Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 701 to 725 of 1232 results

701. Elephants in the Room: Depression

Lamentations 3:17-26

Sermon

Charley Reeb

One of my favorite actors was Paul Newman. He played some of the best roles in motion picture history. Here is picture of Newman in one of his most famous roles, Cool Hand Luke. Cool Hand Luke is an important film with layers of meaning. Newman plays an unruly prisoner in a Southern chain gang during the 1930’s. Some folks have suggested that Newman’s character is somewhat of a Christ figure. For example, Luke surrounds himself with a band of followers. He also performs miracles, like a death defying ...

702. From Deep Unto Deep

Luke 22:14--23:56

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

On the Christian calendar, today begins the last week of Lent.1 The forty days between Shrove Tuesday, at the end of Mardi Gras, and the Saturday before Easter are intended as a time for prayer, meditation, reflection, and repentance. Generally speaking, the serious nature of Lent makes it emotionally a rather dreary time. During Holy Week, the mood moves from dreary to downright lugubrious. Next Sunday morning, of course, we will awake to the joyous news that “Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia! He ...

703. No Promotion Required

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

On March 4th, 1966 pop music icon John Lennon set off a firestorm in this country by declaring that his band, The Beatles, were more popular than Jesus. And with teenage girls that was probably true. Do you know how the Beatles became famous though? According to Internet marketer Caleb O’Dowd it didn’t happen by accident or simple good luck. According to O’Dowd, Brian Epstein the manager of the Beatles, was a marketing genius. “To begin with,” says O’Dowd, “Brian hired hundreds of teenage girls. He then ...

704. Are Ye Able?

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Although Christianity was an illegal religion during much of the first three centuries of the faith, there were both times when authorities turned a blind eye to their existence, and other times when persecution was intensified. During the reign of the Emperor Trajan (98-117AD) persecution intensified. In 108 AD, one of those arrested and condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts for the entertainment of the cheering crowds was Ignatius, the overseer of the church at Antioch. Antioch had been a center of ...

705. The Call

Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 1:14-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Will Willimon

When I was a seminarian, in a geriatric hospital, learning to be a chaplain, this old man told me one day that he was Dwight D. Eisenhower. The nurses urged me to try to talk him out of it. I couldn't. He steadfastly insisted that he was Eisenhower. Trouble was, I had no personal acquaintance with Dwight D. Eisenhower. The man was bald, had a Midwestern accent, had been in the army, seemed harmless enough, which, for all I knew, qualified him to be Dwight D. Eisenhower. He told me that I didn't have to ...

706. Into The Valley Of Despair

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Ronald Love

There is an important flow of events in our lectionary reading this morning. A flow of events that each individual sitting in the pews before me must be willing to accept as the flow of events in your own lives, as you live the Christian life. It begins with the solitude of a retreat, that is focused on prayer. It moves to a revelation that comes with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It ends with what is really a new beginning, going forth in a ministry to others. Let us begin where our lectionary ...

707. Don't Let the Parade Pass You By

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

America’s great child-philosopher, Dennis the Menace, offered this observation as his mother washed his dirty hands: "Margaret’s Mom must like me. I heard her say, ‘I just wish he was my child for five minutes.’" The people of Jerusalem had a similar kind of love/hate attitude toward Jesus. They cheered him on the first Palm Sunday as he entered Jerusalem, but then shouted "Crucify him" the following Friday. The Palm Sunday crowd was enthusiastic but fickle. As the politicians would say, Jesus’ support was ...

708. LOVING UNCONDITIONALLY

Illustration

John H. Krahn

Unlike Gibran’s The Prophet, and other lyrical works dealing with love, the Lord does not speak with his head in the clouds but rather with his feet firmly planted on an earth filled with conflict and hatred. In the holiness code of Leviticus, God says that those who consider themselves among his children are not to take revenge on one another and are not to bear any grudges. I am sure that some of us have felt vengeful in the last week. Perhaps we have even sought to hurt or discredit someone who first ...

