Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4501 to 4525 of 4972 results

4501. When God Is Gone

Job 23:1--24:25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... nerves, I do believe. He got up and started shouting, yes sir. He went up to the Reverend Mr. Jackson and told him to shut up and never speak again -- not to us, the migrant people. He told him to go on back to his church, wherever it is, and leave us alone and don't be standing up there looking like he was so nice to be doing us a favor. Then he did the worst thing he could do: he took the baby, Annie, and he held her right before his face, the minister's, and he screamed and ...

4502. Do I Matter?

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Then he sank to his knees in the snow. "Now I understand," he whispered. "Now I see why you did it."(4) As that divine baby became a man, he tried to explain how incredibly important each one of us is. He said God is like a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep inside the fold to hunt frantically for one stray, like a father who cannot stop thinking about his rebellious, ungrateful prodigal of a son even though he has another who is respectful and obedient, like a rich host who opens the doors of the banquet hall to ...

4503. God the Boggler

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... people who helped nurses. Some of you can remember when electric lights were a new treat...indoor plumbing...radio...TV...not to mention computers and rockets and and space shuttles and those satellites. The mind reels at how much has changed in this century that we leave behind. Y2K. Really? In the paper the other day was a cartoon showing the moon addressing the earth wearing a party hat and sporting a noise maker. The moon says, "Get a grip! According to my calendar, it's the year 4-BILLION, give or take ...

4504. Hungry People

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , our powers are not unlimited, as his were. "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." Fortunately for the Twelve, and for us, the story does not end with Jesus asking the seemingly impossible of the disciples, then wandering off into the desert leaving them stranded. "You give them something to eat," he said. And the disciples answered, "How? " We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.' Then Jesus said softly: Bring them here to me.' ...He looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the ...

4505. God and Silence

Psalm 46:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to live in the silence between the rolling of surf and the crying of gulls. A cellular phone company currently has an ad campaign running that proclaims from billboards, "Silence is Weird," as if we need to talk, talk, talk all the time. When we leave this sanctuary tonight, the bulletin instructs that we depart in silence - it will feel strange; it always does. Thirty-five years ago Paul Simon, in his classic cry over the modern inability to communicate, wrote: And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand ...

4506. Good News in the Ashes

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... about us! It is about who we are and how we are as individuals, families, churches -- sin pervades our lives. It is very embarrassing." That is the bad news. What could be more appropriate to consider at the beginning of Lent? But I do not want you leaving here without the rest of the story. You see, Psalm 51 is not just about human nature; it is also about God's nature. "Steadfast love...abundant mercy" are the phrases we encounter. And the good news is that God is willing to forgive sinners and is able ...

4507. There's No Such Thing as Too Much Sugar

Psalm 91:1-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . To be sure, the jaded reporters sent to cover this "angel" story felt that way. Each had had their own share of life's hard knocks which made them as cynical as the next person. Now they encounter this strange character Michael who is weirdly innocent. They leave Iowa heading for Chicago and page one of the National Mirror. Within a short time, things get silly. Michael has this delightful sense of humor that most of us lose by the time we are nine. He asks, "What's the opposite of white?" His companions ...

4508. An Attitude of Gratitude

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... tells us that we do not have to DO ANYTHING, and in fact CANNOT do anything, to earn our salvation. There are no works of our hands (or our mouths) that will be acceptable. In other words, Christians do not have to be religious. We can leave that to the Pharisees. I once had a seminary professor who announced at the beginning of the semester that he was seriously considering a unique system of grading for that particular course. (There were only six of us in the class, and all pretty good students ...

4509. I'm Thankful for...

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to remember it in the face of tragedies such as we get news of every day. Some are particularly poignant. Just three weeks ago we heard about 16 soldiers killed when their helicopter was shot down, 16 soldiers who were not going into combat, but rather were leaving it - they were coming home for R & R. Ernie Bucklew had not planned to be in that group but word had come that his Mom had passed away suddenly in Pittsburgh - it was an aneurysm, they said - and he had grabbed a last seat on the chopper. Her ...

4510. The Language of the Heart

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of the heart. Not many years ago, Fred Pratt Green, one of the church's most prolific composers, was commissioned to write a new hymn for a Festival of Praise. We find it today in our Presbyterian hymnal: When in our music God is glorified, And adoration leaves no room for pride, It is as though the whole creation cried: Alleluia! How often, making music, we have found A new dimension in the world of sound, As worship moved us to a more profound Alleluia! Let every instrument be tuned for praise! Let all ...

4511. Now That School's Out...

Proverbs 8:1-36

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of us probably knows someone who has been on the job for ten years, but instead of ten year's experience, he has ONE year's experience ten times. Just as with those grits, they might "just come," but they mean nothing at all to you if you leave them on the plate. What can wisdom do for you? Well, there are health and welfare benefits: Proverbs 3:16 - "Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor." Long life? OK. Knowledge of good health practices - diet, exercise, no smoking, and ...

4512. Good Medicine

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... reminding them that the great-grandmother of their greatest king was a lady of another race. There is that fun little story in Judges(3) where Ehud the Benjaminite kills the big, fat Moabite king Eglon - he stabs him with a short sword that he has to leave behind after the dastardly deed because it gets stuck in the king's fat and won't come out. There are lots of other examples. The New Testament has fun stuff too, if we will read it properly. Jesus' illustration of someone trying to call attention to ...

