Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4051 to 4075 of 4972 results

4051. TUNE IN WITH PRAYER

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... we have used the instrument of prayer sparingly. At other times, static comes when we are involved in an overtly sinful life. It is hard to pray in the middle of the act of sinning. Static is also caused by the busyness that fills every moment and leaves no time for prayer. In the New Testament, prayer for Jesus was like breathing: a natural part of his life. It was a daily habit for him. He suggests that we approach the heavenly Father in prayer as earthly children approach their earthly fathers. We are to ...

4052. GUTS TO BE CHICKEN

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... might well cause him to consider his action. If he is totally corrupt and does not see his sin, justice will still be accomplished; for the Lord says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." On the other hand, to spit back will only confirm an enemy and leave no chance to gain a brother. When we consider the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and especially the story of Calvary, we find him obeying his own precepts. The soldier who nailed Jesus’ body to the tree may well have been the same one who proclaimed ...

4053. Faith Opens the Door

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... is a strange entry in the diary of a woman at her thirtieth birthday (quoted by Sidney Harris): "My God, what will become of me? I have no desire but to die. There isn’t a night that I do not lie down on my bed, wishing that I may leave it no more. Unconsciousness is all I desire." You cannot guess who she was. This was Florence Nightingale in despair, because, as she was seeking a place of healing in the life of her day, she had been refused, rejected, turned down because she was a woman. Sixty years ...

4054. "I Don’t Want to Be Perfect - Or Do I?"

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... now living in a crisis generation and new life must be received in our moment and passed on, or our civilization can collapse. The early Methodists came to life, completed their course, and left new life in their nation. We can come to life in Christ, complete our course, and leave new life in our nation. Remember the desert pools, the desert shrimp and their one moment. It is now or never. We are playing it "live." We are not on tape. We can’t do a re-take. This is it. We produce or we do not produce. If ...

4055. The Gospel According to Christ’s Enemies

John 11:1-16

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... my own experience as an amateur cook, I have learned that the secret to oatmeal cookies is not just mixing together the right ingredients but the proper timing of them in the oven. If you take them out of the oven too soon, they are soggy. If you leave them in too long, they are dry. But if you take them out at the exact right moment, they are chewy and really delicious. So in the Scriptures, the time - the right timing - is absolutely important. In Galatians 4:4 Paul says, "When the right time finally came ...

4056. I Knew You’d Come

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... him into the boat and they reach land at the place they were headed for. It is such a brief account that it almost seems casual. Jesus walks on water - but then doesn’t everybody? In fact, some scholars such as Harvey point out that Matthew and Mark leave the reader no doubt that Jesus miraculously walked across the water. In John, however, the details are not so clear: "Jesus could have been in shallow water near the edge of the lake."2 However, Harvey goes on to point out that the setting of the text ...

4057. Magnify Your Ministry!

Romans 11:11-24

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... gym daily but who refuse to believe that regular Bible study and church school attendance and worship are necessary if they are to keep their spiritual muscles in shape. There are women who would not think of coming to church without a purse but who think nothing of leaving their Bibles at home. There are young people like the college co-ed I met recently who will plead with God to spare the life of a friend injured in an automobile accident, but who will never thank him for their food when they sit down to ...

4058. One Thing

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... friends urged him to do, Lamb gave up his position as an accountant in business and spent the next twenty-seven years caring for her tenderly. He supported both his sister and himself by writing, and they literally lived in poverty. During all of those long years, he refused to leave her alone. When she finally died, a friend asked Lamb how he managed under all of the strain. Lamb replied, "I could not have kept on for a year, or even a month, if I had thought of it as a year or a month I was able to endure ...

4059. What It Takes to Stay Christian

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... be silent, a time to be heard; pleasure in being together that needs not a spoken word. Love is commitment - a total involvement of body and soul, a ready willingness to share, not only joys, but burdens we must bear. Love is a mystery - each love leaves its mark; no power on earth can erase it, yet our hearts, once open, cannot close and forget. I am absolutely convinced that the source of Miss Roger’s beautiful definition was St. Paul’s second guideline to the Thessalonians as to how Christians stay ...

4060. The Only Fact That Really Matters

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... us up, that we may live before him" (Hosea 6:2). He knew this - and he believed it! He knew also that the psalmist had sung. Therefore my heart is glaf, and my soul rejoiceth; My flesh also shall dwell confidently in hope. For thou will not leave my soul in hell: Neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10 KJV) Paul knew this - and he believed it! He knew also the great prophecy of the Suffering Servant-Messiah in Isaiah 53 - and he believed it! Paul understood the Resurrection ...

4061. A SERMON-DRAMA FOR EPIPHANY

Drama

Tom Eberle

... chasing. You will stand like the trees and the mountains. You will become monuments of my creation - warm, loving human beings who desire to be nothing more. [The Wise Men kneel at the altar and individually rise to place their crowns upon the altar, then leave the sanctuary. The crowns remain as the Epiphany altar arrangement.] Male: What happened then? Star: I don’t know. I had decided I would play one further trick on them, and lead them straight into the Mediterranean Sea. But when I started out they ...

4062. A SUNDAY OF THE PASSION [PALM SUNDAY] SERMON-DRAMA

Drama

Tom Eberle

... could gain more from the healings if he would be more open about them. Zebedee: What was his response to your prodding? Judas: He rejected it. He said that was distracting people from the more important issues. Zebedee: How can you call a man Messiah who will leave a group of sick people in order to go on with his speaking tour in other communities? Doesn’t that seem contrary to what you would expect from the Messiah? Judas: I admit that it causes me some consternation. I tend to believe that there would ...

