Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 201 to 225 of 813 results

201. Everything Must Go: Striking It Rich

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... needs it worse than you do. It doesn’t have to be a lot. It could be a $5 gift certificate to Chick-fil-a. It could be some clothes you never wear given to people who need your clothes. It could be some extra toys your kids never play with to kids who have no toys. To illustrate this, today I've put a legal document in your Worship Guide. It's a title deed. A title deed is the written document we use to signify ownership. If you own your car, you have a title. If you own your house ...

202. Lost

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... store. They looked into the window and there were two salespeople with smiles on their faces. They just pointed. The man and wife looked to where they were pointing and there was little Johnny, sitting in a little toy car, with the stroller right beside him waving at the parents through the window. The father almost started balling his eyes out. They were so relieved, and so happy, and so joyful. This is a modern retelling of a parable Jesus told and a true story about when Teresa and ...

203. When Is Enough...Enough?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, says Mark, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” That’s a good question. If accumulating toys won’t bring you happiness and keeping the rules won’t buy you salvation, what’s it going to take? If we take everything we have and sell it, and give the proceeds to the poor like Jesus was telling this man to do, will that do it? Well, that ...

204. A Voice Calls in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... , who told how the good people of Extreme Makeover volunteered to demolish her house. It seems that the year before, a flood had left Alice and her family, who had no insurance, living in one bedroom. Even worse, the flood had ruined a host of Christmas toys Harris, a community activist, had collected for poor kids. Harris said, “I figured no one was going to come to Watts and help us. No one had ever done that.” But Extreme Makeover: Home Edition did. Their staff shipped Harris and her family off for a ...

205. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... activities—one guards and the other overthrows. See the Additional Notes. 13:7 Antithetic. See 11:4 and 12:9. Verse 7 seems to present a kind of paradox and to affirm that looks can be deceptive (hence this is not a moral judgment; contra Toy, Proverbs). The Hitpael form of the verbs can connote “pretense,” but the saying is not a condemnation of false pretense; it merely registers a fact of human conduct. 13:8 Antithetic. This saying points out the ambiguities of riches. The rich can buy their way ...

206. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 17:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... in Sirach 8:12–13 and 27:1–20. 17:19 Synonymous and juxtapositional (four participles). For further analysis, see McCreesh, Sound, pp. 103–4. The meaning is uncertain, because of verse 19b. There is no need to emend verse 19a (as Toy, Proverbs; Oesterley, Proverbs). But what is the meaning of building a high gate in this context? Some understand it as proud talk, but there is no biblical analogue to this metaphor. Moreover, destruction could also be translated “broken bones” (so NJPS, interpreting ...

207. Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Growth

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... enable our practice of love. Spiritual gifts convict unbelievers and empower the church’s evangelism. Object Lesson: Bring some children’s toy tools and some real building materials. (For example, a rubber saw and a real two-by-four, or a plastic hammer and a real ... nail or two. The bigger the tools, the better. The toys should not be loved by an actual child; they will likely be damaged.) Show people the building materials and explain the task ( ...

208. Less Is More

John 1:(1-9) 10-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... promising utopia if we bought the perfect Christmas present. Many of us bought those presents and still no utopia. How long did it take those toys to break or lose their luster? Not long. Many of us have played the “if only game” — “If only I had a new car ... a lifelong pursuit as we spend money, collect things, and search for new and better experiences. But what happens when the toys rust, loved ones die, health deteriorates, money is stolen, and the party is over?” What happens when despair sets in ...

209. Whom Can I Trust?

John 6:55-69

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... that you won't sink under the water with one of these on. You can play and splash around without any fear, because you trust that this float toy will hold you up and keep you safe. You know, sometimes life can seem like a big swimming pool. It's lots of fun, but parts of it ... Jesus. Jesus will always be with us. We can put our trust in Jesus. Just like we trust a float toy to keep us from sinking, we trust Jesus to help us with our problems in life. No matter what happens in life, we don't have to be ...

210. Sad but True

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

In a famous experiment with nursery school children, psychologist F. T. Merei organized relatively passive children into play groups and let them play for several days with the same toys and games. Each group developed its own behavior patterns as well as its own traditions of who played with which toys. Once these patterns were set, Merei added an older child to each group, introducing the newcomer as the leader. For this role, he chose children who were eighteen months older than the others and who had ...

211. Consider the Children

Humor Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

A distinguished elderly gentleman, walking through the toy department, stopped to admire a toy train. It whistled, belched smoke, deposited milk cans, in fact did virtually everything a real freight train does. After looking at it for some time he finally said, "I'll take it. Please have it wrapped." The clerk said, "Fine, I'm sure your grandson will love it." The elderly gentleman said thoughtfully, "That's right. Maybe you'd better give me two of them."

212. The Lost Child

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

... grandmother realized that the four-year-old was gone. She searched all about, calling his name, and making her way through the crowd. As she sat down to catch her breath and try to determine what to do, she looked up to see the marching band of toy soldiers. There, at the end of the line, smiling merrily, and waving his flag, was little Mikey, having the time of his life, completely unaware that he was lost! How like the world, going on its merry way, unaware of a loving Father's concern for its lostness ...

213. The Girl in the Front Row

Illustration

Fred Craddock

In a certain village the school bell rang at 8:30 a.m. to call the children to class. The boys and girls left their homes and toys reluctantly, creeping like snails into the school, not late but not a second early. The bell rang again at 3:30 p.m., releasing the children to homes and toys, to which they rushed at the very moment of the tolling of the bell. This is how it was every day, with every child except one. She came early to help the teacher prepare the room and materials for the day. She stayed ...

