Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1726 to 1750 of 5000 results

1726. TASKMASTER

Exodus 1:11

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Exodus 1:11 - "Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses." Just as today we have foremen who assign jobs and see that their instructions are carried out, the ancient rulers also had such foremen, and they were called taskmasters. However, whereas today we hardly expect the plant foreman to be a cruel person, whose job is in enforcing his orders by physical means, this is exactly what the ancient taskmaster ...

1727. Episode III: Birth of the Church

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

In 1977 teenagers all over America walked into movie theatres to watch a movie that was virtually unknown. The director was unknown, the characters were unknown, the soundtrack was unknown, the robots were unknown. The name of the movie was Star Wars. It was not expected to be the biggest grossing movie of all times. It’s hard to believe that was 28 years ago. But even then some of us could read the handwriting on the wall. It was more grand than anything else we’d had ever see. For the next two months in ...

1728. Half-Price Crosses

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

In a jewelry store window of a large shopping center, a sign was posted which read: "Crosses for sale, half-price." That sign just set my mind to reeling with its implications. In our culture it means very little to wear a cross. For many it is a meaningless piece of jewelry. When the singer Madonna wears a cross, her audience does not presume she is making a faith statement. Perhaps a fashion statement, but not a faith statement. I am convinced that were it not for all the jewelry, lots of major league ...

1729. Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

In Douglas Southall Freeman’s classic biography of the famous Southern commander, Robert E. Lee, he tells about a young mother who brought her baby to him to be blessed. General Lee took the infant in his arms, looked at it, and then said to the mother, “Teach him that he must deny himself.” Both of our scriptural texts for today agree wholeheartedly with General Lee. The prophet Joel declared, “Return to the Lord with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” Jesus said, “If any want to become my ...

1730. Making a Name for Ourselves

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Last week during a vacation trip to South Carolina, Gloria and I stood by my parents’ grave. Their horizontal gravestone offers a brief, but important testimony about these two people. Concerning my father it says, “Pastor, Chaplain, World War II.” Under mother’s name it says, “Devoted wife and teacher.” Then it says, “Loving parents of…” and their four children’ are listed. At the bottom is that great final verse of I Corinthians 13, “Now abide these three – faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these ...

1731. Using our Special Talents

Romans 12:6-8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Cup, scissors, picture. Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on this beautiful winter morning? Winter must be a very special season for God, because He decorates His earth with snow and beautiful cloud formations in the heavens. It is wonderful how the various seasons do different things and make us feel differently. It makes me think of some good friends around my house that have special jobs. Let me show you what I mean. First of all there is my friend, Charley Cup. [Hold up cup, admiring it ...

1732. Legends Of Christmas

Drama

Georgianna Summers

Scene I [Members of a junior high Social Studies class are seated on one side of stage area. Miss Hardgrader, the teacher, stands in front of them.] Hardgrader: Now, class, before you leave today I just want to remind you that your reports on Christmas legends are due tomorrow. [Everyone groans.] I will call on some of you to read yours aloud; so all of you come prepared. I’ve also invited the other grades in our wing to come visit our class tomorrow when you give your reports, and I thought it would be ...

1733. The Passover and the Passion

Drama

Denny C. Wise

Narrator: (Welcome) Since the Fourth Century, Christians have remembered the Passion of our Lord with a service of Tenebrae, or shadows. Tonight we are going to add to that format an even older tradition: the Passover Festival. The word "Festival" comes from a root word meaning "memory." The Passover Festival was a time to remember God’s deliverance of his people from bondage, declaring that even though evil may prosper for a season, God’s way shall ultimately prevail. During our service this evening, as ...

1734. What Is Christianity Without the Cross?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

The Second President of the United States, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for a government of any other.” In other words, unless our country remains Christian the Constitution will not function properly. Is John Adams right? Can our society survive without the Christian faith? There are many who would say that religion does not have the influence it once had. I agree. But they go on to say that religion is no longer relevant, that ...

1735. Reviving Our Moral Responsibility

2 Chronicles 36:15-23

Sermon

Donald Macleod

Some years ago I spent several weeks during the summer indexing and classifying the Scripture texts in all the volumes of published sermons on my study shelves. Many interesting trends and preferences emerged from this tabulation; for example, among some 4,000 printed sermons only two preachers had ever done a sermon from the Book of Chronicles. And little wonder, someone might very well say. Here is an Old Testament book which in 65 chapters attempts an accounting of a confused and confusing mishmash of ...

1736. Returning to Genuine Religion

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Donald Macleod

There is a simple poem by Louise F. Tarkington which goes in part this way: I wish there were some wonderful place Called the Land of Beginning Again, Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door And never put on again. What has this to do with the return of the Jewish exiles from seventy years in slavery in Babylon? Everything! Because, as they left Babylon behind and turned their faces toward their homeland, they carried a lot of mental baggage along ...

1737. Some Rules Need to be Broken

Mark 2:13-17

Illustration

Larry Powell

Let us fabricate a situation in order to refer to an actual circumstance. Suppose that your family doctor spent the better part of his time enjoying the company of his cohorts, all of them healthy, sharing a common interest, and preserving the clinic by keeping it in good repair, yet never associated with persons beset by maladies. The clinic has been the medical center for as long as anyone can remember, but is used primarily for research and as a place to house medical books. The doctors are far too ...

1738. Decisive Battles With Temptation

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Robert Allen

It happens so often that it seems almost routine in our modern world. We read or listen to certain stories with interest and then make little jokes about how public figures shoot themselves in the foot when they yield to temptation and it becomes public knowledge. In recent years, we have become privy to the temptations which have seduced several public figures. Not long ago, Gary Hart was the leading candidate in the Democratic Party for the nomination for President of the United States. But, when he took ...

