Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1351 to 1375 of 4977 results

1351. Never Give Up

Humor Illustration

... young boy went to his bedroom early to start praying for a baby brother. He prayed every night for a whole month, but then he began to get a little weary. He quit praying for a baby brother. After another month, however, his mother went to the hospital. When she came back home, his parents called him into the bedroom. When he came in he saw ... and said, "Now, aren't you glad you prayed?" Young Bobby hesitated a little and then looked up at his dad and answered, "Yes, but aren't you glad I quit when I did?"

1352. There Are Many Paths to God and Sainthood

Mark 1:1-8

Illustration

Richard Gribble

... tired and hungry invited him in to stay. The hermit was given a hearty meal and a clean place to sleep. The hermit stayed with the shoemaker and his family for three days. The two men talked quite a bit and the hermit learned much about the shoemaker, but he revealed little about himself, even though the family was quite curious about him. Then after three days the hermit said good-bye to the shoemaker and his family and walked back across the desert to his cave, wondering all the while why God had sent him ...

1353. Doing Your Own Thing

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... is easy to see what happens to you if you eat excessively. We may be free, as St. Paul says, to do anything, but not everything is beneficial. With regard to food, it usually becomes self-evident. The dangers of sexual freedom may not be quite as obvious. There was a time when the greatest fear of unrestrained sexual freedom among “nice” young people was pregnancy. Then came the fear of sexually-transmitted disease, especially the HIV virus. These risks are still with us, of course. Still, even if you ...

1354. A Cantankerous Prophet

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... great family, and Christ died for everyone’s sins. Your sins, my sins, but also the sins of our worst enemies. Robert W. Youngs tells of having lunch at a small inn. Across the bottom of the menu was this notice: ONLY CHRISTIANS SERVED HERE. Being quite naive in those days, he remarked to his table companions that it was refreshing to find a hotel so interested in the Christian life. “You miss the point,” one of his friends replied. “The hotel means that Jews are not welcome here.” (3) That means ...

1355. Looking for Rainbows

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... was ever going to get out of the mill town, out of poverty, that might be his way. “The trouble was,” says this source, “at age 14 everybody had to go to work in the mill and that meant you never graduated from high school. He was tempted to quit studying, but his grandmother told him to keep trying and to remember that life was like a funnel, and that if you started on the small end, the difficult end, the tough end [of the funnel] that then life began to broaden out. But if you started at the easy ...

1356. The Handiwork of God

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... we were created for greatness. Now it’s important for you to understand what I mean by greatness. Greatness in God’s eyes is different from what the world means by greatness. Dr. Mark D. Roberts tells one of the most moving stories I’ve heard in quite a while. He tells about a phone call he received about bedtime one evening. He was the pastor on call that night at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. The operator informed him that Mary, a member of the church, had asked for immediate pastoral ...

1357. Sandbox First, Soapbox Second

Mark 1:29-34, Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... movies, sports networks. What the heck do we do? Well, we break out old board games or decks of cards. We find books and hope the flashlights hold out. We look for diversions to keep our minds off our sudden isolation. And we don’t quite know what to do with this sudden new “community” we find ourselves living in — the community of people in our living room, the community of strangers in our apartment complex, our street, or our neighborhood. The extremes of solitude and society have always been the ...

1358. Do You Know How to Listen?

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... a fighter, that somehow he’d get through this, but meanwhile, immobile and on a ventilator, Dr. Gilson wondered how Mark was even going to be able to ask questions or be involved in any way in his own care. The solution was simple and at the same time quite remarkable: Mark’s parents, the Orsinis, would sit at Mark’s side each day and recite the alphabet. When they got to a letter Mark needed to spell a word, he’d nod “yes.” They’d write it down, then start over and wait for him to nod again ...

1359. Drink One For The Brothers

Humor Illustration

... in and only orders two mugs. All the regulars take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss." The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then light dawns in his eyes and he laughs. "Oh, no, everybody's just fine," he explains, "It's just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to ...

1360. When the Going Gets Tough

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... mused. Not only did he live through Thanksgiving, at Christmas he threw a party. The following Easter was delightful. A fun picnic on the Fourth of July was a gas and he had a special celebration in the planning stage for a second Thanksgiving. He didn’t quite make that. However, a close friend of Swindoll’s told him that the last time they talked, this friend had made an appointment to have his teeth fixed. A dying man doesn’t make an appointment to have his teeth fixed, but this man did. He was ...

1361. The Forgiven Love A Lot!

Luke 7:36—8:3

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... , it is to me. Others might not like it so well. It is certainly astonishing. Put it in the context of a dinner party at your own home or even a supper in the church's fellowship hall. By this time in Jesus' ministry, he had garnered quite a bit of public notice. All sorts of people had been attracted to him — rich, poor, educated, illiterate, from the highly respectable to the lowly riffraff. To have this famous rabbi come to dinner was very special and everyone would have been excited and perhaps a bit ...

1362. Don’t Be Afraid

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

... or their clothes. "Think," he says to them, "about how well God cares for the birds and the flowers and stop your worrying. Quit spending so much of your time fussing about these things. Instead," he says, "set your hearts on the kingdom and these other things ... shirt and pass alone this happiness to his son. He entered a village and was told of a priest who was thought to be quite happy and content. The king found the priest and asked him if he would accept the position of bishop if it were given him. The ...

