Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4801 to 4825 of 4940 results

4801. The Servant-king

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Angela Akers

A few weeks into a new school year, Susan Moser, a mother from Pennsylvania, asked her young son what he thought of first grade. With enthusiasm, he replied, "Oh, I love school. It's great!" Then, after a brief hesitation, he added. "Well, except for one thing . . . I don't really like it when Mrs. Decker tries to teach us stuff." (1) Well, that's a problem, isn't it? Some of our students here can attest to the fact that learning isn't all fun and games. It can be frustrating for both the student and the ...

4802. Why the Church?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Our daughter Carole made her decision to become a minister while she was studying in England in the early 1970s. When she told some of her fellow students about her decision to enter the ministry, they were incredulous...not that a woman would decide for the ministry, but that anybody would want to be a minister. That means being part of the Church, doesn’t it? they said. Why the Church? That’s the question with which I begin this morning. Why the Church? George Arthur Buttrick in his book So We Believe, ...

4803. What Happens When I Die?

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

My children and grandchildren introduced me to that delightful little comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. In one strip, Calvin is lying on a hillside, next to his stuffed tiger Hobbes, pondering the meaning of life. He asks: I wonder where we go when we die. They lie there for a few moments, and then Hobbes replies, Pittsburgh? In the last panel, Calvin asks, You mean if were good or if were bad? A day or two before he died, William Saroyan said to his friends, “Everybody has got to die; but I ...

4804. Holy Tuesday

Mark 11:27-33

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

There is an old saying to the effect that a good rabbi always answers a question with another question. One rabbi was asked by a member of his congregation, “Why do you always answer a question with another question?” The rabbi replied, “Do I?” Jesus was called “Rabbi” by His followers. The word means, literally, “teacher.” In modern Judaism the rabbinate is an ordained office. In ancient times, however, “rabbi” was simply a title of respect, addressed to laymen learned in the Mosaic law. Although Jesus’ ...

4805. An Eye-Opening Experience

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Eric Ritz

One of the most significant books I read in seminary was titled THE MEANING OF REVELATION by Dr. H. Richard Niebuhr. Dr. Niebuhr probes the difference between history as lived and experienced, and history as observed by an external spectator. History is constantly being made each and every day of our lives. The Christian Church exists in a real world, but how do we discern between the external reality of the world and the inner revelation that the faithful community needs to follow as God’s covenant people ...

4806. Thanks for the Memories

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Eric Ritz

In the delightfully funny off-Broadway play "Nunsense", one of the main characters is Sister Mary Amnesia who arrives at the Convent in her "habit" without a clue to her identity, remembering only that a large Crucifix had fallen on her head. The Reverend Mother in the play once states about Sister Mary that "she is a good building but, unfortunately, nobody is at home." Toward the end of the play, Sister Mary, while singing, remembers her name and her identity and further discovers that she has won the ...

4807. 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 Eschaton, the ultimately determinative one!' And Jesus looked at Peter and saith, 'What?' " Seriously, in the text, ...

4808. Breaking The Negative Cycle

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

One of the most destructive foibles of human nature is the tendency to lock ourselves into rigid patterns of thinking, ruts of responding, and unalterable avenues of acting. It was this way of thinking that caused Jesus to condemn the Pharisees, admonishing them about straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. The most common pattern into which we humans tend to move is what I call a negative cycle. I doubt if there’s anything more devastating to daily living, to our effective functioning, to creative and ...

4809. What If God Is Dependent Upon Our Praying?

2 Chronicles 7:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It is from the Old Testament. It is that classic passage from II Chronicles, the 7th chapter. I’m going to read the first four verses and then the 8th through the 14th verses of that particular passage. “When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering of sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priest could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. When all the children of Israel saw the fire ...

4810. A Love For All Seasons (i)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"You know what I don't understand?" asked Lucy of Charlie Brown in my favorite comic strip -- "PEANUTS" by Charles Schultz. "I don't understand love!" Charlie Brown replies, "Who does!" Lucy says, "Explain love to me, Charlie Brown", Charlie says. "You can't explain love. I can recommend a book or a poem or a painting, but I can't explain love." Lucy comes back, "Well, try, Charlie Brown, try." As is always the case, Charlie can't say no to Lucy. He can't resist doing what Lucy tells him to do, so he says ...

4811. Night Moves

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The hymn we have just sung, "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown," is based on the Old Testament lesson read for us this morning. It was written by Charles Wesley, the brother of John Wesley. Charles Wesley was a prolific writer of hymns. He wrote more than 6,000 hymns. He put the great affirmations of our Christian belief, and particularly those that John Wesley felt were important, and put them into hymns. Other Christian traditions recite their faith with a creed. The Methodists have always sung their faith ...

4812. The Perfect Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

If you worked in the post office, you would probably run into all kinds of people. One postal worker says she is used to dealing with moody people. She tells about an irate customer who stormed her desk one day. “What’s the trouble?” the postal employee responded in her calmest voice. “I went out this morning,” the customer began angrily, “and when I came home I found a card saying the mailman tried to deliver a package but no one was home. I’ll have you know, my husband was in all morning! He never heard ...

4813. Preaching to a Stone

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

I'm going to confess a trade secret. We preachers often wonder just how much good our preaching does. We all appreciate the compliments at the end of the service, especially when someone says that he or she really needed a particular sermon we have preached. At those moments, we begin to believe that our work and struggle have paid off. We wonder, though, about the compliments we receive at the end of the service. A friend of mine noted wryly that he has had parishioners compliment his sermons even on ...

