Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1326 to 1350 of 4977 results

1326. Simeon

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... others who could do what he did. As time went along, we were blessed with other good and successful kings, although none quite measured up in comparison to David. Our dream never came true. Most assuredly, there are some — the Zealots — who still hold on ... meet my God face-to-face. Then I looked back down toward the child and finally to his parents. They were staring at me, not knowing quite what to make of what I had said. I smiled gently at them. I wanted to let them know that I was not just some senile ...

1327. Clearing Out the Pipes

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

John Smylie

... are at the beginning of a journey. Where will it take us? Not so long ago I heard some sports radio guys talking about not eating dessert and other sweets during the season of Lent. At some level they were joking but at another level I think the one was quite serious, he whom had taken on the discipline of avoiding sweets for Lent. He had been invited as a guest to cover a sports banquet and without thinking he had eaten the piece of cheesecake that was placed in front of him at the end of the meal. His not ...

1328. The Elephant in The Living Room

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

John Smylie

... concerns about Jesus teaching that, "the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again" (v. 31). Even though Jesus spoke quite openly about this to his disciples, they were quite dense in receiving his word. My hunch is that they didn't want to hear it. Even though theologians have described this dance of teaching and not hearing as the messianic secret, I suspect there is something very basic going ...

1329. Love in Action

1 John 3:16-24

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... his big commandment. In the gospel of John we hear Jesus saying it in as many ways as he possibly can. But he does more than just say it. He also shows it. In today's gospel passage, Jesus teaches his disciples about the good shepherd, saying quite plainly that he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Now, the people who first heard Jesus say these words may have thought he was speaking metaphorically about actually laying down his life. But after the cross, they realized that he meant ...

1330. The Home Court Advantage

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... have more confidence in each other and work better as a unit.” Runciman conclude his critique by admitting, “I can’t prove my theory, but I can defend it. It chimes with what you can see happening in any team sport — the away players don’t quite believe in themselves in the way the home players do.” Team spirit. A spirit that binds together a bunch of individuals and lifts them up to a new place of confidence and plane of performance. A spirit that gives them a distinct advantage over all the ...

1331. Reconciliation Day

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... less than a year ago. He had been driving too fast, he said, and had lost control, with the car going off the road, and colliding with a tree. He managed to survive, but his passenger, his best friend, died instantly of a broken neck. He went on to describe, quite graphically what his buddy looked like, and how he felt, and how he would never be able to forgive himself for what he had done. And then he sat down. Next to speak was the man beside him who turned out to be, not his father, but the father of ...

1332. A Four Word Memoir

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... editors published the best responses to their challenge in a little volume. The title, of course, was six words: Not Quite What I Was Planning, subtitled, Six-Word Memoirs by Famous and Obscure Writers. One famous author, Joyce Carol Oates, ... .” If you were to sum up your life in a six or eight-word memoir, how would it read? One writer suggests that our memoirs would be quite different from St. Paul’s. “To live is to be entertained, to die is to miss all the fun.” “To live is all of the things I ...

1333. The Adoption

John 1:1-18

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... on duty —stiff accent, eccentric movements) Thank you, ma’am, thank you, sir. Merry Christmas to you, Dylan Robert and Dorie Kay. It is extremely kind of you to invite me to your Christmas festivities. I must admit, though I am fully self-sufficient, that it is quite lonely in my apartment since my hasty “retirement.” By the way, the tea was a bit tepid —the turkey too dry. The napkins belong on the right side of the plate, and do you ever dust, sister? I noticed a bit of dust in and amongst the ...

1334. The Rabbi's Gift

Luke 2:21-40

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... mentioned it again. And after a few weeks, I noticed something. While I tended to my sexton duties, the brothers began to treat one another differently. (Monks unfreeze.) Monk 1: You before me, sir — Monk 2: Oh, thank you, Brother Martin, God bless you. Monk 1: That’s quite all right. Monk 2: By the way, Brother Martin, do you want to go to vespers with me and offer our praises to the Lord? Monk 1: Oh yes, what a privilege to chant with you and the other brothers like we used to do. (Monks chant happily ...

1335. A Christmas Program

Luke 2:21-40

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... Nazareth just to make a living. I’m a carpenter by trade. I had asked Mary to be my wife and things seemed to be going quite well for us until she went to see her cousin, Elizabeth. Mary was gone for three months. When she returned, I did not know what to ... in our sandals, we went. What we saw was both usual and unusual. After we left, we realized that shepherding sheep would never be quite the same. We had seen, there in the stable, in a manger in the same hay our sheep relished, a newborn child who would ...

1336. The Need for Transformation

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... almost all a sense of transformation. Too often today, we focus on our needs and desires; we are insufficiently concerned about others. At times, we perceive that our actions are appropriate, but even then, transformation is at times necessary. A little story illustrates this point quite well. One day, on his lunch hour, a businessman was strolling through a local park. As he walked, he enjoyed the beauty of the day as he ate a hot dog he had purchased at a local vendor. As he approached a street corner, he ...

1337. Samuel Was the Search Committee

1 Samuel 15:34-35, 16:1-13

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... and Daddy trooping all their sons by to see which one he wants. So here is Jesse, proud father that he is, trooping his sons one by one — Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah and Nethanel and Raddai and Ozem. And in every case something wasn't quite right. In every case Samuel would say, "No, that's not the one. Next. Next. Next...." Samuel learned three things about his search process, things that all search committees and congregations need to keep in mind: First, the search takes a lot longer than you think ...

