Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 451 to 475 of 662 results

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... we know like Jack whom we mentioned earlier who lived successfully because they followed these principles. The writer closes this passage with these words, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” That’s what we want to know, isn’t it? Our parachute is secure. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Keep on loving, keep on living by ...

452. Radiate Love

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... you or forsake you." [6] So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" [7] Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. [8] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. [15] Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. [16] Do not neglect to do good and to share what you ...

453. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Exalted"

Luke 19:28-40, John 19:14-30

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , at this particular camp, there was a little boy who was suffering from cerebral palsy. His name was Billy. And they picked on him." As Billy walked across the camp with his uncoordinated body the other kids would line up and imitate his grotesque movements. Tony watched him one day as he was asking for direction. "Which . . . way is . . . the . . . craft . . . shop?" he stammered, his mouth contorting. And the boys mimicked in that same awful stammer, "It's . . . over . . . there . . . Billy." And then ...

454. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Denied!"

John 13:36-38; 18:12-27

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... he cringe inwardly? Did tears well up? Was there ever a time he didn't notice? Legend says that the story of Peter's denial spread throughout Jerusalem. And you know how People love stories about other peoples' failure. The legend says that people started imitating the rooster crow whenever Peter walked by. My guess is that the rooster crow devolved into the cackle of a chicken and that's the origin of the whole idea of a coward being called a chicken. Whatever, Peter had the courage and determination to ...

455. People of the Book

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... righteousness? An old parable says it best. An elderly man lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Tennessee with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early reading from his old worn‑out Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, “Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?” The ...

456. Changed from the Inside Out

2 Tim 3:14-4:5

Illustration

King Duncan

... in righteousness? An old parable says it best. An elderly man lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Tennessee with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early reading from his old worn‑out Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?" The ...

457. Playing the Blame Game

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... God had in store for them. They weren’t bad people. They were simply locked in to a certain way of thinking about life and about God. They didn’t see the bigger picture. It’s like a story that Dave Bosewell tells in his book, How Life Imitates the World Series. He tells a story about Earl Weaver, former manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Sports fans will enjoy how Weaver handled superstar Reggie Jackson who was on that team. Weaver had a rule that no one could steal a base unless he was given the steal ...

458. Big "J" and Little "j"

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . If the indwelling of “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead” is real in us, then it is no less than the presence of the resurrected Christ that we are to bring to life. Paul didn’t see Christians as some pale “imitations of Christ.” He saw the genuine incarnation of a “little Christ” (C.S. Lewis’ phrase) in every Spirit-filled believer. This living presence is why Christianity is always more than a decent morality or a compassionate code of conduct, or a collection of creeds, or ...

459. Loving Deeply (Mother's Day)

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Sermon

King Duncan

... and laid his head against that mean little boy’s body. “What Will did to Jason put an end to the meanness in that room,” observes Barbara Brown Taylor. “That is what love is . . . not a warm feeling between like-minded friends but plain old imitation of Christ, who took all the meanness of the world and ran it through the filter of his own body, repaying evil with good, blame with pardon, death with life. Call it divine reverse psychology. It worked once, and it can work again, whenever God can ...

460. Family Resemblance

John 14:5-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... people look like their pet dogs. We’ll ignore those studies for today. The really scary thing about children is that they often not only look like us, but they act like us too. Many years ago, a television ad campaign featured a little boy imitating his father in various everyday activities. The father sprayed the car with a water hose, then the son sprayed it with his water pistol. A voice-over then said, “Like father, like son.” Similar scenes followed to drive home this point. Then the final scene ...

461. A New Year’s Resolution

Ephesians 4:25 -5:2

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... continues as he sustains us through his body, the church, and as he nourishes us at his table. This same one, through the apostle Paul, told us to "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us" (vv. 4:32—5:2). Practice random kindness; commit senseless acts of beauty. 1. Quoted in Pastors Professional Research Service.

462. King Me!

John 18:33-37

Sermon

... to remember that when someone tells me they absolutely hated my sermon. Today, I don't want to preach about chutes and ladders. I don't even want to offend anyone, though I can't promise anything! I want to talk about another board game, and how it imitates life. If you play chess, you may take a nap; you are way too sophisticated and enlightened for what I am about to say. But if you play checkers, you will likely understand. Checkers is a game about moving forward; advancing toward a goal. The way you get ...

463. Sleeping in on Sunday

Ephesians 6:10

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... impressive. We respect the intellectual giants who discover new formulas. And, yes, we also venerate spiritual leaders like Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and Mahatma Gandhi. Hopefully, this respect and veneration will lead us to take the next step, to be inspired to imitate them, following their example. We can begin our own training program to become physically fit. We may not bench press 300 pounds but we can perhaps afford to lose three or four pounds. We may not discover new chemical formulas, but we ...

