Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 63 results

1. A Choice to Go

Luke 5:1-11

Illustration

Keith Wagner

I may be a fairly good sailor at this point in my life but there were times when, like Peter, I had to be humbled. One time I was sailing a Sunfish in Michigan. I had trouble controlling the wind which was building and the sailboat and I ended up in shallow water. I had to walk the boat back into deep water. About that time an officer spotted me and towed me back to deep water. I was humiliated as...

2. A Different World

John 17:1-11

Illustration

Keith Wagner

The world young men and women are stepping into now is quite different from the world that I graduated in. In the 60’s we lived under the "cold war." No one ever thought of terrorism. We didn’t have cell phones and social apps. Instead of the Internet we contacted our friends with a rotary telephone. Gas cost about 30 cents a gallon and it wasn’t difficult to find a job. Even paying for a college ...

3. A Good Cleaning

John 2:13-22

Illustration

Keith Wagner

When Jesus entered the temple that day he found a faith that was stale, downright dirty. People were taking advantage of others and ritual had become more important than the condition of the heart. What Jesus did, I believe, was challenge a smug, hypocritical religious system that desperately needed to change. Therefore, a little demolition was necessary, not to mention an all out assault to clean...

4. A Message in Sync with Action

Matthew 22:15-22

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Dr. Keith Wagner relates this story: One time I was teaching a confirmation class about the media and religion. I had some video tapes of several television evangelists so we could study their message along with their behavior. I played about two minutes of one evangelist but kept the sound turned off. At the end of the video I asked the confirmands to tell me what they thought the evangelist was...

5. A Servant in Saigon

Illustration

Keith Wagner

To be servants requires courage, sacrifice and lots of love. Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen tell the story of Betty Tisdale. (Chicken Soup for the Soul) She was the wife of a Naval Doctor in Vietnam. She had compassion on the hundreds of orphans in Saigon. She made 14 trips to Saigon by using her life savings. With great determination she managed to airlift orphans from Vietnam during the time it w...

6. A Spirit of Peace

Matt 9:35 - 10:42

Illustration

Keith Wagner

When we model a spirit of peace it can be contagious. One time Charles Kuralt was traveling through the back roads in Ohio. He passed a farmhouse with a homemade banner on it that read, "Welcome Home Roger." One of his associates said, "I wonder who Roger is?" They decided to drive to the farm and meet the family. Roger was a soldier on his way home from Vietnam. The family was anxiously awaiting...

7. All Great Bridges Stem from Tiny Beginnings

Luke 3:1-20

Illustration

Keith Wagner

A hundred feet above the Apurimac River, near the remote village of Huinchiri, Peru there is a suspension bridge that connects the Limi-Cuzzo Road. It has been there since the 14th century. Using four miles of braided coya grass, the Inca constructed the bridge in phases. First a bowman attached a fine thread to an arrow and fired it across the gorge. A man on the other side tied a cord to the thr...

8. All Together

Acts 2:1-13

Illustration

Keith Wagner

A while ago, there was a special on the PBS channel about three families who lived on the prairie. It was an experiment to see whether or not 21st century families could live the way people lived in the 19th century. Their mission was to plant crops, raise animals and prepare themselves for the upcoming winter. At that point they were evaluated and then returned to their normal lives. Following t...

9. An Expression of Faith

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Keith Wagner

The Lord's Prayer is an expression of faith. It assumes that human beings are not self-sufficient but dependent on God. It is not a sign of weakness to pray but a sign of our humanity. Prayer acknowledges our need for God. Prayer is surrender. In his book, The Reaffirmation of Prayer, E. Glenn Hinson says that "the key to human existence lies in surrender to God, putting one's self and one's affai...

10. Asking for Help

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Keith Wagner

I can remember a time when we used to go to our neighbor's house to borrow things. My mother would send me next store to get a cup of sugar or flour. I can also remember times when our neighbors came to our house to borrow two eggs or a stick of butter. Now days we get in our cars and drive to the convenience store. We wouldn't think of asking a neighbor. Perhaps we are too proud to ask for help w...

