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Children's Sermon
Wesley T. Runk
Objects: An egg timer, a clock, and a television schedule. Good morning, boys and girls. Did you know that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth? (Let them answer.) That's what the Bible says. It teaches us that Jesus is coming back at a certain time and that only the Father in heaven knows just when. We know the time of almost everything we do, or want to do in the future. If I wanted to cook so...
Children's Sermon
Teresa L. Major
Object: None Lesson: It is important to be prepared because we never know what's coming. Preparation: Be familiar with Matthew 24:36-44. A few years ago, my sister and I went to the beach for the weekend. We stayed way up high on an upper floor of a hotel. We had a great time, swimming, shopping, watching dolphins jump, and just relaxing. But the last night we were there something frightening h...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
I just read about two Senior Citizens who were out for their usual morning walk. They both had been complaining about the aches and pains of getting older. As they passed the local funeral home one of them turned to the other and said, "Look there's no hope of recovery, we're just getting older. Let's just go in and give ourselves up." (1) I also read about a For Sale ad in the Roanoke, Illinois,...
Sermon
King Duncan
Mr. Smith is riding through Manhattan with a reckless cab driver. At the first intersection they come to, the cab driver runs a red light. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” Mr. Smith yells. “That was a red light!” “Don’t worry, fella,” the cabbie replies, “My brother drives a cab too, and he does that all the time.” Mr. Smith grits his teeth and tries to remain calm, but he loses his cool when the dr...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
A ninety-six year old man won fifty million dollars in the lottery. When his family was notified, they called their pastor for help since they were afraid the news might cause the old fellow to have a heart attack. The pastor agreed to help. He went over to visit the elderly man. They talked about the weather and life in general. Finally the minister asked the old man, “Suppose you won fifty milli...
Sermon
Charles L. Aaron
This morning is the first Sunday of Advent, and therefore the first Sunday of the church year. We begin Year A of the cycle, which is Matthew's year. When I read the scripture lesson, you may have noticed a couple of things. You may have noticed that we read a passage from near the end of Matthew. It may seem strange to read from near the end of the book that will guide us during the next year. Sh...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
"Be Prepared." It's the Boy Scout motto. It's also what we tell ourselves as wild winter weather approaches. Local television stations compete with one another to be known as the storm center for their region: the greatest, most up-to-the-minute source of information, weather watches, emergency reports, and eye-in-the-sky overviews. The only problem with all this preparedness, with all this rel...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
It is officially “count-down” time. The moment the red cranberry sauce is wiped off our chins and cleaned off the tablecloth, Black Friday starts. And on Black Friday comes the count-down of the diminishing days until Christmas. That tick-tock of passing time is supposed to induce us into a buying panic and jump-start our frenzied consumerism. It pretty much works. But the church has its own “cou...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Surprise! Surprise! Life is full of surprises! Some surprises are awesome. Someone will get an engagement ring for Christmas. Some surprises are awful. As long as we live, will we ever forget those exploding Twin Towers? Some surprises are a combination of awesome and awful. A parishioner called her pastor and said, “I need a little help. My father just won a 30 million dollar lottery. He is 96 ye...
Sermon
Joe Pennel
For our children, Christmas is in the distant future; for adults, Christmas is just over the fence. For youngsters Christmas is a long journey; for grown-ups, it is just around the corner. When I was a child, I thought December was the longest month of the entire year. I would get a commercial calendar and "X" off the days, hoping that such "X's" would somehow hasten the coming of Christmas. The ...
Sermon
George Bass
A science-fiction story, Transit of Earth, written by Arthur C. Clarke many years ago, was reprinted in OMNI magazine in 1984, simply because the basic premise of the story occurred; the story could have happened. The astronomical part of the story is fact; once every century, Mars, Earth, and the Sun are perfectly aligned in a transit that is predictable. The transit took place in 1984, right on ...
Sermon
Johnny Dean
Today marks the beginning of the season of Advent, a time of preparation, a time of going toward the coming again of the Messiah, a time of great expectation and great anticipation. But exactly what is it that we anticipate? What are we getting ready for? What do we expect to happen? Do we anticipate the end of the world, as some religious cults always do at this time of the year? Are we preparing...
