Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1101 to 1125 of 4936 results

1101. Spiritual Resuscitation

Romans 8:6-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

One spring when I was about ten, I was home alone after school. I don't know where the rest of the family was, but I did my chores as quickly as possible so I could join the rest of the neighborhood boys in our field for a baseball game. As I was dashing through the house and yard doing my jobs, I worked up an early appetite and thought I should prepare some nutritious morsel before the ordeal of a baseball game. In the refrigerator I found frankfurters. Not hotdogs. These were the fat — literally fat, I'm ...

1102. Ollie, Ollie, All In Free!

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Steven Molin

It is probably not theologically advisable to begin a sermon with a complaint, but I am going to defy that advice. I have a complaint, and it is this: Nobody plays the good, old, childhood games anymore! When leaves turn color, and temperatures turn cool, my thoughts turn to outdoor games we played as children. Remember those days? All the children in the neighborhood would gather in an empty field somewhere, and we would choose up sides, or decide who was "it" and then the game would begin. It might have ...

1103. The Trumpets

Revelation 8:6--9:21

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

8:6 The significance of the seven trumpets has been variously appraised (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, pp. 152–56). According to John’s Bible (OT), Israel’s liturgical trumpets were sounded for a variety of reasons. They were used to convene the worshiping community (Num. 10:3), to begin pilgrimages (Num. 10:5), to call warriors for war (Num. 10:9), to celebrate the sacred feasts (Num. 10:10), to install new kings (1 Kings 1:34), and to summon Israel to repentance and renewal (Jer. 4:5). Seven trumpets were ...

1104. In Need of a "Rally Monkey"

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

King Duncan

What do you do when you need a little extra motivation? When your strength or your spirits are depleted, and you’re facing a big challenge—how do you kick up your energy a notch? In June of 2000, a couple of video board operators for the Los Angeles Angels baseball team decided that their team needed some extra motivation. They were playing the San Francisco Giants and they were behind. So the guys on the video board threw up a video clip on the stadium’s giant video screen—a video clip from the movie “Ace ...

1105. Because We Are Chosen

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

King Duncan

What would you do if tomorrow you found out that you had inherited an unexpected fortune? What problems would it solve for you? What problems would it create? How would a surprise inheritance affect your life? There was a wealthy bachelor from Portugal named Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral da Camara. By our standards, that’s a long name. Luis had inherited a large amount of money which he spent on motorcycles, shooting, and drinking. The rest he wasted, as the old joke goes. Being a bachelor, he didn’t have ...

1106. Have You Seen a Buck Flying Past?

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A young man named Andrew was working at his first job, and he had made a few mistakes. One day, his boss called him into the office and demanded an explanation for his poor work. Andrew began making excuses, claiming that his mistakes were the fault of his co-workers. His boss suddenly pointed out the window and exclaimed with alarm, “There it goes!” As Andrew turned to look, his boss announced, “It’s a buck flying past!” Have you ever seen a buck flying past? When we are called to account for our mistakes ...

1107. Finding Your Dream Job

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Just for a second let yourself dream big. What would be your dream job? The one that would even made Mondays exciting. I came across a list of real but unusual jobs. Some of them require unusual skills. Some of them just require patience or a strong stomach. See if any of these fit the criteria for your dream job: The first one is golf ball diver: these folks dive for the golf balls that end up in ponds or lakes on golf courses. They sell the balls to companies that clean them and re-sell them. Or, how ...

1108. Proper 17

Hebrews 13:1-25, Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, Luke 14:1-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Jeremiah 2:4-13 Yahweh protests Judah's faithlessness. Jeremiah takes no credit for what he says to his nation: "Hear the word of the Lord." In this passage Yahweh asks why they have deserted him for gods that were no gods. Why did the nation desert him after he was so very good to the nation in leading them through the wilderness for a land of plenty? Priests, rulers and prophets turned against God, and therefore Jeremiah was shocked. The people of God are guilty of two sins: ...

1109. I Found It!

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10

Sermon

Carl B. Rife

"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:8-10 For those of you who may have not been here during this series on bumper sticker religion and for others who ...

1110. Repent Your Way To A Merry Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Brett Blair

A number of years ago a couple traveled to the offices of an Adoption Society in England to receive a baby. They had been on the waiting list a long time. They had been interviewed and carefully scrutinized. Now at last their dreams were to be fulfilled. But their day of happiness was another's pain. Arriving at the offices of the Society they were led up a flight of stairs to a waiting room. After a few minutes they heard someone else climbing the stairs. It was the young student mother whose baby was to ...

1111. Repent Your Way To A Merry Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

1112. The Eureka Experience

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

A psychology professor at Yale University has listed the 12 most persuasive'' words in salesmanship. Third on his list is the word "new" as in "Buy it, it''s new." We like the word new, don't we? We like it in the cars we drive and the houses we live in and the clothes we wear. "Give me something new," may be the slogan of every American. And that is what our message is about today. What a magnificent opportunity Christ has given us—the opportunity to make new starts and fresh beginnings. The word "new" ...

1113. Preparing for Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor John Ortberg was giving a bath to his three children. Johnny was still in the tub. Laura was out and safely in her pajamas. He was trying to get Mallory dried off. Mallory was out of the water, but was doing what has come to be known in their family as the Dee Dah Day dance. This dance consists of running around and around in circles, singing over and over again, "Dee dah day, dee dah day." It was a relatively simple dance expressing great joy. When Mallory is too happy to hold it in any longer, ...

