Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4076 to 4100 of 4508 results

4076. Parable of the Talents Retold

Illustration

Unknown

A retelling of the talents parable: Once there was a king who had three sons, each with a special talent. The first had a talent for growing fruit. The second for raising sheep. And the third for playing the violin. Once, the king had to go overseas on important business. Before departing he called his three sons together and told them he was depending on them to keep the people contented in his ...

4077. You Are Lazy

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

The story is told of a minister who, to show his reliance on God, entered the pulpit trusting that God would tell him what to say. After his prayer for guidance, he waited expectedly and God spoke to him "You are lazy," was the divine word addressed to him. How much of the demise of many congregations may be due to "lazy" clergy? How much to "lazy" members? Or lack of ambition from both? Can a pi...

4078. Commentary

Illustration

Archibald M. Hunter

The Parable of the Talents makes no attempt to examine the causes of the slave's laziness, but one factor is evident from the dialogue: the slave has no love for his master. He is really interested only in himself, and consequently security, not service, is his goal. There is not the slightest trace of gratitude that his master trusted him with so great a sum. Respect for his master is limited to ...

4079. What about You?

Illustration

Edward Inabinet

Scott Libby, a traveling minister for a Presbyterian church in Iowa, was to preach for a vacationing minister one Sunday. He decided to get to church early and become familiar with the order of service. Going down the hall, he passed the nursery and saw one child there all by himself. He paused a minute and the child said, "Hi, my name is Tommy." Dr. Libby replied, "My name is Scott." Tommy said...

4080. About Face!

Sermon

King Duncan

I’d like to take a quick poll this morning. If you could choose to visit a famous site around the world, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Colosseum in Rome or the Giza Pyramids in Egypt or any other place of your choice, which would you choose to see? That’s not an easy question to answer. There are so many beautiful places in the world to visit. British photographer Oliver Curtis has create...

4081. Small Acts of Kindness

Illustration

Robert W. Bohl

Have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever wondered, even in what you try to do for God, whether it is doing any good? I remember a story about a little girl nicknamed Annie who in 1876 was ten years of age. Her actual name was Joanna Sullivan. She was put into a poor house for children...called the Tewkesbury Alms House in Massachusetts. Her mother had died and her father had deserted her. ...

4082. The Long Haul

Illustration

David Beckett

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor in America, started her practice in New York in 1851. Not only was she unable to find patients no one would even rent her a room once she mentioned that she was a doctor. After weeks of trudging the streets, she finally rented rooms from a landlady who asked no questions about what Elizabeth planned to do with them. Quaker women, who had always been rec...

4083. Spiritual Investment

Illustration

David Beckett

Financial planners will tell you that you don't need to wait until you have a lot of money. You can begin investing even with a little. Some of the principles we are asked to follow might shed some light on our understanding of this parable. The first principle is to learn about the companies you are considering for investment. For many busy folks this means leaving the research to professional f...

4084. Gave Her One Talent To God

Illustration

Mark Adams

Bill Wilson pastors an inner city church in New York City. His mission field is a very violent place. He himself has been stabbed twice as he ministered to the people of the community surrounding the church. Once a Puerto Rican woman became involved in the church and was led to Christ. After her conversion she came to Pastor Wilson and said, "I want to do something to help with the church's minist...

4085. Fulfilling Your Calling

Illustration

Peter J. Blackburn

An anonymous writer has said, "My small son and I were taking a walk. In the far corner of the field we found a small patch of beautiful and fragrant flowers. They were in the middle of weeds, almost completely hidden and unnoticed, yet these flowers were blooming in full beauty and we sensed their fresh fragrance. All of us have met persons unnoticed by many, but who in the middle of struggle and...

4086. Indifference

Illustration

Dan Vellinga

In the book The Screwtape Letters, by C. S. Lewis, a devil briefs his demon nephew, Wormwood, in a series of letters, on the subtleties and techniques of tempting people. In his writings, the devil says that the objective is not to make people wicked but to make them indifferent. This higher devil cautions Wormwood that he must keep the patient comfortable at all costs. If he should start thinking...

4087. The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like a Professor

Illustration

The kingdom of heaven is like a professor who went off on a long sabbatical. Before he left, he called together his graduate students and gave each of them projects to work on; to one he gave five projects, to another two, and to another one, each according to their ability. The one who received five projects immediately went to work, designing experiments, building equipment, and analyzing data. ...

4088. A Little Effort

Illustration

Brett Blair

Apathy is the opposite of Faith: Some years ago in South America, a crew of Peruvian Sailors, headed up the Amazon river came upon a strange sight. It was like a scene from "The Twilight Zone." A Spanish ship was anchored off the coast and all the sailors were stretched out weakly on the deck of the ship. As the Peruvians drew closer, they saw that the Spaniards were in terrible physical condition...

4089. I Can Be A Good Business Man

Illustration

Brett Blair

Henry P. Crowell contracted tuberculosis when a boy and couldn't go to school. After hearing a sermon by Dwight L. Moody, young Crowell prayed, "I can't be a preacher, but I can be a good businessman. God, if you will let me make money, I will use it in your service." Under the doctor's advice Crowell worked outdoors for seven years and regained his health. He then bought the little run-down Quak...

