Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1526 to 1550 of 2157 results

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... ordinary, and expected. The cultural messages are omnipresent: You can choose your pleasure or the world's service, your time or time dedicated to others. "You have to take care of number one." "Life is relationships and taking care of others." There are different versions of these two diametrically opposed cultural instructions (presumably) and many people just fall off the high wire, drop to the ground, and sit there in a muddle. Those who want to walk the wire and not fall will have to realize early and ...

1527. Having a Good Name

Proverbs 1:20-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... argues that the way most Americans measure our lives is by whether or not we are authentic, whatever that is. Whether or not we had free choice, whatever that is. Whether or not we made our own choices about who we are. I fear these versions of authenticity drip with individualism. Just drip with it. We are "self-made," like my favorite all-American character, straight from the work of Robert Bellah, the sociologist, who tells us "I am a self-made man" only to discover that he inherited the car dealership ...

1528. Finding the Good Woman Part in Us All

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... he protect and feed them, he goes one step further with Ruth. In chapter 2, verse 9 in the NRSV, Boaz tells Ruth, "I have directed my men not to bother you." In the New Jerusalem Bible, that verse reads, "not to molest you." In the King James Version, the verse is "not to touch you." The verb matters less than the protection being offered to women who were dangerously alone. Magdalene traveled with Ruth and Naomi all the way. She was the blood stirring in the veins of women who ordered the wine their own ...

1529. What Didn't Happen That Night

Illustration

Jerry Jenkins

... at a private board meeting. The pastor asked if she would care to speak about her charges against the preacher. "She has already said all she has to say, "her father said sternly, her mother nodding and glaring at the accused. "Would you, son care to share your version of what happened in that room the other night?" "No, sir," the evangelist said. "I see no future in that. Only she and I know the truth, and I cannot defend myself. I'd just like to say this to her. Cindy, you know what happened and what ...

1530. Laws of the Lighthouse

Romans 8:38-39

Illustration

Staff

... came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees." By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'" Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse." We changed course. A SHORTER VERSION READS: The captain on the bridge of a large naval vessel saw a light ahead on a collision course. He signaled, “Alter your course ten degrees south.” The reply came back, “Alter your course ten degrees north.” The captain then signaled, “Alter ...

1531. Funny but Critical Bible Erros

Illustration

Staff

CAMELS BIBLE In 1832 an edition had Rebekah leaving her tent to meet Isaac with a group of - not damsels - but camels. WIFE-HATER BIBLE An 1810 version read, "If any man come to me, and hate not . . . his own wife (instead of :life"), he cannot be my disciple." "SIN ON" BIBLE. The first English-language Bible to be printed in Ireland, in 1716, encouraged its readers to "sin on more" rather than "sin no more." A similar ...

1532. History of the Bible

Illustration

Miller Clarke

... over a period of centuries, from roughly 1700 B.C. to 100 A.D., and its preservation over 3000 years is due to the contribution of countless scribes, who worked by candle light and quell pins for hundreds of years. Our modern versions? We have three men to thank: a Catholic archbishop, a Jewish rabbi and a Protestant printer — who turned "NTHBGNNNGGDCRTDTHHVNSNDTHRTH" into Genesis 1:1 If you have the means, show NTHBGNNNGGDCRTDTHHVNSNDTHRTH on the worship screen. It makes for a interactive visual.

1533. Wash Your Hands

John 13:8

Illustration

Boyce Mouton

... !" was the message of John the Baptist. "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me," said the towel-draped Jesus to Peter. Without our being washed clean, we all die from the contamination of sin. For God's sake, wash. HERE IS A SHORTER VERSION OF THIS STORY In 1844 a medical doctor named Ignaz Phillip Semmelweis, who was assistant director at the Vienna Maternity Hospital, suggested to the doctors that the high rate of death of patients and new babies was due to the fact that the doctors attending them ...

