Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3751 to 3775 of 4884 results

3751. The Unexpected Answer

Illustration

Barbara Bartocci

Barbara Bartocci was searching for the perfect birthday card for her husband a few years ago. She came across a promising one. On the outside it read: "Sweetheart, you're the answer to my prayers." Then she turned to the inside, which was inscribed, "You're not what I prayed for exactly, but apparently you're the ...

3752. Just a Minute

Humor Illustration

... day. A young wife called a newspaper office and asked for the food editor. "Would you please help me?" she asked. "I'm cooking a special dinner tonight for my husband's boss and his wife. I've never cooked a big dinner before, and I want everything to be perfect. I bought a nine-pound turkey. Could you tell me how long to cook it in my new microwave?" "Just a minute," the food editor said, as he turned to check his reference book. "Oh, thank you," she said. "You've been a big help. Good-bye!"

3753. It Pays To Be a Saint

Humor Illustration

Once there were two evil brothers. They were rich, and used their money to keep their ways from the public eye. They even attended the same church, and looked to be perfect Christians. Then their pastor retired, and a new one was hired. Not only could he see right through the brothers'' deception, but he also spoke well and true, and the church started to swell in numbers. A fund-raising campaign was started to build a new assembly. All of a ...

3754. Doing Nothing and Going to Hell

Mt 25:31-46

Illustration

King Duncan

... answered, "Nothing." That's the message of Matthew 25. If we want to have hell on earth and hell for eternity, then we will look the other way. The goats were those people in Jesus' parable who saw the need, but did nothing to help. The goats' response is captured perfectly in this paraphrase of today's passage: "I was hungry and you said apply for food stamps. I was homeless and you said there is a shelter in town. I was lonely and you said get a Sony Walkman. I was beaten and you said avoid dark alleys. I ...

3755. John 1:6-8, 19-28

John 1:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . It is not until v.19 that the gospel writer returns to the person of John (who the author never refers to as “the Baptist” or “Baptizer”) and once again emphasizes his role as witness, his mission of testimony. John is given a perfect platform for this activity by the appearance of a group of inquisitors, and envoy of “priests and Levites” sent out by “the Jews” to investigate him. Only the fourth gospel records this exchange. This gospel writer uses the term “The Jews” in a variety ...

3756. Hebrews 1:1-4

Hebrews 1:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... now begins to articulate the differences that distinguish the “Son” from all those previous prophets, and even from the rest of the inhabitants of heaven. No doubt with an intentional eye on “completeness” this author offers seven (the number of associated with perfection) distinctions that are unique to the Son. First, he is “heir of all things.” The echo of Psalm 2:8 is evident, where God’s anointed and declared “son” is offered “the nations” as his heritage, and the “ends of the ...

3757. No Time for a Sermon

Hebrews 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

3758. Prophesy Your Way Forward

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Sunday I want to talk about this gift of “prophesying our way forward,” a gift we need to heed and hone at the turn of every New Year. Epiphany Sunday should be about new expectation. New possibilities. New promises. The “magi” in Matthew’s gospel perfectly embody the hopes and dreams of a truly “new” year. They strike out on a new path, to new lands, with no defined expectations. Why? Because they believe in the reality of a new future, a new promise, a new kind of “king.” Like newlyweds ...

3759. God’s Beautiful World

Illustration

John Killinger

... knew about bumblebees and how aerodynamically challenged they are, with those heavy, cumbersome bodies and the tiny, insubstantial little wings. But suddenly this bumblebee did something truly amazing. It headed straight at Millard. And then before it got to him, it suddenly did a perfect loop-de-loop, like a stunt plane, and went back to the flower where it had started! This took Millard totally by surprise. He remembered the Book of Job, and how God at one point had asked Job if he could give a horse ...

3760. Top 10 Things to Say

Illustration

Top 10 Things to Say About a Christmas Gift You Don't Like 10.) Hey! There's a gift. 9.) Well, well, well . . . 8.) Boy, if I had not recently shot up 4 sizes, that would've fit. 7.) Perfect for wearing in the basement. 6.) Gosh, I hope this never catches fire! 5.) If the dog buries it, I'll be furious! 4.) I love it, but I fear the jealousy it will inspire. 3.) Sadly, tomorrow I enter the federal witness protection program. 2.) To think I got ...

3761. Living in the Magical City of Our Dreams

Luke 2:22-40

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

There is an old Rabbinic story about a poor man who left the village of his birth, and set out to find the city of his dreams, where all was bright and perfect. After a day's walk he lay down to rest the night in a forest. Before going to sleep he removed his shoes and placed them carefully in the path, pointing them in the direction of his journey toward the magical city. While he slept, a practical joker came along ...

