Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 165 results

1. Failure to Fortune

Illustration

Bernard Marr

... dropped out of Harvard and set up a business called Traf-O-Data. The partnership between him, Paul Allen and Paul Gilbert was based on a good idea (to read data from roadway traffic counters and create automated reports on traffic flows) but a flawed business model left the company with few customers. The company ran up losses between 1974 and 1980 before it was closed. However, Bill Gates and Paul Allen took what they learned and avoided those mistakes when they created the Microsoft empire. (Bernard Marr ...

2. Celebrity Culture

Psalm 95:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the food of the promised land because we're too bloated from junk food?) Next month our daughter will join a hundred or so other Girl Scouts in earning a new merit badge. The Girl Scouts will spend an afternoon at millionaire/philanthropist/music fan Paul Allen's ode to rock'n'roll, the architect Frank Gehry's unique (from the air it looks like a three story smashed Jimi-Hendrix guitar) "Experience Music Project" (or EMP) in downtown Seattle. The Girl Scouts will be learning how to sing, dance and perform ...

3. Night Vision

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... culture where vision is another name for how to get rich. For some vision has resulted in untold riches. The vision of the Carnegies and Vanderbilts. The vision of a Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Sam Walton. The vision of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and Paul Allen. But for others the vision thing hasn't worked out so well in the world's valuation system. The vision of Joan of Arc got her burned at the stake. The vision of Martin Luther got him excommunicated from the church. The vision of Nelson Mandela got ...

4. A Maturing Faith

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... know that we can count on God to care for us and to provide for our needs. We learn to trust in that providential care of God. Paul and Silas had learned to trust that God would provide for their needs. Following Christ was a walk of faith for them. That did not mean ... of being shattered will be cut and shaped so we can best reflect his light."1 In the face of a tremendous tragedy, Allen bears witness to his faith in God. The power and the clarity of his witness are magnified by his willingness to carry the ...

5. Created For Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... Paul. Our problem is that we look too often to the values of others for moral guidance and not to God. Allen Dixon's father is a TV repairman. Allen says that when his Dad comes home in the evening, the last thing his Dad wants to think about is repairing televisions. Allen ... Only when we are joined with Christ can we ever say we are free. "For freedom Christ has set us free," says St. Paul. "Stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 1. "Hard Times," LIFE, Oct. 1992, p. 21. 2. SUCCESS ...

6. A Ministry of Encouragement

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... no one in this room who does not need that from time to time. We need to be affirmed, appreciated, applauded. St. Paul was an encourager. He applauded those who deserved to be applauded. He affirmed those who needed to be affirmed. He was ... .’ And my life might have demonstrated my belief.” (4) A simple word of encouragement from his granddad was life-changing for Richard Allen Farmer. Writer Ben Burton tells about a member of his family whom he calls, Blank. Blank--the kid who didn’t fit in. Blank ...

7. Getting Rid Of Fear

2 Timonty 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... interview Steve Allen once had with a doctor, Allen's guest said to him, "The only two really instinctive fears in men are the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. What are you afraid of, Mr. Allen?" Without skipping a beat, Steve Allen responded, "I ... the man, "he's a carpenter. He sawed the legs off my bed." (3) Well, there are all kinds of solutions to fear, but St. Paul gives us the most helpful one. He writes to Timothy, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which ...

8. Advent 3

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28, Isaiah 61:1-11, John 1:19-28, John 1:1-18

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... at Pentecost and it is the function of the church to keep that fire from blowing out. Faith that's more than skin deep. Paul prays that God might sanctify the believers "through and through." He prays that they might be wholly Christ's in spirit, soul and body ... (grace). These three points can be the outline for your sermon. The Lord still liberates people from bondage. Take the case of Allen Underwood, a drug addict and dealer who spent years of his youth running on the wild side. In 1985 he landed in prison ...

