Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 351 to 375 of 2664 results

351. He's Everything I Need

Psalm 23:1

Sermon

James Merritt

... less than five minutes, by the way he holds his head, by the way he bleats, by the way he walks. He can even look at the ground where they have been laying down and tell by the condition of the grass or by the droppings they leave behind, or by drops of blood, or even by one look in their eyes if they are sick. The shepherd has a personal relationship with every sheep. This Shepherd wants to have a personal relationship with you. But understand clearly the Lord cannot become your shepherd until the shepherd ...

352. Ministry By Faith: Does She or Doesn't She?

I Corinthians 16:14, James 2:14-26

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... men, so in deference to our commitment to gender equality even in tonsorial concerns, enter Miss Clairol, the radical 50's woman who dared to suggest that hair-coloring was for respectable women, not just "fast women," when she dropped the bombshell question: "Does she or doesn't she?" And James drops the same kind of bombshell question…. Side-by-side with St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians and the theme of salvation by "grace through faith," and in the midst of our "Have Faith" campaign, James asks: "Can ...

353. Building Relationships

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... to give anyone the idea that I’m advocating severing a marriage relationship. I’m not. But, of course, not even every marriage is made in heaven. Barbara Brown Taylor tells a story about a woman who was already dying of cancer when her husband suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. At his funeral people leaned over her wheelchair to console her by reminding her that it would not be long until she and her husband were together again in heaven. Later when this woman and Rev. Taylor were alone, the woman ...

354. Outrageous Love

John 13:1-15

Sermon

Shirley Gupton Lynn

... towel to his shoulder like a slave. He takes a pitcher of water in one strong hand and a basin in the other. Jesus fills the stone basin with tepid water, then without a word kneels behind the outstretched feet of the nearest disciple. Twelve mouths drop open. Twelve pairs of eyes widen in disbelief. Jesus, their Master, is washing his disciples' feet! He kneels behind each one in turn and washes their feet, wiping them with a towel. They are paralyzed with amazement. A Jewish free man washed nobody's feet ...

355. Surprised Saints

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... was too proud to take charity, so he decided to get up early every morning, take a bag of coal and drop it along the tracks. The Widow Jacobs still thinks the steam train runs by here every morning. I think Old Mr. Simpson has been doing that for about 5 years now ... .” (6) A few lumps of coal dropped along a railroad track each day. It’s not much to do, but it’s something. I believe God calls each of us to do something ...

356. Seeing the Elephant/Hearing the Owl

2 Samuel 18:24-33

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , Bill Irwin had the daily companionship of Orient, his German Shepherd guide dog who led him on his journey. The two became known on the Trail as "The Orient Express." Among the "owls and elephants" Irwin and Orient confronted: huge boulders in Dragon's Tooth, Virginia, with drops of up to seven feet between them a distance too great for Orient to jump so Irwin had to help his dog; getting off the trail in a boulder field called Devil's Race Course and spending a day and night holed up listening to the ...

357. The Hand, the Lamb and the Dove

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... unusual metal because it remains in liquid form at room temperature. This makes it both highly useful and potentially quite dangerous. In elementary school there was a period of time when some of us started bringing small pill bottles to school with a few drops of liquid mercury swimming around in the bottom. During the duller parts of class, we would empty the contents of our bottles into the little craters on the desks that were designed to hold pencils. While the teacher droned on, we amused ourselves by ...

358. Wanted: A Lasting Marriage. Only Good Chemists, Bad mathematicians, Expert Soul-O-Flexors Need Apply

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... by wives as by husbands, reveals Jan Jarboe Russell in "What Really Makes Marriage Last," Good Housekeeping, 1996, 98-99, 144), as divorce proceedings and grounds have shifted from laborious and shocking to simple and mundane, the average life span of a marriage has dropped alarmingly. I grew up listening to John Denver declare undying, unending love for his wife in "Annie's Song." Denver is now divorced from her, as well as from a second wife, and is in another relationship. Glenn Stanton says that we have ...