709. Like Buoys In The River

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Not long after we moved to Memphis, a little child in our church sent us a kind note of welcome. In it she said, "I know you miss the ocean. I hope you like the river." Indeed we do. When I gaze out upon the mighty Mississippi I can almost see Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer on a raft. I visualize romantic paddle-wheelers and riverboat gamblers, though it seems that the gamblers have anchored south of here. I hear again those deep plaintive lyrics from "Showboat" extolling that stoic "Old Man River." Surely most ...

710. Our Unmanageable God (The Second Commandment)

Exodus 20:1-21, Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

I saw a cartoon somewhere picturing two Army trainees standing in front of a military chapel. On the chapel bulletin board was the sermon topic for that Sunday. It read: "The Second Commandment--Thou Shalt Not Make Any Graven Images.” One soldier said to his buddy, "Now there's a commandment I haven't broken yet." Maybe you're thinking similar thoughts this morning. Surely we haven't worshipped any graven images lately. But let's take a closer look at what the Second Commandment means before deciding ...

711. Because He Lives

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

My favorite day of the entire year is Easter. To declare the Good News of resurrection is the ultimate thrill for a preacher. It's even better than being a baseball fan in Yankee Stadium or a mountain climber on Mount Everest or a blues singer on Beale Street. No news is quite so good as "He lives!" 1995 will always be a special year for me because I have had three Easters. The first one I shared with you back in April when over 5000 of us celebrated resurrection in five great services (count them, one on ...

712. A Wonderful Sacrifice

1 Chronicles 21:1-22:1

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

My brief sermon today is focused on two words: "Wonderful Sacrifice." At first glance these two words seem almost contradictory. If you put a Methodist through a free-association exercise, don't expect him to respond to the word "sacrifice" by saying "wonderful." The word "sacrifice" causes many Methodists to grab their wallets and run for cover. I heard a story about a little boy who attended church one Sunday with his grandmother. All went well until offering time. Gramma began to search through her ...

713. A Labor of Love - Labor Day

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This sermon is based on Matthew 16:13-28 You are no doubt familiar with the Japanese word Kamikaze. The Kamikazes were the suicide pilots in World War II who, at the cost of their own lives, attacked Allied ships in the Pacific. Some 1200 died in sinking 34 ships. The word Kamikaze in Japanese means "divine wind" and recalls a typhoon in the year 1281 that crushed the invasion fleet mounted by the ambitious Mongol emperor Kublai Khan in the wake of his conquest of China. Six-hundred-plus years later, to ...

714. A World in Turmoil

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred..." Or as the New Revised Standard Version has it, "When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil..." TURMOIL. Great word. It has a feeling about it. Something is bubbling up and about to boil over. There is tension. There is danger. The Greek word is seio and means to rock to and fro or to agitate, to quake or shake. And contrary to the parade and party atmosphere that we often associate with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, ...

715. When Your Church Provokes You

Matthew 13:1-23, Hebrews 10:19-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

...And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. And now you know where the strange sermon title comes from. True enough, the church often DOES provoke us in the wrong way. You may have heard me tell of my father's response when, years ago, I asked him what the hardest part of being a minister was. I had posed the question just after he had ...

716. Prayers That Work

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Father Barry Foster, a priest in Dublin, Ireland, parked his car on a rather steep slope close to his church. His little cairn terrier was lying on the rear seat and could not be seen by anyone outside the vehicle. Father Foster got out of the car and turned to lock the door with his usual parting command to the dog. "Stay!" he ordered loudly, to an apparently empty car. "Stay!" An elderly man was watching the performance with amused interest. Grinning, he suggested, "Why don't you just try putting on the ...

717. Welcome To The Mountain. Now Go Home

Exodus 24:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

"WELCOME to San Diego. Now go home." That's what the bumper sticker said. Soon there was another: "Enjoy San Diego. Then go home." People who have been there say that San Diego, California is a friendly city. It is also a city bursting with promise. San Diego, however, is now the seventhlargest city in the United States. And many residents believe that is big enough. So they put bumper stickers on their cars, "Welcome to San Diego. Now go home." And to be sure you take the hint, they've put their airport ...

