Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1626 to 1650 of 5000 results

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... nations. I can, in all things, seek to know the mind of Christ. I can pray for peace in the world, pray in faith, knowing that God is guiding me, is guiding others, and can guide the leaders of nations. History is replete with illustrations of imaginative stalwarts who decided to do something. Mary McCleod Bethune began by selling sweet potato pies to finance her school. Today, in Daytona Beach, Florida, Bethune-Cookman College stands where originally there was a city dump. One black woman refused to give ...

1627. And It Came To Pass

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... more than any other force to establish the Kingdom of God on earth - To replace a social life in which division, falsehood and violence are all-powerful, with a new order in which humanity, truth and brotherhood will reign.8 One of the oldest evangelistic illustrations is that of the mountain of solid granite - our Stone Mountain here in Georgia - a mile high, a mile wide, a mile deep. Once in a thousand years an eagle flies past the mountain, brushing it with the tip of its wing. When that mountain ...

1628. Twenty-First Century Reformation

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... godly, free, blessed, or a Christian, he would lose both faith and all else.5 In preparing the Smaller Catechism for children, Luther outlined the course: The Ten Commandments should be studied as a basis for awareness of sin. The Apostles’ Creed should be used to illustrate redemption from sin. The Lord’s Prayer was to be memorized as the source of spiritual strength for all believers. The good news in Christ is that in the Cross we see that God suffered for us. Here we are saved. This is not our doing ...

1629. The Marriage of Adam and Eve

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... us to our errors. He unwraps the chains and sets us free and brings us back across the path of penitence to our forgiving Father, and to grace! It is no accident that in his parables and in his images our Lord used marriage as an illustration of his intimate relationship with us - Christ the bridegroom and his church the bride, and the marriage feast a symbol for the joy of everlasting life. He has given us the treasured gift of marriage and all the gifts that marriage carries with it - home and family ...

1630. Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Brett Blair

For years, the opening of "The Wide World of Sports" television program illustrated "the agony of defeat" with a painful ending to an attempted ski jump. The skier appeared in good form as he headed down the jump, but then, for no apparent reason, he tumbled head over heels off the side of the jump, bouncing off the supporting structure down to the ...

1631. Christ and Time

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... were lacking. Our redemption is no longer a question of pursuit but of surrender to him who is always and everywhere present. Therefore at every moment we pray that following him we may depart from our anxiety into his peace." Kierkegaard tells a memorable story to illustrate the change in our lives when Christ is allowed to take control. A rich man buys a team of excellent and faultless horses. But after a year or two it is hard to recognize them. Their eyes are dull and drowsy, their pace is inconsistent ...

1632. His Baptism and Ours

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... , in place of mere adherence to the dead forms of their inherited religion. And those who repent step down into the river and John administers to them the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. The bold and direct appeal which John makes is illustrated by an incident which occurred one day. As John is preaching to the crowd gathered in the wilderness, a group of people build a fire to cook their meal, and a bush catches fire. Instantly some snakes that lurked in the undergrowth come writhing away ...

1633. As We Remember - Memorial Day

1 Chronicles 11:10-25

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... of the church of Christ. To live as God intended us to live we must fulfill our obligations in each of these spheres. But what is the spirit in which we are to observe Memorial Day? The touching little story from the Old Testament, transcribed above, illustrates the right spirit. King David, weary and spent after a hard battle with his enemies the Philistines, takes refuge in a cave near his native town of Bethlehem. Spurred by memories of his boyhood but knowing that the town is occupied by the enemy and ...

1634. The Struggle of Faith

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... some equation that relates their degree of faith with their degree of good or ill fortune, there is often a lot of ensuing pain, confusion, or disillusionment. Oglesby deals with this sensitive issue in a creative way, offering a number of evocative images and illustrations. There are times in the lives of all of us when things seem to go exceptionally well. Plans work out, dreams take substance and shape, and projects fall into place. On such occasions, quite naturally, we rejoice, for it is clear to us ...

1635. The Gifts of the Left Hand

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... story, it may be good news that we are no longer Simon and now identify ourselves with the sinful woman. And perhaps our lying and spying and killing behavior can be taken up into the greater potential of love that that story of forgiveness illustrates. The gifts of the left hand are important to us politically; I suggest they are even more important to us religiously. The gifts of the Spirit, say Paul, are love, joy, peace, gentleness - those gifts of the left hand. The proud, right-handed, self-sufficient ...

1636. Like Trees Walking

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... this story does not end with a distorted view as the alternative to blindness. The man received his sight wholly, saw clearly, which was a gift most of us would hardly appreciate since we have not been blind except in the sense I have been illustrating. Jesus sent this man home, where he would see what was really there and share the good news with his family first before telling neighbors and strangers. There is a big difference between telling strangers and sharing with one’s family. In telling strangers ...

1637. The Flow of Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... , and that is good. And usually we have time, so that the flow can be our friend. And that is good too. The Rev. Richard T. Frazier, S.T.D. 1. Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection (New York: The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., 1961), pp. 190-191. 2. This illustration is paraphrased from Howard Clinebell’s Mental Health Through Christian Community (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1965), p. 260.

1638. Smart, Wise, and Foolish

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... unlikely voices as well. A fourth element of wisdom is to be able to think in more than one dimension. Simplistic minds invent simplistic answers to simplistic questions. There is a well-known perception test which is often given to psychology students to illustrate field-ground Gestalt. In the two ostensibly similar cards, one can alternately perceive a twisted hag or a woman of wealth and learning. Once the subject has grasped one of these images, it frequently becomes next to impossible to see the other ...

