Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 801 to 825 of 1044 results

801. Praying Through

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

No doubt you have heard about the postal service's "Dead Letter Department." That's the place where mail goes when it is not clearly addressed or has insufficient postage and the sender's identity cannot be determined. There the letter is opened and its contents examined for clues to the sender's identity. If the return address cannot be determined the letter is destroyed. It never reaches its destination, and any requests made by the writer remain unanswered. How about you? Do you feel like your prayers ...

802. The Spirit of...Winter?

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

An elementary public school south of Seattle had its own run-in with this year's holiday tree controversy. The school had set up a "Giving Tree," one of those neon coiled silver-trees adorned with cut-out paper mittens, each one of which held the wish of a particular child living at one of the nearby homeless shelters. School kids were encouraged to select a mitten, purchase a wish-gift for the homeless child, and turn the gift and mitten back into the principal's office. The gifts would be taken to the ...

803. How to Beat the Devil

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

(Note: I've chosen to wait until the end of the sermon to introduce the button images - EASY button versus REJECT and RESET buttons. You may choose to introduce them much earlier.) With the Super Bowl finally out of the way, we can now focus on something really important - basketball! In basketball things change so much more quickly than in football. Partly because there are three-point shots; partly because of the trumping effect of last second foul shots; partly because the basketball court is still the ...

804. Don't Be a Turkey (Thanksgiving)

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Alex Gondola

There is little question that the commercially grown turkey is, pound for pound, one of nature’s less intelligent creatures, at least according to an article I once read. In that article, author Fred McGuiness calls the domesticated turkey "as brainless as a baseball," and describes how turkeys can have trouble doing even simple things. For example, your average turkey can get into trouble doing something as simple as eating. Turkeys have been known to starve to death right next to a mountain of food. But ...

805. Others

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One of the most terrifying places you can visit with a small, speedy toddler is a big, slow-you-down department store. The marketing geniuses who design floor layouts for these big stores have come up with a common strategy. Do away with nice direct aisles through the store; Do away with any and all right-angled organization within the various departments; Do away with straight lines, and customers will be forced to wander into areas they would never go into as they searched for their intended merchandise ...

806. Straw Polls and Soul Quakes

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Anyone who has ever lived in a small town can tell you the meaning of MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction. At the height of the Cold War, it was MAD that kept the United States and the Soviet Union from blowing each other to bits. You unleash a nuclear weapon on me, and I'll push a button that will send your way an equally devastating nuclear weapon. It is this same MAD-ness – Mutually Assured Destruction – that keeps every small town together. There are no secrets in small towns. When everybody knows ...

807. The Jesus RX and the Biology of Belief

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Every year or so another great cure-all springs from science, folk medicine, or common sense and becomes the hottest "new cure." [Bring some show and tells to pass out to your people-or just show them off. Maybe some people in your church collect old, 19th century remedies and containers they were sold in. Use them as symbols of what you're preaching about. Maybe even have a display set up.] How many of you sucked on and sucked down zinc lozenges a few winters ago when some anonymous "studies" suggested ...

808. The Spiritually Incorrect Spirit

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Our eight-year-old daughter recently attended a wedding with her best friend, accompanied by her parents and two-year-old brother. As soon as the ceremony began, with typical eight-year-old audacity, the girls immediately slunk sideways away from their seats to get a better aisle view. They had heard that you had to french kiss when you got married and whatever that meant, they didn't want to miss a moment of it! But the ceremony ran long. The bride and groom kept talking instead of kissing, and the girls ...

809. Greeting and Meeting Jesus

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

We've all dreamed of someday striking it rich. Come on, you can admit it. Anyone NOT dreamed of somehow, someway someday hitting the big one. It may be secretly buying a lottery ticket every day. It may be having a garage filled with a host of home-made gadgets and inventions that hopefully will be the next big thing. Whatever it may be, the quest for a quick way out of a quicksand world beckons us all. Imagine never having to worry about paying this month's bills or next month's bills. Imagine not only ...

