Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2251 to 2275 of 2844 results

2251. Love One Another

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

James W. Moore

A man was driving home from work one day when he saw a group of young children selling lemonade on a corner near his home. The kids had posted the typical Magic Marker sign over their lemonade stand: “Lemonade – 10 cents” The man was impressed with the enterprising young children, so he pulled over to the curb to buy a cup of lemonade… and to give his support to the children’s financial effort. A young boy approached his car and the man placed his order for one cup of lemonade… and he gave the boy a ...

2252. It's Thanksgiving Time!

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

James W. Moore

One of the great comedians of all time was Jack Benny. He was great because he made us laugh at ourselves… at our weaknesses, our foibles, our selfishness, our greed. You remember, of course, how attached Jack Benny was to his money. I love that routine where the hold-up man runs up to Jack Benny and shouts: "Your money or your life!" There is a long pause as Jack goes into that familiar pose with his hand on his cheek. Impatiently, the robber demands again: "I said your money or your life!" Jack Benny ...

2253. Luke 24:13-35

Luke 24:13-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The Emmaus Road story, told only by Luke, once again demonstrates his masterful narrative skills. What appears on the surface to be a simple journey story turns out to have a multi-layered, richly complex plotline. Within the structure of this story Luke describes the transition of the disciples from disbelief and despair to a more informed understanding of Jesus’ identity, and a newly re-formed community of faith. The journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and back again, may have been only a short distance ...

2254. The Gift of Newness

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Sermon

James McCormick

What picture pops into your mind when someone says the word, “church”? Is it a picture that quickens your pulse and stirs your blood? Or, is it a picture more likely to encourage a snooze? Is it characterized more by excitement and adventure? Or more by dullness and predictability? If we are talking about the first century church, those questions are easy to answer. Those first century Christians became so excited about their message that onlookers accused them of being drunk. They became so energetic ...

2255. Living as Orphans

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

A church official in Canada tells a disturbing but true story about a hunting party that ventured into the woods in the northern part of that country. As the other members set up camp, two members of the party wandered off. It was a clear, warm, day in autumn. Northern Canada at its best. The men were captivated by the beauty of it all, but, after a while, they found themselves absolutely lost. When the two men did not return to the camp, an emergency protocol went into effect. By the next day, a large ...

2256. I Love My Church

1 Chronicles 29:3

Sermon

James Merritt

Recently someone sent me a list entitled, "Satan's Beatitudes." They said if the devil were to write his Beatitudes they would probably go something like this: Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians—they are my best workers. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked, and expect to be thanked—I can use them. Blessed are the touchy. With a bit of luck they may stop going to church— they are my missionaries. Blessed are ...

2257. www.Salvation.com

Ephesians 2:8-10

Sermon

James Merritt

If God had a website on salvation, and you were to pull up that page to find what the God, who will decide who gets into heaven and who does not, says about salvation, what do you think you would find? (Incidentally, there is such a website, because I found it in preparing this message—what they had on several pages I believe God probably could condense down to one paragraph, which is the text we are preaching from today. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is ...

2258. Body Building at Its Best

1 Corinthians 12:13-27, Ephesians 4:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

Take a moment and just think about your body. It represents a state of engineering that IBM, Mercedes, and Lockheed combined, could not ever match. Listen to this eloquent description of the magnificence of the human body: The body is a temple, warehouse, laboratory, pharmacy (the brain alone produces more than 50 cycle-active drugs), electric company, farm, mass-transit system, library (the brain stores the equivalent information of 500 sets of the Encyclopedia Britannia, utility company, hospital, and ...

2259. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

John 16:7-11

Sermon

James Merritt

I heard about a pastor who left the pastorate after twenty years, and decided to become a funeral director. Somebody asked him, "Why did you do that?" He said, "Well, I spent about twelve years trying to straighten out John. He never did get straightened out. I spent fourteen months trying to straighten out the marriage of the Smiths, and it never did get straightened out. I spent three years trying to straighten out Susan, and she never did get straightened out. Now when I straighten them out, they stay ...

2260. Who's In Charge Here

Judges 21:24-25

Sermon

James Merritt

I want to juxtapose two quotes to you: one you will not be familiar with; one you will be very familiar with. Here is the first quote, given by historian Christopher Dawson, over thirty years ago: We have entered a new phase of culture we may call it the Age of the Cinema in which the most amazing perfection of scientific technique is being devoted to purely ephemeral objects, without any consideration of their ultimate justification. It seems as though a new society [is] arising, which will acknowledge no ...

2261. The World's Greatest Body Builder

1 Corinthians 12:13

Sermon

James Merritt

Gustav and Aurelia was a young couple in Austria who one day was approached by their 13 year old son who said to them, "I want to be the best built man in the world!" They didn't even realize how serious their son was. At 14 he started an intensive training program. Five years later, at the age of 19, he won the title of The Best Built Man in Europe, Mr. Europe, and the International Power Lifting Championship. One year later, at just 20 years of age, he became the youngest Mr. Universe in history. Arnold ...

2262. Easter and a Lost World

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

James Merritt

Not long ago a lady wrote Dear Abby a letter, and in this letter this is what she said: Dear Abby: Your answer to the woman who complained that her relatives were always arguing with her about religion, was ridiculous. You advised her to simply declare the subject off- limits. Are you suggesting that people talk only about trivial meaningless subjects so as to avoid a potential controversy?…It is arrogant to tell people there are subjects that they may not mention in your presence. You could have suggested ...

