Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1776 to 1800 of 4508 results

1776. Hospitality versus Entertaining

Illustration

Karen Mains

Karen Mains distinguishes between Hospitality and Entertaining: Entertaining says, "I want to impress you with my home, my clever decorating, my cooking." Hospitality, seeking to minister, says, "This home is a gift from my Master. I use it as he desires."Hospitality aims to serve. Entertaining puts things before people. "As soon as I get the house finished, the living room decorated, my house cl...

1777. Sent to the Lost Sheep

Illustration

Samuel Zumwalt

Many years ago there was a country preacher who asked his new little rural congregation to obey the call of Christ Jesus. He gave them all index cards in worship and asked them to write down the names of every family member, every neighbor, and every co-worker they knew that didn't go to church anywhere. He stopped long enough for them to do just that in worship. When they got through writing, the...

1778. Do Not Call It Sacrifice

Illustration

Bishop Ray W. Chamberlain

A couple, visiting in Korea, saw a father and his son working in a rice paddy. The old man guided the heavy plow as the boy pulled it. "I guess they must be very poor," the man said to the missionary who was the couple's guide and interpreter. "Yes," replied the missionary. "That's the family of Chi Nevi. When the church was built, they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money. ...

1779. The Ministry of Hospitality

Illustration

J. Scott Miller

Bob Edmunds, former pastor at a church in Elmira, New York, tells a story of what it feels like to be denied hospitality. He and his family were vacationing one summer and decided to worship at a prominent church in the Washington D. C. area. Apparently this church had quite a reputation for the quality of their preaching and corporate worship. The reputation held up, according to Bob and Susan's ...

1780. No Higher Duty

Illustration

J. Burton Williams

Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer was going to a monastery for a retreat. The monks observed vows of silence and the retreat was to be meditative and prayerful. Nouwen was delayed and was late getting to the monastery on that miserable, rainy night. He rang the bell, well after bedtime, and was met at the door by one of the brothers. The brother warmly greeted him, took his wet coat, brough...

1781. A New Social Order

Illustration

Jay M. Terbush

By the fourth century, the churches in Rome were feeding an estimated 20,000 poor people each week. The church at that time presented to the world a visible alternative to the prevailing social order. As Georges Florovsky has written in "Empire and Desert: Antinomies of Christian History": Christianity entered human history as a new social order or, rather, a new social dimension. From the very be...

1782. Tending to Christ

Illustration

Samuel Zumwalt

There's an old story told about Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was asked how it was that she could continue to tend the sickest and most wretched of the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India. Mother Teresa said that as she looked at each person for whom she was caring she tried to imagine that she was tending the Lord Jesus' wounded body – His nail-scarred hands, feet, and side. And so it was that ...

1783. Diet Soft Drink Religion

Illustration

Roger Ray

One of the things which has rather surprised the people who study church growth is that many of the churches which are really booming are the ones which ask the most of their members. While we hear a lot about making the church accessible and making worship a "low threshold" experience, what we are seeing is that some people are catching on to the fact that symbolic religion is about as nutritious...

1784. The Best We Could Do

Illustration

Les Schultz

A woman of immense wealth dreamed she went to heaven and was met by the angel Gabriel, who proceeded to give her a tour of the celestial city. First, she saw a palatial estate that belonged to her former maid. Then Gabriel showed her a mansion, where her former chauffeur lived. Finally, Gabriel gave her a sneak preview of her home - a shack in the back of the maid's palace. Taken aback, the woman...

1785. God Still Thinks about You

Illustration

Herchel H. Sheets

Helmut Thielicke says that during World War II, his students often wrote from the battlefield saying, "I am so exhausted from marching, my stomach is so empty, I am so plagued with lice and scratching, I am so tormented by the biting cold of Russia and so dead tired, that I am totally occupied, without the least bit of inner space for any speculative thinking." Sometimes they would write that they...

1786. The Work of the Righteous

Illustration

Roger Ray

In his book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman recounts a story of an American soldier in Vietnam. His platoon was hunkered down in the rice paddies locked into the heat of a firefight with the Vietcong. The rice fields in Vietnam are often separated by an earthen beam, and on this day, a line of six Buddhist monks started walking along the elevated beam separating the field where the Americ...

1787. Whoever Welcomes You, Welcomes Me

Illustration

David Wiggs

A church member told this story: I saw him in the church building for the first time on Wednesday. He was in his mid-70's with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit. Many times in the past I had invited him to come. Several other Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the good news with him. He was well respected, honest, a man of good character. He acted m...

1788. The Stranger at the Door

Illustration

Randy Hyde

Jim Somerville is pastor of the First Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. Once one of the most prominent churches in our nation's capital, it is still housed in a wonderful, ornate facility. However, there are few people who come to worship there anymore. Washington has one of the highest populations of homeless people in America, if not the highest. They're everywhere, and sometimes they take re...

1789. Never Underestimate the Power of a Cold Cup of Water - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

Now I would like to stop the world for just one minute and ask you to think back. Think back with me to the first century. Think about those 50 years after Jesus' death and what it must been like for Jesus' disciples. Before the last one died their efforts had brought 500,000 men, women, and children into the ranks of the church. But what they had to suffer in order to accomplish this task is seld...

1790. The Tool of Discouragement

Illustration

Brett Blair

There is an old legend about Satan one day having a yard sale. He thought he'd get rid of some of his old tools that were cluttering up the place. So there was gossip, slander, adultery, lying, greed, power-hunger, and more laid out on the tables. Interested buyers were crowding the tables, curious, handling the goods. One customer, however, strolled way back in the garage and found on a shelf a w...

