Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 1051 to 1075 of 2273 results

1051. Picture Perfect Close Up: Children - Get Under The Umbrella

Colossians 3:21

Sermon

James Merritt

We are concluding a series that we've entitled, "Picture Perfect". It is a series on the family. We have said for the last several weeks, "God desires for the family to show His love for His glory." We have seen how God has given each family member a specific role to play and a specific responsibility to fulfill. Husbands - Love As they relate to their wives, husbands are to always ask this question, "What is the loving thing to do?" Wives - Submit The question wives are to ask as they relate to their ...

1052. Will the Real Christian Please Stand Up?

Acts 11:26

Sermon

James Merritt

The year was 1995. It was called "Global Mission with Billy Graham." It took over a year to pull off and by the end of the event it would be the largest single evangelistic effort in the history of Christianity. Bob Williams, Director of International Ministries for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, had set an incredible goal: Through the medium of satellite technology, he wanted to reach the largest audience ever to hear a series of messages by Billy Graham. In order to appreciate the size and ...

1053. God and the Minimum Wage

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

James Merritt

In 1938 the United States Congress passed a law called "The Fair Labor and Practice Act." That law affects millions and tens of millions of lives to this very day, because it established for the first time in our history a minimum wage. Believe it or not, it was set at 25 cents an hour. I can remember working when I was in high school in a Five & Dime Store for $1 an hour. The only reason he paid me that much was because he had to, because he would tell me many times I wasn't worth that. That law was ...

1054. A Clear and Present Danger

Nehemiah 5:1-19

Sermon

James Merritt

There are always two sources of conflict any leader or any organization faces - external and internal. Believe it or not, by far and away the most dangerous type of conflict is internal. We have already seen how the enemy tries to attack from the outside and one of his primary weapons is criticism, but when he attacks from the inside, he uses an even more powerful weapon – selfishness. In the first four chapters of Nehemiah we saw how the enemy tried several things to stop the rebuilding of the wall. First ...

1055. Our Task: Acceptance and Challenge

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

What do our children need of us really, as adults, as parents, and as the community of faith called the church? I found myself asking that question when the newborn infants of this congregation were brought before us and both the parents and our Sunday school teachers were gathered here at the front. The children looked so tiny — none of them able to walk or feed themselves or do hardly anything. If they are to become fully functioning human beings, obviously many things are going to have to be done for ...

1056. Itchy Ears

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Sermon

Donna Schaper

As usual, the epistle is a little more graphic than we can quite grasp. Itchy ears: what a concept just in physical terms. Experience it for a minute. You itch, you scratch, you sort of know you shouldn't scratch because it will only make the itch worse. But still you scratch, while wondering how the itch ever got started in the first place. What a concept: itchy ears as a vehicle for spiritual truth. When we itch, we scratch. We awaken. We know we are not comfortable. We want to be comfortable. This ...

1057. Don’t Hope…Decide

Mk 10:1-12

Illustration

King Duncan

Michael Hargrove tells about a scene at an airport that literally changed his life. He was picking up a friend. He noticed a man coming toward him carrying two light bags. The man stopped right next to Hargrove to greet his family. The man motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They hugged and Hargrove heard the father say, "It's so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!" "Me, too, Dad!" said the son. The oldest son (maybe nine or ten) was next. "You're already ...

1058. Startled By Jesus

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Years ago I read the supposedly true account of a judge in Yugoslavia who was electrocuted when he reached up to turn on the light while standing in the bathtub. His wife found his body sprawled on the bathroom floor. He was pronounced dead and was placed in a room under a crypt in the town cemetery for twenty-four hours before burial. However, in the middle of the night, the judge came to, realized where he was, and rushed over to alert the guard. Startled, the guard promptly ran off, terrified. ...

