Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 2926 to 2950 of 4942 results

2926. Hope for Hurting Hearts

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"...Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." Sure does sound like Christmas, doesn't it? I wish everyone could feel it. But the war in Afghanistan goes on. Families that lost loved ones on September 11th are preparing for a holiday that, a year ago, they could have never imagined. There is a certain dissonance to the season. Trips to malls and stores with the sacred Muzak in the air singing of "Joy to the World" or "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" mock the harsh realities ...

2927. Tough Love

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A little boy was sitting at the table in the kitchen looking gloomy and sour: he had just been punished. Suddenly, he asked his mother, "God can do anything He wants, can't He?" To which the mother replied, "Of course." Then the boy asked rhetorically "God doesn't have any parents, does He?" Have you ever felt that way? Probably. At some time or another, we have all felt terribly hemmed in and beaten down by our supposedly loving parents. For those of us who have had children of our own and are concerned ...

2928. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

What a week! The confluences of history have flowed together as never before. On the one hand, bombshells in Baghdad; on the other, bombast in Washington. For someone who is as much of a history buff as I am, these would seem to be exciting times, but instead they are just sickening. As one congressman noted in the impeachment debate on Friday, this is "The Nightmare before Christmas." Under normal circumstances, you would have found me glued to the tube on Friday and Saturday. After all, this was history ...

2929. The View from the Mountaintop

Mark 9:14-32, Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Some important birthdays this week. Our Sunday School Superintendent, Jane Bonavita has a big one today (Lordy, Lordy, Jane is...). Our Director of Music, Debbie Hunter has an even bigger one Thursday (Isn't it nifty, Deb's turning ...). Am I in trouble? Here is one that is safe: on Tuesday, it is Abraham Lincoln's. Had he lived, Mr. Lincoln would be 193 (and, no, I don't have a jingle for that one). Lincoln has always fascinated me. In my view, he was our greatest President. Others feel the same. In fact ...

2930. "A Friend Indeed"

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"A friend in need is a friend indeed." Familiar old aphorism. Do you believe it? Do you UNDERSTAND IT? For a long time, I did not - it is not the clearest. I wondered why in the world someone who is in need should be considered a genuine friend. Instead I rather agreed with whichever wag adjusted the saying to "A friend in need is a PEST!" Finally I realized that the original version meant that a friend to YOU when YOU are in need is a friend indeed. AHA! THAT I believe. Of course, the gospel expects ...

2931. Surprise!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Do you like surprises? Some folks do. Not I. I do not like bad surprises at all and only tolerate good surprises. In general, I prefer NO surprises. I realize that life is full of surprises though, so they will come whether I want them or not. Some will be bigger than others, of course. Ask Mary. She surely got a MAJOR surprise. There she was, doing the dishes or sweeping the floor or sitting engrossed in the latest Harlequin Romance or whatever young Israelite girls did in those days when suddenly ...

2932. One More Angel

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

One of the most familiar stories in all the Bible, isn't it? Even the most irreligious among us have memories of shepherds in bathrobes with towels on their heads. Animals...sometimes cardboard, sometimes live and uncontrollable to the delight of everyone in attendance. There was a Preschool Christmas program at 1st Presbyterian Church, in Winchester, VA a couple of years ago.(1) After the obligatory waves and "Hi Mommy"s, the production began. The angel's sang when they were supposed to. The donkeys ...

2933. Gold, Circumstance, and Mud

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The children in a small Sunday School were putting on the annual pageant. A small girl was chosen to be all the Magi. They practiced and practiced until everyone had the story ready to perform for the whole congregation. When it came time for the Magis' entrance - she majestically swept up the aisle - draped in all the jewels from many garage sales and robes of bits and pieces of all the fine fabrics collected from the remainders box at the local discount store. Pausing and bowing before the infant's crib ...

