Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 69 results

1. A Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

Pastor Stephen Crotts tells an amazing story. In the fall of 1971, he says, I visited Leo Tolstoy's home in Moscow. There, tied in bundles and stacked against the wall, were his handwritten manuscripts for all of his great novels - War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Resurrection. For an hour I leafed through the mountain of paper, observing the man's handwriting, his strikeovers, and even the doodl...

2. A Guide to Christmas

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

If you talk about the blind and guides you are talking about seeing-eye dogs. If you discuss Alpine mountains and climbing, you must think of a Swiss guide. If you are ignorant and in college, your guide is a professor. So it is with foreign lands and tour guides, taxes and tax consultants. But what of Christmas? I think many of us feel that Christmas is so easy to find that we don't need a guide....

3. A Landmark Event!

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

During World War II allied armies marched into Germany on their way to Berlin. Retreating German soldiers switched road signs and destroyed landmarks in an effort to confuse their enemy. And, to an extent, it worked, for many a G.I. followed a false marker only to end up in the wrong place. That just goes to show the need for landmarks, the importance of reliable signposts by which to steer. Here...

4. All Mine To Give!

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Do you ever get tired of giving? Have you ever seriously considered dropping out of the ranks of tithers? I have. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by those computer generated appeal letters that come into my office, three or four a day, from ministries in urgent need. Then a man raising his support calls and wants to drop by for an hour to solicit financial backing. After him follows a brother i...

5. An Unsung Hero

2 Tim 1:16-18, 4:19

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

One unsung hero of the Bible is Onesiphorus. He is forever known as a minister to the minister, the one who kept the Apostle Paul on his feet. In 2 Timothy 1:15-18, Paul confided, "You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, b...

6. As Long As It Is Day!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

French author Victor Hugo has a short story titled, "93." In the midst of this tale a ship at sea is caught in a terrific storm. Buffeted by the waves, the boat rocks to and fro, when suddenly the crew hears an awesome crashing sound below deck. They know what it is. A cannon they are carrying has broken loose and is smashing into the ship's sides with every list of the ship. Two brave sailors, at...

7. Bashful Love

Mark 9:32

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

Pastor Stephen Crotts tells the following story: When I was in college my post office box was right next to a pretty little blonde's. She was a tanned Florida Freshman, if you know what I mean. And her name was Sally. Now John, a fellow on my hall, was secretly in love with Sally. And he kept trying to get me to switch post office boxes with him. That way he could be close to Sally. You see, Joh...

8. Church Discipline: A Cure for What Ails the Body

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

When a sixteen-year-old stays out all night drinking, then drives home, a father disciplines him with grounding. When a student cuts class, is late with papers, and turns in inferior work, a college professor disciplines him with failing marks. When an employee is lazy and is caught pilfering company goods, his boss disciplines him by firing him. At the businessman's club a member who skips meetin...

9. Dead Letter Department

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

No doubt you have heard about the postal service's "Dead Letter Department." That's the place where mail goes when it is not clearly addressed or has insufficient postage and the sender's identity cannot be determined. There the letter is opened and its contents examined for clues to the sender's identity. If the return address cannot be determined the letter is destroyed. It never reaches its des...

10. Deep Water!

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

I don't know anyone who's not in over his or her head today ... A plant manager struggling to make payroll in a down economy ... A parent of a rebellious teenager ... An elderly person trying to pay hospital bills out of his tiny pension checks ... A marriage trying to overcome adultery and trust again.... Modern life is a deep and stormy season that can swallow us whole. So thank God there's a B...

11. Deliverance: The Forgotten Third of Jesus' Ministry

Mark 9:14-32

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Russian novelist Fydor Dostoevsky wrote, "God and the devil are at war in the universe and their battlefield is the human heart." Just after Christ's transfiguration one of these skirmishes is to be seen. When Jesus was transfigured, the entire mountain shone with the radiance of heaven. Moses was there. So was Elijah. And when Peter found his voice, he said, "Master, it's good that we are here! ...

12. Do Politics and Religion Mix?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Do Politics And Religion Mix? It was a trap. The Pharisees set it. Jealous that Jesus was gaining a following, they were eager to destroy him, and they'd do it by using his own words against him. So they brought Christ a coin, asking him, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?" If he said yes, he'd anger the Jews because they were an occupied nation suffering the indignities of the Roman army. If ...

