Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 426 to 450 of 4944 results

426. Some Healing Is Up To You

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is a famous legend in Buddhist folklore in which the Buddha compares philosophical preoccupation with the matter of God’s existence to a man shot with a poisoned arrow. Before the man would allow the arrow to be withdrawn, he insisted upon knowing who shot him, what kind of poison was in the arrow, who was going to administer the cure, and what was going to be the medication. Needless to say, he died before his questions were answered. The Buddha concluded that in the same way, people need to be ...

427. Further on Up the Road

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Sermon

Rick Brand

As best I can remember it, the comment came as part of a discussion about the media frenzy immediately following the capture of the two suspected snipers in the Washington, D.C. area. It had troubled some of the participants in the discussion that before these suspects had even gotten charged, before these presumed innocent until proven guilty people had even had a jury trial, there was this zeal on the part of every talk show to get the trial in the place where the death penalty was most severe. Then ...

428. Now Stand Up Straight!

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Some of you give me books that you would like me to read, which I am very happy to do. It usually takes me some time to get to them, so sometimes I save them to take on planes with me. If it is near the summertime, I save them to take with me on my summer vacation. Sometimes, I am embarrassed to confess, by the time I get around to reading the book, I can't remember who it was who gave it to me. That has happened with enough frequency lately that I have thought of putting a table out on the patio, pile all ...

429. Loosening Up for Better Production

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Some unknown lover of nature wrote this little poem: The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, I'm closer to God in a garden, Than anywhere else on earth. For all of you nature lovers and garden growers, Jesus told a story just for you. In it He drove home a truth essential for the rest of us, too. We call it the Parable of the Sower, though Jesus interpreted it as an allegory of the soils, which poses no problem for ordinary readers, only for Biblical critics of the 20th Century. ...

430. The Accent Of Heaven

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

She opened our eyes to the way that civilizations unfold and develop. Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead became the talk of society with her study, Coming of Age in Samoa. For decades she toured the world, explaining what she had observed as children were born, how they were raised, what families and groups did to reinforce certain behaviors, what happened to non-conformists, what marriage looked like, and how people aged and died. When Ms. Mead was speaking at a university, one student asked her what ...

431. How Soon Is "Soon"?

Sermon

Rolf E. Aaseng

But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will befalling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see "the Son of Man coming in clouds" with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know ...

432. Finishing What We Start

2 Timothy 4:7

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Some knitting, a partially finished jigsaw puzzle, a scoreboard with only four innings completed out of nine. Isn't this a wonderful day to be together? It's the middle of the month and all the leaves have now started to turn color. The air smells so good and on most days the sun is bright in the very blue sky. It surely is great the way God does things. Whatever He starts He finishes. That's the way He is. Do you always finish everything you start? Do you ever just get something started when you ...

433. Keep Your Head Right

Illustration

Stephen Brown

Pastor Stephen Brown taught swimming and diving for a number of years. He tells about a young boy named Billy. Billy had watched so many professional divers and wanted so much to dive like them that he refused to take time to learn the basics. Time after time Brown tried to help Billy see that the most important thing about diving was to keep his head in the proper position. If his head entered the water properly, Brown explained, the rest of his body would enter the water properly at least, more properly ...

434. Repent and Keep the Dream Alive!

Matthew 3:1-12

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

African American poet Langston Hughes questions in one of his poems, "What happens to a dream deferred?…Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?…Or does it explode?" Dreams long squelched by injustice may well explode in anger and rage, but I suspect that, for most of us, the far greater danger is of our dreams drying up like raisins in the sun. Is there any greater tragedy than those whose lives have become little more than mere existence, their dreams long since petrified and forgotten? John the Baptist ...

435. The Divine Mission

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

A friend of mine taught ethics at a Christian college. Several years ago, there was a scare on campus because a student had been raped. Since my friend wanted his students to deal with actual ethical situations, he began the next class session with a question: “If a friend came to your room in tears, telling how her date had just raped her, what is the first thing you would do to help her?” After a moment’s reflective silence one student raised her hand and asked, tentatively, “Pray?” The whole class ...

436. Clever Christians

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Richard Patt

There is nothing unusual in talking about faithful Christians, active Christians, committed Christians, obedient and humble Christians, about Christians who are loving and loyal. But clever Christians? Some of us may never have heard it put that way. This is what surprises us about the parable here in Luke 16. Toward the end of it Jesus says that the "sons of light" (v. 8), that is, the people of God, ought to be clever in their religion, like the "sons of this world" are in their business dealings; the ...

437. Using our Special Talents

Romans 12:6-8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Cup, scissors, picture. Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on this beautiful winter morning? Winter must be a very special season for God, because He decorates His earth with snow and beautiful cloud formations in the heavens. It is wonderful how the various seasons do different things and make us feel differently. It makes me think of some good friends around my house that have special jobs. Let me show you what I mean. First of all there is my friend, Charley Cup. [Hold up cup, admiring it ...

438. Will the Real Prophets Please Speak Up?

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

There was a time in Israel when no prophets spoke for God. During those long years after the Exile, prophecy seemed dead. There were no prophets and none were expected. All the people could do was to look back for comfort to the times when God had sent an Amos, an Hosea, an Ezekiel. Those were the good old days, when the word of the Lord was heard in the land. But now they were gone ... and the long wait for the messenger of the Lord had begun. Our problem is quite different, it seems. We may be living in ...

