Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1501 to 1525 of 2561 results

1501. He Left Them Where?

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

Kent Crockett, in his book, I Once Was Blind, but Now I Squint includes A Pessimist's Commentary on Psalm 23. The author is listed as "Ima Whiner." It is admittedly a spoof. But it is a good way for us to begin our thinking about today's text. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. "Shall not want?" Says Ima Whiner. "Give me a break. I want lots of things. I'd like to have a nicer house, a better job, and a pay raise. I want people to do what I say when I say. And I wouldn't mind winning the lottery ...

1502. A Word For Christian Fathers

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

King Duncan

You are familiar with the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy's marriage was a saga of bitterness. His wife carped and complained and clung to her grudges until he could not bear the sight of her. When they had been married almost a half a century, sometimes she would implore him to read to her the exquisite, poignant love passages that he had written about her in his diary forty-eight years previously, when they were both madly in love with each other. As he read of the happy days that were now gone ...

1503. What Would Bill Do?

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to tell you a simple, but moving story about a man named Bill. When Bill was born in the 1930s he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The doctor predicted that he would be mentally retarded and urged Bill’s parents to have him institutionalized. Fortunately, they ignored the doctor’s advice. At first, Bill attended a school for children with disabilities. Later he gained entrance to a mainstream high school. This was an unusual accomplishment for a physically challenged person of that era. Then, with ...

1504. Is There Hope for the Hapless Wedding Guest?

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Darrick Acre

Strange parable. Great beginning; catastrophic ending. Yet I find myself drawn to the hapless wedding guest because nobody else is. The first sermon I ever heard in a Nazarene Church was when I was in high school. Pastor Roy Hoover preached on this wretched wedding guest. It so chilled me out that I didn’t go back for a year. I’ve never forgotten it. I’ve never heard one on it since! When preachers come to this miserable fellow, like the Jews of old meeting a leper on the road, they give him a wide berth. ...

1505. Amazing Grace

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

When Al Smith was the governor of New York, he was invited to speak at Sing Sing prison. He was asked to address a gathering of the prisoners, and he wondered how he should begin. After they ate, he stood up and just automatically said "My fellow Democrats." Well that didn’t suit, because he felt that "no good Democrat should be in prison." So he backtracked and he started again. He said to them, "My fellow citizens." And then he realized that some of those fellows had lost many of the privileges of ...

1506. THE HOPE HE LEFT BEHIND

Drama

Angela Akers

SUBJECT: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day CHARACTERS: Martin Luther King, Jr., Angel SETTING: On their way to Heaven PROPS: None (Martin walks into the area where the angel is. He is disoriented by the sight of the angel). Martin: "Wha....Where am I? Am I dead?" Angel: "Yes, Martin, you''re dead. It''s my job to take you to Heaven." Martin: "Wait a minute! There''s a problem here. I need to go back. I can''t go now. My work is not done." Angel: "I''m sorry, Martin, but you have to." Martin ...

1507. Father? Almighty?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Harry Emerson Fosdick once told the story of a little boy who, on his first day of school, learned that the sky is not a big, blue bowl. Upon returning home, he felt he must impart this new-found knowledge to a neighbor boy, and so he said, “There ain’t no sky.” The neighbor boy looked up into the heavens and said to him, “Okay, but what is it then that ain’t?” Something exists. The basic theological question is: Why is there something instead of nothing? Those who have suffered through my God Lecture in ...

1508. Love Is Extravagant

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

“But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ “ (John 12:4-6) You’ve got to admit that Judas had a point. His was the voice of sweet reasonableness. “Let’s not let ourselves get carried away,” he said, “Let’s not jump off the deep end. This is wasteful extravagance. This costly perfume could be sold and the money given to the poor.” Never mind that the author of the Fourth ...

1509. Believing Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I have always thought that Thomas got a bum rap. Down through the centuries we have called him “Doubting Thomas,” when, in reality, he was the greatest believer of them all. He ended up proclaiming the highest profession of faith we find in the Gospels. Beholding the risen Christ he said, “My Lord and my God!” I. THE FIRST GLIMPSES WE HAVE OF THOMAS IN THE GOSPELS PORTRAY HIM AS A MAN OF CONSIDERABLE COURAGE. Actually, “Thomas” is not a name. It means simply, “The Twin.” Of course, over the years it has ...

1510. When Compassion Overcomes Irritation

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I think Jesus would understand about vacations. St. Mark gives us this interesting little parenthesis in the life of our Lord. He says that Jesus knew the disciples’ need for rest. He knew that we cannot be everlastingly at it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Jesus knew that, and so, immediately after He sent forth His disciples on that first evangelistic mission, (a mission which was crowned with success); we read that “The apostles returned to Jesus, and told him all that they had done and ...

1511. On Keeping Quiet about Easter

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Is there anything more frustrating than to be reading an interesting article in the newspaper, only to find that the article is “continued on page 7, section C”.... and then turn to page 7, Section C., only to find that someone has either torn off that page or cut an article from the other side and thereby wiped out the conclusion of the story? That’s sort of the way it is with the Gospel of St. Mark. I. SCHOLARS HAVE KNOWN FOR A LONG TIME THAT MARK’S GOSPEL IS CUT SHORT AT THE END OF VERSE 8. They know ...

1512. Brokenness and Bread

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The novelist, Harry Crews, shares an insight into the human condition that he learned as a youngster. "I first became fascinated with the Sears Roebuck catalog, because all the people in its pages were perfect. Nearly everyone I knew, had something missing, a finger cut off, a toe split, an ear half-chewed away, an eye clouded with blindness, from a glancing fence staple. And if they didn''t have something missing, they were carrying scars from barbed wire or knives, or fish hooks. But the people in the ...

