Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 526 to 550 of 1089 results

John 18:28-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... Retirement and Continued Education), that helps young men and women get out of gangs. They assist these young people in getting jobs or finishing their education. And one of the most important aspects of GRACE's program may be the removal of tattoos. Tattoo artists like Bill Pogue volunteer their time and services to remove old gang tattoos from former gang members. GRACE's founder, Alex Montaner says, "It's like they're reborn when they get that negative stuff off. They're not branded anymore." (6) Some of ...

527. Look Who's Giving Thanks!

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... Day, 2001, there is more genuine Thanksgiving in the more modest homes in our city than in the most luxurious ones. I could be wrong, of course, and even if I am right, it won't be true in every home. It is a generalization. As the graffiti artist says: “Be suspicious of all generalizations, including this one." But it happens often enough to be troubling. Some people who have been blessed beyond measure don't seem to have a grateful bone in their body, and others who have been dealt blow after blow, seem ...

528. The Good Son

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Frank Lyman

... was nothing seductive about her bathing as she did. She was bathing in a properly modest place. The only one who could see her would be someone looking over the palace's roof and even he would have to strain his neck to do so. The Russian-born artist Marc Chagall captures this moment in his painting "David and Bathsheba." We see Bathsheba modestly bathing while David peers over the ledge, craning his neck to take in all he can! David learns that this woman's name is Bathsheba, that she is the wife of Uriah ...

529. As The World Turns

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... in worship, saying, "We're not worthy, we're not worthy." Alice Cooper's long and successful career is the epitome of everything that critics hate about rock-n-roll. He has glorified rebellion, immorality, idolatry, and excess like practically no other rock artist. Considering this, many people were surprised when it was announced that Alice Cooper had converted to Christianity. He gave his life to Christ in 1995, and is now involved in a Bible church in Phoenix, Arizona. He even sings in the choir and ...

530. A Platform For Life

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... : "Dear God, please don't let those cars block the entrance to McDonald's." (2) He prayed about what was most important to him. We laugh, but adults sometimes don't know what to pray for either. "Some of God's greatest blessings," sings country artist Garth Brooks, "are unanswered prayers." If we got everything we prayed for, we would probably be in trouble. And some of God's greatest blessings are things we've never even thought of. A certain couple worked opposite schedules. The husband, we'll call him ...

531. Any Friendly Bears Out There?

Matthew 22:34-40

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... tame dogs for protection. There was one thing the dogs could give them besides love. Dogs have a very highly developed sense of smell. They could smell wild animals approaching and give their owners warning. I have a drawing of a nose here. I am not much of an artist. Noses come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, don't they? But regardless of how well our noses work, they are not as sensitive as a dog's. Dogs are even used today by the police to sniff out drugs and sometimes bombs. So people first grew fond ...

532. Strategy For Greatness

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... of men? Good. Christ wants you to exercise every potential within you. The steps are very simple: Make your commitment. Persevere despite of hardships. Consecrate yourself to serving God's children. Those are the steps our Lord took. Studying under a great master, a youthful artist entered the studio to beg permission to use his master's brush. When the wish was granted, the young man departed with a lilting heart to do his own painting, thinking that his work would be vastly improved. After a some time had ...

533. A Church Fueled By Prayer

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... means by which we can have every whim of our hearts satisfied. Prayer is that time when we stand or kneel in the presence of God. It is a time to offer ourselves to him, as someone once put it, as a blank canvas might be offered to the master artist. We come to Him trusting that He loves us as no other can or will. We come to Him believing that He knows the deepest needs of our hearts. One day while Abraham Lincoln was president, his little son came to see him with his shirt torn and his face ...

534. Sarah Laughed

Genesis 18:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... who have had to battle against overwhelming odds. Toulouse-Lautrec had the body of a man and the legs of a child. Byron had a club foot. Demosthenes was a terrible stutterer. Tradition has it that Homer was blind. (1) Many of our greatest artists have thrived in spite of--and sometimes because of--their wounds, their epilepsies, their tuberculoses, their periods of madness. But not only in the arts. Victor Frankl lost his wife, father, mother and brother in Hitler's concentration camps. He was stripped of ...

535. Excellence In Living

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... to Paris. While there, he went into an art gallery to spend an hour or two admiring the works of some of the great masters. When he came to a picture of Christ on the cross, he stood transfixed before the scene as he read the words that the artist Steinberg had chosen to interpret the painting with: "All this I did for thee. What hast thou done for me?" It was the turning point of the Count's life. He abandoned his plans to visit Paris, and returned home and consecrated himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. He ...

536. Believing Isn’t Easy

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... the open and deal with them honestly. I believe that doubt is a prerequisite to a genuine faith. Without doubt, we would be liable to fall for any wild scheme that comes down the pike; we would be gullible and easy prey for every religious con artist around...and there are plenty of them around these days. Faith without doubt is gullibility. God does not call us to be gullible. Harry Emerson Fosdick once preached a classic sermon on “The Importance of Doubting Your Doubts.” Faith isn’t easy. It is a ...

537. No Longer Orphans

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... but you will see me; because I live, you also will live," He said in John 14:19. And what an astonishing promise that was! "The totally unexpected will happen," said Jesus. "Beyond your wildest imaginings, out of death will come life!" In the words of artist Corita Kent, "To believe in God is to know that all the rules will be fair and that there will be wonderful surprises." What more wonderful surprise could there possibly be than the promise of the glad good news which greeted the world that first Easter ...

