Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Closing the Chasm

John 1:1-18

Illustration

John Claypool

Many years ago, I was walking in the farm that has belonged to my father's family in Kentucky for many generations, and I happened to looked down and I saw this giant anthill. There must have been thousands of these little creatures scurrying back and forth. It was a world unto itself. And as I looked down, I thought to myself, given the capacity of an ant, they have no way of understanding someth...

2. Death the Transformer

Illustration

John Claypool

I've learned something through all my experiences—that every exit is also an entrance. Every time you walk out of something, you walk into something. I got into this world by dying in the womb—and it must have been painful to get ripped out of that familiar place—but that was the prerequisite of my getting into time and space. You know at the end of my life in history there's going to be a similar...

3. Generosity Is the Secret to Our Joy

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

John Claypool

There is an old rabbinic parable about a farmer that had two sons. As soon as they were old enough to walk, he took them to the fields and he taught them everything that he knew about growing crops and raising animals. When he got too old to work, the two boys took over the chores of the farm and when the father died, they had found their working together so meaningful that they decided to keep th...

4. God Became Human!

John 1:1-18

Illustration

John Claypool

Someone gave me a little book by J. B. Phillips entitled, When God Was Man, for a Christmas present. At any rate, I was reading the book in the days that followed the holiday, and happened to leave it open on a chair in our den. We went out that evening. A lady in the community who had baby-sat for us was there with our little boy. When we came home about 11:00 o'clock, I could tell as soon as I e...

5. Sadness in the Heart of God

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

John Claypool

There is a Jewish parable that both parallels and illumines Jesus' story, and it has helped to clarify my understanding greatly. This one is about a "farmer who lived in Poland. For generations before him, his family had been very poor. One night he was awakened by an angel of the Lord, who said: "You have found favor in the eyes of your Maker. He wants to do for you what he did for your ancestor ...

6. Walking in Our Shoes

John 1:1-18

Illustration

John Claypool

When I was a very young minister and had not yet myself been initiated into the fraternity of grief, I remember being called once to minister to an old farm widow. Her husband had just died, and I went with all my earnest intent to be as much comfort as I could to her, but I had never lost a significant person in my life. Most of my knowledge of grief was abstract and academic, and so I went and s...

7. Warmth, Warmth, More Warmth

John 4:5-42

Illustration

John Claypool

Johann Wolfgang Goethe was the last of the so-called universal human beings. I mean by that, he was one of the last of our western civilization to have gained the mastery of every academic discipline. In his long life, he became renowned as a poet, as an artist, as a musician, as a playwright and historian. There was hardly a single facet of human knowledge of which he did not have a tremendous gr...

Showing 1 to 7 of 7all results

Showing all results

1. Closing the Chasm

John 1:1-18

Illustration

John Claypool

2. Death the Transformer

Illustration

John Claypool

3. Generosity Is the Secret to Our Joy

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

John Claypool

4. God Became Human!

John 1:1-18

Illustration

John Claypool

5. Sadness in the Heart of God

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

John Claypool

6. Walking in Our Shoes

John 1:1-18

Illustration

John Claypool

7. Warmth, Warmth, More Warmth

John 4:5-42

Illustration

John Claypool

Showing 1 to 7 of 7all results