Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 501 to 525 of 813 results

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... there and so were many of the old gentleman’s sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, and even great-grandsons and great-granddaughters. It was quite a crowd, to be sure. The bowl games were on television. Children were playing with their Christmas toys. Because this happened in another day, another time, the ladies were trying to rest from the meal preparation and housecleaning, and the men were wandering from the television to the scraps of turkey and boxes of chocolates. It was just a typical ...

502. Have You Gone Far Enough?

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... never really existed. His life is but a cleverly written myth told to inspire, to entertain. Yet under serious investigation such a conclusion cannot stand. As F. F. Bruce, Professor of Biblical Criticism at the University of Manchester, pointed out, "Some writers may toy with the fancy of a 'Christ-myth,' but they do not do so on the ground of historical evidence. The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar. It is not historians who propagate the ...

503. Too Good to Miss

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... is simmering in the belly of our culture which is driving our violence and our need for things and drugs and alcohol, and is causing our lack of willingness to work with commitment and hope through troubled relationships in companies, marriages, or institutions. The next toy, the next sexual encounter, the next fix, the next drink, the next bonus is what we need, we think. In fact, I believe without a shadow of a doubt that these are all symptoms of a deep, deep suffering of the spirit, which comes from ...

504. Do You Hear What I Hear?

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... on the gospel is to have that wonderful joy of knowing you have been saved from a life of dead-end materialism to a life of hope and vitality and meaning, both in this life and the next, a life that will not lose its luster no matter how many toys you have or do not have, a life that finds meaning in loving and serving God and neighbor above all else. And finally, Saint Paul says, all of the above will only happen if we hold fast to the gospel message. I hate to interrupt the flow of our thinking ...

505. Grace in the Midst of Unanswered Prayer

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

... in this area? Our conviction is that God is trustworthy when it comes to suffering because he himself came into this world and tasted real pain. A story is told of a grandfather who came to the home of his grandson to play. He entered the toy room to find little Jeremy sitting in the playpen. The boy immediately jumped to his feet and shouted, "Grandpa!" whereupon the older man extended his arms and swooped his grandson up into his arms. They had been playing excitedly for about five minutes when the boy ...

506. Loving The Jesus Way

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... at one mission project after another. The other man broke in. "Let me tell you about my son. My son, like the church, has always been asking for money, almost from the moment he was born. A new pair of shoes, a new pair of jeans, a new toy. Then a bicycle, a football, a baseball glove. Then came the trips to the dentist, and then high school, money for lunch, money for dates, more jeans and for taxes and insurance. Once he totaled the motor on the family car -- everything was money -- sometimes he appeared ...

507. I Am Christ's

2 Corinthians 5:17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... on The Christian Walk. We closed that first sermon with the story of three-year-old Ryan. He and his five-year-old sister, Lisa, were playing on the floor following a family dinner while the adults tried to have a conversation. Lisa opened her new toy nurse's kit and convinced Ryan to be her patient. She took the little stethoscope and placed it on her brother's heart, listened intently -- as good nurses do. Suddenly she announced, "I hear somebody walking around in there." The adults smiled at this, but ...

508. God's Anxiety Reduction Plan

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

John P. Jewell

... their last mad dash before Christmas day arrives... I am reminded that his season of peace, joy and good cheer does bring a certain increase in anxiety for many people. "Will John get along with my mother this year?" "The stores are all sold out of that toy junior had first on his Christmas list!" "How in the world are we going to fit forty three people in our house for Christmas dinner?" Then there is the young man who said to his pastor, "I am going to give my girlfriend an engagement ring for Christmas ...

509. Get Rid of the Junk

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

... cursed has nothing to do with external circumstance. BEING BLESSED AND BEING CURSED HAS TO DO WITH THE BASIC ORIENTATION OF YOUR LIFE. Jeremiah describes the cursed as trusting in mere mortals. That is, if the meaning of your life has to do with your toys and your accomplishments, then you are like a shrub in the desert. You can buy insurance to protect your health, you can strive diligently to stay on the right path and protect your reputation, but if you only trust in the tools this world can provide ...

510. Compassion Fatigue

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... there were sea creatures – all sorts of sea creatures. They had big eyes, their skin was very thin, and yet, they were swimming around the Thresher in the same environment, the same pressure that had crushed this steel machine as though it were a toy made of cardboard. How could these sea creatures survive in the setting of that pressure? Scientists, writing about that phenomenon, told us that inside these sea creatures was an opposite and equal pressure to that which was outside them. That’s a parable ...

511. Why Being A Christian Has Worn You Down v2

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , there were sea creatures – all sorts of sea creatures. They had big eyes, their skin was very thin, and yet they were swimming around the Thresher in the same environment, the same pressure that had crushed this steel machine as though it were a toy made of cardboard. How could these sea creatures survive in the setting of that pressure? Scientists, writing about that phenomenon, told us that inside these sea creatures was an opposite and equal pressure to that which was outside them. Now that’s a ...

512. A Thousand Years Of Ashes

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... of British pastor J. John, who placed such bins in his own church. The response has been surprising. The week after Rust’s sermon on the eighth commandment, numerous people dropped by the church to slip their stolen goodies into the bin. Rust has found clothing, toys, tools, gum, hotel towels. As Rust says, “That’s what sermons should be about, applying truth to our lives.” (1) That’s nice, but you and I might be a little surprised that church members would be guilty of so much theft. It’s like ...

