Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 26 to 50 of 1089 results

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... self there is no hope. We cannot guarantee a happy marriage or that the other spouse will change and make it easy; but, we do know that win, lose, or draw, the person we counsel will be in a position to live a good life. As for being an outstanding artist, we probably have no knowledge of how to create a masterpiece, but we are sure that unless a person gives all to the task there is no chance of a masterpiece. If the person stops at the first rejection, there is no hope; and, if the top prize is their ...

27. Six Nails of the Cross III: The Nail of Envy

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... . The sketches by Leonardo were magnificent, but when the whole committee saw the work of Michelangelo, they were so enthused that they gave him the job. When the news of the committee's choice and the comments concerning Michelangelo's work reached Leonardo, the old artist went into a decline from which he never recovered. Leonardo da Vinci spent the remaining years of his life in sorrow and deep envy of his young competitor. The path of destruction left by the sin of envy is almost beyond belief. When we ...

28. Divine Liturgy, Divine Play, Divine Comedy

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Carl Jech

... we want him is a desire that must be resisted. John's theme is that Jesus is gone away and that we must learn to recognize and be open to ever new and changing forms of his presence with us. As important and beautiful as an historically-accurate and artistic liturgy or mass may be, and although the Greek word from which we get "liturgy" refers to an act or work of religious ritual and service, we must resist the urge to take the "work" and forms of worship too seriously. Someone has dubbed folks who seem to ...

29. Real Strength

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... . Exactly 36 percent of us will grab at first sight or give in to feelings of being a slob, an ingrate or a rip-off artist. It's so hard to say "no." There is a 40 percent chance of divorce in today's world. We cringe at that statistic. But ... do we keep from getting trapped, from leaping at the first thing we see or from feeling like an ingrate, a slob, or a rip-off artist if we say "no?" Essentially, whether we practice them or not, I think we all come to realize the truth in Jesus' teachings. We do live ...

30. Exposed!

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... welcome the stranger. On the sidewalks by the Tower of London, a man was busily sketching pictures in chalk. Near him sat his ragged hat into which people would throw coins if they admired his efforts to paint the sidewalks. All day long this artist worked on his pictures. Some were beautiful scenes of the countryside while others were of fruit and flowers that appeared to passersby to be sitting on the sidewalks. A passing shower would work havoc with the drawings. Someone would occasionally walk over one ...

31. Welcome To The Mountain. Now Go Home

Exodus 24:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... when you went up." (4) There is the clue to a real mountaintop experience. An authentic mountaintop experience with Christ leaves us changed persons. It is an experience that opens our eyesthat helps us see the world as God sees itand what God sees is a world in need. An artist asked a friend to come to see a painting he had just finished. Arriving at the painter's house, the friend was escorted by an assistant to a dark room where he was asked to wait. After about fifteen minutes, the ...

32. Want To Sit At The Head Table?

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... service? And a century from now, whose names will live on after all the lifestyles of today's rich and famous have faded into obscurity? Albert Schweitzer? Mother Teresa? Mahatma Gandhi? Martin Luther King, Jr.? The number will be few. Some great scientists, a few artists, a political leader here and there. In every case I can promise one thing. Each of them will be people who gave more to the world than they received. It's interesting to watch the rising esteem with which the national press is regarding ...

33. It’s Hard to Eat While Lying

John 13:18-30

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... must make a decision concerning not the minister, or the choir, or the church, but concerning Him. Is He Lord of our lives, or is He not? As someone once said, “Jesus is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.” There is a story of a famous artist who was once commissioned to paint a picture of the Last Supper. He selected his models with the greatest care. For the apostle John he found a young man who was strikingly handsome, with a look of high purpose and a spiritual expression all over his face. The ...

