Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4251 to 4275 of 5000 results

4251. I Want to Live Forever

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Ozzie Smith

A commercial where a man is rummaging through garbage finds a lamp and rubs it, and a genie pops up. And the genie says, "You have three wishes." And the man said, "OK, I want all the money in the world." And, BOOM, all the money appears. The man is covered with money. He said, "OK, you have two more wishes." The man said, "OK, now I want all the women in the world." And, BOOM, all of the women in the world are there around the man. So he has all of the money and all of the women. And, finally, the genie ...

4252. Compared to Eternity

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

Just suppose that my wife and I took a two-week vacation in beautiful Destin, Florida. And, suppose that after only one day there, we liked it so much that we transferred our bank account down' there, sold our home here and purchased one there, and registered to vote in Florida. You would say, "Bill, that is dumb. You're coming home in two weeks. It makes no sense to act as though you'll be in Florida for years. Two weeks compared to a lifetime is even longer than eighty years on earth compared to eternity ...

4253. The Image of Perfection

Mark 10:17-31; Isaiah 64:6

Illustration

Michael Milton

I will never forget June Day. June Day was a girl in our class in Junior High School who was always called upon to stand at the board and take names in case any of us acted up while the teacher went out to that strange, mysterious place called the faculty lounge. Basically, the teacher couldn't take anymore and needed a break. And June Day was called upon to police the room. I must admit that during those days I did not like June Day because June invariably wrote my name on the board. But one day when the ...

4254. Contrarian Christian

Mark 9:33-37; 10:17-31

Illustration

Michael Milton

I have told you many stories about the Rev. Robert E. Baxter. He is a brilliant Hebrew scholar, an engaging preacher, but he is also an extraordinary investor! The secret to his success is (promise not to tell anyone) he is a contrarian. It works like this. When he reads in the paper that Coca Cola stock is soaring, he will not buy Coke because others will. He buys Coke when the news is bad and holds it. He is a true contrarian investor. He doesn't follow the crowd. He leaves them and goes to the back of ...

4255. The Three Poison Pills of Position, Prestige, and Power - Sermon Starter

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Brett Blair

During the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them. Asked why by the rider, he retorted with great dignity, "Sir, I am a corporal!" The stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, "Corporal, next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in ...

4256. "Others"

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

King Duncan

Every holiday season we begin to see people in uniforms in shopping malls ringing bells collecting donations for the poor. They are doing the work of the Salvation Army. In 1878, when the Salvation Army was really beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. A man who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop in another denomination crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist in the Salvation Army instead. His name was Samuel Brengle. Brengle left a fine ...

4257. Service beyond Wealth

Luke 17:11-19

Illustration

Donald Deffner

A well-dressed European woman was on safari in Africa. The group stopped briefly at a hospital for lepers. The heat was intense, the flies buzzing. She noticed a nurse bending down in the dirt, tending to the pus-filled sores of a leper. With disdain the woman remarked, "Why, I wouldn't do that for all the money in the world!" The nurse quietly replied, "Neither would I."

4258. The Power of Nature

Illustration

Michael P. Green

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in the Cascade Range of Washington exploded with what is probably the most visible indication of the power of nature that the modern world has ever seen. At 8:32 A.M. the explosion ripped 1,300 feet off the mountain, with a force of ten million tons of TNT, or roughly equal to five hundred Hiroshimas. Sixty people were killed, most by a blast of 300-degree heat traveling at two hundred miles an hour. Some were killed as far as sixteen miles away. The blast also leveled 150 ...

4259. Ego

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

G. Curtis Jones

George Bernard Shaw was once asked in what generation he would have preferred to live. The witty Irishman replied: "The age of Napoleon, because then there was only one man who thought he was Napoleon."

