Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 726 to 750 of 813 results

726. The Question that Will Change Your Life

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... like the average computer printer except rather than printing out a picture of an object, it prints out the object itself. It’s amazing! This past year there have been stories of these printers being used to print fully functioning pistols (that’s scary!), toys and even body parts. We’ve already had kidney and heart tissues printed out on these printers. One of the more intriguing uses of the 3-D printer, however, is a service offered by a company called Shapify. Shapify offers a service by which ...

727. Running over the Cat

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

King Duncan

... . They were beyond being comforted. The widow kept saying, “You’re right, I know you’re right, but it doesn’t make any difference.” “Then a man walked in,” says Kushner, “a big burly man in his eighties who was a legend in the toy and game industry. He had come to this country illiterate and penniless and had built up an immensely successful company. He was known as a hard bargainer, a ruthless competitor. Despite his success, he had never learned to read or write . . . He had been sick ...

728. An Announcement about Our Future

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... energies on the peripherals of this season of the year and not on the principal reason for the season. Maybe betrayal is giving in to the rampant materialism of this season of the year. I read somewhere that the amount of money Americans spend on toys each year exceeds the gross national product of 64 other countries in the world. “When it was evening, Jesus ate his very last meal with his disciples, and tells them, ‘one of you will betray me.’” That’s the evening a time of betrayal. “Therefore ...

729. Who's Your Master?

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... a cross. Obedience is not a trait that is easy to learn. It’s certainly not an easy trait for children to learn. Marguerite Provost, in Today’s Christian Woman tells about her three-year-old granddaughter, Beverly, who was playing with her toys. Her mother, who was folding laundry across the room, noticed Beverly’s shirt was dirty and needed to be changed. After calling two times with no response, her mother gave her the full three-name call: “Beverly Elizabeth Provost, did you hear me?” Beverly ...

730. A Fig Tree Sprouts Leaves

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... her a time to explore and discover new things and places along the way. But there was a problem. Patricia liked talking on her cell phone while she drove and listening to music on her iPod. Fortunately, Patricia reached Florida safely, but the distractions of her high tech toys caused her to miss a sign for an important turn. Before long, she was lost--unaware of what to do next. She began to worry. This was an event she did not want to miss. She had been looking forward to this reunion for quite some time ...

731. Brushing Your Teeth with Oreos

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... opt for a pull-down conversation mirror, which allows you to glance at your children in the back without turning around or readjusting your rearview mirror. (2) It’s nice that big corporations are trying to find ways to help families. Unfortunately, the high-tech toys they’re creating are usually part of the problem, not the solution. Futurist Daniel Burrus tells about a friend of his who was looking forward to a vacation in the car with his wife and kids. His children were getting older, and he knew ...

732. Putting Away Childish Things

Illustration

Michael P. Green

“You know,” said the father of five while busily cleaning up the toys in the yard, “since I’ve been married, I’ve learned the meaning of those words in the Bible, ‘When I became a man, I put away childish things.’ ”

733. God's Rocks

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A boy’s toy boat went out of reach on a pond one day and started floating away. A man on the side started throwing rocks at the boat and the boy became horrified at what might happen. But then he realized that the rocks were going over the boat and making ripples that finally pushed the boat back to shore and into the boy’s hands. Many times, when we stray away from God, it appears that he is throwing rocks at us. But he is really using the ripples to bring us back home.

734. Sleep Walking

Illustration

Michael P. Green

One evening a couple was entertaining some company in their home. After their two young daughters had been put to bed, the older child returned and told her parents that her two-year-old sister was not in bed but was playing with her toys. The parents told the girl to return to her room and to send her sister out to the living room. The two-year-old girl, knowing full well that she was supposed to be sleeping and that she had been acting contrary to her parents’ wishes, began the slow walk, ...

