Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2451 to 2475 of 4935 results

2451. Gambling On God

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a ridiculous story about a hunter named Ned who bet another hunter named Fred that he could leave the cabin, go out into the woods and come back within the hour with a bearskin. They bet $10, and Ned went off into the forest. The hour passed quickly. No Ned. Two hours went by ” nothing. Three hours later, a loud pounding on the door of the cabin was heard. Fred opened the door, and there was an enormous brown bear standing there. "Your name Fred?" asked the bear. "Why . . . yes," stammered the ...

2452. Not Having Seen Him, You Love Him

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

They took her father captive months before young Ann was ever born. He was a prisoner of war. For Ann, her father exists only in wrinkled snapshots and in the memories of her Mom and grandparents. Ann has never seen him facetoface, but she has heard about his smile, and his agility as a highschool halfback. She has heard that he was looking forward to her birth with great eagerness. The last thing he said to her Mom as the train pulled out of the station was, "Look after our child real well." To Ann her ...

2453. Like The Love Of A Mother

John 10:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

A man was boarding an airplane one day. As he came on board, he happened to notice that the head of the plane's cockpit flight crew was a woman. That was no problem. Still, it was a new experience for him. As he found his seat, he noticed three persons sitting immediately behind him. One was a young boy about six or seven years of age. Next to him was a man in his early thirties. And next to the man was a woman in her early sixties. The man could not help overhearing the conversation among these three ...

2454. Want To Sit At The Head Table?

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Isn't it refreshing when people in the spotlight don't take themselves too seriously? One Democratic Senator told colleagues he took a "polygraph" test to find out what the lie-detector fuss is all about. But this silver-haired and flamboyant orator reported he flunked the test when he started a sentence with: "In my humble opinion...." Shortly after Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska announced his availability for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1991, he made an appearance at the National Press Club ...

2455. 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 ...

2456. Right Choices

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Someone has made a list of "Politically Correct Ways of Indicating Stupidity." Perhaps you have heard some of these. They're quite creative. Speaking of someone who has done something really dumb, we might say: He's a few clowns short of a circus . . . A few fries short of a Happy Meal . . . A few peas short of a casserole . . . He doesn't have all his corn flakes in one box . . . The wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead . . . His antenna doesn't pick up all the channels . . . His belt doesn't go ...

2457. Begin With The End

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Kent Crockett tells a powerful story in his book, I Once Was Blind, But Now I Squint. Years ago Kent and his wife Cindy recorded many of their family highlights using an 8mm home movie camera. Some of you are too young to even know about 8mm film. Others of you took your first home movies with them. They were silent, and the picture wasn't very sharp. But they were sufficient to capture some of the important moments in your life. Kent and Cindy collected years of precious memories on numerous spools ...

2458. Hugging The Coastline

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

King Duncan

It was a muggy evening in August 1934. The congregation of the Cullowhee Mountain Church of God was listening intently to a sermon delivered by their minister, Albert Teaster. A man walked in and placed a box in front of Teaster. It was not a gift; rather, it was a challenge. Two weeks earlier, Albert Teaster had preached on Mark 16: 15-18. This is the passage that says that believers are able to take up poisonous snakes and not be hurt. This man, in the hopes of mocking Rev. Teaster, had brought a five- ...

2459. A Church Fueled By Prayer

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

Any of you who have ever tried speaking in front of people will appreciate the predicament that Dr. Ralph D. Nichols of the University of Minnesota once found himself in. He was addressing a high school commencement when suddenly a child began to cry. That was distracting, but not too much of a problem. But then another child added his loud voice. And then a couple of small boys started galloping up and down the aisle. With the sinking feeling only a public speaker knows, Nichols realized he had lost his ...

2460. Passing The Ultimate Test

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

A pastor was making a wooden trellis to support a climbing vine. As he was pounding away, he noticed that a little boy was watching him. The youngster didn't say a word, so the preacher kept on working, thinking the boy would leave. But he didn't. Pleased at the thought that his work was being admired, the pastor finally said, "Well, son, trying to pick up some pointers on gardening?" "No," he replied. "I'm just waiting to hear what a preacher says when he hits his thumb with a hammer." (1) That's a tricky ...

2461. 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 ...

2462. Can You Hear The Rooster Crow?

Luke 22:54-62

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"The noted writer, Thomas Carlyle, once built a soundproof room in his home in London. He did it so he could do his work without interference from outside noises. His neighbor had a rooster that crowed and the crowing bothered Carlyle. Carlyle protested to the neighbor, but the neighbor answered that his rooster crowed only three times a day...and surely that was not a great annoyance. "But," Carlyle said to him, "If you only knew what I suffer just waiting for that rooster to crow!!" (Dr. Jim Moore, "How ...

2463. The Problem with Signs

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

An old farmer always called his hogs to the feeding trough by hitting it with a piece of wood. Tap-tap-tap. That's all it took and they would come running. It was a great system, until, for some odd reason, he noticed them losing weight. He couldn't understand it. Then one day, he discovered the culprit. A woodpecker was pecking on a tree nearby. Every time the woodpecker pecked, tap-tap-tap, the hogs came running. I guess all that extra running kept them trim. The people of Israel were no different from ...

