Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1276 to 1300 of 4946 results

1276. Something is About to Happen!

John 1:1-14

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Tom Long tells of the time when he visited a Sunday school class and heard something he had never heard in church before. The topic for the day was quite simply, “Scandals in The Church.” The teacher mentioned all the tough times the church has endured throughout history. He spoke of the hypocrisy, the scandals, the persecution—the awful things that have been done in the name of the church and of God. As he was lecturing, a woman in the class raised her hand. When the teacher called on her, she asked, “ ...

1277. What Kind of Sheep Are You?

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. (Psalm 119) Animation: “What Kind of Sheep Are You” Online Test: http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=baaa Animation: Live Lamb (you can rent a lamb at your neighborhood 4H club or a nearby farm) Animation: Shepherd’s staff (any large natural wood staff will do) We love the Christmas story for its simplicity. Simple shepherds, simple sheep, simple message, simple mission. It all seems so simple. Hence ...

1278. Joey and Nicky at Skull Mountain

Mark 15:42-47

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: Anointing oil (preferably frankincense or myrrh) Joey and Nicky at Skull Mountain -- It sounds like a mystery like Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, doesn’t it? Or for those with a slightly more sinister flair, a story by E. L. Stine. Intrigue, Mystery, Mayhem, and a good dose of the gruesome. And slightly Spooky. The events surrounding Jesus’ death were certainly strange and unusual. The High Priest and his family of former and future high priests had been pushing to get something done about Jesus ...

1279. When God Is Quiet

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Fear is our greatest foe. Fear keeps us from doing the kinds of risky things that may hurt or harm us. But fear also can keep us from fulfilling our potential, from standing up for what’s right, or more importantly, from feeling secure and safe in the world or even in our own skin. When fear goes into overdrive, all reason, knowledge, and trust go out the window. All we feel is mind-numbing, anxiety-producing, paralyzing terror. Faith is born out of inner calm. Fear disrupts inner calm.It’s hard to have ...

1280. God's Plan for a New Year

Galatians 4:4-7

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Bill called his parents to wish them a happy New Year, and his dad answered the phone. “Well, Dad, what’s your New Year’s resolution?” Bill asked him. “To make your mother as happy as I can all year,” Dad answered. When mom got on the phone, Bill said, “What’s your resolution, Mom?” She answered, “To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution.” I don’t know if you have given any thought to making resolutions as we say good-bye to this year and hello to the next. However, our text from Paul’s letter ...

1281. God Is Like...a Friend

2 Corinthians 5:16-20

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

It’s time for class to begin. You troop in with the rest of your classmates, you get out your notebook and pencil, and you look up front where your teacher stands ready to get started. “All right, class,” she says, “let’s review. What have we learned so far about Benjamin Franklin?” Remember those days? Some of us here this morning are still students, so this scenario is all too familiar. For most of us, though, being asked to review what we’ve learned is something that doesn’t happen much anymore. But ...

1282. A Song to Shake the World

Revelation 5:11-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

In The Shawshank Redemption Andy Dufrense is sentenced to two back to back life terms for crimes he did not commit. That tough world of Shawshank Prison conspires to destroy humanity. Andy writes every week to the state legislature requesting books for the prison library. From out of nowhere, a huge shipment of used books and records, accompanied by a check, gets dumped in the warden's office. Andy puts one of the records on the prison record player. Intoxicated by the beauty of an aria, Andy locks out the ...

1283. The Impending Departure I

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14, John 14:15-31

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The single theme of the first block of teaching material is developed in dialogue form, with a series of questions and answers (13:36–14:24) ending with a postscript in the form of a monologue (14:25–31). Each question is occasioned by a previous statement of Jesus, so that each interchange has three parts: Jesus’ initial statement, the question that it occasions, and Jesus’ answer to the question. In all, four disciples take their turn as inquirers: Peter, Thomas, Philip, and Judas (not “the son of Simon ...

1284. Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-31, John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

1285. Acres of Diamonds

1 Timothy 6:10

Sermon

Russell Conwell

I am astonished that so many people should care to hear this story over again. Indeed, this lecture has become a study in psychology; it often breaks all rules of oratory, departs from the precepts of rhetoric, and yet remains the most popular of any lecture I have delivered in the fifty-seven years of my public life. I have sometimes studied for a year upon a lecture and made careful research, and then presented the lecture just once -- never delivered it again. I put too much work on it. But this had no ...

1286. Good Guys And Bad Guys Alike

Genesis 37:1-11, 12-36

Sermon

Steve Burt

Love your enemies, Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). Is he serious? Crazy? Love our enemies? We ask, "Why would we do that?" And Jesus says, "So that you may be children of your Father in heaven." Then he gets crazier. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." What a tall order: Be perfect! The key to being perfect, as God is perfect, it would seem, is to understand that Jesus also says in his Sermon on the Mount that God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, ...

1287. A Lack of Faith

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

Our text for this week records a sudden change of context. Jesus had just been at the home of Jairus, a synagogue ruler, and raised his twelve-year-old girl from death. Now, suddenly, he has come to his own country; he has come to Nazareth. It is not just the scene that shifts. In his own home country people take offense at his very presence. "Where did this man get all this?" the hometown folk wonder aloud. "What is this wisdom that has been given to him?" (Mark 6:2). This is a striking shift in the story ...

1288. Only the Birth Pangs

Mark 13:1-31

Bulletin Aid

RobertT D. Ingram

Greeting Leader 1: Brothers and sisters, have you heard the prophecies? Many who come in the name of Christ are saying the end is near! Congregation: "Beware that no one leads you astray." Leader 2: But I have heard that we are going to be pulled into war! And there are already so many wars between the nations! Congregation: "Do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come." Leader 1: But what about the earthquakes? There seem to be more than usual! Leader 2: And there are people ...

