Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 576 to 600 of 832 results

576. God on The Run!

Matthew 2:13-23

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

My copy of the Bible entitles this sub-section of Scripture, "The Flight into Egypt." Cruel Herod the king had been threatened by the birth of Jesus, apparently fearing that Jesus would become a competitor for his own crown. Since that was an intolerable possibility to him, and since he could not ...

577. K.I.S.S.

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Of course, he had no idea what the message said since he could not read, but it bothered him that his shirt bore no message. His wife, undaunted by her inability to read, decided to sew a message on his shirt as well. She chose three words which she copied from a sign in a store window across the street. Neither she nor her husband knew what the words meant but he wore his new lettered shirt to the next meeting. Afterwards he came home bubbling with joy. He said all of the men really liked the inscription ...

578. Going Beyond Duty: The Second Mile

Matthew 5:38-42

Illustration

James Merritt

... that government and letting the army rule the nation. With the fate of America in the balance, George Washington made a surprise appearance before these officers. After praising them for their service and thanking them for their sacrifice, he pulled from his pocket a copy of a speech that he wished to read. But then he fumbled with a paper and finally reached for a set of reading glasses-glasses those men had never seen him wear before. Washington made this simple statement: "I have already grown grey in ...

579. Mary Magdalene: An Adulteress?

John 4:1-26

Illustration

David J. McBriar

I don't know if you realize it or not, but lately there's a great preoccupation with Jesus' relationship with women. The Da Vinci Code has sold 80 million copies. It's a fast paced thriller that claims Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and the church knew about this, the novel claims, but suppressed it. And let me ask you, as an aside, whenever you hear the name “Mary Magdalene," what comes to your mind? The woman accused of ...

580. The Scope of Love

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the inscription "FOLLOW MY COMMANDS" on the base of the statue, he chiseled another message: "COME UNTO ME." This statue was carved later by Thorvalsen in Italian Carrara marble. The original is in the National Cathedral of Denmark Church of our Lady. A famous copy of this statue of “The Last Adam” decorates the Latter Day Saint’s Temple Square in Salt Lake City. In the creation of the first human, there was another mist that molded the First Adam into an image of vulnerability and beauty. There are ...

581. The Parable of the Soil

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... convert to their product. In your exhaustion and frustration you order it. But here is no real commitment. If you resist the first wave of late night infomercial onslaught, in the morning you look at the phone numbers or websites you copied down and wonder . . . “What in the world was I thinking?” Momentary enthusiasm is not what Jesus’ kingdom is selling. Spur-of-the-moment exuberance is not what Jesus’ kingdom is about. There will be genuine hardship in following Jesus. The possibility ...

582. Power!

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

In a former congregation of mine, a Sunday school teacher told me of an incident that happened there some years ago. Two of the young girls in her class — both about nine years old — came to her and said they wanted to be baptized. She was understandably pleased at their desire and told them to go home and talk to their parents about it, then appropriate arrangements could be made. A week later, the girls came back with the sad news that the parents thought they should wait until they were older and could ...

583. I Went Down to the River to Pray

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

Today is a good day to say a good word about baptism. I suppose any Sunday is really an appropriate day for a favorable word about baptism, but today we have heard scripture loaded with images of baptism, so it is a good day to speak about that which is often so close at hand that we may sometimes miss its significance. Psalm 29 is among the psalms that use the imagery of water to declare the tremendous power of the word of God: The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord ...

584. Skin Game

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... that may come as something of a shock. Isn't this gentle Jesus, meek and mild? How could a petition from a helplessly outcast and pitiful leper have inspired him to anger? Inasmuch as we feel that way, we may be like those ancient scribes who, faithfully copying this text, may have thought that the scribe before them had made a mistake, so they wrote in a verb they thought more appropriate to the loving Jesus they had come to know. Those who have had the courage to translate this word as anger have offered ...

585. Curiosity and Questions

John 3:1-7

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... . I took the books to an antiquarian bookstore where a man offered me $30 for the 25 books. I took the money and walked out the door. When I got to the corner, I turned around and went back to the store. I said I had to have just one copy back. I needed to keep one of those Nancy Drew mysteries because of what they represented to me. When I read them as a child, I was transported into a world of questions and mysteries. It was a magical world of curiosity and surprise, where a suspicious man in a ...

586. Cheering for the Underdog

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

Since this is football season, I want to begin with a couple of football stories. The first is about a place kicker who was so angry with himself after missing a field goal that when he got to the sidelines, he literally kicked himself. Yep, he missed there, too. The second story concerns a game between traditional football powers Michigan State and UCLA. The score was tied at 14 with only seconds to play. Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State’s coach, sent in place-kicker Dave Kaiser who booted a field goal ...

587. Philippe

Matthew 24:36-51

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

Theme: Better to be awake and alert than apathetic and asleep Characters: Philippe (lazy) Mother (concerned) Father (disciplinarian) Wolf White Cross rescue workers Tone: Cynical, instructive Setting/Props: “Philippe” may be read with or without actors. The congregation may be invited to be a part of a children’s time as this play sets up the context for effective preaching in the sermon on the theme of being ready for the coming Messiah. Suggested song: “Wake up, Sleeper, Arise,” by Handt Hanson, © Prince ...

588. Prepare: An Advent Play

Matthew 24:36-51

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

Theme: Prepare for Christmas in the proper way. Advent is for repentance and change. Characters: Santa Claus (dressed in traditional Santa suit with beard and hat) John The Baptist (dressed in rough burlap material and sandals) Tone: Humorous, serious, provoking Setting/Props: Large Santa bag Wrapped presents Toys for Santa’s bag List The setting can be anywhere Approximate time: 7-8 minutes (John the Baptist enters singing “Prepare Ye” from Godspell or a favorite Advent hymn verse.) John: (shouts) People ...