3762. A Cantankerous Prophet

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... , and the raging sea grew calm. And the Bible tells us that the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of that fish for three days and three nights. I believe it was Dwight L. Moody who said that it was perfectly easy for a great fish to swallow Jonah whole. After all, Jonah IS only one of the MINOR prophets. Anyway, it is interesting to note that Jesus once referred to the story of Jonah. Remember how he told skeptics that the only sign that they would receive would be ...

3763. After the Parade

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Such a demonstration of the superior quality of our faith will verify our witness more readily than any other effort in which we can engage. Kagawa did that superbly. His life, however, was simply a reflection of the life of his Master. Jesus walked the walk more perfectly than anyone who has ever lived. He lived out the ethic which he taught. He was totally committed to doing his Father’s will. He was a man of courage. He was a man of commitment. And we see his absolute compassion. Above all else, during ...

3764. When the Service was Interrupted

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him. “Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton and scores of the world’s greatest poets were inspired by Him. “Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the music they composed in His praise. “Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of Nazareth.” It took a Roman centurion, stationed at the foot of the cross who watched him die, to ...

3765. Observations on Growing Older

Humor Illustration

You're getting old when... Your kids are becoming you...and you don't like them...but your grandchildren are perfect! Going out is good. Coming home is better! When people say "You look great"...they add, "For your age!" You realize you're never going to be really good at anything ... especially golf. The 5 pounds you wanted to lose is now 15 and you have a better chance of ...

3766. Candidate for Weight Watchers

Humor Illustration

Last week when I went to the doctor, the kindly gentleman asked the question I knew he was going to ask: "Now, what are we planning to do about that excess weight you're carrying around?" "I don't know, doc. You want to haul it around for a while?" "Be serious," the doctor said "I am serious. Look, it just must be an overactive thyroid." "No, your thyroid's perfectly normal. If there's anything overactive, it's your fork!"

3767. Are You Doing Time On the Bench?

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... “in.” Suddenly Lin, the guy who had been sitting on the bench for a decade, became the star of the New York Knicks team. Let’s be clear: there was no “suddenly” about this star moment for Jeremy Lin. Jeremy Lin had spent decades perfecting his skills, practicing his craft, sacrificing for his advancement. He worked long hours, practiced and persevered, put up with harassment, labored at the jobs we all take to make ends meet, slept on friends’ couches, and kept on going. Jeremy Lin is now being ...

3768. John 2:13-22

John 2:12-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... reference to “three days.” Elsewhere in Jesus’ teachings any reference to “three days” is a reference to those days leading up to the resurrection. The gospel writer’s aside, then, of “he was speaking of the temple of his body,” makes perfect sense of what was an enigma to Jesus’ first century audience. Although “the Jews” remembered his words and worried upon them, they could not make sense of his reference because they were still focused upon the stones of the Temple building, rather ...

3769. No Cleansing, No Refreshment

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

3770. That's How The Fight Started

Humor Illustration

... Friday afternoon my wife was standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror. She was not happy with what she saw and said to me, "I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.' I replied, "Your eyesight's darn near perfect." That's how the fight started... 5. Saturday morning I got up early, dressed, made my lunch, and slipped quietly into the garage. I hooked up the boat up to the van and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing 50mph, so I ...

3771. Aspiring young writers

Humor Illustration

These are supposedly actual high school essays collected by English teachers across the country for their own amusement. Some of these kids may have bright futures as humor writers. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because ...

3772. John 20:19 31

John 20:19-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... him the previous week. Jesus’ presence offers Thomas the miracle of his resurrected self, the gift of his peace. Jesus’ presence reveals to that doubting disciple evidence that even though he had not been physically present for Thomas’ diatribe, Jesus has perfect knowledge of all that had been said. Thomas’ faithlessness and the other disciples’ failure to convince were both known to this resurrected Lord. Jesus now invites Thomas to do exactly what he had demanded he must if he were to believe ...

3773. Victorious, but Not Unscarred

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... remember. It’s also the day the Titanic sunk and the day Lincoln was shot. Sometime back in California, a seventy-one year old grandmother pleaded not guilty to armed robbery, saying she had been driven insane by the Internal Revenue Service. That seems perfectly understandable to me. Someone said the difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get more complicated each year. The ambivalence people feel toward the IRS even made it into a lawyer joke: If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both ...

3774. Red, White and Pink

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... what has been “fulfilled” through his suffering, death, and resurrection. This teaching is not intended to start an Easter egg hunt for specific texts that describe the Son of Man or the Messiah. Rather, it affirms that it is the perfect accomplishment of divine intention, fulfilled to completion in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. What Jesus brought about was nothing less than the destruction of death’s power and the possibility for “repentance and the forgiveness of sins” (v.47). Making ...

3775. Luke 24:36-49

Luke 24:36-49

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

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