Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 201 to 225 of 900 results

Luke 24:36-49

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: To demonstrate the need in our lives to have God's power at all times in our life. Prop: A heavy winter coat you can wear. Lesson: [If you can wear the coat over your robe put it on and act as though it's cold.] Burr, I'm glad I have this coat. (response) Its so cold I think its going to snow! (response) What? (response) What are you laughing about? (response) It's hot? (response) ...

202. Command Reduction

Matthew 5:17-20

Illustration

Brett Blair

According to 3rd century Rabbi Shammai... Moses gave 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands. David reduced them to 11 in Psalm 15. Isaiah made them 6 (Isaiah 33:14-15). Micah bound them into three commands (6:8). Habbakuk (2:4) reduces them all to one great statement: The just shall live by faith

203. Complain, Complain, Complain

John 3:14-21

Illustration

Brett Blair

The story is told of a young man who entered a very strict monastic order. It was so strict that members were permitted to speak only two words per year to the abbot. At the end of year one the young man appeared before the abbot and spoke his two words, "bad food." At the end of the second year the young man appeared before the abbot and spoke two more words, "hard bed". At the end of year three ...

204. Complexity of a Chromosome

Illustration

Brett Blair

Years ago Dr. Carl Sagan was all the rage in the scientific community. A famous astronomer and author who professed to have no belief in God or the Bible, but nevertheless recognized the complexity of the design of creation. In his book The Dragons of Eden (New York: Ballantine, 1978) he describes the complexity of a chromosome: A single human chromosome contains twenty billion bits of informatio...

205. Confronting Hypocrisy with Humility

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

Politicians in Washington play the gotcha game to perfection. To make matters worse the news media feeds on it. Not only do they feed on it, they feed it, hoping for a national scandal to make themselves appear relevant. These various political events are a fitting context for our scriptural text about hypocrisy. Listen to what Jesus says about these politicians (in his day they were called Phari...

206. Confronting Hypocrisy With Humility (I)

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Brett Blair

With Election Day upon us, I thought this text about hypocrisy was appropriate. I am reminded of a story about Theodore Roosevelt. During one of his political campaigns, a delegation called on him at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The President met them with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up. "Ah, gentlemen," he said, "come down to the barn and we will talk while I do some work." At t...

207. Consumerism

John 2:12-25

Illustration

Brett Blair

Another set of "money-changers" in the church is consumerism. Church members have bought into the concept of consumerism. They don't see themselves as servants, but as customers to be waited upon. Complaints about the church are frequently followed with the expression: "I do pay my money." That is consumerism. It is a way of saying: I am the one who is to be served. When a church buys into consum...

208. Create Him Not

Luke 15:1-32

Illustration

Brett Blair

The love of God is indescribable but a old Jewish legend does a pretty good job. It describes what happened when God created man. The legend says God took into counsel the Angels that stood about his throne. The Angel of Justice said; 'Create him not … for if you do he will commit all kinds of wickedness against his fellow man; he will be hard and cruel and dishonest and unrighteous.' The Angel o...

209. Creeds and Deeds - Sermon Starter

Mark 7:1-23

Illustration

Brett Blair

Rev. David Chadwell posed a rather interesting question: Which would you prefer for a next-door neighbor: a person of excellent habits or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a good friend: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a husband or a wife: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer...

210. Creeds or Deeds

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Brett Blair

211. Dan Rather's Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Humor Illustration

Brett Blair

Dan Rather recalls an eventful elevator ride in a large Florida hotel: After having flown in late during the night, he was up early to go downstairs and make a speech before several thousand people. In no mood to be the center of attention, he said, in the elevator, he felt all eyes on him. He thought to himself: Didn't any of these people's mothers teach them that it's rude to stare? The elevator...

212. Defining Worship

Illustration

Brett Blair

William Temple, the renowned archbishop of Canterbury, defined worship as: quickening the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God.

213. Dickens on Christmas

Lk 2:1-20

Illustration

Brett Blair

In Dickens A Christmas Carol, Fred, the nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge, says, "I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round…as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow ...

214. Did Jesus Die?

Lk 23:26-43; 24:36-49

Illustration

Brett Blair

It is interesting to note that included in Jesus' very last instructions to his disciples is an emphases on his suffering, his death, and subsequent resurrection. These three are the ABC's and 123's of the Christian faith. In puzzles me, therefore, that some men, even Christian men, can rise on Easter morning and deny it ever happened. The Magazine Christianity Today has an anonymous advice colum...

215. Different Worlds

Luke 16:19-31

Illustration

Brett Blair

Some years ago before the death of Mother Theresa, a television special depicted the grim human conditions that were a part of her daily life. It showed all the horror of the slums of Calcutta and her love for these destitute people. The producer interviewed her as she made her rounds in that dreadful place. Throughout the program commercials interrupted the flow of the discussion. Here is the seq...

216. Difficult Sayings

John 6:56-69

Illustration

Brett Blair

That great American writer, Mark Twain, wrote: "Most people are bothered by those passages in Scriptures which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always notice that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand." I suspect that, at times, we all would like to walk away from the church and never come back. We want a God different from the one we find in Jesus...

