Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 851 to 875 of 1967 results

851. It Might Have Been ...

Luke 22:1-6, Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 26:47-56

Sermon

He was born in Judea, in the town of Kerioth. His parents were devout; they probably spent more time in the temple (if only because of proximity) than the parents of any other disciple. They must have been acquainted with Scripture ... and I’ve often wondered if they mused over the Proverbs as they chose a name for their young son: "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." In any case, they chose a good name. They chose a name that had been held by one of the twelve sons of Jacob, and as such ...

852. The Passing of the Peace

John 20:24-31

Sermon

George Bass

It was the evening of the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Mary Magdalene had told them that she had actually seen the Lord not far from the tomb where he was buried just three days earlier. "At first," she said, "I thought it was the gardener, but Jesus spoke to me and called me by name, and then I knew that it really was Jesus. He’s alive!" But the disciples hadn’t seen him, and now it was evening. They had to be discussing Mary’s report, as well as those other terrible and terrifying events of the ...

853. When You Are Anxious About Many Things

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever noticed how people differ? Some people can focus on only one thing at a time. Others are not happy unless they have several projects going at the same time. Then there are some people who are so focused it's scary. I chuckled when I read Lawrence A. Keating's description of something that happened during the 1946 Oklahoma-Army football game. Oklahoma coach Jim Tatum paced the sidelines frantically as the Army team took a 21-7 lead over his Sooners. Nearby sat punter Charlie Sarratt, his ...

854. Gettin' Ready For Quittin' Time

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

Chuck Swindoll told a rather gross, but humorous story in one of his books. It takes place right after his graduation from high school. He was working in a machine shop in Houston, Texas. One of the men he worked near in the shop was named Tex. He was an unforgettable character. Tex spent most of his adult life operating a turret lathe in that shop. He was a typical machinist. He wore a little gray and white striped cap "always greasy" and overalls that needed an oil change. And, of course, he chewed ...

855. Day Of Decision

Mark 14:10-26, 43-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Long, long ago, or so I've been told, Two saints, they met on the streets paved with gold. "By the stars in your crown," said the one to the other, "I see that on earth you, too, were a mother. And by the blue tinted halo, I see that you wear, You, too, have known sorrow and deepest despair." "Ah, yes," came the answer, "I once had a son. A sweet little lad, full of laughter and fun." "But, tell of your child!" "Oh, I knew I was blest, The first moment I held Him, close to my breast; And my heart almost ...

856. If You Are The King Of The Jews....

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

Actor Kevin Bacon had a conversation with his six-year-old son after the boy had seen the movie Footloose for the first time. Bacon's son said, "Dad, that was really cool how you jumped up on the roof and swung from the rafters. How did you do that?" "Well, son," said Bacon, "I didn't actually do that part. A stunt man did." "What's a stunt man?" asked his son. "That's someone who dresses like me," said Bacon, "and does things I can't do. Things that are too dangerous." "Oh, well, what about that part in ...

857. It Isn't Easy Getting Ready For Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Many of us can sympathize with a man in Vancouver, Wash., who was ready to decorate his house for Christmas. Unfortunately, when the lights were put away the year before, they were simply tossed into the garage with no attempt to store them so they wouldn't tangle. And so he began one of life's most arduous tasks--untangling Christmas tree lights. As he was trying to untangle them in the driveway, his daughter arrived home in the family car and promptly drove over them. This brought this man to the ...

858. On Doing Beautiful Things

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

That was a beautiful thing which was done in 1989 by the Boy Scouts from Troop 4, sponsored by First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, and from Troop 61, sponsored by Domino’s Pizza. They gave money to help the owner of the taxicab which was damaged by rioters celebrating Michigan’s NCAA Basketball championship. (Ann Arbor News, April 19, 1989, p. 1) That was a beautiful thing to do...and I hope that somebody else sees fit to reimburse the poor fellow for the rest of the repair bill for the incident, ...