1114. 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 ...

1115. Saving Private Ryan

Acts 1:8

Sermon

James Merritt

Steven Spielberg recently directed a powerful movie entitled, "Saving Private Ryan," which was a box office hit. Though I have not seen the movie, and do not recommend that you see it, because of the foul language, the plot of the story is extremely powerful. A group of soldiers is given the responsibility and assignment of saving one single soldier, by the name of Private Ryan, after his three brothers were killed in the war. Their job was to rescue this one soldier and get him back home to his family. ...

1116. The Revolution Against Evolution

Genesis 1:1

Sermon

James Merritt

It is the ultimate question of all questions - Where did the universe come from? Why does it exist? Genesis 1:1 simply states, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, NASB) So the very beginning of God's word to man says man had a beginning, a divine beginning, a supernatural beginning. Believe it or not, the Christian message does not begin with "Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior." It begins with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The Bible ...

1117. Never Too Old For God: Abraham And Sarah

Genesis 18:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A husband and wife were on long trip when they got into a large-sized argument over a small-sized issue. We've all done that haven't we? Well, the air was so icy between them, they probably could have turned off the air conditioner. And for a number of miles they refused to even speak to each other. The strained silence continued until they drove past a couple of mules grazing in a pasture. The husband finally broke the silence: "Are those some of your relatives?" And his wife answered, "Yes, they're ...

1118. Do You Have Beautiful Feet?

Romans 10:5-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A teenage boy kept begging his father to let him drive the car to school which was only three blocks away. Exasperated his father replied, "Drive to school? Why do you think God gave you two feet?" The boy answered, "One foot is to put on the brake. The other is to put on the accelerator." (1) One day a grandmother noticed something wrong her five year old granddaughter's feet and said: "Honey, you've got your shoes on the wrong feet." The little girl looked down and then said: "But Grandma, these are the ...

1119. Happy Marriage...It's All About Choices

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James W. Moore

The power mower broke down and wouldn’t run… and the grass in the front yard was getting totally out of hand. The wife was embarrassed about the way the lawn looked… so she began hinting to her husband that it was time to get the power mower fixed. But, somehow her hints didn’t work. The message never sank in. Finally, she thought of a clever way to make her point: When her husband arrived home one day, he found her seated in the tall grass on the front lawn fussily snipping away (one blade of grass at a ...

1120. Seeking Christ

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometime back Dr. Phil Berry took a picture outside a roadside convenience store. The store was on the Texas border on the highway leading to Colorado. It was one of those portable advertising signs with flashing lights along the top meant to lure in passersby. At the top of the sign it read, “Last chance Lotto Texas, clean restrooms, snacks.” Then, at the bottom of the sign, almost like an afterthought, it read, “Jesus is Lord.” “It’s like, on the way out of Texas, whatever you need, they have it,” says ...

1121. A Jiffy for Eternity

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Character Sometimes Who's Who doesn't know for sure just what's what! Consider the character of this man who comes to Jesus at night. Nicodemus clearly was a well-connected man yet it is clear he lacks some very vital information. He is remembered here as a "Pharisee," the highest sect among the Jews. We often think of the Pharisees as harsh, hypocritical, and uppity (and certainly there were moments when Jesus heaped scorn on them). Here, however, is a Pharisee, Nicodemus, who does not fit that mold. He ...

1122. The Believer's Freedom

1 Corinthians 10:23--11:1

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

Once again Paul broaches the subject of merely eating idol meat, but now he seems concerned with the eating of such previously sacrificed foods outside the confines of the pagan temple. The section is challenging to translators and interpreters because Paul writes in a vigorous style that takes abrupt rhetorical turns that can be and often are lost in the reading of the text. Identifying Paul’s line of thought is crucial to comprehending this otherwise confusing passage. Paul gives a helpful hint when he ...

1123. At The Right Place At The Right Time

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

Sherry was struggling with some personal issues in her life. She would tell you that she was having a difficult time forgiving someone at work who purposely wronged her, leading to her eventual demotion. Sherry was upset with the person and could not even think of forgiving him. Her loss of income placed a financial hardship on her family. She was really struggling and trying to do what was best, but it certainly was not easy. Sherry and her family were in church one particular Sunday morning when during ...

1124. Lent 3

1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Exodus 3:1-22, Psalm 126:1-6, Psalm 103:1-22, Luke 13:1-9

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The Third Sunday in Lent had the quality of "looking toward God" in trust, as the introit put it, "Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord" (Psalm 25:6, 2b, 22, 1, 2a), in the classic set of propers. The other readings and parts of the propers concentrated on the preparation of the catechumens for baptism at Easter; this Sunday was known as dominica exorcismi - exorcism Sunday - when the lectionary and the church year were beginning to develop. It also had the title of renunciation Sunday ( ...

1125. The Path To Real Success

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a ridiculous story about a group of animals in the jungle who decided to have a football game. The problem was that no one could tackle the rhinoceros. Once he got a head of steam, he was unstoppable. When he received the opening kickoff, he rambled for a touchdown. The score was seven to nothing immediately. Somehow, they managed to keep the ball away from him the remainder of the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter, the other team tied the score 7 to 7. The lion tried to warn ...

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