Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 301 to 325 of 5000 results

James 1:19-27, James 1:1-18

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... the critical point. It is not what one knows, but what one does that counts. True knowledge is the prelude to action, and it is the obedience to the word that counts in the end. 1:23–24 Having stated his thesis in the previous verse, James illustrates the merely listening position with a metaphor from daily life. It is like someone who carefully examines his or her face in a mirror in the morning. The beard is trimmed, the hair carefully combed into place, or the make-up applied. For the moment looking at ...

302. Spelling Integrity

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

In the fourth round of a national spelling contest in Washington Rosalie Elliot, then an eleven-year-old from South Carolina, was asked to spell avowal. In her soft Southern accent she spelled it. But did the seventh grader use an a or an e as the next to last letter? The judges couldn't decide. For several minutes they listened to tape recording playbacks, but the critical letter was accent-blurred. Chief Judge John Lloyd finally put the question to the only person who knew the answer, "Was the letter an ...

303. Jesus Destroys the Power of Sin

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... . Those things he once loved he now hated and the things he despised were now special to him. Where once there was love, now misery reigned. Where once there was hope, now despair. Where once light was abundant, darkness was now dominant. This powerful tale illustrates very clearly the destructive power of sin in our world. Today our Gospel Reading shows how sin cripples our ability to be who we want to be, the one God calls us to be. Fortunately, however, Jesus is the antidote to sin, the one who ...

304. No Promotion Required

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... is no more and everyone lives in dignity and peace and freedom together under the Lordship of Christ. Can he count on you? 1. caleb@multichannelmarketing.com. 2. http://mail.evanscollective.com:8081/Sermons/2006/Palm%20Sunday.htm. 3. Source unknown. 4. Brian Hunter, Illustrations That Connect: Over 100 Illustrations for preachers, teachers, public speaker, and writers to help you connect with your audience in a powerful and insightful way. UNKNOWN. Kindle Edition. 5. Adapted from Anonymous. Your Sermon ...

305. Jesus In Ministry — Us In Ministry

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... her vision at the age of thirty! When asked why she didn’t have the operation sooner it was the doctor who said, “She just figured there was nothing that could be done with her blindness. Much of life could have been different!” The illustrator writer asked some pointed questions. Why did she continue to assume that her situation was hopeless? Why hadn’t someone told her about the new developments in operation procedures? Why did she finally ask for help? The author commented, “How many will go on ...

306. Overcoming Envy

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... . 4. Cited in It’s Not Your Turn: What to Do While You’re Waiting for Your Breakthrough by Heather Thompson Day. 5. 1000 Windows: A Speaker’s Sourcebook of Illustrations, edited by Robert C. Shannon, Standard Publishing Company, 1984. 6. Illustrations That Connect: Over 100 Illustrations for preachers, teachers, public speaker, and writers to help you connect with your audience in a powerful and insightful way, (Source Unknown, Kindle Edition). 7. “Soul Search,” by Gordon MacDonald, Discipleship ...

307. Lord To Whom Shall We Go?

John 6:56-69

Sermon

David Coffin

... still be rejected. If Jesus is our Lord, this need not be the last final word in our lives. We will have life and have it abundantly John 10:10 (RSV). This is the good news of the gospel today. The young man and father in the opening illustration did indeed weather many messy divorce court hearings. He learned that lawyers were not such bad people despite how the popular media portrayed them. There were people whom he thought to be friends, who kept their distance from him as if he were a modern day leper ...

308. The Open Hand

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... around which we have built our lives. Open minds? No way! Open hearts? No way! Open hand? No way! Like the woman in the psychiatric center we cling to a cheap coin and miss the most valuable treasure of all -- God. Another story about clinging helps illustrate how foolish this Pharisaic tendency of stubbornness about cheap things can be. This story is about a spoiled child who got his hand stuck in a very expensive vase. His parents tried and tried to help the crying child get his hand out of the vase ...

