Sermon and Worship Resources

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Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Note, first, that God did not say this man was evil. God said he was a fool. Note, secondly, that most of us would not say he was a fool. We’d say he was an obviously successful businessman. We esteem abundance. Jesus said, "A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." We act as though a man’s life does consist in the abundance of his possessions. We have a saying, "If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?" As if that were the test of a person’s life. Why would God call him a fool? ...

102. Proper 13 & Pentecost 11

Matthew 14:13-21, Nehemiah 9:1-37, Exodus 12:1-30, Romans 8:28-39, Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE With one more Sunday remaining in August, the preacher may find more of a practical preaching clue in the approach of the fall season than a theological theme in the church year. For now, the latter part of August emphasizes a kind of homiletical eschatology; in many congregations, one has been preaching primarily to the faithful few during the summer months, and soon summer will be over. Attendance will increase in the next few weeks and one's preaching may have to be somewhat different ...

103. Mary's Revolutionary Song (Sermon Series No. 3)

Luke 1:39-56

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

In one of the world’s most revolutionary documents, is found these immortal words: “We hold these truths to be self—evident, that all men are created equal.” Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. It's vision has also been the target of oppressive regimes around the world. Not least of which is Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The only document I know that is more ...

104. Naming the Divine Baby

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Naming a new baby is a challenging process. It’s hard to please everybody with a name. Dad wants a name with alliteration in it, something that would sound good on a sports report--Sammy Sousa or Johnny Justice. Mom selects a fashionable name and insists on no nicknames, something like Catherine or Benjamin or Cynthia. Grandpa wants to use a hallowed family name from the past, like Reuben or Horatio or Alonzo. It’s a miracle of diplomacy that a name is ever chosen. Once the name is selected, it takes on a ...

105. The Cunning Craftsman, God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

In her play, "The Zeal of Thy House," Dorothy Sayers imagines a stonemason working on an intricate carving for the chancel of Canterbury Cathedral, who clumsily lets his tool slip and spoils the whole great piece of stone assigned to him. It is a sad moment as the valuable and custom-cut stone stands misshapen. The architect, however, takes the tool out of the artisan’s hand and although he remonstrates with him for his clumsiness, begins to enact forgiveness. He redesigns out of the spoiled carving a new ...

106. Put the Cross on Top

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One day I clipped a picture from a newspaper because it intrigued me. I wish I could enlarge it and show it to you on a wide screen. It shows a church building under construction. Out front is a huge crane trying to lift the cross to its proper place on top of the steeple. But the crane can't reach high enough. So the cross is just dangling in mid-air. The newspaper article beneath the picture reported that the contractor planned to get another crane with at least a 120-foot boom and try again the ...

107. 'Nevertheless': A Word of Faith

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Conventional wisdom has it that Billy Graham got his big push toward success from newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. In 1949 Graham's first major crusade was being launched in Los Angeles, and Hearst owned both major newspapers there. Supposedly, Hearst sent a brief message to his editors, saying, “Puff Graham.” But Billy Graham has a different understanding of his launching. In his autobiography, Just As I Am, he tells about a retreat he attended just a few months before that crusade. One night he was ...

108. Mary's Revolutionary Song

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

At home I have a yellow copy of one of the world's most revolutionary documents. In it are found these immortal words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. The only document I know that is more revolutionary is in our Bible. It is called the Magnificat and is found in Luke, chapter 1, ...

109. What Kind of Cross?

Mark 8:31--9:1

Illustration

Larry Powell

Not long ago, a hard-rock singer reknowned for his notorious over indulgence in mind-altering drugs appeared on television to scream, lunge, and gyrate through one of his bestselling songs. Inasmuch as the rather badly garbled words were totally incomprehensible to me, I turned my attention to the bizarre, uninhibited attire of this widely heralded "artist." Not to dwell on the flamboyance of his appearance, I wish only to point out that dangling from an expensive chain around his neck was a large cross. ...

110. Stewards and Our Bodies

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Esther and Walter Hupman were their names. The Hupmans had the only round barn in Darke County, Ohio. Next to that barn was the tenant farmer’s home. The tenants came and went on the large Hupman farm. Some did a beautiful job caring for the land, their home, the barns, and cattle. Others couldn’t care less; they got everything out of the farm they could and then left a mess. We have seen already that you and I are a lot like caretakers: that is, temporary tenants of God’s good creation. The first sermon ...

111. A Christian's Duty in Time of War

Nehemiah 4:1-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

We gather for worship on a weekend that we will long remember as the beginning of the liberation of Iraq. We are concerned about our troops and the innocent people of Iraq. We Christians love peace; therefore, we automatically recoil against the death and suffering associated with war. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” But as a World War II veteran reminded me, “Somebody has to take care of the peacemakers while they are making peace.” That task has fallen upon the armed forces of the United ...

112. True Excellence

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

One day at a particularly quiet moment in the normally noisy newsroom where he worked, young H. L. Mencken shouted at the top of his lungs, "It's coming in the doors!" Needless to say, everyone stopped and looked in his direction. "It's up to the bottom of the desks!" said Mencken as he rose to his feet. "It's up to the seats of our chairs!" he shouted as he jumped onto his chair. "What are you talking about?" asked one of his incredulous colleagues. "It's up to the tops of our desks!" shouted Mencken as ...

113. 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 ...