2464. Clean Hands

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

A father opens the door to greet his daughter's date. There stands a young man, cap on backwards, jeans that sag practically to his knees, a diamond stud in his lower lip, and wearing a set of earphones. The young man grunts hello and comes in. The father is more than a little taken back. He goes upstairs where his daughter is putting the finishing touches to her make-up. "I don't think you should go out with this boy," says Dad. "He doesn't look like a nice person." The daughter is shocked. "Daddy," she ...

2465. Get a Charge

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The news media is turning its attention now to the 2000 elections, which means that for the next year we are going to be preoccupied with politics. I think if you asked someone in our society what they expect of a politician, they would say leadership. If you asked them to define that, I think they would say it means selflessness, giving oneself to the common good of the nation, standing for what is right, and not only for what is expedient, representing everyone, the common folk as well as those in power ...

2466. Disappointed in Jesus

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

It was a painful experience for both of us. Jane was a young mother about my age. She had been on the pastor nominating committee that called us to New Jersey. And we had shared much laughter and friendship through the years. She also was on the session - and that cold November night she seemed edgy and distant. I soon found out why. Following the meeting, she waited for me out in the parking lot. And after I locked the church door, she simply lit into me. "How dare you!" she said. "How dare you push your ...

2467. Proper 28

Judges 4:1-24, Matthew 25:14-30, 1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, Psalm 123:1-4

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Judges 4:1-7 are the opening verses of the story of Deborah the prophetess and judge. Psalm 123 is a cry to God for help Judges 4 - "Faith in a Topsy-Turvy World" Setting. The book of Judges consists of a series of short stories that follow a set four-part pattern in which (1) Israel sins, (2) God judges or punishes Israel by having a neighboring nation threaten them, (3) Israel cries for help out of their situation of need, and (4) God raises up a savior in the form of a judge, who ...

2468. God’s Surprises

Acts 10:44-48

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The initiating incident in the story of Peter and Cornelius is reverse anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is prejudice against the Jews. Reverse anti-Semitism is prejudice by the Jews against Gentiles. Gentiles are non-Jews. In the first-century church one of the biggest problems was the big question of what to do with Gentiles who wanted to become Christians. Some Christians insisted that the Gentiles could only become Christians if they were circumcised and became Jews first. Others, including Peter and Paul, ...

2469. Help Wanted: Only Shunammites Need Apply

2 Kings 4:8-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It is time to bring back the early Christian tradition of hospitality as expressed in the "Shunammite household." While the story of the Shunammite woman might be an unfamiliar one today, she served as an important symbol among evangelical Christians in the 19th century. In American religious history, there was a tradition known as "Shunammite households" which played a crucial role in the development of frontier faith communities. In the days when itinerancy meant moving on every few hours, not every few ...

2470. Matthew 10:40-42

Matthew 10:40-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

At the conclusion of the 10th chapter of Matthew, Jesus enumerates once and for all the power and authority that is to be accorded his disciples. All of the chapter focuses on the missionizing responsibility Jesus bestows upon his disciples. Jesus invites the Twelve to be extensions of his own ministry - showing primary concern for Israel (vv.5-6), healing the sick in body and spirit, and expecting nothing in return for their efforts except perhaps violence and persecution. After painting a fairly bleak ...

2471. The World's Worst Bargain

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

A single lady was asked for her favorite verse of scripture. She said it was Matthew 16:24, “If any man will come after me, let him....” She was referring, of course, to the verse in Matthew’s Gospel that reads like this in the King James Version: “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Mark records this same teaching. It reads like this in the New International Version of the Bible: Then he called the crowd to him along ...

2472. Building a Victorious Life

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

J. Wallace Hamilton in his book, What About Tomorrow? tells the story of a wealthy builder who called his top assistant and said, "I am going away for ten months. While I am gone, I want you to oversee the building of my home. I am going to be retiring in a few years. I have these wonderful plans and an excellent lot by the lake and I want you to oversee the building of our home." As he left, the assistant said to himself, "He lives in luxury and has done very little for me. When he retires, what will I ...

2473. Only the Lonely

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Ron Lavin

There are three words I hope you will take home from church today. The words are "Only The Lonely." As you think about these words, the assurances of God's Word will comfort and strengthen you. But I'm getting ahead of my story. Before we get to these three words, we need to look at the full text of Luke 14:1, 7-14. That involves looking at three other words: humility, hospitality, and hope. Humility The inciting incident in our story is that guests at a party started to take places of honor. Jesus told ...

2474. Good News about Faith

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

We all are inspired when an individual overcomes great odds and accomplishes extraordinary things. A television program preceding the 1988 Winter Olympics featured a group of skiers being trained for slalom skiing. We’re talking alpine skiing here, not water skiing. For those unfamiliar with alpine skiing, the skill known as slalom involves skiing between poles spaced close together thereby causing quicker and shorter turns. You’ve seen skiers zigzagging between flags down a hill. That’s slalom. The unique ...

2475. A Stone’s Throw From: The Rolled Stone

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

There's an old Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown tells Lucy they have to stop fighting and finder a kinder way to resolve their conflicts. He tells her that the planet is filled with people hurting each other, that it's possible that they, as children, can make a new world order. Lucy listens for a minute and the POW! She slams him to the ground and walks away saying, "I had to hit him quick, he was beginning to make sense." Apart from God's purpose in and through the Cross, I've often wondered if ...

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