Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 426 to 450 of 813 results

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... her hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, which declared Tuesday, December 21, 1993 as "Amy Hagadorn Day." The wish began as a letter to a local radio station that was giving prizes to children for their Christmas wish lists. Most were cute, many long and almost all asked for toys. But Amy's note scribbled in pencil, in fat, awkward print, was different. It read: "Dear Santa Claus: My name is Amy. I am 9 years old. I have a problem at school. Can you help me, Santa? Kids laugh at me because of the way I walk ...

427. The Get-ready Man

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... is in control. He is Immanuel, God with us. In an issue of THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY magazine (Nov/Dec 1988) R. Benjamin Garrison tells about a computerized chess game his wife gave him for Christmas. One night, he found himself shouting at this amazing scientific toy, "All right, you idiot, if you’re going to cheat, I won’t play with you any longer." But the computerized chess game had not cheated. It had simply made a decisive and game-challenging move several minutes before, a move Garrison had not ...

428. Getting Ready

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

... plums." Something wonderful is about to take place and we are going to be a part of it. We are getting ready for Christmas. Christmas trees are being decorated in living rooms. Children make their annual trip to see Santa Claus with their lists of the toys they want for that great day. No doubt someone will ask you in the coming days, "Are you ready for Christmas?" We smile at the person who asks us this question and answer with, "Almost" or "Not quite yet," and we continue our busy preparations. Everyone ...

429. The God Of Peace

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... obscure for our children the essential reason for its being. The newspapers sometimes run a famous DENNIS THE MENACE cartoon from years ago. It's Christmas afternoon and Dennis has finally gotten all of his presents opened. He is up to his chin in wall-to-wall toys. You can't see the floor for all his presents and gifts. The caption is a lament. Dennis says, "Is this all? Is this all I got this year?" (4) Christmas is a most dangerous time. Contrast Dennis' experience with that of the great writer Moss Hart ...

430. Unwrapping Christmas

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... counter you wonder, what it could be? Who is it from? Is it for me or someone else in the family? When you pick up the package, you immediately begin to guess what it could be by it's size and weight. Is it clothes, shoes, a book or a toy? You can't wait to get it home. You open it, and inside that brown postal paper you find the box wrapped in bright colored Christmas paper. You shake it. You feel it. You smell it. It's very presence fills you with anticipation. In Bill Keane's "Family Circus ...

431. A Song, A Star, A Savior

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... on her lap and tells him the story of Christmas. It goes something like this: "Jesus was born just in time for Christmas up at the North Pole surrounded by 8 tiny reindeer and the Virgin Mary . . . Then Santa Claus showed up with lots of toys and stuff and some swaddling clothes . . . The 3 wise men and elves all sang carols while the Little Drummer Boy and Scrooge helped Joseph trim the tree . . . In the meantime, Frosty the Snowman saw this star . . . ." Thus concludeth the reading from the Family Circus ...

432. Mary's Song

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

King Duncan

... , and then went on. The father and son never got the names of their two ministering angels. In a week's time the truck was repaired and the boy's injury healed. On Christmas Eve, the pastor asked this same man if he would deliver a basket of food and toys to the needy family he had set out to bring the tree to earlier. He loaded up his truck and drove to the address he was given and rang the doorbell. Who should answer the door but the couple who had stopped to help him on the highway just weeks ...

433. Would You Like To Hold The Baby?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... is that God HAD to send His son. We'd become so sin-filled that we just kept getting in deeper and deeper and deeper. We're still that way today. We don't like to admit it. We try to cover it all up with clothes, makeup, the toys of success, the ornaments of the good life, with position and prestige. But inside we're like those cheap chocolate Easter bunnies--hollow and empty. Dr. Maxwell Maltz has gained quite a bit of notoriety through his popular self-help book titled PSYCHOCYBERNETICS. The theory of ...

