Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4501 to 4525 of 4939 results

4501. In Praise Of Doers

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Earl Fitz is a doer. According to a recent article in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Fitz is 81 years young and he has been the mayor of Iowa Falls, Iowa four times. But that's the easy part. In Earl's midfifties he left his teaching job and began a new career, selling Bibles. Earl bought 10,000 Bibles from a publisher getting out of Bible sales and sold them all. Today, Earl is the founder and president of Riverside Book and Bible House, which sold $33 million worth of books last year. He's succeeded with a lot of ...

4502. A Holiday For Every Day

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Dr. Chane M. Hutton

There is nothing harder than to be consistently thankful. All of us have a hard time maintaining an attitude of gratitude, that mind set, that demeanor, that disposition of thanksgiving. And yet, there is no greater resource for living than a thankful heart. Maybe the reason we have such a tough time with being thankful is because we put so little emphasis on it. We don't hear much about Thanksgiving. It's just a day of feasting, football and falling asleep. It's the start of the Christmas rush. I suppose ...

4503. Dressed For The Wedding

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Lyn Cryderman decided he was tired of the dark, depressing clothes that he had become accustomed to wearing clothes that most men in business wear every day. So one day he worked up enough courage to tell his wife, Esther, he needed a new look. Maybe something that wasn't so conservative. So Esther, with unbounded style-threatening enthusiasm, went on a sartorial mission for her beloved husband. It wasn't long before Lyn noticed a stack of unfamiliar clothes on his side of the closet. As he pulled a ...

4504. Building A Church

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

The rest of the world must surely marvel at the nature of religion in America. For example, you may have read in the newspapers sometime back about the newly formed Positive Impact Church in South Centre, Pa. According to Associated Press reports this church advertised a raffle. Two thousand people signed up. Apparently they didn't read the fine print. They had to attend Sunday services to be eligible to win the prize of $1,000. Only about 30 showed up. "Where are all the people?" asked the minister, ...

4505. The Tenth Man

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

A 4-year-old boy was asked to return thanks before Thanksgiving dinner. His family bowed their heads in expectation. He began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one. Then he thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister, Grandma, Grandpa, and all his aunts and uncles. Then he began to thank God for the food. He gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the fruit salad, the cranberry sauce, the pies, the cakes, even the Cool Whip. Then he paused, and everyone waited--and waited ...

4506. Loving From The Heart

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown goes into his wind up on the pitcher's mound. In order to fortify his confidence he quotes scripture, "Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the pestilence that walketh in darkness . . ." In the next frame, WHAM! the ball comes zooming back from the batter, catapulting Charlie head over heels. Then in the last frame we see him lying face down on the ground with stars dancing around his head. He concludes, "But those line drives will kill you!" This is ...

4507. Haunted By The Cross

John 18:1-11; 18:33-19:16; 19:28-42

Drama

King Duncan

A Drama for Good Friday [This Good Friday drama can be approached in two ways: Ideally you have talented people in your church who will memorize their parts and perform in costume. This would be powerful and memorable. Otherwise, it could be presented as Readers' Theater, with a narrator and actors simply reading their lines. Suggested hymns to play softly in the background during readings and monologues: 1. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Simon Peter) 2. Just As I Am, Without One Plea (Samaritan woman) ...

4508. People of Influence

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to tell you about two “powerful” men who lived at the turn of the 13th century. The first of these men chose the name Innocent when he was unanimously declared Pope in 1198. He took Jeremiah 1:10 as his ordination verse: “See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” Pope Innocent lived by this verse. Innocent believed that his position gave him the power to rule over all people; anyone who challenged him was subject to ...

4509. To Who Can We Go?

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Back in August of 1969 a Conference on Liturgy and Worship was held in the city of Milwaukee. Several hundred delegates from churches all across the country were in attendance. At a set time in the program the participants were given an unusual assignment. They were asked to go out singly into the streets of the host city, look for signs of hope, and then report back. As far as I know, they are still out! (I imagine that they came back, but the news report I read about the conference failed to say so.) At ...

4510. The Lord's Prayer: Thine Is the Kingdom

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

Eric Ritz

We have learned how the Lord''s Prayer truly encompasses and speaks to the totality of the human experience. We have discovered that no believer can ever really exhaust the meaning of this prayer, but only experience anew its purpose and power. It truly leads us into the "Presence of the Almighty." This prayer has a three-fold purpose for the pilgrim in that it helps us to center our lives, provides a corrective for our Christian walk, and provides comfort for the long haul of life''s sacred journey. ...

4511. Half-Time is Now Over

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The story of "Wrong Way Riegels" is a familiar one, but it bears repeating. On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he reached the end zone. The Bruins were forced to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, demoralizing the ...

4512. The Road Less Traveled

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Fredrick R. Harm

A lecturer was talking about what he called "the most dangerous road in the world." Most people in the audience began to think of a journey into the African jungle, or facing shipwreck going through the Straits of Magellan. The lecturer explained: "More and more books are being sold about escaping prison with a toothpick or journeying up the Amazon on stilts. But the most dangerous journey is the journey of our everyday living. It is dangerous because it ends, for all of us, in death!" Not a very pleasant ...

4513. The World's Still Point

1 John 5:1-12

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

Just this past week I received an e-mail from a gentleman I do not know. He was obviously sending this e-mail out to a long list of people. In essence his message was that I should go to a web site he listed and read the essay there about abortion. At one point in his e-mail he wrote the following: Remember, abortion is not just a political issue. It is very much a religious one. It drives straight to the heart of our beliefs. I am going to do everything possible to tell believers about this essay and I ...