1059. He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s an old story. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. A young soldier fighting in Italy during World War II managed to jump into a foxhole just ahead of a spray of bullets. He immediately attempted to deepen the hole for more protection. As he was frantically scraping at the dirt with his hands, he unearthed a silver crucifix, obviously left by a previous occupant of the foxhole. A moment later, a leaping figure landed beside him as shells screamed overhead. The soldier turned to see that his new ...

1060. A Chance To Help

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered she had certain instructions for the little boy: "Now you're not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, today, so don't even ask." She put him in the cart and off they went up and down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. Seeing all those chocolate chip cookies was just too much and he said, "Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?" Mom said, "I told you not ...

1061. Catch of the Day

Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

The year I turned sixteen, we loaded up in family station wagon and drove to Florida to see my Dad's brother Bob. Uncle Bob and Aunt Betsy lived in Miami. One of the cool things about living in Miami was the fresh seafood. You see, I love seafood. If it swims in the water, I'll eat it. I'd rather eat seafood than almost anything else. It doesn't have to be fried, either. It can be baked, broiled, pan fried, steamed or even poached, if done just right. I even like sushi and sashimi (you know the Japanese ...

1062. Fingerprints and Lovemarks

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Fingerprints are nothing new. The delicate swirls, ridges, and patterns that lie at the tips of our fingers have long been recognized as a form of personal identification. The ancients might not have realized the extreme uniqueness of every person’s fingerprints. But as far back as the reign of the Babylonian King Hammurapi (1792-1750 BCE), convicts were fingerprinted. In China as early as 246 BCE, fingerprints were used to “sign” legal contracts. In 1788 a German anatomist, Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer ...

1063. Living on the Easter Side of Life

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

What does Easter mean to you? I posed that question to a preschooler and he said, “Easter Bunny with lots of candy." I asked a teenager what Easter meant to her, “Fun in the sun; it's Spring Break!" I asked my hairdresser this week what Easter meant to her and she replied, “I'm going to church Sunday for the first time in five years." I asked a person facing death what Easter meant to him; with a tear in his eye he said, “I can live forever." What does Easter mean to you? Does it mean a new bonnet with a ...

1064. Sisters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to begin with a song. Don’t worry. I’m not going to sing. Perhaps I should say, I want to begin with a song title. I’m not going to ask you how many of you remember the song. It might say something about your age. The song is titled simply, “Sisters.” It’s a classic Irving Berlin tune much beloved by previous generations. It begins by describing how devoted two sisters are to one another. But its famous refrain goes like this: “Lord, help the mister who comes between me and my sister and Lord help ...

1065. Nations on Trial

Matthew 25:31-46

Drama

Chris Ewing

A Readers' Theater for Five Voices A few suggestions for staging this.... It probably makes sense for the minister to be Voice 1, and an "ordinary layperson" to be Voice 2. Voice 3 (Christ) is probably best read by a respected adult male, in order to avoid confusion or dissonance. When Voices 4 and 5 bring in quotes from news stories, other parts of scripture, and prominent contemporary thinkers, it may be helpful (or then again merely distracting!) to have these sources identified, either on cards that ...

1066. The Land Where Our Fathers Had Lived

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

David J. Kalas

The story begins innocently enough. The writer of Genesis simply sets the stage with a reference to geography: "Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan" (37:1). He settled in the land where his father had lived. Jacob is the third generation of patriarchs by whom Israel's God was henceforth known. Several centuries later at the burning bush, for example, the Lord introduced himself to Moses as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus ...

1067. The Armor of Light

Romans 13:8-14

Drama

Larry Lange

Characters Harry Christian Margaret Christian (Harry's wife) Fed-Up Express Man Accompanist (nonspeaking) Props Stuffed chair Newspaper Table Lamp Bible Dressing mirror Large box (containing the following items) Silver shirt Silver gloves Silver sunglasses Silver light saber Silver-wrapped instruction book Small box (containing the following item) Huge, foil-covered binoculars (Harry Christian is pacing. Margaret Christian is seated on the pulpit side of the sanctuary in a stuffed chair reading the ...

