Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 351 to 375 of 3160 results

Matthew 21:28-32

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... my face! I'd be hurting myself by doing a halfway job. You know, some people only do a halfway job of following Jesus. They sort of believe in Jesus, and sometimes they live the way He taught us to live. But most of the time, they don't really care ... that Jesus was really God's Son. They don't want to love others, or help poor people, or learn about God. Those people are sort of like halfway Christians. But Jesus doesn't want us to go halfway in our faith. He wants us to believe in Him completely. He ...

352. Believing Isn’t Easy

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... ) Similarly, when I say, I believe in God... I am not saying that I know all about God (who does?) or even that I believe that such a being as God exists, Someone in the great Somewhere as a popular song put it some years ago. That sort of believing costs nobody anything. That sort of belief IS easy. But Christian Faith is not. Christian Faith means that I believe that I have come to know God’s character in such a way that I am willing to put my trust in God. No, true faith isn’t easy. If some of ...

353. What the Heck Is Sin?

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... a person is a man. Nothing could be worse than that. The Bible takes the fact of sin very seriously. It says that our hearts, left to themselves, are capable of harboring all sorts of evil and wickedness. It is interesting to note that psychology today, now that it has grown out of its infancy, freely admits that there are all sorts of weird things going on in the cellars of our souls. We might even say that we have rediscovered sin. We may call it by another name. We may call it maladjustment, a complex ...

354. God’s Body Language

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... was in any sense fully human.” So it seems that we still have Gnostics and Docetists among us. A Christ who breathes the same air that we do, walks the same roads that we do, was subject to the same trials and temptations as we are...that sort of Christ is not for them. I remember the stir that was created a few years back when a Presbyterian professor named William Phipps wrote a book titled “Was Jesus Married?” In the book he offered strong circumstantial evidence that the answer to his question was ...

355. Grace Is Not a Blue-eyed Blond

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... there is a heap of grace in what we call the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible as well. Throughout the earliest pages of the Bible we find a God who is filled with suffering, patient, love. Yes, there are some pages in the Bible which seem to portray a different sort of God, for it took a long time for God’s children to come to realize the full extent of God’s love, but it present in the Bible from the very first. When Adam and Eve disobey, God recants on His threat of death, and instead makes them clothes ...

356. Jesus: The Life of the Party

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... real miracle, of course, is that Jesus first chose to "reveal His glory" not by jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem where everybody could see it, nor in the courts of the Pharisees where wise men could debate over it, but in a sort of offhand way in a humble home in a village in Galilee which we cannot even identify with certainty on the map today. Some years ago David Redding, a Presbyterian writer, said, "Who could guess that He would fling away His first miracle as a lighthearted bouquet ...

357. What about Spiritual Healing?

John 4:43-54

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... number of persons.” Now, in our Scripture lesson we find an example of healing being done by Jesus at a distance. At first the royal official from Capernaum probably began with the notion of healing as some sort of magic in which the healer had to come to the patient, lay hands on him, and mutter some sort of incantation to ward off evil spirits. But Jesus put all of this aside, and said to him, simply, “Go...your son will live.” His personal presence by the boy’s bedside was not necessary. This may ...

358. How Free Are We?

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... of Communist domination, any number of people escaped to the West, only to defect from their defection and return to the Soviet Union because freedom was frightening. They are like the man who quit his job sorting potatoes. The job was simple. All he had to do was to sort potatoes into three piles: large, medium, and small. But he soon quit, saying, “The decisions are killing me!” Authoritarian governments and authoritarian religions have one advantage: they eliminate the necessity of having to make ...

359. Doors Are for Entering

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... am the door,” the “gate,” or whatever... the word suggests “home.” In a book titled Waiting Upon God and written by A.B. Davidson in 1904, the author gives us this poignant statement about doors: That figure of a door is worth dwelling on. Christ uses it in a sort of absolute way. There is a door, an entrance, a way in... he does not say in from where nor into what. It is a way in, in where and in from what our own hearts will suggest to us... Sometimes, when one comes in youth from a distant home ...

360. Some Said It Thundered

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... was now silent. In Jesus’ day the rabbis spoke of what was called in Hebrew the “bath qol,” literally, “the daughter of a voice.” It was not really the voice of God per se, but was rather what you might call the faint echo of a voice, sort of like the famous smile of Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat. By Jesus’ time people had come to believe that the days of the prophets were over, that God no longer spoke directly to His world, but rather must communicate through intermediaries such as angels, or ...

361. One Commandment, Slightly Used

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... , is no! It is not enough. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” is a wonderful maxim, and it can be found in many different religions of the world. Any happy pagan could conceivably subscribe to it. But it can degenerate into sort of a “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” philosophy. The Gospel, however, gives us an added dimension. For the Christian the Golden Rule must become, “Do unto others as Christ has done unto you.” In Jesus Christ we see God’s unconditional ...

362. Whatever Happened to those Mansions?

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... North Carolina pastor was infuriated at the “cheapskates” who translated the RSV. He said that he had been promised a mansion in the sky in the King James Version and nobody, but nobody, was going to cheat him out of it! I can appreciate his sentiment. I sort of miss that old word “mansions” myself. It took a while for me to get used to using the newer version in conducting funeral rituals. I finally made the switch to the newer version because I stopped and tried to visualize what a house with many ...

363. The Jesus Connection

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... if all that man has thought and discovered and invented could be linked up with the loving purposes of God...but cut off from love they count for nothing. in spite of all his efforts, apart from God man cannot turn prowess into progress.” There are all sorts of metaphors in this saying of our Lord, “I am the vine.” Let me conclude with one more. Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches point up a connectedness with Him and with one another. We are simply not designed to “go it alone” in this ...

