Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4176 to 4200 of 4508 results

4176. I Kept an Open Door

Illustration

Rabbi Aaron Leib of Primishlan

A Jewish story goes: I went up to Heaven in a dream and stood at the Gates of Paradise in order to observe the procedure of the Heavenly Tribunal. I watched as a learned Rabbi approached and wished to enter. "Day and night," he said, "I studied the Holy Torah." "Wait," said the Angel. "We will investigate whether your study was for its own sake or whether it was a matter of profession and for the...

4177. Mommy, I'm Hungry

Illustration

Randy Hyde

It's been years, but I remember Fred Craddock telling of the time he attended a conference on hunger. Influential, knowledgeable speakers had been brought in from all over to talk on the subject. Near the end of the conference, Fred says, a young, willowy woman got up to speak. Her long straight hair fell down her back, almost to her waist. She carried a legal pad to the podium and began reading. ...

4178. Why Do You Wear that Battered Cloak?

Illustration

Don Schwager

When a young 4th century Roman soldier and seeker of the Christian faith by the name of Martin of Tours met an unclothed man begging for alms in the freezing cold, he stopped and cut his coat in two and gave half to the stranger. That night he dreamt he saw the heavenly court with Jesus robed in a torn cloak. One of the angels present asked, "Master, why do you wear that battered cloak?" Jesus ...

4179. Who Is Our Neighbor?

Illustration

James R. Gorman

Miroslav Volf is a theologian currently teaching at Yale University. He is Croatian by birth and began his teaching career in his native country, the former Yugoslavia, while the wars raged around him. He is a theologian who believes deeply in the cross of the crucified Christ and believes that forgiveness from such a cross must in some way inform the way we live our lives. At the beginning of hi...

4180. Using Our Own Burdens as Excuses

Illustration

David Zersen

Elie Wiesel gives his own interpretation of what happened in the lives of Cain and Abel in his book, Messengers of God. In a sense, the two represent the two groups, the goats and the sheep. Cain desperately wants to talk to someone, to try to understand his distance from God, to have a brother who really cares. But Abel is too busy with his own appreciation for acceptance, his reverie in piety. H...

4181. A Person Jesus Loves

Illustration

Steven Molin

As the worshipers arrived on a late November morning at the Lutheran Church in White Lake North Dakota, they were met by a rather disturbing sight. An apparently homeless beggar sat on the front steps of the church, wearing tattered clothing, a wool cap pulled down over his eyes, and clutching a bottle in fingerless gloves. They had never seen anything quite like this in White Lake North Dakota. ...

4182. I Was Hungry

Illustration

Adrian Dieleman

I WAS HUNGRY and you circled the moon. I WAS HUNGRY and you told me to wait. I WAS HUNGRY and you set up a commission. I WAS HUNGRY and you talked about bootstraps. I WAS HUNGRY and you told me I shouldn't be. I WAS HUNGRY and you had napalm bills to pay. I WAS HUNGRY and you said, "Machines do that kind of work now." I WAS HUNGRY and you said, "The poor are always with us." I WAS HUNGRY and you s...

4183. Little Acts of Kindness

Illustration

Philip W. McLarty

Julia Carney wrote these words in the mid-19th Century. They still speak to us today: Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land. And the little moments, humble though they may be, make the mighty ages of eternity. Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, make our earth an Eden, like the heaven above. I like to think it's the little acts ...

4184. Be Opened!

Illustration

David E. Leininger

In a Peanuts comic strip Charlie Brown and Linus come across Snoopy who is shivering in the snow. Charlie says, "Snoopy looks kind of cold, doesn't he?" "I'll say," replies Linus, "maybe we'd better go over and comfort him." They walk over to the dog, pat his head and say, "Be of good cheer, Snoopy." "Yes, be of good cheer." In the final frame, the boys are walking away, still bundled up in th...

4185. The Sheep and the Goats - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

Like it or not, judgment is a fact of life. That is true whether we are talking about the histories of nations or the events of our own personal life. If we break the law, then society will judge us. If we live immorally drink too much, engage in sexual promiscuity, live a lifestyle of constant stress then our bodies will judge us. We simply cannot escape judgment in life. Jesus rarely spoke abou...

4186. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

Illustration

Brett Blair

A great Christian writer that most of you know wrote a brilliant children's fantasy called "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." C.S. Lewis tells the story of a great Lion whose roar shakes the very foundations of the forest. At the beginning of the book four children are playing in their uncle's wardrobe when they discover it's a doorway to Narnia. As they enter Narnia they learn it is under t...

4187. I Was Hungry

Illustration

Michael P. Green

I was hungry, and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger. I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to your chapel in the cellar and prayed for my release. I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance. I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health. I was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God. I was lone...

4188. The Joyful Possibilities God Offers

Illustration

King Duncan

There is a Peanuts cartoon strip which goes like this: Snoopy the dog is feeling great. He comes dancing into the first frame saying to himself: "Sometimes I love life so much I can't express it!" In the second frame he continues to dance: "I feel that I want to take the first person I meet into my arms and dance merrily through the streets." Then, in the third frame, he meets very grumpy Lucy....

4189. Humor: A Day of Judgment

Illustration

King Duncan

Only moments after prying open a window and stepping into a dark bedroom a burglar came face to face with a vicious looking Doberman Pincher. The burglar froze in his tracks. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark he noticed a parrot on the back of the dog which squawked "You're gonna get caught!" The burglar hesitated, then ever so carefully lifted an item off a dresser and put it in his sack. The do...

