Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4226 to 4250 of 5000 results

4226. As Children Grow

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Joyce Maynard

It's not only children who grow. Parents do, too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.

4227. Getting Even

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

After 17 years of marriage, a man dumped his wife for a younger woman. The downtown luxury apartment was in his name and he wanted to remain there with his new love so he asked the wife to move out and then he would buy her another place. The wife agreed to this, but asked that she be given 3 days on her own there, to pack up her things. While he was gone, the first day she lovingly put her personal belongings into boxes and crates and suitcases. On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her ...

4228. Humor: We're Getting a Divorce

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Morris calls his son in NY and says, "Benny, I have something to tell you. However, I don't want to discuss it. I'm merely telling you because you're my oldest child, and I thought you ought to know. I've made up my mind, I'm divorcing Mama." The son is shocked, and asks his father to tell him what happened. "I don't want to get into it. My mind is made up." "But Dad, you just can't decide to divorce Mama just like that after 54 years together. What happened?" "It's too painful to talk about it. I only ...

4229. Mixed Up Priorities

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

A prosperous, young investment banker was driving a new BMW sedan on a mountain road during a snow storm. As he veered around one sharp turn, he lost control and began sliding off the road toward a steep cliff. At the last moment he unbuckled his seat belt, flung open his door, and leaped from the car, which then plummeted to the bottom of the ravine and burst into a ball of flames. Although he had escaped with his life, the man suffered a ghastly injury. Somehow his arm had been caught near the hinge of ...

4230. A Father's Blessing

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Gary Smalley

Gary Smalley, popular author and psychologist, asked 100 people, "What is one specific way you knew that you had received your father's blessing?" Here some of those answers: My father would put his arm around me at church and let me lay my head on his shoulder. When my father was facing being transferred at work, he purposely took another job so that I could finish my senior year in high school at the same school. When I wrecked my parent's car, my father's first reaction was to hug me and let me cry ...

4231. Pulled Out of the Crowd

Mk 10:13-16

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

I feel sorry for the poor kid who happened to be there the day Jesus decided to use him as an "object lesson." No child likes being used in this way. Some of us can remember being stood up before a group of adults and having our parents ask us to recite something we'd just learned in school. Or being made to sit down at the piano and play some stupid little piece for our family's friends. We wanted to shrink into the woodwork and become invisible. How humiliating! Frederick Buechner describes the boy in ...

4232. Becoming as a Child - Sermon Opener

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

One day Jesus was in Judea, when a great crowd came to hear him preach. The children came also in great numbers. The disciples, perhaps caught up in their own self-importance, saw them as a nuisance and an annoyance and ordered them away. There position doubtless was: This is serious business; we don't have time for this; don't bother the man. It is hard to imagine the disciples taking such a position. It strikes us today as rather uncaring and cold. I can assure you, however, that I have been in churches ...

4233. Put Everything You Have Into It

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

Television personality Willard Scott said, "A good marriage is like an incredible retirement fund. You put everything you have into it during your productive life, and over the years it turns from silver to gold to platinum." That's why a long marriage has always seemed to be such a good idea to the Church. Divorce is like putting your money in an investment fund and then cashing it in just before it begins to gain interest. Note Scott's words: "you put everything you have into it." Not everybody does. For ...

4234. Children in Reality

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

Two theologians were walking across a seminary campus when one asked the other, "Do you believe in Original Sin?" The other said, "Yes, I do. We have a child." "Do you believe in Total Depravity?" asked the first man. "No, I don't. That is an excess of Calvinistic theology," replied the second. The first replied, "Just wait until you have two children!"

4235. The Senseless Rejection of Common Sense

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

It has never ceased to amaze me the senseless rejection of common sense that the US Press and some academics engage in. A magazine cover story (Time Magazine) read, "What Divorce Does to Kids." That was the title. The caption read: "New research says the long-term damage is worse than you thought. Should unhappy parents stay hitched?" It seems to me the Magazine is saying that in the past there was an assumption that kids were not that affected by divorce, or, if they were hit hard by their parent's ...

