Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2176 to 2200 of 4508 results

2176. Know Your Weeds

Illustration

Todd Weir

Pastor Todd Weir knows a lot about weeds. He says: I learned more about weeds than I ever wanted to know as a boy in Iowa. Walking through the soybean feels to cut out the weeds was my summer job from age 13. A wise farmer once taught me that all weeds were not the same and could not be destroyed in the same way. A cockle burr had shallow but widespread roots and had to be pulled out to get all...

2177. Pulling Weeds - Sermon Starter

Illustration

King Duncan

Last week we talked about planting seeds. This week we're talking about pulling weeds. The two go together. Every gardener knows that planting seeds is the easy part of having a successful garden. It is much more time consuming to weed that same garden. And it's hard work. As someone has said: "When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on i...

2178. I Wrote My Books on Tuesdays

Illustration

King Duncan

There was once a great Quaker leader by the name of Rufus Jones. Jones wrote and published one book a year for over fifty years. He did this while attending countless meetings, making frequent speeches, editing a magazine and taking care of countless other chores that his position required. Someone once asked him how under these circumstances he found the time to write so many books he answered, "...

2179. Clean the Glass Shade Daily

Illustration

King Duncan

Pastor Cecil Williams, who served the Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco for 35 years, tells of growing up in Texas. They didn't have electric lights in their house. They had two oil lamps with wicks that had to be lit daily. Once they were lit, a glass shade fit over the flame and they glowed. Cecil's mother kept telling her children, "Ya'll clean the shade before you put it over t...

2180. You Can Be What You Make Up Your Mind To Be

Illustration

King Duncan

Motivational people know the power of visualization. They will tell you about a skinny, scrawny black youngster who one day heard a coach say, "You can be what you make up your mind to be. God will help you." Afterwards this youngster came up to the coach and declared, "I've decided what I want to be - the fastest man in the world." The coach said, "Son, that's a great dream but there is one probl...

2181. Fueling a Habit

Illustration

King Duncan

Fans of country music revere the name of the late George Jones. Jones had enough hit songs on his hundred or so albums to make the careers of ten singers. But along with George Jones' talent and genius comes a dark side. Jones has a reputation for wild living and self-destructive behavior. In the past he struggled with a serious addiction to alcohol and drugs. His addictions were so severe that Jo...

2182. The Broken Window Theory

Illustration

King Duncan

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point, tells about "the Broken Window" theory of crime. Many years ago, criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling formulated this theory about how a neighborhood or community slowly gives into increasing crime rates. They called it the Broken Window theory. Wilson and Kelling said that crimes are more likely to be committed in areas where it appear...

2183. Neglect

Illustration

King Duncan

In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees that was taking up residence just above her ceiling. The whole attic became a hi...

2184. This Is Your Real Life

Illustration

King Duncan

In a PEANUTS strip Lucy is parked in her psychiatric booth, and Charlie Brown is sharing his problems with her. "Sometimes I ask myself questions," he begins. "Sometimes I ask myself, 'Is this your real life, or is this just a pilot film? Is my life a thirty-nine-week series or is it a special?'" In no time at all Lucy analyzes his problem and gives an instant answer: "Whatever it is," she says, ...

2185. What Are You Chasing?

Illustration

King Duncan

I knew a racing dog once... down Florida way...greyhound, if I remember right. He lined up on a track with all the other greyhounds. Gun went off. Dogs went off. Around the oval. Toward the wire. Chasing a mechanical rabbit. Until this particular greyhound retired. Called it quits, just like that. I didn't know him all that well. But, as luck would have it, I got invited to his retirement party. T...

2186. I Don’t Weed Because…

Humor Illustration

King Duncan

Some of you can relate to one unknown homemaker who wrote: I don't do windows because . . .I love birds and don't want one to run into a clean window and get hurt. I don't wax floors because . . .I am terrified a guest will slip and get hurt then I'll feel terrible (plus they may sue me.) I don't disturb cobwebs because .. . I want every creature to have a home of their own. I don't Spring Cle...

2187. Two Wolves

Illustration

Brett Blair

One of my favorite theologians, Mr. Rogers, used to say: "Have you noticed that the very same people who are bad sometimes are the very same people who are good sometimes?" It reminds me of a story called, "Two Wolves." It goes like this: An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life..."A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. 'It is a terrible fight and it is between two ...

2188. Proper 11

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Genesis 28:10-19a is the story of Jacob's dream at Bethel in which he sees a ladder extending from heaven to earth, receives the divine promise of progeny, and then responds to it, while Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 is a confession about the breadth of God's presence, which extends from the depths of Sheol to the heights of the heavens. Genesis 28:10-19a - "Putting Conditions on Vi...

