Sermon and Worship Resources

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76. Christmas Carols · O Come All Ye Faithful

Luke 2:1-20

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... could understand and write in several languages. Not everyone who helped him could read the Latin languages. They depended on him to make good copies of all the hymns. Finally one day it was finished and everyone was very pleased. It was only after he had left and the ... Ye Faithful." Mr. Wade had written his own hymn, but he was so sure that no one would ever listen to a hymn written by a copy writer that he put it in when no one was looking. Today it is one of the best loved hymns in the whole world. Lots of ...

77. Not Far From the Kingdom

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... . His business was recording the scripture. Long before the invention of printing by the Chinese, all documents were executed by hand. What a tiresome, monotonous job: day in, day out, copying the same passages. Through sheer rote, words would have been fixed in his mind - unconscious memory. Of course, he knew the Law; he had copied it, perhaps hundreds of times. This inquirer wanted to know which was the greatest Commandment. When Jesus gave him the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18), the scribe ...

78. Diabolical Political Skills

John 17:20-26

Illustration

Glenn E. Ludwig

... latest and most diabolical thinking on these political skills." And then he ends with two seemingly contradictory thoughts. First, he plants the seed about the opposition: "How many people in your company are sending away for their copies of the Black Book?" And then he said, that if I act right away, I'll get a free copy of "Creating a Loyal Staff." A loyal staff? Let’s see. First, I’m suppose to learn to beat them up in the corporate arena. Secondly, I am to be paranoid that my colleagues might read ...

79. Do I Matter?

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Interesting news this week. According to the population clock at the United Nations, there are now six-billion of us on this whirling planet.(1) Someone decided that a baby boy born to refugee parents in Sarajevo, a region returning to life after a decade of death and destruction and war, would be the perfect symbol for the push toward our next billion or so. According to UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan, the birth of little Adnan Nevic "should light a path of tolerance and understanding for all people." We ...

80. God the Boggler

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

We made it!!! Pass out the tee-shirts that say "I survived Y2K!" Some have probably had to deal with millennium-sized hangovers, others are still in the process of sweeping up millennium-sized piles of confetti, and the rest of us are generally relieved that millennium-sized fears of Y2K-related disasters never happened - no computer blow-ups, no terrorist attacks. We made it! No Rapture either, by the way. Some of those who sport the bumper stickers on their cars warning, "In case of the Rapture, this car ...

81. Gettin' Ready For Quittin' Time

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... Sunday during Advent. The class had requested a discussion on the Second Coming. I remembered a popular book about the rapture that had frightened many people a couple of years earlier. So I went into a nearby Christian book store to see if I could purchase a copy. But I couldn't remember the title, so I explained to the salesperson the nature of the book. She said, "Oh, you must mean the book, EIGHTY-EIGHT REASONS WHY THE RAPTURE WILL DEFINITELY COME IN 1988." "That sounds like it," I said. She said, "That ...

82. Transformed By A Babe

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... "Of course, you’re depressed ”‘tis the season to be jolly." Christmas is such a frantic time. Herbert M. Davidson saw a typographical error in a newspaper. A school was purchasing a new copying machine, except that in the newspaper article the "y" was left out of the word "copying." Therefore, according to the newspaper, the school was purchasing a "coping" machine. The teachers could only wish . . . . Herbert Davidson says, "That’s what I want for Christmas ”a coping machine." That’s what ...

83. Ready For The Great Race

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... given to us, and the "top line" of each page was printed for us as a pattern....every stroke properly formed. As long as we kept the `top line ™ in view we were likely to write a fair copy for ourselves, but by the time we had written three of four lines, we forgot about the `top line ™ and copied the lines we ourselves had already written.... The life of Christ is the `top line ™ which we ought to imitate, and always keep in view." (2) Life is a marathon. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses ...

84. How Shall We Prepare?

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... s wrong?" Ms. Hoff-Sommers asked. Her colleague said, "They cheated on their social justice take-home finals. They plagiarized!" More than half of the students in her ethics class had copied from secondary sources. "What are you going to do?" Ms. Hoff-Sommers asked. Her colleague gave her a self-mocking smile and said, "I'd like to borrow a copy of that article you wrote on ethics without virtue. (4) A hard but important lesson to learn. We simply cannot have a society that is not built on honesty and trust ...

85. Busybodies

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... world is full of them. Well-known columnist James J. Kilpatrick bought a computer program that not only could scan his copy for errors, but could also tell him about grammar, usage, style and punctuation. In short, the computer could tell Kilpatrick the difference ... between good writing and bad. Just for fun he fed it some of his own copy and the machine promptly told him he was a lousy writer. Then Kilpatrick tried Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The computer informed him ...

86. Never Give Up

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... 's disease, a cancer of the lymph system, which is currently in remission. But then he did something that would radically alter his life. He wrote a book that sold 30,000 copies. It was not a massive best seller, but Kevin Costner liked it and made the movie Dances with Wolves from it. Now the book has sold over 2 million copies, and Michael has won the Oscar for the movie adaptation. He now enjoys speaking in schools and to homeless children. "I tell them that if you stay committed, your dreams can come ...

87. Schadenfreude

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks

... proportionate to feelings of envy I have toward another human being. Isn't it great when people who have it all fail and suffer? We revel in the wreckage! Open the entertainment section of the newspaper or pick up a copy of People magazine. The headlines and features offer up a schadenfreude smorgasbord: "Teen Star Arrested in Drug Sting," "Corporate Executive Caught with Mistress," "Local Politician Charged With Insurance Fraud," "Clergy Absconds With Mission Offering." And we devour this information. We ...