11. Better to Be Honest

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

Keith Wagner

One afternoon a carpet layer had just finished installing carpet for a lady. He stepped out for a smoke, only to realize he had lost his cigarettes. After looking around he noticed that in the middle of the room, under the carpet that he had just installed, was a bump. Ah, he thought, my cigarettes. "No sense pulling up the entire floor for one pack of smokes," he said to himself. So he got out hi...

12. Caught in the Fence

Matt 23:11-12

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Several years ago there was a newspaper cartoon that showed two fields separated by a fence. Each field was the same size and each had plenty of lush green grass. In each field there was a mule whose head stuck through the wire, eating grass from the pasture on the other side, even though it was hard to reach. In the process the mules' heads became caught in the fence. They panicked and brayed unc...

13. Change Is Difficult

Mark 4:35-41

Illustration

Keith Wagner

One time a mother walked in on her 6 year old son who was sobbing. "What's the matter?" she asked. "I've just figured out how to tie my shoes." "Well, honey, that's wonderful. You're growing up. But why are you crying?" "Because," he said, "now I'll have to do it every day for the rest of my life." Change is difficult for us all. We all will have some rough times ahead, storms that will challenge...

14. Circuit Breakers

John 17:20-26

Illustration

Keith Wagner

In March, 1984 there was a malfunction at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in Northern California. It triggered a chain reaction of events that darkened the lights for millions of people in six Western states. The blackout occurred at rush hour which caused hundreds of traffic jams in all the major cities. The trouble originated in Round Mountain, California substation, about one hundred miles...

15. Decisions Based on Integrity

Matthew 21:23-32

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Adrian Thomas held a bonfire out behind his drugstore in Meyersdale, PA, which his family owned and operated for three generations. During the winter in 1992, he came to a fateful decision. He had seen too many deaths of his friends caused by lung cancer and heart disease. For ninety-six years, his family business sold tobacco products. On that day, Thomas, his family members, and his employees bo...

16. Didn’t You Hear the Bells?

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Keith Wagner

A blind man was invited to attend the wedding of a friend. The couple had chosen to be married in a village church that was known for its picturesque qualities. As the couple left the chapel, the mother of the groom said to the blind man, "What a pity that you couldn't see the chapel. It really is so lovely. And such a pretty garden." She later repeated this to some mutual friends at the reception...

17. Do You Know My Business?

John 10:11-18

Illustration

Keith Wagner

A shepherd was herding his flocks in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand new Jeep Cherokee advanced towards him out of a dust cloud. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a YSL tie, leans out of the window and asks: "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?" The shepherd looks at the yuppie, then at his peace...

18. Don't Ever Say That Again

John 1:29-34

Illustration

Keith Wagner

In A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, there is a story about a student who was unlike most students. One day in the 11th grade he went into a classroom to wait for a friend. The teacher appeared and asked him to go to the blackboard. He replied, "I'm not one of your students." The teacher said, "Doesn't matter. Go to the board anyhow." The student told him he couldn't do that and when the...

19. Don't Panic

Mark 13:3-4

Illustration

Keith Wagner

"Don't panic!" Those are the words I frequently say when someone has come to see me and they are in the midst of a crisis. They may have lost their job, had a marital crisis, a problem with a child, or found themselves in serious financial trouble. They are anxious. It seems like the world is caving in on them. They feel lonely and afraid. They can't see anyway out of their predicament. It has be...

20. Don’t Panic

Matthew 14:22-36

Illustration

Keith Wagner

In the winter of 1995, a fishing boat began to sink in rough, cold waters off Vancouver Island, west of British Columbia, Canada. The two men on board quickly moved to a life raft that was tied to the sinking boat by a nylon rope. Unfortunately the rope was tied so tightly, they could not untie it. As the fishing boat listed more and more the men knew they couldn't reboard. Neither man had a knife...

