Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 301 to 325 of 1182 results

1 Kings 19:9-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... . Pastors today struggle with "burn-out." One in five American ministers has lost his/her zest for the gospel ministry and claims to get little joy from service to God. Depressed, such persons suffer from stress, fatigue, and exhaustion. In our text, we have a classic case of depression in one of the Bible’s greatest prophets, Elijah. He, too, had his high and low moments. On top of Mt. Carmel, he was on the top of things by calling fire from heaven and single-handedly defeating 450 prophets of Baal ...

302. Your Money and Your Life

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

In his classic treatise on politics, The Republic, Plato observed that the greatest enemy of justice is the family. Yes, the family! I daresay his claim will strike you as being rather silly. After all, most everyone agrees the family is a good and necessary institution. Sociologists continue to say the family is ...

303. A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

George Bass

... whose mission is to witness to the gospel in the world rather than to carry on an internal battle against one another. Fellow Christians of other persuasion dare no longer be called "The Opposition," to borrow Peter Mattheissen’s phrase from his minor classic (Time magazine), At Play in the Fields of the Lord. But there are signs that this has not fully happened, as in the new worship book of my denomination, for example. The friend and colleague of Loyola, Francis Xavier, whose chapel tomb (containing ...

304. He Bore Our Sins

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... him? Why need you make excuses for not coming to him and serving him? Why need you flee from him, and would you not wish to cling always and forever to him? Why procrastinate? Why put off his invitation? Some of you may recall the nearly classic account of how procrastination is said to be used by Satan to bring ultimate condemnation upon humankind. In this narrative the Evil One is pictured as calling together all of his assistants and asking this question: "Who will go forth to ruin souls on earth?" The ...

305. Will My Ship Sink or Float?

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... , trusting God, obeying God brings magnificence even to my little life. Once a man in my church, as he was dying, whispered to me: "Tell them, when you hold my funeral service, ‘I’ve had enough clouds in my life to make a beautiful sunset.’ " The classic illustration of this truth was given by Dr. Ralph Sockman, long-time pastor of Christ Church in New York City. Dr. Sockman pictured a great battleship afloat on the high seas. He then pointed out that if you took it apart and threw it into the ocean ...

306. The Importance of Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... readily testifies. That is why it would be disastrous if we always had our own way - that may well be further removed from God’s way than the way of mutuality born of the common vision of all of his people gathered together in his name! Perhaps the classic example of how such a vision and hope can stop disunity and bring people of such diversity together is suggested in an embryonic way in today’s Gospel. There we hear, first of all, how the light has dawned in the land of the shadow of death. Isaiah ...

307. The Need for Transfiguration

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... of feelings like that. Music has a way of transporting us out of our every-day world into another kind of world. Contemporary music with its driving rhythms and its compelling pulsations of sound is often accused of this as though it were demonic, but classical music of the most traditional sort can also draw people up and transform them in all kinds of ways. Literature and drama are vehicles for doing the same thing - to take people outside of the realities of the moment and to lift them up into another ...

308. Tis Good To Be Here

Matthew 17:1-13

Illustration

In the classic fantasy book by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins and his troupe is traveling through a dark, dangerous forest infested with gigantic, poisonous spiders and all manner of dark critters and creepy-crawly things. Just being in that kind of place was a frightening experience. And each member ...

309. Issachar

Genesis 49:1-28

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... prefer to spend their days free from mental and spiritual exertion. Tragically, such individuals become spiritual slaves. When freedom is relinquished, servitude results. ISSACHAR The venerable Jacob was nearing death. He called his twelve sons to his side, and there followed a classic deathbed scene. Jacob had not taken leave of his senses nor was he in tearful remorse. He listed his sons and likened each to some animal or object of nature: Ruben was as unstable as water. Simeon and Levi were weapons of ...

310. An Unidentified King

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... or a husband or a mother? Is the word "Christian" your most important adjective? When you declare, "Jesus is Lord!" have you revealed the essence of your identity? In your life, has Jesus the unidentified king been crowned the King of kings? In his classic novel, "The Robe," Lloyd C. Douglas has a character called Marcellus, who had become enamored of Jesus. He wrote letters to his fiancè Diana in Rome. He told her about Jesus' teachings, about his miracles, then about his crucifixion, and then about his ...

311. Running With Patience

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... as important as running the race itself. The goal must be firmly fixed, the desire must excite and stimulate, the plan and purpose must have meaning. Running with patience means keeping a long range strategy in order to prevent burning out on the course. The classic story of the tortoise and the hare illustrates the point. The tortoise won the race because he ran it with patience. The hare did not take the race seriously, was not conditioned for it, was careless and casual about its importance, and had no ...

312. Keeping Our Promises

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... strive to keep their "word" to other human beings. Recent television programming included a showing of the movie, A Man For All Seasons. This story of Sir Thomas More and his battle to maintain an oath he had taken to the church is one of the truly classic stories in the human legacy. In one of the most gripping moments of the movie, Sir Thomas stands defiantly before his adversaries and proclaims, "When a man takes an oath, he holds himself in his own hands like water, when he opens, all that he has and ...

313. The Most Misunderstood Gift

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... love quotient. Love (which, by the way, is one of the fruits of the Spirit) is one of the best evidences whereby we know if the Holy Spirit is truly within us. The stance of our United Methodist Church in this matter is that we are "critical of classic pentecostalism when it infers that ‘one who does not speak in tongues is guilty of withholding a full surrender of the self to the will and purpose of God.’ " The Holy Spirit comes to us always in the Word and the Sacraments. The Holy Spirit is an agent ...