439. Fill'er up Lord

Ephesians 5:18-21

Sermon

James Merritt

I know that it is rude and impolite, generally speaking, to ask personal questions. I mean there are just certain questions that people should know better than to ask. For example: You should never go up to a woman and ask, "How much do you weigh?" Likewise, you should never go up to a woman and ask, "How old are you?" You should never go up to anyone and ask a question such as, "Is that a wig?" or, "Do you color your hair?" You should never ask anyone, "Did your plastic surgery not work out, or do you ...

440. Will The Real Saints Please Stand Up

Esther 4:1-17

Sermon

John E. Harnish

It seems my little jaunt into English grammar, and especially the proper placement of prepositions, produced more response than almost anything I have written in Steeple Notes. I suppose that, in itself, is amazing. Several of you sent me Winston Churchill's famous quotation: "This is a situation with which I will not put up." But the best one came from a couple of my Wednesday morning Arbon Dennis buddies. It's the story of the little girl, already in bed, who berated her father when he came to read to ...

441. Growing Up

1 Corinthians 13

Sermon

John E. Harnish

442. Close Up - Wives: Sweet Surrender

Colossians 3:18

Sermon

James Merritt

Respect - if the coach doesn't have it, he loses control of the team. If the officer doesn't have it, he loses control of his troops. If the teacher doesn't have it, he loses control of the class. If the home doesn't have it, then the entire family is in trouble. We are in the middle of a series entitled, "Picture Perfect" and we have said over and over, "God desires for your family to reflect His glory." The way the family does that is by each member of the family fulfilling their God given roles and ...

443. Moving On Up

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

A quick way to start a fight among sports fans is to ask who is the greatest. For example, since this is football season, who is the greater football quarterback, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? Among golfers you might ask, how would Jack Nicolaus have done against Tiger Woods? To go back a few years, how about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird? I was reading recently about a Larry Bird fan named Eric Torpy. Let me tell you just how much Torpy admires Larry Bird. In 2005 when Torpy was sentenced to 30 years in ...

444. The Fear Of Taking The Plunge

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Richard Patt

In a lengthy paragraph just before this text Jesus told the disciples to relax and enjoy life as it comes to them. Many of the phrases in that speech have become legendary: "... do not be anxious about your life ... which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life? ... Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin...." In short Jesus was coaxing the disciples with the appeal, "Let go, and let God." But after saying all that, Jesus realized that such appeals scare most of ...

445. Your Choice

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

John Jamison

He stood on the steps and waved. He nodded to those cheering to him from below, and took a deep breath as if to soak up their praise. And he deserved it. He had taken a good thing and made it better. Much better. He had created an empire like no one had ever seen, or would see again. He had the touch. He always seemed to know exactly the right thing to do and the right time to do it. It was more than shrewdness, it was wisdom. Like that time he traded those 10 old cities up north to King Hiram of Tyre for ...

446. Sticking Up for God

Acts 13:8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: None or Magic 8 ball to show what someone like Bar Jesus might consult Have you ever been tricked? When someone makes you believe that you can have something for nothing, and you agree to try it his way and end up losing everything, you have been tricked. Some people have some very good tricks. People who like to trick other people also like to have very powerful friends so that if something goes wrong, the powerful people will protect them. It happened this way a long time ago to St. Paul and his ...

447. OUR LORD DELIVERED UP

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

He walked rapidly, his long robes flowing behind him to be whipped by the brisk, dry east wind. His two servants occasionally quick-stepped to keep pace, their sandals padding softly on the dust of the deserted streets. As they turned eastward from the upper city, the declining, full moon flung their shadows ahead like long moving fingers pointing toward the white limestone buildings of the temple compound. Nicodemus’ mind was thoughtless, yet filled with many thoughts. He had no plan, no course of action ...

448. The Problem With Giving Up Chocolates

Mark 8:34-38

Sermon

King Duncan

The story is told about a gung-ho drill sergeant who always demanded the best from his soldiers. One day he stared in pained disbelief at a sloppy squad of new recruits wearing their uniforms for the first time. For a moment the sergeant was speechless with rage. Then he screamed in frustration, "Just step out here and look at yourselves!" Now, I don't know how he expected them to do that ” "step out and look at themselves" ” but his basic concept was on target. There is a time when all of us should step ...

449. Up and Running

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Robert Noblett

We all have a stake in making sure that our young people get up and running. This is a given for families, but it is also true for congregational families too, for the simple and obvious reason that today's young people represent tomorrow's church leaders. Our text is about the process whereby we get up and running. It begins with a curious picture of Jesus being baptized. On a wall somewhere in a church building you have seen an artist's depiction of this. Jesus' experience is such that he sees the ...

450. Will the Real God Please Stand Up?

2 Corinthians 13:14

Sermon

James Merritt

I have been to Israel on many occasions and without question, one of the most impressive architectural sites is what is known as the Dome of the Rock. It is the masterpiece of Islamic architecture. It was erected in 691 A.D. to enshrine the rock where traditionally it has been held that Abraham sacrificed Isaac. To this day it is probably the most distinctive and beautiful monument in all of Jerusalem. If you look carefully, you'll notice the geometry of a dome supported by an octagon shaped building. It ...

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