309. The Perisitent Noise Of Solemn Assemblies

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... Gospels. Love, it tells us, must know no limits of race .... Who needs me is my neighbor. Whom at the given time and place I can help with my active love, he is my neighbor and I am his."1 So it is that Jesus illustrates in an unforgettable way what it means to be neighborly. However, the story of the Good Samaritan has been variously interpreted through the centuries. Saint Augustine, for example, in the fifth century, attached varieties of allegorical meanings to it. The fallen man was Adam. Jerusalem ...

310. Advent 1

Luke 21:5-38, 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Jeremiah 33:1-26, Psalm 25:1-22

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... present in the spirit even though absent in the flesh. Through his actions in our life we can know that our redemption is drawing near, in fact, is already present when we place our trust in him and live in obedience to his teachings and example. Illustrative Materials 1. Signs of God's Activity Today. All the predictions ten years ago were that South Africa would continue in racial strife for a long period of time. The end would come in a great bloodshed as the majority black population rebelled against a ...

311. Proper 10

Luke 10:25-37, Colossians 1:1-14, Amos 7:10-17, Psalm 82:1-8

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... that he is praying that for them. Gospel. (Luke 10:25-37) Jesus responds to a series of questions from a lawyer. The persistence of the lawyer in wanting to know the meaning of the law leads Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is more an illustration of the heart of the law than a discourse on what it is about. The lawyer is led to draw his own conclusions about the essential intent of the law. Psalm. (Psalm 82) God is seen as a judge in the midst of the council of the gods. He judges ...

312. Breaking The Tabboo

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... very pretty. It isn't very faithful. The subject of money may be taboo in the church, but it certainly wasn't taboo for Jesus. Continually in his preaching and teaching Jesus breaks the taboo. When Jesus talks about the kingdom of God he uses images and illustrations from the world of money and economics more than any other. Jesus is continually talking about money. The little story of "the widow's mite" (as it has often been called in the church) in today's gospel is one such example. At the heart of this ...

313. Why Do We Want To Learn?

Proverbs 1:2, 5

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

... ? ... Learning new things is very important for everybody, even for adults. We never outgrow our need to learn. The reason for this is that the new things we learn change us; and the more we know, the more we can do; and life will be fuller. Let me illustrate what I mean. When people are born, they don't know very much. But as they grow and learn, new things are added to their life. (Pour the blue water into the large jar.) Then, as they grow older, they learn different things, as represented by this yellow ...

314. Flowers Follow Showers

Romans 5:3-5

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

... ? How can I change my attitude to help me get through this time?" That is how you grow into a special, beautiful person. That is how you use the rainy times of life to blossom into that special person God created. Possible Times To Use This Illustration In The Home: When your child is unhappy because a rainy day has caused a cancellation of a special event. In the spring, when the flowers are blooming in your garden. When a child is faced with any type of personal hardship. Scriptural Background: "More than ...

315. To All Those Who Have, More Will Be Given

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Phyllis Faaborg Wolk

The parable told in our gospel lesson this morning is one that Jesus uses to illustrate the kingdom of heaven. It is a story about a shrewd businessman who rewards the slaves that double his ... his point about what God expects of his disciples. To help shed some light on the meaning of this parable, I will retell the story using images and illustrations that we, as twentieth century Christians, can understand: Jesus was preparing his disciples for the time when he would have to leave this world. He told them ...

316. Confidence To Spare

Psalm 27:1-6, 13-14

Sermon

Robert G. McCreight

... is without question a cheerful and caring and appreciative woman. In all my years I've never met anyone like Mabel. She's never blue or upset about something. She never complains. She's a good example of what I'm talking about today, for she illustrates the human attribute of confidence. She is a good demonstration of my point that confidence is a very valuable attribute to have in life, because it raises the level of the quality of your life. When you have confidence, just about everything else is good ...

317. Brainstorms

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... transparency because he was a brilliant, magnetic speaker. But all of us must learn to keep in mind at all times whose Church the Church is. 3. Micah And The Levite The story of Micah and the Levite and of the migration north of the tribe of Dan illustrates the wryly humorous comment with which the author or editor concludes the Book of Judges: "In those days there was no king in Israel: all the people did what was right in their own eyes." None of the characters in Judges 17 and 18 is admirable or even ...