88. Sons And Daughters Of God

Romans 8:18-27, Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... in his pockets: an embroidered handkerchief, a watch, and some confederate money. But most interesting of all was a ragged copy of a newspaper article. The article had been written during a time of great controversy and turmoil in the country ... in life. He wrote about character, about failure, about money, about love. At their graduation, he presented each boy with a leather-bound copy of his book. You see, Ron Mehl has been battling chronic leukemia for years. He could not guarantee he would be around to ...

89. A Life Without Apology

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

King Duncan

Nothing in our lives brings us joy like small children. But they are also a challenge. Maybe that is why there are so many jokes about raising children. "We child-proofed our home," said one comedian, "but they are still getting in." "If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache," says another, "do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "˜TAKE TWO ASPIRIN' and "KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN." Some of you will identify with Rita Rudner's line: "I think about having children, because time is running out. I ...

90. Through the Eyes of an Eagle (Introduction)

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... group of Jews called the Essenes who were contemporaneous with Jesus thought about life prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the fall of Masada in A.D. 74. And what do we find in the Dead Sea scrolls? In addition to the oldest copy of the book of Isaiah (a thousand years older than anything we had known previously), there were writings about the warfare between Light and Darkness, similar themes to those which we find in the Gospel of John. Now, I am not suggesting that Jesus was an Essene ...

91. Christmas and the Condensed Bible

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... petard and now find themselves on the receiving end of the harsh words which some “Christians” can throw at people with whom they disagree. What ever happened to the “Condensed Bible,” anyway? Well, it never really seemed to get off the ground. Some copies were sold, but it hasn’t seemed to have caught on with the majority of readers. I suppose that it is something of an exercise in futility trying to “condense” one of the world’s greatest literary masterpieces. It would be like condensing ...

92. Whatever Happened to those Mansions?

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... published in 1952, a pastor in North Carolina was so disturbed by the new translation that he gathered up all the copies he could find and had a public Bible-burning. What upset the pastor so much was that while the King James ... what a billow be. I never spoke with God Nor visited in Heaven— Yet certain am I of the spot As if the Checks were given. If you have a copy of that poem at home, it is likely that your last lines read “Yet certain am I of the spot/As if the chart were given.” Actors and orators ...

93. The Unfinished Story

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... of primitive Church tradition gathered from a variety of sources.” (Ibid., p.207) I know, this gives problems to those folks who want an infallible translation of an infallible Bible. But there doesn’t seem to be any. All we have to go on are copies of copies of the original manuscripts, which must then be translated and edited and compiled. To say “I believe the Bible cover to cover” is like saying “I believe the Library, from one wall to the last wall.” The Bible is a Library of books, edited ...

94. Easy to Say, Hard to Do

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... computer world. When you install a new computer software program, there are many complicated programs which really need to be installed from the original installation CD or disks. Just copying the program from one computer to another does not install it properly. Sooner or later, and probably sooner, you will find that the copied program just doesn't work properly. It's not properly integrated with all the files, something the installation process does automatically. Frustrated, you have to go searching for ...

95. The Indwelling Christ And Holy Communion

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Room. By return mail, he told me had never heard of the Upper Room. Well that hurt my feelings, so I sent him a copy of the Upper Room, and by return mail, I received his subscription. He said, “Enclosed you will find my check for a one year ... weeks or two months. To show you the kind of fellow he is, shortly after we began to correspond with each other, I sent him a copy of my book, Dancing at My Funeral, because that’s very autobiographical and I thought that would enable him to know who I am and sort ...

96. God Outwits Us

Psalm 31:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... around the edge of her awareness, and challenging her confidence in God’s providence and grace. With her permission I shared Tanya’s testimony in my book Keeping Company With the Saints. I sent her a copy when it was published. Let me share a portion of a letter she wrote: Thank you so much for your kind letter and copy of your new workbook. I am so humbled that you were able to use my testimony. It is always encouraging to see how God can work evil for good. Things are going well with me. Since ...

97. The Vocation of Leadership: A Prophet Among Them

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... -grandfather was the President of the United States; my grandfather was a Senator; my daddy is a Congressman; and I am a Brownie!” Isn’t that wonderful? The purpose of discipline and formation is not to make us all carbon copies of some pre-determined model of a saint, or a carbon copy of some great leader, but rather to call forth the rich diversity of gifts within us, and to empower the expression of those gifts. Imitation is deadly. I like the story about Bernard Shaw. He was an agnostic, but carried ...

98. Obedience Really Matters

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... of Physicians and friend of the great Renaissance thinkers Erasmus and Sir Thomas More. Late in life he took Roman Catholic orders and was given a copy of the Gospels to read for the first time. The Bible, of course, was still the preserve of the clergy and not in the hands ... 13, 18, 25-26, 8. 7:13-8:1, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, 26:1. 9. 7:13-20. Go to www.duncanumc.com for a copy of the sermon on this text. 10. PreachingToday.com search under Mt. 7:21-8:1. 11. Idem. 12. 1 Corinthians 12:3. 13. On the textual basis ...

99. The Problem with Busybodies

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... noticed that the bells of Westminster that rang out over the city were slightly out of tune. Something had gone wrong with the chimes and they were inharmonious. The boys didn’t know there was anything wrong with the notes, and quite unconsciously they had copied their pitch. I believe that the church is called to be the Westminster chimes of our time--setting the moral and spiritual pitch for our society. And, if we do not ring true, society will suffer. We are engaged in urgent and serious business. We ...

100. The CatWalk Church and the CrossLove Church

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... disciples out of love. He welcomed them as friends, and beckoned them to experience firsthand a lay-down love. Traditional teachers of the age expected their students to be ducks – throwing back verbatim the lessons they had learned, each student a cloned copy of all the rest. In contrast to the ancient teacher-student relationship, Jesus wanted his disciples to abide with him. Abiding took place, not through words alone, but through love above all. Love may be experienced and expressed in countless ways ...

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