Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1326 to 1350 of 1533 results

John 17:1-11

Sermon

Lee Griess

A few choice words — that's what Jesus gives us this morning — a few choice words about our lives and faith. Just hours before being arrested, just hours before being tried and condemned, Jesus gathered his disciples around him and in all sincerity bowed his head and prayed for them and for us. These words from John 17 are part of a great discourse recorded by the gospel writer John, part of a great priestly prayer that Jesus offered up to his heavenly Father. These are words that unite us to God. And in ...

1327. With a Firm Foundation, Application Is Second Nature

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Practice makes perfect. If you do these things for Jesus, the Lord will bless you. Much Prosperity Gospel preaching advocates these themes. It's a word that America wants to hear. Even Reverend Rick Warren of the California megachurch, Saddleback Church, has said that: I must apply its [the Word of God's] principles. Receiving, reading, researching, remembering, and reflecting on the Word are all useless if we fail to put them into practice. We must become "doers of the word."1 Let's get Jesus' "take" on ...

1328. Life’s Purpose Is Often Hidden!

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Life is a messy affair. Our purpose is often hidden. We have a parable today that originally may have tried to explore these mysteries — the parable of the weeds in the field. But once again the explanation that Mathew provided of this parable is probably not original, not something Jesus himself taught. No, it is more likely, New Testament scholars increasingly agree, that Jesus' original point in the parable was to affirm the messiness, hiddenness, of life in a context where sectarian sentiments were ...

1329. Kingdoms in Conflict

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

When Vince Lombardi was hired as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1958, the team was in dismal shape. A single win in season play the year before had socked the club solidly into the basement of the NFL, and sportscasters everywhere used it as the butt of loser jokes. But Lombardi picked and pulled and prodded and trained and discipled the players into become a winning team. They were NFL champions in three consecutive seasons, and took the game honors for the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi was a ...

1330. Dressed for the Banquet

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Chris Ewing

1331. Burned Beef

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

Tony Everett

Jenny was employed as an emergency room nurse in a busy urban hospital. Often she worked many hours past the end of her shift, providing care to trauma victims and their families. Jenny was also a loving wife and mother, and an excellent cook. On the evening before starting her hectic work week, Jenny would prepare a huge pot of soup, a casserole, or stew; plentiful enough for her family to pop into the microwave or simmer on the stove in case she had to work overtime. At 5:30 p.m. one evening, Jenny's ...

1332. The Way Things Are

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Sermon

John N. Brittain

The other day I stumbled onto a Discovery Channel show about underwater archaeology (not basket weaving). The archaeologist described the process of identifying the probable location of an underwater wreck site, the grueling work involved in beginning the process, and the same kind of methodical work that characterizes all scientific archaeology. But then her eyes twinkled as she described the joy of uncovering the first artifact, or recognizing a significant discovery. And that of course is what it is all ...

1333. Rock Bottom

1 Peter 3:13-22

Sermon

David O. Bales

Peter begins a new paragraph here by asking, "Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?" The answer is: lots of people everywhere. Everyone who's attended a school with other than one's own family, or who's read the newspaper, let alone if they've read even a smidgen of history, everyone knows that people who are zealous to do good are abused. An example is Ignaz Semmelweis, not exactly a household name, but important to your health. He was the Hungarian-Austrian medical doctor who ...

1334. Boast in Our Suffering

Romans 5:1-8

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

The phone rings in the middle of the night. There is only one reason why someone would call you at this time of the night, and it can't be good. The deadpan voice of the police officer tells you the horrible news rather matter-of-factly. Your imagination runs wild. You were not there, but you can hear the tires screeching, the metal smashing, the glass breaking, and the sirens whining. It was not supposed to end this way. She had so much of life yet to live. Your boss calls you into his office. Other ...

1335. Freedom and Slavery

Romans 6:15-23

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Freedom is the defining value of American culture. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, and the Revolutionary War was fought against England for the sake of freedom. The bloodiest and costliest war in our nation's history, the Civil War, was fought largely for the sake of the freedom of slaves. Our modern society has seen a proliferation of "rights" and, if you violate one of them, you will probably get sued. This is the land where you dare not violate anyone's "First Amendment ...

1336. Wedding Bell Blues

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I think marriage is one of the most beautiful gifts God ever gave humanity. I don't say that simply because I'm married to the most beautiful and loving woman in the world. I say that as a pastor who has had the privilege of joining together countless couples. And watching their relationship blossom and grow into a thing of beauty. Now true there are rough moments in marriage. Every day is breakfast in bed or a honeymoon. Take for example the story I just heard about the woman at the airport check-in ...

1337. Remember: No Deposit, No Return

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Remember the TV series, Sanford and Son starring Red Foxx and Demond Wilson. It gave us the memorable lines: "Oh, this is the big one, I'm coming to see you Elizabeth" and "You're so ugly if you pressed your face in some dough... you'd have gorilla cookies." Sanford and Son was about Fred and Lamont Sanford who owned and ran a Junkyard. But it was really about all the junk and clutter in their lives. I think it's a parable for our lives, too. You see, we all have a lot of trash and garbage and clutter in ...

1338. There Will Be Peace

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you will remember an old comedy team from the early part of the twentieth century named Oliver and Hardy. They produced some marvelous work. Their comedy was slapstick, but it also showed a deep understanding of human nature. Conrad Hyers, in his book And God Created Laughter tells about an early Laurel and Hardy film from 1925 titled Big Business. Stan and Ollie are Christmas-tree salesmen in California going from house to house in a Model T truck loaded with trees. The story begins innocently ...