359. Life's Two Pockets

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a mere subsistence level of existence. Bouffier began to plant trees. Every day, as he wandered the empty, pitted land, he carried with him the seeds of a new forest. He used his shepherd's crook to poke a planting hole for each seed, and thus dropped in the potential for a new tree with every step he took. On a good day, Elzeard could plant nearly a thousand seeds. Elzeard Bouffier continued to plant trees from seed for the next 50 years. He planted different types of forests - beech, oak, birch, maple ...

360. He Stands Alone

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... in which he would be told how Jesus helped this NFL coach win so many victories. In his mind Markquart was cynically humming his favorite football hymn, just before Ratigliano spoke: “Drop kick me Jesus through the goal posts of life, end over end neither left or the right, straight through the heart of those glorious uprights, drop‑kick me Jesus through the goal posts of life.” That’s the kind of witness Markquart expected. Instead Sam Ratigliano told how he and his wife were driving one evening ...

361. Healing and Wholeness to Many

Mark 1:29-39

Illustration

Urban Legend

... he took another bite of the apple. "Mr. Professor, I don't know much about the great thinkers you mentioned," as he took still another bite of his apple. "Mr. Professor, I admit I haven't studied the Bible like you have," as he finished his apple and dropped it back in the bag. "I was just wondering, this apple that I just ate, was it sour or sweet?" The Professor responded, "How could I know? I haven't tasted your apple." To which the old preacher replied, "With all due respect, sir, I was just wondering ...

362. Don’t Forget to Fly the Airplane!

Illustration

Brett Blair

... member of the crew tried to help out...and then another. By and by, if you can believe it, all eyes were on the little light bulb that refused to be dislodged from its socket. No one noticed that the plane was losing altitude. Finally, it dropped right into a swamp. Many were killed in that plane crash. While an experienced crew of high-priced and seasoned pilots messed around with a seventy-five-cent light bulb, an entire airplane and many of its passengers were lost. The crew momentarily forgot the most ...

363. What Would Jesus Do? - or - How Would Jesus Do It?

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... buy a new outfit in order to “stay cool.” Fashion is the very definition of “planned obsolescence.” Fashion trends change fast, but not as fast electronic trends. Everyone knows that when the economy crashes hemlines drop. But who could have foreseen that when the bottom dropped out of Wall Street, the avenue know as “Tweet Street” would have opened up for rush hour traffic. Smaller, more personal, less organized, individualized—tweating took off even as the stock market tanked. The world has ...

364. Brave Soldiers

Mark 6:14-29

Illustration

Craig Brian Larson

... that seemed all right. Was there anything else? "Yes, said the Gurkhas. They wanted the plane to fly as slowly as possible and no more than one hundred feet high. The British officer pointed out the planes always did fly as slowly as possible when dropping troops, but to jump from 100 feet was impossible, because the parachutes would not open in time from that height. "Oh," said the Gurkhas, "that's all right, then. We'll jump with parachutes anywhere. You didn't mention parachutes before!" Any church could ...

365. The Spirit of Cross Pointe

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... What he was simply saying was this. Even though he was Jewish and it was natural for him to keep a lot of the Old Testament laws of ceremony that Jews had practiced for thousands of years, when he tried to reach gentiles, he dropped all those Jewish rituals. He dropped all those ceremonial traditions. To put it simply when he was with the Jews, he would try to break down Jewish barriers and build Jewish bridges. When he was with the Gentiles he tried to break down Gentile barriers and build Gentile bridges ...

366. It’s Humble or the Umbles

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to “fumble.” Nothing drastic or deadly. Just a bit of imbalance, things just not quite going right in our lives and in our churches. We start to let things drop, let things go, and whatever we do seems to be wrong-footed. 3) Grumble After an interior “mumble” and the beginning of an exterior “fumbling” and dropping the ball, survival experts note the advance of a growing “grumble” — a true displeasure with anything and everything, a feeling of personal attack from any and all obstacles ...