538. When Compassion Overcomes Irritation

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... proud), pretty ugly, postal service, airline food, military intelligence, United Methodism. Dr. Messer says, “The value of this type of speech is that it jars the reader to new awareness or startles the listener to new understanding. In the hands of an artist, an oxymoron like ‘thunderous silence’ paints an unforgettable word portrait.” (Ibid., p. 4) Now, Jesus was a master at the art of painting word pictures; of saying things that stick like glue to the imagination. But when we hear Jesus say “I ...

539. Dealing with Our Doubts

Mark 9:14-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... but a necessary ingredient of it. Without doubt, faith becomes credulity or gullibility. A lot of people think that is just what our faith is: that we are like simple country rubes walking around the County Fair starry-eyed, susceptible to every spiritual con artist who comes down the pike. That may be true of some believers, but not for those who, like our man in today’s Scripture, are courageous and humble enough to deal honestly with their doubts. “I believe, help my unbelief.” Carl Michalson says ...

540. On Being the Greatest

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... one. Albert Schweitzer spoke to a graduating class in an English boys’ school back in 1935. He said: “I do not know what your destiny will be. Some of you will perhaps occupy remarkable positions. Perhaps some of you will become famous by your pens, or as artists. But I know one thing: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” And Schweitzer lived out his own words. In his forest hospital at Lambarene, he found himself hauling lumber about, and ...

541. Where Is My Guest Room?

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... down the door. Most of us have seen a copy of Holman Hunt’s famous painting of “Christ knocking at heart’s door.” If we look carefully, we note that there is no handle on that door. When asked why he did not put a handle on the door, the artist is reported to have said: “It is the door to the human heart. It can only be opened from the inside.” But to those who open, a grand and glorious fellowship awaits!

542. Sleeping through a Revolution

Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... Delhi, India. The Hindu told the conference that a few years before he had visited Rome and seen at St. Peter’s the world famous Piet by Michelangelo. He conceded that the sculpture of the dead Jesus held in the arms of the mourning Mary was an artistic masterpiece. Yet somehow this deceased Jesus remained alien to him, as did the many crosses with the suffering Jesus on them that he saw in Rome. A Buddha, he said, would never have been depicted like that. Buddha died as if he were slipping away into a ...

543. Did You Leave the the Door Open? (I am the gate)

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... from the inside. Remember that famous work of Christian art by Holman Hunt. It is commonly called "Christ Knocking At The Door." When you examine it closely, you will notice that the door has no handle on the outside. However, Jesus is knocking at that door. The artist knew that our Christian faith begins when we make a personal decision to respond to the Christ who is knocking on the door. If we allow him in--like Zacchaeus and a host of others in the Biblical record--the gates of paradise will open for us ...

544. Trouble: A Required Course in LIfe

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... will not have their hearts, their souls. They will focus on what they can do, not wallow in their self-pity. The dance provides the energy for them to say no to defeat but yes to victory. In Genoa, Italy, after World War II, they commissioned an artist to build an eight-ton statue of Jesus Christ. Unlike other statues of Christ throughout the world, this one was not put on a high hill overlooking the city. Instead, it was lowered into the depths of the bay where the battles had taken place. Lowered into ...

545. The Power of Remembrance (Part III)

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... twenties in Paris, was asked to paint the portrait of a young poet, Gertrude Stein. After months of work, Picasso unveiled the painting. People were shocked. The image resembled Miss Stein, but showed her as old, wise, strong; not as the young, uncertain woman her fellow artists knew her to be. When they said, "But that doesn''t look like her," Picasso responded, "It will one day." And in truth it happened. Picasso had a vision of what she would look like and be one day and he framed the vision in his ...

546. Mother's Day

Proverbs 1:1-7

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... in his grandmother, Lois--and his mother, Eunice--that he wanted these qualities--an inner beauty reflected in his Christian walk and witness. My second story concerns the famous American painter, Benjamin West. Benjamin always told the story of how he became a distinguished artist. One day, Benjamin was left at home to watch his baby sister. Unknown to his mother, he took out his paint oils and brushes--and painted a rather unique picture of his younger sister. He made a mess of the whole house. However ...

547. Up and Running

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... obvious reason that today's young people represent tomorrow's church leaders. Our text is about the process whereby we get up and running. It begins with a curious picture of Jesus being baptized. On a wall somewhere in a church building you have seen an artist's depiction of this. Jesus' experience is such that he sees the opening of the heavens and out of those heavens comes the Spirit "descending like a dove on him." Jesus' baptism even has an auditory dimension. "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I ...

548. A Tireless and Timeless Image

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... of supervision and care, like infants and young children need the constant supervision of Mother and Dad. That which is tenacious holds firmly, strongly, and persistently. If you have ever seen a sheep dog at work, you have seen what is virtually an artistic rendering of tenacity. I have also seen, and you have too, a parent whose lovingly tenacious ways with a young child can approach artistry. Such a parent cabins and curbs, but not jerkingly, and certainly not violently. Effective parenting means a child ...

549. To a Life Beyond

John 6:51-58, Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... cool refreshment from the "spring of living water." John goes on to describe how in God's presence there are no more tears, no more sin, no guilt, no more unfulfillment, no broken relationships, no disease, no fatigue, no crippling old age. Heaven's architectural and artistic beauty are detailed -- streets of gold, gates of pearl, incredible worship music. And right in the middle of it all -- God's throne! Some days I come home from a trip late at night. As I round the last corner I see my house all lighted ...

550. King Forever!

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... and on earth has been given unto me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." This statement is sometimes referred to as the great commission. Now, a king might commission an artist to do a sculpture or a painting. A church might commission an architect to do a cathedral. But who ever heard of God Almighty giving a commission to a man? Yet this is exactly part of what the ascension means. From the cross Jesus said, "It is ...

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