Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1 to 25 of 4489 results

1. God’s Will? (A Drama about Using the Lord’s Name in Vain)

Drama

Dave Marsh

... Mark: Hmmm. Maybe Exodus? Jenny: Exodus, yeah. Well, speaking of Exodus, I’m OUTTA here! (she storms off and bumps into Dave as he enters. She growls at him.) Dave: Hey. (Note: all the dialogue here to the end is very deadpan...) Mark: Hey. Dave: Break up with her? Mark: Yeah. Dave: God’s will? Mark: Yeah. Dave: Yeah. I had to do the same with Sandy… and Tina…. and Jackie. Mark: God’s will? Dave: Yeah. (long pause) So, what’s on TV? Mark: Dunno. (Starts flipping through channels as lights fade ...

2. Settling Our Differences

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Joe Pennel

... friend, or a colleague with whom we work. Psychologists often list symptoms of a spiritual divorce. These symptoms are most often applied to marriage, but they can also be applied to the break up of any significant relationship. When people start breaking up with each other, some symptoms begin to appear. First, separating people, become quietly indifferent to one another. Next, there is a coolness where persons treat one another with a cold shoulder or with a frozen stare. Next, there is lack of tenderness ...

3. Living In The Spirit Of Faithfulness

Galatians 5:22-25, Hebrews 10:23-24

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... not like that. We who have been baptized have professed our love for God through Christ. As a result, we belong to Christ, we belong to God. There is no P.S. in our relationship with God. There never has been and there never will be. God will never break up with us. We are His. We belong to Him, forever. (3) Do you remember what Paul wrote to his young protégé, Timothy concerning this whole idea of God's Faithfulness? He wrote: "The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if ...

4. The Kingdom Is Not K-Mart

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... had been dating a girl named sally for a while. Several times he had asked her to marry him and she would give him a firm "no". Finally, she came in to him one day and said, "Herb, I am not going to see you anymore. I am going to break up with you." Herb said, "Sally is there someone else?" She said, "Herb there just has to be." Well there just has to be no-one else that you love more than Jesus. Incidentally, if you don't love Jesus more than you love your family, you don't love your family ...

5. Being Open to the Impossible

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of suicide that we’ve picked up from a family member or a friend. The sudden death of a loved one, or a child’s turning from us, sends us desperately looking for help. Our resources are not enough. And young people experience it too. Peer pressure — breaking up with a girlfriend or boyfriend; not making the team, not getting the choice sorority or fraternity bid; a class that goes to pieces and you’d be happy to get a “D”, but you’re likely to end up with an “F”. The catalogue is endless ...

6. Show Us the Father

John 14:8-17, 25-27

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... Father, we’ll be cool. We’ll have all the inspiration we need to keep plugging away. We’ll be set for life. We’ll be good. This reminds me of the old Steve Martin movie, “The Jerk.” There’s a scene in which Navin (Steve Martin) is breaking up with his wife, Marie (Bernadette Peters). She tells him to leave, so he begins to walk out of the house. He announces to her that he doesn’t need her or any of the stuff they’ve accumulated as they’ve grown wealthy together. But as he exits, he says ...

7. No P.S.

Illustration

Charles Krieg

... "Diane," and it contained a P.S.: "If we ever break up, I want this picture back." We who have been baptized have professed our love for God and for others. We belong to Christ. There can be no P.S. in our life given to God. We can never break up with Him. We are His. We belong to Him--forever.

8. Man, Give Me Some Bread: I Want To Make Sense Out Of My Life

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (LB) To know the mind and heart of Jesus is to find meaning for life. Christian author Max Lucado writes of enduring a particularly bumpy airplane flight. During the flight, he heard a passenger behind him breaking up with laughter. None of the other passengers could find much to smile about, so Lucado was intrigued by this man's obvious enjoyment. He learned that the man was listening to a comedy station on the airplane's headphone system. This man seemed to be ...

9. Like

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... said wasn’t “Goodbye God! We’re moving to Kansas” but “Good! By God, we’re moving to Kansas.” It’s time to move from “Goodbye God!” to “Good! By God.” Back in 2008 Neil Pasricha was down and depressed, bummed out by a bad break-up with his girlfriend, and generally sitting around feeling sorry for himself. To get out of that slump and over that hump Pasricha decided, in a typical “if-its-not-on-the-web-its-not-real” way, to write a blog. But instead of trashing his ex-girlfriend ...

10. The Christmas Sign

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

Ever need a sign of hope? Ever need a sign that things are going to be all right? Ever need a sign that you were going to pass the test, or that she wasn't going to break up with you? Ever need a sign that God was still around or that life was still worth living? Ah, we all know of the need of a sign, don't we? It's funny how we are built. Inside, I mean. We can have proofs and explanations and insistent documentation, but ...

11. What Would Jesus Say About Marriage?

Matthew 19:3-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Harry and Martha had been married for fifty years when their friends and family threw an anniversary party for them. At the height of their celebration Harry proposed a toast with these words: “Martha and I have been married for fifty years and never had a fight. The secret to our bliss can be attributed to this. On the night of our wedding we agreed that whenever an argument arose between us, I would take a walk. Which, come to think of it, probably explains why I have lived a largely outdoor life.” ...

12. You Can Dress Them Up...

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Several years ago, a barbers' supply company held a large convention in a metropolitan city. To show the world how good their products were they organized a publicity stunt. They went to the worst section of town and brought back the dirtiest and most helpless drunk they could find. They presented him on the stage. Everyone saw how dirty and unkempt his hair and beard were. Then they took him out and cleaned him up. They shaved him. They shampooed and styled his hair. They sprayed him with cologne. They ...