1339. Whose Wife Will She Be?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

A little girl walked into a pet shop. She went up to the shopkeeper and asked in a sweet little lisp, “Excuthe me, mithter, do you have any wittle wabbits?” The shopkeeper bent way down and put his hands on his knees so he would be on her level, and asked, “Do you want a wittle white wabbit or a wittle bwack wabbit? Or maybe that cute wittle bwown wabbit over there?” The little girl thought for a moment, put her hands on her knees, leaned forward and said in a quiet little voice, “Mr., I don’t fink my ...

1340. John 1:29-42

John 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

When dinosaurs roamed the earth — you know, forty years or so ago — kids played a game called “gossip” or “telephone.” Sitting in a circle the first person whispered a secret message into the ear of their neighbor. The game was the comparison of the first and last message. By the time the message was whispered into the ear and passed along to each progressive person, the final reported words bore almost no resemblance to the initial whisper. The text message world makes this game less applicable today, ...

1341. Act Quickly - Catch It Early

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you may be familiar with the Darwin Awards. People are nominated for the Darwin Awards when they do something really stupid that costs them their lives. The reason that they are called the Darwin Awards is that by offing themselves in such an absurd way, it is suggested that these misguided folks have inadvertently improved the gene pool for rest of humanity. It’s a cynical view of life, but it has led to a collection of stories that are both true and bizarre. For example, there is the story of a ...

1342. A Whole City at The Door

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

One of my all-time favorite church magazine cartoons pictures a physician in his office, speaking with his bookkeeper. The subject of their conversation is a patient's bill, which apparently had been in the accounts receivable file for a long, long time. The bookkeeper says to the doctor, "He says that since you told him his recovery was a miracle, he sent his check to the church." Our passage from Mark touches on the subject of miraculous healing. This early sequence of events in Jesus' ministry seems to ...

1343. Celebrate This!

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Steven Molin

He was a Lutheran pastor from central Iowa, but with an avocation for carpentry, and that's why he was spending a month's vacation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. His goal that month was to build a new bathroom for the community there. On the last day of his vacation, a small Indian girl approached him and, in her outstretched hand she held a nickel. "Here," she said, "I want you to have this." "No" the pastor said, embarrassed. "I can't take your nickel. You keep it." "Please take it ...

1344. Oh, The Things We Worry About!

Matthew 6:25-33

Sermon

I extend to you and your families a joyous and blessed Thanksgiving. Some of you will gather at tables later today, and most everyone you love will be there. Bless you! Others will gather at tables, and there will be an empty chair where a loved one should be ... but is not. Bless you! Still others will not gather at a table at all. Your life may be filled with heartache or loneliness or hardship, and you may be in no mood to be thankful. May God especially bless you ... and somehow fill you with hope and ...

1345. A Grandmother’s Touch

Acts 19:1-7

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

It's texts like this one from Acts 19 that create so many misunderstandings and downright disagreements about baptism for all ages. There was a story about a mom who glanced out through her kitchen window at her children playing across the yard. It was one of those games children play that looks complicated to the outside eye but for them it makes perfect sense. They had brought out a shovel and dug a hole in the soft dirt of the garden, dragged over the garden hose, and had an array of dolls lying on the ...

1346. Loving God

1 John 5:1-6

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

Are you in love with God? In 1 John, the author has a lot to say about the love of God and the way that love changes our lives. We love because God first loved us. God's love fills us to overflowing so that it flows through us to other people. Annie Dillard said that we catch grace like a man filling a cup underneath a waterfall.1 That's the way we receive God's love. But there can be a problem for us when we put a lid on our cups and the water can't get inside. We're closing our hearts off to the love of ...

1347. Be An Apostle! Proclaim Life!

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Sermon

Ken Lentz

Three young lads once rescued a famous politician from drowning. "I will give you anything you like," happily promised the grateful politician. "Thank you for saving my life!" The first lad said, "I'll take a bicycle." The second hero said, "I'll take a motor bike." The third perplexed rescuer said, "Sir, if it's all the same to you, I'd like a military funeral." "A military funeral! Why?" asked the politician. "Because," the boy said, "when my dad finds out whose life I saved, he'll kill me!" Life is ...

1348. Better Than Revenge

Proverbs 15:1

Illustration

When we are wronged in some way, our natural inclination is to fight back, to get even. Needless to say, this reaction, though thoroughly human, is almost always in error. "Forgiveness," said Epictetus, "is better than revenge, for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but revenge is the sign of a savage nature." A dramatic example is the experience of a Hungarian refugee. To protect his privacy we'll call him Joseph Kudar. Kudar was a successful young lawyer in Hungary before the uprisings in that ...

1349. Anything For a Friend

Illustration

A truly humble man is hard to find, yet God delights to honor such selfless people. Booker T. Washington, the renowned black educator, was an outstanding example of this truth. Shortly after he took over the presidency of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he was walking in an exclusive section of town when he was stopped by a wealthy white woman. Not knowing the famous Mr. Washington by sight, she asked if he would like to earn a few dollars by chopping wood for her. Because he had no pressing business at the ...

1350. Simple Courage to Raise a Family

Illustration

Charles Colson

Consider Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote in 1762 the classic treatise on freedom, The Social Contract, with its familiar opening line: "Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains." But the liberty Rousseau envisioned wasn't freedom from state tyranny; it was freedom from personal obligations. In his mind, the threat of tyranny came from smaller social groupings family, church, workplace, and the like. We can escape the claims made by these groups, Rousseau said, by transferring complete loyalty to ...

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