Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1601 to 1625 of 5000 results

Acts 27:13-26

Sermon

... the wind. At last it seemed there was no possible way that they could escape destruction. Then it was, after long silence, this prisoner in chains stood before them and said, "Wherefore, sirs, be of good courage, for I believe in God." We can take this incident as an illustration of the kind of faith and courage which all of us ought to have, and which all of us should bring to bear upon the problems which we face day by day. That is one way that we can look at the story. There is another approach. We can ...

1602. THE MARRIAGE GAP

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

William McKee Aber

... ," a major theme of the Bible, is a marital allusion. Yet we rarely use this imagery at all. Why have we continued to speak of sacrifice when the whole concept of altars and sacrifical lambs has been gone for centuries, and neglected to use the illustrations of marriage, when this is so familiar to all of us? Perhaps that is the answer - it is so familiar. We’re acquainted enough with the problems and difficulties in marriage that we hesitate to use such a mundane experience as any kind of legitimate ...

1603. What’s Going On in Your Orchard?

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

... symbolism, spells out clearly his relationship to us, and our relationship to him. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing." Illustrating with this observation from nature, Jesus asserts the life of the branch depends upon the vine; it provides the branch with nourishment and life. The purpose of the branch is to use its life and nourishment to produce fruit. Detached from the vine, the branch produces ...

1604. Everyone Has a Somebody

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

... to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." And the cross of Jesus falls like a bridge across the bottomless canyon of our sin and separation from God. The Christmas Creche and the Easter Cross combine to illustrate and demonstrate God’s great love for us. "Love one another as I have loved you." When there is that "somebody" in our life, it means we have really not heard Christ saying, "as I have loved you." Picture the depths of our Father’s love for us ...

1605. The Forgotten

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

... that was touched by a redeeming sense of humor. One can imagine both a twinkle in his sharp eyes and a seriousness that would reach to the very depths of one’s soul. It is not beyond reason to suppose that many of the insights, stories, and illustrations that Jesus used came straight from Joseph and were a part of their mutual conversation and sharing as they worked. What son who spends time with his father is not an extension of the knowledge, the humor, and the wisdom of his father? The wisdom, honor ...

1606. The Testing Law Man

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... of charity. But on the Sabbath such an act, by the custom of the people, is to be construed as work - again he broke the Law. And his reply to the just charge showed no remorse, no hint that he was in the wrong. But I believe the illustration that best establishes the case deals with a story he told. He was good at concealing his real thoughts in the guise of dialogue or drama. The particular scandalous story centers on three men. Two are pictured as respected leaders. The third is a foreigner. It is set ...

1607. A New Kind of Teaching

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... his limited knowledge in pretentious sophistication. Jesus never played those kind of games with people. Rather he manifested a deep concern for all who would learn from him. He used simple stories drawn from the experiences of daily life to illustrate his deepest truths. He exhibited far more concern for the message of the Kingdom than for his reputation. Far from withdrawing to an inner circle of intellectual elitism, he ventured out into the countryside and marketplaces and synagogues to make known ...

1608. Astonishing!

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

... went to the top and pushed off a ten-pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant. The power of belief was so strong, however, that the professors denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right. I believe that this illustrates perfectly what is going on in the world today. You could show the terrible ravaging effects of AIDS and people will have promiscuous sex anyway. You can show someone a diseased liver and cancerous lungs and people are going to abuse alcohol and smoke ...

1609. Report of a Secret Meeting

John 3:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

... with Christ’s cross in the very middle of Lent. There is no way we can save ourselves and extricate ourselves from our predicament; self-salvation is an utter impossibility for every one of us. Gerhard Forde writes, "To use a rather far-fetched illustration, [self-salvation] would be something like saying that you have to grow freckles in order to be saved. Well, then, if you don’t have them (by some mysterious predestination) the question would be, ‘How do I get freckles?’ ‘By grace,’ comes the ...

1610. In Quest of Fire

2 Chronicles 36:15-23

Sermon

Larry Powell

... the tiny spark grows into a little blaze, slowly creeping to take hold of the wood heap. When the fire has grown into a crackling flame, they all thank God that no careless hand had quenched the fire upon which their lives depended. Against this graphic illustration, Cuyler lays down the claim that Paul’s statement, "Quench not the Spirit," is the equivalent of his saying, "Put not out the fire which God’s Spirit is kindling in your heart." We are well within the mark to suggest that the Holy Spirit is ...

1611. Celebration As Worship

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Sermon

Roger Prescott

... of this symbolism is to be preserved, as is all symbolism that points to our Creator God. But care always needs to be taken that the symbol does not become the main concern. Religion can then become merely form. Halford Luccock tells (somewhere) a story illustrating this: Once there were some inhabitants of a community in Denmark who, without knowing the origin or purpose of their custom, always bowed to a white wall outside their church when passing in and going out. One day the people began to ask one ...

1612. God Dwells With People

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Roger Prescott

... Naisbitt’s important book, Megatrends, there is a discussion of how the new technology and sophisticated engineering we have developed requires a new emphasis on the human. Where there is "high tech" there needs to be "high touch." There’s a beautiful story that illustrates this: A woman from a small town in North Dakota bought a few stamps each week from the clerk at her post office. In the interest of progress, the government installed a new stamp machine in the lobby one day. The woman never used ...

1613. Francis of Assisi

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

... than I have preached to those I’ve met these many years. I find to cover up the truth with soft and inoffensive language makes the gospel weak and ineffectual. I am still convinced that sharing and compassion are the hope of all mankind. I hope my life has illustrated that. I told you once that I had sores at places on my body similar to where Christ’s wounds were located. The sores are with me still. In fact, they pain me now in ways they never have before. I count it a high privilege to suffer thus ...