1791. The Earliest Signs of Civilization

Illustration

Brett Blair

The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked this question: What was the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture? He expected the answer to be a clay pot or perhaps a fish hook or grinding stone. Her answer was "a healed femur." The femur, of course, is the leg bone above the knee. Mead explained that no healed femurs are found where the law of the jungle, survival of the fitt...

1792. Nanook of the North

Illustration

Brett Blair

As a young man Robert Flaherty was a prospector. A trade he learned growing up in his father's business. He spent many months in the far north looking for iron ore and cod. He found neither, but during his explorations, being something of a photographer, he shot 30,000 feet of film during the travels. He was encouraged by friends to edit the film and create a movie, which Flaherty spent weeks doin...

1793. The Love of a Father - Sermon Starter

Illustration

King Duncan

It is not easy being a father. One cynic, speaking from his own experience, noted that children go through four fascinating stages. First they call you DaDa. Then they call you Daddy. As they mature they call you Dad. Finally they call you collect. Today we salute fathers. Dads, we love you. The role of a Christian father is more important in today's world than ever before. It is a different roll...

1794. With or Without People?

Illustration

King Duncan

A second grader once asked his teacher how much the earth weighed. The teacher looked up the answer in an Encyclopedia. "Six thousand million, million tons," she answered. The little boy thought for a minute and then asked, "Is that with or without people?" Viewed from one perspective, it might very well seem that people don't really matter very much. After all, we are but microscopic inhabitants ...

1795. Good Actions

Illustration

King Duncan

Baron de Rothschild was one of the richest men who ever lived. Legend has it that the Baron once posed before an artist as a beggar. While the artist, Ary Scheffer, was painting him, the financier sat before him in rags and tatters holding a tin cup. A friend of the artist entered, and the baron was so well disguised that he was not recognized. Thinking he was really a beggar, the visitor dropped ...

1796. Cast-off Items

Illustration

King Duncan

John Bowes, chairman of the parent company of Wham-O, the maker of Frisbees, once participated in a charity effort. He sent thousands of the plastic flying discs to an orphanage in Angola, Africa. He thought the children there would enjoy playing with them. Several months later, a representative of Bowes' company visited the orphanage. One of the nuns thanked him for the wonderful "plates" that h...

1797. The Idiot

Illustration

King Duncan

In Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot the central character is Prince Myshkin, who does not fit in to the society around him. His peers are striving for status and power. They judge each other on the basis of money or appearance or family connections. In their world, there is no real friendship or intimacy. People use each other to meet their own needs. And into this world walks Prince Myshkin. He just...

1798. Lost Bearings

Illustration

King Duncan

Christian author Max Lucado visited New York City just a few days after the attacks of September 11, 2001. On a ride around the city, Lucado asked his taxi driver if his life was any different since the attacks. The driver replied, "I keep getting lost." He explained that he had always looked to the World Trade Towers to get his bearings while driving around the city. Now that the giant towers are...

1799. Fortunate Gifts

Illustration

King Duncan

I once read about a woman whose church group bought Christmas gifts for a missionary family. After meticulously selecting the presents based on the family's needs, sizes and ages, the group gathered to pack them. That's when another member whisked in and plopped an almost-new man's coat on the table. Her husband didn't like the style. As she turned to go, she suggested that maybe one of the missio...

1800. Proper 7

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Genesis 21:8-21 Sarah jealously guards the rights of her natural son, Isaac, by ordering Abraham to throw out her slave girl, Hagar, with her son. God speaks to Abraham in his distress about the plight of Hagar and her son, telling him to do as Sarah wished because his descendants would be counted through Isaac. Furthermore, God would also make a great nation through Ishmael....

Showing 1776 to 1800 of 4508 results

1776. Hospitality versus Entertaining

Illustration

Karen Mains

1777. Sent to the Lost Sheep

Illustration

Samuel Zumwalt

1778. Do Not Call It Sacrifice

Illustration

Bishop Ray W. Chamberlain

1779. The Ministry of Hospitality

Illustration

J. Scott Miller

1780. No Higher Duty

Illustration

J. Burton Williams

1781. A New Social Order

Illustration

Jay M. Terbush

1782. Tending to Christ

Illustration

Samuel Zumwalt

1783. Diet Soft Drink Religion

Illustration

Roger Ray

1784. The Best We Could Do

Illustration

Les Schultz

1785. God Still Thinks about You

Illustration

Herchel H. Sheets

1786. The Work of the Righteous

Illustration

Roger Ray

1787. Whoever Welcomes You, Welcomes Me

Illustration

David Wiggs

1788. The Stranger at the Door

Illustration

Randy Hyde

1789. Never Underestimate the Power of a Cold Cup of Water - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

1790. The Tool of Discouragement

Illustration

Brett Blair

1791. The Earliest Signs of Civilization

Illustration

Brett Blair

1792. Nanook of the North

Illustration

Brett Blair

1793. The Love of a Father - Sermon Starter

Illustration

King Duncan

1794. With or Without People?

Illustration

King Duncan

1795. Good Actions

Illustration

King Duncan

1796. Cast-off Items

Illustration

King Duncan

1797. The Idiot

Illustration

King Duncan

1798. Lost Bearings

Illustration

King Duncan

1799. Fortunate Gifts

Illustration

King Duncan

1800. Proper 7

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Showing 1776 to 1800 of 4508 results