4063. A SERMON-DRAMA FOR EASTER

Drama

Tom Eberle

... and bring the communion elements forward to be placed upon the altar.] Narrator: [after the elements are placed] We are strangers in this catacomb, guests who may feel a bit awkward. But certainly we, too, are welcome at the Lord’s table. Let us leave our reluctance behind us and join with this ancient congregation. We also prepare for this meal by presenting our gifts to God. Join now with Severus and Maria in this act of dedicating ourselves. [Severus and Maria receive the offering. They process forward ...

4064. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR PENTECOST

Drama

Tom Eberle

... something within those objects will breathe with life. You will find the community of my Spirit - the church - reaching out to you. You see, I have already poured out my Spirit. It is just a question of whether it will seep through the cracks. (H.S. leaves the pulpit and sits down.) Stewardess: For those of you deplaning in Philadelpia, we ask that you remain seated until the plane makes a complete stop at the terminal. We thank you for flying with us today. Voice 2: This seems like the quickest flight I ...

4065. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR ALL SAINTS’

Drama

Tom Eberle

... tell you it is every nationality represented here this morning. For the one sitting in the box is each of us. Each one here holds the lead part. Let us begin with the script. Box: I think I should warn you that according to the script I lose, and eventually leave this box. But then again, if you decide to stay in your box and take it home with you - I win. [pause] Or does that mean we both lose? Jew: [standing at the back of the sanctuary holding a lighted candle] Let us begin at the beginning. I am a ...

4066. How Fares Your Christian Sight?

Is 6:8-10

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... troops who fell at the pass. The king was so enraged by his losses that he decided to execute every living male in the town at sunrise the next day. The king, however, functioned with dual standards and told the women of the town that they could leave the town and take with them any of their prized possessions. Within an hour the women began to file out of town through the pass, and what the king beheld he could hardly believe. Every woman and girl was carrying a male on her back. Wives carried husbands ...

4067. Leah

Genesis 49:29--50:14

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... seems to go reasonably well until time for the nuptials. Leah, elder daughter of Laban, proved to be the problem. What was to be done with an unwanted older sister, bereft of suitors? Genesis describes her, "Leah’s eyes were weak ..." leaving the assumption she was exceedingly plain, especially in contrast to the vivacious Rachel. Legends provide the intriguing story that years earlier, while Leah and Rachel, Esau and Jacob were infants, Laban and Rebecca agreed their children should marry. Leah was to ...

4068. Issachar

Genesis 49:1-28

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... 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 war. Judah was a young lion. Zebulon ...

4069. Bezaleel

Exodus 35:30--36:7

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... gray. Yet, with joyous abandon, he flung ten billion stars into a blue sky. With lavish hand, he painted the sunset, spilling colors across the heavens. With great care, he made the snowflake, and with equal skill formed the shell on the beach. As no two leaves are duplicates, so he made the faces of his children with loving individuality. We stand in wonder at the majesty and beauty of Gothic cathedrals. We marvel at the skill of workers who caught a bit of heaven and wove it into stone. As Will Durant ...

4070. The Witch of Endor

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... man, a robust athlete, talked with a minister. Sweat poured down the youth’s face as in a frenzied torrent of words he told of his living hell. Suicide seemed the only way out, "You understand, I don’t want your help or your prayers. Why won’t the world leave me alone?" He claimed that God made him homosexual, and now society was out to get him. A youth was incarcerated for use of drugs. He wrote his pastor, "I have faith - both in God and man, and in myself - and I have tried to keep that faith even ...

4071. Manasseh

2 Kings 21:1-18

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... to stop seeking revenge. We have made hell very hot at times, and it has often been a reverse masochism, a desire to see the wicked suffer, pay the pound of flesh in full. Have we forgotten Jesus’ words, "Father, forgive them ..."? The only place to leave Manasseh is with God. Let God be the judge. Who really wins in life? Manasseh, or Isaiah who was so brutally tortured? Who won: those early Christian martyrs, or the Romans who inflicted fire and wild beasts? Jesus, or those who put him to death? Speak ...

4072. Habakkuk

Habakkuk 3:1-19

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... back in childhood; there is not enough time now. So much was experienced during those growing up years, but it was taken for granted; there was so little notice. It is then she asks to go back to the cemetery. But before leaving the remembered years, she pauses for one last, lingering look at the beautiful world of girlhood. Emily cries out a loving goodby to those precious - seemingly insignificant - experiences at Grovers Corners: Mama and Papa; ticking clocks; the sunflowers Mama had lovingly planted ...

4073. Mary of Nazareth

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... were with them ..." (Luke 24:10) And when do we last see her? In Jerusalem, with the other disciples, "... all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." (Acts 1:14) We take leave of Mary as she is on her knees, praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit. She is part of the fellowship, numbered among the faithful, yet without a particularly prominent status. We last see her as she prays. The Paraclete was soon to come. A GROWING ...

4074. Onesimus

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... sound broke the stillness as the cell door opened. Standing in the lighted doorway was a youth, a cellmate, tall and muscular - obviously a slave. The older prisoner rushed forward, "My name is Paul, welcome ..." Silence, "And this is my friend, Timothy, he is just leaving." The guard thrust the newcomer into the cell and motioned to Timothy to make a quick exit. The door slammed; hush fell. The youth did not speak, but threw himself into a corner, face buried in his hands. Once more there was an attempt at ...

4075. Epilogue

Psalm 107:1-43

Illustration

Warren Thomas Smith

... . We live today, and who knows what our actions may spark, what lasting event may come as a result of a single word? Our particular role may be ostensibly microscopic, but in the total drama, what may come of it? When Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat and retreat to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, her quiet protest precipatated a boycott, and the cause of civil rights leaped forward. Our scene may be brief, but it can be significant. As Christians we have more than a highly personalized ...

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