Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. A Race Down the Mississippi

Illustration

Max Lucado

Clovis Chappell, a minister from a century back, used to tell the story of two paddleboats. They left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail's pace of the other. Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boa...

2. Are You a Believer?

John 17:20-26

Illustration

Max Lucado

Max Lucado, tells the following story with wit and style. Some time ago I came upon a fellow on a trip who was carrying a Bible. "Are you a believer?" I asked him. "Yes," he said excitedly. I've learned you can't be too careful. "Virgin birth?" I asked. "I accept it." "Deity of Jesus?""No doubt." "Death of Christ on the cross?""He died for all people." Could it be that I was face to face wit...

3. Do You Recognize Satan?

Romans 7:7-25

Illustration

Max Lucado

Author Max Lucado offers two very simple strategies for protecting ourselves from sin and temptation. The first is to recognize Satan. So often, we are lured into a sin because it looks so attractive, so fulfilling, so right at the time. So we find ways to rationalize our actions and make excuses for our attitudes. Instead, we must be like Jesus in the desert and call Satan by name. No more s...

4. Father's Day: A Tribute

Ephesians 6:1-4

Illustration

Max Lucado

Today is Father's Day. A day of cologne. A day of hugs, new neckties, long-distance phone calls, and Hallmark cards. Today is my first Father's Day without a father. For thirty-one years I had one. I had one of the best. But now he's gone. He's buried under an oak tree in a west Texas cemetery. Even though he's gone, his presence is very near--especially today. It seems strange that he is...

5. It's In Your Hands

Illustration

Max Lucado

Jungle Aviation and Radio Service (JAARS), the flying department of Wycliffe Bible Translators had flown thousands of hours over a 25 year span without one fatal accident before April 7, 1972. On that day, a Piper Aztec lost its right engine and crashed in Papua New Guinea, killing all seven persons aboard. The Aztec had just rolled out of the Wycliffe maintenance hangar the day before following a...

6. Just a Band-Aid

1 John 1:8–9

Illustration

Max Lucado

We do ourselves no favors in justifying our deeds or glossing over our sins. Max Lucado tells how, when his daughter Andrea was five or six, she got a splinter in her finger. He took her to the restroom and set out some tweezers, ointment, and a Band-Aid. She didn’t like what she saw. “I just want the Band-Aid, Daddy.” Sometimes we are just like Andrea. We come to Christ with our sin, but all we...

7. Life's Little Fragments

Illustration

Max Lucado

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength. People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. "This horse is not a horse to me," he would tell them. "It i...

8. Little Bit of Haggin

Illustration

Max Lucado

Abraham Lincoln once listened to the pleas of the mother of a soldier who'd been sentenced to hang for treason. She begged the President to grant a pardon. Lincoln agreed. Yet, he's reported to have left the lady with the following words: "Still, I wish we could teach him a lesson. I wish we could give him just a little bit of hangin'."

9. Never Alone in the Dark

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Max Lucado

Sue Monk Kidd was pregnant with her second child. Her three-year-old son, Bob, was afraid of the dark. Sue tried everything. She tried leaving a light on in the hall and a night-light on in Bob's room. Nothing she did helped; he was still scared of the dark and would cry out in the middle of the night. One night as she held him against her to comfort him, he touched her round abdomen. Little Bob a...

10. Our Greatest Need

John 20:1-18

Illustration

Max Lucado

"If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, So God sent us a Savior!"

11. Seeing for the First Time

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

Max Lucado

For 51 years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn't see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see. A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had sight. He found it overwhelming. "I never would have dreamed that yellow is so...yellow," he exclaimed. "I don't have the words...

12. The Bus Ride to Salvation

Illustration

Max Lucado

Norman Geisler, as a child, went to a Daily Vacation Bible School because he was invited by some neighbor children. He went back to the same church for Sunday School classes for 400 Sundays. Each week he was faithfully picked up by a bus driver. Week after week he attended church, but never made a commitment to Christ. Finally, during his senior year in High School, after being picked up for churc...