718. A Misplaced Holy Day

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

John A. Davis mailed a Christmas card to his brother in December 1942. Nearly 55 years later it showed up at a post office in Tinley Park, Illinois. Davis had long ago figured the card, sent from Jackson, Miss., to Maryville, Tenn., got lost. The long-lost card raised eyebrows at the Tinley Park post office, and Davis' family learned about it through a newspaper account. The supervisor had sent the card on to Maryville but got it back when Davis contacted him. "There is a lot of nostalgia in this thing. I' ...

719. Building A Church

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

The rest of the world must surely marvel at the nature of religion in America. For example, you may have read in the newspapers sometime back about the newly formed Positive Impact Church in South Centre, Pa. According to Associated Press reports this church advertised a raffle. Two thousand people signed up. Apparently they didn't read the fine print. They had to attend Sunday services to be eligible to win the prize of $1,000. Only about 30 showed up. "Where are all the people?" asked the minister, ...

720. The Face that Launched a Thousand Lives

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Fredrick R. Harm

You will recall the ancient myth that lies behind our sermon theme for today. Helen, the wife of Sparta's king Menelaus, was acclaimed the most beautiful woman of Greece. The Greeks fought the Trojan War in order to get her back from Troy, where Paris, the son of King Priam, had taken her. In Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, the question is asked concerning Helen, "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burned the topless towers of Ilium?" Today's text speaks of a far greater face, a face ...

721. Awake to Glory

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

Today we celebrate one of the most neglected passages in the Bible. It's possible that more sermons have been preached from some of the obscure places in First and Second Chronicles than from this tremendously significant scripture which describes the transfiguration of our Lord. At the time of the transfiguration, Peter finally broke the awed silence, but the Gospel writer says that he knew not what to say. I expect we preachers and teachers still feel a bit that way when we approach this story; probably ...

722. Can You Smell the Perfume?

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A group of men celebrated on and on in a sports bar. "Here's to 94," one of them toasted. "Hip-94-Hooray," another of them cheered. "Ninety-four, Ninety-four," "Ninety-four," they chanted in unison. The waitress could take the mystery no longer. When one of them left for the men's room, she intercepted him and asked, "Why the big deal about 94?" "It only took us 94 days to finish this puzzle we've been working on." "What's so special about that?" He replied, "Hey, the box reads 5-7 years." Puzzles are not ...

723. Salted with Fire

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Whether we're five or seventy-five, all of us like the reassuring glow of a night-light. When something goes bump in the night and awakens us, the small, steady illumination of a night light offers comfort and companionship amidst the big, burly darkness. Since we grown-ups are usually less than upfront about our still scared-of-the-dark queasiness, we try to disguise our security-blanket night-lights. Why do you think some of these plug-in air fresheners glow in the dark? Some light switch plates and ...

724. An Impossible Sermon

Matthew 17:1-13

Illustration

Fred Craddock

That outstanding teacher of preachers, Dr. Fred Craddock, suggests that it is better to "hold this text before the listeners in (its) full extraordinariness rather than reduce (it) to fit the contour of our experiences. It is better to be led to the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, to be helped to sense its significance on Jesus and three apostles, and to be left there for a while in awe of its mystery and power. Such an experience might finally influence life in more ways and in more depth than ...

725. Roll out the Green Carpet

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Before every “feast day” on the calendar—-Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc—-the local newspaper runs a reminder to its readers: Don’t include your pets in your over-indulgence! For Thanksgiving and Christmas the cautions are against letting Fido chow down on rich turkey skin, ham fat, giblets, gravies, and other greasy goodies. Your vet will tell you that there is always a huge spike in pets needing treatment for painful pancreatitis as a result of gobbling down all those rich human handouts. The ...

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