735. Ruth and Boaz on the Threshing Floor

Ruth 3:1-18

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... the door. There a gang surrounds a man’s home, pounding violently on the door. Here a woman moves quietly and discreetly. There a gang bellows loudly and publicly. Here a man tries to protect a woman’s reputation. There a gang “toys with” a woman (’alal; NIV: abuses). Here an older man makes tender promises. There a younger man makes crude demands (“Get up! Let’s go!”). Interpreted in its context, the book of Ruth challenges the simplistic militance prevalent among some that “patriarchal ...

736. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 11:1-31

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... who deserve it! Compare 21:18. 11:9 Antithetic. Despite the calumny by the wicked, the wisdom of the righteous will save them. Such is the advantage of knowledge (= wisdom). 11:10–11 Antithetic. Both sayings deal with the city. As C. H. Toy (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Proverbs [Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1899], p. 226) remarks concisely, “the first couplet states the fact, the second the reason.” 11:12 Antithetic. Control of the tongue is a cardinal aspect of wisdom. Derision ...

737. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 12:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... verse 26b is not clear in either case. Caution in friendship is a frequent motif (cf. 18:24; 19:4, 6–7; Sir. 6:5–17) but is it to be found in verse 26a? The footnote follows the RV, but guide is a doubtful translation. As for verse 26b, Toy (Proverbs, p. 257) points out that it is never said that the way itself causes one to stray. Rather, one goes astray in the wrong way. But the NIV translates what the MT has. The NJPS silently emends to “leads astray,” omitting them. 12:27 The text is quite ...

738. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 21:1-31

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... s, “evil one,” as the subject of v. 26a, is not helpful. 21:28 The LXX reflects the MT except for Hb. lāneṣaḥ, “forever” (Gk. phulassomenos, “keeping guard”). This is not an improvement. The various hypothetical restorations are summarized in Toy (Proverbs) and McKane (Proverbs). The NIV understands Hb. lāneṣaḥ as a successful testimony which wins out in the end. The most recent study is by J. A. Emerton, “The Interpretation of Proverbs 21:28,” ZAW (Supplement) 100 (1988), pp. 161 ...

739. Further Sayings of the Wise

Proverbs 24:23-34

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... a vivid picture of sleeping instead of working. Laziness and folly go hand in hand (cf. 26:13–16). The comparisons in verse 34 are uncertain, as the footnote in the NIV indicates. The best comment on the text (bandit, armed man) is made by Toy (Proverbs): “Poverty . . . is personified as a powerful and ruthless enemy who destroys or carries off one’s substance” (on 6:11, p. 125). The NIV footnote (see also McKane, Proverbs) has a reading that is difficult to understand. Perhaps it means that the ...

740. A Peaceful Mind

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... a group from St. Matthew’s walked with their pastor through the remaining rubble of that community. It was an unbelievable sight. There was a grain elevator twisted and fallen, a water tower toppled, vehicles and other heavy items strewn around like toys. Whole buildings were gone from their foundations. When they neared the site of their church someone called out, “There’s the statue, there’s Jesus!” Sure enough, there it was--the traditional white statue of Jesus that stands at the altar of ...

741. Babushka

Isaiah 2:1-5, Matthew 2:1-12; 24:37-44

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... , she delayed joining them until the next morning, when it was too late to catch up with them. So she struck out on her own to find this new King. In her attempt to find the child-King, Babushka searched all over. She always carried with her sweets or small toys in her pocket to bring as her gifts to the King. Years went by as Babushka looked into the eyes of all the children she could to see if she could see the king. In fact, sometimes Babushka would go into the nursery of some home to see if the ...

742. Miscellaneous Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 21:1-32, Ezekiel 22:1-31

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... those who endure them faithfully. That, however, is not Ezekiel’s point! Just as he plays with other traditional images (e.g., the vine as a symbol of Israel in 15:1–8, or the lion as a symbol of royalty in 19:1–9) so here the prophet toys with the image of the smelter. For Israel is not the silver, being purged and strengthened by its present trial. Israel—all Israel—is the dross, the waste metal left behind which will never yield silver no matter how hot the fire (vv. 18–19). The point of the ...