4513. When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough

Ecc 2:1-26

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... will offer meaning to life so he gives himself all the wine, women and song he can stand, but finds they just wear him out. Wealth? Power? To paraphrase Jesus, the Teacher thinks "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and leave a rich widow?" The Teacher had everything - Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous - all he could have ever wanted, but it was not enough. Meaningless, meaningless, life is meaningless. Is It? Is life worth living? One of the classics of world literature, the dramatic poem ...

4514. The Handwriting on the Heart

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... s burn unit. She was prepared to teach English grammar, but she was not prepared to witness the horrible look and smell of badly burned human flesh. She was not prepared to see a young boy in great pain either. She wanted to hold her nose...to turn...and leave faster than she came. But she could not just walk away. So she clumsily stammered over to his bedside, and she simply said, "I am the hospital teacher and your teacher sent me to help you with your nouns and adverbs." The next morning a nurse from the ...

4515. Trouble in the Manse

Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... kin"). The preacher could not ignore the situation any longer. People were beginning to think more about what was going on in Hosea's house than about the message he was trying to bring. Painful as it was for him to do, he told Gomer that she would have to leave. He could not let God's word be compromised by trouble in the manse. For Gomer it was one of the happiest days of her life. Once and for all she would be RID of that blue-nosed preacher. She would not have to worry about what the little old ...

4516. The Preacher Was A Bigot

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Jonah. Terrific story. One of Sunday School's most memorable hours - it is great drama. As you recall Jonah was a prophet in Israel. God came to him and said that he should leave his nation and go over to the capital of one of his country's fiercest foes...Ninevah in Assyria. Jonah did not want to go. So he went down to the seaport of Joppa and got on a boat headed for Tarshish in Spain. The direction was exactly opposite the ...

4517. A Religion that Shows

Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the temple rebuilt. You have nice houses with roofs over your heads. How can you expect your God to be satisfied with any less? You say you love your God; you say you want to serve your God; you say your God is worthy of your worship...and then you leave your God's house a dump...a wreck...a ruin. What kind of religion is that? Put your money where your mouth is. Fix the place. You would not want to call a house like that your home; why would you expect God to want to." That was Haggai's ...

4518. God and Hurricanes

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... people. It was cold, cloudy and the wind was blowing at about 45 miles per hour. Along comes the local electric company, asking us if we need any help finding a local shelter. We could not go to a shelter because we had animals and we were not about to leave our pets, even if it meant warmth and hot food. There were no restaurants open for fifty miles so there was no hot food and we could not find any bread as all the stores were sold out. So we just ate what we could and made the best of ...

4519. The Lord's Prayer: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... often reflect our hopes and dreams for the potential character and abilities of our children. Has anyone ever damaged your name? How could they? Erase a few letters from it? Scratch through it on paper? Not much damage. But a slanderous attack on you that leaves people thinking less of you than you deserve, is REAL damage. This Tonya Harding thing is getting old by now, but the final chapters are yet to be written. Consider if she is actually innocent of conspiring to injure Nancy Kerrigan. Possible. If she ...

4520. The Lord's Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of near perfection that we expect from professional athletes, the questions come - "What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong?" You see, we sports fans have some vision of speed skating's or football's or any sport's ideal in light of which our favorites regularly leave room for improvement. To be sure, those same questions about what is wrong arise from us in matters much more serious. We see a young mother in the prime of life attacked and murdered by some drug-crazed maniac and ask, "What's wrong with our ...

4521. The Lord's Prayer: "Lead Us Not Into Temptation"

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Harvest network of food banks. Children account for nearly half of the 26 million Americans who rely on that help.(6) Sadly, because those problems are not deposited on our individual doorsteps, we pass them by like the Priest and the Levite on the Jericho Road leaving the Samaritan to suffer and die. That is evil. One of the techniques of this brand of evil is to get us thinking in categories. It is easy to ignore or even exterminate a category, a class, a race, an alien tribe. Thus, a Baruch Goldstein ...

4522. Ask the Average Person...

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... without hesitation. But watch how the average person actually lives out his life. See where he really invests his time and energy, and he will give away the fact that he does not live by what he says he believes. He has let himself be persuaded that if he leaves for work earlier in the morning and comes home tired at night, he is proving how devoted he is to his family by expending himself to provide them with all the things that they have seen advertised. A story is told of a king who was suffering from a ...

4523. Good News for Tenant Farmers

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... knew what he did for me, but I owe everything I am or will be to old Thomas, and today I had to come to salute him at the end." Thomas did not know what he was doing. No preacher or teacher ever does. Keep sowing the seed. We can leave the rest to God, including keeping the fire going. And that is GOOD news for all us tenant farmers. Amen! 1. Noted by Jim McCrae, via Ecunet, "Sermonshop Sermons," #1509, 7/7/99 2. Soil information from William Barclay, And Jesus Said: A Handbook on the Parables of Jesus ...

4524. Hang in There!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... a bit more flattering light. The commentators are all over the lot on this one. Some have said that Jesus was just having a bad day - he and the twelve had gone north, out of Galilee (the only time the Gospels have Jesus leaving his native land). He had been having trouble escaping the demanding crowds; things were dangerous politically (King Herod had recently beheaded his cousin, John the Baptist); he was frustrated in his efforts to make any headway with the religious establishment and he was regularly ...

4525. The Freedom in Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . He was known far and wide as a dog lover. One day his neighbor observed as he poured a new sidewalk from his house out to the street. About the time he smoothed out the last square foot of cement a large dog strayed across his sidewalk leaving footprints in his wake. The man muttered something under his breath and smoothed out the footprints. He went inside to get some twine to string up around the sidewalk only to discover dog tracks in two directions on his new sidewalk. He smoothed those out and put ...

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