Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 201 to 225 of 4944 results

201. Holy Tuesday

Mark 11:27-33

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... Sinai, but the religious authorities, after much argument and discussion, managed to boil them down to 613. And there were hundreds of subsets of commandments within those 613! It is no wonder that the common people were confused. Even the scribes couldn’t keep up with them. And so a scribe asked which was the greatest and most important commandment of all. There is no reason to think he was anything but sincere. Jesus replied by combining two great commandments from the Torah: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord ...

202. A Star, A Stable, and A Song

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and shallow satisfaction, when the message of the stable finally breaks through, we’re driven to pray, oh God, oh God deliver me from these artificial things which stifle me in their net. Give me the courage to let go the efforts of keeping up appearances. Teach me to stop trying to seek enrichment in the things that glitter, which turn to dust in my hands. Lead me back to life’s simplicities, to the fresh sweet springs of honest thought and uncalculating affections, and to those relationships with ...

203. Influence!

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... off to do his portion of the work with others. That's servant leadership! Appearance/Reality A fifth leadership dichotomy Christ points out is in appearance versus reality. Jesus spends considerable time in these twelve verses discussing our penchant for wanting to keep up appearances. We sit on Moses' seat (v. 2). We make our phylacteries broad and their fringes long (v. 5). We sit in the place of honor at church affairs (v. 6). But is there any reality behind all this showmanship, this pageantry? "And ...

204. Don’t Sweat the Big Stuff

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

James Merritt

... the clerk, "How much are your spurs?" He said, "$10 a pair." The cowboy said, "Here's $5, give me one." The clerk said, "What can you do with one spur?" The cowboy said, "Well, I reckon if I get one side of the horse going, the other side will keep up." Well, I promise you this. If you will trust God for today He will take care of tomorrow. So look one way at a time. The second key is this: Live one day at a time. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things ...

205. WaterFire Faith

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... spirit; spirituality for a Christian is the living out of the divine spirit in our personal and communal life. So why is a “Spirit-filled life,” why is a WaterFire baptism, such a foreign concept among Christians today? Is anyone else having trouble keeping up with all the new words out there that this digital world is inventing? Someone has called this world we are now living in a “TGIF” world. Do you know what TGIF stands for? No, not “Thank God Its Friday.” It’s “Twitter-Google-Internet ...

206. On Finding Pentecostal Power

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... tale told by Peter Pan. There are some things I cannot do. I cannot play the piano. I will not be a country music singer. I cannot make a living playing golf. Even though you live in Brentwood, you do not have to do everything, go everywhere, or keep up with everybody. Just relax. Of course, the opposite is, likewise, deceiving and false. I can’t do anything; I fail at everything. My life is one big pain after another. Get over it! When I announced as a senior in high school that I intended to spend my ...

207. Sermon on the Mount: Allegiance and Trust

Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:25-34

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... life plagues the rich as well as the poor, even if the worries may not be about putting food on the table or clothing on one’s back. Worry can consume the wealthy, who can easily be preoccupied with maintaining wealth and keeping up with the lifestyle of their neighbors. Additionally, concerns and crises in relation to physical and mental health, relationships, and emotional well-being strike rich and poor alike (though not always equally). One powerful application of this passage for those with many ...

208. Accept His Peace

John 4:1-26, Romans 5:1-11, Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... and that we should do something about. The ironic thing, however, is that these are not the things that generally rob us of our peace. The things that rob us of our peace are often superficial things. Things like our appearance or whether we are keeping up with our neighbors. In our lesson from Exodus, the children of Israel are wandering in the wilderness on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. They are without water. They are thirsty and complain to Moses, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt ...

209. When Mickey Mouse Recognizes You...

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... is that deep down most people long to be somebody. Jesus understood that. Jesus was a master psychologist. He knew that all of us crave recognition. He knew that the desire for status is an innate part of the human condition. Most of us don’t want to simply keep up with the Joneses—we want to be slightly ahead of the Joneses, the Smiths and everyone else on the block. It is very human to want to be one-up on our friends. There was a Harvard study that I read not too long ago where they asked students ...

210. The Flock Paradox

2 Samuel 5:1-5, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . The gifts one child receives are immediately coveted by their sister or brother. Shopping for a gift for others, we often find things we desire for ourselves as well! We like to have what others have. We like to do what others do. Some call it “keeping up with the Joneses.” Scientists call it the “flock syndrome.” It’s the crowd instinct we all have to imitate and copy. We all have two strong drives within us. One is to individuate, to be special, to self-affirm. The other is to imitate, to fit ...

211. See the Light, Be the Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... change in our society. We are then transformed into the Lite Church (that’s l-I-t-e, not l-I-g-h-t), the church of the 7-½ % tithe, the church of the six commandments (you get to pick which ones you want. It’s just too HARD to keep up with 10 of those things!). And of course, our ability to influence society for good can also be compromised if our over-inflated ego at being salt and light causes us to present our agenda, our opinion, as the only one acceptable in the eyes of God. To paraphrase the ...

212. Setting The Record Straight

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... had strayed so far from God that he could not pray for himself. Before leaving the bar Dr. Denman had the young man's home address, knew the name of his wife and their anniversary date, and the name of their child. He used that information to keep up a steady stream of correspondence and materials. (2) You and I are surrounded by people who are searching. That is why Hollywood and popular magazines and books are giving us so many goofy stories about the nature of the world beyond and angels and the demonic ...