2934. What's in a Name?

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"What's in a name?" asks Shakespeare. Lots, as it turns out. Ask Essie Mae Washington-Williams. Or should we say Essie Mae Thurmond? We heard about her a couple of weeks ago as the story broke that the late Senator Strom Thurmond, who rose to national prominence on a platform of absolute racial segregation, had, as a young man, fathered an illegitimate child with a black maid employed by his parents. "I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams and, at last, I feel completely free." So said this retired ...

2935. A Tale of Two Sisters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

David E. Leininger

With a title like "A Tale of Two Sisters," I guess this should open with something like "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." But it was neither. Unusual, to be sure. Even a little exciting. After all, these were the days of an itinerant rabbi called Jesus of Nazareth who was attracting quite a bit of attention. At some point previous - we are never told when, where or how - these two sisters, Mary and Martha, along with their brother Lazarus, had been introduced to Jesus. They must have ...

2936. Jerry's Christmas

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Clark D. Cowden

Once upon a time, there was a man named Jerry. Jerry was a builder. He had started off as a carpenter, and learned to build homes and construct small office buildings. He lived in a small, but growing town on the edge of a big city, so there was always a lot of work to be done. He gained a reputation as the best in his field; he was honest, hard-working, didn't rip people off, and did a high quality job. Jerry made a lot of money in his business. He was able to purchase ten acres of land, and built himself ...

2937. God's Plan For Empowerment

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Did you know that there was once a sit-down strike in space? It's true. This strike occurred on the Skylab 4 flight in December 1973. Ground control in Houston was trying to make this final space mission as profitable as possible. They scheduled the astronauts' days so tightly that they were even forbidden to participate in their favorite pastime ” watching the sun and the earth. Houston daily "sent up about six feet of instructions to the astronauts' teleprinter." The civilian physicist on board begged ...

2938. Put Out Your Nets

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

One spring afternoon not long after she and her new husband John moved into the community, Marianne Siebert of Florence, Kansas, decided to visit their elderly neighbors, the McLindens, a mile and a half up the road. The weather was perfect so Marianne saddled her 12-year-old Arabian stallion. Upon arrival, she dismounted and, reins in hand, approached the back door. Apparently, her neighbor had polished the glass in the storm door, because it shone like a mirror. Marianne knocked twice and waited with her ...

2939. Good News For Broken Hearts

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

King Duncan

William Miller, in THE JOY OF FEELING GOOD, relates the story of a woman who went to a psychiatrist because she was severely depressed. As her therapist began to probe her emotions, he discovered she had never worked through the death of her husband many years before. Her husband had died one week after President Kennedy was assassinated. This woman watched with admiration how well Mrs. Kennedy handled the shock and trauma of her husband's death, and when her own husband died, she made up her mind to be ...

2940. Peace

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

One of my favorite PEANUTS cartoons has Lucy coming to Charlie Brown and saying, "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. Since it’s this time of the season, I think we ought to bury past differences and try to be kind." Charlie Brown asks, "Why does it just have to be this time of the season? Why can’t it be all year long?" Lucy looks at him and exclaims, "What are you, some kind of fanatic?" One more Peanuts bit of wisdom. Lucy has a score to settle with Charlie Brown. She chases him, shouting, "I’ll get you, ...

2941. Crying On Palm Sunday

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Ernie Campbell once preached a sermon with the title: "Did Jesus cry? In it he took issue with the familiar Christmas lullaby (sometimes attributed to Martin Luther), which contains the words: "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head." The second verse is the one that caught his attention: "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." Campbell took issue with that verse. Jesus was a normal child. Normal children cry. Campbell ...

2942. How Much Faith Is Enough?

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

The angle from which we view things makes a big difference. Lord Chesterfield once pointed out that a horse looks pretty much like a horse when viewed from ground level, but when you climb up in the loft and look down on a horse from the top, it looks a good deal like a violin. Your perspective is the difference. It is not unusual, in the Gospels, for the same story to be told by two different authors from two different perspectives. The result is often a much richer interpretation. For example, in Matthew ...

