Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 576 to 600 of 4508 results

576. Why Do You Go On?

Illustration

Robert Bachelder

Temptation is no less terrible for Christians today than it was for those of Peter's time. We live in a pagan culture. There is a constant temptation for us to fall away from our faith toward the prevailing hedonism. There is a steady temptation to go after the great gods of pleasure and materialism. We have our choices to make! But do you know something? This fact should not discourage us. Instea...

577. Where the Scary Things Live

Illustration

Johnny Dean

For most of us, becoming adults hasn't necessarily cured us of our fear of the dark. Oh, we may have switched to waterbeds that nothing could possibly get underneath. And our closets may be a little bigger (although still not big enough) and they're filled with business suits or work clothes instead of building blocks and athletic gear. But at night, when the lights are out and the children are sa...

578. Forty Days for Recommitment

Illustration

Mark Trotter

Lent was originally established for new Christians, those who experienced a call. They were to spend forty days and forty nights preparing for their baptism. If at the end they still wanted to follow Jesus, then on Easter Eve they would be baptized as the sun was rising in the east, signaling the new day, the new era, inaugurated because of the Resurrection. I am sure it had a powerful significan...

579. “Not Responsible for…”

Illustration

David E. Leininger

Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hung up your coat, and noticed a sign warning that the management is not responsible if it gets lost or stolen? Ever read the small print on your airplane ticket? The airline takes no responsibility for any delays or missed connections, and if your baggage is lost, they only have to pay an amount agreed upon at a convention they held in Warsaw in 1955. Park your...

580. Throw Out the Bird and the Nest

Illustration

Brett Younger

A Nigerian prayer talks about how we lose our direction to desires that seem small: "God in heaven, you have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig of his own choosing after another. Before I knew it he had built a dwelling place and was living in it. Tonight, my Father, I am throwing out both the bird and the nest." Twig by twig...

581. Swimming Is Forbidden

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

A man by the name of Richard Lederer collects funny signs. Some of these are simply the result of people in foreign countries having difficulty translating into English. He says that at the entrance to a hotel swimming pool on the French Riviera there is a sign that reads like this: "Swimming is forbidden in the absence of a saviour." Maybe the person who put up that sign knew English better th...

582. No Easy Buttons

Illustration

Brett Blair & Leonard Sweet

Do you remember the Staple's commercial with the big red button. What a successful ad. I don't know what they paid the agency that created it but that darn red button is still alive; it's entered our cultural lexicon. In the ad whenever an individual confronts a difficult situation, all they have to do is reach over and push a red, over-sized, glowing button that reads, "easy." Got to pick up thr...

583. We’re Kind of Stupid That Way

Illustration

Brett Younger

In the very first Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin's dad is working on the car, when Calvin walks up in a safari hat and says, "So long, Pop! I'm off to check my tiger trap! I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I'm sure to have a tiger by now!" His dad replies, "They like tuna fish, huh?" As Calvin walks off, he says, "Tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich!" The final frame ...

584. Follow Me…

Illustration

Samuel G. Candler

"Follow me, and I will make you fishers," said Jesus. Fishing takes practice, preparation, discipline. One must learn how to best throw the net, how to make the mouth of the net come open too. I can throw the actual cast net a long way, but I can't always make the net come open so that it will actually form a circle around the fish. One must learn how to cast the line on a rod. Again, some folks c...

585. After the Mountaintop

Illustration

Don M. Aycock

Have you ever noticed that almost every mountaintop experience in life is followed by a valley experience? You graduate from school with the great expectation of making your mark in the world, but you find out that the world doesn't exactly welcome you with open arms. You get married with the full expectation that your new spouse will relieve your loneliness and solve your problems, but you find o...

586. The Power of Temptation

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

We laugh when Professor Harold Hill in the musical Music Man warns that the boy who buckles his knickers below the knees is "on the road to degradation," but despite the laughter there is a truth here. There's no harm, directly, in most of life's little misdemeanors, but they grow. An ancient rabbi said, "Sin begins as a spider's web and becomes a ship's rope." You and I add those strands that cha...

587. In Success is the Seed of Failure

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

Success ought to breed success, but it doesn't always work that way. In fact, success has no greater danger than itself. When Roy Tarpley entered the National Basketball Association, it was assumed that Dallas could build a team around him. Experts say he would have made the American "dream team" for the Barcelona Olympics if he had fulfilled his obvious talent. Instead, when he should have been a...

588. The Price of Giving In to Sin

Illustration

Ronald Meredith

Ronald Meredith describes one quiet night in early spring: Suddenly out of the night came the sound of wild geese flying. I ran to the house and breathlessly announced the excitement I felt. What is to compare with wild geese across the moon? It might have ended there except for the sight of our tame mallards on the pond. They heard the wild call they had once known. The honking out of the night ...

589. The Strong Timber Is Tested

Illustration

Lee Griess

A group of mountain hikers came across an old woodsman with an axe on his shoulder. "Where are you going?" they asked him. "I'm headed up the mountain to get some wood to repair my cabin," replied the woodsman. "But why are you going up the mountain?" they asked incredulously. "There are plenty of trees all around us here." "I know," he said, "but I need strong timber and it grows only on the h...

