Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1401 to 1425 of 5000 results

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

The late J. Wallace Hamilton preached a sermon titled, "Bare Feet in the Palace." Borrowing an image from the author, Agnes Newton Keith, he suggested that this illustrates our times. The palace has undergone a radical change. The privileged who used to live there are gone: in their place have come the have-nots of the earth. They are now "barefoot in the palace." They have taken over the privileges of the few, and they do not intend ...

1402. The Day You Were Healed

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

... thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin." * See Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1986, Vol. XII, No. 5, page 39 for an account of the leper’s cleansing as described in the Midrashim. Christ is Our Health The healed Samaritan should not be used to illustrate a primer lesson on remembering to say thank you, or to stir up guilt in little children who forget. This is the Gospel of the grace of God that took on flesh and blood in Jesus Christ through whom we are restored and cleansed and healed ...

1403. Lord, I Believe - Or Do I?

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

... peril, read the masterpiece of confidence that Saint Paul penned in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. On what foundation did their joy and boldness rest? What mission could have motivated them when all the odds were stacked against them? This little parable of persistent patience illustrates the answer. We Need the Parable The church today, not always certain that its Lord knows how to run his business, often tries to run it for him. Not content that all our efforts are not crowned, we crown our own. Not willing to ...

1404. The Gospel of the Little Man

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

... life was up a tree in any other way. But before the sun had set that afternoon, Zacchaeus was surprised beyond the wildest expectation with a healing that he never realized was in his catalogue of need. Careful! Not Too Close! Perhaps the story of Zacchaeus illustrates the reason why so many take great care to keep their guard up, hold Jesus at arm’s length, when all that they are seeking is a passing glimpse. They will brush against the manger in a Christmas worship. They come to smell the lilies Easter ...

1405. Emancipation Proclamation

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... Freedom Add the second concept, freedom. Freedom is the boast of many who have broken down all barriers of restraint. But the broken barriers become the fence of bondage. One does not have to search too far beyond one’s own experience for illustrations. Even as we celebrate the Reformation and the contribution Martin Luther made to freedom, we can hear the rattling of the chains. The truth that makes us free is often switched to sidings, while the mainline whistles through our lives, carrying the freight ...

1406. Heaven Can’t Wait

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

... them, not necessarily because they wanted changes, or had it in their power to effect them, but because the Savior had his hand on them. He would work them over, melt them down, and mold them in the image of the kingdom, make them walking illustrations of the reign of God. He would bathe them daily in forgiveness, uproot the pride, the envy, and the spirit of retaliation that infect us all, and so completely overhaul them that their former friends would scarcely recognize them. It would not be easy, but ...

1407. Remember Me?

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

... Beware, lest you confuse a casual association with a meaningful relationship. Casual Associations Christ could have been talking about a variety of people who had a distant and casual relationship to him, but I want to focus on several and use them as illustrations. First, there are the curious. These people gathered around Jesus because they wanted to see what was happening. Fearful that they might miss something, they stood on the periphery and watched. Some people are drawn to the church of Christ out of ...

1408. Dead or Alive?

Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

... City of the Walking Dead." The reason, of course, is that there are so many old people in it. The kind of deadness to which we are referring this morning, however, has nothing to do with physical aging. How should it be explained? Can you think of illustrations? Have you ever seen anything like the deadness of the rich man who ignored poor Lazarus? We are indebted to Sigmund Freud for a helpful frame of reference. He spoke, if you recall, of the "Id," "Ego," and "Super Ego" as being three levels of personal ...

1409. Formula for Life

Amos 5:1-17

Sermon

... also," Jesus concludes, "when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ " Let it be remembered, however, that Jesus’ words about faith and its power immediately preceded this illustrative analogy. The analogy is not about the social arrangement of power relations between master and servant. It is about the servant’s attitudes amid expectations. What does he expect from his role of servanthood other than that he has filled it well ...

1410. Of Preachers and Preaching

Micah 1:8-16

Sermon

... seemed necessary for the nature and authenticity of the call to be scrutinized carefully by the community of faith. The church could not long survive if it gave equal and unqualified attention to all the eccentric individuals who get a feeling of being called. The point is illustrated in an old story about a country boy who claimed to have a vision that propelled him into the ministry. According to his report, as he was at work in the fields one day he had looked up to see the capital letters G P C blazing ...

1411. The Yoke of Christ

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

... with our own sins, with our human failures, with our bad relationships with other people. Jesus is saying that there is an easier yoke or a more difficult one as we deal with these matters. He asks us to choose the easy yoke he offers. Let's illustrate this. A ten-year-old boy and his friends love to play baseball. The boy's father has warned him many times, though, not to play in the schoolyard near their home. A $250.00 thermopane window faces the homeplate area of their makeshift diamond. The boys ...

1412. Cross Purposes

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... ?" What you can do may be at cross purposes. You can look at the cross and say, "This you have done for me, and I don't give a damn!" On the other hand, you can say what the native said when he saw and heard a missionary give an illustrated talk on the cross. When the picture of the crucifixion was on the screen, impulsively the man said, "Come down from the cross, Son of God, I, not you, should be hanging there." If you can say the latter, you are no longer at cross purposes with the cross, for ...

1413. Table For Talkers

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

... in the world, in our club, in our business, even in our church. We tend to live only for ourselves. We like the chief seats. We relish prominence and publicity. We are out for first place and we live to take care of Number One. This is illustrated by the current popularity of mirrors in home decorations. Mirrors are almost everywhere. In some cases an entire wall is covered with mirrors. A mirror's purpose is to see yourself. It makes us self-centered. Our world revolves around us. This is contrary to the ...