859. Who Loves More?

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A friend tells about how when he was a small boy his father’s birthday rolled around, and he did not realize it until it was too late to get his father a birthday present. So, he went through all his resources and came up with 17 cents. He put the dime, the nickel, and the two pennies in an envelope and gave it to his father with a note: “I love you, Dad. Happy Birthday. Thanks for being the best dad in the whole world. Sorry I did not get you a gift. This is all I’ve got.” Years later, at his father’s ...

860. Million Dollar Christmas

Matthew 19:21

Drama

Matthew Powell

Cast Edgar 1 Edgar 2 Bartimaeus Tintoes Helene Essay Reader 1 Essay Reader 2 Essay Reader 3 (Edgar 1 sits facing the audience and addresses the audience only. Edgar 2 stands next to him, but speaks to himself and the other characters in the play. Helene and Essay Readers 1-3 sit at center and stand when they "enter") Edgar 1: I rubbed my eyes and looked at the letter a second time. Yes, I was not asleep; the thing had happened. There was my cup of coffee and the half-eaten donut just as I had left them ...

861. Proper 23

Exodus 32:1-33:6, Isaiah 25:1-12, Philippians 4:2-9, Philippians 4:10-20, Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 32:1-14 The Israelites worship a golden bull. Thinking Moses had deserted them as well as Yahweh, the people persuaded Aaron to make a golden bull out of their jewelry for worship. It is a return to an Egyptian god, Amon-Re, represented by a bull. Yahweh was so angry at their desertion of him, that he threatened to destroy them. Upon Moses' intercession, their plight was avoided. Old Testament: Isaiah 25:1-9 On Mount Zion, God will make a feast for all peoples on the last ...

862. Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired?

Matthew 9:35-10:8

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

"Heal the sick," Jesus commanded (Matthew 10:8). His orders leave our knees knocking and us feeling inadequate. In Edward Albee's play, The Death of Bessie Smith, a character rages, "I'm sick! Sick of everything in this fly-ridden world! I am sick of waking up, I am tired of the truth, I am tired of lying about the truth, tired of my skin! I want out, I want off this world!" Now, that, my friend, is desperate sickness! And perhaps today, as you read this, you find yourself ill. My question is, "Would you ...

863. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

John 16:7-11

Sermon

James Merritt

I heard about a pastor who left the pastorate after twenty years, and decided to become a funeral director. Somebody asked him, "Why did you do that?" He said, "Well, I spent about twelve years trying to straighten out John. He never did get straightened out. I spent fourteen months trying to straighten out the marriage of the Smiths, and it never did get straightened out. I spent three years trying to straighten out Susan, and she never did get straightened out. Now when I straighten them out, they stay ...

864. The Underlying Mercy

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Sermon

Stan Purdum

There was a heartbreaking story from Kansas back in the fall of 2003. During flooding there, a wall of water washed across the Kansas turnpike, overwhelming a family of six in a minivan. In an attempt to save his family, the father, Robert Rogers, kicked out a window, but was immediately sucked out into the torrent. In the end, he was the only member of his family to survive. His wife and their four children, ages one, three, five, and eight, all drowned, the three youngest still strapped into their car ...

865. God's Call for All

Acts 9:35-43

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

A church in Pennsylvania reported the death of one of their members recently. Though this woman and her husband, who had died a few years before, had been immensely wealthy, people spoke not of their wealth, although they were very generous, but of what this woman did. They talked about the cookies she would bake for church functions, the in-home visiting she did, the leadership she provided for the youth, and the soapsuds that lathered her arms as she did dishes after every church dinner. People felt the ...

866. A Day of Singing

Zephaniah 3:14-20, Luke 3:7-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Today we want to celebrate the gift of music. After all, what would Christmas be without music? Didn’t angels sing the night Christ was born? (Luke 2) Well, it doesn’t actually say they were singing. It says they were saying, “Glory to God in the highest . . .” but that sure sounds like singing to me. Music is such a wonderful gift. A few years ago a group of junior high school students was given a test of musical terms. Here were some of their answers: Music sung by two people at the same time is called a ...

