Sermon and Worship Resources

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Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... oat flake. According to the Guinness Book of World Records a Sequoia seed weighs only 1/6,000 of an ounce. Talk about a mighty plant from a tiny seed. Not having a giant Sequoia nearby, Jesus spoke of the tiny mustard seed. On another occasion he used the tiny mustard ... fruits of a great harvest, one of millions who shall come and be saved on the day of wrath to come.” God gave Robert Morrison faith to see beyond his meager beginning to a day when a vast multitude of Chinese would follow Christ. On that day ...

2. How To Plant An English Garden

Mark 4:26-29, Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

William G. Carter

... we hear from Mark, Jesus points to the great potential in things that look passive. A farmer works hard in the field, but having planted a crop he must get on with his life. Each day has a rhythm of eating, drinking, and sleeping. The parable insists that he ... patience. God's coming reign is beyond all calculated human effort. We do what we can, and spend the rest of the time living. Robert Capon points out, Once the man in the parable has sown the seed, he does nothing more than mind his own business. He ...

3. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... 3:1; 4:2; 5:12; 10:12; 12:11; 3 John 9–10; 1 Macc. 12:43; 2 Macc. 9:25).2 From the Greco-Roman literature, Robert Jewett supplies the following example: So-and-so, who is conveying this letter to you, has been tested by us and is loved on account of his ... . What materials were utilized in ancient letters? Pen and ink were staples of ancient writing. Pens often were cut from a small reed plant that flourished on the banks of the Nile River. One end of the reed was cut to a point. The point was cut ...

4. The Four R's

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... them nourishment and sustain them through the fierce midday sun. Roots are just as crucial to human beings as they are to plants. Even in this restless U-Haul culture, we still develop a sense of who we are based on where we come from. In ... to take you in. Less familiar is the wife's reply: I should have called it Something you somehow haven't to deserve. (Robert Frost, The Complete Poems of Robert Frost [New York: Henry Holt & Co, 1949], 73). I side with the wife. Home is best seen not as a place where you ...

5. Counting the Apples in a Seed

Mark 4:1-20; Matt 28:16-20

Illustration

Dr. Robert H. Schuller

In his book, Be an Extraordinary Person in an Ordinary World, Rev. Robert H. Schuller tells the story behind a seed he received one day from Ansley Mueller, a ... year, in October, I would walk through the fields and try to pick up a bushel here and a piece there. Then, I saw standing by itself a most extraordinary, unusual looking soybean plant. I walked over and I was shocked by its size and its good looks. I went and carefully picked off the pods. There were 202 pods and I opened them and counted out ...

6. The Evangelist Has a Shady Past

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... now I have a beautiful plant covered with tomatoes!” Obviously, it was a tomato seed, not a mustard seed. (5) Bad witness! It’s true, outright phonies will not gain a hearing for long. But I believe this truth has more general application. Many people today are growing disenchanted with what might be termed “celebrity evangelism.” Certainly, TV evangelists are no longer enjoying the following that they once did. Some of you will remember when evangelist and faith healer Oral Roberts headed a vast TV ...

7. The Church Is Alive and Well

Matthew 16:13-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... debates between McKay and Ingersoll, most of them won by McKay. Because of that telegram churches began to multiply, and thereafter two churches a day were indeed planted in the Methodist church. But the most wonderful footnote of the story did not happen until years later. In 1941, almost fifty years after this took place, Robert Ingersoll's grandson, Robert Ingersoll, III, walked into a church in Chicago, heard the gospel, gave his heart to Jesus, was baptized and became a member of the church. The next ...

8. A Cantankerous Prophet

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... he dies, at least he will do it in comfort. But then dawn comes the next morning and the Lord sends a worm to attack the plant that is shading Jonah so that it withers and dies. Then God sends a hot east wind, and the sun beats down on Jonah’s head. ... belong to one great family, and Christ died for everyone’s sins. Your sins, my sins, but also the sins of our worst enemies. Robert W. Youngs tells of having lunch at a small inn. Across the bottom of the menu was this notice: ONLY CHRISTIANS SERVED HERE. ...