4090. The Parable of the Talents - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

Jesus once told a story about a wealthy landowner who was preparing for a long journey. He called his three servants and divided his money between them, each according to their ability. To one servant he gave five talents, meaning a sum of money, to a second two, and to a third one talent. Why is life like that? I don't know. We are all equal in the eyes of God. We are all guaranteed equal rights...

4091. Volunteers or Duty Bound

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Do you apply the same standards of faithfulness to your Christian activities that you expect from other areas of your life? If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If your paperboy skips delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a loyal employee? If your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now ...

4092. Multiple Intelligences

Illustration

King Duncan

There is a psychologist at Harvard named Howard Gardner who is trying to revolutionize the study of intelligence. He says we have been studying I.Q. all wrong. On our intelligence tests we only measure one or two forms of intelligence. Gardner says that there are actually seven forms of intelligence. Some people are gifted with linguistic intelligence, he says. These are our writers and poets. Oth...

4093. A Priceless Gift

Illustration

King Duncan

Lois Cheney in her book, God is No Fool, tells a revealing parable about a man who was touched by God. God gave this man a priceless gift the capacity for love. The man was grateful and humble, and he knew what an extraordinary thing had happened to him. He carried this capacity for love like a jewel and he walked tall and with purpose. From time to time he would show this gift to others, and the...

4094. Fear Is a Great Motivator

Illustration

King Duncan

Have you heard the story of the frog who fell into a deep rut and, try as he might, he could not get out? Mrs. Frog, standing above the rut, admonished, cajoled, beckoned, and belittled him: "Get out, come on, let's go." But Mr. Frog, down in the deep rut, said simply that he couldn't. "I've tried everything, and there is no way I can get out of this rut." So Mrs. Frog left him there and hopped on...

4095. The Gospel We Preach

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, so I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. — Matthew 25:24 A number of years ago my wife and I and several of our friends went on a sailing vacation in the Caribbean. One day we went ashore on the island of Dominica, hired a taxi, and took a tour of that tropic...

4096. The Old, Old Story

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How many words can you use to describe great? Throughout history, the words we use change, according to our values, generations, and interpretations. What was once cool became hot. What was once nifty became neat. What was groovy became excellent. Whether cool, hot, fabulous, far out, boss, chic, deep, or copacetic, we understand what those words mean in the context of their cultural milieu. We ...

4097. Proper 28

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Judges 4:1-7 are the opening verses of the story of Deborah the prophetess and judge. Psalm 123 is a cry to God for help Judges 4 - "Faith in a Topsy-Turvy World" Setting. The book of Judges consists of a series of short stories that follow a set four-part pattern in which (1) Israel sins, (2) God judges or punishes Israel by having a neighboring nation threaten them, (3) Is...

4098. One Tough Master?

Sermon

Will Willimon

"Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid,...I hid your talent in the ground. " You know with whom we identify in this story of the Parable of the Talents. We are on the side of the little one-talent man. Perhaps because few of us are overburdened with talent, perhaps because we love stories of the littl...

4099. Investment Choices

Sermon

Steve Molin

I started reading crime novels about fifteen years ago. Like any pastor, so much of what I read relates to theology or ministry that I needed to find some genre of reading that would take me away from what I do twelve hours a day; something to capture my imagination. I started with John Grisham and read everything he has written. Then I moved on to Swedish author Henning Mankell and read all of hi...

4100. Fearless

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Commitment has become a fearful word in our current culture. Whether in careers, marriages, churches, or even faith, the very word “commitment” seems to strike fear into the spines of people of all ages. Significant cultural paradigm changes may have contributed to this rise in our current “zero commitment, instant gratification” social milieu. Whereas 50 years ago, a solid resume meant that you l...

Showing 4076 to 4100 of 4508 results

4076. Parable of the Talents Retold

Illustration

Unknown

4077. You Are Lazy

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

4078. Commentary

Illustration

Archibald M. Hunter

4079. What about You?

Illustration

Edward Inabinet

4080. About Face!

Sermon

King Duncan

4081. Small Acts of Kindness

Illustration

Robert W. Bohl

4082. The Long Haul

Illustration

David Beckett

4083. Spiritual Investment

Illustration

David Beckett

4084. Gave Her One Talent To God

Illustration

Mark Adams

4085. Fulfilling Your Calling

Illustration

Peter J. Blackburn

4086. Indifference

Illustration

Dan Vellinga

4087. The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like a Professor

Illustration

4088. A Little Effort

Illustration

Brett Blair

4089. I Can Be A Good Business Man

Illustration

Brett Blair

4090. The Parable of the Talents - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

4091. Volunteers or Duty Bound

Illustration

Michael P. Green

4092. Multiple Intelligences

Illustration

King Duncan

4093. A Priceless Gift

Illustration

King Duncan

4094. Fear Is a Great Motivator

Illustration

King Duncan

4095. The Gospel We Preach

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

4096. The Old, Old Story

Sermon

Lori Wagner

4097. Proper 28

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

4098. One Tough Master?

Sermon

Will Willimon

4099. Investment Choices

Sermon

Steve Molin

4100. Fearless

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Showing 4076 to 4100 of 4508 results