464. Heavenly Wisdom

James 3:13—4:8

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... . Then the musician took the instrument and smashed it on the floor. The strings and wood flew across the stage. The audience was shocked and assumed that the violinist had gone mad ... until he explained that the violin he had just destroyed was a cheap imitation. Then, picking up the expensive instrument, he began to play again, and amazingly, most people could not tell the difference. The quality of the instrument was secondary to the skill of the musician. So it is with those of us who would live the ...

465. Get the Monkey off Your Back

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . That there is a distinguishing “something” that separates human life from all other life. That there is a higher standard we are called to and capable of, beyond that of mere genetic and cultural survival. That there is something more we are urged to imitate and emulate. That there are the actions and attitudes demanded of a being who has been created in the image of God: “God created humankind (“adam”) in his image. In the image of God he created them, male and female.” (Genesis 1:27) That ...

466. Jesus Christ Is Precious

Illustration

Staff

John Newton was a rough, dirty sailor with a foul mouth and an appetite for rotten living. He hated life and life hated him. He was captain of a slave ship. Then someone placed in his hands a copy of Thomas a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ. He also had the gift of a good mother who told him about the Savior when he was young. And then he was saved. He went all over England sharing his faith. Well past his "retirement" age, he had to have an assistant stand in the pulpit with ...

467. No Exceptions

Illustration

Paul Borthwick

... , I am the pastor. That translates: 'I'm an exception to the rules.' But that employee wouldn't allow me to sneak down the road labeled 'I'm an exception.' I'm not the exception to church rules or any of God's rules. Exemplary conduct means encouraging others to imitate us, even in the small matters."

468. Wait for the Signal

Illustration

Marty Masten

In How Life Imitates the World Series, Dave Bosewell tells a story about Earl Weaver, former manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Sports fans will enjoy how he handled star Reggie Jackson. Weaver had a rule that no one could steal a base unless given the steal sign. This upset Jackson because he felt he ...

469. To Tell the Truth

Humor Illustration

... house. The house was newly plastered for the wedding and the exterior newly painted, thus appropriately carrying out the decorative scheme, for the groom was newly plastered and the bride freshly painted. The groom wore a rented dinner suit over athletic underwear of imitation silk, and his pants were held up by pale green suspenders. His number 9 patent leather shoes matched his state in tightness and harmonized nicely with the axle grease polish of his hair. P.S. This is probably the last issue of this ...

470. Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Over the centuries the gospel of Mark often has been considered a kind of pale imitation of the other “more substantial” gospels. Not as historically detailed as Matthew, not as narratively elegant as Luke, not as theologically articulate as John, at first glance Mark appears almost a derivative of the other texts. But over the last century Mark has been re-examined by biblical scholars to ...

471. Victorious, but Not Unscarred

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... frightening rituals was a Good Friday re-enactment of the crucifixion in which one of their members was literally nailed to the cross, while others scarred and mutilated themselves in the pattern of Christ’s wounds. They were, in a sense, Jesus impersonators who carried the imitation of Christ to a bloody literal conclusion. (4) That is a perversion of our faith. Christ does not want us to scar our bodies as a way of showing our devotion to him. However, who can help but be moved by the knowledge that the ...

472. Liberating the Possessed

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... The audience appeared mesmerized. Suddenly as the intensity of the rhythmic beat increased, six women and an eight-year-old girl who had become "possessed" the night before fell into a convulsing, trance-like state. They fell on the floor and upon one another, imitating the movements of the rhythmic drumbeat. Did this have anything to do with demon possession and spiritism like "Legion" in Luke's gospel, I wondered? More bizarre things began to happen. One of the mothers, still in a trance, left the dance ...

473. The Speed Bump On the Road to Bethlehem

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... her straight in the eye and with utmost seriousness said, "Prophets don't joke." Lanie was a bottle blond, but she was not a dumb blond, so when Jack's first two prophecies came true, she repented of her ways and reformed her life. Jack is not a bad imitation of the hero of our text. We meet him every year at this time in our preparations for the arrival of the Christ Child. To be honest, if it were not for the fact that the lectionary deposits us annually at his desert camp, we would probably barrel right ...

474. The Uniquely Christian Commandment

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , and as long as you leave the two together, they will share this characteristic. It is no different with Christians and Christ — when we are close to him, we reproduce some of his characteristics, which would be quite impossible if we merely attempted to obey his command or imitate his example. Yes, his standard is high, but his power to help is even higher. He invites us to come near enough to his love that it becomes a part of us and enables us to show it and share it with the world. His invitation is ...

475. James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

James 3:13-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ” or meekness. The notion that humility or gentleness was a positive virtue set the first-century Christian community firmly apart from the Greco-Roman culture. There humility smacked of subservience and weakness. But Christians were called to celebrate a humble spirit, imitating Christ who declared himself to be “meek” (Matthew 11:29) and who blessed the meek (Matthew 5:5). In today’s gospel text, Jesus celebrates the last being first and holds up a little child as the image of faithfulness for ...

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