9. What Part of “You Shall Not” Don’t You Understand?

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... there is no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, we spin in endless circles of conflict, reciprocity, and defeat. Steve Allen, one of the few entertainers of our time who has not succumbed to the invading ethical relativists, wrote ... — yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them" (Romans 1:32). In addition to the wrath of God on all ungodliness, Paul also speaks about the gospel of God. This gospel is the corrective for his times and our times. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it ...

10. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Daniel 2:24-49, Daniel 2:1-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... like drunken men; they were at their wits end." Haven't you been at your wits end occasionally? Can you identify with St. Paul and his associates who were caught in a storm at sea? This is how Luke described it: "When neither sun nor stars appeared ... Congress. Also, was serving on the Board of Trustees of his local church. Then Judy concluded, "I remember how anxious we were when God loaned Allen to us. There is no way I can describe how much joy that boy has brought into my life in these twenty years. God is ...

11. The Hardest Thing That God Could Ask

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... providing rams in the bush. God turns out rams in the bush like Ford turns out cars. We must teach our children this truth which Paul shared with the Corinthians: “… God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything….” ... into my life in these 20 years. God is good!” The Rudicks knew they could not provide for all of Allen’s needs. But they know One who could. The writer Humphrey Lee had an opportunity to visit a small county airport ...

12. Magnify Your Ministry!

Romans 11:11-24

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... and women interested in the ministry. Dr. Charles Allen tells of a young man who came into his office seeking a career. He asked, "What does the ministry have to offer me?" Dr. Allen replied, "You asked the wrong question. Perhaps you ... now, in our time. The Sunday school song by C. Austin Miles was once brushed aside as poor theology and worse methodology, but both St. Paul and time have proved Miles’ lyrics to be both right and effective: If to Christ our only king men redeemed we strive to bring, Just ...

13. Don't Be Ashamed . . .

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

King Duncan

... convention of the Democratic Party. "I fail to see any clergyman here," said the presiding chairman, "so I shall call on Mr. William Allen White to open the convention with prayer." White rose and replied, "You will have to excuse me. I am not up to ... words will have more meaning if, in our minds, we can see a real man writing to a real, though younger, friend.] The first thing Paul does in his letter to Timothy is to express his gratitude for the kind of person Timothy is. He affirms him. "I am grateful to ...

14. The Problem of Unanswered Prayer

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... brains out and then read in the papers they'd found something," (from his film Love and Death, 1975). Throughout his films, Allen has kept asking the questions of life's ultimate meaning and considering the possibility that there is a God, and that this ... others have prayed for us, so we then are to offer prayers of thanksgiving for their faithfulness to us. Thus, as Paul counsels Timothy, we find the "answers" to our "unanswered" prayers in Scripture and throughout the tradition of the body of Christ. From ...

15. What Are Spiritual Gifts For?

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... -called New Age spirituality. Charles Allen, the great Houston, Texas, pastor, used a technique many ministers have alluded to in their efforts to travel. Sometimes on an airplane you just want to be left alone. Allen, when he didn’t want ... whom Christ died. We sometimes forget just how primitive was the organizational structure of the early church. They had no statements of faith. Paul is writing to a people who have nothing but a story that was transmitted orally and evidence of how his life was changed ...

16. Some Things We Can Do, God Can't

2 Timothy 2:13

Sermon

King Duncan

... say, and omniscient ” all powerful and all knowing. There is nothing beyond God's power. There is nothing God cannot do. And yet, St. Paul tells us that there IS one thing God can't do. Listen closely to these words that he wrote to Timothy: "If we are ... see, God's nature and God's name is Love. There is one thing God simply cannot do. He cannot deny Himself. 1. Steve Allen, HI-HI, STEVERINO! (New Jersey: Barricade Books, Inc., 1992), p. 99. 2. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, October 1, 1984, p. 23 3. Robert C. ...

17. Dim Visions And Blind Guides

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... to know the way had suddenly lost the way. But they were still serving as guides and professors. The messages of Jesus and Paul are not just aimed at professional preachers and teachers. They are aimed at everyone who fancies himself or herself a devout believer. You ... was a logical request to the Son of God. Comedian Woody Allen used to say, for example, that he would believe in God if God would give him a sign, like a million dollar deposit in Allen's name in a Swiss bank account. The Pharisees weren't ...