4260. Maintenance or Mission

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

Churches need to be mission oriented but often fall into maintenance behavior and many times they don't know they've slipped from mission into maintenance. Let's look at the following to gauge how much mission vs. maintenance exist in our congregation: 1. In measuring the effectiveness, the maintenance congregation asks, "How many pastoral visits are being made? The mission congregation asks, "How many disciples are being made?" 2. When contemplating some form of change, the maintenance congregation says ...

4261. Having a Life Purpose

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

In his book, "Man's Search for Meaning," Austrian psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl documents the profound power that a life purpose exerts over an individual under even the worst of circumstances. Frankl, who survived the Nazi concentration camps, described how prisoners who felt they had nothing to live for succumbed, while those who perceived themselves as having a mission to complete, struggled to survive. Deprived of all external supports that might give life meaning, these survivors came to realize that ...

4262. Decaffeinated Christianity

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

Most Christians prefer what Bishop Michael Marshall has called "decaffeinated Christianity," the kind of religion that won't keep you awake a night. This kind of religion costs little, won't require you to get involved in controversy or other people's troubles, and will surround you with comfort. But by the way, this kind of religion is counterfeit.

4263. The Weight of the Cross

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

An American businessman traveled to Europe to see the famous Oberammergau Passion Play? Following the performance the businessman had the opportunity to meet and talk with Anton Lang who portrayed Christ in the play. Seeing the cross that was used in the play, the businessman wanted his wife to take his picture holding it. He attempted to lift the cross to his shoulder. To his surprise he could hardly budge it from the floor. He said to Mr. Lang, "I don't understand. I figured the cross would be hollow. ...

4264. The Drum Major Instinct

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Dr. Martin Luther King

The following words were part of a sermon given by Dr. King at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 4, 1968. I know a man—and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way (Yeah) because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was ...

4265. Grabbing Opportunity

Mk 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

William Barclay once said there are three things which cannot come back: the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity. Bartimaeus could not know what lay just ahead for Jesus in Jerusalem. He could not know that the Master would be crucified there and that this opportunity would never come again. He did know, however, that the opportunity was here, now, and he wasn't going to allow it to pass him by.

4266. Born of the Spirit Not the Process

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

Duke University psychiatrist Redford B. Williams has written a book called The Trusting Heart (New York: Random House). What he has discovered is that Type A behavior will not kill you. Grueling schedules, workaholism, stress, hurriedness - all these "Type A" personality syndromes are not predictive of early death. What is? Hostility, cynicism, aggression, and orneriness - these are the killers. People who cannot trust, people who can only control, are in more than spiritual jeopardy. Their health is on ...

4267. Triumph in the Rubble

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

Carlton Fletcher tells about his Uncle Walter who lived in Waldorf, Germany, during the Second World War. Uncle Walter was the descendant of Huguenots that had run away from France during the persecution of the Protestants in the 1600's. During the war he wanted to build himself a house, but all the necessary materials were reserved for the army. You couldn't build a house for yourself. To a member of Germany's middle class, a house is most important. Building a house and getting out of an apartment is a ...

4268. Seeing Life's Meaning

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

Who of us could ever forget Thorton Wilder's memorable play "Our Town." There is an unforgettable scene in that play which never fails to intrigue me. Emily has died and has been given special permission to come back to earth for just a brief time. She has arrived at the graveyard of Grover's Corner, New Jersey, where the story takes place. She will experience the same thing as before, but this time with the knowledge of her impending death. The day that she chooses to live over is her twelfth birthday. ...

4269. What Are You Doing for Me?

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

In the 1700's there occurred a rather remarkable change in the life of an Austrian Count named Nikolaus Zinzendorf. Born into nobility, Zinzendorf had recently completed his training in law, and was sent off to complete his education by touring European cities. In an art gallery in Dusseldorf he came upon a masterly painting of Jesus. The eyes of the Master seemed to penetrate the Count's heart. Beneath the painting were these words: "This I did for you; what are you doing for me?" Count Zinzendorf was ...