34. Things That Make Jesus Angry

John 2:12-25

Drama

Angela Akers

... to do, give me a nervous breakdown? Do you want me to get the jitters on the set and slit my wrists with a paring knife? I have a very delicate system and if---” Producer: “Three seconds to air!” (Personal assistant and makeup artist scurry off) And three, two, one!” (Points at Ivana) Announcer: “Good morning and welcome to ‘Cooking Up Some Trouble’ with Ivana Heart. Here is your host, the four-star chef and cookbook author, Ivana Heart!” Ivana: “Good morning, and thank you for joining ...

35. Who Are Christians?

James 5:13-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... them; we hold our lips tight lest we surprise others with a shout of excitement. This is Thanksgiving Sunday. Next Sunday is the beginning of Advent, our time of anticipating the coming of Christ. We ought to feel a jump coming on. I don't know how an artist could picture it for a poster, but Toyota should not be able to out-do us Christians in symbolizing the "jump of joy". The pseudo-joy offered by the world is capricious and limited. It comes and goes by chance. But the joy Jesus gives is not dependent ...

36. Willibald Krautman's Trip To Heaven

Matthew 11:2-11

Drama

Matthew Powell

... possibly make such beautiful Nativity figures. Willibald: Well, it seems to me that you are making a great fuss over very little. You used to be a fisherman on earth, and a catcher of fish just has no idea what it is like to be an artist or how an artist feels. You don't say anything about the good things I have done. In my lifetime, I set up more than 100 Christmas crÃ¨ches. My figures have awakened many thoughts of heaven in the human heart and have given many people much Christmas joy. Saint Peter ...

37. Tell You the Truth

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... be the location from which a marble slab was quarried. It could even be something as subtle as the depth of the paint, or the lightness of the chisel. All work together to portray the artist as much as the artist was working to portray his or her subject. Writers and speakers are artists as well. They too demonstrate the same tendency towards unique mannerisms and literary tics. For example, the annual Hemingway write-alike contest (sponsored by a bar Hemingway always hung out in - I can't remember its ...

38. WaterFire Disciples

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... self esteem into the citizenry of Chicago. The plastering of this image of the cow (by the way, they're still slaughtering Bulls in Chicago) all over the city had the exact reverse effect of what Cincinnati predicted when years ago it laughed out of town an artist who wanted to do the same thing for that city except this time with pigs. Now this year it's trying to do what it was encouraged to do a decade ago. Providence, Rhodes Island also has an image statement. Providence is called by some the WaterFire ...

39. Living in the Red

Galatians 6:11-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... on the promises of God. . . Standing on the promises I cannot fall, listening every moment to the Spirit's call, Resting in my Savior, as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God." R. Kelso Carter Christians are crossers the ultimate cross-over artists. We know that phrase from the musical world. It's not just Michael W. Smith or Amy Grant or Jackie Velasquez that are crossing-over. You've got Christians trying to cross over in every niche music market, including hyper pop-punk, holy hip-hop, even ...

40. WaterFire Faith

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... their faces by firelight. Note: it didn’t take the construction of fancy shopping centers, or giant skyscrapers, or a big urban sports stadium, or a bells and whistles amusement park to bring people back downtown. All it took was the unquenchable artistic combination of two symbols that were allowed to spread their magic: fire-power and water-works. Why is it that what city planners could see so clearly has been firmly forgotten by twenty first century Christians? Water and fire, that powerful, awe ...

41. Sermon Opener - WaterFire Faith

Acts 8:14-17

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

... their faces by firelight. Note: it didn't take the construction of fancy shopping centers, or giant skyscrapers, or a big urban sports stadium, or a bells and whistles amusement park to bring people back downtown. All it took was the unquenchable artistic combination of two symbols that were allowed to spread their magic: fire-powerand water-works. Why is it that what city planners could see so clearly has been firmly forgotten by twenty first century Christians? Water and fire, that powerful, awe-inspiring ...

