Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 676 to 700 of 4972 results

676. A Stone’s Throw From: The Rolled Stone

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... and that word changes everything. Resurrection. That's the final word and it gives us Hope For Today. B. A number of years ago I stopped by to visit a woman who's husband had died and whose funeral I'd held about two months before. She and her husband had no ... to reach her. I stepped outside and started down the walk. At first I didn't even notice that the sun was out and it had stopped raining. I heard the bolt on the door click and then I looked up. The sky off in the east was still dark and stormy but ...

677. Finding ‘Comfort’ Instead of ‘Little Hope’

Romans 12:12-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... malnourished and in need of medical care. The soldiers opened their hearts and shared their bread with them. However, the soldiers noticed the children were afraid to go to sleep at night. They couldn't figure it out. The fighting had stopped and the sounds of gunfire had stopped. Then one of the soldiers tried an experiment after dinner, just before bed, he gave each of the children a piece of bread to hold. The result was absolutely astounding. When they had the security of bread for tomorrow they slept ...

678. Like a Venomous Snake

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... . There is a cartoon that has two characters saying: “How come opportunity knocks only once, but temptation beats down the door every day?” It’s true. A man asked his wife to help him shed some unwanted pounds. And so she stopped serving him TV snacks with fat and carbohydrates in them. Instead, she substituted celery. While he was unenthusiastically munching on a celery stalk one night, a commercial caught his attention. As he watched longingly, a woman spread gooey chocolate frosting over a ...

679. Your King Comes

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... says that whenever she hears about Jesus riding on a donkey on Palm Sunday she thinks of a story her mother once told her. She said her mother as a child would often look through the pages of the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Invariably her eye would always stop on a donkey pulling a cute red cart behind it. (Yes, evidently you could buy livestock through the Sears catalog in those days.) Beth’s mom as a child loved the idea of having a cute little donkey to help her haul things around on the farm especially ...

680. Rahab: Seven Minutes To Midnight

Joshua 6:15-25

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... hill. The bus driver veers to miss a deer and winds up plunging into the icy river. The driver abandons the kids, the minister is knocked out and that leaves, Simon, Joe and the other kids who are all in a panic. Simon realizes this is that moment. He yells Stop it and takes charge of evacuating the kids through the emergency exit door in the back of the bus. As each of the kids leaves he counts them and then realizes there is one missing. The boy's foot is caught. Simon frees him but while getting his foot ...

681. The Character Of Christmas; Herod: The Not So Great

Matthew 2:13-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... God made [us], not because God is all-knowing, but because God became a simple soul. God became a human being." (6) God became one of us. And that was the greatest act of generosity ever shown. One which nothing and no one, not even Herod the Paranoid, could stop. Make sure you look up and see the star this year. Make sure you make that trip to Bethlehem and peer into that stable. Don't be like Herod and miss the greatest gift ever given. 1. Source Unknown 2. Thanks to Mark Trotter for this illustration. 3 ...

682. Conflict Resolution (Series: Fundamentals of Family)

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a kid, one of my favorite TV shows was Dragnet, where Sergeant Joe Friday regularly said to people, “Just the facts ma’am, just the facts.” Relationships grounded in the truth are helpful to all. So, the first principle of conflict resolution is stop pretending, stop denying, end the cover ups, quit diminishing the facts. Dad has more than a headache every night; he is drinking too much. Mom is more than tired when she sleeps all the time; she is depressed. Johnny’s friends are not responsible for ...

683. Thanks for the Memories

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of us could imagine or think. I thank my God for each of you, for your faithfulness from the first day until now. I thank God because I am confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. (Verse 6) People have been stopping me all week. Tell us about our new preacher. Can he teach like Jesus? Does he preach like Peter? Is he a visionary like Paul? – I’ve never met your new preacher. While everything I hear about him is good, my confidence is deeper than the résumé of your ...

684. Come and See

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... young monk to join him on a trip into town to preach. The young monk was so honored to get such an invitation from St. Francis that he quickly accepted. They paused beneath a tree and Francis stooped to return a young bird to its nest. They went on and stopped in a field crowded with reapers and Francis bent his back to help load the hay onto a cart. From there they went to the town square where Francis lifted a bucket of water from the well for an old woman and carried it home for her. All day long ...

685. Discover the Meaning of Christmas

Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , that number kept goin' through my mind. 7162, 7162. It said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should call you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people, willin' to help folks. I figured that maybe you would help me, too. So I stopped at the grocery store tonight, and I called your missus. I'm not missin' Jesus, mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I am missin' heat. I have no money to fix that furnace." "Okay," said Dad. "You've come to the right place. Now let's see. You ...

686. Reassessing Our Laughter (Series: Questioning Our Values)

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... ’t have one. That made me more bitter. Finally, we adopted a little boy, but then we found out he was mentally retarded. I became even more bitter. The bitterest day of my life was when little Joey died. The day we buried him I completely stopped believing in God. The years passed. My wife started watching your show. I wanted nothing to do with either God or positive thinking, but one day you said something that caught my attention. Slowly, I have come to believe again. I have accepted Jesus Christ as ...

687. Any Favorites?

John 10:22-30

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

... . I love the one who is in trouble until he is safe again. And I love the one who is farthest away until he comes home." Jesus said, "That is what God is like. God is a Divine Parent whose love never stops, a Parent whose love will never give up. You may stop loving God, but God will never stop loving you. You may run away from God, but you will soon find that your legs are too short. You can't get away from God. And that is not a threat, but a promise! God is out on every road where ...