1289. God’s Great Final Day

Daniel 7:1-14

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Those who do weekend sailing on a very wide body of water have a way of charting their course. They keep their eye on a distant, fixed object on the shore. No matter how whimsically the wind blows, no matter how tricky the cross-currents in the water, they can keep their direction by that immovable landmark at the water’s edge. Otherwise, they would be swept far off their course by the wind and the waves, although they might think that they were headed in the right direction. That distant landmark keeps ...

1290. For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 19:13-15

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

Death on the School Playground __________ was ten years old when his hfe ended tragically through a childish experiment of holding his breath and attempting to render himself unconscious. I recall the trick was not uncommon when I was a child. Expelling all possible breath a fellow classmate was asked to hold you tightly in a bear hug from the back. On the school playground this was done to ___________. Following release he staggered around, screamed, and fell to the ground unconscious. It was later ...

1291. Living Beyond Unhappily Ever After

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

The story escalated towards its climax as viewers sat breathlessly riveted to their seats. The beautiful young woman stands in the doorway, tears cascading down her cheeks as she pans the green rolling hills of her 100-acre estate, looking for Joel. The camera follows her eyes, peering towards the large iron gate fronting her palatial abode. Then suddenly appearing is the faint figure of a dashing young man, clad in resplendent blue military decor, red scarf flowing in the wind, with high black saddle ...

1292. The Sign in the Subway

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Carveth Mitchell

On a subway platform in one of our Eastern states there was a large printed sign that said "God Answers Prayer." Some experienced person had scrawled across the bottom underneath the printed letters these words: "Sometimes the answer is NO!" This is what we have to deal with in any discussion of prayer. Someone says, "I felt the need of God. I prayed for something to happen, and it didn’t. Prayer failed." No, Sir. I suggest that you did not want God - you wanted God to do something, and that’s different. ...

1293. Paul in Chains

Acts 21:27-36

Sermon Aid

CSS

Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem was inauspicious. Although "the brethren received us gladly," the elders were fidgety and fearful. Not one word of gratitude is recorded for the gifts which Paul and his companions brought with them to alleviate the poverty of the church at Jerusalem. One wonders why? Perhaps those who came with Paul to bring the gifts were too evidently "Gentile Christians." These Gentiles must have felt rebuffed, finding prejudice against them where they might have anticipated brotherly ...

1294. Who Knows?

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

Who knows what lies ahead? A widely used saying has it that if we all put our troubles on a pile and then picked out the ones we choose, we would pick out our own. Why? Because we can deal with them. If we actually had an opportunity to do something new, what would we do? Who knows? Most people, most of the time take their troubles with them or else find them waiting when they arrive. We tend to plug away at the same old things. Jonah was fleeing from God. He had every confidence he could escape and be ...

1295. It’s not what you know, but who you know!

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

In a dark room, pitch black except for the glaring light from the naked bulb of a small lamp set on a table, there are three men. One, bedraggled and covered with sweat, sits at the table, his face exposed to the light. Standing next to him are the two other men who move in and out of the light, sometimes shoving their faces right into the face of the man who is seated. No doubt you have watched enough television dramas to know what’s happening in that room. The man seated is being interrogated. "Where ...

1296. Walking On The Water

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

We may wonder why such a whimsical story as that of Jesus walking on the water should even appear in the Scriptures in the first place. The story has certainly provided humorists with plenty of material. You know the kind of story I have in mind. "The wife of football coaching legend Bear Bryant once held a telephone receiver in her hand as she gazed out the window of a lakeside cottage, "Oh, no," she says, "It will be no trouble to get him. He is simply having his morning stroll across the lake." The ...

1297. A Strategy For Status Seekers

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Jesus was a master psychologist. He knew that all of us crave recognition. He knew that the desire for status is an innate part of the human condition. Most of us don’t want to simply keep up with the Jones we want to be slightly ahead of the Jones, the Smiths and everyone else on the block. There is a popular joke about a fellow named Pat who always wanted a telephone in his car. Finally he got one. He couldn’t wait to tell his best friend Mike. Mike was green with envy. That very day he ordered a ...

1298. Discipline

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A young man decided he wanted to be a boxer. He decided to take private lessons. He found a boxing coach at a nearby gym who agreed to give him twenty-six weekly sessions. As part of his instruction, the young man was required to spar with other aspiring pugilists at the gym. After the first session, he was sore and swollen. He didn’t realize that it would be this difficult. The battered youth had some questions for his coach. “You say there are twenty-six lessons in this course?” “That’s right,” answered ...

1299. Cross Purposes

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

All around the upper ledges of the curved glass windows in our living room perches a collection of dappled and dimpled art glass tumblers. These brightly colored tumblers come from an old family collection. They were put together long ago by grandparents long gone. They bring hundreds of different shades and hues of color into the room on a sunny day. Of course, our house is also located in an earthquake zone. In fact, every year at least a couple low-number, rocking-n-rattling sessions roll through the ...

1300. The Twenty-Ninth Chapter of Acts

2 Timothy 4:1-22

Sermon

John E. Harnish

Pentecost and Peter and the first great sermon of the new era. Andrew and Barnabas, and yes, Ananias and Saphria in their greed. Philip and the Ethiopian. We have tracked the early days of the early church in these first eight chapters of the book of Acts to try to catch a glimpse from the first century of what God might have in mind for us in the twenty-first century; to discover what it means to be a model New Testament Church for today. Now fast-forward… I realize we are skipping over the greatest ...

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