Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 151 to 175 of 4944 results

151. FOR WHOM DO WE WORK?

Drama

Angela Akers

... money and put it at the feet of Lifestyle, and waited for her blessing." Lifestyle: "Oh, thank you, darling. You''re so good to me. But that''s not enough. There are so many things to buy in this world, so many places to go. If we''re going to keep up with the Jones'', then you''ve got to keep me happy. And I need more, much more than this to be happy." Businessman: "It still wasn''t enough. So I went back to work. I had never worked so hard in my life, and it payed off. I gathered ...

152. Unusual Joy

Psalm 126:1-6

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... matters of profound importance. Are you still dreaming of a just Christmas, a peaceful Christmas, a loving Christmas, a forgiving Christmas? An article in USA Today this week says “the happiest people surround themselves with family and friends. They don't care about keeping up with the Joneses next door. They lose themselves in daily activities and most importantly, they forgive easily." I know it is not always easy to dream, is it? It probably never has been. Annie Johnson Flint wrote a poem a few years ...

153. In Whose Likeness?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... without thought to its impact on others both here and abroad, for we are citizens of God's realm, and we share God's concern for all of humanity and the whole of creation. We will not be overly concerned to keep up with the Joneses, because we have someone much greater to keep up with: Jesus Christ, who counseled would-be followers to cut off whatever might come between them and God, be it their wealth or their arms and legs, so that they could be wholeheartedly dedicated to embodying God's reconciling love ...

154. Are We Brave enough to Bet It All?

John 20:1-18

Illustration

Thomas Long

... , all of the other players drop out one by one, intimidated by Thomas' hand, that is, all except one player, a stutterer named Fred. Curiously, Fred appears to have a poor hand; his cards showing on the table are "nondescript garbage." Astonishingly, though, he keeps up the betting pace, calling and raising Thomas at every opportunity. Thomas is puzzled since his own hand is a poker player's dream. It isn't absolutely perfect he is holding one poor card but other than this single little flaw his hand is ...

155. What Do You Expect?

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... to John Stott’s realization? When you sit in church and hear about the goodness of God and the joy of knowing Him, do you feel empty and disconnected? Do you feel left out? Are you living with a sense of eternal purpose, or are you just trying to keep up? Here’s the good news for the day: It was to meet this need—to fill this emptiness—that Jesus Christ came into the world. “I am the bread of life . . .” says Jesus. You can search all over this earth to find that one thing that is missing in ...

156. East of Easter

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... DOES it? Think about it for a moment as we reflect on those two friends we met in our scripture lesson. They were just like us. They had the same concerns that have been common in every age - keeping body and soul together, keeping out of trouble, keeping up with the Joneses, keeping in tune with the times, and now keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of dashed hopes and shattered dreams. Just like us. They were religious folk, having walked the several hours to Jerusalem a few days before from their home ...

157. Submission

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Pete Maravich and Lily Laskin had something in common aside from the fact that they both died one day apart. They both gave themselves to that which they considered important. People who keep up with harps and harpists say that Lily Laskin, the French harpist, took the harp out of the living room and made it a featured solo instrument on concert stages all over the world. She died on January 4, 1988, at the age of ninety-four. Upon her death, she was ...

158. The Drop Out

Drama

Sarah Walton Miller

... about Danny. I’ll take care of him. PHIL: [reluctantly] Well, all right. I hate to refuse you. I’ll start figuring out what we need for one more man. But Dave - DAVE: Yes? PHIL: You make him understand he’s expected to do his share to keep up. Every day! DAVE: Oh, I will! Danny’ll be okay. You’ll see. [Both actors return to closed positions and hold for a few seconds to indicate passage of time. DANNY and DAVE then come to chairs. DAVE simply sits. DANNY sprawls.] DANNY: Wow! What a day! Lucky ...

159. Even The Demons Believe!

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

... something that he really does not want to have to do. Sad, isn’t it? Pride, like a demon, causes a great deal of separation in our lives. Pride combined with envy is a demon that pushes and pushes and pushes people to "keep up with the Joneses." Actually, it never just pushes us to keep up; it always pushes us to do better, get more, have more. Because of this demon, people in families lose touch with each other; they sit in nice, big houses and never talk to each other; they are always too tired for each ...

160. The Image of Perfection

Mark 10:17-31; Isaiah 64:6

Illustration

Michael Milton

... then, as June's arm was cocked back ready to sail another projectile through the class, that our teacher returned. "June! What are you doing?" I forgot to tell you that the teacher was her mother. But poor old June Day met her match, and she just couldn't keep up her image of being perfect. And you know what? Neither can you. None of us can. We cannot come to God based on our righteousness. Do you know what God calls it? He says our righteousness before Him is like filthy rags. So what do we do? We divest ...

161. If Everybody’s Okay, What’s the Problem? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... debate about posting the Ten Commandments in public places. I’m concerned about practicing them in life. Adultery is still in the top ten. So is lying to get out of trouble, cheating to appear better than we are, stealing to keep up with the Joneses, and coveting what belongs to other people. However, proponents of civil religion want to deny it— the first five Commandments define faithfulness to the Almighty. The unfaithfulness that disturbed God even more than marital unfaithfulness was spiritual ...

162. Are You in the Right Place?

Matthew 6:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the long run. Most people come off as ridiculous when they try to puff themselves up and pretend they are something they are not. There was a British sitcom a few years back that I know some of you are familiar with. It was called, “Keeping Up Appearances.” The series ran on the BBC from 1990 to 1995. It is still being shown in reruns on Netflix and Britbox and PBS. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle class social climber named Hyacinth Bucket. Though her last name is spelled ...