Sermon
William B. Kincaid, III
The temptation is to dismiss these words from Matthew. After all, how do they pertain to us? Written at a time when the early church had bet its life on Jesus' return, these seem odd words to hear on the first Sunday of Advent. We are busy preparing the creche for a baby, but Matthew appears to be announcing Jesus' second coming. And it isn't just an odd lesson, but a frightening one. In a season ...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
As the year wears down, the days become shorter, the nights longer and darker. All people, both in our time and in ancient time, turn to questions of human mortality and the future of the earth. When I was in Mexico at the end of October, I saw the preparation for El Dia de los Muertos, "The Day of the Dead." Shrines were being erected in anticipation of November 2. The picture of the deceased lo...
Sermon
King Duncan
CBS News Anchor Dan Rather writes about watching the Flying Valentis while growing up. He writes, "Walking past a vacant lot on our way to school early in the morning, we would come across the Flying Valentis practicing in their long tights and tank tops." The Flying Valentis were a troupe of circus acrobats who traveled and performed throughout the United States. "Although we were used to their ...
Sermon
Susan R. Andrews
It's the same year after year. On this most somnolent of American weekends when it takes three days to recover from one day of gluttony, this lazy weekend when some people sleep in for four days in a row - it is this Sunday that the church decides to defy the culture and catapult us into a new year - smacking us first with judgment and then with demand. It is this weekend that the liturgical calen...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
In John Gardiner's book on leadership, he uses a marvelous phrase: "The trance of non- renewal." He uses it in relation to institutions and organizations. He says that members of these institutions can get into what he calls "the trance of non-renewal," which means they get so accustomed to a flaw in the organization that they just stare right past it. They don't even see it. They get accustomed t...
Sermon Aid
John R. Brokhoff
COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 2:1-5 (C, RC, E) In the "latter days" all the nations will come to Yahweh and make peace. This passage is repeated in Micah 4:1-3. Scholars claim that it was a later insertion. It tells us what will happen in the latter days, the end-time of earth. The house of the Lord, or Yahweh, will be the highest mountain and center of the earth. All nations will come to him for i...
3894. Time's Up
Illustration
John Jamison
If it kept up like this he wasn't going to get anything done all morning. After the telephone calls, that paper-jam in the copier, and now this, he was beginning to feel that it was pointless to try. She stepped into his office, "Sorry to interrupt you Reverend, I know you are busy, but I need to talk to you!" She went on to tell him about a problem a dear friend of hers was having, and how it wo...
3895. The Attitude of Readiness
Illustration
Russell F. Anderson
At the time of this writing, the tornado season has commenced. Several communities have been devastated by the devil twisters. Nothing can stop them, but if you know they are heading your way you can, at least, save your life, together with those you love. Several people have lost their lives because they weren't prepared. Tornadoes can be tracked on Doppler radar. If warning is issued, heard and ...
3896. I Shall Not Rush
Illustration
Kathryn Spink
Here is a version of the 23rd Psalm that ought to be mandatory reading each day of Advent, and a unison reading each Advent Sunday. The lord is my pace setter . . .I shall not rush He makes me stop for quiet intervals He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace Even though I have a great ...
3897. High Risk
Illustration
Johnny Dean
I remember seeing a cartoon depicting a church that had been built in close proximity to an active volcano. In the picture are the church, its sign ("The Church Next to the Active Volcano"), and two men standing in front of the church, one of whom is wearing a clergy shirt and appears to be speaking to the other man. The caption reads, "Of course, there is a high degree of risk being located here,...
3898. Keeping Hope Alive
Illustration
At the university there was a piano teacher that was simply and affectionately known as "Herman." One night at a university concert, a distinguished piano player suddenly became ill while performing an extremely difficult piece. No sooner had the artist retired from the stage when Herman rose from his seat in the audience, walked on stage, sat down at the piano and with great mastery completed the...
3899. Living beyond Apprehension
Illustration
Staff
C.S. Lewis wrote with deep humor and insight about his faith in God in Christ. Lewis understood the gospel of Jesus to be Good News, not a fearful encounter with God as judge, but a meeting with a God full of agape love. Lewis remembered a moment of anxiety felt by his wife, Joy. "Long ago before we were married, [Joy] was haunted all one morning as she went about her work with the obscure sense ...
3900. End Time Fixations
Illustration
Leonard Sweet
End-time fixations were not exclusive manifestations of ancient communities. On October 23, 1844 thousands of Christians sold their earthly possessions, dressed in white robes, climbed to the tops of the highest mountains they could find, climbed to the tippy-tops of trees to get even higher, and waited for Jesus to return. They had been told this was the date by William Miller, a farmer from west...
Showing 3876 to 3900 of 4508 results