364. Is Conscience the Best Guide?

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... , they are more likely to be the voice of our parents or of society. Early in life we discover that certain things which we do bring rewards, while other things bring punishments. And so we develop a "conscience" about certain things. In this view, conscience becomes sort of a gauge which warns us whether or not certain actions will be approved by our peers. In this case, conscience often becomes nothing more than the fear of being found out. H.L. Mencken said that "Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit ...

365. Who Counted the Fish?

John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... room within the Gospel net for all the peoples of the earth, people of every race and clan and tribe, but they are together and the net does not break! What a ringing affirmation of the fact that in the Church of Jesus Christ there is room for all sorts of people, people of every race and clime and tongue. The Church is supposed to be inclusive, and not exclusive. Perhaps this is the reason why the 21st chapter of John is tacked onto the rest of the story. But there may well be another reason. Perhaps the ...

366. On Panicking Close to Shore

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... ,” Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., Inc., P.235) If there were any false Messiahs or would-be leaders of the people in revolt against Rome, they would be expected to put forth their claims at Passover time. If there were going to be any sort of political revolt, it would take place at Passover. This possibility is what led Pontius Pilate to leave his beautiful summer palace in Caesarea by the sea and journey down to Jerusalem, to take up residence in the Antonia Fortress so that he could keep his eye ...

367. Only the Neighbors’ Kid

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... , my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” We often misunderstand and take this to be a cry of dereliction; it was instead a proclamation of a deep faith, for the Psalm which begins in despair ends in hope (look it up) and it is said that this was sort of a “Now I lay me down to sleep prayer” which Jesus would have learned at His mother’s knee. Fortunate is any child who has parents who share their faith with their children. I once heard of a Sunday School teacher who suddenly asked her pupils, “Why do ...

368. One Bad Apple

Matthew 26:47-56

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... blew up. Possibly the Acts narrative implies suicide, for it says that Judas fell headlong. (Acts 1:18) It could mean either that he hung himself or threw himself from a precipice. But what happened to Judas ultimately? That’s what many have wished to know. All sorts of lurid legends have cropped up around this man whom many centuries later the poet Dante was to locate in the lowest depth of the ninth circle of hell. The New Testament itself brings down the curtain on his life in Acts 1:25 where it says ...

369. The Thirteenth Apostle

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... two: a man named “Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.” (Acts 1:23, 26) But Matthias was never heard from again! Evidently some sort of mistake was made. Perhaps the apostles were not as careful as they ought to have been. Perhaps the hour was getting late, and they were getting tired. Perhaps they had been sitting through meetings all day.....and by the end of the day they ...

370. The Chicken or the Egg

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, draw near with faith... How often I have uttered those words from memory, sort of putting my tongue in high gear and my mind in neutral, and rattling them off unthinkingly. When I read Pastor Kenney’s words, ... or only marginally repentant, how can one ever know whether one had done enough penance? Just in case, I stored up all sorts of Hail Marys and Our Fathers against that day. The problem with this kind of theology is two-fold: either it leads ...

371. The Laying on of Hands

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... themselves after the funeral...not eating or drinking certain things, not working, etc. and etc. One particularly poignant practice was that in the case of a young life cut off too soon (like the one in the story) if the young person had not yet been married, sort of a form of marriage service was part of the burial rites. Bizarre! How sad and tragic all of these customs seem to us, we who bury our loved ones with grief, but grief tempered with the Christian promise of resurrection. As St.Paul said: We do ...

372. Dealing with Our Doubts

Mark 9:14-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... possible to him who believes.” All things? That’s a pretty broad statement. And it must be seen in the light of Jesus’ own teaching and life. It is not appropriate to ask God to do parlor tricks. Jesus is not advocating our using faith as sort of magic for our own personal advantage. He rejected that temptation Himself, when the devil dared him to jump off a cliff and trust God to save Him. The God of Jesus Christ doesn’t do parlor tricks. Jesus rejected that temptation, and by implication, rejected ...

373. Palm Sunday (Prologue)

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... for His own personal benefit. A simpler explanation might be found in the possibility that Jesus had traveled this route many times before and had often seen the colt. It was common back then for people to hire out their animals for those going on a journey—sort of a first-century “Avis rent-a-donkey.” Either way, the point is not lost; the colt had never been ridden before. It was a special animal set aside for a special purpose. “The Lord has need,” said Jesus’ students. And the owner of the ...

374. Holy Monday

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... . An angry Christ? Yes, according to the Gospel record, Christ did get angry. And He got angry over something a whole lot more important than a dress code. In fact, it might be argued that the attitude expressed by the good father in Dayton was precisely the sort of attitude that made Jesus really angry—putting roadblocks in front of people who wish to come to Him. The first place where it says He got angry was when He was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath. (Mark 3:5) The other place anger is not mentioned ...

375. To a Life Beyond

John 6:51-58, Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... dying day. And when it comes to my last cast, I then most humbly pray, When in the Lord's landing net, And peacefully asleep, That in His mercy I be judged big enough to keep. (Author unknown) How big is a "keeper" in the Lord's eyes? What sort of person gets into heaven? Revelation 7:9 mentions those in white robes, palm branches in hands, who praise God saying, "Salvation belongs to our God." "Who are they?" verse 13 asks. To which verse 14 replies, "They are those who've washed their robes in the blood ...

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