214. The Price of Success

Illustration

William H. Hinson

You may have seen the “Hi and Lois” cartoon in which Ditto, their little boy, went to visit one of his rich young friends. The butler met him at the door and showed him to entire rooms filled with toys. Ditto said to his friend, ‘‘You and your daddy must have lots of fun playing with all these toys.” The boy answered, “No, my daddy doesn’t have time to play with me. He’s at the office--he’s got offices all over the world. He can’t play with me.” The little rich boy reflected for a ...

215. God Bless Santa!

Luke 2:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... time, Big Sister comes to P. J. and says, “Want me to tell you a story, P. J.? Jesus was born just in time for Christmas up at the North Pole surrounded by eight tiny reindeer and the Virgin Mary. Then Santa Claus showed up with lots of toys and stuff and some swaddling clothes, the Three Wise Men and the elves all sang carols, while the Little Drummer Boy and Scrooge helped Joseph trim the tree. In the meantime, Frosty the Snowman saw the star...”.1 Hmm. As we say, confusing. It is even confusing in ...

216. The Great Divide

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

... be played with because the little girl has many things. She needs no sheets for her bed. She has plenty. Her home is safe and spacious. She doesn’t share a bedroom. Her toys, and those of her siblings, take up space in virtually every room in the house. There have been times when her mother has gathered up numerous large bags of toys and taken them to Goodwill and these children have not even known they were gone. I know because I am that mother and the birthday party was for my daughter who just turned ...

217. Love And Money

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , but her failures etched deep lines into her face. In time, their home became haunted with the unspoken phrase, "There must be more money." No one ever said it aloud, least of all the children. But the words filled the home, especially when expensive toys filled the nursery. Behind the shining modern rocking-horse, behind the smart doll's house, a voice would start whispering: "There must be more money. There must be more money." The children could hear it all the time, though nobody said it aloud. And ...

218. It Is Blessed To Receive

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

William G. Carter

... . A man had mixed memories of Christmas. As a child, he began planning for the holiday in February. He scribbled out a wish list for the following December 25 before the winter snow melted off the ground. Each year he listed a full page of toys which he wanted more than anything else. Then he waited impatiently for Christmas. His annual anticipation was tempered by the presence of his mother, who insisted on thank-you notes for every gift received. Every present under our Christmas tree was just the visible ...

219. A New Kingdom Coming

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... everybody. Alvin Toffler maintains we need more than ever a creative group to imagine a whole array of possible and preferable futures. Rather than ridiculing new ideas we must remember, "the essence of creativity is a willingness to play the fool, to toy with the absurd, only later submitting the stream of ideas to harsh critical judgment .... We need," Toffler continues, "sanctuaries for social imagination."[3] And I ask, what better sanctuary than this and tens of thousands like it around the earth where ...

220. Prepare The Way

Malachi 2:17--3:5

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... can stand when he appears?" We do well to heed the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord." At Christmas time our shameful nod to God often gets more pronounced. The coins jingle in the Salvation Army kettle. We collect toys for needy tots. Volunteers flood the hospitals and rest homes. Still, it needs to be more than that. To prepare the way of the Lord is not a shallow, painless gesture of charity. The valleys must be filled, the mountains made low, the crooked must be made ...

221. Is This The Season To Seek Salvation

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

James McLemore

... ." We need to look at our day, like Jeremiah looked at his day. We need to look at our seasons like Jeremiah looked at his. Children, we don't want to seek salvation in our childhood, do we? Because in our childhood we want to have time to play with toys and have fun with games, and be childlike. And it's all right to play with dolls, and to play with Power Rangers, but don't forget Jesus. Jesus says in Mark 10:14: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is ...

222. Taking our Punishment

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Illustration

John R. Steward

... parents had asked of him. He got so involved in a game with some other boys that by the time he got home his father had already arrived home from work. The boy noticed that it was unusually quiet in the house so he went upstairs to play with his toys. When he was called downstairs for dinner, he went over to the place where he usually sat and he could not believe his eyes. There on his plate was a slice of bread next to a glass of water. He stared at it for a while, realizing that this was ...

223. Proper 13

Luke 11:1-13, Hosea 11:1-11, Colossians 3:1-17, Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... entice people to buy products than to serve the needs of the society for education, information, and wholesome entertainments. Children's programming in hours when children are most likely to be watching encourages them to pressure parents to purchase foods, toys, and other products that often are not the best values. Prime-time programming is not based on the highest quality programs but the ones that attract an audience with the highest purchasing power. Good stewardship of wealth should guide Christians ...

224. An Answer To Prayer

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Illustration

"Mom, why am I called Samuel?" The boy asked the question one day during the evening meal. Nervously she toyed with her dinner napkin. She hadn't dared tell anyone for fear that they would think her foolish. After all, she lives in the modern world, not the world populated by Old Testament characters. All of her friends knew that for years she had tried everything possible in order to ...

225. Will The Real Messiah Please Stand Up?

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

... more solid must be adopted. As a pastor, I have observed that another false messiah that seems to dominate the life of our people is the consumer culture. This seems to have more control over the lives of our people than the gospel they profess. The latest toy seems to reign supreme. But there is a deadly catch. The market's goal is not to nurture people, but to make a profit. And if people must be sacrificed to make that profit, then so be it. Another false messiah in America is big-time athletics ...

Showing results