Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1651 to 1675 of 4943 results

1651. Don't Give Up--He Hears!

Luke 18:1-8

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: A sheet of paper wrapped into a megaphone and a microphone Good morning, boys and girls. How far will your voice travel? Some of you have loud voices. I can hear you a long way off. Some of you have very quiet voices. I can barely hear you when you are sitting right beside me. I understand that the average man's voice can be heard on a very still day, about 600 feet away. That is over a tenth of a mile. It might help to take a piece of paper and roll it up into a megaphone. (Make one and speak ...

1652. Love Never Gives Up

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

A New England girl had just become engaged when the Civil War broke out. Her fiancé was called into the army, so their wedding had to be postponed. The young soldier managed to get through most of the conflict without injury, but at the Battle of the Wilderness he was severely wounded. His bride-to-be, not knowing of his condition, read and reread his letters, counting the days until he would return. Suddenly the letters stopped coming. Finally she received one, but it was written in an unfamiliar ...

1653. On Polishing Up the 24 Karat Jesus

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

James Weekley

A newly appointed minister was preparing to deliver his first sermon. As expected, he was as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. In his introduction he misquoted Jesus as follows, "I have come to heal the dead, cast out the sick, and raise the devil." Jesus did not want to be misquoted. In fact, he wanted to make his lasting impressions stick. How could the disciples ever forget his last impression, the Great Commission? With the mandate, he commanded they go and make his love the ...

1654. Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Illustration

Lee Griess

Jim Grant in Reader's Digest told about an overweight businessman who decided it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to avoid his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he showed up at work with a gigantic coffee cake. Everyone in the office scolded him, but his smile remained nonetheless. "This is a special coffee cake," he explained. "I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was a host of goodies. I felt it ...

1655. Life Is Supposed to be Enjoyable

Luke 13:10-17

Illustration

Richard Patt

When Jesus healed this hunchbacked woman, a perfectly good deed caused contention. In our own lives, we can have such an experience. There is, for instance, the proverbial mother of the bride, who takes a wonderfully fine day, such as her daughter's wedding, and turns it into a tension-filled day preceded by months of laborious planning and followed by months of regret and fatigue for everyone else in the family. Thank God that such Victorian concepts of executing everything "just right" have faded ...

1656. The Sermon in the Supper

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Edward Chinn

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Several years ago in England, a man wrote to the editor of the British Weekly. In his letter, the writer reported that he could not remember any sermons preached in any of the churches he had attended. Because of that, the man questioned whether sermons were really as important as preachers thought they were. "I have been attending a church service for the past 30 years and I have heard probably 3,000 ...

1657. Changing Styles

Romans 12:1-8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Different styles representing different periods such as ties, shoes and hats. The aim is to show how the ways of the world change but not God's expression of love. Good morning to you, models. This morning we have a brand new experience for you in worship. How many of you have ever been clothes models before? None of you!! Well, today some of you are going to be models. I need some very strong and handsome boys and some beautiful young ladies. [Select some volunteers. A good time to take some of ...

1658. Time to Clean Up

Psalm 148:1-14, Isaiah 64:1-9

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Like dry tinder, we wait for God's spark. O, God's people, pray and prepare for renewal. Collect You are the potter, God of craft and design. We are the clay. Mold us into your people as we prepare for the coming of the king. Amen. Prayer Of Confession We confess, our Father, that we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Call to mind that we are your people. ...

1659. Step Up to the Plate

Luke 1:26-38

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: Perhaps we have heard this story so many times that we take Mary's response for granted. However, surely all of heaven must have held its breath as the angels waited for the answer of a young teenaged virgin, whose response insured glory but also, as Simeon's prophecy made clear, trials as well. All: Here we are, servants of the Lord; let it be with us according to your word! One: Our "Yes" to God means more if there is the possibility of saying, "No." God has been waiting for your " ...

1660. SHARPENING UP

Mark 6:30-34,45-56

Illustration

L. S. Chafer

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did." "But you didn't notice," said the winning ...

1661. Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Illustration

Lee Griess

Jim Grant in Reader's Digest told about someone else who faced temptation. An overweight businessman decided it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to avoid his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he showed up at work with a gigantic coffee cake. Everyone in the office scolded him, but his smile remained nonetheless."This is a special coffee cake," he explained. "I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window was a ...

1662. A Spiritual Geography

Luke 12:32-40

Illustration

Richard Patt

In her book called Dakota, Kathleen Norris, a best-selling writer and poet, tells how she and her husband, also a writer, moved away from the heady literary atmosphere and advantages of New York City to one of the most remote towns in America, Lemmon, South Dakota. She relates how most of her friends were shocked by their contemplated move. The prospects for even reasonable survival as thinking persons seemed as remote as the little town they chose to live in. But Kathleen Norris subtitled her book "A ...

1663. The Mustard Weed

Matthew 13:31-35

Illustration

William L. Dols

The Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder, who died in 79 AD while investigating the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, writes: "Mustard grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: But on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once." Pliny describes in great detail the medicinal uses of the mustard plant, but it is important to remember that it was then, as it is now, a weed. It is significant that ...

