Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1976 to 2000 of 5000 results

1976. The Rejected Cornerstone

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and human responsibility. Flowing out of all of that, I would have you underscore this significant truth: We may have a life of abundance without having an abundant life. Now get that. We may have a life of abundance without having an abundant life. Let me illustrate with the story of two men. First, Howard Hughes. "All he ever really wanted in life was more. He wanted more money, so he parlayed inherited wealth into a billion dollar pile of assets. He wanted more fame, so he broke into the Hollywood scene ...

1977. Can You Hear The Rooster Crow?

Luke 22:54-62

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . Finally the points are completely worn off. The star becomes a disc, and we feel no pain regardless of how severe our misdeeds may be. We must never allow our minds and hearts to be dulled to the crowing of the rooster. An article from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, (Feb. 20, 1986), tells the story of one in whom the rooster's crow stayed alive. Her name was Jan Kemp and she was a professor at the University of Georgia. Her conscience collided with the practices of the powerful athletic department of that university ...

1978. Who Loves More?

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of the sinner. Isn’t that the most obvious fact in the story? He didn’t take the side of righteous Simon—He took the side of this woman of the street—the side of the sinner. Nowhere in Scripture is this fact about Jesus more poignantly illustrated than in this story. Earlier in Luke, Jesus had stated it clearly. Remember? Luke 5:31-32: Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” That ...

1979. The Gospel Of Another Chance (choir Dedication)

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... begin again for others. II. Now look in another direction - - the direction of failure and sin and the whole question of grace. This suggests the truth that God is a gracious God who offers to each one of us one more chance. That's what our Scripture lesson illustrates. The gardener pleaded with the owner of the garden to give the fig tree one more chance. I believe that gardener's plea for the fig tree is Jesus' desire for us. Jesus confronts the life that is messed up, that has come apart, that has hit a ...

1980. Turn in an Account of Your Stewardship

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... affirming dishonesty? The key to the parable is Jesus’ commentary on it in Verse 8: For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. Remember parables generally are pithy little stories that generally illustrate only one point. So the key to understanding this story is found in what Jesus says at the end of the story - - the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. We need to ...

1981. A Pattern For Giving And Living

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... 's wealth does not consist in what he has in terms of material possessions and security, but in who we know ourselves to be, and the inner resources we have cultivated by our relationship to Christ. A psychiatrist in Princeton, New Jersey, illustrated this poignantly. "A few years ago (he) received one of those "strike it rich" sweepstakes letters from LIFE magazine. It read, "You have been selected as the fortunate participant in a special offer which could make you the richest person in Princeton. Your ...

1982. Sweet Little Jesus Boy

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... executive collapsed into his easy chair. The bright colors of a magazine cover in his den caught his eye, and he picked up the periodical and leafed through it while he waited for dinner. It was an issue of The Christmas Annual. There were beautifully illustrated reproductions of Christmas carols. He began to read the familiar word, but being in a caustic mood, he began to revise the carols into parodies: "Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright...Maybe so, but I will wager That innkeeper, didn ...

1983. The Commitment Question: Will You Lay Down Your Life For Me?

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of your being, He will get it only one way. He won't take it because you happen to have left it vacant. He won't take it by storm. He will get it because you give it to Him by deliberate, conscious, willing choice." (The previous two illustrations come from "Religion That Works", Herbert Booth Smith, The Pulpit, July, 1942, p.152) "We often hear that Jesus' teaching turned the world upside down". Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that He showed us that we live in an upside down world. Jesus slashed ...

1984. What If

1 Chronicles 7:1-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Do you see? Prayer is the one identification we have with God and with others, and there it was -- Jerry, Kay, God, all bound together in prayer. A beautiful thing happened as a result of Jerry's praying. She began to write a story for little Kay and illustrate it with some of the most beautiful watercolors she has ever done. Once each week for eight or ten weeks, she sent little Kay a sequel to the story -- a story about a little girl named Kay who played with imaginary characters down by the creek behind ...

1985. Naming And Being Named

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... God as Thou or You in that intimate person to person sort of way. So the first dynamic of prayer is naming God as God is in our experience. That's the first dynamic of prayer. Naming God as God is in our experience. The 63 Psalm is a good illustration of this. "Oh God, you are my God. I seek you. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where no water is." Harry Emerson Fosdick has a marvelous reflection on that Psalm. He says to stand afar off and say ...

1986. A Rod For The Back Of Fools

Proverbs 25:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of two teaching experiences in the eighties. First, he taught preaching one semester at Harvard Divinity School. Harvard, he writes, was proud of its pluralism - "feminists, humanists, theists, liberation theologians all pursuing truth together." But the cost of that pluralism was illustrated for him in class one day: "There I was, making a fool of myself spilling out to them the secrets of my heart, and there they were, not telling me what they believed about anything beneath the level of their various ...

1987. Rejected at Home

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... you. I have a purpose for you. Believe in me and never question your self-worth again." Here is where it all begins. Like Michael, our lives can be turned around, by trusting ourselves to Jesus. 1. Roy Fowler in "Can We Limit God?" 2. Illustrations Unlimited. 3. Christian Voices. Cited witandwisdom-on@lists.tagnet.org 4. John C. Maxwell, Winning with People (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2004). 5. Michael in My God Story, compiled by Bob Coy (Fort Lauderdale, FL: Calvary Chapel Church, Inc., 2001), pp. 32-36.

