Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1976 to 2000 of 4945 results

1976. As Seen from the Solitary Broom Tree

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Stan Purdum

I'm not sure when the term "burn out" ceased being only a description of what happened to a campfire when you ran out of firewood to a term describing the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest, usually coming immediately after an extended period of overwork, but the expression seems to fit that later situation, doesn't it? Exhaustion, deep weariness, all used up, nothing more to give, wiped out, burned out — call it what we will, its symptoms are all too familiar to many of us. A study ...

1977. A Chance To Be Made Whole

Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A young man and woman had been dating for a long time. One starlit evening, the young man called up his sweetheart to ask her to go on a ride with him. He said he had something very special to share with her. He picked her up in his much loved antique sports car and drove out to the park. There they had a lovely candle and starlight picnic. For some reason, the young man did not talk much. He seemed distracted. The young woman noticed all of this and was too excited to talk much, herself. She'd been ...

1978. Resurrected Place (Series: Living on the Resurrection Side of Life)

John 14:1-4

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Swiss psychiatrist Paul Tournier opens one of his most popular books with these words. “Basically we are always looking for a place–for somewhere to be.” I think the good doctor is right. From the first breath of birth to the final breath of death we are in need of a place, a place to be. Maybe that’s why John 14 is such a beloved passage of the Bible. “Let not your hearts be troubled. In my Father’s house are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” Jesus is providing a place for you, a ...

1979. Do You Have Beautiful Feet?

Romans 10:5-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A teenage boy kept begging his father to let him drive the car to school which was only three blocks away. Exasperated his father replied, "Drive to school? Why do you think God gave you two feet?" The boy answered, "One foot is to put on the brake. The other is to put on the accelerator." (1) One day a grandmother noticed something wrong her five year old granddaughter's feet and said: "Honey, you've got your shoes on the wrong feet." The little girl looked down and then said: "But Grandma, these are the ...

1980. When Being Christian Has Worn You Down (Compassion Fatigue)

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

To be honest is a mark of maturity. Dishonesty has within it its own destructive seeds. Most of us know the huge amount of energy deceit requires. And many of us have discovered the awful devastation of living a lie. Our sermon today addresses an issue about which we need to be honest. I’m talking about coping with compassion fatigue - “When being Christian has Worn You Down”. A mild little boy, not known for being ugly or mean, was being chastised and about to be punished for pulling a little girl’s hair ...

1981. Sons of God

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

King Duncan

On Mother’s day we listed nine things a mother will never say. Today on this Father’s Day we list “Ten Things Dad Will Never Say.” See how your Dad would do: 10. Well, how about that! I’m lost. Looks like we’ll have to stop and ask for directions. 9. You know, pumpkin. Now that you’re thirteen, you’ll be ready for unchaperoned car dates. Won’t that be fun? 8. I noticed that all your friends have a certain negative attitude. I like that! 7. Here’s a credit card and the keys to my new car. Go crazy! 6. What ...

1982. We Believe in Life Everlasting

John 11:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

I would like to begin this sermon with a few rhetorical questions. In your heart give truthful answers. Are you living or merely surviving? When you get to where you are going, where will you be? Living is a thing you do, now or never, which do you do? Would anybody here like to live forever? On this Memorial Day weekend, I would like to talk about life: meaningful life, abundant life, everlasting life, eternal life. As a pastor, I see life from many perspectives. In the span of one day, I often hold a new ...

1983. Can the Rich Be Saved?

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It’s been said of Jesus that whenever he met a person, it was as if that person were an island around which Jesus sailed until he found where the real problem was, and there he landed. He did that with the woman at the well and landed on the questions of marriage. He said to her, “Go call your husband.” In a luncheon conversation He landed on the question of integrity with Zaccheus and before lunch was over Zaccheus said, “If I have stolen anything from anybody, I will repay it four-fold.” Here in the ...