2943. A Date With Destiny

Hebrews 10:19-39

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

Some years ago an English journal ran a contest. A prize was offered for the best definition of a "friend." A friend. How would you define a friend? Thousands of replies poured in: A friend is someone "who multiplies joys, and divides grief!" said one. No, thought another; a friend is someone "who understands our silence." A third person suggested: "A friend is a volume of sympathy bound in cloth." But the publishers picked this one as the winning entry: A friend is "the one who comes in when the whole ...

2944. A Cup Of Cold Water

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

Baron De Rothschild was one of the richest men who ever lived. Legend has it that the Baron once posed before an artist as a beggar. While the artist, Ary Scheffer, was painting him, the financier sat before him in rags and tatters holding a tin cup. A friend of the artist entered, and the baron was so well disguised that he was not recognized. Thinking he was really a beggar, the visitor dropped a coin into the cup. Ten years later, the man who gave the coin to Rothschild received a letter containing a ...

2945. Day Of Decision

Mark 14:10-26, 43-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Long, long ago, or so I've been told, Two saints, they met on the streets paved with gold. "By the stars in your crown," said the one to the other, "I see that on earth you, too, were a mother. And by the blue tinted halo, I see that you wear, You, too, have known sorrow and deepest despair." "Ah, yes," came the answer, "I once had a son. A sweet little lad, full of laughter and fun." "But, tell of your child!" "Oh, I knew I was blest, The first moment I held Him, close to my breast; And my heart almost ...

2946. If We Had Known You Were Going To Win . . .

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

King Duncan

A gentleman wrote into The Christian Herald magazine. In their family, he said, it was a custom to have a sing-along while traveling by car. It helped keep their boys out of trouble and in a good mood. On one trip their eldest son, Aaron, asked if they could sing the “Gravy Song.” “What’s that?” The rest of the family asked. “Teach it to us.” With all innocence Aaron began singing the Easter hymn, “Up from the gravy arose.” (1) It’s sad that the only day of the year when churches sing the gravy song is ...

2947. The Patron Saint Of All Who Are The Last To Know

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

One of the great movie lines is found in the Paul Newman classic, Cool Hand Luke. Newman plays a prisoner in a southern work camp who never quits trying to escape. Each time he is recaptured the prison warden greets him with that famous line, "Son, what we have here, is a failure to communicate." It Is a Failure to Communicate which Is Found in the Easter Stories. It matters not if those stories are found in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John; they all illustrate failures in communication. Instead of overwhelming ...

2948. What Would Jesus Really Do?

1 Peter 2:13-25

Sermon

King Duncan

One the fastest-selling items in religious bookstores over the past few years has been a little bracelet with the letters "W-W-J-D" engraved on it. Those letters stand for "What Would Jesus Do?" That question was the central focus of a small book written more than one hundred years ago titled IN HIS STEPS. IN HIS STEPS is the story of a somewhat complacent church congregation that is goaded by a tramp into taking seriously their mission in the world as followers of Jesus. When the tramp dies, the deeply ...

2949. Straight Backs And Rekindled Dreams

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

What's it like to live without hope? What's it like to finally decide that your dreams are beyond your abilities and to resign yourself to living without any prospect that things will get better? The closest thing I could find to a picture of a person totally without hope comes from a book by Dr. David Jeremiah titled The Power of Encouragement. Dr. Jeremiah tells about an old Alfred Hitchcock show which featured the story of an evil woman jailed for committing a murder. The woman soon realizes that her ...

2950. Trying To Grasp The Meaning Of It All

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Philip and Joan Gulley are no different from most of us. Before they had children, they thought they knew exactly how they would handle every situation. They imagined sharing pearls of timeless parental wisdom with their children and guiding them gently along life's paths. But it didn't turn out like that. Philip remembers one Christmas when the Gulley's toddler son, Spencer, became fascinated with the family Nativity set. One day, he dipped one of the figurines in ketchup and proceeded to lick it off. ...

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