13. The Doctor's Brave Volunteer

Illustration

Max Lucado

February 15, 1921. New York City. The operating room of the Kane Summit Hospital. A doctor is performing an appendectomy. In many ways the events leading to the surgery are uneventful. The patient has complained of severe abdominal pain. The diagnosis is clear: an inflamed appendix. Dr. Evan O'Neill Kane is performing the surgery. In his distinguished thirty-seven-year medical career, he has perfo...

14. THE PLAYER WHO PULLED HIS PANTS DOWN

Amos 1:1-2:5

Illustration

Max Lucado

Steve Lyons will be remembered as the player who dropped his pants. He could be remembered as an outstanding infielder ... as the player who played every position for the Chicago White Sox ... as the guy who always dove into first base ... as a favorite of the fans who high fived the guy who caught the foul ball in the bleachers. He could be remembered as an above-average player who made it with a...

15. The Story of Sarah's Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:10

Illustration

Max Lucado

Sarah was rich. She had inherited twenty million dollars. Plus she had an additional income of one thousand dollars a day. That's a lot of money any day, but it was immense in the late 1800s. Sarah was well known. She was the belle of New Haven, Connecticut. No social event was complete without her presence. No one hosted a party without inviting her. Sarah was powerful. Her name and money would...

16. Too Big To Cry

Illustration

Max Lucado

In 1858 the Illinois legislature using an obscure statute sent Stephen A. Douglas to the U.S. Senate instead of Abraham Lincoln, although Lincoln had won the popular vote. When a sympathetic friend asked Lincoln how he felt, he said, "Like the boy who stubbed his toe: I am too big to cry and too badly hurt to laugh."

17. We Need Martha and Mary

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

Max Lucado

Max Lucado is right on target when he writes: "Every church needs a Martha. Change that. Every church needs a hundred Marthas. Sleeves rolled up and ready, they keep the pace for the church. Because of Marthas the church budgets get balanced church buildings get repaired and cleaned babies get bounced on loving knees in the nursery. You don't appreciate Marthas until a Martha is missing and all th...

18. You Can Go Home Again

Luke 15:11-32

Illustration

Max Lucado

Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother's heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly packed to go find ...

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

Max Lucado

Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leave you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, "Do you like it? I did it just for you."

Max Lucado

There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes - seize it, don't miss it.

Max Lucado

You change your life by changing your heart.

Max Lucado

Showing 1 to 22 of 22all results

Showing all results

1. A Race Down the Mississippi

Illustration

Max Lucado

2. Are You a Believer?

John 17:20-26

Illustration

Max Lucado

3. Do You Recognize Satan?

Romans 7:7-25

Illustration

Max Lucado

4. Father's Day: A Tribute

Ephesians 6:1-4

Illustration

Max Lucado

5. It's In Your Hands

Illustration

Max Lucado

6. Just a Band-Aid

1 John 1:8–9

Illustration

Max Lucado

7. Life's Little Fragments

Illustration

Max Lucado

8. Little Bit of Haggin

Illustration

Max Lucado

9. Never Alone in the Dark

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Max Lucado

10. Our Greatest Need

John 20:1-18

Illustration

Max Lucado

11. Seeing for the First Time

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

Max Lucado

12. The Bus Ride to Salvation

Illustration

Max Lucado

13. The Doctor's Brave Volunteer

Illustration

Max Lucado

14. THE PLAYER WHO PULLED HIS PANTS DOWN

Amos 1:1-2:5

Illustration

Max Lucado

15. The Story of Sarah's Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:10

Illustration

Max Lucado

16. Too Big To Cry

Illustration

Max Lucado

17. We Need Martha and Mary

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

Max Lucado

18. You Can Go Home Again

Luke 15:11-32

Illustration

Max Lucado

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

Max Lucado

Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leave you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, "Do you like it? I did it just for you."

Max Lucado

There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes - seize it, don't miss it.

Max Lucado

You change your life by changing your heart.

Max Lucado

Showing 1 to 22 of 22all results