Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 201 to 225 of 4915 results

201. The Reality of Fear--The Power of Faith

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Eric Ritz

My friend, Donald Shelby, told his congregation of a captivating ad he found in a magazine for Nike Athletic shoes. "Fear of failure, Fear of success, Fear of losing your health, Fear of losing your mind, Fear of being taken too seriously, Fear of not being taken seriously enough, Fear that you worry too much, Fear that you don''t worry enough, Your Mother''s fear you''ll never marry, Your Father''s fear that you will, Fear of the unknown? Forget it. Fear of too many roads and not enough time? Maybe! But ...

202. Step Eight - Love

Mt 7:7-14 · 2 Cor 5:16-21 · Ps 19:7-13

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step eight: Made a list of all persons we harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. I can see the scene now. They are meeting over a three-martini lunch to plan out the advertising strategy. They struggle with what hook they will use to lure people to their product. One of them says, "Think of this? What revives the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, is to be more desired than gold and is sweeter than honey?" What could be the product? How about a vacation ...

203. The Power of a Helping Hand

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Jokes about lawyers are about as plentiful as puns about preachers. With apologies to my lawyer friends, I want to tell you two or three of my favorite lawyer jokes: When lawyers die, why are they buried 600 feet underground? Because deep down they are really nice people. What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer? A good lawyer knows the law; a great lawyer knows the judge. What do you get when you cross a librarian with a lawyer? All the information you need but you can’t understand a ...

204. Power for Today

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Mark Buchanan, in his book Hidden in Plain Sight, tells about a friend of his named Gary Nelson. Gary is an outstanding preacher, says Mark, but it wasn’t always so. As the youth pastor at a large church early in his ministry Gary wasn’t often allowed in the pulpit, but when he was, he would preach long, dull sermons filled with Greek explications of long, tedious texts. One humid Pentecost Sunday Gary was assigned to preach on the Holy Spirit. With the solemnness that only a young pastor can feel, Gary ...

205. The Use of Power

Acts 2:1-13

Illustration

Power can be used in at least two ways: it can be unleashed, or it can be harnessed. The energy in ten gallons of gasoline, for instance, can be released explosively by dropping a lighted match into the can. Or it can be channeled through the engine of a Datsun in a controlled burn and used to transport a person 350 miles. Explosions are spectacular, but controlled burns have lasting effect, staying power. The Holy Spirit works both ways. At Pentecost, he exploded on the scene; His presence was like " ...

206. The Powerful Moments that Change Your Life Forever

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

James W. Moore

I am a collector of lists. I want to share with you this morning my favorite list of all time. It’s a list of answers given by English school children on their religion exams. Noah’s wife was called Joan of the Ark A myth is a female moth. Sometimes it is difficult to hear in church because the agnostics are so terrible. The Pope lives in a vacuum. The Fifth Commandment is “Humor your father and mother.” This is my favorite of all: Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt by day and a ball of fire by night. The ...

207. Day of Pentecost

John 20:19-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

One Sunday after Easter, some children were playing in a Sunday school room. The class was about to start. The teacher was pulling together a few things for the lesson, and he heard them playing over in the corner. They had built a small wall out of cardboard bricks, and one of them was hiding down behind it. Apparently the little guy was playing the role of Jesus after Easter, which he must have heard about in a worship service. He called out, “Hey Pontius Pilate, I’m back.” The kid who was playing Pilate ...

208. The Call to Encounter

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time, he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me…” Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. (Luke 8: 27-31) To ...

209. The Power Source

Acts 1:8

Children's Sermon

Teresa L. Major

Object: Any size battery. Lesson: A battery supplies the power and energy to many things, in much the same way that the Holy Spirit supplies power and energy to Christians. (Display battery.) Do you know what this is? It's a battery. What do batteries do? (Children respond.) Batteries "run" things. They give power and energy to many items we use every day. My watch has a battery in it and so does my camera. What sorts of things do you have that use batteries? (Video game, remote control, cassette player, ...

210. Fearful, But Not Afraid

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

William G. Carter

This is a frightening story, but not merely because it reveals that Jesus walked on water. I have a profound respect for the Christ, tempered by years of Sunday school and Bible study. He is the Lord, the Son of God, the one through whom all things are made. As such, he could sidestep his own laws of physics. You might doubt this, but I do not. No, it is not the mysterious power and presence of Jesus that scares me. It is his invitation to get out of the boat and step onto the sea. He said to Peter, “Come ...

211. Bridges, Not Walls!

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

One of the more obscene things that I have seen in my lifetime was the wall that separated East and West Germany. I am not talking just about the wall in Berlin, but the border swath cut clear across Germany. Over hills, through forests, and beautiful farmland was this street-wide, cleared strip of land, sprinkled with formidable watch-towers, barbed wire and the frightening, oppressive border sign: HALT! HIER GRENZE! Stop, here is the border, the barrier, the frontier. Even on the freedom side of that ...

212. A Streak of Common Sense

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

When I was growing up my mother often pleaded with me to use common sense. She was evidently convinced I did not have it or else, for some obstinate reason, refused to use it. Perhaps she was right. I was a wool-gatherer, a day-dreamer, off someplace that she did not know or understand. On the other hand, my older brother was evidently a paragon of common sense. I figured this out because she never urged him to use it. He must have been endowed with a suitable supply, for he was an operator and got things ...

213. The Power to Do Good

Acts 10:34-38, 44-48

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When it's all been said and done, only two kinds of people populate the earth. There are those who put in more than they take out; and there are those who take out more than they put in. A getter or a giver, which are you? There are many positive things that could be said of Jesus Christ. He was a brilliant teacher, a prophetic change agent, even the Savior of the world. In our scripture for today, Peter describes Him this way: “Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good!" O, that all of us who call him Lord ...

