Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 926 to 950 of 1679 results

926. A Confidence for All Seasons

Psalm 27:1-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Pete Rose has been one of the big names in the news over the past few years. He's an interesting study in human nature. The way the press is dealing with him, and the public response adds immeasurably to that study. A few weeks ago, his daughter got caught up in the fracas. Newsweek Magazine reported the story. The daughter has not lived with Rose since he and his wife got a divorce some years ago. And one of the reasons is because she says her dad was a crummy father. But did you hear what Pete said about ...

927. From Hurting to Helping

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Two psychiatrists were at a convention. "What was your most difficult case?" one asked the other. "Once I had a patient who lived in a pure fantasy world," replied his colleague. "He believed that a wildly rich uncle in South America was going to leave him a fortune. All day long he waited for a make-believe letter to arrive from a fictitious attorney. He never went out or did anything. He just sat around and waited." "What was the result?" asked the first psychiatrist. "It was an eight-year struggle," ...

928. The God of Lost Sheep

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

As most of you know, actor Paul Newman started a food company several years ago. Many products now bear the name, "Newman’s Own." With profits from this business, Newman helped build a camp for critically ill children. It’s called the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. The name was taken from his film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Newman was sitting at a table one day with a camper who asked him who he was. The actor reached for a carton of Newman’s Own lemonade and showed the boy his likeness on the ...

929. Different

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Sermon

James L. Killen

The Christian faith is supposed to make a difference in our lives. If it doesn't, why should we bother with it? If the Christian faith is supposed to make a difference in our lives, then we should expect that Christians will be different. And, Christians are supposed to make a difference in the world. We know these things - and yet, we tend to want to minimize the difference. We want to be like everyone else - not to offend anyone - to make our faith more attractive to others. But it is the difference that ...

930. The Offense of Grace

Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

Victor Hugo begins Les Miserables with the story of Jean Valjean. He is an ex-convict who has just been released from nineteen years in prison for stealing bread to feed his sister's children. As he reenters society, no one will house him or give him work because of his criminal record - that is until he stumbles into the bishop's house. Much to Valjean's bewilderment, the bishop treats him with kindness and hospitality. Seizing the moment, Valjean steals the bishop's silver plates and, then, flees into ...

931. What Is Success?

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Erma Bombeck wrote, "I can't remember the name of the man who spoke at my high school commencement, but I remember what he said. He told us the future of the world rested on our shoulders and he charged us with finding our destiny and fulfilling it. He went on to say we alone must cure disease, hunger and poverty throughout the world, and above all, we must find success. "I glanced over at Jack, the class deficient who couldn't even find his parents after they parked the car, and I got an uneasy feeling. ...

932. Influence!

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

If you think a mosquito is small and has little influence, try sleeping in a hot room at night with but a single blood-sucking insect. Its high-pitched whine and sharp proboscis can leave you sleepy, itchy, and whelped. On the other hand, consider the lowly honeybee. One single winged creature lurching flower to flower can make the heart leap for joy as it brightens your day, spreads pollen about, and makes honey in the hive. We mortals, not unlike mosquitoes and honeybees, have our own influence. We can ...

933. You've Won the Heavenly Sweepstakes!

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A good rule of thumb, as you go through life, is this: vow never to eat anything that calls itself "processed." When I was a kid we used to refer to those staples of mom's lunch box meals as "plastic meat and rubber cheese" sandwiches. You know, mysterious paper-thin "processed" meat slices combined with those perfectly square, individually wrapped "processed" cheese slices. Remember them? It is doubtful that those sandwiches will ever de-compose in our landfills. Even worse was the threat of a processed ...

934. 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 ...

935. Be Kind

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

James McCormick

Since before I can remember, I went to Vacation Bible School every summer. I loved Vacation Bible School and I have many fond memories of my experiences there. I remember rousing games of “Red Rover” in which the boys tried to impress the girls. I remember making first century houses out of clay. There were times when we dressed up in bath robes and re-enacted Biblical dramas. I remember spatter painting – I loved spatter painting! We would get a leaf or a flower or some other object and put it on a piece ...

936. Easter 5

John 14:5-14, John 14:1-4, 1 Peter 2:4-12, Acts 7:54--8:1a, Psalm 31:1-24

Sermon Aid

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

TEXTS FROM ACTS AND PSALMS The lesson from Acts tells of the stoning of Stephen. The psalm has no actual connection with Stephen's speech or the account of his execution, but in the story of his death Stephen prays. Psalm 31 is itself a prayer-song for deliverance from one's enemies in which the psalmist utters a line (31:5) similar to Stephen's first prayer (7:59), so there is an imaginative way to relate the texts to each other. Acts 7:55-60 - "Living and Dying as Jesus Did" Setting. The pattern of story ...

937. God's Dirty Job

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Do you ever have family TV night? How do you battle for control of the remote? Or are there any choices everyone can agree on? In a lot of households there is one that crosses all generations. It’s on the Discovery Channel. It’s called “Dirty Jobs.” This surprising hit has host Mike Rowe taking on a new, disgusting, you-never-even-thought-of-doing-that “dirty job” each week. He has cleaned dairy farm floors. He has plucked stinging blood worms out of low tide muck. He has scrubbed out penguin enclosures ( ...

938. Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments

1 Peter 3:15

Sermon

James Merritt

What issue do Americans feel more strongly about, and have a stronger opinion about, than any other issue? James Patterson and Peter Kim, in their groundbreaking book, The Day America Told the Truth, discovered that Americans feel more strongly about abortion than any other issue, whether it be alcohol abuse, the death penalty, pornography, flag-burning, affirmative action, or communism. 75% of Americans see abortion as either right or wrong, with no gray area in between.1 Abortion has become a fact and a ...