318. A Living Witness

Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Rodney Thomas Smothe

... because it represents a radical departure from the roles and status of women in the New Testament community. Second, Tabitha's identification as a "disciple," from a cultural perspective is radical. Not only does it illustrate the use of ordinary circumstances to bring about miraculous results, but it illustrates God's willingness to use persons regardless of their gender for service. Acts 9:36 says that this woman's ministry was directed toward the poor and outcasts of the community. Long before the term ...

319. A Cultural Breakthrough

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

Rodney Thomas Smothe

... . Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Pastor Dowdy's story stuck with me because it illustrated several keys that can lead to breakthroughs for us. First, Pastor Dowdy had a desire to get into a place of safety, warmth, and hospitality. Isn't that a basic need of us all? Second, though faced with some barriers, he continued to search for ways to achieve ...

320. Membership Has Its Privileges

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Rodney Thomas Smothe

... Samaritans (8:4), then the Ethiopian (8:38), Saul (9:6), Lydia (16:14), and then the Philippian Jailer (16:33-34). Like much of Acts our text today is Luke's way of illustrating the universal nature of God's power of conversion for all people regardless of their position and status of life. Our text also illustrates God's power over demons, the ability of God to bring deliverance, healing and conversion to all who believe. Our story begins with Paul and Silas encountering a slave girl who, as the Amplified ...

321. For I Have Chosen You!

Haggai 2:20-23

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... , remember as best we are able what occurred in the past, while pressing forward into the future at the rate of sixty seconds every minute and sixty minutes every hour. Our mistake is to insist that God experiences time in the same fashion. My favorite illustration of how God's time differs from ours is contained in the twelfth chapter of Revelation. Just as Haggai, in 2:21, looks ahead to when God will shake the heavens and the earth, so this final book of the Bible describes in even greater detail ...

322. Advent 4

Luke 1:26-38, Romans 16:1-27, 2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon Aid

E. Carver McGriff

... in everyday life, even those who oppose us or who disappoint us, are still loved by God equally as much as we are. But it means that in God's hands our earthly life as well as our eternal fate are safely in the hands of love. ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS "We're taking his insurance money and we're putting it into missions for Japan; for what Japan needs, and what we all need, is not more punishment but redemption."-- Father of boy killed In World War II, shortly after word received Several years ago, there was ...

323. Proper 17

Hebrews 13:1-25, Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, Luke 14:1-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... 1, 7-14 1. Be humble and humiliated. Need: The key verse is 11: "For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." It is one or the other: be humble or be humiliated. Get down or be put down! This is illustrated often in Dan Fielding in "Night Court": he is arrogant, bigoted, and dogmatic but in the end he is humiliated. The point is that we are either humble or we will be humbled. The need for humility is universal. We want to avoid false humility as well as the ...

324. Proper 26

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12, Habakkuk 2:2-20, Habakkuk 1:1-4, Luke 19:1-10

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... his dirty life by repentance. He gave half of his wealth to the poor and restored fourfold what he took. 3. Steps to life (19:1-10). Need: People need to know the simple steps from a life of sin to a Christian, a life in Christ. The steps are illustrated in Zacchaeus' conversion. Outline: What steps do you take to get life in Christ? a. Climb v. 4. This means your wanting to see and know Jesus because you need him. b. Confront v. 5. Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree. He ordered him to come down and together ...

325. The Honor Of A Limp

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

... will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. This is the witness of Jacob at the Jabbok River crossing. And it is a good witness. A witness of faithful determination to strive before God and others. 1. King Duncan, "Success," in Dynamic Illustrations, July/August/September 1997 (Knoxville, Tenn.: Seven Worlds Corporation). 2. I am indebted to Fredrick C. Holmgren for the exposition of this passage in his article, "Holding Your Own Against God! Genesis 32:22-32 (In the Context of Genesis 31-33)" in ...

Showing results