Sermon and Worship Resources

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576. God Communicates in Humanly Understandable Terms

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard D. Campbell

... and ended. In the prelude to this passage, we are told that "... the child grew and became strong ..." (Luke 2:40). The postlude summarizes by saying: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor" (v. 52). Romantic artists and writers have distorted the scene of twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple with the elders. For example, the Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas gives extravagant but inaccurate, even repulsive, accounts of the young Jesus as an exhibitionist or some kind of "boy ...

577. Being A Man of God

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Some of you have known me long enough to know that one of my favorite theologian is Charles Schultz, the artist who gave us the wonderful Peanuts cartoons. In one of my favorite cartoons, Lucy comes storming into the room and demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” ...

578. Claim the Promise

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... with far less than He has in mind for us as His followers. So I want to challenge you to claim this fantastic promise of Jesus Himself – “Greater things than I have done will you do, because I am going to the Father.” Charles Schultz, the artist who provides us with the Peanuts cartoons, is one of my favorite theologians. That ought to tell you something about the kind of seminary president I am. In one of his cartoon series, he has Snoopy, that hound of heaven, saying of Woodstock, that would-be bird ...

579. Equipping the Whole People of God: Penultimate Questions

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Some of you have known me long enough to know that one of my favorite theologians is Charles Schultz, the artist who gave us the wonderful Peanuts cartoons. In one of my favorite cartoons, Lucy comes storming into the room and demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” ...

580. Don't Fade Out On the Amen and the Hallelujah

Revelation 19:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . Here is a young man – not in a growing population area -- in fact, I imagine a very diminished population area, yet being able to bring to the altar fruits of his labor – it is enough to get happy about – to adore, to rejoice, to praise. The artist Burne-Jones was present at the funeral service for the poet Robert Browning. He said afterward it was too somber – all together to somber to please him. The service didn’t seem to fit the gallant soul whom they were remembering. Burne-Jones said this ...

581. Standing In the Gap: The Work of Intercession

2 Chronicles 7:11-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a while would know that I might do that. Lucy is the meanest character of all the Peanuts characters. She’s the one that is always taunting Charlie Brown and Linus—in fact, she’s the one that is always pulling tricks on everybody. In one cartoon, the artist, Charles Schultz, has Lucy kneeling beside her bed praying. This is her prayer: “I would pray for greater patience and understanding, but I’m afraid I might get it.” That’s the way it is with me sometimes. I know there are needs in my life ...

582. The Way Up Is the Way Down

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... for substantial spiritual nourishment that puts muscle on your Christian bones and biblical convictions deep in your souls. Have you noticed that about the first two thirds of most Christian book stores are silly decorative items which in themselves are trite and most often artistically of poor quality. Sappy sentimentality is the order of the day. I call it Jesus junk. Don’t impress me with a frilly Bible cover; impress me with a marked-up Bible. Don’t impress me with the latest Christian tunes on your ...

583. Children in the Arms of a Loving God

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Michael Milton

... Him, you, too, will be lifted out of your helplessness and be blessed, be held in the arms of a loving God. …“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). Rembrandt, the great Dutch artist, would paint himself into his great paintings of biblical themes in order to show that he, too, needed Christ. In a similar way, we must paint ourselves into the biblical painting of “Children in the Arms of a Loving God.” This passage does not only teach ...

584. A Broken Vessel for Jesus

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Michael Milton

... he said that the dominant question in work has become, How practical is it and what does it cost? It is not coincidence that for centuries churches and synagogues have been repositories for great works of art. This sanctuary is a work of art. The finest artists of the day were called to help create this place where people would worship God—the beautiful windows, the unique dome, the magnificent chandelier. We come together in a place that begs the question, Is it practical to just meet a couple of hours a ...

585. Only One Thing Is Needed

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... ? Maybe it has something to do with your understanding of Christ. He is more than a good teacher, more than a prophet. He is the very source of our lives, and he is the promise of new life in the Spirit. Someone has described him like this: To artists, He is the One altogether lovely. To architects, He is the Chief Cornerstone. To doctors, He is the Great Physician. To preachers, He is the Word of God. To philosophers, He is the Wisdom of God. To the dying, He is the Resurrection and the Life. To geologists ...

586. Maximizing Your Potential

Isaiah 5:1-7

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... only what we ought to have done' " (Luke 17:10). The misuse of God's gifts is illustrated in a little story. Jake was one of the most colorful and well-known people in a small town. Everyone knew him, liked him personally, and appreciated his work as an artist. One day Jake went to the local general store to pick up a few items. He paid for his purchases with a twenty-dollar bill. Everything was normal until the sales clerk noticed after Jake had left that she had ink smudges on her sweaty palms and there ...

587. A Cloud of Witness

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... who strengthens me . . .” (Philippians 4:13) Those words are precious to the believer. To the world, they mean nothing at all. There was a special segment on National Public Radio sometime back. It was a collection of sound effects gathered by Abinadi Meza, an artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Meza had been in a bar in Dublin, Ireland. A man at the bar contended that Ireland was the home of “the world’s loudest bat.” Quite a boast. Meza was fascinated. The world’s loudest bat. Here was the ...