513. In the Wilderness With Moses

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... You Americans,” one Tanzanian pastor told him, “are rich in things. We are rich in time.” (2) “The love of money is the root of all evil,” wrote St. Paul (I Timothy 6:10). It would do us well to ask if nice things--high tech toys, luxury automobiles, oversized houses--have not become our modern day idols. PAUL IS ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT SEXUAL MORALITY. That should be a concern of ours as well. It’s difficult for the modern church to speak with clarity about the moral climate of our time. Things ...

514. Resurrection

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... people remained skeptical. The truth is that Nessie did prove to be a harmless hoax. A man named Christian Spurling confessed his role in the fake photography just before he died in November 1994. The “monster” had been fabricated from a 14-inch toy submarine upon which Marmaduke Wetherell, Spurling’s stepfather, attached a long neck and a small head fashioned from plastic wood. The two floated the model out into the shallows and made the photograph. Wilson became the front man for the deception. (2 ...

515. Financial Freedom

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’ The children could hear it all the time though nobody said it aloud. They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shining modern rocking-horse, behind the smart doll’s house, a voice would start whispering: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’ And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment. They would look ...

516. One Degree As God’s Relation

Acts 17:22-31

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... these things, as clever as they might be, have their origins in you as well. We strive to praise you through our possessions, recognizing you as their source, even as the world worships these things. Our computers, our cell phones, our cars, our audio and visual toys, these things enrich our lives, but if we worship them they will control us. Our jobs, our priorities, these things might be idols as well. We recognize that in you we live and move and have our being. We repent, Lord, of our idolatries and ...

517. King of the Mountain

1 Peter 3:13-22

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

... a God-given gift to each of us, but family should not push Jesus off the throne of our hearts. Patriotism is fine and honorable, but love of country cannot overshadow the love of Jesus Christ. It's nice to have nice things: a house, a car, furnishings, and toys for our leisure time. But I don't read anywhere in scripture that these are to be priorities in the life of a Christian. Material possessions should not take the place of Jesus in our hearts. We all like to have friends and to be popular with others ...

518. Doing Well and Doing Good

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... life, increased wealth, or the admiration of others. All in all, it sounds very much like the sort of thing most parents use with their children on occasion. If you sit quietly, I'll stop and get you some ice cream, or a hamburger, or a special toy, or whatever. Paul does none of this. Most emphatically, he promises no rewards for our living up to the way we are supposed to live as Christians. Rather than rewards, Paul simply presents a picture of some of the basics of a Christian life. First Paul talks ...

519. Further on Up the Road

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Sermon

Rick Brand

... ago I don't remember counselors sent to school when children died. Forty or fifty years ago I can't remember seeing public shrines marking the place where a death took place. Out-pouring of grief on the side of the road with flowers, teddy bears, and toys. The kind of public memorial services which took place after the 9/11 attacks or Columbine shootings seem to me to be a new kind of approach to the presence of death. The comments made at those services all seem to talk about what wonderful people those ...

520. Million Dollar Christmas

Matthew 19:21

Drama

Matthew Powell

... the things that will make them happy, not the things they need. Look at my little brother, Tommy. What I think he needs most of all is a good spanking, but Christmas is not the time for giving him that. Instead I'm going to give him the most useless toy telescope you ever saw - because he wants it. (Pause) Edgar 2: Well, Helene, since you put it that way, I guess you are right. I'll tell you what ... I made a vow just before you came in. It was to get rid of the entire million before Christmas Day ...

521. Jesus Breaks Our Chains

John 11:1-45

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... . Still, he felt chained, trapped; he was unable to release himself. This all changed one night in 1748. That evening, while at sea, Newton's slave ship was caught in a vicious storm. Waves crashed over the bow and the ship was tossed about like a toy. Through the skill of the captain and his crew, the ship and all personnel were saved. The experience, however, changed Newton forever. He felt the chains that held him bound begin to weaken. It took seven more years, but finally, in 1755, John Newton gave up ...

522. Do You Get It?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... leads to the kind of oppression that the Jews of Jesus' time experienced, to the poverty and sense of helplessness and anger of so many people in the world today, and to the fruitless searches of well-to-do people to fill their inner vacuum with chemicals or sex or toys. If our basic problem is our relationship with God, then only God can really fix it. That's why the one who is on the way to Jerusalem is the Son of God: God isn't going to leave the job to an assistant or somebody in celestial middle ...

523. The Purple Church

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If you've ever had the need to enter one of those mega-mart toy stores, you've seen it: The PINK aisle. It's that Day-Glo, cotton-candy, Pepto-Bismol color that sets the Barbie aisle apart from everything else in the store (everything else on earth, actually!). Even if you never have to walk down that aisle you can't really avoid ...

524. A Brand New Church Out of an Old Brand

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... basketball star's name emblazoned on them? · If price were no object, wouldn't you really rather fly United than JetBlue? · Don't Cheez-Its just taste better than any other cheese cracker? · Despite the fact they don't want anything but the plastic toy, what child doesn't beg for a Happy Meal? (Our vegetarian friends even get them, with no meat in the bun!) (For more see Patrick Barwise, Andrea Dunham, and Mark Ritson, "Ties That Bind: Brands, Consumers and Businesses," 70-97 in Jane Pavitt, Brand.new ...

525. Hands On

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... tantrum." In it there is no halo surrounding Jesus' head. But there is one around his hand, which is holding the whip. Although she had no idea what a disc of gold around Jesus' head might mean, Soren knew that a disc in his hand was an ACTION TOY! When we put something in our hands it is transformed from a noun to a verb, a thing to an action. Our hands move and shape, create and destroy, stroke and strike. Aristotle called the hand the "instrument of instruments," and he credited the hand as the body ...

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