743. Jesus, Isaiah’s Servant of the Lord, Heals Many

Matthew 8:14-17, Matthew 8:5-13, Matthew 8:1-4

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... that I can hardly contain it! I hurry to share this Good News with the butcher, the milkman and anyone who will listen—why then, is it almost painful to open my heart and doors, and release my child to the goyim? To let her play with their pagan toys and eat their snacks? I am truly happy that the Holy Scriptures have been fulfilled not just for us, but for them as well . . . but here’s the rub, that is so much “spiritual talk” while it is on the practical level that I ache. We have been taught ...

744. The Path of Discipleship

Mark 8:31--9:1

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... money and had to surrender their territory to the Dutch, effectively “losing the war.” This is a great reminder for us today when it comes to following Jesus. It can seem very appealing to promote ourselves rather than Christ in order to gain success and the “toys” of the world. This is an example of winning the battles. But if in so doing we are losing or forfeiting our very selves, then ultimately we are losing the war. In light of eternity, it makes more sense to deny our “selves” in order to ...

745. The Birth of Jesus

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... of all things begun by Jesus on the cross as he reconciled all things to himself. It will culminate in God and his church dwelling together forever, face-to-face. Drama: Select two young people ahead of time and supply them with fencing foils, toy lightsabers, squirt guns, or foam dart launchers. Have them come onto the platform unexpectedly in the midst of a fierce battle. Stop them, and insist that they make peace with one another. They can reluctantly agree, then act out an uneasy ceasefire in which ...

746. Following God’s Leading

Num 9:15–10:10

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... . 10:9). In Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia a horn is a gift given to the children by Father Christmas in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Four children miraculously enter Narnia through a wardrobe. Father Christmas gives them gifts that are not toys but practical tools. He presents the horn to Susan with the promise that it should be blown when help is needed, and that help will then be forthcoming. The horn is not actually blown until the next book, Prince Caspian. In that story the rightful ...

747. Elihu Makes His Appearance

Job 32:1--37:24

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... in what he has to say. After all, Elihu has spoken without interruption for a long time, so they are probably getting impatient for him to finish. In 35:16 Elihu accused Job of multiplying words, but he outdoes Job, sounding like a talking windup toy that will not quit. His “little longer” turns into his longest speech, encompassing chapters 36 and 37. 36:3 I will ascribe justice to my Maker. In 35:2, Elihu misconstrued Job as calling God’s righteousness into account. Elihu now insists that he will ...

748. What To Do While Waiting for the Judgment?

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... institutions that seems to be running out of fuel. Nearly half of the marriages in our country each year still end in divorce. Many that are not ending in divorce are ravaged with selfishness and deceit and unfaithfulness. Children have a surfeit of toys but a deficiency of love. Parents invest themselves in their own selfish pursuits far more than they do in each other and in their children. The power that makes marriage creative and enduring is missing. That power is centered in love that is possible ...

749. Out of Our Control

Romans 8:26-30

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: Some metal objects, a plastic bowl or dishpan containing water, and, if possible, a toy boat Boys and girls, the Bible tells us that in everything God works for the good for those who love Him. That seems really strange, because some yucky things happen to us sometimes, don't they? How could the Bible mean that in everything God works to the good? I ...

750. Thank You, Siri...Oops!

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... Letter Box in Washington, D.C., reported, one year, that he had received hundreds of thousands of letters addressed to “Santa Claus” asking Santa to bring many things, but after Christmas, only one letter came to the box thanking Santa Claus for bringing the toys asked for. (1) There is something within the spirit of many people that resists the simple act of saying, “Thank you.” Consider for a moment this event in the life of Jesus. He was walking with his disciples along the border between Samaria ...

Showing results