314. Paul Today

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... unity of the church, a healing of the broken body of Christ. The third insight is the primacy of agape as the highest of the gifts of the Spirit and the impelling motive of the Christian life. The nature of the Pauline agape is masterfully portrayed in Nygren’s classic, Eros and Agape. It is spontaneous and unconditioned, welling up from the depths of God’s own being, not seeking but creating worth in its object. It is God’s way to man, not man’s way to God. It is God himself at work in and through ...

315. Numbered Hairs

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... 6. Helmut Thielicke. How To Believe Again, p. 34. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972. 7. Leo Tolstoy. War And Peace, Great Books edition, Vol. 51, p. 111. 8. W. Somerset Maugham. The Summing Up, p. 11. New York: This New American Library (A Signet Classic), 1938, 1964. 9. Tolstoy, op. cit., p. 548. 10. Reginald L. White. "The Price Of A Life," in "Saturday Review," December 16, 1972, p. 8. 11. John Howard Griffin. Black Like Me, p. 133. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1960 ...

316. Blinding Specks

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... -1951. 6. Alexander Maclaren. Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Matthew I-VIII), p. 327. New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son; London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1905. 7. W. Somerset Maugham. The Summing Up, p. 36. New York: The New American Library (A Signet Classic), 1938, 1964. 8. Robert Burns. "Addresses To The Unco Guild, Or The Rigidly Righteous." 9. Helen Keller. The Story Of My Life, p. 81. New York: Dell publishing Company, Inc., 1961 (copyright Doubleday and Company, Inc.). 10. Jean Anouilh. Becket, p. 84 ...

317. Hindering Riches

Matthew 19:16-30

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... the spirit of Christ and so experience the rule of God. 1. Cheryl A. Forbes. "Box-Office Religion," in "Christianity Today," August 27, 1971, pp. 36-37. 2. W. Somerset Maugham. The Summing Up, p. xxii. New York: The New American Library (A Signet Classic), 1938, 1964. 3. James Baldwin. Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone, p. 81. New York; The Dial Press, Inc., 1968. 4. Edward Connery Lathem, Editor. Interviews With Robert Frost, p. 156. New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966 ...

318. Unlimited Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... . How To Be A Transformed Person, p. 182. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1951. 4. The Works Of John Wesley, Vol. II, p. 277. 5. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, p. 57. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1958, 1965. (A Perennial Classic) 6. Zacks, op. cit. 7. Edward Rowland Sill. "The Fool’s Prayer," in The Bedside Treasury Of Inspiration, edited by Helen and Horace Johnson, pp. 224-225. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1956. 8. C. S. Lewis. Letters To An American Lady ...

319. Cheering Stones

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... for cheers that have in them assurance of genuine commitment of ourselves to him. It is not for stones to give these cheers; we need to do it! 1. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, p. 301. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers (Perennial Classic edition), 1958, 1965. 2. Helen Smith Shoemaker. I Stand By The Door, p. 190. New York, Evanston and London: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1967. 3. James Stalker. John Knox: His Ideas And Ideals, p. 120. New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son; London: Hodder and ...

320. The Art of Living Until

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... weary if he is doing nothing but wait. Jesus even says the faltering servant may say to himself, "My master delays his coming," and may therefore begin to "beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken" (Matthew 24:49). Well, it’s the classic expression of boredom - to behave this way. And haven’t we seen a lot of it in our time? A good healthy interest in doing something worthwhile is the very best preventive medicine for this kind of frustration. Your day is always a shorter one if ...

321. The Wonderful "T" Word

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... way we can grow as disciples of Jesus Christ without giving systematically, joyously, gratefully, and sacrificially. Tithing keeps us on track as growing disciples. Our scripture lesson for today is about that wonderful "T" word--tithing. In order to properly appreciate this classic prophetic text, let me set the scene for you. The time is about 450 years before Christ. The nation of Israel is reorganizing after being in exile for several hundred years. At that time the nation consisted of nothing more than ...

322. A Vital Night Call

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... help. Jesus said, "Nicodemus, you must be born again." Nicodemus replied, "What? Is there some way I can turn back the time clock; return to my mother's womb, and repeat the birth experience?" Jesus must have smiled as he shook his head. Here you have a classic case of miscommunication. Like the little boy who visited his grandmother in New York City. She took him on a tour of the city, including the huge and imposing St. Patrick's Cathedral. When they got to altar area down front she said, "Under here is ...

323. Marantha: Come Lord Jesus

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... Christmas to be extraordinary, learn from two ancient examples of expectancy--Simeon and Anna. Our expectation is God's invitation. There are certain Christmas stories for children, suitable for adults too, that should be told every Christmas. One of them is that classic by Leo Tolstoy entitled "The Cobbler's Christmas Guest." It illustrates exactly what I have been saying about expectancy. Many years ago there lived in a small village a shoemaker by the name of Conrad. Though alone and poor, this kindly ...

324. Needed: Fidelity Insurance

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... reverence Him is this: Christ Protects. I do not mean that He shields us from accidents or illness. God does not play favorites in that regard. I mean He sharpens our consciences so that alarms start sounding when dangers threaten the marriage. Remember the classic biblical story of King David who committed adultery with the beautiful Bathsheba. One sultry evening he strolled out on his rooftop to catch a bit of a breeze. He glanced about and happened to see on an adjacent rooftop a beautiful woman taking a ...

325. When God Is Your Guide

Acts 20:13-38

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... your guide, any road is good. There is a wonderful old spiritual that has this refrain: "Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand; but I know what holds tomorrow, and I know He holds my hand." When Charleton Heston was training to drive the chariot in the classic movie Ben Hur, he said to the director Cecil B. DeMille, "I can barely stay on this thing. I can't win the race." DeMille replied, "Your job is to stay on it. It's my job to make sure you win." Our task is to be faithful; it's ...

Showing results