4514. No Other Name

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

What is it that constitutes an emergency when it comes to your health? I ask that question because researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston found that emergency room visits at hospitals in Boston slowed significantly when the Red Sox were in the World Series in 2004. During especially crucial match ups, such as Game 7 of the league championship series and the final game of the World Series, emergency-room traffic fell by up to 20 percent, as fans stayed glued to their TV sets. "It's as if when they ...

4515. Can a Rich Person Go to Heaven?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

A man named Murray put the following announcement in his local synagogue’s newsletter: “LOST: a black leather wallet containing precious family photos, personal ID documents, and $875. Finder can keep the photos and documents but please return the money, to which I am attached for sentimental reasons.” One man replaced all the windows in his house with expensive double-pane energy efficient windows. A year later he got a call from the contractor complaining that his work had been completed a whole year and ...

4516. The Book that Changes Lives

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

King Duncan

Every once in a while you will run across something in a secular magazine that feeds your spirit. There was an item in a recent Smithsonian magazine that speaks to our lesson for today. It was a story on the history of that legendary town of the Old West, Tombstone, Arizona. In the late 1870s, miners discovered silver in the DragoonMountains of Arizona. An area that had once been desert wasteland became the bustling mining town of Tombstone---so named because the first miner to explore the site had been ...

4517. A Voice from Beyond

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

Down through the centuries, philosophers and theologians have come up with a number of classical "proofs for the existence of God." The truth is that these "proofs" are not likely to convince anyone who is determined not to believe in God. But they can be helpful guides to experiencing God for people who want to believe. Most of the proofs for the existence of God focus attention on the things that exist and the things that happen in the world around us and reason that there must be someone who is making ...

4518. For Those Who Can't Pray

Genesis 32:22-31

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Have you tried to pray, and found it difficult? The words hard to come by? Or, have you ever been asked to pray in public, and panicked, saying, "I can't do that"? Well if you have had that experience, and most of us have, then we are amazed when we hear someone stand up in public and deliver a beautiful, eloquent, lengthy prayer. I heard about a man down in Texas who was a "professional prayer." For a fee he will come to your convention, meeting, or club, and give an invocation. His pious eloquence has ...

4519. Experience the Mystery

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A few weeks ago the Sweet family finally bid good-bye and good riddance to the family Chevy van. It was way past time for it to go. The dog had eaten the back seat (literally) in a fit of car-sitting boredom. Although the engine was doing okay, the electrical system had repeatedly thwarted all attempts at repair, rendering the car interior as dark as a black hole after sundown. Taking kids to evening events was a bit of a seeing-eye exercise. The moss that grows happily on most Pacific Northwest cars had ...

4520. Advent 4

Psalm 80:1-19, Isaiah 7:1-25, Romans 1:1-17, Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS At the very heart of Advent is the anticipation and celebration of the incarnation—of God's being present with us. Our Old Testament lessons for the fourth week of Advent turn directly on this central theme. Isaiah 7:10-16 is a prophecy that anticipates Immanuel ("with us is God"), and Psalm 80 is a communal petition for God to be present. Isaiah 7:10-16 - "The Sign of Immanuel" Setting. Isaiah 7:10-16 is a central Old Testament text for Christians. It was already given a central place ...

4521. Looking Into the Eyes of the Risen Christ

John 20:11-18

Sermon

James W. Moore

On December 10, 2003, a new movie was released. It was called Big Fish. The main character in the film was a man named Edward Bloom. Edward Bloom loved to charm people with his “larger-than-life stories” (some would call them “tall tales” about his youthful and extraordinary adventures with circus performers, with giants and werewolves and one amazing encounter with a so-called witch. In the witch story (which was his son’s favorite bed-time story), Edward Bloom describes in vivid detail how when he was ...

4522. The Secret of Self-Esteem

Ephesians 1:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

Chuck Swindoll tells the story of the time when his children were smaller and they were going on a long trip, and trying to break the boredom, they decided to play a game called "What if?" The question was "What if you could be anybody on earth—who would you like to be?" Well, one of his daughters said, "I would like to be the bionic woman." The other children followed suit and thought of someone famous they would like to be. But his youngest child, Chuck, Jr., never said a word. As they pulled up to a ...

4523. Your Word is Your Bond

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

James Merritt

Many of you will remember the name of a one-hit wonder called Milli Vanilli. From 1988 to 1989 they sold 30 million singles and 14 million albums. In January of 1990 they won a Grammy award for the album, "Girl, You Know It's True," and were recognized as the best new artist of that year. The only problem was it wasn't true. They had lip-synced the entire recording, and had to return the Grammy award. Jimmy Bowen, President of Capitol Records, their record company, said: You have to remember that music is ...

4524. Almost Persuaded

Matthew 19:16-30

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

The word "almost"...It's a sad word in anybody's dictionary. It keeps company with expressions like "if only," and (in the South) "near 'bout.” “Almost” is a word that smacks of missed opportunities and fumbled chances. Tim KcKee was edged out for first place in the Olympic 400 meter race by two/thousandth of a second. He almost won a gold medal. Max Lucado, that inspired writer out in Texas, gives us these sad statements which revolve around "almost": "He almost got it together." "We were almost able to ...

4525. The Secret Of Our Confidence

2 Timothy 1:11-12

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Hear we are on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and I wonder if you feel very thankful. Some would reply, “Brother Bill, some of us are more thankful than others. It depends on one’s circumstances.” You know, it’s easy to celebrate Thanksgiving when your family is healthy, your income is ample, your stocks are ascending, your favorite team is headed to a bowl game, your sinuses have overcome the Memphis grunge, and your aches and pains are minimal. But that kind of thanksgiving can be awfully superficial. ...

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