Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 901 to 925 of 928 results

901. Singing the Lord's Song

1 John 3:16-24

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan. How many of you remember that special "Joy" song we used to sing at Vacation Bible School? We would sing: "I have got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart..." And then the leader would shout, "Where?" And we would shout, "down in my heart" Again we'd be asked, "Where?" And again we'd sing, "down in my ...

902. The Gift of Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... resentment toward someone else. Kent Crockett, in the The 911 Handbook, puts it this way, “Unforgiveness will keep us chained to whomever we don’t forgive. When we go to bed at night, the unforgiven person is there to keep us awake. When we go on vacation, the unforgiven person travels with us to our destination. The only way to get unchained is to forgive and release the person who has offended us.” (4) But there is a third reason for us to practice forgiveness that is even more compelling. It is ...

903. How Much Should We Pack?

Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)

Sermon

William G. Carter

As much as I like to travel, I am never sure how much to pack. When my wife and I take off for a week long vacation, we do our best to keep a week’s worth of possessions down to one suitcase. That is the goal. There is never a guarantee it will happen. Packing is determined by two contradictory principles: how do we move quickly? How can we be prepared for every contingency? How many ...

904. Seeds

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

... never occur to them to go to Last Presbyterian Church. The music is stunning, the building is well- kept, the preacher went to an important seminary, and most of the people look just like them. But then, some friends at the club mention some wonderful vacation spots. The kids get involved in weekend sports, not because they’re great athletes, but there’s where their friends are. Time passes, and one of the deacons sees them in the grocery store on a Tuesday night. “It’s been forever since we’ve ...

905. Rest

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... change his clothes, and off we’d go, six hours in the car, along the endless road. Next morning, he would wake early on his parents’ farm, slug down some coffee, and ask if there was anything he could do to help. He didn’t rest when he went on vacation. There are a lot of people like that. They can quote the Bible: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop,”(Proverbs 16:27, TLB) says one version of a verse from the book of Proverbs.(Proverbs 16:27) Or there is that section that somebody read to us at ...

906. Easter Is True

Luke 24:13-35 · 1 Peter 1:17-23

Sermon

Will Willimon

... Christ from the dead,... without having seen Him you love him: though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy." I still remember, as vividly as if yesterday, sitting in a service in my home church during Easter vacation of my sophomore year. I had dutifully gotten up on Easter morning and gone to church to please the folks. Most of the service foiled to impress me. It was a skeptical time in my life when I had decided that most of this church stuff made little ...

907. The Grip

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that 58% of Americans have less than $5,000 in savings with 10% having none at all.[1]A recent relationship survey claimed that 75% of divorcing couples cited lack of commitment as their primary reason for separating.[2] How many of you get ready to go on vacation, only to realize that you’ve forgotten half of the things you need for your trip? We are a people who do not want to deal with “readiness.” We do not want to slow down from our frenetic cultural pace in order to think through whether or not ...

908. Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

William G. Carter

... a lot of top soil and spread it around. With the best Scotts Premium tall fescue he could buy, he reseeded the entire yard. Guess what? The grass came up. It was beautiful. The weeds came back. They had to send him to a padded room for a short vacation. Where do the weeds come from? This is the recurring question in lawn care and life. If Jesus says, “the kingdom of heaven is like a gardener who throws around a lot of seed,” his very next episode is about the reality of weeds. There are weeds in every ...

909. The Fearful Meeting

Genesis 32:1-20; 33:1-4, 12-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... first family, a real family all mixed up with the fear, distrust, envy, and deceit, popcorn, trips to Disneyworld, and sitting on the front row at church. It's a mess when such a family gets together, risky. "Can't we just get through one Christmas vacation without a big fight?" they ask. ''Don't start on me, Rebekah." Well, there haven't been too many family reunions since Isaac died and Rebekah passed away, since Jacob slipped out of town with his brother threatening to cut his throat for ruining his life ...

910. Dynamic Preaching January 2024 Sermons

Sermon

King Duncan

... president said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning," the diplomat responded softly, ''I'm sure she had it coming to her." Nope. Nobody listens. Even to people who are important to us. A young woman tells of a time when her father went on a three weeks’ vacation to London, England. He called her one evening just to check up on her and see if all was okay. The phone callsignal wasn’t that good. For the life of her, she says, she didn’t recognize his voice. She heard the person say something like ...

911. A Talking Metronome

Luke 2:21-40

Humor Illustration

King Duncan

... -on bag onto the security-check conveyor belt. The guard's eyes widened as he watched the monitor. He asked what I had in the bag, then slowly pulled out the six-by-three-inch black box covered with dials and switches. Other travelers, sensing trouble, vacated the area. "A metronome," I replied weakly, as my son cringed in embarrassment. "It's a talking metronome," I insisted. "Look, I'll show you." I took the box and flipped a switch, realizing that I had no idea how it worked, "One... two... three... four ...

912. Passover Or Passalong?

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... food and drank the wine, they remembered it all. For the disciples, meeting around the tables for the seder that night was a welcomed break from the stress. The past few years had been difficult as they followed Jesus around, but they now looked like a vacation compared to what had been happening since they came to Jerusalem four days ago. No matter where they went now, people were shouting to them; some cheering them on and some demanding they be arrested. This room they sat in tonight felt so quiet, so ...

913. Let's Go Fishing

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... down in the baggage car. By the way, who are you, sir?” “I’m the state game warden. Who are you?” was the reply. Said Twain, “Pleased to meet you. Who am I? Only the biggest liar in these United States.”[2] Two ardent fishermen met on their vacation and began swapping stories about the different places they had fished, the kind of tackle used, the best bait, and finally about some of the fish they had caught. One of them told of a vicious battle he once had with a 300-pound salmon. The other man ...