4190. Make Someone's Life Better

Illustration

King Duncan

Many, many years ago a man moved into a small town. His little house was near the railroad tracks. Every morning he noticed an elderly lady walking along the tracks picking up something and putting it into a bag. The man got curious. He went to a small grocery store nearby and asked the owner about this lady. "Oh, that's the widow Jacobs," said the grocer. "Every day she comes half way across town...

4191. A Small Act of Kindness

Illustration

King Duncan

Let me suggest that you try something that never gets old or stale or unsatisfying. Do something for somebody truly in need. Let me tell you about a man named Floyd. According to the standards of the world Floyd was nobody. Floyd traveled around the country looking for work at harvest time. Floyd had no home and no place to go. A couple invited him into their home and gave him a home-cooked dinne...

4192. Doing Nothing and Going to Hell

Illustration

King Duncan

The famous evangelist Billy Sunday was once asked, "What must I do to go to hell?" Sunday 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 passa...

4193. Are you a G.O.A.T.?

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In the language of social media today, artists and sports greats of all kinds often refer to themselves as GOATS. The term means “Greatest of All Time.” Once a term reserved for public acclaim of a popular sports figure, today, the term has been used to declare the best of the best, or at least, those who believe, they are the best--folks such as Muhammed Ali, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryan...

4194. The Judge of the Living and the Dead

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

When the Son of Man comes in his glory…he will sit on the throne of his glory…and separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. — Matthew 25:31-32 In a recent essay, Princeton Seminary president Craig Barnes wrote about two black Labrador retrievers that attended worship in the seminary chapel. It’s not that these dogs were especially religious. Rather, they w...

4195. Bad Apples

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: Separation of the good and bad. Props: A bushel of apples. The night before, damage half the apples by cutting them, bruising them, and taking a bite out of them. It would be best, if you can find some genuinely bad apples. Lesson: Set the bushel down in the middle and ask the child to sit in a circle around the bushel. Good morning? (response) I have a bushel full of...? (apples...

4196. The Joy of Being a Caring Person

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Being a Christian is really a matter of spirit, but this spirit, when acted out in life relationships, becomes a many-dimensioned thing. You are not a Christian if you are not a caring person. Jesus put the emphasis here. He shocks us a bit in Matthew when he tells those that have neglected the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the lonely, the sick, and those in prison, that they have totally missed...

4197. Christ the King

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Actions Determine Judgment The parable brings us to the end of the parables in Cycle A of the lectionary. It is also the end of the last block of teaching material in the Gospel according to Matthew. It is appropriate that the parable points to the final judgment, the outcome of all that Jesus was trying to teach and demonstrate about the meaning of the kingdom of heaven. The parable contains so...

4198. Proper 29

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 is a description of God as a good shepherd. Psalm 100 is a song of praise. Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 - "God as the Good Shepherd" Setting. There are two central images in Ezekiel 34, shepherds and sheep. The image of a shepherd is used in this chapter to refer to kings and the power of monarchs to lead the people of Israel, their sheep. The imagery of ...

4199. Night and Day

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

An elderly rabbi once asked his students how one could recognize the time when night ends and day begins. “Is it when from a great distance you can tell a dog from a sheep?” one student asked. “No,” said the rabbi. "Is it when from a great distance one can tell a date palm from a fig tree?” asked another student. “No,” said the rabbi. “When, then, how can one recognize that the night is over ...

4200. Going and Doing

Sermon

Steve Molin

Today is the end of the church year. The school year ends in June, and the calendar year ends on December 31, but the church year ends always on a Sunday in late November, and the new church year begins with the season of Advent. Next week, I’ll begin a sermon series called START HERE; appropriate for a new year, with a blank canvas standing before us. But as we today focus on the Reign of Christ,...

Showing 4176 to 4200 of 4508 results

4176. I Kept an Open Door

Illustration

Rabbi Aaron Leib of Primishlan

4177. Mommy, I'm Hungry

Illustration

Randy Hyde

4178. Why Do You Wear that Battered Cloak?

Illustration

Don Schwager

4179. Who Is Our Neighbor?

Illustration

James R. Gorman

4180. Using Our Own Burdens as Excuses

Illustration

David Zersen

4181. A Person Jesus Loves

Illustration

Steven Molin

4182. I Was Hungry

Illustration

Adrian Dieleman

4183. Little Acts of Kindness

Illustration

Philip W. McLarty

4184. Be Opened!

Illustration

David E. Leininger

4185. The Sheep and the Goats - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

4186. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

Illustration

Brett Blair

4187. I Was Hungry

Illustration

Michael P. Green

4188. The Joyful Possibilities God Offers

Illustration

King Duncan

4189. Humor: A Day of Judgment

Illustration

King Duncan

4190. Make Someone's Life Better

Illustration

King Duncan

4191. A Small Act of Kindness

Illustration

King Duncan

4192. Doing Nothing and Going to Hell

Illustration

King Duncan

4193. Are you a G.O.A.T.?

Sermon

Lori Wagner

4194. The Judge of the Living and the Dead

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

4195. Bad Apples

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

4196. The Joy of Being a Caring Person

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

4197. Christ the King

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

4198. Proper 29

Sermon Aid

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

4199. Night and Day

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

4200. Going and Doing

Sermon

Steve Molin

Showing 4176 to 4200 of 4508 results