Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2226 to 2250 of 4490 results

2226. At The Potter's House

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15

Sermon

John W. Wurster

(Note: This monologue is from the point of view of an imagined contemporary of Jeremiah.) I was down at the potter’s house yesterday. Have you been recently? I haven’t see you there. In fact, I haven’t see many people there at all recently. Nobody much comes to the potter’s house these days. It’s certainly not how it used to be when the potter’s house was a gathering point for the community. Well, you know how people would come just to watch the potter work with the clay. We would just stand there and ...

2227. The Johnson Account (A Drama about the Holy Spirit)

Drama

Dave Marsh

Director's Notes: You know what's so great about the Holy Spirit? He works so wonderfully in the life of the believer. He prompts, leads, comforts, and convicts (just to name a few!) If we are quiet enough, we can hear the Spirit speak to our spirit. I can't imagine what life would be like without His presence! It's a shame that people that don't know Him can't hear Him. Well, except in this drama, of course :) Cast: Jeff: A businessman. April: A businesswoman. Props: Table Chair Laptop Phone Papers CD or ...

2228. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

What a week! The confluences of history have flowed together as never before. On the one hand, bombshells in Baghdad; on the other, bombast in Washington. For someone who is as much of a history buff as I am, these would seem to be exciting times, but instead they are just sickening. As one congressman noted in the impeachment debate on Friday, this is "The Nightmare before Christmas." Under normal circumstances, you would have found me glued to the tube on Friday and Saturday. After all, this was history ...

2229. Ban the "Buts"

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

David E. Leininger

It was a church women's conference. In a workshop which focused on conflict resolution, the leader asked participants to take part in an exercise. Her purpose was to demonstrate that many times people do not present what is really concerning them, they rather come forth with a blanket statement that is so broad it cannot be dealt with. Conferees were to break into "twos"; then, one would present something with which they had a problem - something that upset them. The other half of the couple was then to ...

2230. Put Out Your Nets

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

One spring afternoon not long after she and her new husband John moved into the community, Marianne Siebert of Florence, Kansas, decided to visit their elderly neighbors, the McLindens, a mile and a half up the road. The weather was perfect so Marianne saddled her 12-year-old Arabian stallion. Upon arrival, she dismounted and, reins in hand, approached the back door. Apparently, her neighbor had polished the glass in the storm door, because it shone like a mirror. Marianne knocked twice and waited with her ...

2231. Jesus Won! We Won!

John 20:10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome to this service of celebration. In the spirit of celebration, I would like you to try something. I want you to have a responsive line in the message. Here's how it goes. When I say, "Jesus won!" and raise my hand like this, I want you to respond. "WE WON!" So let's try it. "Jesus won!" (Raise hands) "WE WON!" You have it! When Jesus won, you won! When Jesus defeated death, he defeated it for you! On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered and World War II was over. In celebration, people packed the city ...

2232. A Firm Grip On Your Balloon

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Bruce Larson tells about leading a renewal conference in a great Gothic cathedral-like Presbyterian church in Omaha, Nebraska years ago. As people came in they were given a balloon filled with helium. They were told to release it at some point in the service where they felt like expressing the joy in their hearts ” during the anthem, the hymns, the prayers or the sermon. Since they were Presbyterians, says Larson, they were not free to say "Hallelujah" or "Praise the Lord." Letting go of the balloon would ...

2233. He Is Risen!

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Stephen Brown's brother Ron died suddenly of a coronary. In his forties, Ron was a popular public servant, a superb district attorney, a good father, and, Stephen's closest friend. Three or four weeks after Ron's death, while visiting their mother, Stephen went to the cemetery in the mountains where they had buried Ron. It was a cold, rainy, late winter afternoonthe kind of weather that chills your bones. When he got to the cemetery he couldn't find the place where Ron was buried. A stone had not ...

2234. What Are You Afraid Of?

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

"You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear," writes St. Paul, "but you have received the spirit of sonship." The question for the morning is this: What is it that you are afraid of? Our little friend Charlie Brown in the comic strip "Peanuts" knows about fear. "I've developed a new philosophy," he said. "I only dread one day at a time." In the play YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, Charlie Brown explains why he hates lunchtime: I think lunchtime is about the worst time of the day for ...

2235. Walking Into The Heart Of God

1 John 2:28--3:10

Sermon

King Duncan

A Sunday School teacher once asked her students to talk about how they felt about their church. The students responded in the usual ways: some said something silly to get the rest of the class to laugh, while others tried to be more serious. One of the girls was new to the class, and she felt uncomfortable about entering into class discussions, so she never raised her hand, or volunteered an answer. That Sunday, however, she did have an answer for her Sunday School teacher, and it was unforgettable. She ...

2236. A Long Line Of Love

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of the most popular music today comes out of places like Nashville, Tennessee and Austin, Texas. I am referring, of course, to Country and Western music. Country music is known for its colorful lyrics. We're told that Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was a country music fan. He delighted in recounting the titles of his favorite songs. Among them were, "When the Phone Don't Ring, You'll Know It's Me," "Walk Out Backwards, So I'll Think You're Coming In," and "My Wife Ran Off with My Best Friend ...

2237. What Goes Around Comes Around

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

"Grandfather's Corner," is the story of an old man who lived with his son and his son's wife and children. The man was almost deaf and blind and had difficulty eating without spilling his food. Occasionally, he would drop a bowl and break it. His son and his wife thought it was disgusting and made the old man eat in a corner behind the stove. They gave him a wooden bowl which could not be broken. One day the old man's little grandson was working with some pieces of wood. When his father asked what he was ...

