Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 776 to 800 of 4944 results

776. Do Wrinkles Hurt?

Psalm 92:1-15

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

A seven-year-old girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap. As the little girl moved her hand across the older woman's face, Grandma said, "Those are my wrinkles. They mean that I'm getting older." The little girl asked, "Do wrinkles hurt?" What a loaded question! It involves more than just wrinkles. It deals with the whole business of getting older. Everybody has to address that question if one lives long enough. Is it fun to get old? Is it humiliating? Should we look forward to it or dread it? Should we ...

777. The Sin of Robin Hood

Exodus 20:15

Sermon

James Merritt

There are many things you could say about the fictional character Robin Hood. He was handsome, dashing, romantic, courageous, compassionate, kind, and loyal. But, at bottom, he was a thief. Even though he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, the end does not justify the means. Regardless of his motive, Robin Hood was both a robber and a hood who broke the eighth commandment "You shall not steal." America has become a nation full of Robin Hoods. USA Today magazine ran an article entitled, "How Honest ...

778. Etched in Stone

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A mother and her two small boys were having a serious discussion about stealing and why it was wrong. “Tell me,” she said, “Why do you think stealing is wrong?” Five-year-old Luke said that stealing was against God’s laws. He had learned about the Ten Commandments in Sunday school. Mother asked the boys if they knew any of the other Ten Commandments. Luke remembered two others: “You shall not murder,” and “Honor your father and mother.” But the boys couldn’t think of any other commandments, until little ...

779. A Time for Opportunity

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you are familiar with a 26-year-old blogger in Montreal, Canada named Kyle MacDonald. Kyle is the ultimate modern day horse trader. He has become famous for trading a red paper clip for a house. Yes, you heard right. A paper clip for a house. How did he accomplish this remarkable exchange? Well, he didn’t have a job, but one day he looked at a red paper clip on his desk and decided to trade it on the barter section of the popular website Craigslist. He asked people to trade with him anything of ...

780. Assurance: The Privilage of All Believers

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

One of my favorite writers is Loren Eiseley. He is an anthropologist and naturalist who can blend scientific knowledge and imaginative vision, and record his findings with the perception of a painter, the words of a poet, and the heart of a prophet. I share one of his stories in his own words, because the way he puts words together is powerful and inspiring. “The sound that awoke me was the outraged cries of the nestling’s parents, who flew helplessly in circles about the clearing. (A raven had raided ...

781. The Beginning of the Story

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

“And now you know the rest of the story!” That’s the way Paul Harvey closes those dramatic monologues which keep your mind on tiptoe as you discover the fascinating life details and historical quirks of notable people and events. Paul Harvey is a craftsman with words and pulls us to the edge of our seat to learn the rest of the story. Mark, our Gospel writer, does the same thing - but for “the beginning of the story”, not the rest of it. A visitor to the Grand Canyon looked at that mighty panorama of God’s ...

782. Follow

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

If my wife puts up with me another five weeks, we will have been married forty-two years. For those of you too young to remember, things have changed. There were no cell phones or text messages forty-two years ago. E-mail and iPods were not even dreamed of. Even land phones were party lines. So, young teenagers in love back then had to find creative ways to communicate. That's where The Cokesbury Hymnal came in. During long sermons in the little church of our childhood, Sandy and I communicated through ...

783. Personal Accountability

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

The introductory formula The word of the LORD came to me in 18:1, and the concluding formula declares the Sovereign LORD in 18:32, clearly demarcate the first unit of this section. Unconventional, but equally clear, markers set off the second unit, 19:1–14. In 19:1 the Lord commands the prophet: “Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel.” The final verse of the chapter repeats this identification: “This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.” The common theme connecting the sermon in chapter ...

784. Sole Brother

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

It was an hour before conference time. They were getting off to a late start and it looked like speed limit all the way for any chance of making it in time for the opening gavel. The pastor behind the wheel had experienced the inevitable last minute problems relating to Sunday’s bulletin. One of the hymns he’d picked for the service had only the second tune in their hymnals. The congregation wasn’t familiar with it and the choir couldn’t lead it without practice, and they weren’t practicing this week. It ...

785. The Bent-over Woman

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

As was his custom, Jesus went that Sabbath morning to the synagogue for worship. As he was preaching and teaching, he happened to glance toward the fringe of the crowd where he saw a very crippled woman. She was bent over and was unable to stand up straight. When he inquired, Jesus was told the woman had been that way for eighteen years. Can you imagine? For nearly two decades this woman spent every waking moment bent double. When she went to the market she did not see the distant green hillsides. She saw ...

786. When the Pressure Is On

John 6:1-14

Sermon

James Merritt

Is there anybody here under pressure? Do you ever feel like you live in a pressure cooker? Did you know that it takes longer to cook food at high altitudes, because at high altitudes the air pressure is much lower than in the lower plains? Because of that the boiling point of water is lower, and therefore it takes much longer to cook food. But in a pressure cooker high pressures are built up within the vessel, which raises the boiling point of water, and food can be cooked within minutes. In fact, the ...

787. Oh That Cookie Jar Goodness!

Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) Prop: If you can find one, a “lie detector” device could also serve as an interesting opening (in reference to the movie, “Meet the Parents”) Has anyone had one of those mothers or grandmothers….or maybe a father or grandfather who just seems to know your next move? You’re going for the cookie jar when you hear a voice clear from the other ...

