Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 426 to 450 of 2665 results

426. Laws of the Harvest

Illustration

Staff

... was always perplexed by Psalm 126 until I went to the Sahel, that vast stretch of savanna more than four thousand miles wide just under the Sahara Desert. In the Sahel, all the moisture comes in a four month period: May, June, July, and August. After that, not a drop of rain falls for eight months. The ground cracks from dryness, and so do your hands and feet. The winds of the Sahara pick up the dust and throw it thousands of feet into the air. It then comes slowly drifting across West Africa as a fine grit ...

427. A Little Substitute

Illustration

Staff

... and lose 25 pounds a year, or switch to a medium sized bran muffin and lose 11 pounds in a year. Skipping a teaspoon of butter on a daily bagel will leave you 11 pounds lighter at year's end, or change to a similar amount of cream cheese and drop 5 pounds. Some other items you can drop and save on are a 12 ounce can of soda a day and forget 17 pounds in a year; a 1.2 ounce chocolate bar a day saves you 12 pounds in 18 months. There's nothing to it but to do it.

428. A Letter Home

Illustration

... after grade eleven to get married. About a year ago he got a divorce. We've been going steady for two months and plan to get married in the fall. Until then, I've decided to move into his apartment (I think I might be pregnant). At any rate, I dropped out of school last week, although I'd like to finish college sometime in the future. (On the next page the letter continued) Mom and Dad, I just want you to know that everything I've written so far in this letter is false. NONE of it is true. But ...

429. Muffle the Noise

Illustration

Staff

... an armload of books. In 50% of the cases, a passerby stopped to help the student pick up the books. Then the experimenters brought out a lawn mower without a muffler and started it near where a student would again intentionally drop the books. This time, only about 10% of the people who passed stopped to help. It was clear that behavior changed, because of the earsplitting sound of the nearby lawn mower. In experiments in Los Angeles, researchers found that children who lived in neighborhoods near the ...

430. Be Prudent or Productive?

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... rip apart “re-sealable” packaging because it is impossible to open in the first place? Do you ever feel the urge chuck your phone off the nearest bridge because it drops every important call you have to make? While it is definitely NOT a good idea to crush your keyboard, shred your food storage containers, or drop-kick your “Droid,” that frustration we all feel connects us with one of Jesus’ biggest “pet peeves” — the fruitlessness of that which should be fruitful. Once when Jesus was hungry ...

431. Cellophane Prison

Humor Illustration

... porch. In order to protect the floor, she very carefully placed around the edges a strip of tape the kind with adhesive on both sides. It was her plan to place a drop cloth over the floor and secure it with the tape. Having succeeded in placing the tape around the entire surface, she went back inside the house to get a drop cloth. Returning to the porch sometime later, she found that all of her carefully placed tape was gone. She was completely mystified. Where could it be? Who would possibly have taken the ...

432. Squeezed Dry

Humor Illustration

... more than a shriveled up piece of rind. Then bracing himself, he slowly and firmly compressed his right hand. Every eye was on him, and the atmosphere was electric! A moment or two elapsed, and then, to everyone's amazement - and not least the athlete - a drop of orange juice formed and dripped to the floor. As the cheers subsided, the athlete beckoned the man to come forward, asked his name, and then invited him to tell the crowd how he had managed to develop such fistic powers. "Nothing to it," replied ...

433. Life’s Take-Home Final

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... big picture.” We are instead commanded to take everything “personally.” In the “Son of Man” judgment scenario, Jesus takes personally every action we have taken throughout our lives. Every time we drop a coin in someone’s cup. Every bit of clothing we “recycle” to a shelter. Every drop of human kindness we extend to those thirsty for a meaningful life. Every extension of ourselves beyond ourselves, beyond our “comfort zone,” beyond our definition of “safe” and “secure.” That is ...

434. Make Someone's Life Better

Matthew 25:31-46

Illustration

King Duncan

... stopped running, old Mr. Simpson who runs the hardware store was concerned that the Widow Jacobs would no longer have coal to heat and cook with. He knew she was too proud to take charity, so he decided to get up early every morning, take a bag of coal and drop it along the tracks. The Widow Jacobs still thinks the steam train runs by here every morning. I think Old Mr. Simpson has been doing that for about 5 years now." A few lumps of coal ...

435. The Un-Stolen Car

Humor Illustration

... had been stolen. Then I made the most difficult call of all, "Honey," I stammered. That's what I always call her in times like these. "I left my keys in the car, and it has been stolen." There was a period of silence. I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard Diane's voice. "Ken!" she barked, "I dropped you off!" Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, "Well, come and get me." Diane retorted, "I will, as soon as I convince this policeman I have not stolen your car!"

436. Holy Smokes! God Is Here

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... a Bible reading that the seagull landed on Captain Rickenbacker’s head. And at that moment, his wife reports, Jim Whittaker became a believer. (2) That makes sense to me. You’re out at sea about to starve, hundreds of miles from shore, and a seagull drops right in your lap. Holy smokes. God was there. The same God who fed the hungry multitudes with five small barley loaves and two small fish, the same God who plopped a seagull on Eddie Rickenbacker’s head, is still alive in our world, still working ...

437. Tradition Can Be Changed

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

... ! That snowflake is very delicate." It might take hours, but the result was breathtaking. Four weeks later — when the needles began to drop — the women undecorated the tree and carefully packed the ornaments up. The men unwound and removed the lights, lifted the tree ... tipsy tree stand. This year we can drink all the 7-Up and not a gulping tree. Artificial trees don't drink, don't drop needles, and cats can't — well you know what I mean. * And the last change? — No need to take the tree down early. ...