42. The Measure You Give Is the Measure You Get

Mark 4:21-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the hell of a predictable. Mark Trotter tells the story of a woman who was a painter. She had talent, but no one seemed to recognize her talent. One day she and her husband visited an artist’s colony in New Mexico. In talking with one of the artists, she explained her disappointment that no one had ever recognized her art. The artist asked, “What have you done with your paintings up ‘til now?” She said, “We keep them in a storeroom and we bring them out from time to time to look at them.” The ...

43. Another Perspective

John 9: 1-41

Illustration

Brett Blair

There is a story of a beggar who was sitting across the street from an artist's studio. The artist saw him and thought he would make an interesting portrait study so from a distance he painted the defeated man whose shoulders drooped, and whose eyes ... to himself, but in the painting before him he saw a person of dignity, with squared shoulders and bright uplifted eyes, almost handsome! He asked the artist, "Is that me? I don't look like that." But the artist replied, "but that is the person I see in you."

44. A Feathered Masterpiece

Illustration

... several years, and still no painting was brought to the palace. Finally the emperor became so exasperated that he went to the artist's home to demand an explanation. Instead of making excuses, the artist placed a blank canvas on the easel. In less than an hour, he completed a painting that was to become a brilliant masterpiece. When the emperor asked the reason for the delay, the artist showed him armloads of drawings of feathers, wings, heads, and feet. Then he explained that all of this research and study ...

45. A Faith that Does Not Quit

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... and hang on. Trust God and keep going. Trust God and keep coming back demanding justice until God gives you a victory. Many people experience defeat in life because they simply give up too soon. Years ago an old man approached the famous 19th-century poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The old man showed Rossetti some paintings. He asked, “What do you think, Mr. Rossetti?” Rossetti studied them. After the first few, Rossetti knew the paintings were worthless; they did not display the least hint of ...

46. Can You Hear the Music?

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... day on the sidewalk. Set up on a bench outside the park, no one appreciated what he had to offer. Because of where he was, he was seen as worthless. Because of who he looked like, his work was seen as valueless. One woman even argued the artist down from his $60.00/piece price to a “twofer” — she got a half-price deal because she bought two for her small daughter’s bedroom. One buyer said he just needed something to “cover the walls.” Each canvas purchased for the street price of sixty bucks ...

47. The Problem with "Fawneys"

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... something quite valuable. Invariably this person would look around fearing that the real owner might see their find and come to claim it. Then, suddenly from nowhere, the con artist would appear. He would then persuade or frighten his victim into paying him to keep quiet about their find. Making off with hush money, the con artist would leave the sucker holding this practically worthless ring. So many persons were defrauded in this way that anything fake came to be called fawney. This was later Americanized ...

48. The Stone is My Witness

Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the stones of the earth! All the earth tells the story of God’s goodness and glory! “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). Jesus the Son is like God the Father: a “tekton,” an artist of stone, who can write in stone the Story of Salvation with one finger, who can create humankind with the works of His holy hands, whose angel sits upon the Stone of Salvation that signifies God’s victory day! With God’s victory of resurrection, Jesus has ...

49. The Physician

Isaiah 38:1-22, Matthew 8:14-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , re-formed and re-created into the beautiful creature God designed us to be. In Him and through Him, the original image of God in us is restored, and our spirit redeemed. Jesus is the Supreme Artisan of Restoration. Yeshuah is the great Artist of Life and Master of Miracles. In the painting by Rembrandt, Jesus stands looking at us with arms folded meaningfully across his chest. His expression described as accessible yet enigmatic, Jesus appears here as Divine Healer, with the power of God within him ...

50. Sacrifice Leads to Life

Hebrews 10:16-25

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... he would support the education of the other, either by sale of his art works or by going to the mines himself. Thus, one brother went off to the dangerous mines while the other went to the art academy. After four years the young artist returned triumphantly to a homecoming dinner. The artist rose from the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for his years of sacrifice. He said, “Now Albert, it is your turn to go to the academy and pursue your dream; I will support you.” Albert sat at the table ...

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