Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4826 to 4850 of 5000 results

4826. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Mt 6:19-34

Illustration

King Duncan

A few years back psychologist Richard Carlson wrote a best-selling book titled, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. Carlson, who died ironically of a heart attack at age 45, got the idea for his book one day while driving his six-year-old daughter home from school. They got caught in rush hour traffic. They spent 40 minutes or so creeping along the freeway. As they sat in their car, Carlson's daughter looked out at all the other cars, also creeping along. And finally, she said, "Daddy, why are all the people mad ...

4827. My Pastor Will Find Me

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

There were two men shipwrecked on an island. The minute they got to the island, one of them started screaming and yelling, ‘We're going to die! We're going to die! There's no food! NO water! We're going to die!" The second man, in a quite relaxed manner, propped himself up against a palm tree. He was acting so calmly, it drove the first man crazy. He began to shout, ‘Don't you understand? We're going to die!" The second man replied, "You don't understand. I make $100,000 a week." The first man looked at ...

4828. Trouble, but No Sleepless Nights

Matthew 6:24-34

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

The late Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald used to tell about a man he knew years ago who lived in one of the isolated corners of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Life was hard, and every day his little hillside farm was at the mercy of drought, wind, or cold. Yet he was about the most serene and deeply contented man Bishop Fitzgerald had ever known. So he asked the old mountaineer one day if he had ever had any troubles and if he had ever spent sleepless nights. "Sure, I've had my troubles," he said, "but no sleepless ...

4829. Don’t Worry, God Has Enough!

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

On one occasion the famous English preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, was greatly worried about his ministry in the city of London and if there were necessary resources to maintain this ministry. He became greatly depressed and filled with anxiety. Then God filled his mind with an image that made his anxieties and worries so insignificant. God gave him the image of a mouse in the large grain bins of Egypt under the leadership of Joseph. The mouse was worried about having enough to eat. Then in Spurgeon's mind ...

4830. A Review of Resources

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

The value of a proper perspective on life can never be overstated. I once heard the story of an old Navajo Indian in Arizona who became a very wealthy man when oil was discovered on his land. But wealth did not change him. He went on living just as he had before while the money piled up in the bank. Every now and then, however, the old man would visit the bank and say to the banker, "Crops all dried up; sheep all dead; cattle all stolen." The banker knew exactly what to do. He would take the old man into ...

4831. He Has Never Forsaken Me

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

Phillips Brooks, the distinguished Congregational Preacher from Boston, said that he began keeping a diary when he was a 13 year old boy. He was one of 11 children, and what spurred him to keep that diary was that he was sitting at the dinner table one night with his parents and his mother expressed concern about how they were going to pay their bills and how they were going to live. In fact, she fully expected to go to the poor house. Phillips Brooks wrote in his diary that his father looked up from the ...

4832. Worry: Hard to Let Loose

Matthew 6:24-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

I like the story about the two mountain boys who spotted a bobcat up a tree and decided to have some fun. One said, "I'll shinny up that tree and chase him down, and you put him in a cage." The other agreed, and the first fellow climbed up the tree. When he reached the right limb, he started shaking, and the cat came tumbling down. The other fellow grabbed the varmint by the back of the neck and tried to put him into a cage. There was a terrible commotion. Dust and fur and skin were flying in all ...

4833. The Laws of the Garbage Truck

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Barbara Turpish

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to ...

4834. Trust

Illustration

King Duncan

Presbyterian pastor and writer Frederick Buechner recalls one low time in his life when God broke through in an unusual way. "I remember sitting parked by the roadside once," Buechner writes, "terribly depressed and afraid about my daughter's illness and what was going on in our family." As he was sitting there thinking about his daughter's illness, he noticed a car that seemed to come from nowhere. His message from God, the word he most needed to see at that moment, was found on the license plate. This ...

4835. How Are We Tempted Today?

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

King Duncan

William Willimon, in his book What's Right with the Church (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1985), tells about leading a Sunday School class that was studying the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. After careful study and explanation of each of the three temptations, Dr. Willimon asked, "How are we tempted today?" A young salesman was the first to speak. "Temptation is when your boss calls you in, as mine did yesterday, and says, `I'm going to give you a real opportunity. I'm going to give you ...

