Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2376 to 2400 of 4681 results

2376. Stay in the Boat!

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... THE BOAT! Our friend Will Willimon, the Dean of the Chapel at Duke, tells of a visit he made one afternoon to the office of a lawyer in his congregation. It was just a drop-in. Will says he did not know the man that well - his wife seemed to bear the church interest for the family. Listen to the story in Will's own words: "It was at the end of the day. I entered the outer office of his law firm. Everyone had left. All was dark, except for a light coming from the inner office. He called to ...

2377. A World in Turmoil

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Rome. The puppet King Herod was viewed as a clown. The people were restive, ready for someone to lead a revolution. Into these seething streets rides Jesus of Nazareth. He is mounted on a donkey -- the beast that the prophet Zechariah of old predicted would bear the Messiah. The people are shouting "Hosanna" -- "save us!" It is the traditional cry of the Jewish people to their king. This resonates with Matthew to such an extent that he even reads literally the couplet of Hebrew poetry from the Old Testament ...

2378. What Do You Believe About Eternal Life

John 14:5-14

Eulogy

James W. Moore

... sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, ‘there she goes!’ “Gone where?’ Gone from my sight – that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and span as she was when she left my side and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, ‘There she goes!’ there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad ...

2379. The Forgiveness Factor

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... about their friend, a way is found to bring the man to Jesus. The roof. It was regularly used as a place of rest and of quiet, and so there was an outside stairway or a ladder of some sort which ascended to it. With arms no doubt weary from bearing the weight of a man's paralyzed body, they made their way up. The construction of the roof lent itself to what these ingenious friends proposed to do. The roof consisted of flat beams laid across from wall to wall, some three feet apart. The space in between the ...

2380. "If I But Touch..."

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . "If I but touch..." Perhaps you are familiar with the name Leo Buscaglia, the well-known author and guru of the human potential movement. His genius is in taking what is central to the biblical message - forgiveness, love, laughter, faith - and bringing it to bear on a culture where people's lives have become one long suicide. Leo is a big fan of hugging. In fact, he is known as "Dr. Hug." Buscaglia's penchant for hugging has now been validated by other members of the medical profession. Researchers have ...

2381. When Evil Wins

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . Now suddenly, after almost all hope was gone through the passing of time and the ticking of the biological clock, the angel Gabriel meets Zechariah as he is offering incense in the sanctuary: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord." And he was. Unusual, to say the least. A man of the wilderness, dressed ...

2382. God Bless the Child

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... high-quality educational program from infancy to age five, while the control group got only nutritional supplements. All the children attended comparable public schools from kindergarten on. The result: those who attended preschool were less likely to drop out of school, repeat grades, or bear children out of wedlock. By age 15, less than a third had failed a grade, vs. more than half of the control group. At age 21, the preschoolers were more than twice as likely to be attending a four-year college.(4) As ...

2383. Tell It Again, Daddy

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... and again. People have been doing that, and that is why this church - First Presbyterian Church of Warren, Pennsylvania - is one of only fifteen percent of American congregations that has grown in the past five years.(6) Yes, the Advent and Christmas story is one that bears telling again and again. And it is even more special when it is told in the context of our own experience. Tell it again, Daddy...Mommy...sister...brother... Tell me the old, old story, Tell me the old, old story, Tell me the old, old ...

2384. Surprise!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... us on, to get us to work. Here is one more surprise. The surprise that God had for Mary is not entirely different from the surprise God has for you...and you and you and you and me. If you can believe it, God has actually chosen US to bear his only begotten Son. Not physically, of course. God asks you and me to bring Christ into our own individual worlds...into our joys and into our sorrows, into our disappointments, into our grief, into our fear, into sickness and into health, into good times and into bad ...

2385. Mary's Complaint

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

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... and well as now - something as important as marriage should not be left to the whims of the heart. The engagement had been agreed to and the period of betrothal had begun. Now...catastrophe. She was pregnant. An angel had appeared to her and said that she would bear a son. True, the angel had said wonderful things to her: this was happening because she had found favor with God; the child would be great and be called the Son of the Most High; he would grow up to become a king... wonderful things. She had ...

2386. The News from Nazareth

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

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... country home of an older cousin. As Luke presents it, "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!'" Joyous meeting, right? I wonder. Truth be told, I doubt that it happened just that way. After all, no one had a tape recorder running, and no one actually wrote these events down until some 70 years or so had gone by. What we have in our ...

2387. Terms of Endearment

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... baptism, we recall that we, too, have been called God's child. Fred Craddock, that wonderful teacher of preachers, tells the story of vacationing in the Smokey Mountains area of Tennessee. He and his wife had found a lovely restaurant at a place called the Black Bear Inn. Craddock writes: We were seated there looking out at the mountains when this old man, with shocking white hair, a Carl Sandburg-looking person came over and spoke to us. He said, "You're on vacation?" We said, "Yes," and he just kept right ...

2388. What's in a Name?

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Remember, Martin, you are baptized." I have told you before of Fred Craddock's meeting with a former Governor of Tennessee, Ben Hooper. Fred and his wife were vacationing in the Smokey Mountains.(5) They had found a lovely restaurant at a place called the Black Bear Inn. Craddock writes: We were seated there looking out at the mountains when this old man, with shocking white hair, a Carl Sandburg-looking person came over and spoke to us. He said, "You're on vacation?" We said, "Yes," and he just kept right ...

