Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2201 to 2225 of 4972 results

2201. The Tiger At The Edge

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... . He was all tiger, having grown up knowing who he was. He looked into the clearing and spotted the goats. He roared the earth-shaking roar of his species, bounded out and made his kill. The goats fled in terror. But the tiger who had grown up with them stopped. He wanted to stay. The roar from the edge of the forest had stirred some lost memory deep inside of him. He flexed his automatic reflex to the challenge from the forest edge. The tiger at the edge had awakened in him a life he had never known but ...

2202. Fire Wood

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

John G. Lynn

... will cease. Our friendships will cease. Our marriages will cease. Our very lives will cease, because human nature is so prone to the freeze, so susceptible to an ice cap on the heart. God knows this. That's why he sends his lightning to strike into our lives lest we stop and regenerate no more. Did not God say to his people as he led them out of the icy slavery of Egypt, "For your Lord God is a devouring fire and a jealous God"? One time Elijah was called to stand in a test of fire with the prophets of ...

2203. Why Bother?

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

... steps leading into St. Thomas' Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue. After all, he reasoned, those rich churchgoers owe me something for my time in Viet Nam. It was on a day when Pete was feeling particularly sorry for himself, that a young man about Pete's age stopped by his wheelchair, and said, "Hi! Mind if I sit down by you for a while?" "It's a free country," said Pete, "suit yourself." The stranger introduced himself as Dan Ferris, and Pete was startled when he took out a thermos of coffee and some deli ...

2204. Friendship? Yes, Please!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... coming together that we find a power given to friendships that is denied the individual. Or as Solomon put it in the text, we find "good reward for our toil." Example: Geese flying south for the winter leave the Hudson Bay in Canada and fly non-stop to the Chesapeake Bay. Using their famous V-formation they can achieve speeds of over fifty mph! Flying alone, however, a goose can only go half the speed and for hour and a half flights before resting. Why the difference between a flock and an individual bird ...

2205. How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... the lid. She would come out ten minutes later and drive the Cadillac out to a secluded wood where he would pop the trunk, climb out, and join her for an amorous time. Well, as fate would have it, she was low on gas one day, stopped at a filling station, and he, thinking they were at their rendevous, popped the trunk lid and climbed out, to an audience of laughing filling station customers and attendants. What fools adultery makes of us! It's easy! Estrangement. Encounter. Empathy. Enjoyment. Expedite. Then ...

2206. How To Treat Your Enemies

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... His temper has flared. He's mustered the troops and gone out to get even only to bump into this woman who's brought him supplies and preached him a sermon. What would you have done? There you are in front of 400 men. A woman with a message has stopped you. What would your troops think if you backed down? But exhibiting a character that will forever make David a man after God's own heart, David hears God's word even from the lips of a woman, repents of his revenge, and sticks his sword back into his scabbard ...

2207. All Mine To Give!

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... salesman opened his heart and hands and pocketbook to the victim. In short, he did the right thing. He fulfilled love's demands. I love that cartoon that shows the Good Samaritan talking to the wounded traveler by the roadside. He's saying, "I can't stop and help you now because I'm on my way to a charismatic conference on healing. But when I return I'll have some great teaching tapes for you!" That is "wrongness." "Rightness" translates love and theology and talk into what it takes to bring the wounded ...

2208. Through The Eye Of The Needle

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... do what we are supposed to do to inherit eternal life. But what is impossible for us is possible with God! And that is exactly what God has done and is doing for us in Jesus Christ. It may be impossible for us to trust God, but that doesn't stop God from trusting us. God sends Jesus into this world to forgive and embrace chronic idolaters like you and me and the rich young ruler and the astonished disciples. In Jesus Christ we at last meet a God we can totally trust. When we come to his table to eat ...