434. The Explosive Power Of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Often she listened to ministers speak the words of committal at the close of funeral services. She decided to have a complete funeral service of her own in her backyard. She thought she would bury her teddy bear. After digging a grave, she solemnly lowered the toy bear into the ground, saying ever so seriously the words she thought she had heard the preachers say again and again in the burial service: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and in the hole you goes!" We read about these events in ...

435. What In The World Are We Doing Here?

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... the world that he gave His only Son. We are here today because a Man from Galilee cared more about us than he did himself. If our response to that is only to shut ourselves off in our little designer cocoon with our luxury automobiles, expensive high-tech toys, and big screen TVs while the rest of the world goes to hell, we are in deep spiritual trouble. What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Few characteristics are as appealing in a ...

436. Welcome To The Mountain. Now Go Home

Exodus 24:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... we seek to be the body of Christ at work today. Two dimensionsand we live in both! PITY THE PERSON WHO NEVER ASCENDS THE MOUNTAIN. There is a story about a baby who loved to clap her hands. She clapped for everything, whether it be her lunch, her toys, playing with her parents, or sitting watching waves roll in at the beach. Her parents said about this, "We only worry that someday she'll stop." To ascend the mountain of exultation is to be aware of both creation and the Creator. It is to be aware of ...

437. Be Careful How You Walk

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

King Duncan

... we would enjoy life more. Be careful how you walk. Good advice. Use your head. Open your heart. Lift up your hands in thanksgiving and praise. In other words, walk like Christ. Follow his example. Watch how he walks. Walk the same way. 1. "Blimp Deflated by Toy, Might Miss A.L. Series," The Knoxville NewsSentinel (Oct. 2, 1990) Section C, p. 3. 2. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 10/25/84, p. 3. 3. A PILGRIM PEOPLE, Harper & Row, 1984. Cited in TARBELL'S TEACHER'S GUIDE91, William P. Barker, editor, (Elgin, Ill: David ...

438. No Price Too High

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... that gifted people are often tempted to coast rather than to grow, therefore, he was persistent in seeking to instill in young Michelangelo a desire to give himself completely to his work. One day he came into the studio and found Michelangelo toying with a piece of sculpture far beneath his abilities. Bertoldo grabbed a hammer, stomped across the room and smashed the work into tiny pieces shouting as he did, "Michelangelo, talent is cheap; dedication is costly." (5) Dedication is costly. It cost Matthew ...

439. Victory on a Broken Knee

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... why several gifted writers with whom he had been associated in earlier years had not progressed in their work as he had. His answer was simple and direct: “Gentlemen the difference between us was not in ability, but in the fact that they merely toyed with the fascinating idea of writing. I cared like blazes! It is this caring like the blazes that counts.” Few things in life of real value are acquired without momentous effort and consecrated determination. Dr. Kenneth Taylor understood that. It was Dr ...

440. Trying To Get The Pageant Right!

John 1:19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... Nobody deserves that." His father somehow found a barber willing to leave home on Christmas Eve, and he took the man in for a shave and a haircut. Then he bought the family groceries. The family had a number of children, but his father bought each one a toy for Christmas. "It was a Christmas a man can carry around for a lifetime," Lewis writes. "Each year at Christmas, with my father long since in his grave, I thank God that one is mine to remember." (4) Christmas is a season of miracles and memories, isn't ...

441. Passage To New Life

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... his face, he shook convulsively, his tears soaking her calico apron. It was then that she looked into his eyes and said, "Felice, what are you holding on to?" He swallowed and looked at her. His mother explained that we can't hold onto some things ” like broken toys. We also can't hold onto people who had died ” like Grandpapa. And he could not hold on to Little Yellow. Little Yellow had gone to a better place. (3) That's a good point for us to remember this Easter day. There are some things we just ...