590. The Really Big Sale

Illustration

Mickey Anders

He had finally got his chance to make the Really Big Sale. He was going into the final interview on the biggest contract he had ever written. As he was ushered into the office of the executive buyer, an assistant brought her coffee and left. The atmosphere was cordial, and he knew he was giving his best presentation ever. Then the assistant tapped on the door, re-entered the office and spoke brie...

591. God is Calling Your Name

Illustration

Thomas A. Pilgrim

Harry Emerson Fosdick was one of the greatest American preachers of this century. He described his preaching as counseling on a large scale. Few people knew that as a young seminary student he reached the breaking point after working one summer in a New York Bowery mission. He went home and was overcome by deep depression. One day he stood in the bathroom with a straight razor to his throat. He th...

592. Polycarp: He Never Did Me Wrong!

Illustration

James S. Stewart

Polycarp (A.D. 70-155) was bishop of Smyrna and a godly man. He had known the apostle John personally. When he was urged by the Roman proconsul to renounce Christ, Polycarp said: "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" They took him out and put him to death. Later when the Christians recorded their history of that pe...

593. Power: The Easy Substitute

Illustration

Henri Nouwen

What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, Do you love me? We ask, Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your Kingdom? (Mt. 20:21). ... We have been te...

594. Would You Take The Crown Without The Cross? - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants - who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview. "Okay," began the sheriff, "What is 1 and 1?" "Eleven," came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, "That's not what I meant, but he's right." Then the sheriff asked, "What two days of the week start with the letter 'T'?" "Today & tomorrow...

595. Power of the Written Word

Illustration

Brett Blair

If you ever visit the castle of Elsinore of Denmark, the guide will remind you that around A.D. 1200, the king of Pomerania built Elsinore Castle and also another fortified castle across the Skagerrak Channel in what is now Sweden. He thought that with these two bastions, one on each side of the channel, he could control entrance to the heart of Europe. The castle at Elsinore still stands, the one...

596. How Are We Tempted Today?

Illustration

King Duncan

William Willimon, in his book What's Right with the Church (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1985), tells about leading a Sunday School class that was studying the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. After careful study and explanation of each of the three temptations, Dr. Willimon asked, "How are we tempted today?" A young salesman was the first to speak. "Temptation is when your boss ...

597. Lent 1

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

THIS WEEK'S TEXT Revised Common: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 · Romans 5:12-19 · Matthew 4:1-11 Roman Catholic: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 · Romans 5:12-19 · Matthew 4:1-11 Episcopal: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25 -- 3:1-7 · Romans 5:12-19 (20-21) · Matthew 4:1-11 Lutheran: Genesis 2:7-9, 15-17; 3:1-7 · Romans 5:12 (13-16) 17-19 · Matthew 4:1-11 Theme: Christ Confronts Satan. Suggested Text For Preaching: Matt...

598. Taking Risks

Children's Sermon

Object: A quarantine sign and/or a highway sign such as "Reduce Speed." Good morning to you, boys and girls. Sunday really is a beautiful day no matter what the weather is outside. Even when it is cold, the church is warm, not just because the furnace is on but because you are so welcome and everybody wants you to be here. It takes a long time to get acquainted in some places but not in the churc...

599. Are You Exercising Your Faith?

Sermon

Robert Noblett

There was once a woman who had faith. When asked the origins of that faith, she supposed they were many. For one thing her mother and father were, in the best sense of the term, religious people. Prayers in their home were regular and natural, and this woman, together with her siblings, were involved as children in this prayer life. What’s more, this woman’s parents were members of a local congreg...

600. The Need For Balance

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

Purpose: To stress the need for a balanced life and for personal responsibility for it. Materials: Two objects that you can balance on your hand. One should have a wide base. (A 4x4 that is several feet long will suffice.) The other can be a yardstick or a broom handle, or something like that. Practice with this narrower object so that you can get it to stand on your hand for at least a few secon...

Showing 576 to 600 of 4508 results

576. Why Do You Go On?

Illustration

Robert Bachelder

577. Where the Scary Things Live

Illustration

Johnny Dean

578. Forty Days for Recommitment

Illustration

Mark Trotter

579. “Not Responsible for…”

Illustration

David E. Leininger

580. Throw Out the Bird and the Nest

Illustration

Brett Younger

581. Swimming Is Forbidden

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

582. No Easy Buttons

Illustration

Brett Blair & Leonard Sweet

583. We’re Kind of Stupid That Way

Illustration

Brett Younger

584. Follow Me…

Illustration

Samuel G. Candler

585. After the Mountaintop

Illustration

Don M. Aycock

586. The Power of Temptation

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

587. In Success is the Seed of Failure

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

588. The Price of Giving In to Sin

Illustration

Ronald Meredith

589. The Strong Timber Is Tested

Illustration

Lee Griess

590. The Really Big Sale

Illustration

Mickey Anders

591. God is Calling Your Name

Illustration

Thomas A. Pilgrim

592. Polycarp: He Never Did Me Wrong!

Illustration

James S. Stewart

593. Power: The Easy Substitute

Illustration

Henri Nouwen

594. Would You Take The Crown Without The Cross? - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

595. Power of the Written Word

Illustration

Brett Blair

596. How Are We Tempted Today?

Illustration

King Duncan

597. Lent 1

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

598. Taking Risks

Children's Sermon

599. Are You Exercising Your Faith?

Sermon

Robert Noblett

600. The Need For Balance

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

Showing 576 to 600 of 4508 results