214. The Power of Persistence

Luke 11:1-13, Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A hesitant driver, waiting for a traffic jam to clear, came to a stop on the expressway ramp. The traffic thinned, but the timid driver still waited. Finally, an infuriated voice came from behind shouting: “The sign says Yield, not give up.” The primary actors in today’s parables neither yielded nor gave up. In fact, that really is the lesson of these parables: The Power of Persistence. Jesus told two parables with almost identical messages about persistence. The stories are different only in their setting ...

215. Life Through the Son

John 5:16-30, John 5:1-15

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

At this point the narrator’s interest in Jesus’ itinerary begins to wane. The events of chapters 5, 6, and 7 are introduced by the vague connective phrase, meta tauta (some time later, 5:1; “some time after this,” 6:1; “after this,” 7:1). The transition from chapter 4 to chapter 5 is a natural one in that a person appropriately goes to Jerusalem from Galilee for a feast of the Jews (v. 1), but the transition between chapters 5 and 6 is more awkward. Jesus is assumed to be still in Jerusalem at the end of ...

216. The Power of Partnership

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Sermon

James Merritt

In 1948 two brothers, by the names of Richard and Maurice McDonald, converted their barbeque drive-in with carhops, into the world's first McDonald's limited-menu self-service drive-in in San Bernardino, California. One restaurant serving one community. In 1954 a man by the name of Ray Kroc mortgaged his home and invested his entire life's savings to become the exclusive distributor of a five-spindled milkshake maker called the Multimixer. He heard about this McDonald's hamburger stand in California that ...

217. The Power Of God

Philippians 4:13

Illustration

Brett Blair

Linda Down discovered real power and she needed it. She had dealt with the limitations of cerebral palsy all her life. One day, she got this crazy idea of running the New York Marathon. But Linda walked with difficulty, so running seemed out of the question? She used Canadian canes with arm clamps to steady her arms. On top of this she was 25 pounds overweight and jobless. In a state of depression, she began reading in the scriptures about the power of God at work in people's lives. She read Phil. 4:13, "I ...

218. Three-Dimensional Christianity

James 1:19-27

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

Most of us have probably either heard it or said it about a fellow Christian: "Boy, he really knows his Bible." Sometimes an extra line is added, "He knows the Bible better than most preachers." I suppose that extra line could make pastors a bit defensive, sort of like "them’s fightin’ words." But on this National Bible Sunday there is something much more important than arguing over who may know the Bible the best. Because there is something more important than simply knowing Bible facts or being able to ...

219. Wheel Within The Wheel

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

In our text for this last Sunday in the Easter season, we are at that awkward time for the new church, the time between ascension and Pentecost. Jesus is gone, but his spirit has not yet come. In this time of waiting, we are told that the first thing the church did was to fill a leadership vacancy created by faithless Judas, a leader who betrayed the movement. Yes, the very first act of the church had to do with getting organized. So the observation has been made that at first and perhaps even second ...

220. The Awesome Power of a Mustard Seed (Father's Day)

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

King Duncan

A man was out on the golf course. He spotted another man who seemingly had four caddies. “Why so many caddies?” the first man asked the second. The second golfer replied, “It’s my wife’s idea. She thinks I should spend more time with the kids.” Well, that’s one way of doing it. I suspect he’s the same Dad who was asked by his wife when they brought home their first baby to help with changing diapers. “I’m busy,” he said, “I’ll do the next one.” The next time came around and she asked again. The husband ...

221. Jesus: The Original Superhero?

John 18:33-37

Sermon

April Yamasaki

When Warner Brothers released the latest Superman movie, part of its promotion included a special online Pastor Resource Site on the Man of Steel. Critics complained it was one more blatant Hollywood attempt to use pastors and churches to market a movie, complete with free screenings for pastors, sermon notes, and movie clips. Promotion aside, is it even appropriate to compare Jesus to Superman? Even if we think of him as "the original superhero," doesn't the term itself reduce Jesus from Christ the King ...

222. The Source of the Power

Luke 17:5-10

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

When you drive east on I-40 through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, you pass through two tunnels. Each is about ½ mile long, right through the side of mountains. I’m always awed by the brilliance of the engineers who designed those tunnels. How were they carved out of the solid rock? I’m sure that dynamite was the key. Sticks of dynamite were well placed and then ignited by some sort of fuse. The fuse was necessary but it was not the source of power. The power came from the nitroglycerin in ...

223. The Power of Weakness

Mark 8:27-38 · Psalm 19

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

Our lessons this morning feels like an archery target. The psalm starts with the long view, the perspective of the psalmist marveling at the beauty of creation. “The heavens are telling the glory of God,” it begins, but that translation doesn’t quite capture the essence of what is to be expressed Psalm 19:1 (NRSV). It more closely means, “The heavens are continually telling the glory of God.” It’s always happening, without ceasing. All we have to do is look up, notice the beauty of the stars, feel the ...

224. The Church Reaches Out!

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

The growth of the early Christian Church has been compared to the way people grow up. Growing up is a difficult process. As we have heard these past Sundays, that was also the way it was with the young church. Growing up produced pain, misunderstandings and controversies. Some of these struggles came about because Christianity was born in a Jewish home. We Christians sometimes forget that Christ was a Jew. We owe much to the Jewish people. The debt should create a spirit of gratitude instead of suspicion, ...

225. Walking the Valley of the Lost

2 Samuel 1:17-27

Sermon

Donald Zelle

After the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag; And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said: "Thy glory, O Israel, is slain uponthy high places!How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath,publish it not in the streets ofAshkelon; lest the daughters of the Philistinesrejoice, lest the daughters ...

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