4836. Forty Days for Recommitment

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Mark Trotter

Lent was originally established for new Christians, those who experienced a call. They were to spend forty days and forty nights preparing for their baptism. If at the end they still wanted to follow Jesus, then on Easter Eve they would be baptized as the sun was rising in the east, signaling the new day, the new era, inaugurated because of the Resurrection. I am sure it had a powerful significance for them, to have prepared for their vocation as Christians the same way that Jesus prepared for his vocation ...

4837. “Not Responsible for…”

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

David E. Leininger

Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hung up your coat, and noticed a sign warning that the management is not responsible if it gets lost or stolen? Ever read the small print on your airplane ticket? The airline takes no responsibility for any delays or missed connections, and if your baggage is lost, they only have to pay an amount agreed upon at a convention they held in Warsaw in 1955. Park your car in some high-priced garage or lot, and a sign will tell you that management is not responsible for any ...

4838. Power: The Easy Substitute

Matt 4:1-11; 20:21

Illustration

Henri Nouwen

What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, Do you love me? We ask, Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your Kingdom? (Mt. 20:21). ... We have been tempted to replace love with power.

4839. No Easy Buttons

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Brett Blair & Leonard Sweet

Do you remember the Staple's commercial with the big red button. What a successful ad. I don't know what they paid the agency that created it but that darn red button is still alive; it's entered our cultural lexicon. In the ad whenever an individual confronts a difficult situation, all they have to do is reach over and push a red, over-sized, glowing button that reads, "easy." Got to pick up three kids, make dinner, finish that report at work, and be supportive to your spouse? No problem, just push the ...

4840. Throw Out the Bird and the Nest

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Brett Younger

A Nigerian prayer talks about how we lose our direction to desires that seem small: "God in heaven, you have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig of his own choosing after another. Before I knew it he had built a dwelling place and was living in it. Tonight, my Father, I am throwing out both the bird and the nest." Twig by twig we end up focused on our own desires for success.

4841. Swimming Is Forbidden

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

A man by the name of Richard Lederer collects funny signs. Some of these are simply the result of people in foreign countries having difficulty translating into English. He says that at the entrance to a hotel swimming pool on the French Riviera there is a sign that reads like this: "Swimming is forbidden in the absence of a saviour." Maybe the person who put up that sign knew English better than we may suppose. Not only swimming but life itself should not be lived in the absence of a Saviour.

4842. There Are Other Worlds to Sing In

John 3: 1-17

Illustration

James W. Moore

His name was Paul. He lived in a small town in the Pacific Northwest some years ago. He was just a little boy when his family became the proud owners of one of the first telephones in the neighborhood. It was one of those wooden boxes attached to the wall with the shiny receiver hanging on the side of the box… and the mouthpiece attached to the front. Young Paul listened with fascination as his mom and dad used the phone… and he discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device called a telephone lived ...

4843. Fixing The Piano

John 3: 1-17

Illustration

King Duncan

Once there was a small jazz club in New Orleans. In a corner of that club sat an old dilapidated piano. All of the jazz artists complained about this antiquated instrument. The piano players dreaded playing on it. The vocalists dreaded singing with it. And all of the combos that played the club wished that they could bring in their own piano - just like they could a saxophone or a trumpet. Finally, after years of listening to these jazz musicians complain about his piano, the owner of the club decided to ...

4844. Why Isn't the Holy Spirit Included?

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Staff

A woman wrote to Reader's Digest. She wanted to tell about an experience that she had when she took a young girl from India to church with her. It was the eleven-year-old girl's first exposure to a Christian worship service. The young lady's parents were traveling on business and left her in the care of their American friends. The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to church one Sunday. After the service was over, they went out to lunch. The little girl had some questions. She ...

4845. Who Were the Pharisees?

John 3:1-21

Illustration

a) They were the strictest sect of the Jews with regard to "The Law." b) They believed in the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body and the existence of spirits. c) They believed in punishment and rewards in the future life. d) They believed in conformance to the law and that God's grace was only promised to the doers of the law; i.e., religion was external.