442. Once In A Lifetime

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... barely-settled place to that beach is Pitcairn Island, about 300 miles away. But, despite the complete isolation, Benton counted 953 man-made objects washed up on the shore there. Nine hundred and fifty three! Among the garbage there were buoys, light bulbs, shoes, toys, cans and miscellaneous bits of plastic. After the buoys, the largest class of junk was 171 glass bottles from 15 countries. And over a third of them were whiskey bottles. (2) In order to view the wonders of the undersea world that no-one ...

443. How Do You Know?

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... for him." One traveling salesman spent much of his free time on the road battling loneliness. But one year his little daughter gave him the perfect antidote for his homesickness. It had black beady eyes, a red bow tie and orange feet. It was a stuffed toy penguin that stood about five inches tall, and attached to its left wing with paste (still wet when he tore away the wrapping) was a wooden sign bearing the hand-painted declaration, "I Love My Dad!" The salesman immediately granted it a place of honor on ...

444. God's Job Profile

Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... can take with us to the next world is that which does not consist of physical matter. Our kindly deeds. The people we have loved. The Christ we have served. You see, it really doesn't matter how smart we are, how talented, or how many toys we have in our garage. God is looking for something entirely different. God is looking for people who are willing to lay down their lives ” people who are single-minded in their devotion ” people who understand the difference between the temporal and the eternal. How ...

445. Coming For The Right Reasons

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... he had to say was, "I really gave it a try." (1) Billy wasn't the first person to ever lose interest in faith. Many people show great interest for a while: going to church, reading the Bible, joining a group. But they're like a child with a new toy: once the initial excitement is gone, they put it away and forget about it. It reminds me of an item in a Youth for Christ newsletter. Here is how it read: "Eight adults made personal commitments to Christ as Saviour and everybody else had a great time." (2) Let ...

446. Jesus Prays For Us

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... the right words, but nothing helped. They were beyond being comforted. The widow kept saying, "You're right, I know you're right, but it doesn't make any difference." Then a man walked in, a big burly man in his eighties who was a legend in the toy and game industry. He had escaped from Russia as a youth after having been arrested and tortured by the czar's secret police. He had come to this country illiterate and penniless and had built up an immensely successful company. He was known as a hard bargainer ...

447. Who Are You Trying To Impress?

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... force in our life is not to disappoint them. There are marriages held together not for the sake of the children, "but because it would kill mother." Some of the more conscientious among us can identify with the story of two young men. They were toying with the idea of doing something with which they knew their fathers would disapprove. One of them finally decided he could not go along. The other young man asked sarcastically, "Are you afraid your dad will find out and hurt you?" Quietly the response came ...

448. Freedom's Year

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... member of the family had a job, and each one was expected to contribute toward paying off the loans. Now, suddenly, they were free! They could buy any mansion they wanted, and lay down cash for it! They didn't need to work! They could purchase all the toys and the trinkets their hearts had ever craved! They had it made! And a year later, Saturday Night magazine did a follow-up article on the family. How had they coped with their newfound freedom? Well, the father was dead of a heart attack. Too much liquor ...

449. On Knowing What's Best For Your Kids

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... have time to spend with their children, it's tough. FOR ONE THING, THERE IS A FINE LINE BETWEEN PROVIDING FOR A CHILD AND SPOILING IT. Anyone relate to that? There is a fine line between providing for and spoiling ” and it doesn't just relate to toys. How tough or how tender should we be with kids? Does anyone have an answer for that one? A burst of thunder sent a three-year old flying into her parent's bedroom. "Mommy, I'm scared," she said. The mother, half-awake and half-unconscious, replied, "Go ...

450. A New Vantage Point

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... of life. They would keep all of these new things in a new building just outside of the village. When everything was ready, they would begin the annual spring cleaning. Every corner of every house was scrubbed. Every stick of furniture was thrown out. Every child's toy went on the garbage heap. The dirt paths were swept, and the weeds were plucked up. Even the food that was left over from the winter was thrown out the door. Now all the refuse was gathered together. They piled it high in the center of the ...

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