13. Do Politics and Religion Mix?

Matthew 22:15-22

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

Our society is still trying to answer the question, do politics and religion mix? The first amendment of the United States Constitution reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion nor prohibit the free exercise thereof." What the first amendment is saying is that government should stay out of religion, but religious people can exercise their faith in the influence of...

14. Do You Get It?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

"Is that really necessary?" It's a question that we may ask when something unpleasant or disturbing has been said or done. If someone brings up a topic like capital punishment or abortion at the dinner table, you might ask rhetorically, "Is that really necessary?" In that situation it probably isn't, but there are times when such issues do have to be discussed. We can't always insist on keeping th...

15. Faith's Curious Dynamic

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

You know that old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true"? We see examples of that again and again in life. During the war in Iraq, Hampton Sides, a journalist who had been slated to be "embedded" with one of our frontline Marine battalions, gave an interview on NRP (National Public Radio). At almost the last possible moment, Sides decided not to go with the Marines, but...

16. Friendship? Yes, Please!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

According to a recent poll only about ten percent of American males say they have a good friend. And while women fare somewhat better, neither do they set a record. Why is this? I believe it is because we place such an emphasis on doing, producing, and having that we have very little time and energy left for developing relationships. In short, we'd rather have things than people. Actually, the ...

17. Go to Heaven?

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Judgment day was the preacher's theme, and he thundered about God's wrath, sin and the day of judgment. A seven-year-old boy listened closely, tugged at his father's sleeve, and asked, "Will they call school off?" He was asking, "What's in it for me?" Judgment day is on Christ's mind here in Matthew 25:31 and following verses. He is describing that fateful day soon "when the Son of Man comes in h...

18. God Knows What I Need

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

A little boy knelt down to say his bedtime prayers. His parents heard him reciting the alphabet in very reverent tones. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "I'm saying my prayers, but I cannot think of the exact words tonight. So, I'm just saying all the letters. God knows what I need, and he'll put all the words together for me." Now, that is not far from a proper way to pray! In seeking p...

19. God, the Enemy

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Do you remember when Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, was executed? As the time of his execution drew near, McVeigh gave a handwritten statement to the warden, intending it to take the place of any verbal comment. In that statement, McVeigh quoted a section of the poem "Invictus," which is Latin for "unconquered." That poem, by nineteen...

20. God, The Venture Capitalist?

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. How does one know anything? How can I know what is true? One means of knowledge is reason. Two plus two equals four is an equation of reasonability. The Bible says, "The wisdom from above is ... open to reason" (James 3:17). The discipline of apologetics is the use of reason to defend the faith. Experience is a second means of knowledge. I know fire burns ...

21. Godly Sexual Passion For An X-Rated World

Song of Songs 2:1-17

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

The Hebrew word for love, awhab or awrag, means "to pant, to long for, to breathe heavily after." Psalm 41:1 says, "As a deer pants for the waters so my soul longs after you." In John 3:16, the idea is that God so loved the world, so breathed heavily after you and me, that he gave his only Son.... God is passionate for you. His breathing is labored. He loves you. There is a book in the Old Te...

22. Have You Gone Far Enough?

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

When I was in divinity school some student had written graffiti on the bathroom wall. And I've never forgotten the humor of it. It went something like this: "And Jesus spake unto Peter saying 'Who do men say that I am?' And Peter answered, 'Thou art, according to Paul Tillich, the very ground of our being. Thou art Emmanuel Kant's deontological categorical imperative. Thou art the man of the Escha...

23. His Last Command ... Our First Concern!

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

In the fall of 1971, I visited Leo Tolstoy's home in Moscow. There, tied in bundles and stacked against the wall, were his handwritten manuscripts for all of his great novels - War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Resurrection. For an hour I leafed through the mountain of paper, observing the man's handwriting, his strikeovers, and even the doodles he made in the margins. An elderly Russian woman, t...

24. History: His Story

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

There have been many who have sought to write a history of the world. Cavemen painted the story of their civilization on the walls of their home. Around 70 A.D., a Hebrew soldier named Josephus surrendered to the Roman army rather than die. Dead men tell no tales, and he said he wanted to live to tell the story of the fall of Jerusalem. Today, his history of the Jewish wars is an invaluable tool t...

25. How Good News Spreads!

1 Kings 8:22-61

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

In 1971 I made a trip to Russia. I was studying literature in England and hitched on to a discount side trip in November. Of special interest to me was the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. I had read his War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Resurrection. Knowing of his Christian faith as well as his literary ability, I was drawn to all things Tolstoy. You can imagine my joy in visiting Bright Glenn, T...

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