1984. The Dynamics of Being a Dad

Ephesians 6:1-4, Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The idea of Father’s Day was first proposed by Mrs. John B. Dodd, in 1909. She wanted to honor her father, William Smart, a civil war veteran who raised six children on his own when his wife died at child birth. So the next year at her Methodist church in Washington state, Mrs. Dodd led the first known celebration of Father’s Day honoring the “father’s place in the home and his role in the training of children.” This religious celebration, however, did not stay religious very long. The associated men’s ...

1985. Broken Lives and Broken Chains

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Every one of us, men and women, young and old alike live with a Legacy. Unfortunately, you can't choose the Legacy you have to live with. It's given to you by those who have gone before you. By those who raised you and influenced your life. Some of us live with a with Legacy that has set us free and empowered us. Some of us live with a Legacy that is more like chains which bind us. And struggle as we might we've been unable to break those chains. I wanted to start with that modern retelling of the story we ...

1986. When We Are Uncertain about The Future

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sermon

King Duncan

A young man tells of visiting a college, which had a series of security call boxes every few hundred feet or so. If you were wandering around the campus at night and felt uneasy about somebody following you, for instance, you could hit the button and have a security officer come investigate immediately. On one of these phones hung a sign that said, “Out of Order.” Underneath it someone had scrawled. . . “Keep Running!” (1) Fear is a powerful emotion, isn’t it? It’s like the story of the Bishop who had an ...

1987. Do You Have Any Leftovers?

John 6:1-15

Sermon

James Merritt

Without question, I can tell you what my absolute, all time, favorite meal is. It is so special that I only get to eat it once a year. It is so special, and so good, and so tasty that it is worth the wait. It is not just what I get to eat that makes it the most special meal of the year, but who I get to eat it with. It is the time of year I get to eat it and it is the occasion that brings me to the table. Can you guess what meal this is? It is Thanksgiving. The reason why Thanksgiving is my favorite meal ...

1988. We Are Not The Light

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

By now, most congregations are in the home stretch of their pre-Christmas preparations. There is much at stake for the life of any church. Try and imagine what a bad or indifferent Christmas would do to the morale of your church. We want if not a “Currier and Ives” Christmas for our families at least enough joy and good cheer to override any past enmity. Hopefully tinsel, garlands, and ornaments will chase away any seasonal affective disorder we may be suffering. Most of us are determined that the ...

1989. No More Tears

Sermon

King Duncan

One of these days I ought to give you a quiz on my sermon from the week before. Don’t worry. I’m not actually going to do it. It would be too embarrassing. Truthfully, there are times when I can’t remember what I preached on the week before. That’s why it caught my attention when a pastor named Benton Lutz told about the one sermon he most remembers. The pastor who preached this sermon described an experience he once had in a bathtub. The preacher said, that he was in a tub, the water was running; the tub ...

1990. Our Most Common Sin

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

What do you think is humanity’s most common sin? What do you think is your most common sin? There’s an old story about three preachers—a Baptist, an Episcopalian and a Methodist—who lived in the same community and became rather close. They played golf together and met for coffee. One day they decided that they’d spend two days together just to share and get acquainted, to study a little, to talk about their preaching, and to pray. During the course of that time they evolved in their relationship to the ...

1991. The Time Is Now!

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Unlike John or Peter, the gospel writer Luke was a cool-headed intellect. Luke was a physician. As a physician, he was trained to keep his emotional distance from the events he saw. Nobody wants a physician who lets emotion run ahead of intellect. We want our medical doctors to be able to confront the most remarkable experiences and stay calm; to analyze, decide the best course of action, and prescribe whatever it takes to get the patient well again. Above all else, "Keep calm and carry on." That is, do ...

1992. The Life You've Always Wanted

Acts 5:27-32

Sermon

Charley Reeb

The other day I came across some interesting epitaphs. There is one in Nevada which reads: “Here lays Butch, we planted him raw. He was quick on the trigger, but slow on the draw.” This one is in Georgia: “I told you I was sick!” What about the one in Mary- land: “Here lies an atheist, all dressed up and no place to go.” There are two worth noting in South Carolina: “He fought a good fight, but his knife was dull”; “Where she is, is better than where she was.” But there is one in England that hits too ...