1338. Do Not Forget Your Servant

1 Samuel 1:4-20

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... for today (Mark 13:1-8) that Jesus also gets to denounce the empire. According to Mark, this is the only time the disciples make the trip to the big city of Jerusalem. When they see the second temple, which King Herod had constructed as quite a showpiece, they gawk like some Galilean hayseeds: "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" (v. 1). Jesus dampens their excitement: "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down" (v. 2 ...

1339. Standing Ovation

Illustration

Robert P. Dugan, Jr.

... platform, and it was he who had just called for the ovation. But he was a newcomer. He had taken the place of a man who'd been arrested. He was afraid! After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who would quit first! And in the obscure, small hall, unknown to the leader, the applause went on six, seven, eight minutes! They were done for! Their goose was cooked! They couldn't stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks! At the rear of the hall, which was crowded, they ...

1340. What Are Fathers Made Of?

Illustration

Paul Harvey

... is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. A father is a thing that growls when it feels good and laughs very loud when it's scared half to death. A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be and this worries him, sometimes. So he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him. A father is a thing that gets very angry when ...

1341. Give and Take

Illustration

James Packer

What is meant by fellowship in this verse? Gossip? Cups of tea? Tours? No. What is being referred to is something of a quite different order and on a quite different level. "They met constantly to hear the apostles teach, and to share the common life, and break bread and to pray. A sense of awe was everywhere. All whose faith had drawn them together held everything in common. With one mind they kept up their daily attendance at the ...

1342. Penthouse or Outhouse

Illustration

Charles Swindoll

... the-wall remarks we write and all this public flack disturb you? Doesn't it make you want to quit when people throw things at you from the stands and when you get those dirty letters?" Sonny just leaned back, gave a big, toothless grin, and sighed, "No, not ... really, I don't want to quit. I've been in this game long enough to know that every quarterback, every week of the season, spends his time either in the ...

1343. Production Mark-ups

Illustration

Staff

The great industrialist Charles Schwab was quite disappointed when the workers in his steel mill were not meeting their production quota. He asked the foreman what was wrong. "I don't know," he replied, " ... the day workers returned and saw the higher figure, one man exclaimed, "We can do better than that!" His fellow employees caught his enthusiasm, and when they quit that night, they chalked on the floor an enormous "10." It was a 66 percent increase in just 24 hours and all because of Schwab's challenge.

1344. Quittin' Meetings

Illustration

... Jones was a preacher who held revival services, which he called "quittin' meetings." His preaching was directed primarily to Christians, and he urged them to give up the sinful practices in their lives. Sam's messages were very effective, and many people promised to quit swearing, drinking, smoking, lying, gossiping, or anything else that was displeasing to the Lord. On one occasion Jones asked a woman, "Just what is it that you're quittin'?" She replied, "I'm guilty of not doing something, and I'm going to ...

1345. The Church Sexton

Humor Illustration

... neither read nor write. There were several duties around the church for which this would be a severe handicap. So he awarded the sexton's job to someone else. The young man found another job, worked hard, saved his money, invested it wisely and became a quite wealthy man. It came as quite a shock to many people that he was illiterate since he had attained such a high station in life. One of them said to him one day, "You have done so well in life. Just think where you would be, however, if you could read ...

1346. Vocal Foolishness

Humor Illustration

A man, wishing to embarrass the local pastor, rose and suddenly called out quite loudly, "There is no God." The pastor went to him, calmly laid his hand on his shoulder, and said, "Friend, what you have said is not at all new. The Bible ... The pastor replied, "Psalm 53, verse 1, tells us, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.'' But there is one great difference between that fool and you. He was quite modest and said it only in his heart; he didn't go about yelling it out for all the world to hear."

1347. Cheers for the Pastors

Humor Illustration

... suddenly he realized that he had forgotten to put out chairs for his guests to sit in during the service. In a state of great agitation, he whispered in the ear of one of his elderly laymen, "Please get some chairs for the guest pastors." The elderly gentleman was quite hard of hearing, so he asked the priest to repeat his request. The priest did so a little louder: "Please get up and get three chairs for the Protestants." The old man had a puzzled looked on his face as he rose to his feet. Turning to the ...

1348. Malaprop Maladies

Humor Illustration

... , "It had all the colors of the rectum." Last month, we had a pregnant woman, who after nine months, said she was ready to be "reduced." Another woman told us that she was going through "mental pause." She also said her husband had quit smoking "cold duck." (Did she mean he quit drinking Cold Duck?) Finally, a woman reported to a counselor here that she was certain she did not have a sexually transmitted disease because she and her husband, despite a recent "falling down," were unfailingly "monotonous."

1349. A Bilingual Society

Humor Illustration

A bilingual society: Not so long ago a country mouse ran down my street. And all of a sudden there was this, "meow," so the mouse jumped into a manhole. But he couldn't quite get away, because it was full of water. So he stayed on a brick. Fortunately, the cat couldn't quite reach down there. He was just scratching the top of the mouse's fur. Suddenly there was a "Ruff, ruff, ruff!" and the scuffling of padded feet. Then it was quiet. Thinking the cat had been chased by a dog, the mouse came up, started ...

1350. A Mother's Advice

Humor Illustration

... I've told you a hundred times not to sit on that wall. But would you listen to me? Noooo!" COLUMBUS' MOTHER: "I don't care what you've discovered, Christopher. You still could have written!" BABE RUTH'S MOTHER: "Babe, how many times have I told you quit playing ball in the house! That's the third broken window this week!" MICHELANGELO'S MOTHER: "Mike, can't you paint on walls like other children? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that stuff off the ceiling?" NAPOLEON'S MOTHER: "All right, Napoleon ...

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