4846. Unnatural Birth

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

A little girl who was asked to write an essay on "birth." She went home and asked her mother how she had been born. Her mother, who was busy at the time, said 'the stork brought you darling, and left you on the doorstep.' Continuing her research she asked her dad how he'd been born. Being in the middle of something, her father similarly deflected the question by saying, 'I was found at the bottom of the garden. The fairies brought me.' Then the girl went and asked her grandmother how she had arrived. 'I ...

4847. Looking for Signs

John 3:2

Illustration

Staff

In our experience, when something happens that actually seems to be a sign, it often lends itself to more than one interpretation. There was a story I heard about a man named Benny who had tried several business ventures, but each one had flopped, and he had always lost money on them. The day came when Benny had an idea for yet another business, but his wife was skeptical that it would do any better than his previous endeavors. She suggested that he ask God for a sign as to what he should do, so Benny did ...

4848. A Question of Grace

John 3: 1-17

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

There are two actors in this scene of John's gospel: Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus is not a popular figure in the gospels. He appears only a couple of other times in John's record. The last picture of him is in John 19. He and Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus after He was crucified in order that He might have a decent burial. One of Rembrandt's most famous etchings portrays that scene. The limp, dead body of Jesus was slowly taken down from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, dressed as the ...

4849. The Sobering Effect of Truth

John 4:26

Illustration

Brett Blair

When President Kennedy's assassination took place in 1963, British novelist David Lodge, was in a theater watching the performance of a satirical play he had helped write. In one sketch, a character demonstrated his nonchalance in an interview by holding a transistor radio to his ear. The actor playing the part always tuned in to a real broadcast. Suddenly, filling the theartre was the announcement that President Kennedy had been shot. The actor quickly switched it off, but it was too late. Reality had ...

4850. Authentic Evangelism

Jn 4:1-26

Illustration

George G. Hunter

"Authentic evangelism," writes George G. Hunter, "flows from a mindset that acknowledges the ultimate value of people - forgotten people, lost people, wandering people, up-and-outers, down-and outers - all people. The highest value is to love them, serve them, and reach them." "Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city." The woman would be back. The woman who shied away from people because she wanted to avoid their scorn was energized to tell others, the very people who had hurt her, that ...

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Antonyms: deficient, imperfect

Showing 4826 to 4850 of 5000 results

4826. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Mt 6:19-34

Illustration

King Duncan

4827. My Pastor Will Find Me

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

4828. Trouble, but No Sleepless Nights

Matthew 6:24-34

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

4829. Don’t Worry, God Has Enough!

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

4830. A Review of Resources

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

4831. He Has Never Forsaken Me

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

4832. Worry: Hard to Let Loose

Matthew 6:24-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

4833. The Laws of the Garbage Truck

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Barbara Turpish

4834. Trust

Illustration

King Duncan

4835. How Are We Tempted Today?

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

King Duncan

4836. Forty Days for Recommitment

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Mark Trotter

4837. “Not Responsible for…”

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

David E. Leininger

4838. Power: The Easy Substitute

Matt 4:1-11; 20:21

Illustration

Henri Nouwen

4839. No Easy Buttons

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Brett Blair & Leonard Sweet

4840. Throw Out the Bird and the Nest

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Brett Younger

4841. Swimming Is Forbidden

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

4842. There Are Other Worlds to Sing In

John 3: 1-17

Illustration

James W. Moore

4843. Fixing The Piano

John 3: 1-17

Illustration

King Duncan

4844. Why Isn't the Holy Spirit Included?

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Staff

4845. Who Were the Pharisees?

John 3:1-21

Illustration

4846. Unnatural Birth

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

4847. Looking for Signs

John 3:2

Illustration

Staff

4848. A Question of Grace

John 3: 1-17

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

4849. The Sobering Effect of Truth

John 4:26

Illustration

Brett Blair

4850. Authentic Evangelism

Jn 4:1-26

Illustration

George G. Hunter

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