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Children's Sermon
Wesley T. Runk
Object: A number of baseball trading cards with some of the very well known players in your area and some that are not well known. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you know what I am talking about when I use the word favorite? For instance, what would I mean if I said that chocolate ice cream was my favorite kind of ice cream? [Let them answer.] That's right, that means that I like it best; better than any other ice cream. That doesn't mean that I don't like other kinds of ice cream; it only means ...

Sermon
Larry Goodpaster
I cannot imagine a more difficult place to preach than the setting of this parable-sermon. Although they were not out to get him, this surely must have been one of the toughest audiences Jesus had to face, outside of the religious establishment who were not receptive to much of anything he had to say anyway. The assembling of these people is handled in a rather matter-of-fact way by Matthew in his telling of the story. He says simply that they came to the beach where Jesus had gone to relax for a few ...

Hebrews 12:1-13
Sermon
I imagine that different letters in the New Testament were written with varying degrees of haste. Paul wrote an angry letter to the church at Corinth. You can tell that as he wrote it he had a lot of things on his mind. On the other hand, the Book of 1st Thessalonians consists almost entirely of prayers and praise. Obviously, there was not a great sense of urgency about the letter. When Paul wrote his brief letter to Philemon, he told his friend and former slave, Onesimus, to personally deliver it. It ...

Hebrews 12:1-13
Sermon
I imagine that different letters in the New Testament were written with varying degrees of haste. Paul wrote an angry letter to the church at Corinth. You can tell that as he wrote it he had a lot of things on his mind. On the other hand, the Book of 1st Thessalonians consists almost entirely of prayers and praise. Obviously, there was not a great sense of urgency about the letter. When Paul wrote his brief letter to Philemon, he told his friend and former slave, Onesimus, to personally deliver it. It ...

Sermon
Richard L. Thulin
Even by the time I was a teenager, I don't think that I had ever heard the word "eucharist." I was a baptized Christian who worshiped faithfully and who participated in the Lord's Supper whenever it was offered (which was once a month). I had almost perfect attendance in Sunday School, and I had three years of Saturday catechetical instruction to my credit. But I still don't think that I had ever heard of "The Eucharist." This fact does not mean that my education regarding the sacramental meal was ...

Sermon
Robert Bachelder
And he went out and wept bitterly.- Matthew 26:75b In his famous autobiography, Henry Adams wrote of his chronic irritability. He thought it was the result of knowing too much about his neighbors and thinking too much of himself. We have in Luke’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican a man who, like the early Henry Adams, combines a low opinion of his neighbors with a high estimate of his own qualities. The Pharisee’s prayer in chapter eighteen is taken from life, for a similar prayer comes to us in ...

Sermon
James W. Moore
A few years ago Mark Trotter told a true story about a man in New York City who was kidnapped. His kidnappers called his wife and asked for $100,000 ransom. She talked them down to $30,000. The story had a happy ending: the man returned home unharmed, the money was recovered, and the kidnappers were caught and sent to jail. But, don’t you wonder what happened when the man got home and found that his wife got him back for a discount? Calvin Trillin wrote about this incident. He imagined out loud what the ...

Sermon
Jerry L. Schmalemberger
We "Caretakers of Creation" are in charge, being placed in that position by no less than the Almighty. We have seen from the creation story in Genesis how God brought into existence all that there is, and then put us humans in charge of it all. So far we have discovered that we are in charge of these things: • All the natural resources so that future generations have enough. • The hungry of the world so that they might be fed. This is one of the signs of the Kingdom. • Our bodies and their care, so that we ...

Philippians 2:1-11
Sermon
Louis H. Valbracht
An author by the name of Vardis Fisher has written a novel, which I have not read, but I suspect that the title suggests more than all of the material that might be included in that volume. The name of the book is Forgive Us Our Virtues. Forgive us our virtues - it’s a prayer that we all might offer. It’s quite easy to pray "forgive us our trespasses"; the higher devotion allows us to say "forgive us our virtues." Benjamin Franklin is often quoted for his homely wisdom as a guide for those who search for ...

Sermon
James W. Moore
A few years ago Mark Trotter told a true story about a man in New York City who was kidnapped. His kidnappers called his wife and asked for $100,000 ransom. She talked them down to $30,000. The story had a happy ending: the man returned home unharmed, the money was recovered, and the kidnappers were caught and sent to jail. But, don’t you wonder what happened when the man got home and found that his wife got him back for a discount? Calvin Trillin wrote about this incident. He imagined out loud what the ...

Sermon
James W. Moore
Have you heard about the young woman who lived on a large ranch in West Texas? She had fallen in love with a local cowboy named Tex...and she wanted to get married. But Texas was inexperienced in the world of romance...and to make matters worse, he was extremely shy. She realized that she needed to help him a bit to move this courtship along.., so she took matters into her own hands. “Oh, Tex,” she said, “Do you think my eyes are like glittering stars?” “Yes,” he replied. “And,” she asked, “Do you think my ...

Sermon
David E. Leininger
This week will be my daughter's 18th birthday. Who woulda thunk it? Years ago, when I told my mother that I was getting married, her reply was, "Well, that's fine, David, but you ought not to have any children. You are old and set in your ways, and you wouldn't have enough patience to deal with them." (I was 33 at the time.) She continued, "God was very smart in letting us have children when we are young, because that's the only time in our lives when we have enough energy to handle them." HA! Well, we DID ...