589. Enough Spirit to Go Around!

Acts 10:44-48

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... and power of the Spirit. He went about proclaiming the good news and then he stood back and watched the Spirit take over! He didn't run for congregational president in any of the churches he founded and he didn't hand out copies of model church constitutions. Paul's model of Spirit-led direction in the church, without concern for ordered church governance, did not prevail. The disciples in Jerusalem, led by James, imposed the traditional Jewish elder system upon the emerging church and churches dominated ...

590. Accuracy: Not Good Enough

Illustration

Unknown

... shipped in the next 12 months with the wrong cover. - 5,517,200 cases of soft drinks produced in the next 12 months will be flatter than a bad tire. - Two plane landings daily at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago will be unsafe. - 3,056 copies of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal will be missing one of the three sections. - 18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled in the next hour. - 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year. - 880,000 credit cards in circulation will turn out to ...

591. Dial-A-Tale

Illustration

Don Baker

... Erickson. Because the small fingers often make a mistake, Tom gets frequent calls from a child listening for a fairy tale. After several unsuccessful attempts to explain a wrong number to the small child, Tom felt he had only one alternative. He obtained a copy of Three Little Pigs, and set it by the phone. Now, whenever a child calls, he simply reads them the tale. A beautiful illustration of yielding personal rights. He didn't, as you might have thought, change his telephone number to avoid the "invasion ...

592. Funny but Critical Bible Erros

Illustration

Staff

... more." A similar error in 1653 had declared: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God?" THE WICKED BIBLE of 1631 reported the Seventh Commandment as "Thou shalt commit adultery," a mistake that infuriated King Charles. He ordered all copies destroyed and fined all printers whose hands had touched the edition. MURDER'S BIBLE. This 19th-century faux pas had Mark 7:27 as "Let the children be killed" instead of "filled." PLACEMAKER BIBLE. a 16th Century printer had Jesus blessing the ...

593. History of the Bible

Illustration

Miller Clarke

... the last disciples. But Bible chapters such as we have today didn't come into being until the 13th century. They were the work of Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury. For the next 200 years, the Bible, now divided into chapters, continued to be copied by hand. Then in 1448, Rabbi Nathan startled the world by breaking the Old Testament into verses. The New Testament wasn't divided into numbered verses until 1551 when a French printer, Robert Estienne did the job. He was planning a study Bible that ...

594. Commit to Memory

Illustration

... man stood and said, "Perhaps we have misunderstood. Did you mean verses or chapters?" These villagers had not memorized a few select verses of the Bible but whole chapters and books. Thirteen people knew Matthew, Luke, and half of Genesis. Another person had committed to memory the Psalms. That single copy of the Bible given by Billester had done its work. Transformed lives bore witness to the power of the Word.

595. No Freedom Without the Word

Illustration

Staff

... Anatoli was detained and finally imprisoned. Their reunion in Jerusalem would not only be postponed, it might never occur. During long years in Russian prisons and work camps Anatoli was stripped of his personal belongings. His only possession was a miniature copy of the Psalms. Once during his imprisonment, his refusal to release the book to the authorities cost him 130 days in solitary confinement. Finally, twelve years after parting with his wife, he was offered freedom. In February 1986, as the world ...

596. Jesus Christ Is Precious

Illustration

Staff

John Newton was a rough, dirty sailor with a foul mouth and an appetite for rotten living. He hated life and life hated him. He was captain of a slave ship. Then someone placed in his hands a copy of Thomas a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ. He also had the gift of a good mother who told him about the Savior when he was young. And then he was saved. He went all over England sharing his faith. Well past his "retirement" age, he had to have an ...

597. Me and My Shadow

Illustration

... theatrical topics. One of his first important appearances as a lecturer was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Brown was pleased, but also rather nervous, and his nerves were not helped when he noticed by the light of the slide projector that someone was copying his every gesture. After a time he broke off his lecture and announced with great dignity that if anyone was not enjoying the talk, he was free to leave. Nobody did, and the mimicking continued. It was another 10 minutes before Brown realized that ...

598. Matthew 23:1-12

Matthew 23:1-39

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , rather than about pleasing God. Jesus’ accusations reduce the Pharisees demonstrations of apparent piety into nothing more than a fashion show. The “phylacteries” and “fringes” Jesus refers to are the spiritual aids described in the Torah. Phylacteries are leather boxes containing copies of verses that call for God’s words to be bound “as a sign on your hand” and as “an emblem on your foreheads” (Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18). The boxes are bound on the forehead and wound around the arm ...

599. The Naval Code

Illustration

What does the cheating scandal at the U.S. Naval Academy say about military honor? Many years ago, Navy investigators reported that 81 midshipmen had obtained a copy of a 1992 engineering exam before exam day and that many of them then lied during an internal investigation, some to protect classmates. Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage, who chaired a review of the academy's honor code, blames the widespread cheating on the Navy's emphasis on ...

600. A List of Murphy's Laws

Illustration

Staff

... delayed in the mail. Bills arrive on time or sooner. If you do a job twice, it's yours. Smith's Fourth Law of Inertia: A body at rest tends to watch television. No matter how many show up for choir practice, you will need one more copy of the music. The shorter the agenda the longer the meeting. When you're right, nobody remembers; when you're wrong, nobody forgets. O'Reilly's Law: No matter what goes wrong, there's always someone who knew it would. Kilpatrick's Law: Interchangeable parts aren't. Shanahan ...

Showing results