4270. So Much for Feeling Good…

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

It is amazing how many dumb things people can say, in the face of problems, in the name of religion. You hear them at funerals. How many hearts have been broken because of someone's outrageous interpretation of adversity. Even Charlie Brown, in the Peanuts cartoons, encountered this. One day Charlie Brown says to Linus, "I feel good. I just got back from the grocery store. Guess what? The owner and his wife both complimented me. They said I was a very nice boy." Linus replied, "In the sixth chapter of Luke ...

4271. Full Devotion to God

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

In the days of the circuit riders a minister was out riding one afternoon and came upon a man out working in his field. "Fine day isn't it?" the minister called out. "Its fine for you", the man replied, "All you have to do is ride around on that horse thinking about God all day long, while I have to sweat here in this field and then walk home afterward. I don't think it is right you should have things so easy while I have to work so hard." "On the contrary", the minister answered, "thinking about God is ...

4272. Watching Out for Us

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Jesus wants us to love God and others with our soul. The soul is that part of us that denies logic. It is a mystery. Loving with our souls goes beyond what people would consider as normal. We give forth our love because we want to and it probably makes no sense to outsiders. During the course of earning her master's degree, a woman found it necessary to commute several times a week from Victory, Vermont to the state university in Burlington, a good hundred miles away. Coming home late at night, she would ...

4273. Beauty and the Beast

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

G. K. Chesterton once said that the really great lesson of the story of "Beauty and the Beast" is that a thing must be loved before it is loveable. A person must be loved before that person can be loveable. Some of the most unlovely people I have known got that way because they thought that nobody loved them. The fact of the matter is that unless and until we feel ourselves loved, we cannot love. That's not only a principle of theology but of psychology and sociology as well. Just as abused children grow ...

4274. It All Started with 10 Commandments

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

In a cartoon, Frank and Ernest are standing in front of row after row of shelves of books. On top of one of the shelves is a sign, which reads, "Law Library." Franks turns and says to Ernest: "It's frightening when you think that we started out with just Ten Commandments." It is sort of frightening isn't it? We started out with 10 and now we have an estimated 35 million laws on the books in the United States alone. Some of them are very good and deeply needed. But there are some that probably need to be ...

4275. Love for Neighbor

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Staff

An ancient rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day was on its way back. "When you see an animal in the distance and can tell what kind of animal it is" answered one pupil. "No" replied the rabbi. "When you see a tree in the distance and can tell what kind of tree it is" replied another. "No" answered the rabbi. "Well then" his pupils asked "how can we tell when night has ended and day has arrived?" "It is when you look into the face of another man or woman and ...

Showing results

Antonyms: deficient, imperfect

Showing 4251 to 4275 of 5000 results

4251. I Want to Live Forever

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Ozzie Smith

4252. Compared to Eternity

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

4253. The Image of Perfection

Mark 10:17-31; Isaiah 64:6

Illustration

Michael Milton

4254. Contrarian Christian

Mark 9:33-37; 10:17-31

Illustration

Michael Milton

4255. The Three Poison Pills of Position, Prestige, and Power - Sermon Starter

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Brett Blair

4256. "Others"

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

King Duncan

4257. Service beyond Wealth

Luke 17:11-19

Illustration

Donald Deffner

4258. The Power of Nature

Illustration

Michael P. Green

4259. Ego

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

G. Curtis Jones

4260. Maintenance or Mission

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

4261. Having a Life Purpose

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

4262. Decaffeinated Christianity

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

4263. The Weight of the Cross

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

4264. The Drum Major Instinct

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Dr. Martin Luther King

4265. Grabbing Opportunity

Mk 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

4266. Born of the Spirit Not the Process

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

4267. Triumph in the Rubble

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

4268. Seeing Life's Meaning

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

4269. What Are You Doing for Me?

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

4270. So Much for Feeling Good…

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

King Duncan

4271. Full Devotion to God

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

4272. Watching Out for Us

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Keith Wagner

4273. Beauty and the Beast

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

4274. It All Started with 10 Commandments

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

4275. Love for Neighbor

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

Staff

Showing results