9. "I Don’t Hate Any More!"

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... grace of God to settle. The facts were these: The hedge was two inches on my neighbor’s side of the line. He had planted it there on purpose. He didn’t like preachers! He had placed the hedge there so he wouldn’t seem too close. And now ... During the worst of the storm I went upstairs to see how they were getting on. I went to Betty’s room. No Betty! To Robert’s room. No Robert! To Kitty’s room. No Kitty! What was wrong? Then I heard, above the storm, some muffled sounds in one of the big hall ...

10. Looking for Shoots or Roots?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... by noshing on the alluring flower perched like a crown on the top of this cactus. When the crime was discovered the decapitated plant was lying on its side, with potting soil spilled all over the table. A gaping wound marked the spot where the pinkish- ... said, follow me and I’ll give you the greatest adventures anyone could imagine. In fact, in Romans 16 Paul has what my friend Robert Dale calls a “Risk Takers Hall of Fame.” These were people on whom bet his ministry, and for whom he gives thanks to ...

11. The Dachshund Dilemma

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... of what he calls the “Top Ten Ways to Promote Growth in Your Church.” These suggestions are offered with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but I thought you might enjoy some of them. These are ways we might grow our church: Offer free ... God’s people in the world today. 1 Quoted in David J. Ernsberger, Reviving the Local Church (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969). 2 Robert A. Raines, New Life in the Church (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961). 3. http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/1996-05-26- ...

12. Mark 4:26-34

Mark 4:26-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... being both more literal and more ironic in his use of this image? Some other scholars have suggested that by focusing on the surprising size of the mustard plant sprung from the tiny seed, we miss the most obvious point of Jesus' illustration (See Robert W. Funk, "The Looking Glass Tree Is for the Birds," Interpretation 27 [1973], 3-9). The truth is: A mustard plant is no tree. It is a very large shrub, an annual herb whose surprising capacity for growth allows it to reach considerable size in the length of ...

13. Can I Get Some Help Over Here?

John 14:23-29

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... learning to drive. She tells them the story of the gas can and reminds them, “Before you drive the car, always check the rearview mirror and check the gas gauge.” Robert Fulghum’s final lesson from kindergarten touched on a far more serious issue. He wrote, “Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup (you planted in class) — they all die. So do we.” I will die. You will die and every single person we love will die. And, quite simply, we have to learn to ...

14. A Niche For Every Itch

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... would see a redhead or canvasback slipping into their decoys. These are diving ducks. They dive to great depths to feed on plants growing on the bottom of the lake. Now, in some ways, Anderson says, Christians are like those ducks. Some are puddle ... their witness bear fruit that does not perish. What kind of soil are you? Congressman Stephen Largent was speaking at Oral Roberts University for their 1995 Commencement. He told about walking one afternoon in February across the street from his office building in ...

15. How Does Your Garden Grow?

Matthew 13:1-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Walter is left to fend for himself with his two extremely eccentric uncles Hub and Garth McCann who are played by Robert Duvall and Michael Caine. Mom leaves and there they are sitting on the front porch. Walter asks, "If my Mom calls, ... passage is rather scandalous. When I was farming, you were careful with your seed. It was expensive. You only used the best and you only planted it in the best soil. You didn't just go throwing seed everywhere like this guy did. How wasteful. And maybe that's part of the ...

16. Trees

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

... and continue growing throughout the plant's life. The banyan tree ... plant in our yards--especially if we live in an area threatened by wildfires (defined as any fire that's burning out of control). He notes that the plants ... by planting only succulent plants that ... Lord . . . For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by ... . He or she shall be like a tree planted by a stream. According to Tim Storey in ... so that you can be like a tree planted by the streams of living water? 1. Source ...

