kingdom of God, or the church, as...

3163. 100 Points!

Illustration

A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter say's, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in." Okay, " the man says, "I was married to the same women for 50 ...

3164. How Many People Work Here?

Illustration

A reporter once asked Pope John XXIII, "How many people work here in the Vatican?" to which the dear, old Pope answered, "Oh, about half, I guess."

3165. Jesus Was Just Wrong

Illustration

Johnny Dean

One Sunday several years ago when I preached on this text, a church member came to me after the service and said, "You know, preacher, there are parts of the Bible that are difficult to abide, and other parts that aren't. The story you preached on today is one that I find totally offensive! It's just not fair to pay everyone the same wage when some have worked hard and some have hardly worked. Jes...

3166. Evening-up the Slices

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

An old "Family Circus" comic strip shows the two boys Jeff and Billy squabbling over the size of the slices of pie their mom has placed before them. "They aren't the same," Jeff pouts. Mom tries again, evening-up the slices. Still Jeff is upset. "They still aren't the same!" he whines. This time Mom uses a ruler and absolutely proves that both slices of pie are the exact same size. "But Mom," Jeff...

3167. Dirty Dignity

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

Mike Rowe has made a career out of doing disgusting stuff. As the host of the Discovery Channel series "Dirty Jobs," Rowe has mucked-out, dug under, flushed, slogged, and slid through some of the most filthy and foul places on the planet. But whether he has been hanging from rafters or slipping through sewers, Rowe has consistently shown his viewers how even the most grungy, grimy, gross job stil...

3168. God Is Good, Life Isn’t Fair

Illustration

Johnny Dean

I seriously doubt that the story of the early and late workers in the vineyard would make very many folks' Top Ten Parables list. It's the parable most everyone loves to hate. And for good reason! The parable runs against the grain of one of our most deeply cherished values, the value of hard work and just reward: The more you work and the more productive you are, the more you ought to get paid. L...

3169. Just Showing Up

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

Director/actor Woody Allen is known for a lot of quotes. But maybe his most famous quote is this one. Anyone want to guess what it is? "Ninety percent of life is just showing up." But Woody Allen is famously wrong. Ninety percent of life is what we do AFTER we show up. Why do we want to believe Allen's computations so badly? We eagerly embrace Woody's calculus because it takes us off the hook f...

3170. Life Just Isn’t Fair

Illustration

William J. Carl, III

Have you ever noticed how sometimes life just isn't fair? It's one of the hard realities we learn early on. No one has to wait for adolescence or old age to find it out. You can learn it in nursery school. Sometimes life just isn't fair. Little brothers and sisters seem to get such special privileges. The things my little brother and sister got away with! There were times when I really felt like ...

3171. Life Isn’t Fair

Illustration

William J. Carl, III

Sometimes life just isn't fair. So we try to deal with the unfairness, like the little truck driver, just a little guy, who had parked his semi at the highway cafe and had gone in for lunch. While he was sitting there perched on a stool, three burly motorcyclists came in and began picking on him, grabbed his food away and laughed in his face. The truck driver said nothing, got up, paid for his foo...

3172. Great Laughter

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Frederick Buechner has often said that as much as anything, one of the things that finally made him turn his life over to God was something that the preacher George Buttrick said in a sermon one Sunday. Buttrick said that every time Jesus is crowned as Lord and King within someone's heart, this wonderful moment takes place amid "confessions, and tears, and great laughter." Buechner says that it w...

3173. Our Fair Share

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Barbara Brown Taylor says that this parable is a little like the cod liver oil that mothers used to give their kids to cure what ailed them: you know it's good for you, you trust the one who is giving it to you, but that doesn't make it very easy to swallow even so! Most of us are born into this world with a huge sense of infantile entitlement followed by, at a very early age already, a seemingly ...

3174. I Want You All to Get A’s

Illustration

Will Willimon

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard that cries out against our sense of judgment. We cannot help but puzzle and protest over the actions of the landowner. We cannot avoid the conclusion that this story is just not fair. William Willimon gives the story a modern twist: First day of class the professor says, "Now class, this is a course in advanced mathematics. Your entire grade will be bas...

3175. The Worker’s Pledge

Illustration

T. A. Kantonen

Washington Gladden, a pioneer for social justice, realized that changing outward systems will not bring about a better society unless men's attitude toward their work is also changed. So he wrote what he called "The Worker's Pledge" in which he said: "I will not be a sponge or parasite. I will give an honest equivalent for what I get. I want no man's money for which I have not rendered a full retu...

Showing 3151 to 3175 of 4508 results

3151. Why Is God Unfair?

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

3152. God’s Generosity Resented

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

3153. To Drown Hell and Burn Heaven

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

3154. That's Not Fair

Sermon

King Duncan

3155. Deathbed Confessions

Sermon

King Duncan

3156. Surprised By Grace

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

3157. Envy - Where Is The Grass Greener?

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

3158. Caring for the Vineyard We Did Not Plant

Sermon

Lori Wagner

3159. No Fair!

Sermon

Lori Wagner

3160. Proper 20, Pentecost 18, Ordinary Time 25

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

3161. THE DAY LABORER

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3162. Fairness

Illustration

3163. 100 Points!

Illustration

3164. How Many People Work Here?

Illustration

A reporter once asked Pope John XXIII, "How many people work here in the Vatican?" to which the dear, old Pope answered, "Oh, about half, I guess."

3165. Jesus Was Just Wrong

Illustration

Johnny Dean

3166. Evening-up the Slices

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

3167. Dirty Dignity

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

3168. God Is Good, Life Isn’t Fair

Illustration

Johnny Dean

3169. Just Showing Up

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

3170. Life Just Isn’t Fair

Illustration

William J. Carl, III

3171. Life Isn’t Fair

Illustration

William J. Carl, III

3172. Great Laughter

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

3173. Our Fair Share

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

3174. I Want You All to Get A’s

Illustration

Will Willimon

3175. The Worker’s Pledge

Illustration

T. A. Kantonen

Showing 3151 to 3175 of 4508 results