2209. Baptism And Self-Esteem

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... something to happen. The time drags on. The silence, so it seems, lasts for an eternity. There are only empty stares. No one says a word. In walks Brubaker with his nose buried in some papers. He seems unconcerned with the meeting. Suddenly he stops and asks, "What are you guys waiting for? You won the election. This is your council." There is still only silence. A look of nervousness, almost fear, is exchanged among several of the prisoners. Finally, one of the grisly characters interrupts the silence and ...

2210. Judgment Day

Mark 13:1-31

Drama

Steven E. Albertin

... ? Man: You go through one of them. Woman: You mean I have the choice? Man: That is correct. Woman: (Craftily) Oh, well, I'll take heaven. Man: (Motioning) Over there, please. Woman: Well, thanks ... (She starts toward heaven gleefully. As she is about to go through the door, she stops a moment. She turns and comes back) Now look. I don't want to make any mistakes at a time like this. You're giving me my choice ... I can go to heaven or to hell. That's what you said, isn't it? Man: That is correct. Woman: I ...

2211. Telling The Truth

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... way. In sixteenth century Christian Europe the religious and political establishment wanted to silence Luther and sought to put him to death for talking this way. He spoke the truth. It was a truth they could not stand to hear! In that world the church had stopped telling the truth. Instead it found it much more convenient and practical to peddle the lie that Jesus wasn't really enough to get you right with God. You had to do something else. You had to do something more -- like buy indulgences, obey the ...

2212. Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory!

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... our own destiny. What does the future hold? What about us? What lies beyond death for you and me? Is this life all there is? Or is there more? And if there is, is it heaven or hell or somewhere in between? Maybe what we need to do is to stop thinking of heaven as a place somewhere "up there," above, in the sky. When we confess in the Apostles' Creed that Jesus "ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father," we don't literally mean that there is a specific place in heaven where Jesus ...

2213. Miracle Four: Healing A Paralytic

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... and so listened to her case. Another time he told of a man who would not get out of bed late at night to give his neighbor a loaf of bread with which to entertain an unexpected visitor. But the man finally relented and did get up in order to stop the neighbor's persistent pleading. From the life of Buddha there is the story about a man who came to the great religious leader to obtain a blessing. Buddha asked the man to step down with him into a nearby stream. When they were in the water Buddha suddenly ...

2214. Miracle Nine: Healing A Deaf-Mute

Mark 7:31-37, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... to talk and to bear news. So Christ's admonition was ignored and they told about it everywhere. SERMON MATERIAL The Shortcomings Of Deafness · We who can hear are guilty of not comprehending the difficulty faced by one who is deaf. We hear many things without stopping to think how fortunate we are and how unfortunate it is to lose one's hearing. The deaf cannot hear the birds singing their words of cheer. They cannot talk to others and hear their reply. The world of children's voices is foreign to them ...

2215. The Waiting Place

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

William L. Self

... spent, one way or another, in waiting. Information puts us on hold and fills our waiting with thin, irritating music. Our order hasn't come in yet. The elevator must be stuck. Our spouse is late. Will the snow ever melt, the rain ever stop, the paint ever dry? Will anyone ever understand? Will I ever change? Life is a series of hopes, and waiting, and half-fulfillments. With grace and increasing patience and understanding of this human condition of constantly unsatisfied desire, we wait on our incompleted ...

2216. Praying With Bloody Knuckles

Isaiah 62:1-12, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

... and said, "They say you have been praying for me every day and I want to know why you would bother to pray for a man like me." The pastor was able to witness to the man and lead him to Christ! What if he had given up hope and stopped praying? We have neglected the power of intercessory prayer in our lives and in the lives of others. In our selfish desire to have it all and get it all we have forgotten to give it all. The writer of our text declared in 62:5 that he will not ...

2217. Shameless Passion

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... this. He wasn't disobedient like Moses who objected, Jeremiah who made excuses, or Jonah who ran away. There was no rebellion or apostasy or hesitation on Jesus' part at all. He set his face like flint -- hard, unchanging, unbendable -- towards Jerusalem. Nothing would stop him from finishing his task. Even if the disciples had risen up, it wouldn't deter him. Remember that he didn't even let an unattached ear cause a diversion and escape. Rather he reattached it. At the hardest moment of all, in the Garden ...

