Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4676 to 4700 of 4977 results

4676. Why Do We Try to Know It All?

John 1:1-18

Illustration

Kenneth W. Collins

... something less complex than itself—so if we could comprehend God, He would not be God. For this reason, the historic Church teaches that we can know God, but we cannot comprehend Him, much as a husband might jokingly complain that he knows his wife quite well, but he can't begin to understand her. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who died in 386, explained this teaching in his Catechetical Lectures: "Is it really true that because I cannot drink the whole river I will not take water from it in moderation ...

4677. We Ache to Know God’s Blessings

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

... of television, because he began to flail away at Jim with earnest but ineffectual karate kicks. Noting that the youth weren't carrying guns, Jim decided to confront them with what they were doing. "Stop it! Just stop it!" Jim scolded them. "You guys have got to quit terrorizing people like this." The young teens, taken by surprise, dropped their hands, so Jim continued, "I'm a pastor. You boys want to try and beat up a pastor and take his money? Come on ahead. Take your best shot." At that they fled down ...

4678. A Few Clowns Short of a Circus

Illustration

Someone has made a list of "Politically Correct Ways of Indicating Stupidity." Perhaps you have heard some of these. They're quite creative. Speaking of someone who has done something really dumb, we might say: He's a few clowns short of a circus . . . A few fries short of a Happy Meal . . . A few peas short of a casserole . . . He doesn't have all his corn flakes in one box . . . The wheel' ...

4679. Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... The angel’s pronouncement proclaims both a new Davidic ruler for Israel and foretells an eschatological event. Davidic king, anticipated Messiah, Son of God all are identities present in this angelic declaration. Mary’s question back to this angel is historically quite odd. Mary is a young woman, already betrothed to Joseph whose lineage puts him, and any future offspring, firmly within the prestigious “House of David.” Since within a matter of months the betrothed couple will go through the final ...

4680. The Unwanted Christmas Gift: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

4681. Nervous Anticipation

Luke 1:26-38

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

When children are small and are just learning how to eat from a spoon, parents involuntarily open their mouths even as the baby opens his or her mouth. It's quite comical to see. Pastors who get to sit up front in church each week often get to see a similar spectacle whenever young children participate in a church service or Christmas program. When a son or daughter is up front speaking various lines, it's not uncommon to be able ...

4682. I Am Baptized!

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... that a lot of us would need to be anchored for a while to get rid of all our sins. We need to understand that baptism isn’t a ritual by which we are washed clean. Neither is it a sign that we are going to try our best to quit sinning, as noble and as necessary as that might be. Baptism is a symbol that we have already been accepted by God and that in God’s eyes we have already been made clean by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, since this has happened, we respond by taking ...

4683. Responsible Living

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... different. It would be a ‘new’ day. And it never was.” But his friend did change. He was able to overcome his addiction and take responsibility for his life. How did he do it? He did it by responding to God’s love poured out in Jesus Christ. He quit fighting his addiction in his own strength and made a fresh commitment to give God the controls for his life. “It may be weird,” he said, “But it’s like I handed over the remote.” (5) Let me ask the men in our congregation . . . is it easy to ...

4684. Better Angels of Our Nature

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Paul addressed when he corresponded with the Christian community at Corinth. In today’s epistle text it is evident Paul is responding to a concern voiced by those community members who have been in touch with him. These members are quite convinced about their advanced attitude, their special “knowledge”” concerning idol worship and all the rituals that attended it. The “knowledge” these writers tout is accurate — that idol worship is pointless and powerless. But, as Paul will reveal, their ...

4685. 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

4686. After the Parade

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... would make you suspicious. (1) Many who witnessed Jesus riding into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday probably thought they were witnessing an April Fools’ prank. They had come out to see what they thought was the leader of a new religious movement, and quite possibly the long-awaited Messiah. They had heard amazing stories about this man about his feeding thousands of people with two fish and five small loaves, about his ability to heal, and even about his raising of Lazarus from the dead. Could this ...

4687. A Table Like No Others

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... in your heart that you are preparing to betray Christ, preparing to betray your own values, preparing to betray those who you love? It would not be the first time that has happened. Surely it will not be the last. Some of us have become quite adept at compartmentalizing our lives. Our religion is in one compartment. Our relationship with our family is in another. Our work is in another. Our influence in the community is still in another. Sometimes they overlap. But sometimes they do not. So, the abusive ...

4688. When the Service was Interrupted

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... because of his power over what Mark calls “impure spirits.” In other places we see his authority over disease, and over nature, and even over death. This brings us to something obvious we need to affirm about Jesus: he was unique. There was no one quite like him. There were other fine teachers in Galilee, but they could not cast out impure spirits, or turn water into wine or heal the leper or multiply the fishes and the loaves or forgive sins. There was something about Jesus which could not be said ...

4689. Mark 1:29-39

Mark 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... “healing” act Jesus performs, an exorcism, is in that public forum, with the unclean spirit identifying Jesus as “the Holy One of God” before it is dramatically banished. Conversely, the second healing event that takes place in Mark’s gospel is quite private and distinctly low-key. Leaving the synagogue and the public eye, Jesus and his first four disciples retire to the private home of Simon and Andrew in Capernaum — a location that has been identified by later twentieth century archaeological ...

