Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4501 to 4525 of 5000 results

4501. Comfort in Our Distress

Luke 7:11-17

Illustration

King Duncan

In one of his books writer and philosopher Loren Eiseley tells about the time when he was only a young lad and his father died. His father died a slow death in great bodily torture. Eisley's mother was deaf. Young Loren alone heard the sounds of his father's agony. This was before the wide application of painkilling drugs. Eiseley said a curious thing happened to him during that very stress filled time. He became so tense that he could no longer bear the ticking of the alarm clock in his own bedroom. He ...

4502. Walking Where We Walk

Luke 7:11-17

Illustration

King Duncan

A number of years ago the New York Daily News carried a story about a television news anchorwoman named Pat Harper who left her luxurious East Side apartment with 80 cents in her pocket and spent five days living on the street "to learn what it's like to be homeless." Harper spent the days wandering the streets in the icy January rain and her nights sleeping in doorways, train stations and public shelters. She began to realize that most of the homeless people were not much different than she. Several ...

4503. Shaping People’s Lives through Forgiveness - Sermon Starter

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Brett Blair

At the University of Notre Dame in 1981 a rather prophetic lecture was given that predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. The lecturer called Communism "a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written." A year later the same speaker told the British House of Commons that the march of freedom and democracy "will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history." Years later, in 1988, students at Moscow University sat and listened as this same speaker told them how ...

4504. A Way to God

Lk 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

Legend has it that before the Reformation, before he transformed the church, Martin Luther was in his room in the monastery weeping because of his sins. His confessor, a young man, simply didn't know what to do, so he began repeating the Apostles' Creed "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell ...

4505. The Cookie Thief

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Brett Blair

Today's gospel reminds me of the story of the cookie thief. A woman at the airport waiting to catch her flight bought herself a bag of cookies, settled in a chair in the airport lounge and began to read her book. Suddenly she noticed the man beside her helping himself to her cookies. Not wanting to make a scene, she read on, ate cookies, and watched the clock. As the daring "cookie thief" kept on eating the cookies she got more irritated and said to herself, "If I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye!" She ...

4506. Nothing Bad That I Do Is My Fault

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

That precocious little boy from the comics, Calvin, walked into the living room where his father was sitting in a chair reading. Calvin announces: "I've concluded that nothing bad that I do is my fault." Dad's curiosity is peaked, so Dad says, "Oh?" Calvin continues: "Right! Being young and impressionable, I'm the helpless victim of countless bad influences! An unwholesome culture panders to my undeveloped values and pushes me to malfeasance. I take no responsibility for my behavior! I'm an innocent pawn! ...

4507. Prayer of a 7th Century Irish Monk

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Dimma

O God, you do not wish any sinner to die, but want all people to turn from their sins and live. We pray for our sinful brother, forgiving all his wrong-doing and turning his heart towards you. By his own merits he deserves only punishment, but in your mercy we pray that you will bestow upon him eternal life.

4508. Acceptance Changes Lives

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

A child psychologist told about a boy who was brought to him who was labeled "incorrigible." The child was supposed to be "uncontrollable." He was moody, and at first wouldn't even talk to the psychologist. There simply seemed to be no "handle" with which to take hold of him. The boy's own father, said, "This is the only child I've ever seen who doesn't have a single likeable trait, not a single one." The psychologist realized this was his starting point. He started looking for some one thing he could ...

4509. Something Which Time Cannot Efface

Lk 7:36-8:3; Mt 6:19-24

Illustration

Brett Blair

Life is a matter of building. Each of us has the opportunity to build something: a secure family, a good reputation, a career, a relationship to God. But some of those things can disappear almost overnight due to financial losses, natural disasters and other unforeseen difficulties. What are we to do? Daniel Webster offered excellent advice, saying, "If we work on marble it will perish. If we work on brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust. But if we work on men's immortal ...

4510. You Are Accepted

Lk 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

As Paul Tillich put it so eloquently: "Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness . . . It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign with us as they have for decades . . . Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice ...

4511. Is Big Bird In Here?

Illustration

Peter L. Haynes

A 4-year-old was at the pediatrician for a check-up. As the doctor looked down her ears with an otoscope, he asked, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl stayed silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you think I'll find Cookie Monster down there?" Again, the little girl was silent. Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heart beat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in there?" "Oh, no!" the little ...

