Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2076 to 2100 of 4508 results

2076. Buried Potatoes

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

There was a grandfather whose grandson was helping him dig potatoes. After about an hour of hard work, the boy looked up at his grandpa and asked, "Why did you bury all these things in here?"

2077. A Kudzu Kind of Kingdom

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

At times we wonder if our prayers get above the ceiling, if we have any Christian influence, if the church makes any real difference in the community, if faith is anything more than wishful thinking. A herd of buffalo was grazing on the range where the deer and the antelope play. Suddenly, a cowboy came riding up, jumped off his horse, got right up in the face of a buffalo and said, "You are the s...

2078. Will They Grow? God Only Knows.

Illustration

Johnny Dean

One summer, for some reason I have yet to discover, I volunteered to be a summer camp counselor and resident musician for a group of 23 pre-teenagers. It was a trying time, that loooong week, but we all made it through somehow without maiming or killing anyone. On departure day, the vast majority of the campers were crying, sad to be leaving camp. I take that as a sign that they at least had a go...

2079. Jesus Is the Answer (What’s the Question?)

Illustration

We have all seen signs in years past that say "Jesus is the answer." That sounds good, but it is overly simplistic. Let us suppose someone is seeking the solution to three plus three. The answer here is not Jesus, it is six. We need to sow the Word of God in a responsible, mature manner. We must not be immature or silly as we do so. Rev. Earl Davis was doing a Children's sermon one Sunday, and he...

2080. What Only God Controls

Illustration

David E. Leininger

Janet Mathistad is a Lutheran pastor in Minot, ND. She writes: "One aspect of this text that has interested me is that even in the good soil, there was such a difference of yields. I got an insight into one answer back in 1993, when I had just married my husband, who is a farmer. That was the summer that the Mississippi River flooded, and our area of North Dakota received 13 inches of rain in Jun...

2081. They Did Not Heed the Warning

Illustration

Dennis Kastens

During World War II the city of Palermo, Sicily, a military objective of the Allied Powers, was to be bombed by the American Air Force. To warn the Sicilians, telling them to flee, thousands of pamphlets were dropped on the city beforehand, but the citizens simply did not believe the warning. They listened, but they did not hear! When the American planes came and dropped their bombs, hundreds of S...

2082. Top Ten Things I Have Learned from Gardening

Illustration

Allen R. Rumble

Top Ten Things I Have Learned from Gardening 10. We really do "reap what we sow". Good seeds bear good fruit.9. Without rains and storms there is no growth - no fruit is produced. 8. When weeding, be careful! We can't always tell the difference between a nasty weed and a beautiful flower. 7. Deep roots are a good thing. Without them, we'll wither and die. 6. Pruning and trimming, as painful as...

2083. Heaven Is a Process

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Most people I know believe that heaven is some far, distant place. When folks describe heaven they generally speak of some favorite place, like Myrtle Beach, Hawaii, the Smoky Mountains or a cabin in Canada. The book of the Revelation to John talks about a place where there are "streets of gold, walls with precious stones and pearl gates." Our images of heaven tend to be some form of paradise wher...

2084. Spiritual Awareness

Illustration

Staff

An urbane legend tells a story of an American Indian was in downtown New York, walking with his friend who lived in New York City. Suddenly he said, "I hear a cricket." "Oh, you're crazy," his friend replied. "No, I hear a cricket. I do! I'm sure of it." "It's the noon hour. There are people bustling around, cars honking, taxis squealing, noises from the city. I'm sure you can't hear it." "I...

2085. The Wrong Question

Illustration

Charles Hoffacker (adapted)

An anthropologist worked with the aboriginal people in Australia. The community she lived in had a rich tradition of storytelling. Everyone gathers at night, a story is told, and then another, and another. This young anthropologist named Connie felt privileged to be asked on occasion to join the activity. On one night the first story told is about the animal ancestor of the community and its adve...

2086. More than ACTS

Illustration

Daniel G. Deffenbaugh

There's a tidy little formula we can use on how we should approach God on bended knee. It goes by the acronym ACTS: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. In other words: Let God know how great God is Confess how bad you have been Thank God for God's steadfast love and forgiveness, then Hit him up for some goodies. Not a bad approach, but it can too easily become rote and meaningless...

2087. Automatic Faith

Illustration

Bob Shaw

There was a business consultant who decided to landscape his grounds. He hired a woman with a doctorate in horticulture who was extremely knowledgeable. Because the business consultant was very busy and traveled a lot, he kept emphasizing to her the need to create his garden in a way that would require little or no maintenance on his part. He insisted on automatic sprinklers and other labor-savin...

2088. What Is a Parable?

Illustration

Philip W. McLarty

I had the privilege of studying the parables in seminary with Dr. William Farmer, who, at the time, was one of the foremost New Testament scholars in the world, and I'll never forget the first lesson Dr. Farmer taught us. He said, "A parable is a simple story, using concrete imagery, to make a single point." Simple as that: "A parable is a simple story, using concrete imagery, to make a single po...

2089. Where the Roots Take Place

Illustration

Jim Somerville

Fred Craddock tells a story about the time he got a phone call from a woman whose father had died. She had been a teenager in one of the churches he had served as pastor twenty years before, and he would have sworn that if there was ever a person who never heard a word he said, that teenage girl was it. She was always giggling with her friends in the balcony, passing notes to boys, drawing picture...