4236. Children Problems

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Four matronly women were sitting under their beach umbrellas at Atlantic City. It was a hot afternoon, and none of them felt like talking. Finally, one heaved a deep sigh and uttered, "Oh!" The second responded with "Oh, dear." The third said, "Oh, dear me!" Then the fourth stood up angrily and said, "If you are all going to start talking about your children again, I'm leaving." Children can be a problem, can't they?

4237. Prejudice Is Taught

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

I suppose most of us older folks remember Rogers and Hammerstein's movie South Pacific. There is a song, sung by Mitzi Gainer, entitled: "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught." If you are not careful, you will get so caught up with the catchy tune and the pretty face, and you will miss the biting sarcasm that is in this song. The point of the lyrics is that hates and prejudices are taught behavior. For children the natural order is openness. "It's got to be drummed in their dear little heads, you've got to be ...

4238. You’re Different

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

A seminary students told the story about a course he had to take with all the other beginning theologs called Supervised Ministry. It was non-credit, but still required. He was assigned community work at a Head Start center near downtown. Every Monday he would go down there and volunteer his time. All of the children, as well as the adults, were black. After he had been there for some weeks, a child was sitting in his lap one day, when suddenly she looked with amazement at his skin. She glanced at her hand ...

4239. Abandoning Our Children

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Mark Trotter

Two thousand years ago the Church came into a world that practiced child abandonment, and they did something about it. If not for the human worth that Christianity brought into this world I would suggest that there would be 10% of the families in this room wouldn't be here today. But from what I can see, there is still a form of child abandonment practiced today, especially in the cities of this country. Jonathan Kozol worked with children in the South Bronx, among those he described as "the poorest of the ...

4240. What Must I DO to Receive Life? - Sermon Starter

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Brett Blair

I heard about an expert in diamonds who happened to be seated on an airplane beside a woman with a huge diamond on her finger. Finally, the man introduced himself and said, "I couldn't help but notice your beautiful diamond. I am an expert in precious stones. Please tell me about that stone." She replied, "That is the famous Klopman diamond, one of the largest in the world. But there is a strange curse that comes with it." Now the man was really interested. He asked, "What is the curse?" As he waited with ...

4241. The Success Syndrome

Mk 10:17-31

Illustration

King Duncan

Harvard Medical School psychologist Steven Berglas wrote a book called The Success Syndrome. He found that individuals who in his word "suffer" from success have arrogance and a sense of aloneness. People like this say that when their was $100,000, they hungered for $200,000, and when they made $1 million, they hungered for $3 million. Berglas says that oddly enough people who find that $200,000 did not make them happy never asked themselves why they thought $300,000 would make them happy. Asked to ...

4242. Are We Rich?

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

The curse of any kind of valuable possession is its capacity to steal our hearts and souls. The heavier the purse, the tighter the strings. Is it fair to call most of us rich? According to our Methodist founder John Wesley, it is. He said that the word "rich" in the Bible means to have the necessities of life (food, shelter, and clothing) and then something left over. But here is part of the problem of us rich folks. We have increased the number of things we regard as necessities. We want three cars, two ...

4243. The 300th American

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

In 2006 America welcomed her 300 millionth citizen. To put this in perspective, we hit the 100 million citizen mark around 1915. Current estimates are that every eight seconds, a child is born in this country. Every 47 seconds we gain an immigrant citizen. We should each take a few moments this month to give thanks for the comfort we enjoy in this country that makes such amazing growth possible. It is our privilege to be a place where people aspire to live, work, and raise families. In light of this week's ...

4244. The Trouble with Money

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

H. Ross Perot

Guys, just remember, if you get lucky, if you make a lot of money, if you get out and buy a lot of stuff, it's gonna break. You got your biggest, fanciest mansion in the world. It has air conditioning. It's got a pool. Just think of all the pumps that are going to go out. Or go to a yacht basin any place in the world. Nobody is smiling, and I'll tell you why. Something broke that morning. The generator's out; the microwave oven doesn't work…Things just don't mean happiness.

