Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1501 to 1525 of 5000 results

Matthew 28:1-10

Drama

Esther R. Russ

... snugly around the waist and be pinned in back, under the folds, so the pin does not show. Headcover: May be made of material a yard square or larger of the same color as the cumberbund. It may be worn as shown in either illustration A or B. Colors: Light colors should be used for the undergarment such as browns, blues, greens, or white. The cumberbund and headcover should always be the same color and contrasting to the undergarment. For example, white undergarment with light blue cumberbund and headcover ...

1502. "At Beneficial You’re Good for More"

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... much even though we are not able. Often when the dreams that we have are not met, we feel full of despair. We feel hopeless. We feel lonely. Those are terrible feelings. How easy it is for us to relate to those people of old. Let me illustrate this. I read recently that somewhere between seventy-five and ninety percent of all Americans feel lonely. They feel isolated from the people around them. Close friends do not exist. Even if there are close friends, they do not come up to their expectations. I believe ...

1503. "Lite Beer by Miller"

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... in my heels and become very stubborn. The issue becomes a fight between the good guys and the bad guys, and we all know who the good guy is. We also know who the bad guy is. The bad guy is out there. I think that the best way to illustrate that truth is to look at the Lite beer commercial by Miller. You all know the commercial: in it two people are drinking beer. One person says that he really likes the beer because it has less calories and therefore is less filling. The other protests that the merit of ...

1504. Do We Want to See?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... when he speaks of seeing God is that we know him as a presence that is real. Just as with the eyes of the body, we can grasp tangible images, so with the eyes of the heart can we grasp the certainty of God’s presence. Maybe I can best illustrate this by telling the story of an English woman who had a group of people in for dinner one evening. Among her guests was a well-known actor of that day. During the usual after-dinner conversation, the hostess asked the actor if he would recite something for the ...

1505. What Does It Mean To "Believe"?

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... true spiritually. Put aside your effort. Stop struggling. Don’t try to help yourself even by works or religion. Just float. As long as you are putting forth effort you are not trusting. B. Implies Commitment: Second, trust implies commitment. I think the best illustration is that of the marriage ceremony. A young lady can believe all that she wants to regarding the character and the personality and the promises of her husband-to-be, but until she says "I do" she does not hand herself over, commit herself ...

1506. Sowing to the Flesh

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... did not know his little grandson had been taken to Bethlehem by his nurse, and that he was among those put to death in the massacre of the infants. The early Christians related this story as though it were fact (which it may have been), illustrating the awful retribution that certainly and ultimately falls. "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." Whatever you do to others comes back into your own. Remember how Jacob deceived his father with regard to his father’s favorite son, Esau, using hairy ...

1507. The Three Faces of God

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... times and in all places. Yes, it is necessary to believe this in your own understanding and be committed to this to be a Christian. The Trinity pinpoints three different revelations: pictures, experiences, of the reality of the one living God. There is a simple illustration that is helpful: (1) Water is water (H20) and has reality and functions of its own. (2) Steam is water, but it is heated and has become vapor. It has reality and functions in this state. (3) Ice is water, but it is frozen and therefore ...

1508. The Spiritual Fitness Demands of the New Age

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... as we are accept God as he is, he accepts us as we are; and by his love and discipline (now desired by us) he brings us into an ordered life, "a meaningful arrangement," acceptable to him and effective in and through our lives. This can be illustrated by a unique story told by Reuel Howe. A little girl had disobeyed her mother. She felt guilty and, therefore, hostile toward her mother. The mother tried to help, but the child rejected her. Angry and hostile the child stamped out of the room, stamped up the ...

1509. Engaged In Self-Giving Ministry

Matthew 5:13-16

Bulletin Aid

Call to Worship Pastor: Christ has called his church into being to share his message of salvation with our world. People: The church has brought God's love to us; now we are commissioned to share his love with others. Pastor: Jesus used the illustrations of salt and light to show we have a caring and sharing ministry. People: We are in Christ's ministry. May God help us to be effective in that ministry. Collect Almighty God, who challenges your church with a ministry which lightens and enhances the lives ...

1510. The True Nature of Happiness

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Brett Blair

... another says I don’t need to be poor in spirit because I am poor in things, both are saying in unison: I don’t need. And we can never receive a Savior unless we first stand in need of a Savior. The story of the Pharisee and the Publican illustrates this. The story does not say that the Pharisee was rich. Indeed, since his prayer was: I thank thee God that I am not an extortioner like other men, we might assume that he was not a wealthy man, because in those days extortion was about the only way that ...

1511. IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... who has an unlimited source of extra money to solve all problems. God is not an escape artist to invoke when all else fails. A powerful prayer life must also be a consistent prayer life as we try to discover God’s will for our lives. Let me try to illustrate. If you’re in a little boat approaching a sandy beach and you throw out the anchor, and it digs into the sand, and you pull on the anchor rope until the boat slides into the sand, what have you done? Have you moved the shore to the boat, or ...

1512. WE HAVE GREAT POTENTIAL

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... of our created potential. God wants us to develop a faith that can handle both problems and opportunities. He desires that we capture his vision of our worth and our latent abilities. Some time ago I saw the play Man of La Mancha. I believe it illustrates what I am saying. The man of La Mancha comes to a wayside inn. Here the camel drivers stop. He sees Aldonza, the waitress, there. She is also the local prostitute. Aldonza is dirty and smells from perspiration. "Ho, my lady. You will be my lady ... every ...

