Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1901 to 1925 of 2665 results

1901. Nations on Trial

Matthew 25:31-46

Drama

Chris Ewing

... think I've heard of her! 4: It began on August 15 [2006], when Arellano sought sanctuary in this community church rather than surrender to US immigration authorities to be deported back to her native Mexico. "It's been pretty difficult. I draw comfort from the people who drop in to pray for me and reassure me," said a wan and weary Arellano. "But I don't know how it will end. The immigration system is broken. Even President Bush recognizes that. If I could have come here legally, I would have, but I didn't ...

1902. What About the Baby?

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

Tony Everett

... midst of the hundreds of voices that constantly seek to distract and confuse us. Just think of the many conflicting voices you have heard these past few weeks that diverted your attention from the baby, or as folks say, "The reason for the season." Shop 'til you drop! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Do this, do that; run here, run there! There's never enough time and even less energy to pay attention to all the voices, sometimes even to God's voice of promise of hope and peace! There's a story about a young student ...

1903. A Honeymoon at Church Camp: A Real Homecoming

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

... at that dark, slimy mess down there," said Rachael, as she pointed her flashlight toward the bottom of the well. Wally was crestfallen and started crying again. With a heavy sigh, Rachael reached into the pocket of her housecoat and pulled out a fifty-dollar bill. Dropping it into the well, Rachael proclaimed, "Now it's well worth it!" And she climbed down into the old farm well. Friends, this is precisely what God has done in Jesus Christ. In Christ, God entered the dark, murky, slimy mess of the world of ...

1904. Burned Beef

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

Tony Everett

... dinner table saying, "Okay, what did Mom make for dinner? Feed us. Hurry up, Dad! We are starving!" Terry gingerly lifted the dish of beef stew from the stove. However, the glassware was not just warm, it was so hot that Terry quickly dropped the dish onto the wooden cupboard next to the stove. Carefully, he lifted the lid, and immediately the entire kitchen was engulfed with blue smoke. A terrible, burning stench filled their nostrils. Blackened chunks of beef adhered to the bottom of the dish, securely ...

1905. Aprons or Bibs

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Sermon

Tony Everett

... eyes and a smile that she could not fully disguise, she took the envelope from the helpless and befuddled professor and said, "Watch and learn." She then grasped one corner of the tape and peeled it away from the envelope flap. She then pressed it, sealed it, dropped it into the mail slot, and returned to her duties. "Oh," said the professor. No matter how clear the directions, God's people, you and I, cannot follow them alone. No matter what seems to be a clear-cut choice, God's people always seem to gaze ...

1906. A Question of Loyalty

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... God. Kathleen Kolar was an experienced hiker, having hiked in several popular west coast locations. When visiting Hawaii, she decided to hike a trail that was a grueling eleven miles long. The trail has stream crossings, lava ridges, lush valleys, and 100-foot drop-offs to rocky beaches below. The trek was everything Kathleen had heard — "difficult but spectacular." On her way back, she found herself a "little off trail." She wasn't concerned, all she would have to do is retrace her steps and she would ...

1907. Hidden in Plain Sight

1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... a surprise, "I went to church today and am not depressed." Someone has said, "I feel like unscrewing my head and putting it underneath the pew every time I go to church." Thoughts like these are often expressed by people who have dropped out of church, especially youth and young adults. Many people assume that Christianity is dull, boring, and for the mindless. Unfortunately, like portions of 1 Corinthians we have already examined, today's chapter has been used to support an uneducated, unthinking approach ...

1908. A Disconcerting Sight

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... in their lives, is damning indeed. Francis deSales once observed that there are some folks who think they are angels when they are not even very good people. That is a big problem. This is no doubt why Paul, never a master of subtlety, is not content to drop the matter with this play on words. He tells his audience that they are babies, still drinking milk rather than digesting meat. Being a baby is not a bad thing when you are three months old. In Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6, Paul celebrates the moment ...

