Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1651 to 1675 of 4946 results

1651. A Call To Community

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

Years ago, this advertisement appeared in the classifieds of a local newspaper: "Husband says either he or puppies must go. Puppies are playful and cute. Husband is grouchy and unsympathetic. Your choice free." It just may be that our biggest challenge in life is relationships. At home and in the community, we struggle to make positive contributions to our relationship with others. Even within the community of faith, relationships require effort. In today's passage of scripture we see three states in our ...

1652. Whose Work Is It?

Luke 21:5-38

Drama

Pamela Urfer

Cast: Two women, Eeodia and Syntyche, and one man, Clement Length: 10 minutes (The two women are seated on their stools with an empty stool between them. CLEMENT enters excitedly, waving a letter.) CLEMENT: Euodia! Syntyche! Paul has sent us another letter! Epaphroditus just brought it. SYNTYCHE: Oh, Clement! That's so wonderful. I just don't know what we would do without Paul's advice. EUODIA: Yes. It's hard starting a new church as part of a new religion. Harder than I ever expected. CLEMENT: (Taking his ...

1653. Whose Work Is It?

Philemon 1:1-7

Drama

Pamela Urfer

Cast: Two women, Euodia and Syntyche one man, Clement Length: 10 minutes The two women are seated on their stools with an empty stool between them. CLEMENT enters excitedly, waving a letter. CLEMENT: Euodia! Syntyche! Paul has sent us another letter! Epaphroditus just brought it. SYNTYCHE: Oh, Clement! That's so wonderful. I just don't know what we would do without Paul's advice. EUODIA: Yes. It's hard starting a new church as part of a new religion. Harder than I ever expected. CLEMENT: (Taking his seat) ...

1654. Moses's New Job

Exodus 4:18-31

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

September 5, 1982 Comment: It was Labor Day weekend and it was also a time when I found myself involved in a bit of a confrontation with some leaders in my Annual Conference. That led to a strange com-bination. But knowing the story of Moses and realizing that he undertook the mission to free his people, I found myself putting together the few bits of data about Moses' wife in all that and came up with a fictitious correspondence. It was easy to find a reader for the Zipporah part because the church had a ...

1655. Made New By Getting Lost

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

For those of you who have come here feeling lost, I have good news for you. For those of you who have come here willing to get lost, I have even better news. The good news is "fear not." The God we worship specializes in finding lost people. The God we worship gives life the moment we lose ours for the sake of heavenly causes. Our text has two words that become backdrops for the entire season of Advent. Those words are "wilderness" and "about face." John comes out of the wilderness, the necessary passage ...

1656. A Place of Light

Revelation 21:23

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A night light. Good morning, boys and girls. Today is going to be a special day because we are going to discover something about the world that we are going to live in forever and how it is going to be different from the one that we live in today. Did you know that you were going to live forever? [Let them answer.] Well, you are going to live forever, and that is one of the things that the Christian faith is all about. Jesus promised us that because he died for our sins and we believe in him, that ...

1657. Dealing with the Devil

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Johnny Dean

I used to believe that children were born pure and innocent. Then I became a parent. Now I believe in original sin. When my oldest son was about three years old, I was outside doing some yard work one afternoon. I took Kevin outside to play while I trimmed the hedges. Holding his hand, I knelt down beside him so that we could look at each other face to face. Slowly and carefully I said, "Now, Kevin, you can play here in our front yard. You can go next door and play in your friend’s front yard. You can ride ...

1658. Conversation or Monologue?

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Professional athletes, as a group, are not noted for their oratory skills – off the playing field, that is. From what I understand, several of them are highly efficient when it comes to getting under the skin of their opponents by the use of verbal punches. I think it’s called "trash-talking" – or at least, it used to be called that. But the ability to stand in front of a group of people and talk about something other than the sport they play is uncommon. Maybe that’s the reason why one interview, ...

1659. Whose Work Is It?

Philippians 1:1-11

Drama

Pamela Urfer

Cast: Two women, EUODIA and SYNTYCHE, and one man, CLEMENT Length: 10 minutes The two women are seated on their stools with an empty stool between them. CLEMENT enters excitedly, waving a letter. CLEMENT: Euodia! Syntyche! Paul has sent us another letter! Epaphroditus just brought it. SYNTYCHE: Oh, Clement! That's so wonderful. I just don't know what we would do without Paul's advice. EUODIA: Yes. It's hard starting a new church as part of a new religion. Harder than I ever expected. CLEMENT: (Taking his ...

1660. MIRIAM’S BABY BROTHER

Drama

Marcia Miller

Miriam’s Baby Brother is based on the familiar story that is found in Exodus 1:15--2:9. This play is an historical re-telling of the story-line but has a more modern atmosphere, which is demonstrated through the dialogue and setting. If a more elaborate set decoration is used, the setting is inside the house. There are a table, several chairs, a fireplace, and a cradle; the usual things. A door on stage right leads to another room in the house. Sitting on the table is a large basket. It is big enough to ...

1661. Why Must We Carry A Cross?

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

You might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. When he first came to the United States from Russia he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to my self, What a country!" Smirnoff is joking but we make these assumptions about Christian ...

1662. Three Words America Needs to Hear

Acts 24:1-27

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

I read about a woman who had lived out West somewhere, who looked out her window one day and saw a dead burro, on the sidewalk in front of her house. So she called the city sanitation department and they said they would come. They sent some men out to dispose of this dead burro, but when they got there they found that the woman had changed her mind. She didn't want them to cart it off. Instead, she wanted them to take it upstairs and put it in her bathtub. Well, they were mystified, but she said, "I''ll ...