2218. Till Death Do Us -- Unite

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... prison warden that drags us to doom. No, heaven is a party! The sound of Sarah's voice on the other end of the telephone always brought a smile to Pastor Neal's face. This time, however, there seemed to be an unusual tone to her words, "Pastor, could you stop by this afternoon? I need to talk with you." "Of course, I'll be there around three. Is that okay?" It didn't take long for Pastor Neal to discover the reason for what he had only sensed in her voice earlier. Sarah shared the news that her doctor had ...

2219. To Have And To Hold (Your Tongue)

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... . Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? If not, please don't say it! Your wayward tongue not only hurts others, but it will eventually hurt you, too. An elderly grandfather was growing deaf, so he decided to buy a hearing aid. Two weeks later he stopped at the store where he had bought it and told the manager he could now pick up conversation quite easily, even in the next room. "Your relatives must be happy to know that you can hear so much better," beamed the delighted storeowner. "Oh, I haven't told ...

2220. Buying Swamp Land For God

Jeremiah 32:1-44

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

... in Central America. Bonhoeffer, along with other pastors of the Confessing Church in Germany, refused to obey the instructions of the Nazi government. He criticized Hitler and opposed the government at every turn. When he realized that there was only one way to stop Hitler's evil, Bonhoeffer joined a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. He was arrested and imprisoned, and he was hanged just a few days before the Allies liberated his prison. His action may have been foolish, but he felt called to oppose tyranny ...

2221. Accepting Responsibility

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

... happen to us, we automatically look to blame someone else, something outside ourselves. When we flunk a test in school, it must be because the teacher did not like us, or the test was unfair. It was not because we did not study for the test. When we get stopped for speeding, it must be because the cops are trying to generate extra income for the community. Surely, it was not because we were speeding. When our spouse walks out on us and asks for divorce, it must be because he or she is selfish. It is never ...

2222. Permission To Daydream

Joel 2:28-32, Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

... all the people of the world to Christ by the year 2000. Now many are just dreaming of surviving, meeting the budget, getting enough people to serve as officers. One of the problems we have is that we are not dreaming the dreams of God. Someone has told us to stop daydreaming, and we are listening to that voice. It doesn't have to be that way. If we understand that God is sovereign, we don't have to fear the future. We are free to envision it. Because we know the future belongs to God, we are free to see ...

2223. Paring Down Our Pantheons

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... . "What's holding up the elephant?" he demanded of the sleepy wizard. The wizard looked him in the eye and said, "The elephant stands on the back of a giant turtle." Wearily he started back to his bed, when he suddenly turned around saying, "And you can stop right there, Majesty. It's turtles all the way down!" Krauthammer made sure they got the point, warning them, "My friends, don't get lost in the study of turtles." Paul had something to say to the Athenians about what held up the earth, and who created ...

2224. Clear The Way!

Luke 3:1-20

Drama

Pamela Urfer

... USHER: (To JOHN) Sir! I must ask you to leave. You're being disruptive. FIRST OFFICIAL: (To USHER) Never mind! I'll handle this. The USHER walks back up the aisle. JOHN: (To audience) Repent! Before it is too late! FIRST: Now, listen! I want you to stop this immediately! What is your authority here? Who are you, anyway? JOHN: (Wildly) I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I have come so that the prophecies may be fulfilled. FIRST: Which prophecies? JOHN: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths ...

2225. The Day The Spirit Came

Acts 2:1-13

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... big noise which sounded like the wind blowing. How do you suppose that sounded, boys and girls? Can we all try to sound like the wind? (Have everyone imitate the wind blowing and howling.) Very good. Then the next thing that happened was really something. (Stop and light the candles.) The Apostles looked up and saw flames or tongues of fire, something like the flames on these candles. These tongues of fire were falling right down on them! What do you suppose was happening? Was the roof on fire? (Let them ...

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