4512. A Good Judge of Character

Lk 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

A certain young woman was nervous about meeting her boyfriend's parents for the first time. As she checked out her appearance one last time, she noticed that her shoes looked dingy. So she gave them a fast swipe with the paper towel she had used to blot the bacon she had for breakfast. Arriving at the impressive home, she was greeted by the parents and their much-beloved, but rotten-tempered, poodle. The dog got a whiff of the bacon grease on the young woman's shoes and followed her around all evening. At ...

4513. It Doesn't Have to Be That Way - Sermon Opener

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

James W. Moore

The noted author, John Killinger, tells a powerful story about a man who is all-alone in a hotel room in Canada. The man is in a state of deep depression. He is so depressed that he can't even bring himself to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. He is a powerful man usually the chairman of a large shipping company but at this moment, he is absolutely overwhelmed by the pressures and demands of life… and he lies there on a lonely hotel bed far from home wallowing in self-pity. All of his life, he has ...

4514. Battle Hymn of the Reformation

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

Brett Blair

Martin Luther, believed in demons but he believed in God more. In that great Hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" he writes: And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him. That hymn, first published in 1529, has been called "the greatest hymn of the greatest man of the greatest ...

4515. My Real Problem Is That I Don’t Like Myself

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

James W. Moore

Some time ago, a young lawyer came to see his pastor. He was down in the dumps, at his wit's end. He said: "Everything's gone wrong. I have lost confidence in my professional ability... my wife has left me. I can't get along with my children. I'm cut off from my parents and my in-laws. I'm having conflicts with my co-workers. I've been drinking heavily. Everybody has left me... and I don't blame them. I've been bitter and hostile. I've done so many mean and cruel things... and now I have so many problems ( ...

4516. Messiah's Law

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

One of my unsung heroes is an unnamed veteran Detroit firefighter. After years and years of doing good and getting no credit for it, saving people's lives and never being thanked for it, he decided he'd had enough. "I was fed up," he told a reporter who interviewed him after the bizarre episode. "I was fed up right to here," he said pointing to the top of his head. "Did you ever feel that way, I mean really fed up?" he asked the reporter. What the fed-up fireman did the day before was to hop in the biggest ...

4517. Difficulty in Showing Gratitude

Luke 8:36-37

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

Just because you don't get rewarded or appreciated doesn't mean you aren't appreciated or won't get rewarded in some fashion. You may never know about it. I know some people would rather die than show their appreciation or say thanks. There is a Peanuts cartoon strip in which Lucy is crying bitter tears over a decision her mother has made. She wails, "You promised me a birthday party, and now you say I can't have one. It's not fair!" Enter Lucy's brother, Linus, who calls her aside to offer some advice: " ...

4518. His name is Michael. I’m Tommy!

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

James W. Moore

One day a young father was shopping in a crowded super-market. His three-year old son was with him. The little boy was riding in the grocery cart... and he was misbehaving terribly and causing all kinds of problems. Every time the father would put something into the cart, the little boy would grab it and throw it back out. If the cart went close to the shelves, the three-year old boy would just rake stuff off onto the floor. At one point, the little boy crawled out of the cart and ran down the aisle ( ...

4519. Heirs According to the Promise

Gal 3:26-29

Illustration

King Duncan

There is a legend which comes from the French Revolution. King Louis XVI and his queen were condemned to death. They were escorted to the guillotine in a public square in Paris where they were beheaded. The mob was not satisfied. "Bring out the Prince," they cried. "He is next!!" The young boy was terrified. He was only six years old, but he was next in line to be King. In the mind of the crowd, he had to be eliminated. According to the story, the young prince stood on the platform trembling in his black ...

4520. We Are Made of Heavenly Stuff

Gal 3:26-29; 1 Cor 15:47?48

Illustration

Brett Blair

The Rev. Hal Chorpenning tells about a visit he made to a planetarium. What he heard there is that you and I are made literally from stardust. Our wonderful human bodies are made of matter that once was a star. He goes on to say, "Perhaps on a scientific level, that isn't terribly exciting, but on a metaphoric level, it's mind‑blowing. We have the Genesis story of Adam being created from earth, and we have the scientific story of humanity being created from the stars." I'm not going to quibble with that. ...

