Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1601 to 1625 of 4943 results

1601. Man Up A Tree

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Larry Powell

Every church school child knows the story of Zacchaeus: "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he; he climbed up in a sycamore tree, for Jesus he would see." For our purposes here, let us divide the story into three parts: 1. The person. Jericho was the gate city for Judea’s trade with the East, which meant that it was also the checkpoint for customs on imports and exports. Zacchaeus, as "chief tax collector," was in charge of collections and overseer of all other tax collectors in his ...

1602. The Restaurant in Downtown Jericho

Matt 3:1-17

Illustration

John Jamison

The way it happened in my mind is that he walked into this little restaurant in downtown Jericho, took a deep breath and hollered, "Repent!" Folks stopped eating mid-bite. It got so quiet you could hear the motor running in that tall machine over in the corner that kept slices of pie turning around behind the glass all day. Every eye in the place was on him, and that was what he was waiting for. He started talking, and shouting, and waving his arms, and every time someone would try to laugh at him and go ...

1603. Measuring Up to Jesus

Matthew 16:13-20

Illustration

King Duncan

In one of his books Haddon Robinson tells about a series of victory parades planned by General Pershing through many European capitals after World War I. He needed 27,000 soldiers to march in those parades. Each participant was to have two qualities. He was to have an unblemished military record, and second, he was to stand at least one meter, eighty-six centimeters tall. Forty American soldiers, guarding an ammunition dump about one hundred miles from Paris, read with interest the notice about Pershing's ...

1604. Prayer Loosens Up the Heart

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

William R. Long

In her book The Closter Walk, Protestant author Kathleen Norris writes about the ways that the Catholic monastic tradition provides a rhythm and depth for spirituality that many Protestants have never explored. When she says that the life of prayer works "the earth of the heart," she means that prayer is like the act of cultivation. In order to work the soil, one must break up the hardened dirt clods, water the ground, free it from weeds and then plant a crop. Prayer is the way to "loosen up" the heart. ...

1605. Taking Christ's Side

Mark 9:38-41

Bulletin Aid

RobertT D. Ingram

Greeting Leader: Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth." Congregation: Lord, put the taste of Christ's love in our mouths and in our deeds. Leader: Jesus said, "For everyone will be salted with fire." Congregtion: Lord, as our love is tested, preserve us with your strength. Leader: Jesus said, "If salt has lost it saltiness, how can you season it?" Congregation: Lord, if love does not flavor our actions; then what value are we to anyone? Leader: Jesus said, "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace ...

1606. Eating at the King’s Table

2 Samuel 9:1-13

Sermon

Various Authors

King David said, "Mephibosheth, your master’s son, shall always eat at my table." (v. 10b) Are you a people watcher? I am. The most interesting thing about going to the State Fair is the chance to watch people. In fact, I find them more interesting than the livestock. Except for size and color, every cow looks and acts like every other cow, and every pig looks and sounds like every other pig. But that’s not true with people! I sat one day for about ten minutes waiting for a dental appointment. There were ...

1607. Cut Down Lifted Up

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Once upon a time in the heart of a certain kingdom, lay a beautiful garden. Of all the dwellers of the garden, the most beautiful and beloved to the master of the garden was a splendid and noble Bamboo. Year after year, Bamboo grew yet more beautiful and gracious. He was conscious of his master's love, yet he was modest and in all things gentle. Often when Wind came to revel in the garden, Bamboo would throw aside his dignity. He would dance and sway merrily, tossing and leaping and bowing in joyous ...

1608. Take a Bow

Illustration

Dr. Ernest Mellor

Recently my wife and I sat charmed at an outdoor performance by young Suzuki violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn even before they pick up the violin is how to take a bow. "If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation," the instructor said. "But ...

1609. Give and Take

Illustration

James Packer

What is meant by fellowship in this verse? Gossip? Cups of tea? Tours? No. What is being referred to is something of a quite different order and on a quite different level. "They met constantly to hear the apostles teach, and to share the common life, and break bread and to pray. A sense of awe was everywhere. All whose faith had drawn them together held everything in common. With one mind they kept up their daily attendance at the temple, and, breaking bread in private houses, shared their meals with ...

1610. God’s Protection Takes the Form of a Faithful Friend

1 Samuel 20:1-42

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: Sometimes God protects his chosen servants through other faithful servants who are willing to put God’s agenda above self-interest. Understanding the Text Saul persisted in his efforts to kill David, but Jonathan saved David again, risking his own life in the process. David was finally forced to run away, setting the stage for the next part of the story: David needs to wander from place to place to escape Saul’s hostility. As in the previous chapters, the narrator presents contrasting responses ...

1611. You Can Be What You Make Up Your Mind To Be

Mt 13:24-30

Illustration

King Duncan

Motivational people know the power of visualization. They will tell you about a skinny, scrawny black youngster who one day heard a coach say, "You can be what you make up your mind to be. God will help you." Afterwards this youngster came up to the coach and declared, "I've decided what I want to be - the fastest man in the world." The coach said, "Son, that's a great dream but there is one problem. Dreams have a way of floating high in the sky and drifting around like clouds. A dream never becomes a ...