1513. Looks Like We're in for Stormy Weather

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Eric Ritz

There is a story in the Bible that, for some of you, happened yesterday, and for others will take place tomorrow; for a few it may be lived out today. It is the story of a boat ride across a beautiful lake. As Mark, the Gospel writer, tells it, it was on the lake of Galilee toward the end of the day. It was late afternoon and the scene was very soothing and pastoral as they cruised across the lake. The followers of Jesus were full of friendly chatter on the events of the day that Jesus had already done. ...

1514. Facing Difficult Decisions in Life! Part VI

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

J. Wallace Hamilton, one of the great voices of Methodism, once shared an old story that I want to use to open our sermon today. "An old Chinese farmer had one prized workhorse for his small farming enterprise. For example, when it was time to plow, he hooked the animal up to the plow and it broke the ground for planting. When it was time to take the harvest to the market, he would hitch the horse to a wagon. When he wanted to travel any great distance, he would put a saddle on it and ride the horse. The ...

1515. Birthing the Kingdom

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

I for one am heartily glad that the millennium (and its attendant madness) is well behind us. I'm glad that the millennium comes only once in a, well, millennium. The major reason for my relief is that I became sick of "Millennium Fever" and the doom-saying prophecies that (mercifully) did not come to pass. End of the world prophecies are nothing new, of course. They were around for centuries before our Lord was born. They exist in most major religions and cults. And every time a new disaster -- of natural ...

1516. Lethal Weapon

James 3:1-12

Sermon

Harold Warlick

A popular series of movies has been the Lethal Weapon series. You might remember that in the series Mel Gibson plays a semi-unbalanced police officer named Riggs. Riggs is a capable detective but occasionally he goes berserk and mentally flips out. He's called a lethal weapon because you never know when he's going to go off. Each of us has the potential to become a "lethal weapon." We possess within ourselves a weapon against which there is little insurance others can take out. This weapon enables us to ...

1517. Obedience to God's Plan

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Richard Gribble

In a vast field that stretched as far as the eye could see, a great multitude of people milled about waiting for something to happen. Quite unexpectedly a messenger came into the midst of the people and announced, "You are to walk around this field 25 times carrying a baton." The people were a bit mystified by these words and asked, "What will happen when we finish?" "You will learn the answer when you are done," came the reply. So the crowd ambled off to make its first lap of the field. It took almost a ...

1518. Why I Believe In Tithing

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Let’s pray together. Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly dove, with all your quickening powers. Come shed abroad a Savior’s love, and that will quicken ours. I believe that preaching is not so much the preparing and the delivering of sermons, as it is the preparing and the delivering of oneself. I hope you know by now that there is nothing I take more seriously than my call to preach. And there is nothing I invest more time, energy, and spirit power in than the task of preaching from Sunday to Sunday. When I ...

1519. Christmas Is On Top Of A Steep Hill

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Now will you hear the scripture lesson of the morning, from the 2nd chapter of Luke’s gospel, beginning with the 22nd verse and reading through the 35th verses? “And when the time came for their purification, according to the Law of Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that opens the womb shall be called Holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of turtle doves, or ...

1520. A Star, A Stable, and A Song

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There are some experiences in life, some ideas and feelings which defy our power of language and speech. It’s difficult to talk about the sacrificial love of parents. We struggle for words to describe the beauty of a sunset. We ransack our vocabulary to find words that image forth our experience of God. Not least among these experiences, ideas, and feelings which defy our power of speech and language, is the meaning of Christmas. We do our best as freshly and as meaningfully as possible to capture the ...

1521. What Really Matters The Price Of The High Calling

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

The price of a vital faith, and there is a price, the price of a vital faith is continuous struggle. The quest is perennial. We were created God to grow. We were recreated by Christ to grow spiritually. So Paul sets out in this word about pressing toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The pattern is clear. So let me lay it out in the fashion of that old black preacher who said of his preaching, first, I tell them what I’m going to tell them. Then I tell them. And then I ...

1522. Called To Finish What Is Finished

Colossians 1:24--2:5, Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Someone has said, and I agree, that the idea of Redemption in a world of sin and tragedy constitutes the noblest concept ever to enter the mind of God or the awareness of a human being. Paul would also agree. The theme of Redemption is woven into the fabric of everything he wrote. He repeats that theme over and over again in Colossians, affirming that God's implementation of his idea of redemption is the love gift of his son Jesus Christ on the Cross. The most amazing truth for you and me today is that we ...

1523. God's Hello People

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Listen to this passage from an autobiography: "It was on a Thursday, the day before payday in the black community. The teacher was asking each student how much his father would give to the Community Chest. On Friday night, each kid would get the money from his father, and on Monday, he would bring it to school. I decided I was going to buy me a Daddy right then. I had money in my pocket from shining shoes and selling papers, and whatever Helene Tucker pledged for her Daddy I was going to top it. And I'd ...

1524. Hanging On To Every Word

Luke 19:45-48

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

When Billy Graham was a young preacher, he was leading a series of services in a small-town Baptist church. Because his wife, Ruth, had not accompanied him on this particular trip, he wrote her a letter. It was a small town so he knew that he could find the post office. So he started down the street, but the post office wasn't in sight. Finally, he asked an 8 or 10-year old boy, "Pardon me, son, but can you show me the way to the post office?" "Sure," the boy answered. "It's just down this street and ...

1525. The Stone Was Rolled Away (easter)

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"One day a teacher was asking the kids in her fourth grade class to name the person whom they considered the greatest human being alive in the world today -- and the responses were quick in forthcoming and also quite varied too.A little boy spoke up and said, "I think it's Joe Montana. He led the 49ers to another Super Bowl win this year." A little girl said, "I think it's Mother Teresa because she cares for people who are dying and doesn't get paid for it at all." Another little girl said, "I think it's ...

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