4245. Sell the Church

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

The Rev. Will Campbell is a Baptist prophet from the hills of North Carolina. A few years ago he was invited to preach at the prestigious Riverside Church in New York City. That church has long been noted for its activist preachers and liberal, politically correct agenda. Will Campbell was asked to preach on this subject: "What Riverside Church Can Do to Help the Future of Race Relations in America." Campbell took for his text the same one I am using today, the story of the rich young ruler. At the ...

4246. You Can Be My Husband

Mark 10:17-31; 1 Pet. 3:7

Illustration

Communication. It's difficult. Of course, the perennial complaint of women is that men don't communicate their feelings. A little girl and a little boy were at day care one day. The girl approached the boy and said, "Hey Billy, want to play house?" He said, "Sure! What do you want me to do?" Sally replied, "I want you to communicate your feelings." "Communicate my feelings?" said a bewildered Billy. "I have no idea what that means." The little girl nods and says, "Perfect. You can be the husband."

4247. The Curse of the Klopman Diamond

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

An expert in diamonds happened to be seated on an airplane beside a woman with a huge diamond on her finger. Finally, the man introduced himself and said, "I couldn't help but notice your beautiful diamond. I am an expert in precious stones. Please tell me about that stone." She replied, "That is the famous Klopman diamond, one of the largest in the world. But there is a strange curse that comes with it." Now the man was really interested. He asked "What is the curse?" As he waited with bated breath, she ...

4248. Knowing but Not Really Understanding

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

A shepherd was tending his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new Jeep Cherokee appeared out of a dust cloud, advanced toward him and stopped. The driver, a 20 something fellow wearing a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a YSL tie, leaned out of the window and asked the shepherd, "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?" The shepherd looked at the young guy, then at his peacefully grazing flock, and calmly answered, "Sure." The ...

4249. A Luxury that Destroys

Mk 10:17-31

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story of a butterfly named "Maculinea Arion" is most instructive. The creature lays its eggs on a plant, and after feeding on the plant for several weeks the young caterpillar makes its way to the ground. In order to complete its development, it must meet a certain kind of ant. When such an ant meets the caterpillar, the ant strokes it with its antennae, and the caterpillar exudes a sweet fluid from a special gland on its tenth segment. Apparently the ant likes this substance, because it then carries ...

4250. Buying Grace?

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Debbie Royals

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this Gospel? Do you wonder if you are one of the rich people whose wealth will make it next to impossible to get into heaven? Have you ever heard this Gospel used in stewardship campaigns in which the prescribed fix or remedy for wealth is to give it to the church, ensuring that God would look favorably on you? Does this sound familiar? As far back as the early Church, there have been suggestions that good graces and favor with God are obtained by ...

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Antonyms: deficient, imperfect

Showing 4226 to 4250 of 5000 results

4226. As Children Grow

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Joyce Maynard

4227. Getting Even

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

4228. Humor: We're Getting a Divorce

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

4229. Mixed Up Priorities

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

4230. A Father's Blessing

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Gary Smalley

4231. Pulled Out of the Crowd

Mk 10:13-16

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

4232. Becoming as a Child - Sermon Opener

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

4233. Put Everything You Have Into It

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

4234. Children in Reality

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

4235. The Senseless Rejection of Common Sense

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

4236. Children Problems

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

4237. Prejudice Is Taught

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

4238. You’re Different

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

4239. Abandoning Our Children

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Mark Trotter

4240. What Must I DO to Receive Life? - Sermon Starter

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Brett Blair

4241. The Success Syndrome

Mk 10:17-31

Illustration

King Duncan

4242. Are We Rich?

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

4243. The 300th American

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

4244. The Trouble with Money

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

H. Ross Perot

4245. Sell the Church

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

4246. You Can Be My Husband

Mark 10:17-31; 1 Pet. 3:7

Illustration

4247. The Curse of the Klopman Diamond

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

4248. Knowing but Not Really Understanding

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

4249. A Luxury that Destroys

Mk 10:17-31

Illustration

Michael P. Green

4250. Buying Grace?

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Debbie Royals

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