2090. God Remains!

Illustration

Greg Rickel

Vincent Van Gogh painted once an old deteriorating, half demolished church surrounded by a peasant's cemetery. Van Gogh rarely talked about his meaning in a painting but this was one of the rare instances when he did. He comments on the ruins of that church, and says he wanted to show how the peasant farmers were laid to rest in the very soil they dug and tilled. He describes them as "sprouting u...

2091. The Life Is in the Seed

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

Doug Murren, in Churches That Heal (1999), retells that old Native American tale of an opossum watching a seed grow. One day an opossum visited his good friend, a raccoon, at his home near the river. The opossum marveled at his friend's lush garden and asked if he could grow one like it. The raccoon assured the opossum he could do so, although he cautioned him, "It is hard work." The opossum eag...

2092. The Sower and the Seed - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

The Kingdom of God was the main emphasis of Jesus' ministry and this is accepted by most. But defining precisely what the Kingdom was is a bit more difficult. Indeed, even Jesus himself was often illusive about it. He did not speak in absolutes; rather, he spoke in parables. Such is our scripture text for this morning. Jesus compared the Kingdom to a sower going out and spreading seed. Some of it ...

2093. A Wise Old Bird

Illustration

Brett Blair

There is a story about an old man who always had witty and wise answers for people who asked him anything. Once, a smart-alecky came to him with his hands covering something he was holding. He told the sage that he had a small, newly hatched bird in his hands. He challenged the old man to tell him whether the bird was alive or dead. He, of course, planned to prove the old man wrong, because if he ...

2094. Fertile Soil

Illustration

Brett Blair

But there is a fourth kind of soil. There is the seed that falls upon the good earth and takes root and grows to maturity. This crop, we are told, is a harvest that will bear fruit a hundred fold. Jesus mentions this last because itis the thrust of the story. True, there are failures, but the good news is that there is also victory. Now, here is the hard part. Our efforts in life are not always m...

2095. Understanding Life

Illustration

Brett Blair

Jesus also tells us how people respond to the Kingdom of God. There are four ways: There are those who understand it and the kingdom grows and produces fruit; they are good soil. There are those who receive it and the kingdom begins to grow but it is then choked by the worries of life; they are the soil covered by thorns. There are those who hear it with joy and the kingdom begins again to grow b...

2096. Interest vs. Commitment

Illustration

King Duncan

In his book, The One Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard says, "There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it is convenient. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses." Good soil represents the company of the committed " people who are determined to serve Christ to the best of their abilities, people who are will...

2097. The Attack Never Came

Illustration

King Duncan

Let me tell you a story told by James Billington, Librarian of Congress and a student of Russian history. Billington happened to be in Moscow in August of 1991. It was a tense and dangerous time, with the old Soviet regime giving way to a new social order. Boris Yeltzin and a small group of defenders occupied the Russian White House and successfully managed to face off an enormous number of tanks ...

2098. God and Three Pennies

Illustration

King Duncan

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India died as a world-known figure. But who would have ever thought she would have attained such influence when she first began? What did she have to recommend her? A tiny woman, she began with the most meager of resources. Mother Teresa told her superiors, “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.” “Mother Teresa,” her superiors said, “you can’t...

2099. Seeing Christians

Illustration

King Duncan

Bruce Larson tells about a young African woman who came to the U.S. from Angola. Her name was Maria and she was always laughing. One day she went to a meeting on evangelism in her church where they were talking about pamphlets, missions, campaigns, and all the rest. At one point someone turned to Maria and said, "What do they do in your church in Angola, Maria?" "In my church," said Maria, after...

2100. Wise Sayings from Farmers

Illustration

King Duncan

Somewhere I saw a long list of wise sayings attributed to farmers. Let me list just a few of these wise sayings for you. Maybe you will relate to one of these: 1. Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance. 2. Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads. 3. Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. 4. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. 5. When you wallow...

Showing 2076 to 2100 of 4508 results

2076. Buried Potatoes

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

There was a grandfather whose grandson was helping him dig potatoes. After about an hour of hard work, the boy looked up at his grandpa and asked, "Why did you bury all these things in here?"

2077. A Kudzu Kind of Kingdom

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

2078. Will They Grow? God Only Knows.

Illustration

Johnny Dean

2079. Jesus Is the Answer (What’s the Question?)

Illustration

2080. What Only God Controls

Illustration

David E. Leininger

2081. They Did Not Heed the Warning

Illustration

Dennis Kastens

2082. Top Ten Things I Have Learned from Gardening

Illustration

Allen R. Rumble

2083. Heaven Is a Process

Illustration

Keith Wagner

2084. Spiritual Awareness

Illustration

Staff

2085. The Wrong Question

Illustration

Charles Hoffacker (adapted)

2086. More than ACTS

Illustration

Daniel G. Deffenbaugh

2087. Automatic Faith

Illustration

Bob Shaw

2088. What Is a Parable?

Illustration

Philip W. McLarty

2089. Where the Roots Take Place

Illustration

Jim Somerville

2090. God Remains!

Illustration

Greg Rickel

2091. The Life Is in the Seed

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

2092. The Sower and the Seed - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

2093. A Wise Old Bird

Illustration

Brett Blair

2094. Fertile Soil

Illustration

Brett Blair

2095. Understanding Life

Illustration

Brett Blair

2096. Interest vs. Commitment

Illustration

King Duncan

2097. The Attack Never Came

Illustration

King Duncan

2098. God and Three Pennies

Illustration

King Duncan

2099. Seeing Christians

Illustration

King Duncan

2100. Wise Sayings from Farmers

Illustration

King Duncan

Showing 2076 to 2100 of 4508 results