163. Pillars of the Church

Exodus 17:8-16, Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... take turns flying up front. Notice also that they honk as they fly along. I can't prove this for sure, but I think they are encouraging that lead goose. We humans can use in small groups what the geese teach us. We can share the tough tasks and keep up those encouraging honks. Last year in our Women of the Word Bible study, one of the participants was a single woman whose main job in life was caring for an elderly aunt. She was very quiet and withdrawn. But within the warmth of the small group, she began to ...

164. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... on the battleground of life's experiences before the bugles blast? I recall reading in Civil War history the account of the Battle of Chickamauga, where soldiers marched a long way to battle. Sometimes the march is longer than the fight. If we can keep up the march and claim the victory we shall have passed through! It matters not how deep entrenched the wrongHow hard the battle goes, the day, how long,Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song! Claiming victory through defeat is like the eagle who ...

165. The Man In The River

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

John Jamison

... Luke records more conversation taking place along the creek that morning and it is only fair, I guess, that we remember it, too. Anyway, he turned to the rest of us. "And for you," he began. Now would be the other side of the coin. It would be something like "Keep up the hard work!" or "It is not so important what you do, as long as you don't hurt anyone." But, instead, it was "And for you. Any of you that has two coats, give one of them to one of those who has no coat." You glanced at the ...

166. Natural Or Supernatural?

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... it. Best wishes, Benjamin." Oh, there are a few who believe, but perhaps because of some ulterior motive, such as this girl who writes: "Dear God: My teacher read us the part where all the Jews went through where the water was and were saved. Keep up the good work. I'm Jewish. Love, Paula." Well, in these years, it's become quite difficult to explain, or to explain away, the miracles. Oh, we come up with some good, reasonable-sounding, everyday explanations, like there's nothing unusual about Jesus changing ...

167. Hope Lifted Up

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... do if I backslid?" Lent is the time to confess our propensity to abandon life in and with God. When we're "in the money," we forget whence material blessings come. We forget our promises to share with others. We complain if we're losing the battle to keep up with the Joneses. Manna and water are not enough. We want to drink the best wines, own the high-end automobiles, and live in spacious homes with at least three televisions and an entertainment room with stadium seating. What God gives to us is ours, we ...

168. A New Calling

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... us define ourselves by the work we do. We’re told that leisure is becoming a thing of the past for many people in our society. Many of us are working harder than ever--and we’re not sure why. A recent study indicates that it is in order to keep up with the Joneses. If neighbor Jones can provide the latest toys for his kids, then we’ve got to find a way to provide them for our kids. Heaven help us if our offspring should discover that they can’t have everything everybody else has. So we work harder ...

169. Rest

Matthew 11:25-30

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

... books and folders. 4:00 Time to do your homework. (response) 5:00 Time to play. Ride you bike. (response) 6:00 time for dinner. Wash your hands. (response) Let’s eat. (response) Try now to string together several things too quickly so that they can’t keep up with the motions. Pick up your dirty dishes, pick up your room, finish your homework, take a bath, wash behind your ears, you missed a spot, dry your hair, brush your teeth, put on your pajamas, say your prayers, kiss your mom, kiss your dad, kiss ...

170. A Bridge over Troubled Waters

Psalm 23:2

Sermon

James Merritt

... wants us to enjoy what we work for. But we can be trying so hard to get more that we don’t enjoy what we’ve got. One of the reasons why we have such stress is because we’ve got this massive desire to acquire. We’re trying to keep up with the Joneses, and we don’t realize they’ve either just refinanced or filed for bankruptcy. “Take time to smell the roses” is not just an old saying. It really is biblical. A shepherd knows that even sheep have to take a break, and so should you. One lady ...

171. When Too Much Can Be Too Little

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... One of the biggest beguilers of the Christian mind, even bigger than secularism or sex, is consumerism and its "shabby little gospel of greed and gain" (as Dennis Potter calls it). Economists like to call consumerism "The Jones Effect" (as in "keeping up with the Joneses"). Others, like Pope John Paul II, call consumerism one of those "structures of sin" named "superdevelopment," which the pope defines as "an excessive availability of material goods for the benefit of certain social groups" ("Pope John Paul ...

172. It's Everybody's Business

John 1:35-51

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Abe and Sara were an elderly Svedish couple. They tried their best to keep up with the times, but truthfully, they were a bit backward. They didn't have very many friends so they didn't get much mail. But one day Sara received a single envelope in the mail. She opened it and found that it was a wedding invitation. She proudly announced that ...

173. Warnings and Exhortations for Jerusalem and Judah

Zephaniah 1:1-3, Zephaniah 1:4-13, Zephaniah 1:14--2:3

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... for “their king.” Some OT references speak of sacrifice to Molech in association with sacrifices in connection with the dead, and it may be that Molech is the king of Sheol. Judean involvement with Molech, then, would link with the regular human desire to keep up links with members of the family who have died, to express one’s concern for them, and to gain help from them. More literally, Zephaniah speaks of people who swear to Yahweh and swear by Molech (cf. TNIV). They swear allegiance to Yahweh in ...

174. A New Kingdom Coming

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... I shall never become a Barthian. May God spare me from Barthianism!" Barth didn't want to be hemmed in or trapped by the smallest of his own followers who wanted to package him, market him, and profit from him as a safe product. Unable to keep up with the living Barth, they preferred the static Barth of printed pages. That way they could possess Barth, hold him in their hands, control him, use him to buttress their own biases. Many contemporary disciples use Jesus in a similar way. They like the Jesus of ...

175. SHOEMAKER

Exodus 3:5; Luke 15:22

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... changes in technology, and more improved methods of making shoes gives us better footwear at less cost. In its first hundred years of existence, the United States Patent Office granted about 10,000 patents on shoemaking machinery and on the improvements of existing methods. And today our shoe men are keeping up the same pace.

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