4814. After Good Friday

Hebrews 10:16-25

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

Obsolete. Superceded. Null and void. Those are words that could be used in a court of law to describe legal contracts or agreements that are no longer in effect. Stipulations become obsolete with the passing of time or when two partners break off their partnership, whether it's a business or a marriage. Procedures can be superceded by new practices when old stipulations become obsolete. Whole contracts can become null and void when one side or the other fails to live up to the agreement. Now the happiest ...

4815. Complete Joy

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

There was once a man who decided he was dead. He was actually quite alive, but the man insisted he was really dead. The man's friends were quite concerned over this attitude, and tried hard to persuade the man he was actually alive, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, one friend with a scientific turn of mind tried to convince the man of the error of his insistence. The friend pointed out that dead men don't bleed. After some time to consider the possibilities, the man who said he was dead agreed. At that ...

4816. Called to Freedom

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The temptation in all times, the temptation in the Middle ages and the temptation of many in our time, is to make religion a matter of rules, and to believe that those who obey the rules are the ones who are good, and saved, and those who do not obey the rules are the ones who are damned. Which is bad enough as religion, but what made it worse is that God is made the enforcer of this system of rewards and punishment. What Luther did was break through all of that and establish for all time that Christianity ...

4817. In The Darkness of Oppression, There Is the Light of Salvation

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

I was staying at a hotel in a small town, near a large city. My room was upstairs on the front, overlooking the street. The noise from below finally died down, but I still was unable to sleep for a long time. Late in the night, I was startled by a man pounding on the door downstairs. I heard voices, and I could tell the manager was talking with this man about needing a room. As I listened closer, I learned that it was a man and his wife. They had come a long way. The young wife was expecting a child any ...

4818. The Holidaze Craze

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The holiday harangues are here. The Holidaze Craze has begun. Catalogs filled with more stuff than sense have been overloading the postal service for months already. At your house I suspect it would be a full time job simply to look through all the slick advertisements that arrive on a daily basis. Retailers put out their Christmas decorations the day after Halloween. The frantic Friday-after-Thanksgiving sale day has become a late shoppers event. Midnight madness now refers, not to burning the midnight ...

4819. The Most Important Top Ten List

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The cereal aisle in any big supermarket has got to be one of the most amazing expressions of ingenuity in American culture. For centuries the only way to eat grains was as a big, sloppy bowl of gluey glop (gruel, oatmeal, bulgur, cream-of-wheat, porridge). Then a little over a hundred years ago some nineteenth century health food nuts got the idea to toast up those grainy tidbits. Thus the cold cereal phenomenon was born. Now we look down a football-field-length supermarket aisle at floor to ceiling ...

4820. The Lonesome George Church

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Theme: Here is a sermon on evangelism that doesn’t use the word “evangelism” once. The text for this week’s gospel reading is a combination of three pericopes which portray the beginning of Jesus’ public Galilean ministry. While Matthew’s description mirrors much of Mark’s version, Matthew’s unique focus on theological nuances and precise historicity bring added details and depth to Jesus’ actions and words. In the first section (vv.12-17) Matthew takes more than a glancing interest in the “whys” and the “ ...

4821. Is Your Conscience Clear?

1 Timothy 1:18-19

Sermon

James Merritt

It may surprise you to know that every year the Federal Government receives hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus items ranging from wrenches to silverware, from citizens with a guilty conscience who have cheated on their income taxes. In 1811, the U. S. Treasury established what is known as a Conscience Fund when an anonymous individual mailed the government $5. Since that time, over $4 million has been received from guilt-ridden citizens with a guilty conscience, with donations ranging from a single ...

4822. The Client

Zechariah 3:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

One of the greatest apologists of the Twentieth Century was C. S. Lewis. In a great book he wrote entitled, The Weight of Glory, he makes this salient observation: In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe, must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible, or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God ...

4823. Just a Closer Walk With Thee

James 4:8

Sermon

James Merritt

How close are you to God? I can tell you exactly how close you are. You are as close as you want to be. God is as willing to get as close to you as you are willing to get close to Him. The first way to go one step higher for God, is to get one step closer to God. When you take one step closer to God, you actually get two steps closer to God, for James 4:8 tells us, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." That verse is both a precept and a promise. The precept is, you draw near to God; the promise ...

4824. Bart and Homer, Father and Sons

1 Samuel 20:24-42

Sermon

John E. Harnish

The statistics abound and the statistics are not good: One of the chief predictors of youth crime is the role of the father in the home. Seventy percent of adolescents charged with murder and seventy percent of long-term prison inmates are from fatherless homes. Children who live absent their biological father are at least two to three times more likely to be poor, use drugs, be victims of child abuse and to engage in criminal behavior. Twenty-four million children live absent their biological fathers and ...

4825. The Parable of the Choices

Matthew 21:28-31

Sermon

Shirley Gupton Lynn

In 1897 Remington Arms Company chose not to buy a patented "writing machine." The Underwood Company bought it instead and has sold millions of typewriters since. Remington Arms made a bad choice. In the 1950's Sam Phillips made a record for a young man who wandered into his Memphis studio. The fledgling singer wanted to record his voice for his mother. In 1955 Sam Phillips chose to sell his exclusive recording contract with Elvis Presley to RCA for $35,000. Bad choice. Former President Nixon chose to ...

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