1612. Turning Up the Religious Machinery

Illustration

William G. Carter

Eugene Peterson claims in one of his books: "For a long time I have been convinced that I could take a person with a high school education, give him or her a six-month trade school training, and provide a pastor who would be satisfactory to any discriminating American congregation. The curriculum would consist of four courses. Course 1: Creative Plagiarism. I would put you in touch with a wide range of excellent and inspirational talks, show you how to alter them just enough to obscure their origins, and ...

1613. Taking the Fall

Illustration

Staff

In Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai, Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, degenerated into barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The Japanese officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one ...

1614. Be Opened

Mark 7:24-37

Illustration

Peter Marty

When Martin Luther put together a baptismal liturgy in 1523, the actual rite required the pastor to take some of his own saliva and touch the ears and lips of every child getting baptized. At the same instant, the pastor was to repeat the words of Jesus to the deaf man, that one with the speech impediment. The baptizing pastor was to say: Ephphatha - That is, be opened. We don't do this anymore in the Lutheran Church. And I'm not sure I'd be serving my congregation very long if I started using this saliva ...

1615. Grow Up!

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

The best way to jump-start your spiritual life, according to a recent survey, is to serve others in Jesus’ name, in addition to studying the Bible. Eighty thousand people from 200 churches responded to this survey. What sent shock waves to pastors and leaders everywhere is that the weekly worship service can only carry a person so far in aiding spiritual growth. If the person only attends worship after awhile they become bored, angry, and sometimes leave the church. They describe their experience as being ...

1616. Turning Up the Pressure

Job 2:1-13

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Despite increased adversity, Job reasserts his complete commitment to the sovereign Lord. Understanding the Text Job 2 completes the prologue, which sets the scene for a thorough discussion of a godly response to adversity. Much of the language of 1:6–22 is repeated and intensified in 2:1–10, as the writer uses the technique of repetition with variation to build suspense and interest. When Yahweh’s words in 2:3 are compared to his earlier description of Job in 1:8, it is evident that the first ...

1617. Will the “Real” Jesus Please Stand Up

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Who is the “real” Jesus? How hard is it for us to see Jesus as a real person who felt sadness, happiness, grief, joy, who experienced laughter, who joked with his disciplines, who got angry, who could wrestle with his own pain? And yet, if we don’t recognize this Jesus, we lose the gift that God gave to us in the reality of the fully human (not just divine) Son. Watching the way Jesus handles his own struggles, reveals his own humanness, can help us to recognize and accept our own. Today, nearly every ...

1618. Taking Grace Seriously

Ephesian 1:18-20

Illustration

John R. Steward

There was a king who held court every day. He would sit on his throne wearing his robe and crown as the people of his country would come to him stating their needs and requests. Each day, in addition to all the people who would come to the throne, there was also a holy man dressed in a beggar's robe who would come to the king. The holy man would hand the king a piece of fruit which the king would receive and then hand over to one of his assistants. Then the holy man would leave without ever saying a word ...

1619. Wedding: Building A Marriage (for a couple fixing up a house)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

Listen to these words from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13 (NRSV): Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends... When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became ...

1620. The Mark Upon Us

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Lee Griess

One of the most striking television movies made in the last few years was one called Helter Skelter. It was the story of the cult worship and murder spree by the Charles Manson family in California nearly three decades ago. In the closing moments of the movie, Charles Manson and the members of his so-called family are shown on the screen with their heads shaved and big "X" marks on their foreheads. The stark appearance of the members of that group which called itself a "family" and the "X" marks on their ...

1621. A Shepherd To Lead Us

John 10:22-42

Sermon

Lee Griess

Numbers. Our lives are filled with numbers. Each year we file our income taxes. Now that's an exercise in numbers to end all numbers games. Pages upon pages of numbers: earned numbers, spent numbers, invested numbers, and saved numbers. When it is finally prepared, we send it off to the Internal Revenue Service with our Social Security number on it. And the IRS takes all those numbers and puts them into a computer, along with the numbers of thousands and thousands of other people. And to them, we become a ...

1622. Take Care Of Each Other!

Ezekiel 33:1-20

Sermon

Keith Hammer

Once upon a time there were two little boys. They were both basically good little boys, but as boys like to do, they would run far and wide finding “interesting” places to play. Little Jimmy liked to play in the woods. Little Bobby liked to play in the fields, especially where there was lots of dirt. Jimmy would always bring interesting things from the woods home to show his parents. One time he brought an injured chipmunk which he nursed back to health. At other times he would bring home bouquets of ...

1623. Good News Or Bad News?

Sermon

Rolf E. Aaseng

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ..." Then he will say ...

1624. Jesus' Treasure Chest

Ephesians 3:16

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A treasure chest with the word Christ marked on it. Good morning, boys and girls. Isn't this a beautiful day? There really is something special about Sunday and it is good that we keep it that way. I want to take you on a very special trip this morning because I found in my office a special map marked with a special sign. [XR should be written on it.] If we follow this map we may find a treasure at the place marked on the map. How many want to follow me to see what we can find? I wonder what kind ...

1625. More Real Than Food

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Carl Jech

The Jews ... disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (vv. 52-53) There are many who frown upon the celebration of Christmas because of its historical association with the pagan festival of Saternalia. It is true that the early Christian church decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 not because of any concrete ...

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