Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1801 to 1825 of 5000 results

1801. An Attitude of Gratitude

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

It was almost exactly five years ago. Just before Thanksgiving, a Friday morning, shortly after 5:00 AM - I was awakened by a shout from our kitchen, "OH, NO!" A moment later, the cry came again, "OH, NO!" Christie had gotten up, gone in to start the coffee, and discovered we were flooded. A hose leading to our washing machine had burst during the night and water was gushing out. For the next hour and a half we were bailing out our house, then later watched as a crew moved in, hoisted furniture, pulled up ...

1802. Theology in Snow

Psalm 147:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Snow, snow, snow. Had enough? I bet. A quiet week this past week, but FIVE TIMES in the previous two weeks? Enough already. Schools and businesses shut down; airports closed stranding travelers; icy highways like bumper-car rinks...boom, bang, bam. No church on Sunday for two weeks in a row - the few people who could get out of their driveways could not safely venture on to the streets. We were reduced to joining the congregation of the Church of the All-Seeing Eye. The words of the Psalmist came to mind ...

1803. In Praise of Petunias

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Warren "Tra la, it's May, the lusty month of May, that lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray."(2) Finally. After more Winter than we needed. Now the April showers bring May flowers, and I am ready. You, too? A beautiful time of the year in western Pennsylvania, isn't it? The colors, the textures, the scents of Spring are in the air. I love it. I know many of you are gardeners. I have no talent for that sort of thing (as my wife will attest) - I work well from the neck up, but when it comes to ...

1804. Make It Right!

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

David E. Leininger

There is a church in Columbia, SC near the seminary I attended which has one of those bulletin boards out front to list service times, special events, sermon subjects, and so on. For several years there was one other thing on that bulletin board, one of those little "sentence sermons" that we see so often. It said, "The same Bible that says BELIEVE also says BEHAVE." I do not know if there were any significance to the fact that it was located so near to all us seminary students; perhaps someone figured we ...

1805. Are You the One?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A few years ago in Reader's Digest a lady reported searching for the perfect birthday card for her husband. She came across a promising one. On the outside it read: "Sweetheart, you're the answer to my prayers." Then she turned to the inside, which was inscribed like this: "You're not what I prayed for exactly, but apparently you are the answer."(1) OK. In a strange way, I will bet that something like that was running through John's mind as he sat there in that prison. He and his people had hoped and ...

1806. Following Orders

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

These are special days around St. Paul Presbyterian. Our 40th Birthday celebration continues. We had that delightful HOMELAND concert last night; we look forward to the BBQ/Talent Show on the 21st, then Jerry McCann's return to this pulpit on the 22nd. Good times. Times such as these provide an opportunity for celebration but they offer a good incentive for reflection, for creative dreaming as well, days that the church needs every so often if we understand ourselves as people with a mission. To my mind, ...

1807. "A Friend Indeed"

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"A friend in need is a friend indeed." Familiar old aphorism. Do you believe it? Do you UNDERSTAND IT? For a long time, I did not - it is not the clearest. I wondered why in the world someone who is in need should be considered a genuine friend. Instead I rather agreed with whichever wag adjusted the saying to "A friend in need is a PEST!" Finally I realized that the original version meant that a friend to YOU when YOU are in need is a friend indeed. AHA! THAT I believe. Of course, the gospel expects ...

1808. Mary's Complaint

Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I suppose you have had the chance to watch at least a little television during these busy days before Christmas. Have you noticed that the news programs are carrying more stories about unfortunate people these days...people who have lost their homes, people who are facing debilitating disease, people who seem to have had their whole world fall in on them? Have you noticed that? I understand why: somehow the plight of desperate folks seems all the MORE desperate in the midst of what should be a season of ...

1809. The Forgiveness Business

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Wonderful story. At least, it is to me. Others might not like it so well. It is certainly astonishing. Put it in the context of a dinner party at your own home or even a supper downstairs in Fellowship Hall. By this time in Jesus' ministry, he had garnered quite a bit of public notice. All sorts of people had been attracted to him - rich, poor, educated, illiterate, from the highly respectable to the lowly riffraff. To have this famous rabbi come to dinner was very special and everyone would have been ...

1810. Is God Like Daddy? - Father's Day

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Kids are fun. A little girl came home from Sunday School. "What did you learn today?" her father asked. She responded, "All I heard was that the children of Israel did this and the children of Israel did that. Didn't the grown ups do anything?" Another one. The new baby came home from the hospital. The three-year-old met her new brother at the door and tagged along like a shadow as he was carried in and placed in the basinet. Big sister stood and watched in fascination and noticed that the new arrival was ...

1811. Building a World

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Geoff Burch is a sales trainer in England. He tells about a man named Fred he met in the course of his research into sales methods. Back in the 1950s Fred had been a traveling salesman hawking washing machines. This job was on commission only, but included a valuable and unusual perk: the then almost unheard of luxury of a vehicle. At the beginning of each week Fred was sent off in his van with five washing machines; so long as all five were sold each week, Fred could keep the van. This he succeeded in ...

1812. About Kissing

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary of Great Britain, once shared a railway compartment with two prim-looking older single women. A few moments before reaching his destination the train passed through a tunnel. In the utter darkness Halifax kissed the back of his hand noisily several times. When the train drew into the station, he rose, lifted his hat, and in a gentlemanly way said: "May I thank whichever one of you two ladies I am indebted to for the charming incident in the tunnel." He then beat a ...