18. The Miracle of Christ

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... that is God! These computer people are hungering, lonely and frustrated. A magazine article suggests that Woody Allen is a theologian. It states that Woody Allen, funny man, in his play "Love and Death," reveals his own desperate hungering after God. It is ... to Africa as Alex Haley discovered, but to God. To God, the living God; and I was at home. I really began to understand what Paul was saying when he declared: "I live; I live." And then, checking himself, he cried out: "No! No! Not I, Christ lives in me." ...

19. Prologue to the Law of the Temple: The Lord Comes Home

Ezekiel 40:1--43:12

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... is walking about in a three-dimensional structure, even though the complex is generally measured in only two dimensions (as Allen notes; Ezekiel 20–48, pp. 228, 236). As Stevenson observes, this two-dimensional measurement serves to set boundaries that ... , “Temple Architecture: What Can Archaeology Tell Us about Solomon’s Temple?” BAR 13 [1987], pp. 38–49). 41:22 Wooden altar. Paul Joyce proposes that this is the altar of incense rather than the table of the showbread (see “Ezekiel 40–42,” p. ...

20. The Law of the Temple

Ezekiel 43:13-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31, Ezekiel 45:1-12, Ezekiel 45:13--46:24

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... , p. 479; Eichrodt, Ezekiel, p. 564; Wevers, Ezekiel, p. 220; Zimmerli, Ezekiel 2, pp. 453–54; and Hals, Ezekiel, p. 319). Allen (Ezekiel 20–48, p. 261) suggests that “the Carian royal guards of 2 Kgs. 11, from southwest Asia Minor” are in ... 43:13 The altar. There is ample biblical precedent for presenting laws regarding the altar at the beginning of a law code (see S. M. Paul, Studies in the Book of the Covenant in the Light of Cuneiform and Biblical Law [VTSup 18; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970], p. 34). ...

21. All This And Heaven Too

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . First, let’s get a perspective on the yearning for immortality that is ours. Most of us are like Woody Allen. Now I don’t quote Woody Allen as a great theologian, but most of us are like him, he said he didn’t want to achieve immortality ... he said, we will have a resurrected new body. And just as the Greeks had an analogy to talk about the immortality of the soul, so Paul had an analogy to talk about the resurrection of the body. He said it’s like a farmer, planting a seed in the ground, and the ...

22. All This And Heaven Too

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

23. Partners With the Eternal

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

... in his hands, committing them to this same purpose, entering into partnership with him. It is not an empty phrase when the Apostle Paul writes of God's people "as workers together with him." (2 Corinthians 6:1) It is a phrase packed with enormous and ... the liberation of Fort Ticonderoga. How great was God, and how good, to have wrested that fort from the enemy! Ethan Allen, having sat through as much of this as he could endure, interrupted the pastor, saying, "Parson Dewey ... Parson Dewey, please mention ...

24. Where's George?

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... at one time he actually did leave town and disappear for a while, causing a repentant Gracie to try to quell the publicity. Finally, George Allen came out of hiding and resumed his life as an accountant, but he remained the butt of jokes for a long time afterwards. (1) One ... 92-94. 2. Elliot Johnson, The Point After (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Daybreak Books, Zondervan Publishing House, 1987). 3. Paul G. Ashdown, American Journeys and General Washington's Ghost," Vital Speeches of the Day, November 1, 1994, p ...

25. The Treasure Principles

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... that he gives, the happier he is. Happiness is not what you keep. That’s a deception. It’s what you give.” St. Paul helped us understand why a giver feels joy. He wrote, “God loves a cheerful giver.” (II Cor. 9:7) When you bring God pleasure ... invited him to ride with him in a horse-drawn wagon to the town of Cleveland to buy supplies. Just before they got to town Mr. Allen gave Charles a dime, the first dime the boy had ever had. His father told him he could spend it any way he liked. Now back in ...

Showing results