1068. Just a Crazy Story

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Larry Lange

Zack had seen the movie. You know, the one with Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston — Bruce Almighty. Zack thought it was a pretty cheesy movie ... so predictable ... God helps the guy get the girl. But Zack was thinking, who wants a girl who wants commitment and kids? And who really wants a job? Zack didn't want a job; all he wanted was money. Even oil company executives probably had to do something to make money other than raising prices every time some Middle Eastern king had a toothache. Zack didn't want ...

1069. David And The Giant

1 Samuel 17:1-58

Children's Sermon

Marti Kramer Suddarth

Object: - Card stock sheet printed with 1 Samuel 17:37a (reference and scripture) on one side and 2 Samuel 21:15-20 and 1 Chronicles 20:4-7 (references only) on the other side - Mylar helium balloon tied to a nine-foot string with a weight at the bottom - Sling - Traced hand and foot of a six-foot-tall man, enlarged 150%, printed on card stock and cut out - Balloons, one per child (optional) Do you know the story of David and Goliath? We can read the story in 1 Samuel, chapter 17, which is in the Old ...

1070. Carbon Pure and Perfect

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Jesus is our diamond. Jesus is the carbon based incarnation of the divine transformed by the steady pressure of God’s endless love into the brightest Morning Star Diamond ever created. Jesus is our diamond. Jesus is Carbon Pure and Perfect, the pure and perfect way to the Father, our only eternal security. But there are many ways to look at Jesus, just as there are many ways to look at a diamond. This is what Paul was getting at in our epistle reading for this morning. Paul is urging the Corinthian ...

1071. If I But Touch…

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Happy ending. Two wonderful healing stories, one sandwiched in the middle of the other. First, we hear about the little girl, Jairus' daughter. Word had spread that this itinerant rabbi from Nazareth who reportedly had incredible healing powers had arrived in town. Enter Jairus, one of the high muckety-mucks in the local synagogue who happens to be the father of a very sick child. He wants his sweet baby well (and she would always be his sweet baby, no matter how old she was — any father knows that). That ...

1072. The Heart of the Matter Is the Heart!

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Traditionalism is the living religion of the dead or the dead religion of the living. Tradition imagines that nothing worthwhile will ever again be done for the first time because everything worth doing has already been done. Therefore, traditionalism repeats what it imagined always was and what it imagines always will be. The problem with tradition for tradition's sake is a terminal case of spiritual heart disease. In this scripture reading, a delegation of religious leaders makes their way from Jerusalem ...

1073. Red, White and Pink

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Have you done time in the “pink aisle”? If you’ve been there, you know what I mean. It’s that entire section in Target or Toys’R’Us or wherever you shop, that glows with a Pepto-Bismol-bright pink haze. The corridor you trundle your shopping cart down is awash in pinks . . . there is Barbie and all her accessories, there are dolls of lesser nobility and parentage, there are fingerpaints, Frisbees, . .. Whatever sits on those shelves, they all give off a ghastly pink glow. Stores really should provide ...

1074. God Can Turn Your Trash Cans into Treasure Chests

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Southeast Asia is hot. The economies of its countries are sizzling, especially Viet Nam and Indonesia, with the highest growth rates of almost anywhere on the planet. Investors and tourists from all over the world are flooding both countries. Of course, Bali, Indonesia, is where everyone wants to go. But if I could go anywhere in Southeast Asia, it would be the island of Sumatra. Why Sumatra? Because this island is the archipelago of 17,000 islands known as “Indonesia” is where the “manna” of that country ...

1075. The Gift that Matters

Hebrews 2:5-18

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

As we gather on the Sunday after Christmas we do so with a sigh of relief. The gifts have been opened; our family has come and returned home. The past month typically holds the busiest days and weeks of the year for many of us. It is little wonder why we might feel tired today. It has been a hectic couple of weeks but slowly our lives are returning back to normal, as we settle back into our regular routines. We have celebrated Jesus’ birth. We are reminded that Jesus came to bring salvation to all people. ...

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