2389. Building a World

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... our world--that wars and pestilence and suffering and death are not the will of our Creator-God, but that God’s will is life and love and hope for all people. We are those entrusted to drive through the snow, as it were, whatever the cost, to bear the news to our generation. That is what God expects out of this group of people. Something positive has entered our world. Something positive is expected out of God’s people. That means something positive is expected out of you and me. Let’s bring it down ...

2390. Carrying Worshipers out on Stretchers

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... gifts of food, and announcing the news of a much-needed drug rehabilitation program? Imagine how they received the good news when it was presented in this manner. (5) Actually seeing all those people striding into your neighborhood singing and laughing and bearing gifts probably seemed like Pentecost. I wonder if the police stopped them and gave them Breathalyzer tests? There is something exhilarating about a unified group of people joined in the common task of serving others. You know what I’m talking ...

2391. Head's Up!

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , a water tower toppled, vehicles and other heavy items strewn around like toys, whole buildings gone from their foundations. She said, One of our purposes was to walk to the church site. Even those who knew the lay of the town well had to get their bearings when all the trees and buildings and landmarks are gone. We made our way, stopping often to greet and comfort parishioners of St. Matthew's who were so heartened to see their pastor, hear his voice, receive his gentle care. When we were near the site ...

2392. About Kissing

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... legally valid mark, chosen because it was a religious symbol and also represented chi, the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Christos. To emphasize sincerity in signing an agreement, a man would kiss his mark--thus the shorthand meaning it bears today. Kisses were banned in World War II--on soldiers' letters, that is. The British and American governments were afraid that spies within the armed services might begin using the "XXX" mark to encode secret messages. Spencer lists some old superstitions ...

2393. No Time for a Knapsack Faith

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... summed up this truth in the doctrine we know as the Trinity: God, the Father; God, the Son; God, the Holy Spirit. Now it is sometimes difficult to get people excited about Christian doctrines--especially that of the Trinity. It sounds so deep and so mysterious. But bear with me, if you will. There is an important truth in this ancient doctrine that you and I need to see. You won’t find the word “Trinity” in the Bible. In fact, you won’t find it in the writings of the early church fathers until ...

2394. Rock Solid Living

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

King Duncan

... impose on you some of my personal biases, but there are many religious people who are an embarrassment to God. They talk a good game, but that’s all it is--talk. In fact, some of the people who use a Christian vocabulary most vocally, bear little resemblance to the Christ whose banner they say they salute. I read once about a man, a politician, who talked a great deal about the Almighty’s blessings and the Christian confessions that would become pillars of the new government he would create. He appeared ...

2395. Mary's Song

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

... mixed up with the Bible and wrote, "When the Virgin Mary learnt that she was to be a mother she sat down and wrote the Magna Carta." No, Mary sang the Magnificat. In her naturalness, unself-consciousness and humility, she sang praises that God had chosen her to bear the Savior of the world. And Mary became the model for all who are touched by the hand of God. NOTICE, FIRST OF ALL, THAT MARY BELIEVED GOD WAS AT WORK IN HER LIFE. Elizabeth said it beautifully: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be ...

2396. True Excellence

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... loves me," she said. No, a thousand times no. He does not love you. He owns you. Love has nothing to do with it. "Love does not insist on its on way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." A certain man tells about his father who several years ago had a blood clot to go to his brain and he was operated on. The doctors had to remove the part of his brain which deals with ...

2397. Love Your Enemies

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... way of dealing with an enemy ” retaliate. Another is to secretly harbor resentment toward that person. This is probably the most common spiritual problem among Christians. We are nice people. We wouldn't openly harm anyone, but, boy, can we bear a grudge! The problem with harboring negative feelings toward someone else is, again, what those feelings do to us. In 1844 Captain Robert Stockton brought his ship, the Princeton, to Washington to display her before government officials and leading social figures ...

2398. Lips And Hearts

Romans 10:8b-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... recently that was datelined Cambridge, Massachusetts. It seems that somehow a finely crafted red granite bench has mysteriously appeared in a public park. And no one - or next to no one - knows who put it there. Not only is the bench quite attractive, but it bears a passage from Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel ORLANDO. The inscription chiseled atop the 4-foot surface of the bench comes from Chapter 5 of this novel. It reads like this: "There are wild birds' feathers - the owls, the nightjars. I shall dream wild ...

2399. God Is Greater

John 10:22-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... . God is greater than any sin. But there is one thing more we need to see: GOD IS GREATER THAN ANY SCARS THAT SIN MAY HAVE LEFT UPON OUR SOULS. Some of us know with our minds that God accepts us even though we have sinned, but our hearts still bear the scars of guilt and remorse. Others of us carry scars not from our own sins but the sins of others. We need to know that God is greater than all our scars. Some years back, Dr. Maxwell Maltz told of an Italian man by the name of Cremona. Cremona ...

2400. Hope Wins!

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... one comes from country comedian Jerry Clower. Jerry tells about a man back home in Mississippi named Kirk who was running down the road. A neighbor, Mr. Halley, saw him coming and knew something was bad wrong. Mr. Halley got out in the middle of the road and bear-hugged Kirk when he came by. "Slow down, Kirk. What in the world is happening?" Kirk said, "Mr. Halley, it's Judgment." "Why would you say that, Kirk?" Mr. Halley asked. "I saw it wrote in the sky." Kirk said. "God's done wrote it up there." Mr ...

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