1513. The Forgiven and the Forgiving

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... thorn into our hearts, we know. We understand, and still we do it. Still we do it."1 Why? Could the Christ break in and change all this for us? Could the Christ break in and change all this for our world? Here is a story that might illustrate: From all the hate and death of Nazi Germany, there comes a story, Reunion, by Fred Ulhman.2 A Jewish boy, brilliant and lonely, fell into a deep friendship with a Protestant boy, rich and lonely. In prep school they were inseparable friends. Then came the Nazis. The ...

1514. The Gospel According to Christ’s Enemies

John 11:1-16

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... were to rise from the dead. In John’s miracle, Lazarus does, in fact, rise from the dead and the Jews who witnessed it are not persuaded. So a Synoptic parable becomes an event in John. The miracle of the raising of Lazarus is for Richardson an illustration of "the truth that Christ is the resurrection and the life of all the faithful. To those who know Christ, the resurrection is not merely a hope for the future, but a present reality."4 The life of unredeemed persons is only a living death. Therefore ...

1515. Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise

Romans 11:33-36

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... , and know that I am God." He spoke those solemn words, but the congregation continued chattering. He tried again in a louder voice: "Be still, and know that I am God." The talking continued, and finally the exasperated pastor shouted, "For God’s sake, shut up!" This illustrates the loss of our sense of awe and wonder in worship. How much awe is there in the average worship service in the average church today other than a child saying, "Aw, do I have to go?" We need to hear again the testimony of biblical ...

1516. A Thinking Person’s Thankful Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... our love is not guided by the mind of Christ, to pass by what is the highest and best for that which is second-highest and second-best. Robert Moore, a Methodist pastor in another state, tells of an incident in a community in which he lived that illustrates the meaning and need for such love. There was a young, motherless boy in that community whose father was able to eke out only a bare subsistence. It looked as though young Bill’s education would end with the eighth grade. But Bill was one of those boys ...

1517. Genuine Imitations

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... American citizen; in spite of high-pressure, electronic evangelism of the 700 Club and PTL; in spite of all of these expressions of Christianity in America, most people prefer to keep their faith anonymous, silent, and known to themselves alone. This was poignantly illustrated several years ago when a prominent businessman named Smith died in a small midwestern town. The next day two of his friends were reading his obituary in the local paper. One man read to the other, "It says here Smitty was a Rotarian ...

1518. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR LENT

Drama

Tom Eberle

... future was dependent upon the existence of Isaac. The story, then, is really centered in the surrender of ourselves to the demands of faith, whether we focus upon the parent or the child. The process of maturation, of moving from child to adult, is one illustration of the sacrificial demand of faith placed upon us all. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR LENT [First Sunday] Prelude Minister: We have entered the long, lean season of Lent. For the next few weeks we will sense the growing tension as the shadow of the cross ...

1519. Old and New

Mk 2:22 · 2 Cor 5:17 · Is 43:19

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... diagrams of how a given space trip would proceed. I remember particularly how one part of the rocket would drop away as another part of what was came into prominence. As the new came forward, being sent into space, the old fell away. What our technology displayed is illustrative of what Jesus is getting at when he says, "... no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the ...

1520. The Un-Parade

Matthew 16:21-28, Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... ’s grace and God’s will and God’s power made perfect in our weakness. 1. William Wordsworth, quoted in Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett (Boston: Little Brown and Company, Boston, 1955), p. 406. 2. Keen, op. cit., pp. 123-24. 3. Ernest Hemingway, quoted in A Treasury of Sermon Illustrations, Charles L. Wallis, ed. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1950), p. 286.

1521. John the Baptizer

Isaiah 40:1-31, Luke 1:67-80, John 1:19-28

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

Any great event requires preparation. Significant movements do not merely appear. There must be necessary groundwork, anticipation. The Bible sublimely illustrates the way God raised up heralds who announced the coming ministry and message of Christ. Chief among them is John the Baptizer. We seldom associate John with the birth of Jesus. This is understandable. He was but an infant himself at the time Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem. Yet, ...

1522. Phoebe

Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ..." (Galatians 5:22-23) Phoebe is a woman of faith, and those who follow in her train must hold an abiding belief in Christ, otherwise they are not really her descendants. Phoebe is illustrated in Augustine’s mother Monica: when she was dying in Italy. Her sons were distressed because they knew she had always wanted to be buried in her native Africa. "It does not matter where you bury my body," she told them. "Do not ...

1523. THIS MAN NAMED JESUS

Drama

Marcia Miller

... about him. He was opening up new vistas for both men and women. QUOTER: I am come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly. TELLER: His ministry included teaching and training his followers. He used parables and illustrations to capture the attention of those who heard. INTERPRETER: Parables are stories which teach basic truths. Through this method Jesus could reach those whose hearts were ready to understand his message. QUOTER: Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they ...

1524. What Do You Think You’re Worth?

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... that her fault was that she was flawless. Haven’t you met a person who never does anything wrong? Never admits a mistake? Never says, "I am sorry"? If we are so good, then we will not believe in or practice self-control. This is often illustrated in parents who think that their little ones should not be curbed lest they be inhibited. Parents sometimes think that their children are always right and can do no wrong. A grandmother once wrote to Ann Landers about the way her daughter allowed her children to ...

1525. The Deeper Meanings of The Christian Faith by Dr. Bryant M. Kirkland

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... , the Bible says that God pings everybody’s beeper - "to as many as received him, to them gave he the confirmation that they were the sons and children of God." You may say that I am talking imaginatively. Rather, I am trying to use modern language to illustrate the King James Scripture. You may have read it as if it were old material and did not see the excitement in it. Did you listen carefully to the reading of Scripture? This was the word: "We are the children of God; and if children, then heirs ...

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