1993. A Love Triangle

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

David G. Rogne

Some people have a talent for getting to the core of things. Julius Caesar wrote a good-sized book titled On the Gallic War. It is still used as a textbook by students of Latin. However, Caesar was also able to cut through all the details and get to the nub of a matter. He wrote a sentence that has become a classic in condensation: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" — "I came, I saw, I conquered." That sums it all up. In Jesus' day there was a group of people who pored over the ancient writings of Moses to look for every ...

1994. Mary: The Handmaiden of the Lord

Luke 1:38-45

Sermon

Charley Reeb

This morning I want to tell you how to get blessed by God. We all want God to bless us. This morning I am going to tell how to get that done. How many of you want to be blessed by God? Me too! Now when I say blessed I am not talking about the prosperity, name and claim it gospel that’s popular. I am not talking about saying a prayer and having a million dollars in cash show up in a briefcase at your doorstep. When I say bless I am talking about God showing up in your life in a way that transforms you. I am ...

1995. Speaking from the Heart

Luke 6:43-45

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s confession time. “Uh-oh,” you’re thinking. “What am I suppose to confess?” By a show of hands, how many of you have a junk drawer at home--a place that has become a repository for things you can’t find somewhere else to keep? What’s in your junk drawer? When you open it up, are you surprised by what ends up in there? The average American home has too much stuff in it, and we don’t know what to do with all of it. We cram things in closets. Under beds. In our junk drawer. We may even rent a warehouse to ...

1996. Homecoming

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

I want to speak to those of you who are grieving the death of someone whom you love, which, by my reckoning, includes about everyone here. For some of you, your pain is still acute. Others, like me, found that the ache of the loss gradually receded. You got up, you went on, but still, at moments when you least expect, grief grips you again and you realize there are not many days in this life without loss. Those whom we love keep leaving, keep journeying to "that land from which no traveler has ever ...

1997. The Steady March Forward

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

Some people get distracted by almost anything. As focused as I can often be, I’m also one of those guys who can walk from one room to another and forget why I went in there. I remember once, when I was about twelve years old, my Dad gave me some money to go pick up a loaf of bread. I hopped on my trusty bike with the basket on the handlebars and set out for the convenience store a mile or two down the road. When I got there, I looked around to grab the… Uh oh! I couldn’t remember what my Dad had sent me to ...

1998. The Propriety of Praise

Psalm 84:1-12

Sermon

Will Willimon

A few months ago, I preached a sermon here. My text was from· the book of Revelation, as I recall. All went well until the end of the sermon when I came to my last sentence. Without warning, someone seated somewhere over there, shouted out “Amen!” Well, he was probably a tourist I thought; first time in Duke Chapel. Probably someone from California. At first, I thought I would ignore his, “Amen!” But upon further reflection I asked the ushers to make a discreet search during the offering, and tell the man ...

1999. Baptism And Self-Esteem

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Every once in awhile I am surprised by a film which offers a message that I never expected. When I checked out Brubaker, an old Robert Redford film from the late '70s, from my local video store I expected some romantic adventure from one of Hollywood's biggest stars. That's not at all what I got. Instead I saw a wonderful and thought-provoking portrayal of human nature. Brubaker turned out to be a spellbinding film about the futile attempt of an enlightened prison warden to reform a hopelessly corrupt ...

2000. Developing Staying Power

1 Peter 4:12-19

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

Some people read this passage, and they decide that everything that happens to us is to be seen as a "blessing" from God. They will tell you, quite straightforwardly, that God has every event of your life planned, including anything that seems to be bad at the time. If that gives them faith that everything will come out right in the end, it could be a blessing. But too often, what happens is that we then think that every evil thing that happens is visited on us by God. And instead of being led to a renewed ...

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