21. Dreaming to a New Future

Matthew 4:12-22

Illustration

Keith Wagner

In 1904 a man from Milwaukee took a neighbor girl, Bessie Cary to a picnic on an island in Lake Michigan. After awhile Bessie got a craving for a cool, refreshing dish of ice cream. Ole (that was his name) rowed 2 ½ miles back to the mainland to get some. Unfortunately, the summer heat melted the ice cream into a globby mess by the time Ole made his return trip. The embarrassing incident prompted...

22. Encouragement from a Friend

Luke 1:39-45

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Theodor was an artist of sorts. He drew cartoons for a living but he wasn't getting anywhere. So, he decided to try his hand at writing and illustrating children's books. After twenty-seven rejections of his book, "A Story No One Can Beat," he was ready to give up. On his way home to burn his manuscript, Theodor ran into an old schoolmate who had just been hired as a children's book editor at Vang...

23. Every Link of the Chain

John 17:6-19

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Idlers of a seacoast town watched the village smith day after day as he painstakingly wrought every link of a great chain he was forging. Behind his back they scoffed at such care being taken on such an ordinary thing as a chain. But the old craftsman worked on, ignoring them as if he had not heard them at all. Eventually the chain was attached to a great anchor on the deck of an ocean vessel. Fo...

24. Freedom from Worry

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Tony Compolo tells a story about a friend of his who had to take a bus trip across central India. He was in an old model bus which was packed with people, packages, furniture and even animals. Sitting across from Tony's friend was a tired man whose neatly wrapped packaged was sitting on the luggage rack over his head. The man kept dozing off and each time he would wake up in a panic fearing that h...

25. Fully Present, Ready to Commit

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Keith Wagner

Several years ago a pastor did a wedding on the day of the Ohio State - Michigan game. In Ohio that is one of the major sporting events of the year. The wedding started about 30 minutes after the beginning of the game. The groomsmen were gathered around a television set in the lounge watching the game. The pastor had to interrupt them and hurry them into the sanctuary. There was a fairly large num...

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Showing 1 to 25 of 63 results

1. A Choice to Go

Luke 5:1-11

Illustration

Keith Wagner

2. A Different World

John 17:1-11

Illustration

Keith Wagner

3. A Good Cleaning

John 2:13-22

Illustration

Keith Wagner

4. A Message in Sync with Action

Matthew 22:15-22

Illustration

Keith Wagner

5. A Servant in Saigon

Illustration

Keith Wagner

6. A Spirit of Peace

Matt 9:35 - 10:42

Illustration

Keith Wagner

7. All Great Bridges Stem from Tiny Beginnings

Luke 3:1-20

Illustration

Keith Wagner

8. All Together

Acts 2:1-13

Illustration

Keith Wagner

9. An Expression of Faith

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Keith Wagner

10. Asking for Help

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Keith Wagner

11. Better to Be Honest

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

Keith Wagner

12. Caught in the Fence

Matt 23:11-12

Illustration

Keith Wagner

13. Change Is Difficult

Mark 4:35-41

Illustration

Keith Wagner

14. Circuit Breakers

John 17:20-26

Illustration

Keith Wagner

15. Decisions Based on Integrity

Matthew 21:23-32

Illustration

Keith Wagner

16. Didn’t You Hear the Bells?

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Keith Wagner

17. Do You Know My Business?

John 10:11-18

Illustration

Keith Wagner

18. Don't Ever Say That Again

John 1:29-34

Illustration

Keith Wagner

19. Don't Panic

Mark 13:3-4

Illustration

Keith Wagner

20. Don’t Panic

Matthew 14:22-36

Illustration

Keith Wagner

21. Dreaming to a New Future

Matthew 4:12-22

Illustration

Keith Wagner

22. Encouragement from a Friend

Luke 1:39-45

Illustration

Keith Wagner

23. Every Link of the Chain

John 17:6-19

Illustration

Keith Wagner

24. Freedom from Worry

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Keith Wagner

25. Fully Present, Ready to Commit

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Keith Wagner

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