1614. What Would We Do Without Friends?

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

... think that crowds, like churches, have personalities, just like individuals. Look what they did. They actually kept this poor unfortunate from getting to Jesus. Oh, it was unintentional. There were simply too many people and he could not possibly get in the house. But this illustrates something that we need to hear. We, the church, are sometimes not the solution, but we are a part of the problem. Several years ago there was a life guard’s convention in New Orleans. As the party was in progress a guest, 31 ...

1615. Why Must We Carry A Cross?

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

... of every son of these Netherlands in all eternity. Whenever and wherever in this world there is an injustice or wrong committed, these ashes will beat on your heart and you will speak out without fear, even at the fear of death." (G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Broadman, 1986, p. 89 ) All around us there are wrongs that we must correct. The cross we carry is our reminder of that fact. It is a sad episode in the life of the church but even we, Jesus’ followers, have been ...

1616. The Whip of War

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Brett Blair

... on taking advantage of the powerless. Temples and nations must be protected from such, with the whip of war when necessary, whether the crisis is a spiritual one or a national. May God grant us wisdom and courage in our actions. Amen. [Here is a closing illustration provided by Dr. Bill Bouknight. You may close above or you may close with the following] Let me close by asking you to recall a great movie, "High Noon" starring Gary Cooper. Cooper was the sheriff of a small western town. Earlier a gang of four ...

1617. The Miracle of Re-Birth

John 3:1-21

Sermon

... not born once, but many times. Someone has said that "thinking of oneself as a once-born Christian is a too-limited understanding of the greatness of God." In this morning’s gospel, after speaking about the necessity of being born again, Jesus goes on to illustrate the gift of this rebirth through an example. The example he holds up is that of Moses and the bronze serpent lifted over the Hebrew people in the wilderness. It’s a strange story - and sight. The Hebrew people had been wandering around in the ...

1618. No Huggies

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

... . He tells his chastened disciples that children are not to be kept from the Kingdom, for the Kingdom in fact is theirs. It belongs to them - those miserable little urchins whom the disciples rejected - and not to the disciples themselves. Then, as if to illustrate in the most graphic way what he meant, Jesus, who had been asked merely to touch the children, now scoops them up in his arms, enfolds them in his carpenter’s hands, and blesses them - and all of this, I might add, centuries before Huggies ...

1619. A Christian's Duty in Time of War

Nehemiah 4:1-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the desert until all of that generation died. But some may be thinking, “Preacher, you’re quoting from the Old Testament. Surely the New Testament is different. Didn’t Jesus condemn war? Let’s look at the New Testament. In Luke 14:31 Jesus started an illustration with these words: “Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king…” Jesus does not then say, “But of course, that would be a sin if he did.” One of the few people whom Jesus commended was a Roman Centurion, a military ...

1620. Ready or Not, Here I Come!

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

... pray always that you will have strength to go safely through all these things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:34). Don’t get so wrapped up in the things of this world, Jesus admonished. The Savior gave us a perfect illustration. "Remember the days of Noah," he said. "Back in those days before the Flood, everybody was eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage." Noah was doing those things too, but at the same time he was also building an ark, he was doing God’s ...

1621. A God Pleasing Savior and God Pleasing People

Malachi 1:1-5

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

One of the basic rules of interpersonal relationships is that you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can never please all the people all the time. There is a children’s story that illustrates how totally useless it is even to try always to please everyone. The story tells about a father, his son, and their donkey. As their journey began, the father led the donkey and the boy rode. But because some people criticized the boy for being lazy, he got down from ...

1622. How Can You Tell When People Are Religious?

Mark 2:18-22

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

... blood of the new covenant," Jesus said, explaining how it happens. What counts is not what we do but what Jesus Christ does for us and in us and that we believe in him. The January 1984 issue of the Lutheran Witness had an article that powerfully illustrates this truth. It’s the story of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Mission in Kansas City. The people of that ghetto church would not measure up to being religious by anyone’s standards. Every single girl in the parish over fifteen years of age has at least ...

1623. Coping with Fear, Worry, and Anxiety

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... spray in later years. The subconscious plays strange tricks on us. But by faith in, and assurance from, the caring love at the heart of the universe, our fears can be quieted; and at the heart of our being there can be surprising peace. A patient on vacation illustrated it when writing on a card to her psychiatrist, "Having a good time. Why?" Worry is an expression of fear and robs us of our full energy for living. Only to a point is the following bit of doggerel an expression of truth: Don’t worry if you ...

1624. Lifting the Burden of Guilt

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... on the left side. He pushed again. It popped out on the right side. He pushed again. It popped out on top of his head. He put on his hat and went to work. But guilt is not so easily covered up. It is really inside us. Or we can illustrate it this way. I am driving to a nearby city to attend a meeting. The little red warning light comes on on the dashboard of my car. I’m in a hurry. I can’t afford to be late. I kick out the little red light and drive on. But ...

1625. "I Don’t Hate Any More!"

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... outflow of love. Our unforgiveness blocks the flow of God’s love. The Lord’s Prayer is serious business: "Forgive us our sins as we forgive others." In other words, it could mean, "I am not going to forgive, Lord; therefore, do not forgive me." One more illustration comes from a friend of mine. His friend was very ill in the hospital. The doctors gave little hope. I had an outstanding layman coming as guest speaker in our city. My friend asked if I would allow him to take this Christian layman to visit ...

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