1813. Broken Hydrants

Jeremiah 17:19-27

Sermon

King Duncan

At the corner of East 179th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, there stand two fire hydrants. On one corner, standing in cracked concrete, is an old hydrant, faded and rusty. Litter and weeds crowd around its base, all but obscuring a black band painted around its middle. On the opposite corner there is a newer hydrant. The concrete is whole and solid. The paint is fresh. And when disaster strikes, the fire fighters will attach their hoses to it, rather than its forlorn-looking cousin across the ...

1814. Love Your Enemies

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

King Duncan

Comedian George Burn's club gave a big dinner in honor of his ninety-fifth birthday. The dais was loaded with talent. One of the first speakers was Irving Brecher, the creator-writer of the popular television show of the fifties, THE LIFE OF RILEY, and the director of many fine movies. Here is what Brecher had to say about Burns: "What is so unusual about our guest of honor this evening is that in a profession that is so frenetically competitive ” where the pressure to make it big is so intense that often ...

1815. What We Have Is A Communication Problem

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman dialed the number of what she thought was the local record shop. A man answered. She asked, "Do you have 10 little fingers and 10 little toes in Alabama?" The man had no idea she was talking about a song. He said, "No, but I do have a wife and 15 kids in Louisiana." She asked, "Is that a record?" He said, "I don't know if it is a record or not, but it sure is above average." (1) One of the favorite devices of comedians is that of garbled communication. An Italian gentleman was trying to learn ...

1816. Finding Glory

Galatians 6:11-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you may remember a program years ago on television called "Topper." It was one of the better comedies in the early days of television. Jim Burns, in his book, RADICALLY COMMITTED, tells about one of the zanier episodes in this series. Mrs. Topper wanted to train her husband to be nicer to her. She found a book titled HOW TO TRAIN PUPPIES and followed it exactly by substituting her husband~s name for the puppy. So any time her husband Topper would do something nice for her, she would praise him and ...

1817. No More Pain!

John 8:31-41

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a ridiculous story about a weight lifter who appeared at an agent's office. The muscle-bound performer was carrying a stone, a big hammer, and a huge suitcase. "This big stone," he explained to the agent, "is placed on my head, then my assistant takes the hammer and swings it as hard as he can, and breaks the stone." The agent's head nearly ached just from the description, but he was quite enthusiastic. "Sounds wonderful!" he shouted. "But if you need only the hammer and the big stone for the ...

1818. Jesus, Where Are You?

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: “Jesus, Where Are You?” New Title: Teacher, Doctor, Savior, God? A pastor was showing a painting of Jesus to a group of children. He explained, "Now, young people, you understand this ...

1819. Get Off The Orphan Train

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

Alice Marion Ham knows little about her origins. She only knows that police found her and her brother, Robert, who was only a toddler at the time, abandoned on a New York City street in 1926. The two children were subsequently bundled by orphanage workers onto a train that carried them from the city to a new life in the rural Midwest. Alice wound up moving from one abusive home to another, while Robert was taken in by a family that treated him like royalty. Alice and several other riders of New York's so- ...

1820. Long Range Planning

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Our text for the day comes from that immortal television series, The A-Team. At the conclusion of each show the leader would light up his cigar and say, "I love it when a plan comes together." He's right! It is great when a plan comes together. In 1943 Great Britain was planning an invasion of Sicily. In order to carry out this invasion successfully British planners had to convince the Germans and Italians that the invasion would occur elsewhere. And so the British came up with a plan that would be worthy ...

1821. A Distant Light

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

As we make our journey over the next four weeks toward the stable in Bethlehem one symbol of our faith will be preeminent “that is the symbol of light. Tree lights, candle lights and in the heavens the radiant light of the star the wise men followed on that holy night. It is perhaps a parable of our times that we are rarely without some form of light. We have Thomas Edison to thank for that I suppose. It is said that after thousands of experiments, when he finally achieved this monumental breakthrough that ...

1822. Good News For You

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

A little boy in a Christmas program had but one sentence to say, "Behold, I bring you good tidings." After the rehearsal he asked his mother what "tidings" meant. She told him tidings meant "news." When the program was performed, he was so scared before the large congregation that he forgot his line. Finally the idea came back to him and he blurted out, "Hey, I got good news for you!" Each of our lessons from the Scripture this morning is about the good news of Christmas. Isaiah tells us that a virgin will ...

1823. Crying On Palm Sunday

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Ernie Campbell once preached a sermon with the title: "Did Jesus cry? In it he took issue with the familiar Christmas lullaby (sometimes attributed to Martin Luther), which contains the words: "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head." The second verse is the one that caught his attention: "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." Campbell took issue with that verse. Jesus was a normal child. Normal children cry. Campbell ...

1824. Lighting The World

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Nancy Hill, in her book, Actual Factuals, tells an interesting story about a man who profited greatly because of a Christmas card. Clinton Odell heard of a chemist who had become ill and moved to Arizona for his health. The year was 1924. It was Christmastime, so Clinton sent the chemist $25 and an encouraging note. A year later, the chemist, Carl Noren, appeared at the Odell house saying, "I'm here and I'm well, and what can I do for you?" Clinton had an idea he wanted Carl to work on. He felt there was a ...

1825. Behold The Lamb

John 1:29-42

Sermon

King Duncan

Last week we dealt with Jesus’ baptism at the hands of by John the Baptist. I read an amusing story concerning John the Baptist recently that is simply too good not to tell. It’s about a Bible scholar from this country who travels to Jerusalem every few years where he enjoys walking the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City. Once he was walking down a quiet alley when he was waved into a small shop. Within a few minutes he found himself with a glass of tea in his hand, sitting in the back room of a rug merchant’ ...

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