2238. Hope For The End Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

Humorist Lewis Grizzard writes about a man in his hometown named Luther Gilroy. Luther claimed he was out plowing his field and saw a sign in the sky that said THE END IS NEAR. So Luther let his mule and his cow out of their pens, gave all his chickens away, and climbed on top of his house to await the end. When it didn't come, he pouted and refused to come down off the roof. Finally, his wife called the deputy sheriff, who came over and said, "Luther, you idiot, I saw that same sign. It didn't say, `The ...

2239. A Perfect World

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometime back, John Gratton in the Drexel, Missouri STAR gave us a description of what it would be like to live in a perfect world. Here are a few of his thoughts. In a Perfect World. . . a person should feel as good at 50 as he did at 17, and he would actually be as smart at 50 as he thought he was at 17. In a Perfect World. . . you could give away a baby bed without getting pregnant. In a Perfect World. . . pro baseball players would complain about teachers being paid contracts worth millions of dollars ...

2240. Wayward Children - Father's Day

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Sue Monk Kidd was telling the story of Jonah to her six-year-old vacation Bible school class, and the children fell into a discussion about how they would manage to escape if swallowed like Jonah. "I'd start a fire in the whale's stomach, and he'd cough me out!" declared one fellow, no doubt remembering the scene from Pinocchio. "I'd stomp on his tongue till he spit me out," said another. The suggestions grew wilder by the minute. Suddenly, a thoughtful little girl spoke up: "I'd call my daddy and wait ...

2241. Fear Of Flying

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

I wonder if there is anyone here this morning who gets nervous flying? Maybe you agree with George S. Kaufman who once said, "I like terra firma ” the more firma, the less terra." The premier science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury of Los Angeles won a top award in 1968 from the Aviation/Space Writers Association for a Life magazine article he wrote in praise of space exploration. But Bradbury didn't attend the association's awards meeting in Florida. He won't fly. (1) Time magazine reported sometime back on ...

2242. A Reason For Living

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

King Duncan

A certain advertising agent decided to trade in his winged-tip shoes for a white robe. He set himself up as a swami in one of the Eastern religions. He advertised his ability to answer life's most profound questions and eventually gathered a group of disciples who sat reverently about him while he remained lost in meditation. Finally the newly made swami broke his trance long enough to utter his profound insight for the day: "Life," he said, "is like a can of Pringle potato chips floating in a bowl of ...

2243. Rejected

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

A tall, burly man entered a San Francisco liquor store sometime back, pointed a revolver at a clerk and demanded money. According to police, when the clerk refused to comply, "the suspect then began to cry," put his gun in his pocket, and ran out of the store. Imagine that. A grown man, spurned by the man he intends to rob, breaks down in tears. I do believe that would-be robber is vocationally impaired. He doesn't belong in the criminal profession. Maybe he broke down in tears because he was tired of ...

2244. The Rock

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, (the women) went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. Rocks are a hot commodity! I'm not talking pebbles and peagravel. I'm talking boulders. Refrigerator big chunks of stone. The price tag? Well, let's just say they're not cheap. But won't a shapely stone look ...

2245. Sitting At God's Table

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Director D. W. Griffith was one of the legendary figures of the early days of Hollywood. Groundbreaking films as THE BIRTH OF A NATION and INTOLERANCE earned him recognition in the eyes of many as "the Father of the Movies." But Griffith was not wise in how he invested his money. When some friends wanted to throw a tribute in Griffith's honor, they found him living in a secondrate hotel on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Griffith was thrilled to receive this unexpected honor. There was only one problem. ...

2246. Bracing For The Rough Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

This is the third Sunday in November--a day that will live in infamy for diehard football fans. The year was 1968. The exact date was November 17. Little did people know as they made their way home from church and prepared for an afternoon of professional football on television that this would be a day that would plunge a large portion of our population, mostly male into outrage. The New York Jets were playing the Oakland Raiders on the West Coast. It had been a long drawn-out game. The Jets were ahead by ...

2247. What Fragrance Are You Leaving?

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

In the city of Boston is a memorial to the Holocaust. On one of the clear plastic walls of the memorial, built in a corridor that runs for about a city block, is a moving story attributed to Gerda Weissman Klein. Gerda experienced first-hand the horror of the German concentration camps in World War II. It is hard for us to imagine the stark conditions in those camps. However, in the midst of the hate and violence of the Nazi regime Gerda tells a lovely story of beauty and grace. Gerda is befriended by a ...

2248. It's A Miracle

John 20:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

A first grade teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs. She came to the part of the story where the first pig was trying to acquire building materials for his home. She said, "And so the pig went up to the man with a wheelbarrow full of straw and said, ˜Pardon me sir, but might I have some of that straw to build my house?'" Then the teacher asked the class, "And what do you think that man said?" A little boy raised his hand and said, "I know! I know! He said ˜Holy smokes! A talking pig!'" ...

2249. One Giant Leap

John 1:1-18, Isaiah 51:17--52:12

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

Do you remember where you were on July 21, 1969? I know that many of you weren't even born! Weren't even a twinkle in your parent's eyes! But for those of you who were around, do you remember where you were in July 21, 1969? Let me give you a hint--maybe the title of the message this morning will trigger a memory. How did the songwriter put it? Young girl in Calcutta Barely 8 years old; The flies that swarm the marketplace Will see she don't grow old. But don't you know she heard it On that July afternoon ...

2250. Two Promises For A New Year

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

Tom Ervin, Professor of Music at the University of Arizona was attending a conference for music teachers in New York. While at the conference he purchased a talking metronome. A metronome is a device for counting the beats in a song. Before Tom and his son boarded their flight home, Tom hefted his carry-on bag onto the security-check conveyor belt. The security guard's eyes widened as he watched the monitor. He asked Tom what he had in the bag. Then the guard slowly pulled out of the bag this strange ...

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