17. Mustard Seed Faith

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... faith in God makes a difference." "I have never forgotten the message on the medallion I received from (television pastor) Dr. (Robert) Schuller," he says, "which had this inscription: When faced with a mountain, I will not quit! I will keep on striving ... God to a mustard seed. He called it the tiniest seed on earth but when it grows up, it is taller than any of the other plants in the garden with branches so large that the birds of the air can make their nests in its shade. On another occasion he told his ...

18. People Who Would Destroy God’s Temple

1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... tear up a church. Paul counsels the church at Corinth to grow up. “Who is Paul?” he asks. “Who is Apollos?” Paul plants, Apollos waters, but, he notes, it is God who gives the growth (1 Cor. 3:6). In this lesson Paul compares the ... the combustion engine, however, and with it what we call modern technology, was neither Watt nor Newcomen. It was the great Anglo-Irish chemist Robert Boyle, who did so in a “flash of genius.” Only, Boyle’s engine did not work and could not have worked. For Boyle used ...

19. Hope In A Hostile World

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... all things sacred were either profaned or neglected, this church was built by Sir Robert Shirley.” Wouldn’t you have liked to have known Sir Robert Shirley?! Obviously he knew that God does his best work when situations look hopeless. ... falling on my face and crying out, “O thank you, Lord! Even in a world like this, with poverty and AIDS and death, you are planting hope in the hearts of your servants.” Finally, my hope is solid because I know the final scene of this world’s history. God has ...

20. When God's Dream Captures Your Heart

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... 150 years ago a British citizen by the name of Dr. David Livingstone read the words of Robert Moffatt concerning Africa: “From where I stand,” wrote Robert Moffatt, “I can see the smoke of 10,000 villages that have never heard of Christ.” ... of Africans are Christians because of men and women who, like David Livingstone, gave their all to fulfill a dream God planted in their heart. In like manner Nehemiah became committed to the dream God had given him. Nehemiah applied for and received permission ...

21. Broken Hydrants

Jeremiah 17:19-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... describes another type of person: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not ... That hope is in loving God and loving our neighbor. THIS KIND OF LIFE BEGINS WITH A NEW ORIENTATION TOWARD GOD THROUGH CHRIST. Robert Fulghum, author of such books as ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN always had a secret dream of ...

22. Egypt

Ezekiel 29:1-21, Ezekiel 30:1-26, Ezekiel 31:1-18, Ezekiel 32:1-32

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... passage is reminiscent of the concept of sabbatical years from the Holiness Code (Lev. 25:1–7). Every seventh year, the Israelites were to plant nothing—”in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD” (Lev. 25:4). Should the land ... the pool, to show that “Just a little further” may be a concession to human limitations, and an incentive to hope (Roberts, “Prophetic Prediction,” pp. 249–50). A time of doom for the nations. The MT has only “a time for the ...

23. Dig In

Jeremiah 29:1-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... do about it, then Jeremiah is speaking to you. This is what Jeremiah has to say to you: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters.... Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into ... that reads like this: In the year 1653 When throughout the nation All things sacred where either demolished or profaned Sir Robert Shirley, Baronet, founded this church Whose singular praise it is To have done the best things in the worst times. We are ...

24. The Parable of the Careless Farmer

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... thorns, Jesus said, which grew up and choked the plants. So, it didn’t survive either. This farmer is 0 for 3 to this point. Looks like he will have a poor harvest this year. Finally, however, he got lucky. Some of the seed fell on good soil where it produced a crop a miraculous crop up to a hundred times what was sown. This will not be a bad year after all. Where good seed falls on good soil, amazing things can happen. It reminds me of something Robert Schuller used to say: “Anyone can count the seeds ...

25. A Fruitful Life

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... died.” (1) But I admire the gardeners’ skill. More than that, I admire their passion and their patience because it takes both those qualities to plant and tend a garden, never knowing if it will yield a harvest or not. There is a man in India who is a good example of ... .aninews.in/news/national/general-news/up-nursery-introduces-mango-varieties-named-after-covid-frontline-workers20210524000934/. 4. Robert C. Morgan, Lift High the Cross (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), pp. 103-104. 5. http://www.godrules. ...

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