Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2051 to 2075 of 4490 results

2051. Come To The Feast

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The Academy Award winning movie, BABETTE'S FEAST, is based on a book by Isak Dinesen. Dineson wrote the book on which the movie, OUT OF AFRICA, was based. In BABETTE'S FEAST the author very creatively weaves the story of Phillipa and Martina, two daughters of a well-known Lutheran pastor in a village in the north of Denmark in the late 1870s. Their father's very rigid and strict religious discipline has shaped the entire community~s approach to life and to the expression of their Christian faith. The ...

2052. How Shall We Prepare Ourselves For Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

One Sunday morning, a neatly dressed man disrupted a worship service in a suburban church. Right in the middle of the service, the man stood up in the balcony and shouted in a clear voice, "I have a word from the Lord!" Immediately alert and ready, ushers sprang like gazelles up the balcony stairs and escorted the man out the front doors of the church and into the street. Thomas Long of Princeton Seminary, commenting on this event, says, "There's a kind of irony here. Week after week, those of us who ...

2053. From Timid To Terrific

2 Timothy 1:6-8

Sermon

King Duncan

A couple of years ago, during a sports clinic at Princeton High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dan Woodruff, the softball coach, lent his office to Dave Redding, the "strength" coach for the Cleveland Browns. Dave wanted to shower before his scheduled appearance at the clinic. Dan showed Dave the facilities, then left while he was in the shower. When Dave finished showering, he went to leave the office, but found he couldn’t open the door! He wrote a note and slipped it under the door, then sat back and ...

2054. Dr. Life

John 10:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Go with me for a few minutes to a quiet suburb of Detroit, Michigan ” a suburb known as Waterford Township. Turn with me down Paulsen Street. The street, surrounded by elm and birch trees, seems like any other quiet suburb. Yet people in Waterford Township call Paulsen Street, "the road of death." Four times a white van has pulled up in front of a brown, two-story house on Paulsen Street. A slender, white-haired man with glasses has emerged from the van and walked up to the door of the house. Each time he ...

2055. Waking To A World Upside Down

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

During Hollywood‘s golden years there were many people in the film industry who were known for their practical jokes. One of the best known and most creative of these was a fellow by the name of Jack McDermott. He was a writer and director of movies. McDermott‘s favorite gag was to take his guests for a ride in his Model-T Ford. Taking them into the mountains, he would careen around curves at perilous speeds. When a guest would complain about his recklessness, he would yank the steering wheel from its post ...

2056. All You Need Is A Miracle

John 6:1-15

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 ...

2057. Freedom's Year

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

A man in Alberta, Canada, delights in telling the story of his older brother's second wedding. The man's wife had died suddenly when they were both in their middle years. But then came a widow to the community, a feisty, free-spirited little person, and in just a short while, they asked the minister to come over for a house wedding. The families were gathered for the occasion, and the minister read the form. Then it was time for the vows. Everything went without a hitch, until he asked the bride, "And do ...

2058. Learning From A Little Child

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Dr. Bryant Kirkland, former pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, tells of traveling to preach on the West Coast one winter: "I needed the time on that three hour flight to study and prepare," he said, "so I buckled down and let everyone near me feel the tension ” don't bother me, I'm a busy man with places to go and work to do. A young woman and a baby slipped into the seat next to mine. I thought, This will be difficult,' so I kept a straight face and looked very Presbyterian. ...

2059. Trees

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

"I think that I shall never see," wrote Joyce Kilmer, "a poem as lovely as a tree." Trees are lovely and, like people, they come in so many varieties. Some, like the giant sequoias in California, are large enough to drive a car through. Others, like the slender, ungainly dogwood, remind us of the cross of Christ. Easterners see a palm tree and they think of Florida or the coastal areas of the Carolinas or Georgia. In the springtime tourists flock to Washington, D. C. to enjoy trees filled with cherry ...

2060. Building An Understanding Of God

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

A Jewish boy in grade school was listening to his Hebrew teacher quoting the most important of all the Hebrew Scriptures, Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." "When will He be two?" the little fellow asked after mulling this over for a moment in his mind. If the Lord is one, then surely, some day, He will be two. It reminds me of something Mickey Rivers, an outfielder for the Texas Rangers baseball team once said about his warm relationship with Yankee owner George ...

2061. It Isn't Easy Getting Ready For Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Many of us can sympathize with a man in Vancouver, Wash., who was ready to decorate his house for Christmas. Unfortunately, when the lights were put away the year before, they were simply tossed into the garage with no attempt to store them so they wouldn't tangle. And so he began one of life's most arduous tasks--untangling Christmas tree lights. As he was trying to untangle them in the driveway, his daughter arrived home in the family car and promptly drove over them. This brought this man to the ...

2062. After Katrina

Song of Songs 8:1-14

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it..." The news footage from the Gulf Coast has been something, hasn't it? The devastation is eerily reminiscent of the tsunami that devastated South Asia last winter. The one thing I did NOT see following the Asian disaster was all the gleeful looting. How sad! In a way, that might be somewhat expected. During hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters, those who have the least to lose are often those who lose the most. Their dwellings are ...

2063. Hope in the Shadows

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Darrick Acre

This is the season we celebrate Christmas. The shopping has begun. The countdown of days left to make purchases is underway. Jewelry commercials are dominating the airways. People are passing by the Salvation Army bell ringers as they go in and out of the mall looking for just the right gift. It’s Christmas! This is the time of year when we decorate with lights, greenery, and all the symbols of the season. We sing carols. We greet the people we pass with tidings of good cheer, “Merry Christmas!” We rejoice ...

