Sermon and Worship Resources

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2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... to give of their finances; he urges them to honor that promise. Let me paraphrase Paul's message in these first five verses. Just imagine that Paul is the bishop of Tennessee rather than bishop of Greece. You can call this the BRV, Bouknight revised version. Paul says, "Folks, I know I don't need to remind you of that commitment you made to send a missions offering for Bosnia. In fact, I boasted to the churches in Nashville that the churches of Memphis had their offering ready a year ago. Nevertheless ...

877. At The Manger By Invitation

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... , she would have been about 75 years old; in that day, people did not usually live that long. But we can be sure that Luke talked with James, the brother of Jesus, who was president of the Jerusalem Church. From James, Luke learned Mary's version of the Christmas story. Among other things, James told him that shepherds visited on the night of Jesus' birth. Because Luke was a good historian, he might have visited the shepherds of the Bethlehem area. Every character around the Bethlehem manger had a story to ...

878. A Risky Lifestyle

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... willing to ask that person if she or he has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? That involves some risk. The person might take offense, but that's not likely. The person might say, "No, can you help me start one?" Then you must be prepared to tell a brief version of the story of Jesus and show that person how he or she can become a Christian. As the Bible tells us, we must "always be ready to make our defense to anyone who asks of us an accounting for the hope that is in us." But it's risky ...

879. Our Scheduled Appointments with God

Hebrews 10:19-39

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... , but they are listening. All week long they are immersed in an atmosphere where many professors and s believe that God is a myth, that there are no absolutes, that sex is just a form of recreation. These students come to wondering if there is another version of reality. The fact that you are here is eloquent testimony that secular humanism is not the wave of the future. Your presence declares that Jesus is and the Bible is God's inspired guidebook. Are you willing to embrace these two resolutions with me ...

880. The Healing Power of Touch

Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Brett Blair

... and touched the garment of Jesus. Immediately he stopped, bolted upright, and asked: "Who touched me?" The disciples were taken aback. Was this some kind of rhetorical question? Who touched you? Why master, look around, everyone is touching you. The New English version quotes their words as being: "What is the purpose in asking?" Jesus replied with one of the most mysterious lines in the Bible. He said: "I felt power flow from me." For years I have been mesmerized with that verse. What exactly happened ...

881. Friction Points

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... his personal life? After all, he lives under a lot of pressure." That might be okay if God were not righteous and if America did not need God. Then any behavior would be acceptable. But America without the protection of God is just a latter day version of Sodom. The ancient city of Sodom was, according to the prophet Ezekiel, arrogant, prosperous, callous and immoral. The Sodomite stock market was bullish! Her citizens had never had it good. But God wiped out Sodom. In Daniel 2, we read, "God sets up kings ...

882. Eternally Interceding

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Illustration

Larry Powell

... they wanted to celebrate somehow and thank somebody. Not yet understanding the character of Moses’ God, they manufactured their own god to enable them to focus their celebration upon something. I believe the observation is correct inasmuch as we see latter-day versions of similar behavior, i.e., persons who want to celebrate life but are unable to understand the God of Christianity take unto themselves golden calves in some form or another. There are different causes of a stiff neck. Some are caused by ...

883. In Search of Self

Judges 2:6-3:6

Illustration

Larry Powell

... back to God. From all appearances, it seems that from time to time we have forgotten our own identity. 1. We have disillusioned ourselves into believing that we must have everything in small doses or condensed form. The Reader’s Digest has produced a condensed version of the Bible for those persons who "don’t have the time" to read the Scriptures in their entirely. We attend speed-reading clinics to enable us to read faster, but then there are those who prefer to see a movie about something rather than ...

884. Easter: The Festival Of Joy

Isaiah 25:1-12

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

... ebbing away till it ends in death. Remember the familiar prayer that most of us learned at our mother’s knee - the ending of it goes like this: "If I should die before I wake ..." this should be changed to: "When I die ..." That would be a more realistic version, because the highway for death is the busiest highway in the world: If ... all the dying were done in the open with the dead to be looked at, we would never have it out of our minds ... We get no grasp of the enormity of scale. There are three ...