13. Loosening Up for Better Production

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Some unknown lover of nature wrote this little poem: The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, I'm closer to God in a garden, Than anywhere else on earth. For all of you nature lovers and garden growers, Jesus told a story just for you. In it He drove home a truth essential for the rest of us, too. We call it the Parable of the Sower, though Jesus interpreted it as an allegory of the soils, which poses no problem for ordinary readers, only for Biblical critics of the 20th Century. ...

14. Reaching Up—Reaching Out

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

An elderly man was critically ill when he asked to see his doctor, his minister, and his closest business associate. As the three of them gathered around the man's bed, he said to them, "I know they say you can't take it with you, but who knows for sure? So, I'm giving each of you an envelope with a $100,000 in cash, in case I need a little spending money on the other side." A few days later the old man died. On the day of the funeral, the doctor, the minister and the business man all slipped an envelope ...

15. Prayer Loosens Up the Heart

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

William R. Long

In her book The Closter Walk, Protestant author Kathleen Norris writes about the ways that the Catholic monastic tradition provides a rhythm and depth for spirituality that many Protestants have never explored. When she says that the life of prayer works "the earth of the heart," she means that prayer is like the act of cultivation. In order to work the soil, one must break up the hardened dirt clods, water the ground, free it from weeds and then plant a crop. Prayer is the way to "loosen up" the heart. ...

16. Breaking Up the Routine

Illustration

Wallace H. Kirby

A woman called a packing house and ordered the complete carcass of a horse. She met the delivery men and asked them to put the horse in the bathtub. As they left, the men could not resist asking the woman about this curious project. She told them that she and her husband had been married for over thirty years. Things were going well, but the routine was taking its toll. So she had decided to break out of this trap and ordered the horse. "Each evening," she said, "my husband comes in, goes into the bathroom ...

17. When You Are Up And Out

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It’s been said of Jesus that whenever he met a person, it was as if that person were an island around which Jesus sailed, until he found where the real problem was and there he landed. He did that with the woman at the well and landed on the question of marriage. “Go call your husband,” Jesus said to her. He did that with the rich young ruler and landed on the question of money. “Go sell all of your possessions and give them to the poor,” He said to that man. He did that with Zacchaeus and landed on the ...

18. The Power to Look Up

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

He lived in a shack on the edge of town. He wore overalls to church before casual dress was cool. He didn't own a car; he didn't have job. As a sixteen-year-old kid, fresh from the courthouse with my driver's license, it became my privilege to drive Porter home from church on Sunday. I would pull into Porter's driveway. He would get out of the car and then as if it were an afterthought, although he never failed to do it, Porter would peek back into the car and say, “Keep looking up, Bubby, keep looking up ...

19. God Never Gives Up on Us

1 Samuel 8:4-11 (12-15) 16-20, (11:14-15)

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

Have you noticed that no matter how much of a mess we make of our lives, God never gives up on us? We try to do the right thing, but fail over and over again. Paul talks openly about the fact that he knows the right thing to do, but just keeps doing the wrong thing. He can't seem to help himself. I guess it all started with the first Adam who got to work early one morning and parked on the line between two parking places so that everyone who came after him has parked on the line ever since. What a mess we ...

20. Time's Up

Matthew 24:36-51

Illustration

John Jamison

If it kept up like this he wasn't going to get anything done all morning. After the telephone calls, that paper-jam in the copier, and now this, he was beginning to feel that it was pointless to try. She stepped into his office, "Sorry to interrupt you Reverend, I know you are busy, but I need to talk to you!" She went on to tell him about a problem a dear friend of hers was having, and how it would be really "nice" if the pastor could stop by for a visit sometime. Soon. He wanted to say that if people ...

21. Lighten Up

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Mark Trotter

I have selected the hymn you have just sung to bring back memories of Sunday School. Imagine this image: a little girl in a white Sunday School dress, in a church pageant, holding a little candle, singing, "This Little Light of Mine." That is the image that most of us, I imagine, have in mind when we think of this hymn, "This Little Light of Mine." It is so sentimental, and cute, even. Which is the danger of using diminutives like "little,"...."This Little Light of Mine." It is like "dear" or "sweet." It ...

22. A Special Gift

Titus 3:7

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A piece of fine china, a beautiful book, and a piece of fine jewelry. Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on such a lovely day as this first Sunday of the new year? Just think, the world is another year older by our count. There are different ideas about getting old, depending upon whom you talk to. How many of the boys and girls here this morning would like to be 16 years old? A lot of you? How many wish you were only two years old? Not very many want to be two years old. You want to grow up ...

23. Get Up and Go

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A primary Sunday school class invited their pastor to view their Christmas art work. On the bulletin board were posted pictures of the Holy Family at the manger, angels singing to shepherds in the field, and wise men bringing their gifts to the Christ child. One drawing, however, puzzled the pastor. It was a picture of the Holy Family boarding a jet plane with the pilot already in the cockpit. “Tell me about this picture," said the pastor. The little boy who drew it spoke up and said, “That is Mary and ...

24. Lighting up Your Neighborhood

Acts 13:44-49

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The Bible is quite insistent about that. Eight times from Leviticus to First John the Bible comes right out and commands it. Numerous times it is mentioned as the foundation of all human relationships. Loving your neighbor is not a plaque to be posted in our court houses. It is a principle to apply in our lives. What part of neighbor don't we understand? I. NEIGHBORS ARE THOSE NEARBY The literal translation of neighbor is the “the person next to a person." Turn to ...

25. Up And Down The Mountain

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

Let us pray: Gracious and eternal Father, as we begin this Lenten journey, we seek to focus our hearts and minds upon understanding the ways in which you work to heal us of our afflictions. Lord grant us wisdom in these moments. May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. Sir Edmund Hillary is the explorer and humanitarian from New Zealand who was the first man to stand atop Mount Everest, the highest mountain on ...

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