2064. On Doing the Truth

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

There is an old story about a family consisting of mother, father, and small son who went into a restaurant. As they were seated at the table, the waitress sailed up. You know, the particular kind of waitress who moves as though she were the captain of a ship. She sailed up, pad in efficient hand, looked, and waited. The parents ordered. Then the boy looked up and said plaintively, “I want a hot dog.” “No hot dog!” said the mother. “Bring him potatoes, beef, and a vegetable.” The waitress paused for a ...

2065. Aren’t All Religions Basically Alike?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

College students have an innate sense of fairness. They may not always practice it, but they usually have it lurking around somewhere. And so they often ask ministers questions like, “Why should Christianity claim to be the one true religion? What is God going to do with all those millions of people who are not Christians, and who never heard of Jesus Christ? Aren’t they as sincere as we are? Aren’t all religions, after all, basically alike?” Those questions usually arise after they have had their first ...

2066. That Would Be Some Miracle!

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

The Feeding of the Five Thousand may well be the most difficult miracle in the Gospels with which we have to deal. And yet it is the one miracle that is most firmly anchored in the Gospels. Of all the miracles which Jesus performed, only this one appears in all four of the Gospels! There must be some strong tradition behind it. The least one can say is that Jesus was the kind of Man about whom His friends could hardly talk except in terms of miracles. Presbyterian Kenneth Foreman, commenting on this ...

2067. Opposite the Treasury

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In the first parish I served there lived an elderly widow. She lived alone, except for about a hundred parakeets. She supplemented her meager income from her late husband’s Social Security by raising and selling those popular birds. Her health was none too good, and during the cold winter months she was rarely able to make it out to church on Sunday mornings, so I tried to visit her as often as possible. I recall making one visit on a cold wintry day. We talked about many things, read the Bible together, ...

2068. Grace in the Midst of the Crush of Time

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

In the year 2000 Forbes Magazine featured a special edition on a single topic that it called "the biggest issue of our age -- time." The editors wrote, "We've beaten, or at least stymied, most of humanity's monsters: disease, climate, geography, and memory. But time still defeats us. Lately its victories seem more complete than ever. Those timesaving inventions of the last half-century have somehow turned on us. We now hold cell phone meetings in traffic jams, and 24-7 has become the most terrifying phrase ...

2069. Called To Finish What Is Finished

Colossians 1:24--2:5, Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Someone has said, and I agree, that the idea of Redemption in a world of sin and tragedy constitutes the noblest concept ever to enter the mind of God or the awareness of a human being. Paul would also agree. The theme of Redemption is woven into the fabric of everything he wrote. He repeats that theme over and over again in Colossians, affirming that God's implementation of his idea of redemption is the love gift of his son Jesus Christ on the Cross. The most amazing truth for you and me today is that we ...

2070. God's Hello People

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Listen to this passage from an autobiography: "It was on a Thursday, the day before payday in the black community. The teacher was asking each student how much his father would give to the Community Chest. On Friday night, each kid would get the money from his father, and on Monday, he would bring it to school. I decided I was going to buy me a Daddy right then. I had money in my pocket from shining shoes and selling papers, and whatever Helene Tucker pledged for her Daddy I was going to top it. And I'd ...

2071. Hanging On To Every Word

Luke 19:45-48

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

When Billy Graham was a young preacher, he was leading a series of services in a small-town Baptist church. Because his wife, Ruth, had not accompanied him on this particular trip, he wrote her a letter. It was a small town so he knew that he could find the post office. So he started down the street, but the post office wasn't in sight. Finally, he asked an 8 or 10-year old boy, "Pardon me, son, but can you show me the way to the post office?" "Sure," the boy answered. "It's just down this street and ...

2072. As Real As It Gets

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

An unforgettable comment was made at the New York City Marathon, and was recorded by a newspaper reporter. When the wheelchair participants came into view and people began to applaud, a man alongside the reporter remarked, "Wait until the real runners come along!" Another person nearby said, "This is as real as it gets!" (Donald J. Shelby, "Unless the Race Is Worth Running,") That is where it is today with our scripture lesson. Jesus' call is "as real as it gets": "No one who puts his hand to the plow and ...

2073. Get off the Throne and Learn Wisdom

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

A check-out clerk once wrote columnist Ann Landers a letter of complaint: she had seen shoppers with food stamps buy luxury items like birthday cakes and bags of shrimp. The angry woman went on to say that people on welfare who treat themselves to non-necessities were “lazy and wasteful." A few weeks later Lander's column was devoted entirely to people who responded to the grocery clerk with letters of their own. One woman wrote: “I didn't buy a cake, but I did buy a big bag of shrimp with food stamps. So ...

2074. Simeon's Song

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Mark Trotter

We heard Simeon sing his song this morning not only in the gospel lesson, but in the anthem, in the beautiful and dramatic piece from Randall Thompson's, The Nativity According to St. Luke, interpreted wonderfully this morning by Ronald Banks. It is appropriately heard as a song, because Luke divides the story of the birth of Jesus into several acts, each act with dialogue, and a song, the way an opera has arias. One scene even has angels singing. We are familiar with most of these scenes. The Annunciation ...

2075. Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a popular story going around about a husband and wife who are discussing their living wills. The husband is adamant about his desires. “Just so you know,” he says, “I would never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If I ever get to that state, I just want you to pull the plug.” His wife thought about this for a moment, got up, unplugged the TV and threw out all his beer. Some of us know somebody who’s in that kind of vegetative state. We want to ...

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