914. Fear of Flying

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Jerry Angstrom had a fierce fear of flying. It’s not as though he had flown in a plane before. He hadn’t. Nothing bad had happened to him in the air or on the ground to make him fear the 747 that could take him on his vacation trip to Key West. He simply couldn’t bring himself to do it. Every time he thought about stepping onto the plane, his mind would race with thoughts of doom and gloom. “What if the plane crashed?” “What if the engine failed?” “What if it ran out of gas.” “What ...

915. What Time Is It?

Matthew 24:32-44

Sermon

Will Willimon

... has thrown away her watch and decided to have nothing more to do with clocks. ''I have freed myself from the tyranny of time," she says. She has had it with bourgeoisie, middle-class punctuality. She will now live as if every day were a vacation at the beach. Something in me would like to be her, free from time's tyranny, measuring time as did my ancestors -- through the gentle passage of seasons, sunrise and sunset, not seconds, minutes, hours, punching in and punching out. I have been conditioned into ...

916. When It’s Good, It’s Really Good

John 15:9-17

Sermon

Mary Austin

... -year old son of astronaut Laurel Clark, started waving out the window. What are you doing, his father asked him? “Waving goodbye to Mommy,” he answered, “I felt her [here].” A year later, on the anniversary of the crash, his father took him on a vacation to the beach. Iain spent the afternoon stamping out, “I love you, Mommy,” in huge letters in the sand. “Do you think Mommy can see that from space?” his father asked him. “Of course not,” he answered with all the wisdom of a now nine ...

917. Loving Against the Grain

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the looking glass and entered into a foreign kind of territory. Had every venue now been divided into “red” and “blue zones”? This categorization certainly gave the concept of a “blue zone” a whole different meaning! The surprisingly accusatory encounter stunned me. On vacation, the last thing I was thinking about was politics! For this man, it was nearly the only thing that mattered. It was not only the insistence of one point of view but the act of lumping everyone in the entire state of ...

918. Dancing in the Wind

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... we live out of a feeling of joy, the more our physical and emotional health, our relationships, and our motivations and ability to deal with life’s unexpected curve-balls will improve. But experiencing joy is not the same as having mountaintop moments of happiness, taking vacations, or inserting more “down time” in your day. It doesn’t mean “not working.” Joy is not all about play. Joy is a frame of mind, or more accurately, a frame of spirit, in which you feel a sense of joy no matter where you ...

919. Which Kingdom Do We Serve?

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David Coffin

... to attend seminars and to learn the product as well as the inner operations of the company — from when the product entered the door to when it left on the shipping dock. This person had worked meticulously to learn this position that soon would be vacated. It had taken years, but they believed their time had arrived to move up into a more responsible and higher paying position was due. At the retirement party of the outgoing manager, the president of the company had a surprise announcement to make. While ...

920. Do You Think That I Have Come To Bring Peace?

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Will Willimon

... a God of truth. We live in a world of lies. Do you think that he can bring us peace before he divides us, upsets us, inflames, breaks us, liars that we are? It is a dangerous thing to get mixed up with Jesus, not the Jesus of tamed semi-vacationing preachers in late August, but the fire-casting, division-producing Jesus of the Gospels. Do you think he has come to bring peace? His gospel is demanding, so demanding that it expects us not only to be willing to surrender and to suffer for its truth but also to ...

921. Glowing Network

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... O’Leary’s cow overturned the lantern the night of October 8, 1871, the great fire that resulted destroyed Spafford’s home and business. These disasters put a heavy strain on the family. Mrs. Spafford became so nervous and run-down that her doctor recommended a vacation, so the family laid plans to sail for Europe in November of 1873. As the date approached, Horatio realized he was too busy to leave with his family. He sent his wife and four daughters on ahead, planning to catch up with them later. On ...

922. Wait for It...

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... with periods of waiting and preparation. For every dynamic experience, we first typically have a time of waiting. We buy tickets and wait to see a show. We do labs and wait to see results. We take tests and wait to see our scores. We schedule vacations and wait until the time comes to leave for our trip. We study until we are ready to graduate. We become commissioned for ministry and then wait for our “call.” Every significant experience in life comes with some kind of time of waiting or preparation ...

923. Getters of Things Done

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... Kings, the prophets Elijah and Elisha repaid their kind and generous hosts by curing their sons of life-threatening illnesses. No, everything in Martha’s background, everything in her life, everything she learned at her mother’s knee and in Sunday school and Vacation Bible School taught her that hospitality wasn’t just some optional thing you did from time to time. It was a moral imperative for the true people of God. And hospitality was exactly the thing she was doing, here. To make his point, Jesus ...

924. For Someone Who Will Be Terribly Missed

Isaiah 43:1-5 · Job 19:23-27

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... responsibility of caring for her dying aunt. It served to inspire her to choose nursing as a vocation. It was interesting as to how her beloved husband John would always say that she looked better after a full week’s work that she did after a full week’s vacation. Nursing was never a job to Tessie. It was her life’s calling. Even when she retired to spend more time with John, it wasn’t long before she returned to work per diem, which, in a matter of months, morphed to full time labor. And Tessie was ...

925. For Someone Who Filled Their World With Laughter

Zephaniah 3:14-18 · Job 8:20-22

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

Laughter [Tell of their humorous nature, describe their positive qualities.] A man from Chicago left its cold and snowy weather for a sunny vacation in Florida. His wife, who was on a business trip, was expected to join him the next day. After settling in a Florida hotel, the husband decided to send his spouse an e-mail. As it turned out, he had misplaced her e-mail address. Trusting his memory, he typed ...

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