217. Dig Down To Build Up

Illustration

Brett Blair

You've seen tall buildings under construction. For the first few months all the workmen do is dig a great big hole in the ground. To build a tall building by starting far below the surface level seems counter to the purpose. But you know there's a good reason for the large hole. To build tall, it is first necessary to dig down until a strong foundation can be built, one that is capable of supporti...

218. Dinners With Sinners

Illustration

Brett Blair

The problem we run in to, in evaluating the whole “Jesus ate with sinners” passages, is, you have a religious-political "system" lead by Pharisees and Sadducees that saw "sin" as those who did not keep all of the law. Predominantly, in those halls, eating with Jesus were those who were judged on those grounds. So, this is not a den of thieves: murderers, sexual predators, burglars. That’s not whos...

219. Dirt Jobs

Illustration

Brett Blair

Mike Rowe has been the host of many different shows but all around the same theme. Dirt Jobs. He doesn't just interview the people who do the dirty jobs. He goes to the job sites and does those jobs. Experiencing the challenges and dignity of all kinds of blue collar professions. So, he gets a lot of people who come up to him to thank him. Recently, he talked about a couple of these reactions. Mik...

220. Dirty Hearted People

Matthew 13:1-23

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim:Growth takes place only in fertile receptive people. Props: Seeds, a tray, a brick (or large rock), clay (or children's Play-doh), and some rich soil. Lesson: Good morning. (response) Place the empty tray in front. Hold up the seeds. What do I have here? (response) We are going to plant these seeds. I brought this tray to plant our seeds in but I need something to put in the tray ...

221. Disturbed by Our Opinions

Matthew 22:15-22

Illustration

Brett Blair

2000 years ago a philosopher by the name of Epictetus said, "Men are disturbed not by things that happen but by their opinion of the things that happen." This is the problem of the Pharisees. Their understanding of events tell more about who they are than it does about who Jesus is. And this is our problem as well. A person who loves will live in a loving world. But a person who is hostile will l...

222. Divorce and Children - Sermon Starter

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

The U.S. Census Bureau report for the decade of the 90's was released in 2001. Here are its disturbing findings concerning the family. Households headed by unmarried partners grew by almost 72 percent from 1990 to 2000. Most of these arrangements were men and women living together out of wedlock. Other studies have shown that cohabitation increased by close to 1,000 percent from 1960 to 1998. Hous...

223. Do Not Be Afraid!

Matthew 28:1-10

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: Teach the transformation that took place. The Disciples and the Women went from Fear to joy when they learned that the tomb was empty because Jesus was raised from the dead. Props: 1. A carton of real eggs with one hallowed out. Use a straight pin and poke a small hole on one end of the egg and a bigger one on the other. Blow through the small end to force the contents out. 2. A ch...

224. Do Not Let Him Find You Sleeping

Luke 12:32-40; Mark 13:1-37

Illustration

Brett Blair

Augustine, a man in the 5th century who became, Bishop of the church and a saint in history, originally lead a life of sin giving himself over to whatever pleasures presented themselves. His mother had earnestly prayed for him his entire life that he would give his life to the service of Christ, but Augustine persisted in his sins until one day he sat with a friend on a bench weeping over the stat...

Some people think it’s a miracle when God does what we want God to do. We should rather think it a miracle when we do what God wants us to do.

Brett Blair

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Showing 201 to 225 of 900 results

201. Clothed With Power

Luke 24:36-49

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

202. Command Reduction

Matthew 5:17-20

Illustration

Brett Blair

203. Complain, Complain, Complain

John 3:14-21

Illustration

Brett Blair

204. Complexity of a Chromosome

Illustration

Brett Blair

205. Confronting Hypocrisy with Humility

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

206. Confronting Hypocrisy With Humility (I)

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Brett Blair

207. Consumerism

John 2:12-25

Illustration

Brett Blair

208. Create Him Not

Luke 15:1-32

Illustration

Brett Blair

209. Creeds and Deeds - Sermon Starter

Mark 7:1-23

Illustration

Brett Blair

210. Creeds or Deeds

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Brett Blair

211. Dan Rather's Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Humor Illustration

Brett Blair

212. Defining Worship

Illustration

Brett Blair

213. Dickens on Christmas

Lk 2:1-20

Illustration

Brett Blair

214. Did Jesus Die?

Lk 23:26-43; 24:36-49

Illustration

Brett Blair

215. Different Worlds

Luke 16:19-31

Illustration

Brett Blair

216. Difficult Sayings

John 6:56-69

Illustration

Brett Blair

217. Dig Down To Build Up

Illustration

Brett Blair

218. Dinners With Sinners

Illustration

Brett Blair

219. Dirt Jobs

Illustration

Brett Blair

220. Dirty Hearted People

Matthew 13:1-23

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

221. Disturbed by Our Opinions

Matthew 22:15-22

Illustration

Brett Blair

222. Divorce and Children - Sermon Starter

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

223. Do Not Be Afraid!

Matthew 28:1-10

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

224. Do Not Let Him Find You Sleeping

Luke 12:32-40; Mark 13:1-37

Illustration

Brett Blair

Some people think it’s a miracle when God does what we want God to do. We should rather think it a miracle when we do what God wants us to do.

Brett Blair

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