885. Nazareth: The Hidden Years

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... Those were the Nazareth years, the hidden years, the time to grow. It is not surprising, then, that when Paul, or someone influenced by him, wrote Timothy the qualifications for a bishop, he said, "He must not be a recent convert" ("a novice," the King James version says), "or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil."5 To be a bishop, or any other leader of the people, there ought to be time in Nazareth, hidden years for growing. Roy L. Smith once overheard conversation ...

886. A Citizen of Three Worlds

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... his Roman citizenship. The secret of his remarkable influence lay in the fact that he had a third citizenship - he was a citizen of heaven. In Philippians 3:20, Paul wrote, "Our conversation is in heaven." That is the way it is phrased in the King James Version, but the literal meaning of the Greek - as seen in most modern translations - is "Our citizenship is in heaven." Paul was saying, "We who are Christians have a heavenly citizenship." He was a Jew by birth. He was a Roman by birth. He was a Christian ...

887. When Something is About to Happen

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

Thomas Long

... event of Pentecost could have happened, even in our Sunday service. "I get the feeling here, like nowhere else, that something is about to happen." Come, Lord Jesus. And it was the Lord, himself, who said, "What I say to you I say to all. Watch" (Mark 13:37). A version of this story appears in Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, (New York: Harper and Row, 1982), p. 41.

888. Shepherds and Bathrobes

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Thomas Long

... kicking a soccer ball across the front yard, will stand on a hillside of indoor-outdoor carpet, guarding cardboard and cotton-ball sheep with makeshift staffs, their terry-cloth bathrobes almost, but not quite, hiding their worn Adidas sneakers. Suddenly a gauzily angelic version of the little girl from next door will burst onto the scene, lisping the good news through the gap where her next tooth will eventually grow. Other angels will soon join her, their foil-wrapped wings bouncing wildly to the beat of ...

889. Party in Room 210 ... Everyone Invited

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Thomas Long

... book when, suddenly, a shaft of light falls upon a penetrating passage and scales fall from the reader’s eyes. Or a hillside communion service at a summer church camp begins to glow with all the luminosity and power of the Upper Room. The ministerial version of Christian calling almost always involves a moment of high drama. Muehl does not doubt that such moments do occur, but he does doubt that they occur as often and as predictably as some ministers say they do. Muehl thinks many ministers are guilty of ...

890. Practicing Righteousness

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... In our text for today, Jesus also seems to be refuting the "Practice makes perfect" saying. "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them." That is the way the text begins. The word piety is used in the Revised Standard Version to translate the Greek word for righteousness. "Beware of practicing your righteousness before others." That is what Jesus says. Such a practice does not make perfect at all. The opening words of our text find Jesus saying a NO word to the public practice of ...

891. God So Loved the World

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... one who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his [or her] deeds have been wrought in God. The New English Bible has a very interesting and helpful translation for the beginning of verse 19. The Revised Standard Version which I quoted begins with the words: "And this is the judgment ..." The New English Bible reads rather, "This is the test ..." John has been talking about the sentence of judgment that people bring upon themselves when they fail to believe in the name of the ...

892. Wait and Witness

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... Bethany, Jesus lifted his hands and blessed his disciples. Luke 24 verse 51 reads: "While he blessed them, he parted from them." Luke will expand on these words, too, in the book of Acts. In Acts 1:6-11, he gives us a fuller version of Jesus’ parting, of his ascension into heaven. Jesus’ ascension into heaven is one of the basic realities of his life and ministry. In the Apostles’ Creed, Christians throughout the ages have confessed their belief that Jesus, "... ascended into heaven and is seated at ...