1909. With Our Own Eyes

2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... it supports the conclusions. For example, all you have to do is open the Bible to discover that in the quotation from Mark 10 a little phrase is omitted: "with persecutions." Jesus said one would receive a hundredfold return "with persecutions." How convenient to drop that phrase. Or the oft-quoted statistic that Jesus spoke so much about money. Consider some of the passages where he addressed that topic: "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted ...

1910. For Example

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

David O. Bales

... , but in a crisis the urge to bargain with God pops up like mushrooms after a summer rain. It doesn't get us anywhere, except maybe our offering great terms to God earns God's pity. After all, how good do we think we are? We'd do best to drop our attempts to be right with God by good works and to accept God's terms of a loving, trusting relationship. You want terms? Those are good terms! If we're trying to get into God's good graces with our excellent deeds, it means we're in control. God ...

1911. Lighting up Lent

Ephesians 5:8-14

Sermon

David O. Bales

... up to four months beneath the jungle's thick canopy and he exclaimed how wonderful it was, finally, to step out in the smallest clearing with light falling upon him. Often, people who recover from depression speak of moving from darkness into light. People who slowly drop their hate and bitterness and learn to forgive have described their experience as coming out of a dark cloud into the sunlight. Have you realized that taverns and bars are dark for a reason? So people can hide. I have a friend who goes to ...

1912. A Living Hope (If It Hadn’t Been for Easter)

1 Peter 1:3-9

Sermon

David O. Bales

A church member read the New Testament and concluded, "Amazing things were going on back then. People converted not just their faith but their lives and values. They were healed, dropped prejudices, crossed ethnic boundaries, and ... and, people were beaten, tried, and killed for their faith." Then she looked at our modern American church and saw little similarity between the early Christian church and our current one. This experience indicates that perhaps it's safer for church members not to read ...

1913. Boast in Our Suffering

Romans 5:1-8

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... . Jesus is "the friend of sinners." Jesus goes out of his way to love the unlovable. He dines with sinners and tax collectors. He tells a story about a lost and profligate son who is still loved by his father, even though he has told his father to "drop dead." Jesus welcomes the outcast and touches the untouchable. But Jesus had to die for loving like that. He paid the ultimate price for daring to love like that. God raised him on the third day because God was so determined to never let his love for the ...

1914. Captive Free!

Romans 7:15-25a

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... with himself than with God. What Jesus does next exposes that. He tells him to sell all that he has, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus. Of course, he can't do it. He is unable to trust God that much! He walks away sulking. Jesus then drops the punch line: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The crowd that had been standing around watching this exchange got it. They realized how impossible it is to trust ...

1915. Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round

Romans 8:1-11

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... I quiz them. Do they really think they are saints? Do they really think they are perfect? I bet if I asked their brother or sister or parents, they would give me plenty of evidence to prove that they are not even close to being saints. The few courageous souls drop their hands. They aren't so sure anymore. I ask them again, "Whoever thinks you are a saint, raise your hand." Aha! They now know what answer the pastor is looking for. The right answer is "No." No one is a saint. No one is perfect. So, no one ...

1916. How Beautiful the Feet

Romans 10:5-15

Sermon

Larry Lange

... drying dirt on the floor that the law demanded the cleaning staff keep sterile. But when they saw the big man in the sweaty T-shirt kneeling there at the bedside of his wife, holding her little white hand as if it were the hand of his dying daughter, they dropped their hostilities for him, forgave him, doubled their efforts to keep his wife's room as clean as a holy place - which is what it had become. Amen.

1917. A Vision Vanished

Philippians 3:4-14

Sermon

Larry Lange

... through the dark pines that came crowding up close to the road from out of the spring fog. Arnold worked at the Caterpillar shop in town, crawling into the iron bellies of enormous Caterpillar tractors, scraping his knuckles on their cold, sharp innards, dropping heavy wrenches on the concrete with that satisfying metallic ring, and wiping his greasy hands on gray cloths while he stood around talking with his foreman, Jack, about what to do next. Sometimes he wondered while he was crawling around in the ...