1663. Believing Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I have always thought that Thomas got a bum rap. Down through the centuries we have called him “Doubting Thomas,” when, in reality, he was the greatest believer of them all. He ended up proclaiming the highest profession of faith we find in the Gospels. Beholding the risen Christ he said, “My Lord and my God!” I. THE FIRST GLIMPSES WE HAVE OF THOMAS IN THE GOSPELS PORTRAY HIM AS A MAN OF CONSIDERABLE COURAGE. Actually, “Thomas” is not a name. It means simply, “The Twin.” Of course, over the years it has ...

1664. In A Mirror Dimly

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It was All Saints Day, and the Sunday School teacher was talking about saints. She asked, "What is a saint?" Quick as a flash one little boy said, "A dead Christian." Well -- maybe! There are living saints, though the supply may be limited. And, yes, there are dead saints -- those who have passed from the church militant to the church triumphant. This is All Saints Sunday -- and on this day we celebrate the memory of those of our membership who have passed into glory during this past year. Actually, All ...

1665. From Hurting to Helping

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Two psychiatrists were at a convention. "What was your most difficult case?" one asked the other. "Once I had a patient who lived in a pure fantasy world," replied his colleague. "He believed that a wildly rich uncle in South America was going to leave him a fortune. All day long he waited for a make-believe letter to arrive from a fictitious attorney. He never went out or did anything. He just sat around and waited." "What was the result?" asked the first psychiatrist. "It was an eight-year struggle," ...

1666. The Authority of Scripture: God's Breathed Word

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Our father of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, had an attention-getting way of expressing truth. Though he was very wordy in his sermons, he could gather up a world of truth in a few words. His pithy sayings are often quoted and are a source of truth and inspiration. Listen to him: “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” The best way to resist the devil is to destroy whatever of the world remains in us. Every new victory a soul gains comes as a result of prayer. The essential part of ...

1667. Comfortable Christianity Is a Big, Fat Lie

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

“Thus you will know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:20 In his novel A Painted House, John Grisham describes a pious Sunday school teacher eulogizing a character named Jerry Sisco. He was a mean guy who’d been killed just the night before in a back alley fight after picking on one person too many. In the words of the little boy who’d seen the fight with his friend Dewayne: "She made Jerry sound like a Christian, an innocent victim. I glanced at Dewayne, who had an eye on me. There was something odd about ...

1668. How to Be a Blessing

I Peter 3:8-12

Sermon

Mark Trotter

I love the story of a man who bought a new Alfa Romeo, the luxury Italian sports car, and wanted to do something to celebrate his purchase. So he went to the Catholic priest, and said, "Father, will you bless my Alfa Romeo?" The priest said, "Yes, but what's an Alfa Romeo?" The young man said, "Never mind, you wouldn't appreciate the significance of this purchase in my life." So he went to an Episcopal priest, and said, "Father, I've just bought an Alfa Romeo. Will you bless it for me?" He said, "Yes, but ...

1669. They Grow Up Fast

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Mark Trotter

I selected this lovely hymn this morning, "Once in Royal David's City," because of its reference to the childhood of Jesus. It is one of the few places where you will find any reference to the fact that he grew up the way we have to. The third verse reads, "Jesus is our childhood's pattern; day by day, like us he grew." The hymn was part of a fascinating project, one of a series of hymns written by Cecil Alexander, back in 1848, to teach children the meaning of the Apostles' Creed. "Once in Royal David's ...

1670. The Danger of American Express

Exodus 20:17

Sermon

James Merritt

We have all heard that famous American Express slogan, "Don't leave home without it." The problem is, if some people don't leave home without it, they are going to be without a home. The 80s and 90s are when the "Jet set" became the "Debt set." The new slogan seemingly has become "Buy now, pay maybe." Now a days people can be divided into three classes: The Haves, The Have-Nots, and The Have-Not-Paid-for-What-They Haves In 1994 Americans whipped out their plastic to the tune of $701 billion.[i] Consumers ...

1671. The True Feng Shui Life

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Our world has been shaped by one image. It may be the most powerful image to come out of the 20th century. If you were asked about the most important image of the 20th century, what would you pick? Here is my pick . . . [if you use screens]. The one picture that did the most to transform our perception of this world was that look-back at Earth from the tiny port-hole window in the first Apollo mission to the moon. Dangling in the bleak blackness of space was this beautiful blue-ball planet — with swirling ...

1672. When I’m In Trouble

2 Timothy 4:16-18

Sermon

James Merritt

Everybody at one time or another has read the comic strip "Peanuts" by Charles Schulz. If you have, you can't help but love Charlie Brown. In one of the classic cartoons, Charlie Brown is at the beach building a beautiful sandcastle. He has worked on it all day long and as he stands back to admire his finished work, it is suddenly consumed by a huge wave. Looking at the smooth sand mound that had been his creation just a moment before, with that forlorn look, Charlie Brown says, "There must be a lesson ...

1673. Thou Sayest I Am King

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It’s something for a commoner from rural Mississippi to be in the presence of royalty, but I want you to know I was there. I shook hands with Prince Philip. And my wife Jeri was standing beside the Bishop of Kenya, when he was introduced formally to the Queen of England. It was the occasion of the reopening of Wesley’s Chapel in London in 1980. It was a great occasion and people from all over the world, Methodists from all over the world had come for that exciting event. I’ve never experienced anything ...

1674. What a Way to Start a Church!

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

What a way to start a church! It's certainly not the typical format for new church development. Where is the planning committee, the fund-raising, the arm twisting, the real estate deal acquiring the land, the faithful few who volunteer from other churches to give the whole thing its initial push? Not everyone has the personality to start a church from scratch, but Paul did. "I planted, Apollos watered," says Paul (1 Corinthians 3:6). Some preachers are just good at planting churches and getting them ...

1675. Can't Stay Away

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Scott Bryte

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a ...

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