893. All-Out Love

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... appears in church one Sunday morning. He flips through his Bible as the pastor preaches, to check the scriptural accuracy of the sermon. After the service he comes to the pastor’s study, to chastise him for straying from his narrowly-defined version of the truth. Fortunately, these modern-day Pharisees do not place a pastor at risk from a Sanhedrin or a Pilate. Indeed, their questions and accusations, however misguided or malicious, can serve a useful purpose. They help to sharpen and clarify convictions ...

894. How Can We Foretell the Future?

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... weighing the alternatives that lay before him, counting the cost, and making the choices that would shape his future ministry. The importance of our choices in shaping our future can be seen in the fact that the word "choose" occurs 144 times in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament and 24 times in the New Testament. How can we foretell the future? Examine the direction of the choices in your will. "But, there are two sides to every question," objected one man who tried to minimize the importance of ...

895. How Can We Live Wisely?

Job 26:1--31:40

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... to reverse the whole direction in which our lives have been moving. This need to reverse direction takes us right up into the heart of Christ’s teachings. In William Barclay’s splendid translation of the New Testament is this incident reported in Matthew’s version of the story of the Good News: "Jesus called a little child, and made him stand where they could all see him. ‘I tell you truly,’ he said, ‘unless you change the whole direction of your lives, and become like little children, you will ...

896. The Baptism of Our Lord

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Acts 19:1-22, Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... and deeds are hollow and meaningless. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen Gospel: Mark 1:4-11 Theme: The subjectivity and secrecy of the first epiphany Exegetical note Unlike the descriptions of Jesus’ baptism delivered by Matthew and Luke, Mark’s earlier version describes the opening of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit, and the voice of God as a private, inner experience of Jesus alone, rather than a public event observable by the baptizer or onlookers. Call to Worship Leader: As John the Baptizer ...

897. Epiphany 3

Jonah 3:1-10, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40, Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:14-20

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... your priorities rather than our own. Help us to live each day as though Jesus were near to establish your Kingdom. In his name we pray. Amen Gospel: Mark 1:14-20 Theme: Leaving old occupations for a new profession Exegetical note Mark’s version of how Peter and Andrew became Jesus’ disciples - very different from John’s account - implies that a positive response to the Gospel of the Kingdom, and its demand for repentance and belief, will necessitate a radical break with one’s past (pre)occupations ...

898. Lent 6

Isaiah 50:1-11, Mark 15:16-20, Mark 15:21-32, Philippians 2:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... his own exaltation, not through self-promotion and status-seeking but through humility and suffering. In his name we pray. Amen Gospel: Mark 14:1--15:47 or 15:1-39 Theme: The thrill of victory in the agony of defeat Exegetical Note Mark’s version of the Passion contained here (15:20-39), perhaps his redaction of two earlier accounts, renders a portrait of utter humiliation and defeat: Jesus is stripped, mocked, and tortured to death in an execution that added insult to injustice and injury. Yet, upon his ...

899. Wednesday in Holy Week

Isaiah 50:1-11, Hebrews 12:1-13, John 13:18-30

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... by your grace. In his name we pray. Amen Gospel: John 13:21-30 Theme: Betraying the Master Exegetical Note This Johannine account of Christ’s designation of Judas as betrayer is in many ways the most elaborate in the Gospels. Most distinctive about this version is that Satan enters into Judas, and does so after Jesus has handed the disciple a morsel. John, of course, does not report the words of Jesus that identify the bread with his body; here, presumably, the only signification of the supper’s bread ...

900. Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13--53:12, Hebrews 4:14-5:10, John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... precious name we pray. Amen Gospel: John 18:1--19:42 or 19:17-30 Theme: The triumphant tragedy of the cross Exegetical Note More than the Synoptic accounts, John consistently views the cross primarily as a glorious event of exaltation. In his version of the Passion here, he underscores that perspective with his detail about the kingship of this crucified one, and with his report of Jesus’ final words - "It is accomplished!" - which signal, not resignation, but triumph. Call to Worship Leader: Let us bless ...

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