114. Belonging To The Right Family

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

King Duncan

No one deserves a special day all to herself more than today's Mom. A cartoon showed a psychologist talking to his patient: "Let's see," he said, "You spend 50 percent of your energy on your job, 50 percent on your husband and 50 percent on your children. I think I see your problem." Some of you can identify with that. I like the story about the fouryearold and the sixyearold who presented their Mom with a house plant. They had used their own money and she was thrilled. The older of them said with a sad ...

115. Lost In America

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

Bruce Kimball was a 1984 Silver Medalist in the Olympics. Bruce was involved in an accident many years ago. We are told he was intoxicated at the time. Two people were killed. Bruce withdrew from life because of that tragedy. He was depressed. He secluded himself in a trailer home with his father. He had the shades drawn. He turned inward. He was feeling sorry for himself. He could not sleep at night. Just to pass time he would sit and watch television all night long until he couldn’t hold his eyes open ...

116. Who Are You Trying To Impress?

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever tried to impress somebody and looked silly doing it? Author Sidney Sheldon tells a memorable story about an embarrassing event that occurred to him years ago. He had acquired a lovely blue Rolls-Royce. A few days later he parked in front of a shop in Beverly Hills. He went inside, did his shopping, returned to his car and got behind the driver's seat of the Rolls. An arm reached through the window and grabbed his shoulder, and a voice said, "What do you think you're doing?" He looked out the ...

117. Memorial Day

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Angela Akers

Greater love has no man than this . . . The Civil War ended in 1865. But it wasn't until 1997 that the last shot of that war was fired. In 1997, two young boys were playing around with their new Christmas present, a metal detector. Using their new toy, they came across a live shell that dates back to the Civil War. The boys, Michael and Andrew Zimmerman of Winchester, Virginia, didn't know what the shell was at first. Neither did their uncle, Michael Robinson. He reports poking and banging on it as he ...

118. Is There Hope for the Hapless Wedding Guest?

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Darrick Acre

Strange parable. Great beginning; catastrophic ending. Yet I find myself drawn to the hapless wedding guest because nobody else is. The first sermon I ever heard in a Nazarene Church was when I was in high school. Pastor Roy Hoover preached on this wretched wedding guest. It so chilled me out that I didn’t go back for a year. I’ve never forgotten it. I’ve never heard one on it since! When preachers come to this miserable fellow, like the Jews of old meeting a leper on the road, they give him a wide berth. ...

119. The Jesus Connection

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Some years ago in the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland, the members of one of the large Presbyterian churches decided to undertake a religious census among some 2000 homes in their district. When the results were in, the pastor of the church found himself seated at his desk, confronted with a huge heap of reports, and he began to note the visitors’ findings and especially any comments made by the visitors at the bottom of the page. One remark that occurred again and again was, “Used to be a Presbyterian ...

120. Only the Neighbors’ Kid

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In his excellent little book, How Can It be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?, Professor Lew Smedes says that one source of our salvation is to cultivate a sense of wonder. He reminds us that Jesus was a source of wonder to all who came into contact with Him, from the humble shepherds who were struck with wonder at the sight of blazing angels sashaying around the Judean hills to the Wise Men from the East who came and laid their gifts at Jesus’ feet and wondered. All His life Jesus made people wonder ...

121. When Life Seems to Be Going in the Wrong Direction

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

When he was 88 years old, the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Holmes once found himself on a train. When the conductor came by, Justice Homes couldn't find his ticket; he seemed terribly upset. He searched all of his pockets and fumbled through his wallet but to no avail. The conductor tried to ease his anxiety. He said, "Don''t worry, Mr. Holmes, the Pennsylvania Railroad will be happy to trust the Supreme Court Justice. After you reach your destination, you''ll find your ticket and you can mail it to ...

122. Life: From the Inside Out

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Robert Noblett

Eleven people, so goes the story, were dangling from a rope beneath a helicopter in a rescue scenario. Being rescued were ten men and one woman. Word came down from the pilot that one of the eleven would have to let go; if not, everyone would perish. The woman spoke right up and said her whole life had been one of sacrifice -- for her children, husband, and parents -- and now she would be willing to sacrifice one last time by letting go. With that, the ten men applauded! The story's point? Never ...

123. Grace in the Midst of Guilt and Shame

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

At the beginning of his ministry Jesus had a chance to impress the people he grew up with. According to Luke, chapter 4, Jesus was invited to stand up and read the Bible in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth. And why not? He was the latest sensation. His reputation as a teacher was starting to get around. He was the local kid who had made good. There must have been smiles and gentle ribbing as Jesus got up to read the Scriptures on that Saturday morning a long time ago. "Remember when he was just a child, ...

124. The Good Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Brett Blair

It is small wonder that the image of the shepherd was frequently upon the lips of the savior. It was a part of his heritage and culture. Abraham, the father of the nation, was the keeper of great flocks. Moses was tending the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro, when God called him into a special service. David was a shepherd boy called in from the fields to be the King of Israel. The imagery of the shepherd was also imprinted upon the literature of the day. The 23rd Psalm is frequently referred to as the ...

125. Adoration And Confession

Psalm 103:1-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

We thank you our heavenly father for the joy of being alive in you. We pray that you’ll come as the Holy Spirit, to cleanse our hearts and minds, to fill us with a power of discernment but also with the willingness to respond to that which you are calling us to. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. A little boy was asked by his pastor if he said his prayers every night. “No sir,” the fellow answered honestly. “Not every night. Some nights I don’t want anything.” That makes the point doesn’t it? Many of us do not ...

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