1664. How Much Is That Preacher?

Illustration

Jean Shaw

How Much Is That Preacher? Good morning, madam. May I help you? Yes, please, I'd like to buy a minister. For yourself or your church? Oh, for my church, of course. I'm already married. Uh, yes. Did you have a particular model in mind? I've got a description from the Candidate Committee right here. We want a man about 30, well educated, with some experience. Good preacher and teacher. Balanced personality. Serious, but with a sense of humor. Efficient, but not rigid. Good health. Able to identify with all ...

1665. I'm Mad and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore!

John 2:13-22

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: A light bulb Good morning, boys and girls. This morning we are talking about the fact that sometimes Christians ought to get so upset about problems in the world that they do something about them. The question we often ask is, how can we have much effect on the rest of the world? The answer to that is easy. I want you to think about a little bug that carries a light bulb with it. What kind of bug would that be? That's right, a lightning bug, or firefly. Does it go around holding a light bulb in its ...

1666. Courage to Take a Stand

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

When Honorius was emperor of Rome, about the year A.D. 400, the great Coliseum of Rome was often filled to overflowing with spectators. These had come from far and near to view the state games. Part of the sport consisted in watching as human beings battled with wild beasts or against one another until one or the other was killed. The assembled multitude made Roman holiday of such sport and found its highest delight in the death of a human being. It was on such a day when the vast crowd was watching the ...

1667. Up from Slavery

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

Booker T. Washington was born a slave but came in time to be the most influential African American leader and edcuator in the United States. His achievements were made against odds, including the treatment he received from racists and those who resented his accomplishments. He vowed, however, that he would never allow anyone to make him “stoop so low” as to hate them. He insisted on returning good will for evil; he didn’t take on the image of his enemies.

1668. October Revolution

Illustration

Robert C. Roberts

In September through November of 1989, East Germany experienced what came to be called the October Revolution, in which the forty-year-old communist government fell with remarkably little violence. The church, especially the Nikolai Church of Leipzig, played an important role in encouraging and keeping nonviolent the increasingly large demonstrations that followed its Monday evening prayer services for peace. The church’s involvement sometimes took courage. On October 9 it appeared that things might get ...

1669. Elihu

Job 32:1--37:24

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

The Friends Conclude and Elihu Begins Excurses: Had the third cycle of dialogue between Job and his three friends been complete, we would expect to find Zophar’s concluding speech in response to Job at this point. However, at least in the canonical form of the book, Bildad’s truncated final speech (25:1–6), Job’s expanded concluding speech (chs. 26–31), the complete absence of any final speech by Zophar, and the opening comments in the following Elihu section, press the reader to understand this collapse ...

1670. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Final Revelation--The Body: We enter now into the body of the last main revelation of the book of Daniel. There has been some progression in the visions of the book from a more general scope, encompassing larger blocks of history, to a more narrow focus on shorter periods of time. So, for example, Daniel 2 spans four and a half centuries by outlining the four human empires of Babylonia, Media, Persia, and Greece, which are swept away by the fifth—the eternal kingdom of God. Aside from the fact that the ...

1671. Job’s Reply to Zophar

Job 12:1--14:22

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

Job’s Equal Wisdom 12:1 Undeterred by Zophar’s stringent warnings, Job answers Zophar’s harshness with equal venom. 12:2 Doubtless. Job begins his reply to Zophar with the same word with which he began his response to Bildad (ʾomnam, “surely, certainly, without a doubt,” 9:2), but here the word drips with intentional sarcasm. Job clearly has his doubts about the wisdom of the three friends—especially after the rather unfeeling rebuke that Zophar has just pronounced. He directs his reply at all three ...

1672. The House on The Rock

Lk 6:12-49 · Mt 5:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18) Props: river stones (rocks) passed out among the people at the beginning of the service or beginning of the sermon OR small tools (such as small hammer, nails, concrete trowel) OR bricks Setting: Consider holding your service outdoors on the lawn today. One option may be to read the entirety of Jesus’ sermon (scriptures ...

1673. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Preface Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove; Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou madest Life in man and brute; Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot Is on the skull which thou hast made. Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, he knows not why, He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just. Thou seemest human and divine, The highest, holiest manhood, thou. ...

1674. Scandal

Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 26:1-5

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop (Animation): large mouse trap with “prop” piece; stone or rock; basket of river rocks People I know are hooked to two tv shows right now. One they admit right away: “Empire.” The other is more a “guilty pleasure” they admit to only when pressed: “Scandal.” Back for its fifth season, “Scandal” is the story of a president’s mistress. A married US President, Fitzgerald Grant, has fallen in love and is having an affair with crisis management professional, Olivia Pope. While her job is usually to “handle” ...

1675. Grounds for Blessing

Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:1-15, Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.” (Proverbs 8:19-21) Prop: Mustard seeds / soil [Have someone hand out some small black mustard seeds to everyone at the start of the sermon.] In your hand, you have some mustard seeds. These are seeds from the black mustard plant that grows still today in Israel. [Note to pastors: you can ...

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