Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3401 to 3425 of 4508 results

3401. Needing a Change of Heart

Illustration

Brian P. Stoffregen

The primary point of this parable of the two sons is about having a change in heart, not just about saying or doing the right things. The following stories might illustrate this point. Once there were two couples. Couple A were married in a large, beautiful church ceremony. They pledge life-long faithfulness and love to each other in the moving words of their vows. However, their life together ha...

3402. Integrity Deficit Disorder

Illustration

Otis Young

What are some of the symptoms of integrity deficit disorder? A person who is afflicted with this disorder knows what's right but doesn't follow through and do what's right. He or she makes a promise or commitment, then fails to keep it. Thus when you meet a person with integrity deficit disorder you're never quite sure if you can trust that person or not. A second symptom is also one of the caus...

3403. Fathers and Sons

Illustration

William J. Carl, III

A father once tried to talk to his son about how college was going: The father said, "How are things going?" The son said, "Good." The father said, "And the dormitory?" He said, "Good." The father said, "How are your studies going?" He said, "Good." The father said, "Have you decided on a major yet?" He said, "Yes." "Well, what is it?" asked the father. The son said, "Communication." So it goes a...

3404. The King's Children

Illustration

Verne Arens

In the first scene of William Shakespeare's King Lear, the old king summons his three daughters to tell them he is to retire and wants to distribute his power among them. Before doing so, however, he wants some clear declaration some reassurance of their love and devotion. Two of his daughters, Goneril and Regan, are quick to give him what he wants. Goneril declares: Sire, I love you more than wo...

3405. Getting All the Facts

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

A little boy was standing on the sidewalk in the middle of a city block. He was obviously waiting for something. An older man approached him and asked for what he was waiting. The little boy confidently told the older man that he was waiting for the bus. The man laughed and said the bus stop was in the next block. The boy acknowledged that fact but insisted the bus would stop for him right here. ...

3406. Obedience Is a Means

Illustration

Martha Thatcher

Whenever I take the opportunity to actively love God in personal obedience, I end up sensing a new tenderness in my heart toward Him and a stronger resolve to obey again next time. Obedience is not an end, but a means - a means to express our love to God, and a means to increase our love for God. It is a catalyst in the process of loving God and becoming more like Jesus.

3407. Cost-free Discipleship Produces Wimps

Illustration

Brennan Manning

Brennan Manning in his book, The Signature of Jesus, writes, "We have made it too easy to be a Christian. The sole requirements are the recitation of a creed and attendance at a local church where there is no community and little fellowship. Christianity used to be risky business; it is no longer. Cost-free discipleship produces wimps."

3408. Who Are the Superstars Now?

Illustration

Edward F. Markquart

There was a tough minded football coach who had high expectations for his football players. At the conclusion of one practice, he demanded that his players run three miles that night, do two hundred push ups, and study the play book for at least an hour. And all the superstars and first team shouted out: "You can count on us, coach. We'll do that." That night, all the superstars of the first t...

3409. So Much Comes from Our Choices

Illustration

Mike Baker

I want to share with you a very real example of the impact that our daily choices makes on our future. This is a story of two close friends who were teammates on a football team. Friends who shared a view of a promising future in professional sports and also who looked forward to continued success during their collegiate career. These two friends made separate choices last November. One chose to ...

3410. Fire on One End, Fool on the Other

Illustration

Julian Gordy

A physician went to talk about the dangers of smoking to a bunch of High School students. He scared them with grim pictures of smokers' lungs and tales of death from lung cancer. The doctor finished his speech by saying, "Remember, fire on one end, fool on the other." The students were all impressed, especially those boys who would sneak out behind the shop building at lunch to light one up. But ...

3411. Availability

Illustration

King Duncan

A man applied for a job as a handyman. The prospective employer asked, "Can you do carpentry?" The man answered in the negative. "How about brick laying?" Again the man answered, "No." The employer asked, "Well, what about electrical work?" The man said "No, I don't know anything about that either." Finally the employer said, "Well, tell me then what is handy about you." The man replied, "I l...

3412. Just Posing

Illustration

King Duncan

Writer Elizabeth Sherrill tells of visiting the ice-skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City a few years ago. Dozens of people skated around the rink. But in the center of the rink was a lovely blond woman in an attractive skater's outfit. This woman was stretching and posing, stretching and posing. Elizabeth waited expectantly for this lovely young woman to finish with her posing and b...