367. The Spin Zone

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... II Peter 1:4, KJV) The great philosopher, Barney Fife, used to say, "Nip it in the bud" and that is exactly what you have to do when you face temptation. Whatever it means and it may mean different things - Get on the bus, Gus Make a new plan, Stan Drop off the key, Lee And get yourself free. But whatever you have to do get away from the source of the temptation. II. Confess Sin Don't Conceal It David goes back to bed that night having sent Bathsheba home thinking it was just a harmless one-night stand that ...

368. All By Myself: The Fear of Loneliness

2 Timothy 4:9-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... it forces me to focus on You." Prayer and praise are powerful antidotes to the illness of loneliness, because God has a 24 hour drop in service. You don't need an appointment and there is no waiting line. You can talk to Him anytime you want to, in ... step to take on dealing with loneliness. I will guarantee you if you will take this step, your loneliness will evaporate quicker than one drop of water on a ninety degree day. Get involved in a small group. We have small groups that meet every week on this campus ...

369. Marriage 101

Ephesians 5:22-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... to a 40 year low, and "I do" has been replaced with "I won't" or "I no longer will." A study by Rutgers University National Marriage Project found that Americans have not given up on marriage as an ideal, but there has been a catastrophic drop since 1960 in the number of couples who actually walk down the aisle and get married.1 Just consider the following:Over the last four decades Americans have become less likely to marry, and fewer of those who do marry have marriages they consider to be "very happy ...

370. The Frail Old Man

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Illustration

Staff

... had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am ...

371. Mark 8: 27-38

Mark 8:27-30

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . The scene is of the Last Judgment, with Jesus as the Son of Man. Whenever that eschatological event occurs, the time is now for choosing: whether to be “ashamed of” the Suffering Messiah, or to pick up a cross and follow Jesus, the Son of Man. When the ball is dropped on that New Day, will “this generation” be found having pick up the ball and run with it? Or will they ...

372. The Extravagance of Love

Luke 7:36-8:3

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

... was extravagance, especially the extravagance of love. There are really only two ways to live. You can live as if this is the last drop, and there won't be anymore; or you can live as if there is more where this came from. We can live out of scarcity ... a kiss as he did it. In most cases, especially on special occasions like the one in this story, a pinch of incense or a drop of rose perfume on the head would not only make the guest feel welcome and relaxed, but perhaps even special. But Simon the Pharisee has ...

373. A Tax Collector Becomes Rich

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... in and signed up for the contest. After the laughter died down, the owner grabbed a lemon and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains to the little man. The crowd's laughter turned to silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass. As the crowd cheered, the manager paid out the winning prize and asked the short guy what he did for a living. "Are you a lumberjack, a weightlifter, or what?" The man replied, "I work for the IRS." The point, of course, is that ...

374. Be Reconciled — To Christ and Others

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... should I listen to you?" The drunk was fixed on the old man. I told myself if he made one move forward or back I would drop him in his tracks. "What have you been drinking?" the old man asked. "Sake," came the answer. "Oh, that is wonderful," the old man said. "I ... sin again" (John 8:10b-11). Jesus' words to the woman point to the future. The past is forgiven. Let us move on, drop the past baggage, and try to do better. Too many times people live in the past; they have never learned to forgive themselves. ...

375. The Difference between Knowing and Doing

Galatians 2:15-21

Sermon

John Jamison

... to go ahead and eat anything he wanted out of the sail; clean, unclean, it just didn't matter. Peter got the message and began preaching it, which made Paul and the other non-Jerusalem folks happy. But after getting a chewing out from his friends back home, Peter dropped the sail story from his sermons and went back to warning people not to eat unclean things. Paul was so angered over this about-face that when he ran into Peter in the city of Antioch, he called him a hypocrite and put him in his place. This ...

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