810. In Life Nothing Works but the Impossible

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

EXEGESIS of Matthew 1:18-25 Matthew begins his gospel by taking special care to establish Jesus’ historical and theological identity. The first seventeen verses enumerate the genealogy of Jesus “the Messiah” and establishes Joseph’s lineage as a descendant of the royal house of David. Yet this information also problematizes the narrative, for Matthew also reveals that Jesus’ conception was a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. Mary, a betrothed young woman, remained a virgin until Jesus’ birth. In today’s ...

811. The Battle Hymn

Matthew 17:1-9

Illustration

In 1861, a prominent Bostonian woman and her husband were visiting Washington, D.C. shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War. They witnessed an impressive military review one day and were on their way back to their hotel with some friends in a carriage when their way was blocked by several columns of soldiers. To pass the time, Julia Ward Howe and her friends began to sing popular army songs, including "John Brown's Body." The soldiers cheered the singing, but one of her friends suggested to Mrs. Howe ...

812. Proper 20

Exodus 16:1-36, Matthew 20:1-16, Philippians 1:12-30, Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 16:2-15 is the account of how Israel was miraculously fed manna by God in the wilderness. Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 is a hymn that praises God who cares for Israel on the wilderness journey. Exodus 16:2-15 - "Grace Cannot Be Stored Up" Setting. We observe two background features when interpreting the miracle of manna in Exodus 16:2-15. First, it is important to see that the larger literary setting of this story is a journey. The motif of journeying with God links all of the wilderness ...

813. Changed Lives: The Man Born Blind from Birth

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Author Michael Lindvall tells a delightful tale about James, an overactive seven‑year old who talks a mile a minute, who sleeps sporadically, and who is boundlessly enthusiastic about everything. James loves the company of Angus and Minnie, a retired farm couple in their 80s. For the most part, they enjoy his company as well. It’s Halloween. James bursts into Angus and Minnie’s living room. In deep anguish, he complains that his mom bought him a Teenage‑Mutant Ninja Turtle costume to wear. “No one cares ...

814. Looking Into the Eyes of the Risen Christ

John 20:11-18

Sermon

James W. Moore

On December 10, 2003, a new movie was released. It was called Big Fish. The main character in the film was a man named Edward Bloom. Edward Bloom loved to charm people with his “larger-than-life stories” (some would call them “tall tales” about his youthful and extraordinary adventures with circus performers, with giants and werewolves and one amazing encounter with a so-called witch. In the witch story (which was his son’s favorite bed-time story), Edward Bloom describes in vivid detail how when he was ...

815. Believe in Jesus

Acts 16:25-34

Sermon

James W. Moore

Some years ago on a ranch in South Texas, an elderly woman was critically ill. She was in her 90’s and was at the point of death. All of the family, the ranch hands and the neighbors had gathered around her bed. Quietly, respectfully, they waited and watched and prayed. The doctors had told them that the end was near and there was nothing else that could be done medically… and that it wouldn’t be long now. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. It was a traveling, revival preacher. He had arrived ...

816. The Bridge over Troubled Water

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

James W. Moore

On Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed with devastating and amazing force into the Gulf Coast just east of New Orleans, Louisiana. With screaming, shrieking 175 MPH winds, Katrina smashed ashore and… - destroyed houses and buildings, - turned over cars, trucks and boats, - swamped Mississippi’s beachfront, - blew out windows in hospitals, hotels and high-rises in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, - submerged entire neighborhoods up to their roof-tops in flood water, - separated families ...

817. Life in the Living Stone Age

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Canaan Valley, West Virginia is a high mountain valley. It is, in fact, the largest high mountain valley east of the Rockies. The valley nestles in the bottom of a bowl, surrounded by barren, windblown tundra on the tops of the mountains. As you walk across the strangely spongy surface of the mosses and lichens that cling to the earth high up on the mountain ridge, suddenly there rears up a row of teeth in front of you, stone stalagmites pushing up from the earth. Chiseled and chipped by decades of wind ...