2263. Saved to Share

Acts 26

Sermon

James Merritt

A man told the following true story: A man suddenly knocked a glass off the table and stood up, his face red and his eyes bulging. A piece of steak had lodged in his throat and he couldn't breathe. I glanced around the room hoping someone would rush to him to apply the Heimlich maneuver. But everyone froze helpless. I pushed my chair back and ran to his side. When I wrapped my arms around his girth and squeezed, the meat dislodged from his throat and I could hear the welcome sound of a deep breath. Later, ...

2264. Focus on the Finish

Galatians 6:7-10

Sermon

James Merritt

You will be far down the road to success in life if you will look at life as a race. The Apostle Paul compared his life to a race. As he came to the end of his journey on earth, he said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Tim. 4:7) Every morning when you get up you have several choices concerning your race. First of all, you can choose not to run. But if you don't run you can't win. Secondly, you can choose to run, but not run your best. If you don't run ...

2265. Murder in the First Degree

Matthew 5: 21-26

Sermon

James Merritt

We are in the middle of a series of messages I've entitled "The Only Way to Live." It is based on the greatest sermon ever preached in history – the Sermon on the Mount. Up to this point in the sermon, Jesus has been very general in his comments but now he gets very specific. He addresses six critical areas where what goes on in the inside of a person is far more important than what occurs on the outside of a person. He is going to be dealing with murder, adultery, divorce, honesty, revenge, and loving ...

2266. Why You Should Trust In God

Proverbs 3:5-6

Sermon

James Merritt

Have you ever wondered "Why people ask why?" Here are some "Why?" questions that I think are worth asking. Why are there Interstate highways in Hawaii? Why are there floatation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes? If a 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors? Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM? Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? Why is it that when you transport something by car it's called a shipment. But when ...

2267. Pulling Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Last week we talked about planting seeds. This week we’re talking about pulling weeds. The two go together. Every gardener knows that planting seeds is the easy part of having a successful garden. It is much more time consuming to weed that same garden. And it’s hard work. As someone has said: “When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.” There is a corollary to that truth: “To ...

2268. For Better, For Worse

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

I have probably performed over 500 weddings in my pastoral career. On each occasion, bride and groom have repeated certain very important promises, word for word. I recall one very nervous groom who said, “With this wing I thee wed.” Afterward I was never able to really regain control of that service. The heart of the marital commitment is expressed in this promise: “I take you to be my wedded spouse, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and ...

2269. Is There Hope For World Peace?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

I received an interesting Christmas card from a dear friend, a retired Air Force General. On the front was a white dove with an olive branch in its beak, hovering above the world. Inside the card were these words: “Peace on earth.” Beside those words my friend had added a big question mark. Then he wrote, “Is peace possible in a world like this?” This General was asking the $64,000 question. Go to any barbershop or beauty parlor and you will hear various prescriptions for how to straighten out our troubled ...

2270. Why Didn't You Tell Us This Before?

Matthew 16:13-20

Illustration

Russell F. Metcalfe

A couple of years ago Rev. Martin Copenhaver, of Wellesley Congregational Church, preached on this same passage. He had been to a pastor's seminar where Michael Greene from Britain, a scholar of the history of evangelism, had challenged a group of pastors with "When is the last time you told your congregation what Jesus means to YOU?" Later Pastor Copenhaver wrote in his study "As a pastor I talk a good deal about Jesus, but do I say what Jesus means to me?" He decided he would try to do just that. In his ...

2271. Why Not Now?

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

John E. Harnish

So Philip went down the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Wow, if that doesn't carry powerful imagery. I don't know what all it could have meant for Luke or Philip, but I know what it means for us. The road from Jerusalem to Gaza is probably the most critical road in the world—the road which symbolizes all the tensions and conflict of our world; the road most needed and hardest to travel; the road on which the future of the world seems to hang; the road which symbolizes the difficult path to peace in our world ...

2272. Unlikely Election

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

John E. Harnish

You could make the case that right here, in the first days of the first church in the first chapter of the book of Acts, the church made its first big mistake. Jesus left them in Jerusalem with nothing but a promise and told them to wait. Waiting got to be too much. With no idea what was to come, or when, anxious about the future, uncertain about what they should do, they decide to take things into their own hands. I can just imagine impetuous Peter—always ready to jump into a vacuum, to fill the silence ...

2273. Thanksgiving and Thanksliving

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

Don't you just love times of thanksgiving? Yes, and Saint Paul is a genius at reminding us of this component to victorious living. His "attitude of gratitude" finds its way throughout his letters, except possibly for Galatians. My first response to all of this is "what a wonderful way to live our lives." Of course, he is rooted and grounded in his Savior and Lord. It is a natural — most likely spontaneous response — to the depths he discovers in Jesus. Perhaps the most missing ingredient among those who ...

2274. Gift of Positive Thinking

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

For generations the "power of positive thinking" has been touted throughout our land. It is among the most popular and utilized thoughts and themes we have ever known. Cutting across all strata of social and economic patterns it is generally a principle espoused. While the influence generated is obvious, secular and less than desirable ways of life have utilized it. It is frequently taken from a Christian basis and becomes a means to achieve ends that at a minimum are questionable. Of course, there are ...

2275. Parades and Crosses — The Challenge of Ministry

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

He had grown up in a fashionable suburb of a large American city, a cosmopolitan area of considerable size and sophistication. He was a winner from the time he was born; you know, one of those babies that comes into the world with a smile and a confident air that life is friendly and meant for success. Oh, yes, he did his share of crying, and as an infant and pre-schooler, he had his share of sickness. But all in all, he was the kind of boy you would expect to see in a prize-winning television commercial. ...

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