438. Silly Goose

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. Another good lesson. Stay in formation or pay the price. Have you ever dropped out of church for a time? Perhaps someone said an unkind word or failed to say a kind word. Maybe work or travel schedules prevented regular attendance. It could be that something or someone made you angry ... perhaps even God. Did ...

439. God’s Chain Reaction

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... God. That's part of our hope of sharing the glory of God in eternal life. It is the hope of God's love. Romans 5:5: "God's love has been poured into our hearts." God is not a stingy God using an eyedropper to measure out love drop by drop. Instead, God's love has been so generously poured out that it reaches into our very being. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation ...

440. Running with Perseverance

Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... , most of us are like the runners that Schnase describes. We start well, but we fade over time. We may not completely drop out, but we don't push ourselves. We too easily become content with the level of spirituality, the Bible knowledge, the prayer ... inspiration of others who have faced the same problems we have. As we are running, we may find that our energy is low, and we want to drop out. If our feet are weary, our sides are aching, and we are gasping for breath, let us look up. Just ahead of us on the ...

441. The Right Reason

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

David O. Bales

... mile on their strange quest. When you like someone, you want to be with them and talk with them. Pretty soon you find yourself devoted to one another. A multitude of marriages have come about that way. Here’s the reason that Jesus tells us to drop our religious phoniness: God likes us. Sounds pretty underwhelming; yet, as I’ve counseled with people, Christians often don’t think that God really likes them or wants to be around them. They might assent to some general belief that God loves them. But that ...

442. Honk If Something Falls Off

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

King Duncan

... m not perfect, so get over it” life is not what he is advocating here. Admitting that your imperfections show up on occasion is another matter. Second, this driver God bless his sweet soul assumes that people will be so kind as to inform him if he drops a chunk of truck on his journeys: a muffler, a bumper, a hubcap, the transmission. With wear and age, the old truck may just accidentally litter the road. This is not something he wants, but knows may happen. Yet, says Pastor Doyal, he is an optimist. His ...

443. On the Ropes: Round 3 - Defending God

Habakkuk 3:1-19

Sermon

James Merritt

... them.” Habakkuk couldn’t believe his ears. “You mean your solution to the problem is to send a more wicked nation to punish a less wicked nation? Because no matter how wicked my people are they are certainly not as bad as the Babylonians!” Then, Habakkuk drops this bomb, “How could You a holy, righteous God do this?” To which God simply replies with one statement, “I know what I am doing and I will do what is right – trust Me.” Then the Lord told Habakkuk to write down one of the greatest ...

444. Lost Baggage: Flying Standby

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... -critical, hypocritical, negative, self-righteous, holier than thou, then lose that baggage today. If you have allowed someone to keep you from God and His family and the church, because they tried to take God’s place as your judge, forget that, forgive them, and drop that baggage. In either case, if you are living outside of God’s will you are in rebellion against God. You have never received His grace and forgiveness that can only come through a relationship with His Son who died on the cross and was ...

445. Why Christmas Is So Dangerous

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of the Lord appearing to a virgin and then the Son of God appearing in a manger bed and causing a heavenly ruckus SO extreme that the entire world sits up at attention. It’s the most rockin’ story in the world! And God’s extraordinary “I think I’ll drop in” causes all kinds of new things to happen, new things that can be dangerous to the status quo — and to a kind of people who hate “joy to go.” You say, who hates “joy to go?” We’ll call him “Ordinary Joe.” But there’s nothing ...

446. Jesus Is Baptized

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... his or her parents: “You are my son, you are my daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” What a difference it would make in the world if every parent would affirm his or her child like that. I suspect we would see crime drop, delinquency drop, even terrorism disappear. Can you imagine a world in which every child knew for certain that he or she was loved? Can you imagine a world where no young person felt the need to act out in destructive ways in order to gain parental attention or approval ...

447. What Do You See?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... road only one time. It has since been closed, because it is just too dangerous to travel, both because of how steep it is and how dangerous it is. The Jericho Road is 17 miles long and it drops from Jerusalem, which is 2700 feet above sea level to Jericho, which is 800 feet below sea level. In other words, that road drops almost a football field every mile. It is desert land and there are still bandits and robbers who roam this area. Back in the day, it was such a dangerous road it was called, “The way of ...

448. Can One Become Two?

Matthew 19:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... and he faints. His wife thinks he has suffered a heart attack so she calls 911. The medics arrive, put him on a stretcher and begin carrying him out. At the same time the snake comes out from under the couch, one of the medics see it causing him to drop his end of the stretcher breaking the husband’s leg. They rush him to the hospital. With the snake still in the house the wife calls her neighbor next door and he volunteers to capture the snake but suggests they call the police for backup. He rolls up a ...

449. Waiting Is So Hard to Do

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... probably die. Ten gallons of gas can produce quite an explosion. On the other hand, suppose I were to pour that ten gallons of gas into the gas tank of my car. Then, depending on the fuel efficiency of my car, I might be able to drive hundreds of miles. Dropping a lighted match into a barrel of gasoline might produce a spectacular effect, but a controlled burn will take me a lot further in life. The Holy Spirit is the fuel in the Christian’s tank to help us to be all that Christ has called us to be. We ...

450. Michael Corleone and the Widow

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... some churches are quite rigid and judgmental. As is often said, the church is the only army that shoots its wounded. What is the response of Christian lay people who have been hurt by someone who is considered to be a representative of the church? Some drop out, to be sure. But, thankfully, some hang in there. They stay committed to their church. Somehow they are able to separate their hurt by someone in the church from their commitment to God and to the church. And they are greatly to be praised. Certainly ...

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