818. An Emmaus Experience

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Mark R. Smith

There's a story about a young boy named Walter Elias. He was born in the city, but his parents moved out to the country to become farmers. Walter had a vivid imagination and the farm was the perfect place for a young boy and a wondering mind. One day in the apple orchard he was amazed when he saw sitting on a branch of one of the apple trees an owl. He just stood there and stared at the owl. He thought about what his father had told him about owls: owls always rested during the day because they hunted ...

819. Cook Food. Serve Love.

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A lot of families are being forced to come to terms with two competing philosophies of life living under one roof. A battle is always waging over who has access to the power. The competing family members demand their own special place in the house. Parents struggle to keep the lines of communication open, but it is tough to understand all the different messages being sent. The two camps each have their own specialized vocabulary and unique semiotics. Of course, we are talking here about homes in which some ...

820. Just Know Him in His Victorious Resurrection

Acts 13:29-39

Sermon

James Merritt

Billy Graham once said, "If I were an enemy of Christianity, I would aim right at the Resurrection because that is the heart of Christianity." The British philosopher, C. E. M. Joad, was once asked, "If you could ask one question, and be sure of getting the right answer, what would it be?" Without a moment's hesitation, he replied, "Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead?" That indeed is the question of all questions. To say that Jesus Christ died is one thing. Even to say He died on a cross for the world's ...

821. Food For Thought

1 Peter 1:13-21

Sermon

James Merritt

The most powerful part of a human being is not the part that he can see, but the part that he cannot see. That is true even for a bodybuilder. You may think that the most powerful part of a bodybuilder is his muscles, but really the most powerful part is his mind. The Bible says you are what you think, and the old saying is true, "You're only as old as you think." An old man walked into a doctor's office and said, "Doc, I've got to have a blood test, I'm going to get married." The doctor looked at him with ...

822. Easter and a Lost World

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

James Merritt

Not long ago a lady wrote Dear Abby a letter, and in this letter this is what she said: Dear Abby: Your answer to the woman who complained that her relatives were always arguing with her about religion, was ridiculous. You advised her to simply declare the subject off- limits. Are you suggesting that people talk only about trivial meaningless subjects so as to avoid a potential controversy?…It is arrogant to tell people there are subjects that they may not mention in your presence. You could have suggested ...

823. Are You In the Know

Job 19:23-27

Sermon

James Merritt

Most of us don't remember, but many years ago doctors used to make house calls. That is, they would actually come to your house with their little black bag, and they would examine you. One day a man took deathly ill, and his wife called the doctor and the doctor came out to the house. When he walked in, the wife told him that her husband was upstairs. He told her to wait there; he went upstairs; was gone for a little while; after a few minutes came down and asked for a screwdriver. She gave him one. He ...

824. The Empire Strikes Back

Jude 1:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

My sermon is not going to be anything like the movie with the same title. It is different in two very distinct ways. I am not going to be talking about Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Yoda, nor R2D2. Rather, I am going to be speaking about a real empire, the Kingdom of God, and the real Emperor, whose name is Jesus. Furthermore, in the movie “The Empire Strikes Back” the hero, Han Solo, is left carbon-frozen in need of being rescued. But when this empire strikes back, the ...

825. An All-Night Wrestling Match

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One of my heroes in the faith is Chuck Colson. I have just finished reading his latest book, “A Life Redeemed.” Colson was President Nixon’s attorney and special assistant. He was a notorious leader of “dirty tricks” during the Watergate scandals of the early 1970’s. He was rumored to have said that he would walk over his grandmother if it helped President Nixon. He went to jail for his crimes. But today at the age of 75, he is one of the most prominent evangelical leaders in America. Colson is a prime ...

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