Sermon
King Duncan
Writer Adele Hooker remembers a point when she and her family were going through some rough times. They had very little to eat, but one day her husband unexpectedly asked some friends over for dinner. Adele was dumbfounded: there was no food in the house! How could she possibly feed guests? So she went into her bedroom, knelt down and asked God what she could do. As she prayed she seemed to hear a voice telling her, "You have meat in the freezer." Right. Half a pound of hamburger. That wouldn't go very far ...

Sermon
King Duncan
To begin this morning, I want to take you back to your school days and start this sermon with some of the worst words a student could hear: "POP QUIZ." (Ask the congregation questions about the Bible and allow them time to answer.) 1. Where in the Bible does it tell how a man wipes dishes? Answer: II KINGS 21:13 "AND I WILL WIPE JERUSALEM AS MAN WIPETH A DISH, WIPING IT AND TURNING IT UPSIDE DOWN." 2. Who took off his shoe to bind a contract? Answer: BOAZ, RUTH 4:7-9. "THIS WAS THE MANNER IN FORMER TIME IN ...

Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
In J. D. Salinger’s famous novel, The Catcher in the Rye, 15-year old Holden Caulfield says: “I can’t always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist.” (That would put a damper on prayer, wouldn’t it?) He goes on: “I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance....They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they ...

Sermon
Fredrick R. Harm
A number of years ago some Christians placed bumper stickers on their vehicles stating, "Christ is the answer." After some time a wiseacre started displaying a sticker that read, "If Christ is the answer, what is the question?" Of course this made a hilarious impression on those who seem to have "three sneers for everything and three cheers for nothing." As we consider our text for today we discover God telling us that "Christ is the answer"; he is the eternal "yes" to all the promises of God, and the ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
A few months ago, I told a lawyer story in one of my sermons. It was a funny story that didn't speak too well of lawyers. One of our attorneys, Charles Patton, told me he was going to get me back. He hasn't done so, but he did send me a cartoon -- not about preachers -- but again, about lawyers. So, lawyers, I'm not picking on you -- this came from one of your peers. In the cartoon, Moses is on the side of Mt. Sinai. Aaron and other Israelites are there with puzzled questioning looks on their faces waiting ...

Genesis 3:1-7
Sermon
Bill Mosley
The fence between Heaven and Hell was falling apart. It was badly in need of repair. Saint Peter consulted his records and saw that by the terms of an ancient agreement, it was Satan's turn to fix the fence. So he gritted his teeth and sought an audience with the Prince of Darkness. He found him in the nether regions, cleaning his pitchfork. Peter did not sit down. The smell of brimstone was heavy in the hot air. "You need to fix the fence," he said. The devil twitched his red tail. He scratched behind a ...

Sermon
Mark Trotter
I heard about a man who was an obituary writer for the newspaper. He took the job because you have to start somewhere, and he wanted very much to be a writer. He even dropped out of college because he figured that if you are going to write, then you ought to start writing. An obituary writer's status became immediately apparent to him. He was assigned to the city desk, which was a large working area, shaped like a horseshoe. The city editor was at the apex, and his desk was clear down at the bottom of the ...

Sermon
Leonard Sweet
I found this job description circulating on the Internet this past week. Anyone interested? [You may want/need to shorten this.] WANTED: Mom JOB DESCRIPTION: Long term team players needed for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping ...

Sermon
James Merritt
Cassie Bernall. With one word this teenage girl became a household name and a part of God's Hall of Fame. On April 20, around 11:30AM, two gun-wielding teenagers at Columbine High School confronted her, and with guns raised, one of them asked her this question: "Do you believe in God?" After a momentary pause, she looked him squarely in the eye and said, "Yes." After he replied simply, "Why?" he shot her and killed her instantly. But at that one moment, with that one word, Cassie Bernall illustrated a ...

Sermon
James Merritt
I am not a country music fan per se. But to those who know country music, say that one of the all-time legendary greats was Hank Williams. He wrote a song entitled "I Saw the Light" that has lyrics that go like this: I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn't let my dear Savior in. Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night; Praise the Lord, I saw the light! Even though Hank Williams wrote those words almost a half a century ago, it could have been written and sung two millennia ago by a man ...

Sermon
James Merritt
I heard about a pastor who left the pastorate after twenty years, and decided to become a funeral director. Somebody asked him, "Why did you do that?" He said, "Well, I spent about twelve years trying to straighten out John. He never did get straightened out. I spent fourteen months trying to straighten out the marriage of the Smiths, and it never did get straightened out. I spent three years trying to straighten out Susan, and she never did get straightened out. Now when I straighten them out, they stay ...

Sermon
James Merritt
This message is the first of a four-part series I am calling "Four Steps to Greatness." I believe within each one of us separately, and all of us corporately, there is the God-given potential for greatness. Over three decades ago Newsweek magazine ran an article entitled "Advice to a (bored) Young Man." It is good counsel for all of us, man or woman, young or old: Died, aged twenty; buried, age sixty; the sad epitaph of too many Americans. Mummification sets in on too many young men at an age when they ...

Sermon
King Duncan
Most of us associate the name Robert Fulghum with his little book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. But he wrote other books, one of which had the simple title, Uh-Oh. Like his better-known work, it, too, is filled with witty essays. In the latter book Fulghum tells about being asked by a journalist if he believed in God. “No,” replied Fulghum, “but I do believe in Howard.” “Howard? You believe in Howard?” asked the reporter. “It all has to do with my mother’s maiden name,” said Fulghum ...

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