688. The Broken English of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ? Why is Christianity surging in the South and East and not in North America and Europe? Because where the body of Christ is growing the people aren’t trying to do church. They’re doing Pentecost. Maybe it’s time for us as a church to stop relying on our own powers and programs, our blueprints and boilerplates, and start doing what these early disciples did: trust the Spirit and do Pentecost. When we do church, we’re concerned about our protection and position in the church When we do Pentecost, we ...

689. East of Eden or Home

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... most startling answer to Wallace’s shocking question came in an interview with Yahiel Dinur, a concentration camp survivor who testified against Eichmann at the Nuremburg trials. A film clip from Eichmann’s 1961 trial showed Dinur walking into the courtroom, stopping short, seeing Eichmann for the first time since the Nazi had sent him to Auschwitz 18 years earlier. Dinur began to sob uncontrollably, then fainted, collapsing in a heap on the floor as the presiding judicial officer pounded his gavel for ...

690. On the Road with the Little Children

Luke 18:15-17

Sermon

James W. Moore

... that in the spirit of child-like trust… that’s when we know… really know… the “Blessed Assurance” we sing about and that’s when we know “the peace that passes all understanding.” That day long ago, Jesus said: “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them: for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs.” There are so many child-like qualities that we as Christians of all ages would do well to embrace and cherish and hold onto all the days of our lives. Let me underscore ...

691. Deferential Joy

John 16:12-15

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... is that each of the four of us was making hand gestures to encourage someone to go first. After being momentarily stuck with no one moving, the next thing you knew, all four of us crept forward a bit at the same moment! Again we all stopped and again we all encouraged each other to go first. After lots of silly grins and even laughter among us four strangers, eventually we managed to get someone to go first. It was the complete opposite of what often characterizes road rage—we were terminally deferential ...

692. The Ark of the Covenant

Exodus 25:10-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... what a dramatic sight. The overflowing Jordan, stretching out before them, the ark of the covenant being borne by them, burning in their mind the call of God to go, the priest didn’t stop. “They went straight ahead and when they stepped into the waters – the waters flowing down toward the sea stopped; the waters were separated and the people passed through Jordan. There’s beautiful picture of it expressed there in the 17th verse: “And while all Israel were passing over on dry ground, the priests ...

693. A Goodly Heritage

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in just before the sermon and leave before benediction. Had been going several Sundays, when one Sunday, people got in aisle and I couldn’t get out. I wanted to leave…couldn’t get past…got nervous, and afraid somebody would try to speak to me; afraid somebody would stop me and say “What’s a boy like you doing here?” I was hot, cold, sweaty, nervous, when I felt hand on shoulder. Turned and looked and it was that preacher. He looked at me and I felt, “Oh no, I’m in for it now!” He looked ...

694. Climbing the Right Ladder

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Stripe crawled down the friendly tree in search of something more. But nothing seemed to satisfy. Stripe joined a group of climbers, determined to rise above average caterpillars. He climbed up. He climbed down. He frolicked in the grass with a lady named Yellow. But it was not until Stripe stopped, grew very still and waited in the darkness, that Stripe the caterpillar became a butterfly. I’ve got news for you. God wants to make something beautiful out of your life. The question is simply this, will you ...

695. Checking Out the Scene

John 1:35-42

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... they were changed in that conversation. What if the same Christ came to you and me and dared to say, “Come and see.” Check it out; give it a chance. It could mean life to you. So for seven days I want to invite you to do three things. 1. STOP Charles Kuralt said, “It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole world is not in flames, that there are people in this country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in a hurry all of my ...

696. The Good Samaritan - Sermon Starter

Luke 10:25-37

Illustration

Brett Blair

... would think that the man would be pleased and go home. But lawyers are never happy. A lawyer's responsibility is to define the limits of liability. "But he, desiring to justify himself, asked ‘Who is my neighbor.'" In other words, where does my responsibility stop? Who exactly am I responsible for?" At this point, instead of further defining the question, Jesus tells a story. A way of indirect teaching. A certain rich man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho. We can surmise that this man was probably a Jew ...

697. Hunger and Politics

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... so to speak, and still we want more. You are hungry, and you are what you eat. The cravings of your soul will not be stilled. A meal will reset the alarm of your biological clock. Food will keep your hungry body going. Potato chips and a soda will stop the munchies for a while. But what are you feeding your soul? Augustine reflected on the spiritual character of our race. "Man is one of your creatures, Lord," he said, "and his instinct is to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot ...

698. Ecological Politics

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... in time with the music of heaven, and the animals of earth dance around him with delight. Even the big people begin to hear transcendent melodies, and the night has become as friendly as dawn or daylight. Eventually the child tires, as all children do, and the cooing stops, the clapping ceases, and the animals slink away. But they are no longer predators, and the fear of both man and beast has vanished. All that is left is the child. And those who linger in awe know that there is a new center of gravity in ...

699. Personal Politics

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... to pain and frustration. Only if we can somehow reframe the other person's image in our senses as a "pagan or tax collector" — that is, someone who needs to experience the grace of God — can we still the inner growls and get the beast of our hatred to stop bristling. It is not easy. I have two names in particular that set me off every time I hear them. I wish it were otherwise, but it is not. These people have genuinely hurt me badly in the past, and I carry angst about them into my eternal present. Yet ...

700. Political Pardon

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... bitterness toward Hilda. By this time, Fouke was in too much pain to protest, or to sputter a declaration of his righteousness over against Hilda's gross waywardness in this sordid matter. All he could do is plead for some way to be healed. The pebbles could be stopped, he was told, and the pain lessened, if he gained the miracle of Magic Eyes. What might these be, he asked, these Magic Eyes? The Magic Eyes would allow him to see Hilda as she was before the adultery, Fouke was told. "But you can't change ...

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