867. I Am the Alpha and the Omega

Revelation 1:1-3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Most of you here today would know the name Lloyd C. Douglas, the author of The Robe and Ben Hur. Mr. Douglas shares an experience out of his early life when he was a student at the university. He lived in a boarding house, and on the first floor below him, lived an old man who was a retired music teacher. The fella was infirm and was no longer able to walk. And Lloyd C. Douglas said that each day they would share a ritual together. He would come down the stairway and knock on the music teacher’s door and ...

868. The Power of a Vision

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Exactly three years ago today, we introduced the vision of Touching Hearts and Transforming Lives as the guiding light of our life together. People’s hearts are being touched and lives are being transformed. One middle-aged man walked into this church about 14 months ago and walked out a changed person. God is capable of instant conversions. For others the transformation has been like a precious flower coming to full blossom. Slowly but surely their lives are being formed into the image of Christ as they ...

869. Big Men in Little Planes

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

There is an interesting story that comes out of the Second World War. England and Germany both had state-of-the-art fighter planes. Germany had the Messerschmitt, which was considered to be the world’s fastest fighter plane. The British had the Supermarine Spitfire. The Spitfire was slower than the Messerschmitt. Nevertheless, German pilots were envious of their British counterparts. You see, the Messerschmitt had been designed to hold the perfect German. Who was the perfect German? Who else but Der Fuhrer ...

870. The Keys to Effective Praying

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to begin with a true but incredible story. Back in September 1996 a man named Edouardo Sierra, a citizen of Spain, was on a business trip to Sweden. He was driving through the Swedish countryside when he came upon a Catholic church. He decided to stop in for a few moments to say a prayer. The church was empty except for a coffin with a body lying at rest inside it. Edouardo decided to take a few moments to stop and pray for the man who lay in the coffin. Then he signed a book of remembrance left by ...

871. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I. I weep for Adonais – he is dead! O, weep for Adonais! though our tears Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head! And thou, sad Hour, selected from all years To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers, And teach them thine own sorrow, say: “With me Died Adonais; till the Future dares Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be An echo and a light unto eternity!” II. Where wert thou, mighty Mother, when he lay, When thy Son lay, pierced by the shaft which flies In darkness? where was lorn Urania ...

872. A Lost Boy

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

King Duncan

(Growing Strong in the Season of Lent, Lent 4) A father tells of putting his 4-year-old daughter to bed one evening. He read her the story of the Prodigal Son. They discussed how the younger son had taken his inheritance and left home, living it up until he had nothing left. Finally, when he couldn’t even eat as well as the pigs, he went home to his father, who welcomed him. When they finished the story, the Dad asked his daughter what she had learned. After thinking a moment, she quipped, “Never leave ...

873. A Rebellious Nation

Isaiah 1:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Introduction--Jerusalem Judged and Restored: Chapter 1 introduces both the message of Isaiah ben Amoz over three decades and the book as a whole. The people have paid the penalty for abandoning their relationship with Yahweh (vv. 2–9) and need to own the fact that they have perverted their life with Yahweh by practicing religion but not justice (vv. 10–20); judgment can then be a creative purging that restores justice as well as the relationship (vv. 21–31). 1:1 The fact that the word vision always denotes ...

874. Job Considers a Legal Dispute with God

Job 9:1–10:22

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Job wants God to declare him righteous, but he cannot envision how to bring this about. Understanding the Text In chapters 9 and 10, Job takes up the challenge made by Bildad in 8:5 to plead with the Almighty. As he contemplates this possibility, Job focuses on his legal status before God. In this speech he begins to work out in his mind how he might approach God with his situation, and how God might respond to him. In his soliloquy in chapter 9, Job turns over in his mind whether he should enter ...

875. The Power of the Trust Factor

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

How can we trust God when life seems to turn on us? You know what I mean, I am sure. You are going through life with ease and smoothness then all of a sudden things begin to unravel. You put your head down and try harder but it does not work. As one old saying puts it, "The harder I try the behinder I get!" No one in all human history personifies those words better than Job. Scripture speaks glowingly of this good man, describing him as "blameless and upright." It says that Job "feared God." If the ...

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