1639. On Loneliness

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... incompleteness within us, a hunger that reaches out to make contact with other people. Until we find this, we feel an emptiness and barrenness in our lives. So we look desperately for some way to deal with our unhappiness. This was all illustrated rather graphically several years ago on a television show, "The Twilight Zone." It depicted a fellow who was a very lonely, disgruntled person who had somehow discovered a magical power of concentration. As the show developed, it showed this fellow experimenting ...

1640. When You Reach Wit’s End

Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... New Testament studies. He is the author of many books and until his recent appointment as a District Superintendent, his weekly sermons were distributed nationally where they were well-known for their classical three point construction and supportive illustrations. His sermon included here was preached to the congregation of the First United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon, where he had been senior pastor from 1963 to 1982. Balcomb concludes the volume, dealing with the recurring predicament of simply ...

1641. The Man Who Couldn't Hear

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Brett Blair

... with a big smile on his face and said: Say, ain't she something. She thinks that I'm real. Well, let me give you fair warning. If you once start really hearing people they are suddenly going to become real to you! THE FOLLOWING ILLUSTRATION MAY BE OMITTED FOR BREVITY: [Several years ago a pastor received a telephone call from an obviously distraught mother, telling that her daughter had locked herself into her room and was threatening suicide. She pleaded for the pastor to come over immediately, which he ...

1642. The Measure of Greatness

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Brett Blair

... not running in the Boston Marathon.' And they say, 'Doesn't make any difference, you won.'" Jesus taught that heaven will hold some surprises. Honor and glory will be granted for behavior that was so natural, so undistinguished, and so noncompetitive. Take the simple illustration that Jesus gives of receiving a child. From somewhere Jesus finds a small child who he stands in front of them. It is interesting that Mark tells us that Jesus stands the child in front of them and then takes the child in his arms ...

1643. Advent 1: Won´t You Let Him Into Your Heart?

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

... and destructive to judge people and events when we don’t really know the situation or circumstances or facts. It is dangerous to let our imaginations run wild. When we judge others without the whole truth we can cause a lot of confusion and heartache. Let me illustrate that further. Remember the time two men met on the street. One said to the other, "Hey, I know you. You’re the man from the state of Maine who made $1,000,000 in growing potatoes." "Yes, but your facts are a little distorted. It wasn ...

1644. Home for the Holidays

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

William G. Carter

... not ease any such difficulty through his words or actions. One day he was busy teaching and healing. Someone announced, “Your mother and your brothers are here, but the crowd is so big they cannot get to you.” But Jesus replied by using his family as a sermon illustration. “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:19-21). How do you think they felt when they heard his response? After Jesus grew up, he made radical demands on anybody who wished to follow him. He ...

1645. Truce or Peace?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... cultures have historically observed uneasy truces during religious festivals. The fighting Greek city-states would hold a truce for the Olympic games held every four years in Olympia or Delphi. Preachers have for generations used to good effect in sermons historical illustrations of Confederate and Union soldiers good-naturedly tussling for a wild turkey during a Thanksgiving or Christmas truce. Even World Wars I and II held up their end of the bargain on occasions when Allied and German soldiers would sing ...

1646. Old Favorite

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... , whoever they were. One preacher always listed a different sermon topic, but every Sunday you knew he was going to preach on John 3:16 and money, and use the feeding of the 5,000 by Jesus with a few loaves of bread and some fish as a climactic illustration. The congregation contended that he had but one sermon, on tithing, which he could preach in 52 different ways in a year’s time. Sometimes we hear messages that are so familiar they cease to have an impact on us. Just as a child gets spoiled from too ...

1647. Make Up Your Mind!

1 Kings 18:16-46

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). In the Amazon there is a slave-making ant that illustrates our predicament. Hundreds of these little creatures periodically swarm out of their nest to capture neighboring colonies of weaker ants. They attack with no warning and kill off any defenders before carrying off cocoons containing the larvae of worker ants. When these ...

1648. Bad News from a Good Man!

1 Kings 21:1-29

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... to remember before we can make any real sense out of life. The first is that God is sovereign and holy, just and loving. The second is that we are not. We are servants, unholy, self-centered, and self-seeking. This Scripture passage is a marvelous illustration of this. You would think that seeing God send fire from heaven would change a corrupt heart every time. That, however, is not the case, as we can see from the life of Ahab and his Jezebel. I. The Sliding Spiral Of Human Depravity John D. Rockefeller ...

1649. The Children of Promise

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... season when we recognize what God has done for us in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus took on the role of the Good Shepherd when he came to be our Savior and Redeemer. Jesus referred to himself as the Good Shepherd. He used the illustrations of the work of the Good Shepherd to explain what he would accomplish for our salvation. When God did return the remnant, the exiles in Babylon, to Jerusalem, God used an alien king of Syria to serve as their benefactor. The king not only released them from ...

1650. Light for Beauty

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... with Israel. In the First Lesson appointed for today the prophet describes what was involved in the reconciliation with Israel. The Context In this Epiphanytide we have taken note of the fact that the Church has included readings from the Prophet Isaiah to illustrate how profusely the prophet wrote about God’s revelation of the divine will as an epiphany of light. At first, before the Babylonian exile, the Prophet Isaiah could reveal how God would remain faithful to the people in redeeming them in spite ...

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