1534. The Doctor's Brave Volunteer

Illustration

Max Lucado

... . The second is the patient. The courageous candidate for surgery by Dr. Kane was Dr. Kane. To prove his point, Dr. Kane operated on himself! A wise move. The doctor became a patient in order to convince the patients to trust the doctor. HERE IS A SHORTER VERSION OF THIS STORY: Dr. Evan O'Neill Kane, chief surgeon of the Kane Summit Hospital in New York, had been a surgeon for almost four decades. He was fascinated by the possibility of the use of local anesthetics in areas that had always used a general ...

1535. Laugh Together, Weep Alone

Illustration

... Ella Wheeler Wilcox, (now married) found the poem, word for word, in a book by John A. Joyce, published in 1885. The poem had a different title, "Laugh and the World Laughs With You", but Joyce claimed it as his own. Mrs. Wheeler offered $5,000 for any printed version of the poem dated earlier than her own. Neither Joyce nor anyone else ever produced one, but he continued to reprint the poem as his own until he died in 1915. As a final irony, he had the two famous lines chiseled on his tombstone in Oak Hill ...

1536. The Nicene Creed

Illustration

Staff

... in the city of Nicaea in Asia Minor. The Council was called to deal with the heresy of Arianism, which was a denial of the Trinity. The Nicene Creed goes into more detail than the Apostles' Creed on the Trinity and the person of Jesus. A final version of the creed was formulated by another Council which met in Constantinople in 381 A.D. The creed is and has been from the start a topic of contention. In 598 a provincial church council meeting in Toledo, Spain, added the "filioque clause" which says that the ...

1537. Athanasian Creed

Illustration

Brett Blair

... 45 years, of which over 17 encompassed five exiles. He is traditionally thought to be the author of the this Creed named after him. It was created to guard Nicene Christianity from the heresy of Arianism. It is widely accepted as orthodox and some abbreviated versions of it are still in use today. And yes, the intro and outro are actually part of the original text. Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith. Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish ...

1538. A Loaded Heirloom

Illustration

... has been passed around for years, it's authenticity is very much in doubt, especially since Grant wasn't known for his sense of humor. The tale appears to originate in an American newspaper story of the 1930s, and has been re-told, with slight variations, ever since. In another version the cigar is lit up at a Norton family reunion. It's possible that over time someone switched Grant's cigar for an exploding one.

1539. Take the Leap

Matthew 14:22-33

Illustration

Staff

... , smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters." Another version of this story is told amidst the backdrop of WWII: During the terrible days of the Blitz, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly ...

1540. Little By Little Love

Illustration

Staff

Fred Craddock says that we have a glorified version of consecration. The problem is it's a lot more practical than we'd liek to think. He spoke of it this way: "To give my life for Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others. . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom I'll do it. ...

1541. A Winning Definition

Illustration

... honesty is inviolable." "One who understands our silence." "A volume of sympathy bound in cloth." "A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down." The winning definition read: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out." Another source gives this version and source: A friend is the first person who comes in when the whole world goes out. (Henry Durbanville)

1542. Can't Both Be Right

Illustration

David Moore

Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town sage. The first man went to the sage's home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the sage said, "You're absolutely right." The next night, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story. The sage responded, "You're absolutely right." Afterward, the sage's wife scolded her husband. "Those men told you two ...

1543. Tacky Messages in Choir

Illustration

Staff

... mark pages in his hymnal often fluttered to the floor, leaving him frantically searching for his place. Then he remembered Silver's adhesive. Fry's better bookmark soon metamorphosed into the handy Post-its that have become a fixture in offices throughout the country. SECOND VERSION OF THE STORY The idea for the Post-it note was conceived in 1974 by Arthur Fry as a way of holding bookmarks in his hymnal while singing in the church choir. He was aware of an adhesive accidentally developed in 1968 by fellow ...

1544. Roots Like a Tree

Illustration

Staff

... people are like the giant sequoias. Family, friends, neighbors, the church body and other groups should be havens so that when the strong winds of life blow, these people can serve as reinforcement and can strive together to hold each other up. Here is a another version of the same illustration: The huge redwood trees of California amaze mankind. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and over 2,500 years old. One would think that trees ...