213. John 2:13-22

John 2:12-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... cleaning. While the synoptic texts place Jesus’ temple tantrum towards the end of his ministry (Mark 11:15-17; Matthew 21:12-13; Luke 19:45-46), John’s text puts this redecorating at the beginning of Jesus’ public mission. John’s placement keeps up a theme of “newness,” re-creation, which propels the first words and action of the public Jesus. First, at the wedding in Cana, Jesus creates “new” wine. Then, with this temple cleansing, Jesus calls for a “new” temple, a temple that will ...

214. The Thick Darkness

1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... the words and spelled them the way you like. That is great. Most of the time I do it like that, but I am not doing so good. Ron Dear God, My teacher read us the part where all the Jews went through where the water was and got away. Keep up the good work. I am Jewish. Love, Paula Dear God, We are going on vacation for two weeks Friday so we won't be in church. I hope you will be there when we get back. When do you take your vacation? Good-bye, Donnie What makes these letters funny ...

215. No Pleasing Some People

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... the words Jesus spoke after his feet were anointed with expensive perfume (John 12:8: "You always have the poor with you") as justification, somehow, of leaving the poor to their lot. They suggest that even Jesus was saying it's no use trying to keep up. However, those who heard Jesus speak those words knew what he was talking about. They were used to the practice of quoting only the beginning of a passage. The listener was expected to know the rest. Look at the larger context. In the Deuteronomy passage ...

216. Growing Up

Ephesians 3:17-19

Children's Sermon

Mark A. Hultquist

... do we need anything new? Can't we just wear the same clothes year after year? Maybe I could do that as a grown up, but you could never do that because you are still growing. In fact, your parents probably say you are growing so fast they can barely keep up with you! Today I brought in a set of clothes that I really liked and thought would be great for you to try on. (Show the clothes piece by piece and comment on how great they would look.) How do you think these will fit? You're right, they would ...

217. Monday Morning Faith

Matthew 21:23-27, Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... We love to sing those hymns we’ve been singing since childhood, and we wish the preacher wouldn’t constantly try to make us sing new stuff. There is so much that threatens us in our weekday existence. The world is changing so fast we can’t possibly keep up with it. Here, on Sunday morning, in the church, we want to encounter that old time religion, a solid rock to hold on to. And there are times when God meets our need to be comforted and strengthened. But there are also times when God knows that our ...

218. Born Naked With A Cross

Sermon

... we should not invite people who could invite us back, but invite the poor and outcast who had no homes or money to invite us to their homes for dinner. This means we can never be satisfied with doing the ordinary things of life. To be a Christian is not keeping up with those around us in the world. To be like Christ is to bear a cross for others. To love when others hate, to give when others save, to hold steady when others go to pieces, to wait for God while others lose patience, to hold fast to the truth ...

219. This Could Have Been Your Life! (A Drama about Coveting)

Drama

Dave Marsh

Director's Notes: A wacky gameshow drama about how coveting other people's lives is sin. Be sure to have a long enough gap between each line after a slide so the person running Powerpoint can keep up. Cast: Bob Braggart: A gameshow host Jean Cranston: A woman from the audience. Jason: Announcer Props: Microphone Powerpoint slides (found here) Setting: A game show (LIGHTS UP ON CENTER STAGE with game show music playing...) Bob: Welcome back folks to another exciting, fun-filled addition of This Could Have ...

220. Watch What You Eat

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... they feared the girl would not be strong enough to make the journey. They finally decided that the men in the group would take turns carrying the child. The refugees had walked for three days when the terrain became more difficult. One old man became weary and unable to keep up. He begged the others to go on without him and let him die. The group grudgingly agreed and started out again. But the mother ran back and placed her child in the old man's arms. "You can't quit," she said. "It's your turn to carry ...

221. Trusting the Truth

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... his own struggle with God''s will for his life. I thought, "If Henri Nouwen can be so honest, so can I." Henri writes: While realizing that ten years ago I didn't have the faintest idea that I would end up where I now am, I still like to keep up the illusion that I am in control of my own life. I like to decide what I most need, what I will do next, what I want to accomplish, and how others will think of me. While being so busy running my own life, I become oblivious to the gentle ...

222. A Time of Transition

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... , went over to the umpire, and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t feel bad, sir,” said the batter. “I didn’t see it either.” Author Jeren Rowell, commenting on this story, remarks, “Sometimes I feel like that rookie umpire when I try to keep up with the changes happening in our world. Things are changing at fastball speed.” (1) Things are changing at fastball speed, aren’t they? It has been said that we live in a time of transition. Sometime back a list appeared of what the United States ...

223. Catcher Chatter

Illustration

J.M. Boice

There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you ...

224. No Substitutes

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... goes on and on. We are a society that runs on pharmaceuticals. A young doctor stood before a group of pastors. “I developed a chemical dependence,” he said, “while I was doing my residency. I was working unbelievably long hours. I started taking uppers amphetamines in order to keep up the pace. Then I needed a downer to help me go to sleep at night. Before long I noticed that it was taking more of each to do the job. I was caught in a vicious cycle. I was on a merry-go-round and there didn’t seem ...

225. Easter Fear

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Will Willimon

... stock, figure things out, sit back and reflect. There was only now this, then this, here, then there. But with him dead, decaying, lying out there at the cemetery, well, in a way, when you think about it, the Romans did us a favor. We disciples who could never quite keep up with Jesus, who always had trouble figuring out what he was up to, where he was headed next, now we know where he is. Out at the cemetery, in a tomb, sealed shut behind a big stone. Let's all go out to the cemetery to pay our last ...

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