788. Now, It's Personal

Matthew 5:21-37

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Thirty years ago I was serving on the staff of a large church as the minister of Christian Education and Youth Ministry. The Education Commission and the Youth Council were made up, mostly of parents who worked with me on the programs for youth and children — Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, those kinds of things. One year, for Vacation Bible School, we decided to set up a large tent — a really large one under which you could seat 100 or more people — on the parking lot and use it for our opening ...

789. Bold Faith

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

To speak up, to speak loudly and boldly about who you are and what you need can be challenging, especially for those with a history of trauma or who have been raised in households in which being quiet and staying out of the way was your best form of survival. But Jesus’ message in the scriptures seems to indicate that in his presence, we are encouraged to “speak up!” In fact, throughout the scriptures, God has encouraged those who felt they had no voice or an inadequate voice to speak boldly and loudly, ...

790. A Sourdough Sprirituality

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

[To do this sermon in the best fashion, you'll need a couple things. First, find someone in your congregation or a local baker who will share with you their sourdough starter. A bowl you can use for this sermon will greatly enhance your presentation. Also, to the extent that you can, integrate their sourdough story into your sermon, replacing as much of the story below with their story as you can. Secondly, you'll need one or two bags (per service) of different kinds of bread. The easiest way of doing this ...

791. How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Country singer Gene Watson croons: Slip into something soft, And then come slip into my arms again. Strip away your conscience and Take off your wedding band. Cheating has become America's national pastime. Statistically, 65 percent of men have affairs by age forty. For women, it's 35 percent. Talking with a pastor who had demitted the ministry due to sexual misconduct, he confided, "I never thought it could happen to me. But it did. For fifteen minutes of rolling in the sheets I sacrificed everything ...

792. When God Is The Problem

Psalm 13:1-6

Sermon

Robert G. McCreight

Introduction During Lent we are focusing our biblical attention almost exclusively on the passages from the psalms, allowing their themes and their spirit to rise up and identify themselves to us. Today we are continuing to gain a greater familiarity with these conversations from the heart. Through song and reading and spoken word the religiosity of the psalmists of old is speaking to us today. A For the first two Sundays in Lent our attention was on what Old Testament professor Walter Brueggeman called ...

793. Do It For the Joy of It!

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

In the text for last week we saw how impossible it becomes to try to limit a description of appropriate Christian behavior to a rigid, inflexible code. There is a danger on the other extreme as well: The Christian can come to the (erroneous) conclusion that everything is relative, in constant flux, and totally dependent on the situation, one’s own feelings, and the individual’s point of view. Not so. Christianity is flexible enough to address a changing world. But Christian faith is also rooted. There is a ...

794. What It Takes to Do the Job

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

What is Job #1 in your life? We know what it is for Ford, right? At least they say it's Quality. What is Job #1 in your life? That's not all that bad a question to be asking at the beginning of Lent. Of course we get a lot of answers from our parents, from our teachers, from our politicians, and even from our pastors. Job #1 is being home on time, keeping your room clean, not talking back, doing your homework, getting an A, paying your bills, being successful, supporting the party, staying off drugs, ...

795. Passing and Failing

Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

School might be tolerable if we could do away with tests. We would still have the awkward social situations and homework, but getting rid of tests would surely help. After all, who needs the late nights, the sweaty palms, or the mental blocks? What do you do if you've studied hard, but the teacher asks a question about the one part of the assignment you didn't understand? Then, we have to deal with the fist in the pit of the stomach when we get the grades back. For some people, the tests don't end until ...

796. When God Speaks You Better Listen

Jonah 1:1-17

Sermon

James Merritt

There is an old saying that "truth is stranger than fiction." Many times that is true. The book of Jonah proves that very point. When a man catches a fish, we accept that as truth. But if a fish catches a man, we would think that is fiction. Jonah is a story of truth that sounds like fiction. One reason I know it is true is because Jesus Christ believed it was true. He said in Matt. 12:40-41: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days ...

797. Weakness into Strength

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

James McCormick

Occasionally I stumble across wisdom in an unlikely place. Some time ago, when we were living in Arizona, I was driving from one appointment to another. My mind was wandering in a dozen different directions, as usual. The radio was playing, but I was not paying much attention to it – that is, until the commercial came on. It was a catchy little advertisement for a Savings and Loan Association. A man, obviously unschooled in the complexities of finance, was being interviewed. He was asked a lot of questions ...

798. Great Balls of Fire!

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Happy Natal Day, church! As a kid did you ever terrorize a sibling by scuffing your feet on the carpet and walking towards your “prey” with an index finger pointing at them? The threat, of course, was “static electricity.” If you touched you brother or sister, it meant a small but smarting little zap. A small shock — big fun! A local grocery store (actually, the local Orcas Island Supermarket where we live) recently bit the bullet and spent big money on some major renovations. Among the improvements was ...

799. Ten Commandments and the People’s Response

Exodus 20:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Overview: When Jesus is asked which commandment is the most important, he affirms two fundamental principles that characterize the Law and the Prophets: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:28–34; Matt. 22:34–40; Luke 10:25–27). The Decalogue (literally the “Ten Words,” or the Ten Commandments) itself opens with “the Lord your God” (20:2) and closes with “your neighbor” (20:17). ...

800. The Case of the Stolen Inheritance

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Jesus’ love for stories is well known. He knew that human beings learn better through stories that demonstrate, resonate, and reverberate with their experiences and lives than simply telling them what they ought to do. The goal for Jesus was not just to infuse learning but to provoke “turning” one’s behavior around in a different direction. This required not just a cognitive register in the brain, but a genuine movement of the heart. What moves your heart? Think about the books you’ve read or the movies ...

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