4690. Seeking Christ

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... celestial kingdom, taking a monthly census of Heaven’s inhabitants. But something doesn’t add up. Each time Paul counts the number of people in Heaven, his number far exceeds the number of admittances that Peter has registered. This discrepancy mystifies them both for quite a while. Then, one day, Paul runs up to Peter and excitedly shouts, “Peter! Peter! I figured out why our numbers don’t match. I figured out why there are so many more people in Heaven than you’re letting in at the pearly gates ...

4691. The Shout Becomes a Prayer

Mark 1:29-34

Illustration

Thomas Long

... suffering and who chooses not to bear this in silence. He loudly laments, crying angrily to God that his fate is unjust, indeed, that God is unjust. It would seem that he had fallen into the snare of temptation, but he confesses: "I want to blaspheme, and I can't quite manage it. I go up against Him, I shake my fist, I froth with rage, but it's still a way of telling Him that He's there ... that denial itself is an offering to His grandeur. The shout becomes a prayer in spite of me." Sometimes, when the ...

4692. God Wants All of Us

Prov 31:25; 1 Pet 3:4

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . For a seven year old it wasn't bad. The youngest boy took the tray and set a paper dessert plate which he had colored and decorated on the tray. The plate contained 3 Oreo cookies from his school lunch. They were his favorites, so this was quite a sacrifice. (There were four but temptation got the better of him when he was setting everything up. Mom could see cookie crumbs in the corner of his mouth.) The youngest daughter was a little distraught. She hadn't thought of anything or made anything and in ...

4693. The Reluctant Celebrity

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... she might be able to go on living. She had considerable pain, most days she was very uncomfortable and she had no family or close friends to come in and visit she had simply outlived most of them. What this lady did during her days, however, was quite wonderful, Rev. Fairchild reports. When she was able, she wheeled her chair up and down the corridors of the extended care ward where she would pop in and visit all the other folks in the place. She learned their birthdays and sent them cards. She noticed when ...

4694. Do You Know Your Place?

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the back seat you will die. You will lose your life by trying to save it. It is only in following, in letting Jesus have the driver’s seat, that our lives are saved and assured. Yet there is nothing that rankles our spirit and yanks our chain quite as much as being told to “know your place.” “Know Your Place.” The world uses that phrase to relegate some people to second-class or even third class status. –Do you think it is “second class” to be the first one sent out into the world for an ...

4695. Preparing the Soil for Unexpected Good

John 12:20-36

Illustration

Charles Hoffacker

... Axis powers, Tolkien, no longer young, wrote these words to his son Christopher: "I sometimes feel appalled at the thought of the sum total of human misery all over the world at the present moment: the millions parted, fretting, wasting in unprofitable days quite apart from torture, pain, death, bereavement, injustice. If anguish were visible, almost the whole of this benighted planet would be enveloped in a dense dark vapor, shrouded from the amazed vision of the heavens! And the products of it all will be ...

4696. Forrest Gump Goes To Heaven

Humor Illustration

... could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?" Forrest replied, "Shucks, there's got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd..." ''Hold it," interrupts St.Peter. "I see where you are going with this, and I see your point, though that was not quite what I had in mind....but I will have to give you credit for that one, too. Let us go on with the third and final question. Can you tell me God's first name"? "Sure," Forrest replied, "it's Andy." "Andy?" exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated St ...

4697. Mixing Up the Old With the New

John 10:11-18

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Those of you who are familiar with art may recall a funny habit which many Medieval painters practiced for quite a long time in Europe, and particularly in Germany. Artists such as Lukas Cranach and others painted many depictions of biblical scenes but they did so with the curious twist of dressing the biblical characters in the contemporary garb of the Middle Ages. So in one Cranach painting of which ...

4698. Love Each Other (Mother's Day)

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Author J. Allan Petersen tells about a flight he once took on a 747 out of Brazil. He was awakened from sleep by a voice announcing, “We have a very serious emergency.” Three engines had quit because of fuel contamination and the fourth was expected to go at any second. The plane began to drop and turn in the night, preparing for an emergency landing. At first the situation seemed unreal to Petersen, but when the steward barked, “Prepare for impact ...

4699. How Can I Know God's Will?

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... that isn’t asked much anymore. And maybe, from the looks of all the statistics on marriage and divorce, just maybe it ought to be. Talk about a gamble. A young couple meets at a vulnerable time in their lives when hormones are bubbling, and their judgment has not quite matured, and we expect them to make a decision about the person they’re going to spend the rest of their lives with. No wonder so many marriages do not survive. Wouldn’t it be great if we could have God’s input in the matter? One of ...

4700. The Bell Was Ringing

Mark 3:20-30

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... going to be very far away. If you have any trouble at all, just ring this bell, and I'll come right back.' He kissed her goodbye and disappeared into the jungle. "Five minutes later he heard the bell ring. He dashed back to camp and found his wife seated quite comfortably with a tall cool drink in her hand. He asked what had happened, and she said that she had begun to worry whether he would really be able to hear the bell. She just wanted to try it out. He was patient and explained again that he would be ...

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