Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing all results

26. The Bristlecone Pine

Matt 10:40-42; Heb 12:11

Illustration

Carlyle Fielding Stewart (adapted)

... there is a tree called the "Bristlecone Pine." Growing in the mountain regions, sometimes as high as two or more miles above sea level, these evergreens may live for thousands of years. They are is among the longest-lived life forms on Earth. The older specimens often have only one thin layer of bark on their trunks. Considering the habitat of these trees, such as rocky areas where the soil is poor and precipitation is slight, it seems almost incredible that they should live so long or even survive at all ...

27. The Perfect Blemish

John 2:13-22

Sermon

John Smylie

... for us to be. Here on the fields with you is a much more glorious place. Here we feast on God's abundant provision, but there they feasted on us. When I was born, my mother was proud, for I was without blemish. I was pure and stately, "a fine specimen," they said. My master saw in me a way to make a gain for himself, and so after less than two years he sold me to a merchant who took me to the temple. I was proud to be chosen. I was proud to be singled out among my brothers ...

28. I Love You, Too

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... 's living by the law. Or we may live in the way we think God wants us to live out of love. That's living by grace. When I was a teenager having a physical exam so that I could go to college, I was in the restroom filling a specimen cup and I overheard my mother, on the other side of the door, talking to my family doctor. "Should I run a pregnancy test?" he asked her. And I will never forget the words my mother spoke. She said, "No, that won't be necessary." "Are you sure?" the doctor ...

29. The Star of David

Illustration

John MacArthur

... as he enjoyed the work, it didn't always pay the bills. He occasionally moonlighted, cutting wood to help put bread on the table. While on a dig twenty years ago, Rob found a rock he described as "purdy and big." He tried unsuccessfully to sell the specimen, and according to the Constitution, kept the rock under his bed or in his closet. He guessed the blue chunk could bring as much as $500 dollars, but he would have taken less if something urgent came up like paying his power bill. That's how close Rob ...

30. Flexing Your Muscles

John 11:1-44

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

... "Why do you develop those particular muscles?" The body builder simply stepped forward and flexed a series of well-defined muscles from chest to calf. The audience applauded. "What do you use all those muscles for?" the host asked. Again, the muscular specimen flexed, and biceps and triceps sprouted to impressive proportions. "But what do you USE those muscles for?" The host persisted. The body builder was bewildered. He didn't have an answer other than to display his well-developed frame. I was reminded ...

31. Be Hatched or Go Bad

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ! Yet eggs sometimes get a bad rap at Easter. Eggs are such a widely used symbolic food. Everyone from dancing druids and pagan fertility gods to — worst of all — bored kids on Halloween, have all claimed eggs as some sort of special specimen for themselves. The Christian use of eggs at Easter probably has roots in a host of different cultures and traditions. But there are two connections that make the “Easter egg” a powerful symbol for this miraculous morning. Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem ...

32. Soiled Faith and Watered-Down Churches

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... those little wild Maine blueberries that have survived the winds and the rains and the bears, and adapted to their surroundings, and your mouth will have one of the treats of its lifetime. Disciples of Jesus are not grown to be "perfect" universal specimens of sameness. Christians are intended to grow like the mustard seed: wild in the fields, "artisan" berries, all a little different and unique, depending on their location, but strong in the vine and hardy against the elements. God is responsible for what ...

33. The Birth of Jesus Christ

Matthew 1:18-25

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... that the couple never did have sexual relations. The mention of Jesus’ brothers and sisters in Matthew 13:55–56 points to a different conclusion. Additional Notes 1:19 Public: Gk. deigmatizō means “to expose or humiliate in public.” A deigma is a “specimen” or an “example.” 1:20 In a dream: In biblical times dreams were often used as vehicles of revelation. They seem to appear in clusters: in the patriarchal period, during the ministry of Daniel, and in the nativity narratives in Matthew. 1 ...

34. Filling the Emptiness Within

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... In my research I did run into an item that you might find interesting. Did you know that there is a Museum of Burnt Food located in Arlington Massachusetts? You heard me right--the Museum of Burnt Food. This museum is home to around fifty thousand specimens of charred food including over two thousand items in the Hall of Burnt Toast alone. This is true. The museum attracts around twenty five thousand visitors a year. (2) There’s no accounting for taste--no pun intended. And here is something that won’t ...

35. Portraying Jesus

Illustration

Phillip Yancey

... . One tradition dating back to the second century suggested Jesus was a hunchback. In the Middle Ages, Christians widely believed that Jesus had suffered from leprosy. Most Christians today would find such notions repulsive and perhaps heretical. Was he not a perfect specimen of humanity? Yet in all the Bible there is only one physical description of sorts, a prophecy written hundreds of years before Christ’s birth. Here is Isaiah’s portrayal, in the midst of a passage that the New Testament applies to ...

36. The Garden of Betrayal and the Garden of His Burial

John 18:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... up the sort of sacrifice that Christ made on Good Friday. Some of you will remember it. In the First World War there was a young French soldier who was seriously wounded. His arm was so badly smashed that it had to be amputated. He was a magnificent specimen of young manhood, and the surgeon was grieved that he must go through life maimed. So he waited beside the young soldier’s bedside to tell him the bad news when he recovered consciousness. When the lad’s eyes opened, the surgeon said to him: “I am ...

37. A Commitment to Hope

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... all too often. She would hear voices on the other side of the door and they would use words like “slow” or “difficult” to describe her. Each time she would be asked in the office and there would be an inch by inch scrutiny. She felt like a specimen under a microscope or a slab of meat hanging in a butcher shop, not the homeless, parentless little girl that was her. Interviews brought back memories of the times she was ignored after the woman saw how poorly her dress fit. There was also the time she ...

Showing 26 to 37 of 37all results