2189. The Kingdom of Heaven is Like a Programmer

Illustration

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a programmer who started many processes on her computer. While everyone was sleeping, a hacker broke in and started some counterfeit jobs, which began using some of the CPU time. The programmer's assistants said, "Didn't you start useful jobs on the computer? Where then did these counterfeits come from?" "A hacker did this," she replied. The assistants asked he...

2190. Kudzu – More Harm Than Good

Illustration

A landowner sows good seed in his field. His enemy sows bad seed. Which can happen, I suppose. I heard tell of a fraternity prank that involved "bad seed." On "Fraternity Row" at a southern university, there was a great rivalry between two of the houses. At one fraternity house, a new lawn was being prepared. Topsoil had been brought in. Seed had been laid down. But late one night, members of the ...

2191. What Heaven Will Be Like

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

We all like to believe that we are moral people, don’t we? We’re good people. Or good enough compared to our neighbors. And if we ever act in ways that violate some moral code, we must have a good excuse for doing it, right? In 1995, a man named Robert Lee Brock was serving time in a Virginia prison for breaking and entering and grand larceny. While serving his time, Brock sued the Virginia priso...

2192. God's Little Acre

Sermon

Will Willimon

"Another parable he put before them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to one who sowed good seeds in his field...'" I'll admit it. Sometimes I have this fantasy about the church. The fantasy is this: That someday, somewhere, there will be this church where there will be no inactive members, nobody who slams the door in your face when you go soliciting pledges in the fall pledge camp...

2193. Weeds

Sermon

William G. Carter

One summer day, it was my turn to mow the yard. The dew had burned off, the grass was dry. I fired up the Briggs and Stratton, lowered the blade, and took it for a spin. The job took about 45 minutes and it was done. Yet as I circled the front yard for the first time, I realized my lawn is full of weeds. Now I knew there were a few. A weed-and-feed expedition earlier in the spring eliminated mos...

2194. Enemy in Disguise

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Agricultural history can be a fascinating subject to research, especially when you are talking about growing “secret crops.” For centuries, people have attempted to grow and harvest crops that either set them apart as unique or superior or that offer potent properties that can be used either for medicinal or recreational purposes. Saperavi, from vinifera grapes, for example, grown for 6,000 years...

2195. Jesus Calls for Treen Christians

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Washington State's Skagit Valley is sometimes called the Holland of America. In mid-April every year, thousands of people come from all over North America to see the brightly colored red, yellow, and orange fields of tulips that cover hundreds of acres, sometimes as far as the eye can see. One of the earliest crops that thrive alongside the tulip fields in the Skagit Valley is equally brilliant in...

2196. A Sourdough Sprirituality

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

[To do this sermon in the best fashion, you'll need a couple things. First, find someone in your congregation or a local baker who will share with you their sourdough starter. A bowl you can use for this sermon will greatly enhance your presentation. Also, to the extent that you can, integrate their sourdough story into your sermon, replacing as much of the story below with their story as you can....

2197. Making the Most of Small Beginnings

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

How does one explain the unexplainable, describe the indescribable, or comprehend the incomprehensible? Such was the challenge facing Jesus as he attempted to paint a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven to us mere mortals. So Jesus resorted to telling parables, earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Instead of trying to tell it like it is, Jesus told it like it might be: the kingdom of heaven i...

2198. The Mystery of the Kingdom

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

In Matthew 13:34–35, Matthew narrates the reason Jesus speaks in parables by citing Psalm 78:2. Here the reason for Jesus’s speaking in parables to the crowds has to do with revealing what has previously been hidden—what is not easily understood. Parables in this case fit the nature of the truths of the kingdom being revealed, which are difficult to fully grasp (even the disciples do not always un...

2199. The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

Parables of Jesus: In chapter 13 we come for the first time to Jesus’ favorite method of teaching, the parable. The seven parables recorded in this chapter form Jesus’ third discourse as arranged by Matthew, There are in the first three Gospels about sixty separate parables. In the LXX the Greek parabolē almost always translates the Hebrew māšāl, which denotes a wide variety of picturesque forms o...

2200. The Greatest Discovery Of All

Sermon

King Duncan

J. Vernon McGee once told a memorable story about a woman who lived in the deep south and had a close relationship with her childhood sweetheart. The woman fell in love with him and ultimately married him. Although their life together was not perfect there were rewards and moments of joy. Suddenly, though, her beloved husband died of a heart attack. The woman was not able to part with her late hus...

Showing 2176 to 2200 of 4508 results