1918. A Spiritual “Re-formation”

Romans 3:19-28

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... love. The letter of the law is tempered by grace. There are even times when grace is best served by breaking the rules. Cathy came home late to dinner one evening, and her dad wanted to know why she was late. Cathy explained that her best friend, Anna, had dropped her china doll on the sidewalk and the doll had broken into several pieces. "Oh," said her dad. "Did you stop to help her pick up the pieces?" "No," explained Cathy. "I stopped to help her cry." The rule about being home for dinner at six had been ...

1919. All of God's Chillun Got Shoes

Luke 14:1,7-14

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

... got shoes, you got shoes, All of God's chillun got shoes. When I get to heav'n, gonna put on my shoes. I'm gonna walk all over God's heav'n. What does it mean to sit in the seats of honor at the kingdom table? It means dropping a barefooted slave mentality! It means putting on our heavenly shoes, and walking all over God's heaven and God's good earth, as well. To be an honored guest at the feast of the Lord is to value oneself ultimately.

1920. A Man Named Useful

Philemon 1:8-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... late papers. Several days later, Eddie came down with the flu. He missed three weeks of class and couldn’t finish his term paper on time. His teacher refused to give him a second chance. Angry and frustrated, Eddie emptied his desk, packed his books and dropped out of school. For the next three years he picked cotton and worked odd jobs in the midst of the Great Depression. One day a businessman approached Eddie on the street and said, “Eddie. I’ve been watching you. You’re a hard worker and you ...

1921. Can I Give Enough?

Mark 12:41-44

Children's Sermon

Marti Kramer Suddarth

... the next two paragraphs while reading them.) Some of them probably made an announcement, removing their bags of money and shaking them, making sure everyone saw, before putting their coins in the box. Others may have made sure that they held their hands up high and dropped the coins a few at a time, so that the coins would make a loud noise when they fell. Finally, a poor widow came in. She probably slipped in very quietly, hoping no one would notice, and she only had two very small coins. Of course ...

1922. Handmade By God

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Children's Sermon

Marti Kramer Suddarth

... box that you packed in your lunch leaked and now everything in your backpack is soaked. One of your teachers gives a pop quiz, and during gym, you’re the last one chosen for a kickball team. Your best friend won’t speak to you. On the way home, you drop your art project. When you get home, you spill your milk while eating your after-school snack, and worst of all, even your dog won’t play with you. What a rotten day. We all have days like that, and when we do, it’s easy to start thinking that ...

1923. Peace and Quiet

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... “peace and quiet.” When you made your summer vacation plans, how important was it that wherever you were headed there was wi-fi available? Is there anything more pitiful than watching your teenage daughter discover she has left her cell phone re-charging at home? A dropped cell phone connection is now the direct cause of spikes in blood pressure. The most endangered of our planet’s great gifts is not the polar ice caps. It is not rare species like the black rhino or the big leaf mahogany. It is not a ...

1924. Play It Safe or Take a Risk

Luke 16:1-15

Illustration

Mark Trotter

... curse upon their family. After an hour, or less, in surgery their appearance was changed, and they received new hope and a new life. If you are hard-headed, you might conclude that the thousands of dollars that were spent last week in Tehuacan was just a drop in the bucket. It's not going to make any difference. I mean, the enormous suffering in this world, just wave after wave. It's not going to make any difference. I talked to one of those Rotarians in Tehuacan who spent two years setting up this project ...

1925. Finder's Keepers

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... searching and finding. And that's an old story that illustrates the frantic nature of people who have lost something and are in search of it. Remember the childhood little "Finder's Keepers, Loser's Weepers." We all used to use it when our brother or sister dropped a nickel or a dime and we found it. It was our way of laying claim to that which had been lost. Today in our Scripture, Jesus not only illustrates the frantic nature of those doing the searching; He also shows how much rejoicing there is for ...

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