4521. Journey to Jerusalem - Sermon Starter

Luke 9:51-56

Illustration

Brett Blair

In 1536 Reformer William Farel recruited John Calvin to come to Geneva, Switzerland to pastor St. Peter's Church. Calvin, a sickly man all his life, was on his way to Strasbourg to be a quiet scholar, but he relented under this need, this request, to become a pastor. Two years later, the city fathers publicly banished Calvin from Geneva. Actually, Calvin felt relieved. The moral chaos of the city was terrible. He went to Strasbourg. Three years later in 1541, the same city fathers who had tried to ...

4522. Moving On

Lk 9:51-62

Illustration

King Duncan

Some people are not able to enjoy the present or prepare for tomorrow because they are still living in the past. Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe has put it like this: "Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?' You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you down. We must learn from the past but not live in the past." Or as Thomas Holdcroft once put it, "The past is a guide post, not a hitching post."

4523. Pick the Fruit

Luke 9:57-62

Illustration

King Duncan

Noted preacher John Claypool tells about a thunderstorm that swept through southern Kentucky at the farm where his forebears had lived for six generations. In the orchard, the wind blew over an old pear tree that had been there as long as anybody could remember. Claypool's grandfather was saddened to lose the tree on which he had climbed as a boy and whose fruit he had eaten all his life. A neighbor came by and said, "Doc, I'm really sorry to see your pear tree blown down." "I'm sorry too," said his ...

4524. Hobbled by the Past

Luke 9:57-62

Illustration

King Duncan

William Goodin in his book God Laughs, Too tells a hilarious story that he heard from a seminary president. At this president's seminary, when candidates are ordained into the ministry, they have one thing to do in the service. At the conclusion of the worship, the candidate stands, walks up the steps into the chancel, turns and gives the benediction. That is their first official act as an ordained pastor. One candidate stood, approached the steps, and ascended the steps. But on the first step, he got ...

4525. A Rock of Slavery and of Freedom

Luke 9:51-62

Illustration

Greg Rickel

Monks who started Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina were wandering along a road one day and came upon a crossroad. There was an interesting huge granite flat rock, and they were very intrigued by it. As they talked to neighbors in town about it they were told that the rock was a major selling place for slaves in that sad time in our history. Men, women, and children would stand on that rock and be sold into slavery. So, the monks decided to have it moved to their new monastery, and they dug out a ...

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Antonyms: deficient, imperfect

Showing 4501 to 4525 of 5000 results

4501. Comfort in Our Distress

Luke 7:11-17

Illustration

King Duncan

4502. Walking Where We Walk

Luke 7:11-17

Illustration

King Duncan

4503. Shaping People’s Lives through Forgiveness - Sermon Starter

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Brett Blair

4504. A Way to God

Lk 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

4505. The Cookie Thief

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Brett Blair

4506. Nothing Bad That I Do Is My Fault

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

4507. Prayer of a 7th Century Irish Monk

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

Dimma

4508. Acceptance Changes Lives

Luke 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

4509. Something Which Time Cannot Efface

Lk 7:36-8:3; Mt 6:19-24

Illustration

Brett Blair

4510. You Are Accepted

Lk 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

4511. Is Big Bird In Here?

Illustration

Peter L. Haynes

4512. A Good Judge of Character

Lk 7:36-50

Illustration

King Duncan

4513. It Doesn't Have to Be That Way - Sermon Opener

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

James W. Moore

4514. Battle Hymn of the Reformation

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

Brett Blair

4515. My Real Problem Is That I Don’t Like Myself

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

James W. Moore

4516. Messiah's Law

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

4517. Difficulty in Showing Gratitude

Luke 8:36-37

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

4518. His name is Michael. I’m Tommy!

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

James W. Moore

4519. Heirs According to the Promise

Gal 3:26-29

Illustration

King Duncan

4520. We Are Made of Heavenly Stuff

Gal 3:26-29; 1 Cor 15:47?48

Illustration

Brett Blair

4521. Journey to Jerusalem - Sermon Starter

Luke 9:51-56

Illustration

Brett Blair

4522. Moving On

Lk 9:51-62

Illustration

King Duncan

4523. Pick the Fruit

Luke 9:57-62

Illustration

King Duncan

4524. Hobbled by the Past

Luke 9:57-62

Illustration

King Duncan

4525. A Rock of Slavery and of Freedom

Luke 9:51-62

Illustration

Greg Rickel

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