588. Death: A Way of Life

Isaiah 52:13—53:12

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... the tree, thou shalt die the death." It was the first death in the world.1 Sheen goes on to a similar imaginative story about Mary receiving the body of her grown son, Jesus, as it is taken down from the cross. The moment has been the subject of artists through the ages, notably the famous Pieta sculpture of Michaelangelo. And I don't want to belabor the sadness of the moment, which was surely there. Jesus died on the cross. You've heard that so often you may lose the reality of it. "They spoke to him, but ...

589. Surprised by God

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

James L. Killen

... him life as other people experience it. One day Joy saw a picture hanging on Lewis' wall. It was a landscape of a beautiful valley. Joy asked where it was. Lewis said he had never thought to ask that. He thought it might have just been a product of the artist's imagination. It never occurred to him that it might be a picture of a real place. Joy investigated and found that the picture was a painting of a real valley that was not far from the university. She insisted that they go to see it. They did, and ...

590. Shalom Shattered

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

It's art class. The student potter, under the watchful eye of the artist-instructor, carefully fashions, spins, and shapes a lump of green clay into a beautiful Grecian chalice. The clay figurine is then fired, soon to be painted and glazed. The potter and the mentor watch through the glass door of the oven as the fire heats the new creation toward a ...

591. A Radical Faith

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... backed again. This was the time of the Medici popes, about whom the most generous thing that you could say was that they weren't particularly interested in religion. It was under the Medicis that St. Peter's, the great cathedral, was built in Rome. They hired artists such as Raphael, in Luther's day, and Michelangelo, a little later, to work on it. We look at their art and it is incredibly beautiful to us. It is some of the greatest art in the world. But Luther saw something else. He saw in this opulence ...

592. Are You Feeling Sheepish?

Psalm 23, John 10:11-18

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... him, and each day focus on what he had to do that day. Each hole he focused on what he had to do at that hole; each green what he had to do there. Concentration, that was the secret. It is the secret of any successful endeavor. Artists, actors, athletes, anybody, will tell you the same thing. The secret of a great performance is the ability to focus, to concentrate. In sports the ultimate concentration is called "entering the zone." The zone is defined as a perfect harmony between the self and the context ...

593. Have You Heard?

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... He described a man on the train he called, "The Bourgeois of Toulouse." "Why didn't somebody shake this man early in his life before this clay hardened and get him to live the kind of life that he is capable of. And now that musician, that poet, that artist, that craftsman under this man is gone, and it will never happen. Why didn't somebody shake him to get him to live all the life he is capable of." I thought of that passage as I listened to the woman talk incessantly, especially when she said, "You know ...

594. The Day Life Increased

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , like where did you get it. If you bought it, they want to know how much you paid for it. If you inherited it, they want to know something of the family history. Then the appraiser will talk about what he or she knows about the object, the artist, the date it was created, the general market value of the genre. Then comes the moment the owner, and the audience, are waiting for, the appraiser reveals how much the object is worth at an auction today. My favorite appraisal was when a woman brought in a strange ...

595. Will You Be in that Number?

John 11:32-44

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... apparent to anybody who visits it, is that every name is there, 58,000 names. They are not listed according to rank, with the officers listed first. Nor are the officers names in larger letters than enlisted persons. Nor are they listed alphabetically. The artist insisted on that. She said that it would be too bureaucratic, too dehumanizing. She insisted that the names be listed according to the date on which they fell, as if to say, this day will always be remembered because this person, on this day ...

596. Lite - Or Light?

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... works, each particle of matter becomes a miniature sun. Likewise, in the Christian faith, the light of God's love is dispersed and reflected off each one of us, so that we become miniature gods in the world. When our two new windows were being designed, the artist made it clear that the beauty of the windows would be dependent upon the whim of the light - the sun hitting the color and angle of the glass and dispersing it into our midst. And so the message, the power of these windows cannot be controlled ...

597. His Last Command ... Our First Concern!

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... Bible that can give a man more of a sense of esteem, joy, and purpose than Christ's great commission to his disciples. It turns the farm, the assembly line, the office, the kitchen, the mill, the classroom, the truck, and the retail store into an artist's studio where we may fairly affirm, "I'm here on temporary assignment with God. My talent and time and money are needed. God has personally called me here to be his representative." It's interesting that the great commission, written originally in the Greek ...

598. What Is Success?

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... to be the twentieth century's most educated person, granted one of his rare interviews to a journalist. The reporter questioned the aged playwright at length. Finally he asked, "Mr. Shaw, you have known some of the greatest men of our time: statesmen, artists, philosophers, writers, and musicians. You've now outlived most of them. Suppose it were possible for you to call back one of those great minds - which one would it be? What person do you most miss?" Without hesitation, the old man answered, "The ...

599. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... of human need to begin orphanages, schools, hospitals, to right wrongs, and institute justice. Every Lord's Day, the wheels of commerce cease their churning and multitudes assemble in churches worldwide to worship him as Savior and Lord. The names of athletes, senators, artists, emperors, and soldiers have come and gone; but the name of this person grows with time. Though nearly 2,000 years from his birth, yet he still lives! Herod could not kill him. Satan could not seduce him. Death could not obliterate ...

600. Supper's Ready!

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... What would you talk about at the dinner table? Should you arrive ten minutes early, take a taxi, or will you be nervous? Better still, would you turn down the invitation? When John Kennedy was president of the United States, he invited a number of accomplished artists to a White House banquet. Among those invited was the then aging William Faulkner. Faulkner turned down the invitation, saying, "I'm too old to make new friends." It is possible, you know, to turn down an invitation. It is thinkable to do the ...

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