3413. Losing Authority

Illustration

King Duncan

There is a wonderful story about a group of military leaders who succeeded in building a super computer that was able to solve any problem large or small, strategic or tactical. These military leaders assembled in front of the new machine for a demonstration. The engineer conducting the demonstration instructed these officers to feed a difficult tactical problem into it. The military leaders proce...

3414. Be Careful Who You Judge

Illustration

Roger G. Talbott

A young minister graduated from seminary just before World War I and he was appointed to a church in a very small town. He had been there only a couple of weeks when he received the call every new minister dreads – the call to do his first funeral. The person who had died was not a member of his church. She was, in fact, a woman with a very bad reputation. Her husband was a railroad engineer who w...

3415. What's The Bottom Line?

Sermon

George Johnson

What are your thoughts when you first wake up in the morning? What am I going to wear today? Is the bathroom free? What's the weather like? Can I stay in bed just a little bit longer? I am waking up earlier now that I'm on the other side of 50, the second side of life. My thoughts early in the morning are usually around the day's appointments. Let's see, Lois needs that article by 9. I could go t...

3416. On Being a Tenant

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

All the details of the story that Jesus tells about being a tenant and owning a vineyard would have been familiar facts to the people who heard him tell it. I have on several occasions seen the vineyards of Israel, which are surrounded by a stone wall. On top of the wall is placed brambles that keep the wild animals from coming into the vineyard. They also protect the vineyard from thieves climbin...

3417. Wants and Needs?

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: Rejection of that which is essential. Props: Contrasting items: Bubblegum and a stock of asparagus; a book and an electronic handheld game (e.g. Gameboy); and a golf club and Bible. Lesson: Good morning. (response) I want to show you two things and ask you a question. Are you ready? (response) Show the following pairs one at a time as you say them. The “want item” is at the end for...

3418. The Parable of the Tenants

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

21:33–39 The second parable directed against those who refused to accept the messianic implications of Jesus’ ministry had to do with a landowner who leased his vineyard to tenants and left home. Preparations included putting a wall around the property to keep wild beasts out, hewing out a wine vat, and building a watchtower from which the entire operation could be overseen. When the harvest time...

3419. God's Bag of Cookies

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Bertrand Russell once said, "It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly." Since Russell was an atheist, I’m very careful how and when to express agreement with his philosophy of life. But this is one area where I’m tempted to say the same thing when it comes to people’s possession of religion and politics (and I know I’m not suppose...

3420. The Landlord's Dilemma - World Communion Sunday

Sermon

King Duncan

Once there was a man who owned a piece of property. He felt it would make a fine grape vineyard. So he planted a vineyard on the property and enclosed it with a wall. He wanted this to be a full-service operation, so within the wall he dug a winepress a vat where the grapes could be pressed and the juice extracted. And he built a watchtower to protect his vineyard because this was a lawless land a...

3421. Jesus and the Ferris Wheels

Sermon

King Duncan

A four-year-old girl named Jenny was telling her mother about the Bible story she had just heard in her Sunday school class. It concerned the healing of the blind man, one of the times the Pharisees tried to find something they could use against Jesus. When she got to the part where the Pharisees questioned the man who was healed, Jenny gave her take on the story. She said, “Oh boy, those Ferris w...

3422. Rejected

Sermon

King Duncan

A tall, burly man entered a San Francisco liquor store sometime back, pointed a revolver at a clerk and demanded money. According to police, when the clerk refused to comply, "the suspect then began to cry," put his gun in his pocket, and ran out of the store. Imagine that. A grown man, spurned by the man he intends to rob, breaks down in tears. I do believe that would-be robber is vocationally im...

3423. Opportunism? Or Opportunity?

Sermon

A striking television commercial came into our living rooms not long ago. It showed a funeral procession of expensive vehicles, driving single file behind a hearse, toward a cemetery. As the camera focused on the passengers in the first one, and then the next and the next of the procession of luxurious automobiles, a voice could be heard. It was that of the lawyer, reading the will, which each wou...

3424. Prayer

Bulletin Aid

Absentee landlords can be a problem! They don't know the situation; They often don't care, - As long as their investment is profitable! Whether it's a tenement house in the slums - Owned by a suburban lawyer; Or a farm in Iowa - Owned by a Saudi Arabian conglomerate; Or a trona mine in Wyoming - Owned by a French company; Or a vineyard in Israel - The situation is frustrating, Especially when you...

3425. Just Whose Farm Is It?

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes. (Matthew 21:42) Collect Gather together all nations. We will praise God for the strong medicine of his Word which strikes home and heals. Amen. Prayer Of Confession How we delight in your Word when we believe it convicts others. Dare we allow your Word to aff...

Showing 3401 to 3425 of 4508 results