1739. It Isn't Fair!

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Brett Blair

One day a rich young ruler came enthusiastically running up to Jesus and asked: “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus answered: Keep the law. “This I have done from my youth up,” came the reply. Yet one thing do you lack said Jesus. Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Then come follow me. We are told that the young man walked away sorrowfully, for he had great wealth. Concluded the Master: It will be hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. The disciples had been watching the ...

1740. Give Us A New Name!

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

What’s in a name? Apparently more than we sometimes realize. Our names are important to us. They carry the message of who we are. Parents think carefully of what to name a new child. How is it going to sound when that child grows to adulthood? Will it be dignified? Distinctive? Pleasant? We want names that will not be embarrassing or cause people to make jokes of them. Probably all of us have been amused by someone’s unfortunate name; one probably chosen by a parent who failed to think of the long term ...

1741. Wade In The Water

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

The lives of the rich and famous hold a strange fascination for those of us who do not find ourselves in that category. From a very surface view it is easy to envy their glamorous and opulent lifestyles. How we’d like to be like them. We could really enjoy having their money, or their influence, or the adulation of the people who crowd around them. How nice it would be to have the athletic prowess of Michael Jordan, or the good looks and acting talent of a Tom Cruise or Geena Davis, the voice of Luciano ...

1742. Judas

Luke 22:1-6

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

Remorse or Repentance? Were you there? Is that what you people were just singing? Is that what you’ve been thinking? Was I there? Of course I was. Do you have to ask that? My name is Judas, the son of Simon. There are not many people who know anything about Jesus Christ who do not know something about me, too. Yes, I was one of the twelve whom Jesus chose to be his apostles. Almost 2,000 years have passed since I lived and died, but people still remember me. They recall that I used a kiss as the sign to ...

1743. Simon Peter: Strong Stone or Crumbling Clay?

Luke 22:54-62

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

Were you there? Were you singing that song again? Were you wondering, when you heard my name, how I could do what I did on that dreadful night when I denied vehemently that I even knew Jesus? Oh yes, I was there, all right, and it still pains me to think about it. My name is Simon, the son of John. Most of you may know me better by another name - Peter. That’s what Jesus himself called me when my brother Andrew brought me to Jesus for the first time. Do you know that the name Peter means "stone," or "piece ...

1744. Early on the First Day

Drama

G. Franklin Gray

Cast Mary Magdalene Mary, the Mother of James Salome Joanna Soldier 1 Soldier 2 Angel 1 Angel 2 Peter John Jesus Narrator Properties Needed Costumes Replica of Tomb If at all possible, it is strongly recommended that the congregation gather, and the pageant be offered, in a cemetery at dawn on Easter Day. The Service The Call to Worship Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing to the glory of his name; offer him glory and praise! All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise ...

1745. Out of Doors: Nature and Supernatural

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

Some 75 years ago the great poet-preacher, Henry Van Dyke, traveled to the Holy Land. He returned from his journey with many memories and insights, but high among them was a "new conviction": "Christianity," he said, "is an out-of-doors religion." From Jesus’ birth in a cave to his crucifixion on a hill outside Jerusalem, all of its important events - with perhaps two or three exceptions - took place in the out-of-doors. Van Dyke was so impressed that when he returned to America and wrote the story of his ...

1746. The Jericho Road: Where the Action Is

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

I begin this sermon with a prejudice, a positive one: I love the Jericho Road. This love began when I was a boy of fifteen, singing bass in a male quartet. We had a song about the Jericho Road, with a rollicking bass part. I should tell you that most of the time we basses have to be content with drudgery assignments, going along on the same note interminably while the other voices dance happily about on the foundation we lay. But in this old male quartet song, the bass had a chance to shine. I loved the ...

1747. Resurrection: From Slave to Child

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

So often a road is built upon the back of an earlier pathway - one upon the other, built up and strengthened by what went before. The busy Detroit Avenue before our church (Lakewood, Ohio) was once a Pony Express route, carrying mail toward Detroit City in Michigan. That route was earlier an Indian trail through forest lands. So it was with the road that came from Bethany, climbed across to the Mount of Olives, snaked down into the Kidron Valley, moved through the region of the Garden of Gethsemane and ...

1748. A Man Who Laughed at God

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

The Bible begins, as we all know, with the beginning - the story of creation, of God’s making his universe. But following the impressive story of the creation of the world, and then the majestic story of the creation of man (God "breathed into his nostrils, and man became a living soul"), sin was introduced into God’s beautiful world. The man, whom he had created, disobeyed and fell into sin; the image of God was tarnished; and fellowship with the Creator was interrupted. Eden became a "Paradise Lost." In ...

1749. A Man Who Was a Lion-Tamer

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

In our consideration of the favorite men of the Bible, we have looked at them in chronological order, trying to retell the story of God’s redemption of his fallen creatures. We have followed God’s chosen people (through Abraham) into the land of promise (Moses) and have seen the building of a mighty kingdom (David). Then came the division of the nation - between the north and the south - and the captivity of God’s people. During this time, the great prophets of Israel appeared. Their primary purpose was to ...

1750. A Citizen of Three Worlds

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

Paul For personal reading: Acts 9--28 For public reading: Philippians 3:4-14, 20 Outline Jewish Citizenship (Philippians 3:4-6; Romans 9:3; 10:1; Acts 23:6-8) Roman Citizenship (Acts 16:16-39; 22:24-29; 25:9-12) Heavenly Citizenship (Philippians 3:20) Q-SHEET Paul - A Citizen of Three Worlds Acts 9--28 QUIZ: (Match a city with each statement, then a person with the city; try first without a Bible, then use the verses to verify each answer.) 1. Paul lowered over wall in basket (9:25) _______ _______ (9:10) ...

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