1988. Strategic Kindness

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

King Duncan

... and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you . . ." 1. Much of this material comes from MovieMinistry.com. 2. What's So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 120. 3. Illusaurus. 4. Wayne Austerman, "Abhorrent to Civilization," Civil War Times Illustrated (Sept., 1985), pp. 37-38. 5. Dr. Daniel Lioy, Tarbell's Lesson Commentary, September 2004- August 2005 (Colorado Springs: Cook Communications).

1989. What God Has Joined Together

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... twist of fate that saved our marriage" by Molly M. McGinty, Redbook, December 2003, pp. 70-72. 4. Author Anonymous. Monday Fodder, Send an Email to Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe. 5. James C. & Shirley Dobson, Night Light: A Devotional for Couples (Multnomah, 2000). 6. http://www.freshministry.org/illustrations.html. 7. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. 8.Michael D. Hargrove, Chapnotes, mailto:ChapnotesMail@aol.com?Subject=Subscribe.

1990. Preparing for Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... to come when Christ, the Messiah, reigns over all. It is a world of pure hearts, of undiminished hope and goodwill for all humanity. 1. John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002). 2. Michael E. Hodgin, Humorous Illustrations For Public Speaking (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004). 3. Maxie Dunnam, Jesus’ Claims Our Promises (Nashville, Tennessee: The Upper Room, 1985, pp. 54-55). 4. Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, St. Paul’s UCC, http://www.bright ...

1991. The Baby Leaped

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Jerry Schmallengberger, former president of Pacific Lutheran Seminary in Berkeley, CA, tells a hilarious story about a Christmas program that went awry. The story concerned a Pastor Paul Dahlrimple who had a great scheme to illustrate baby Jesus coming down from heaven. Pastor Dahlrimple asked Elder Fred to help. In preparation, he carefully rigged a baby doll to an invisible fishing line, stringing it through hooks in the ceiling and across to Elder Fred’s fishing pole in the wings. This baby doll ...

1992. If I Have Not Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... real. We published it in a little magazine, Alive Now. Then it appeared in a collection of writings from women called Images. Then a beautiful, powerful little four-minute movie dramatic presentation was made of it. It is one of the most gripping things I know to illustrate what I am talking about. It was entitled “Minnie Remembers.” God, My hands are old I never said that out loud But they are. I was so proud of that once they were soft like the velvet smoothness of a firm ripe peach Now the softness ...

1993. Generic Christianity Is Not Enough

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... kept Beethoven from coming into the world.” (Story told by Dr. Rodney E. Wilmoth, in a sermon preached at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, MN, February 23, 1997). This is not a sermon on abortion, but the tragic holocaust of abortion illustrates what happens when we forsake the authority of scripture and therefore have no accepted guide as to what we say yes and no to. We fall into that alluring notion that morality is relative, personal experience must be our normative value, one ...

1994. In the Wrong Place At the Right Time

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... brings a chuckle – if not a chuckle, then certainly a smile. But beneath the humor is a serious realization. How often does our seeking what we want bring chaos and confusion, even suffering, to others? Also, there is in this ironic accident a perfect illustration of how forces beyond our control often interrupt our lives, by the fallout of other people’s decisions and actions or by what we often call “natural catastrophe.” And it is not just big things that make a difference in our lives – even ...

1995. The Nature of the Church and Christian Discipleship

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... spiritual sacrifices.” There’s the source of power – Jesus Christ – the Living Stone. He builds us into a spiritual house. His Spirit, indwelling us, is the constant source of power which keeps us going and growing as God’s people. I have time only to illustrate it. When I was pastor at Christ Church in Memphis, I preached a series of sermons on the devil. That series grew into a book which was published with the title The Devil at Noonday. After one of those sermons, I received a letter from a ...

1996. Keeping Our Souls

John 13:18-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of the lecture he came through to me like a Pharisee. He indicted the entire Charismatic movement, taking the position that the fall of Swaggart was basically the result of faulty theology. He lumped Bakker and Swaggart and Oral Roberts together to illustrate the failure of a spirituality built on an emotional experience. There is a bit of truth there. We can’t build our spirituality on feelings alone. Yet MacArthur’s subtle, unspoken, but clear message was, “You’ve got to have a correct theology ...

1997. A Church for the 21st Century: Holy, Charismatic, Apostolic - An Enclave of Resistance

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... engaged. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” We are at war. Let me illustrate. Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council recalls a newspaper article about a teacher who had taught in the public schools in Los Angeles. She had been a good teacher. But then she went to start her own family and left the profession. She ...

1998. Samaria and Our Spiritual Journey

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Edward DeBono is a man who travels all over the world, giving seminars on how to think. He teaches what he calls “lateral thinking,” and he illustrates what he means by that from an experience early in his life. Some thirty years ago he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. One night he attended a party in London. The party lasted late, and he got back to Oxford after the gates were closed. Traditionally in that college ...

1999. Power For Christian Living: Am I On My Own?

Romans 3:3-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... you imagine? Not only converted in prison by reading the Bible – but called to preach – and more, receiving power which enabled him to survive until released from prison, then to become the leader of the Methodist Church in Southern Africa. It is a great illustration of the fact that faith in God through Jesus Christ to which the gospel calls us is a trustful opening of our hearts to receive the promised benefits of redemption and new life in the Spirit. We are not on our own. Salvation is “initiated ...

2000. The Church: An Enclave of Resistance v2

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... are engaged. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” We are at war. Let me illustrate. Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council recalls an article about a teacher who had taught in the public schools in Los Angeles. She had been a good teacher. But then she went to start her own family and left the profession. She and her ...

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