939. America in the Mirror

2 Kings 17:5-23

Sermon

James Merritt

Oftentimes the question is asked, "Is America in the Bible?" Well, the answer to that question is both no and yes. No, I do not find America directly in the Bible; I know of no Bible prophecy that can be directly traced to United States. But on the other hand, I do believe we see in the Bible a parallel to America. I see a nation, which in many ways, pictures the past, the path, and the problems of America. Israel was born supernaturally, and almost instantaneously. Like America, Israel was at one time the ...

940. The Only One Who Is Number One

Exodus 20:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

This is the beginning of a series of messages on the Ten Commandments I have entitled, "Playing by the rules: God's game plan for godliness." We live in a universe that is governed by certain rules. In fact, if there were no rules, the cosmos would become chaos. If 2 + 2 did not always = 4, mathematics would be impossible; if E did not = MC2 , physics would go out the window. Without rules, football, basketball, baseball, and every other sport would be a thing of the past. If we did not have rules, ...

941. Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments

Proverbs 24:11-12

Sermon

James Merritt

942. Better To Be a Loner than a Loser

Daniel 1:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

Cassie Bernall. With one word this teenage girl became a household name and a part of God's Hall of Fame. On April 20, around 11:30AM, two gun-wielding teenagers at Columbine High School confronted her, and with guns raised, one of them asked her this question: "Do you believe in God?" After a momentary pause, she looked him squarely in the eye and said, "Yes." After he replied simply, "Why?" he shot her and killed her instantly. But at that one moment, with that one word, Cassie Bernall illustrated a ...

943. Why You Should Be Afraid of Sin

Numbers 32:23

Sermon

James Merritt

I was fascinated to read recently about the boomerang. A boomerang is like two spinning airplane wings joined in the middle. It weighs about 12 ounces, it is somewhere between 12 and 30 inches long, and it is an incredible aerodynamic marvel to behold. When an expert throws a boomerang, it is released practically vertical to the ground. But because it is spinning so rapidly (typically about 10 revolutions per second) with the top blade moving through the air faster than the lower blade, there is more lift ...

944. A Defiant Response to a Dangerous Theology: Does God Desire to Wipe Us Out?

Gn 6:1-8. 9:6-17

Sermon

Illinois. Michigan. New York. Massachusetts. The rest of New England and the northeastern seaboard. Buffeted by snow. Buried in snow. Blitzed with a blizzard of snow. It is clear that God is venting his wrath and visiting his payback upon the blue states. If, at the last minute, the storm were to miraculously bypass Ohio, there are some of you….or a few of you….well, maybe two or three of you….who might actually believe that. And when the next storm misses us….by riding north of us or dipping south of us…. ...

945. The Paradoxical Power of Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

There are people who speak to us more powerfully out of their weakness than out of their strength. Brian Piccolo was a powerful, professional football player who entertained thousands with his feats of muscular strength and stamina. But cancer attacked, and out of weakness he spoke more powerfully than before. Whenever they show the movie, Brian's Song, we think of him and his faith and courage. Paul experienced a similar fall from glory. He had seen powerful visions of God, had entered into the third ...

946. Power and Compassion

Hebrews 5:1-10

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Many of you may remember from your grade school days a novel by Mark Twain titled, The Prince and the Pauper. It has been adapted in various forms of Disney productions and even a few cartoon tales. The Twain story begins with two boys with identical features — one a spoiled royal heir, and the other a street urchin surviving on his wits. By chance they meet. The pauper is enamored with the fineries of the palace, while the prince envies the pauper's freedom to come and go as he chooses. Eventually, they ...

947. The Author Who Wipes Away Sins

Acts 3:12-19

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The pastor was very frustrated. It was almost time for the worship service to begin and he couldn't get the microphone to work. He paced back and forth by the baptismal font and stewed and brewed. He tried everything he could think of. Finally, he said, "This blankety, blank microphone doesn't work." At that precise moment, the head usher, who had gone to the master control box for the sound system, turned the switch to "on." The pastor's words were broadcast to the people. The shocked congregation ...

948. The Cost of Non-Discipleship

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The cost of not being a disciple is so much greater than any cost discipleship itself might entail. Non-discipleship makes us nothing. Discipleship makes us something. There are so many ways we unintentionally invalidate the truth of the gospel. Simply by going through the church calendar, we can see that Christians are asked to "give instead of receive" at Christmas, to "give up" something for Lent, to "take up their cross" at Easter and to "burn with fire" at Pentecost. We can make our faith sound about ...

949. Personal Prayer Time

Mark 1:29-34

Illustration

Keith Wagner

We live in a hi-tech, fast pace, workaholic world where no one rests. We are constantly on the road, running errands, going places. We stuff ourselves with "fast food," overbook our lives with a myriad of things to do, and at the end of the day we are totally exhausted. We live (and die) by the clock. We are controlled by the need to produce. Time is money, time is how we keep in control of our lives. We resist quiet time by keeping the radios, televisions and computers on. The very thought of being alone ...

950. Repairing Our Lives

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled over a small kingdom that wasn't powerful nor was it known for anything of any great value. But, the king did possess a large and perfect diamond that had been in his family for many generations. He kept it on display for all to see and appreciate and people came from all over the country to admire this rare and precious gem. People from other lands, hearing about the great diamond, also came and they, too, felt some sense of pride simply by gazing upon the ...

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