1414. If Only We Would Accept Responsibility ...

Ezekiel 33:1-20

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... guilt (18:2), he does conclude that the individual is responsible before God. How could it be otherwise, he must have reasoned, since the visible covenant community was disintegrating and any subsequent faithfulness to God must lie with the individual. Ezekiel illustrated his point by using the familiar figure of a watchman, posted outside the city to warn the inhabitants of approaching invaders. Each individual citizen was responsible to heed the trumpet call of the watchman; if he paid no attention and ...

1415. Proper 4

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

... to the hidden inner voice within them urging them to be better and greater, to live richer and more enduring lives. Of course, the urging, nudging, inner compulsion, often does not lead to comfort, but it does lead to growth. Something of the legacy of growth is illustrated by a legend which says when Abraham was getting ready to leave Haran, he ran into opposition. He had so endeared himself to the people of that place they didn't want him to go. They gathered around him and urged him to become their king ...

1416. Proper 9

Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon

... came to the Hebrews, there was more to this matter than simply adding additional persons to the slave labor market - an act which was natural to the Pharaohs. In this story we read about one of the first anti-semitic movements. This is graphically illustrated by the text, but, it appears, the translation in the Revised Standard Version, "and the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel," is a little too gentle to be totally accurate. The Egyptians could easily have exterminated the Hebrews or, at the ...

1417. Angry Hands

Psalm 26:1-12

Sermon

... should be seen in the light of God's mercy and controlled by the power of God's Spirit As Christians, we often picture life in this world as a broad road leading to destruction. We see the Christian life as a narrow path that leads to glory. The illustration may be accurate. However, that narrow path is not a separate road. In fact, it is laid right down the very middle of that broad path, but it runs in the opposite direction. As the great throngs of people are coming down that broad road, the Christian is ...

1418. The Confessions of a Younger Brother

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

... drive big cars, vacation in the Carribean, send their children to private schools and maintain at least two homes. True, the picture given to us in the biblical parable is one of a person who is poor and in need of food for his table, but he is only one illustration of a person with needs who sits at the gates of my life. These are the most obvious, and they need our love and attention. But there are others who are not so obvious. In pride and fear they often camouflage their needs, but they are real. I am ...

1419. Faith-Filled Living

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

... easy to trust God when things are going well but difficult to maintain that trust when the storms of life are raging. But faith is flexible. It is a trust which bends and adapts to the bad times as well as the good times. Some of the best illustrations of faith have come out of the holocaust in Germany. A small group of Jews were being hunted by members of the Gestapo, and they hid in a crypt in the Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. While they waited to be discovered by their executioners, they scribbled these ...

1420. Parable of Grading the Teacher

I Corinthians 13:1-2

Illustration

Staff

... afraid to ask questions or who feel intimidated by severity, deter the process. Teachers, who lack self-confidence, often try to cover their failures with an unnecessary severity in grades. Good teachers win the love and respect of the students by clear illustrations, that all may understand. Through a willingness to accept criticism, the teacher proves democracy and eases the admission of ignorance on the part of the student in regards to any particular lesson. The real concern of both the student and the ...

1421. The Resurrection of Our Lord

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... tomb earlier, had been changed into a spiritual body, and, as such, it had passed through the graveclothes without disturbing them. This is what John perceived, and accordingly he believed. It has been said by one commentator that the design of this chapter is to illustrate the passage from sight to faith. In the case of John, sight passed quickly to faith. For Peter and the others, it happened later. For Mary, it happened very soon. For Thomas, the doubter, it happened last of all. But it did happen. And ...

1422. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

2 Kings 13:10-25

Sermon

... the fortunes of Israel go up and down. Now after fifty years of counseling kings, Elisha became sick with the illness that was to bring him to death. In verse 14, there is a brief reflection on the relation of king and prophet. His mourning shamelessly illustrates how dependent the king is on the prophet. Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him, and wept before him, crying, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen ...

1423. L’Chaim!

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... Sunday mornings was to skate across the frozen body of water separating the two churches. When he asked permission of his ecclesiastical elders to skate the distance, they reluctantly agreed - but only on the stipulation that he would not enjoy doing so. That story illustrates a much larger problem, the problem of knowing God only under the Law and never under the Gospel. Don’t let that blight cripple your spirit and rob your faith of the delighting in God, the enjoyment of his grace and abundant goodness ...

1424. Making a Choice

John 16:5-16

Children's Sermon

... good friend of yours. First of all, I brought Terry Teeth with me. The dentist gave Terry to me to show you what you need to know. Let's imagine that Terry has a small cavity right here. [Using a marking pencil, draw a black area on the teeth to illustrate.] Now the cavity doesn't hurt yet, but when you see your friend the dentist, he tells you that the cavity has to be fixed or you will have a sore mouth. You must now ask yourself whether you want to have the tooth fixed while it is a little ...

1425. Proper 7

Lk 9:18-24 · Gal 3:23-29 · 1 Ki 19:9-14 · Zech 12:7-10

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... Kings 19:9-14 1. Came (v. 9). There is no hiding place from God. Elijah fled to a cave in a wilderness, because he was afraid of Queen Jezebel's revenge. No one but God knew where he was. Wherever we go, "Behold, thou art there." Here is an illustration of grace. God comes to Elijah who is frightened. He is in need of encouragement and assurance. Elijah needs to be sent back into the fray. This is grace - God takes the initiative and comes to us who are in trouble. 2. Jealous (vv. 10, 14). Twice God asks ...

Showing results