Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. 24/7

Matthew 16:21-28

Illustration

Larry Bethune

William Safire has noticed a new computer/business lingo he calls "e-speak." For instance, a writer is called a "content provider." The strength and depth of a company's senior management is called "the bandwidth." The amount of time people spend gazing at a website is called "eyeball hang time." The better a "content provider" you are, the "stickier" the website will be, the longer "eyeball hang ...

2. How Could He Say That?

John 14:1-4, Matthew 7:24-29

Illustration

Larry Bethune

Horatio G. Spafford was a Chicago attorney who lost everything he had in the great Chicago fire of 1871. Yet he put his best efforts into helping Dwight L. Moody rebuild the Northside Tabernacle, the first building to go back up after that disaster. In 1873 Spafford's wife and four daughters were en route to England aboard the Ville du Havre when it was struck at sea by another ship and sank. Only...

3. Prayers Should Prepare Us

Illustration

Larry Bethune

Reinhold Niebuhr often quoted a remark made to him by an agnostic friend who objected to the church, "not because of its dogmas but because of its trivialities," by which he meant "preoccupation with trivial concerns with the world hanging on the rim of disaster." Fred Craddock was invited to attend a prayer meeting at a home in a wealthy suburb of Atlanta. He said the group shared "weighty" praye...

4. The Marketplace of Ideas and Finding Your Faith

John 14:5-14

Illustration

Larry Bethune

I think both Jesus and Paul listened to people as much as they talked. Paul was in dialogue with his Greek audience enough to know their beliefs and find God revealed in them. But Paul was also not afraid to put his own Christian faith into the marketplace of ideas. Wil Willimon and Stanley Haweras have raised this issue on the DukeUniversity campus in our time. According to Willimon, the popula...

5. The Messiah Is among You

Mark 6:1-6

Illustration

Larry Bethune

You remember the story about the old monastery which was down to just three monks? Years had passed since anyone joined the order. Its time had passed and these three monks figured they would be the last. The abbot in charge shared his sadness with a friend, the neighboring rabbi. The rabbi looked surprised. "Oh no," he said. "Your order will not die. Your monastery will not close. I have had a re...

6. We Are Small

John 16:5-16

Illustration

Larry Bethune

Stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon or fly over the Pacific Ocean. Gaze on the pyramids at Giza that were already more than a thousand years old at the time of the Exodus or hold in your palm a piece of pottery shaped by another hand when Jesus was a boy. Suddenly you see your life for the fragile and brief breath it is. Suddenly you realize the magnitude of this eternal mystery we call "God." Yo...

7. When the Invitation Comes

Matt 9:9-13; Psalm 139:7-10

Illustration

Larry Bethune

You never know where the invitation will come. Abraham was sitting at home. Moses was out in the wilderness. Isaiah was in a worship service. Matthew was at work. The woman caught in adultery was, well, caught in adultery and about to be stoned. I would call that a crisis, wouldn't you? But it doesn't matter where you are or in what situation; God will find you. As the psalmist suggests: Where ...

Showing 1 to 7 of 7all results

Showing all results

1. 24/7

Matthew 16:21-28

Illustration

Larry Bethune

2. How Could He Say That?

John 14:1-4, Matthew 7:24-29

Illustration

Larry Bethune

3. Prayers Should Prepare Us

Illustration

Larry Bethune

4. The Marketplace of Ideas and Finding Your Faith

John 14:5-14

Illustration

Larry Bethune

5. The Messiah Is among You

Mark 6:1-6

Illustration

Larry Bethune

6. We Are Small

John 16:5-16

Illustration

Larry Bethune

7. When the Invitation Comes

Matt 9:9-13; Psalm 139:7-10

Illustration

Larry Bethune

Showing 1 to 7 of 7all results