1363. Saint Who?

Luke 6:27-36, Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Scott Bryte

... sit by demurely until we come up and ask for the dance. Jesus leads. Jesus didn't wait for an invitation. He was just there, unbidden; in Zacchaeus' face and in Zacchaeus' house and in Zacchaeus' life. There weren't any conditions. Jesus didn't say, "Okay, Zacch, if you quit working for the enemy, and if you pay people back, and if you get rid of all this dirty money, then I'll come to you." It wasn't like that at all. No, Jesus was just there, accepting Zacchaeus and loving him and spending time with him ...

1364. Ready Or Not, Here He Comes!

Luke 3:7-18

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... float of the Macy'sThanksgiving Day parade, there was not a jolly old Saint Nick, but a wild-eyed John the Baptist dressed in a glorified burlap sack? Even the perpetually perky Katie Couric would wince as she offered parade commentary from her reviewing stand, not quite sure what to say. But this is not midtown Manhattan and this is no Macy's extravaganza. It has been something of a parade though, as people trekked out to the desert to hear this strange man. He is an astonishing preacher, we have to grant ...

1365. Sonny Moneybags

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , hard-working Sonny, the one who never gives any trouble, what kind of party does he get? None, that's what! Good, old Sonny not only does not get the fatted calf, he doesn't even get a goat. Go into Junior's party? You must be kidding!" It was quite a speech. The tears of joy that had shone in Dad's eye just moments ago had dried now. He wanted to reason with his firstborn son, to make him understand just how much Junior's return meant, and at the same time, just how much Sonny's faithfulness through ...

1366. The Uniquely Christian Commandment

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... a temporary magnet in the presence of a permanent magnet, and as long as you leave the two together, they will share this characteristic. It is no different with Christians and Christ — when we are close to him, we reproduce some of his characteristics, which would be quite impossible if we merely attempted to obey his command or imitate his example. Yes, his standard is high, but his power to help is even higher. He invites us to come near enough to his love that it becomes a part of us and enables us to ...

1367. Is It True?

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... agree that the women who arrived first at the tomb were startled to find it empty and heard, "He is risen." They dashed back to tell the disciples. Peter and John come back to the garden in response and find that the women's report was accurate. No one is quite sure what to make of all this at the moment, but we know the rest. Yupper-dee-doodle! Of course, there have been times when church folks have questioned the story; found it difficult to believe. In fact, within just a few years of Christ's death and ...

1368. The Forgiveness Business

Luke 7:36-8:3

Sermon

David E. Leininger

1369. The Most Dangerous Verse In the Bible

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , and the result is that you prove most anything you want by appealing to scripture. "Cain killed his brother Abel" (Genesis 4). "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10). "What you are about to do, do quickly" (John 13). Get the point? Most people are not quite so ridiculous with their proof texting, but it goes on all the time. Think of any of the major social issues that we face — abortion, gender equality, sexuality, war. People defend their positions in all of them by appealing to this or that scripture text ...

1370. Rich Man, Poor Man

James 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” (Matthew 25:31-46) That’s a scary parable especially in a society that determines a person’s worth on the basis of his or her bank account. But this is where the teachings of Jesus clash quite definitely with the values of society how we view the poor. Scripture is clear: our closeness to God is reflected in how we treat those less fortunate than ourselves. This is true in both the Old and the New Testaments. There is an ancient legend among the Jews ...

1371. Reformation Day

Psalm 46:1-11, Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 8:31-41, Romans 3:19-28

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... whose vision is big enough for the big problems of humankind. We pray for divine wisdom and safety. God of Peace-makers — the terror of war is such a maiming way to deal with boundaries and religious differences! We, and our children, never quite recover from the spiritual and psychological wounds. So we pray for peace. Let it begin in our homes and in our country, among different ethnic groups, among restless youth, among adults who speak with barbed words. Let words mediate conflict without hurtful ...

1372. Jesus - The Leader of Our Team

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... of us and how he must be the central figure of our lives; yet we somehow believe we know more or better and seek another figure. When this happens we soon become lost. The consequences that come to communities that refuse to have a centralizing ideal or person are quite obvious; they are manifest in varied ways in our world. If the spokes of a wheel do not have the hub there would be no central strength and the wheel would not function. In sports and even in families, when one desires to move out on one’s ...

1373. A New Point of View

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd, Much like the old violin. A mess of pottage, a life of shame, A game and he travels on. He's going once, and going twice, He's going and almost gone. But the Master comes and the foolish crowd Never can quite understand The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought By the touch of the Master's hand.2 With this new point of view, we live our lives no longer keeping score, no longer counting their trespasses against them, no longer dividing the world into losers ...

1374. How Rich Is Rich?

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... banish it from our lives. We have to deal with money. How do we use our money? In the abstract, it is easy to preach against greed, against craving money. Money problems do not come to us in the abstract. Money problems are quite concrete. A bill that arrives in the mail is quite concrete. The price of gas is very concrete (and rising!). We have to make certain decisions about money. We can do only three things with our money: spend it, invest it, or give it away. Sometimes the decision is made for us. We ...

1375. Profile Of A Savior

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... the sweetness of his spirit. For not only does he see that the Lord has given him a teacher's tongue, but he has also given him a student's ear. His tongue has a sweet and gentle purpose, and he maintains the humility to listen and to learn. Then, quite suddenly, the lovely tone of the portrait is interrupted by a discordant note. "The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious," he continues. "I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out ...

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