1545. Set the Sail

Illustration

Warren Wiersbe

... , that he let down the mainsail because a breeze was on its way. The man refused, but then they saw the corner of the sail begin to stir. The breeze had come! They let down the sail and in a short time were on their way! AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF THIS STORY READS: When Hudson Taylor went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing vessel. As it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it, and there ...

1546. Prayer - Be Thou Within Me

Illustration

Lancelot Andrewes

... served as royal chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I and later to Kings James I and Charles I. He was fluent in 15 languages, and when the Hampton Court Conference convened in 1604, he was chosen as one of the translators of the proposed new English Bible. When the King James Version was published in 1611, his contribution could be seen in the Pentateuch and the historical books.

1547. News Is Coming Soon

Illustration

Staff

The following story is probably a myth as there are several versions of the dream and its timing. Take this as legend only: One afternoon in 1865, President Lincoln's Cabinet entered a council room for a meeting and found the President seated at the head of the table, his face buried in his hands. Presently he raised his head. His face ...

1548. One Handed Results

Illustration

Brett Blair

Does anyone know this name Hank Luisetti? He is considered to be one of the great innovators in the sport of basketball. In an era that featured the traditional two-handed set shot, Luisetti developed the running one-handed shot, an early version of the jump shot. When Hank came along, virtually every basketball coach in the country insisted that players shoot with two hands. Instead of two hands, Hank used a jerky, funny-looking, one-handed jump shot. His coach, looking for results rather than method, was ...

1549. Gratitude Lunch

Illustration

Courtland Milloy

... his sanity. But when one admirer asked him where he had found the courage to give away a kidney, his answer quelled the skeptics. "I prayed for it," Washington replied. "I asked God for guidance and that's what I got." HERE IS A SHORTER VERSION OF THIS STORY: Three times a month, Jermaine Washington and Michelle Stevens get together for what they call a "gratitude lunch." With good reason! Washington donated a kidney to Stevens, whom he described as "just a friend." They met at work where they used to ...

1550. Christmas Is a God-Thing

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

There was a story years ago in the Canadian version of the Reader’s Digest of a large moose that wandered into a residential area in Calgary, Canada. The moose ended up on the lawn of a lady named Lorna Cade. A Fish and Wildlife officer was dispatched to try to coax the magnificent animal back into the wild. After ...

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Antonyms: deficient, imperfect

Showing 1526 to 1550 of 2157 results

1526. When Necks Break

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

1527. Having a Good Name

Proverbs 1:20-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

1528. Finding the Good Woman Part in Us All

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Donna Schaper

1529. What Didn't Happen That Night

Illustration

Jerry Jenkins

1530. Laws of the Lighthouse

Romans 8:38-39

Illustration

Staff

1531. Funny but Critical Bible Erros

Illustration

Staff

1532. History of the Bible

Illustration

Miller Clarke

1533. Wash Your Hands

John 13:8

Illustration

Boyce Mouton

1534. The Doctor's Brave Volunteer

Illustration

Max Lucado

1535. Laugh Together, Weep Alone

Illustration

1536. The Nicene Creed

Illustration

Staff

1537. Athanasian Creed

Illustration

Brett Blair

1538. A Loaded Heirloom

Illustration

1539. Take the Leap

Matthew 14:22-33

Illustration

Staff

1540. Little By Little Love

Illustration

Staff

1541. A Winning Definition

Illustration

1542. Can't Both Be Right

Illustration

David Moore

1543. Tacky Messages in Choir

Illustration

Staff

1544. Roots Like a Tree

Illustration

Staff

1545. Set the Sail

Illustration

Warren Wiersbe

1546. Prayer - Be Thou Within Me

Illustration

Lancelot Andrewes

1547. News Is Coming Soon

Illustration

Staff

1548. One Handed Results

Illustration

Brett Blair

1549. Gratitude Lunch

Illustration

Courtland Milloy

1550. Christmas Is a God-Thing

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

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