Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2451 to 2475 of 4884 results

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... and Chilion were finally grown, they took wives for themselves - two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. The boys obviously saw no problem with that. To be sure, they knew of their Israelite heritage from their mother's instruction. They probably would have been perfectly happy to find Jewish wives for themselves, but there were no Jewish girls around. And anyway, these boys had lived more than half their lives in Moab, so they were quite content with the local lasses. I wonder what Naomi thought about that ...

2452. When God Is Gone

Job 23:1--24:25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... and great sadness. There was another woman in her Sunday School class, a teacher, who was always talking about how wonderful it was to walk and talk with Jesus. She would tell how everything she asked Jesus for she received. She prayed that her blueberry muffins would be perfect and they always were. Jesus, she would say, is wonderful to have around. She told of rushing somewhere to do the Lord's work and she would say, "Lord you know that I am coming down here to do your work and I am running late so I ...

2453. Remembering Charlie

Job 38:1--41:34

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... had the benefit of God's appearance. God came in human flesh, walked the dusty paths of Palestine, preached, taught, healed. It was unfair for Charlie to die, but "unfair" hardly seems adequate to describe what happened to Jesus - after living a perfect life, tortured and hung on a cross. But it happened. Then three days later, God's answer to unfairness came. Easter. Resurrection. Apparently, God was less concerned about preventing unfairness than ultimately overcoming it. Did you hear that? God seems less ...

2454. Do I Matter?

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... at the United Nations, there are now six-billion of us on this whirling planet.(1) Someone decided that a baby boy born to refugee parents in Sarajevo, a region returning to life after a decade of death and destruction and war, would be the perfect symbol for the push toward our next billion or so. According to UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan, the birth of little Adnan Nevic "should light a path of tolerance and understanding for all people." We can certainly hope. UN demographers had determined that the ...

2455. Sermons in Stones

Psalm 19:1-14

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of the Lord. Awe is what helps us to see God's glory in the sea and the land and the moon and the sun.(6) To be sure, the natural world is not the only place we encounter God. As the psalmist insists, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes." Yes, God is revealed in a general way in the glories of ...

2456. An Attitude of Gratitude

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... we would not have to worry about that anymore - we could concentrate on our studies rather than a grade. I thought it was a pretty good plan myself, but he finally decided that such was not to be. I mention it only to point out that the plan is a perfect parallel to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ: we have all been given eternal A's; now let's get to work. There are any number of ways we can express our gratitude with our hands...our work. A few are called to devote full time to ...

2457. Good Medicine

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... little boy began to laugh. He laughed because he saw how preposterous it would be for a man to be so deeply concerned about a speck in another person's eye, that he was unconscious of the fact his own eye had a beam in it. Because the child understood perfectly that the human eye is not large enough to have a beam in it, the very idea struck him as ludicrous. His gay laughter was a rebuke to his parents for their failure to respond to humor in an unexpected place.(4) I have always thought that Jesus was fun ...

2458. Integrity

Song of Songs 2:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... is worth, there is an Alabama politician these days I am coming to admire more and more. Governor Bob Riley. The Governor is a teetotaling, Bible-quoting businessman who as a congressman prior to taking the Governor's Mansion had a nearly perfect record of opposing any legislation supported by the Americans for Democratic Action. Conservative to the core. But Governor Riley has stunned many of his traditional supporters, and enraged the state's powerful farm and timber lobbies, by pushing a tax reform plan ...

2459. Tough Love

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... gods, the only reason they had no compunction to make worship a part of their lives, the only reason they felt no need to accept any correction was that THEY DID NOT BELIEVE GOD COULD OR WOULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! It was the attitude that came into perfect focus with the statement, "The Lord will not do good nor will he do harm"... nothing. (1:12b) To Zephaniah, it was clear that what a person or a nation believes about God will largely determine their conduct. If God is seen as a kindly old grandfather in ...

2460. A Religion that Shows

Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... along the way, they got side-tracked: their enemies were giving them anxious moments so they had to defend themselves; they had to eat, so crops had to be planted and tended; they had to survive the elements, so houses had to be constructed - all perfectly legitimate undertakings...but they kept the people from finishing their work on God's house...and not just for a little while...for almost twenty years. And those were hard years for those Jewish pioneers. They might have thought that they were going back ...

2461. God and Hurricanes

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... God is still in charge; • that in the midst of rebuilding our material world, we nourish our souls (true story: a few days after Hugo, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra held a free outdoor concert downtown to celebrate the beauty that remained - isn't that perfect?) Other than those specifics, pray as the Spirit moves you. If Floyd takes a different turn (you can't trust these storms), apply the prayers above to the people wherever it does hit.(1) In the face of Hurricane Floyd's threat, Sheila, her ...

2462. Winning over Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the hen house at the same time, doing considerable damage both to themselves and to it. Watching the commotion from the front porch, Mrs. Falk could not help but laugh. When the boys finally made it back to the house she said; "Boys, what is wrong with you? You know perfectly well a chicken snake cannot hurt you." One of the little boys said, "Yes, ma'am, but there's some things'll scare you so bad, you hurt yourself."(7) How true! How true! Near the end of his life, Mark Twain said, "I am an old man and ...

2463. 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) ...

2464. Hang in There!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the language of the encounter? At first glance, Jesus sounds awfully rough. "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." She had already heard him say he was sent only to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and she knew perfectly well how much animus there was between Jews and Gentiles. But calling her a DOG to her face? Rough. Even Ruff, Ruff, Ruff. Again, folks explain that away. After all, calling someone a dog is a term of abuse, if ever there was one. As one writer has it ...

2465. The Ultimate Question

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . For example, in one scene of that miniseries, we find Jesus coming to Bethany to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. As it turns out, Mary has a crush on Jesus and obviously wants to marry him, a prospect with which Martha and Lazarus are perfectly happy. In fact, in an effort to motivate Jesus toward Mary, the information is offered that another young man in town has already proposed, so Jesus, if you are interested, you had better get a move on... Unfortunately, the script writers must not have been ...

2466. A Story Worth Sharing

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , more money. Lots going on. That will change this place. Suddenly First Presbyterian will be different...and for us to presume that everyone would be happy about that is naïve. This is a loving congregation, and that is wonderful - we are FAMILY. Not perfect, by any means; after all, when Christians gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does. That would be SAINT Murphy's Law. No matter. Believe it or not, there is a danger with a "loving congregation" - the "family" circle of ...

2467. "A Friend Indeed"

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... injustices in our system which CAN be fixed through the generosity of those with the means. That is why we support Urban Ministry, why we have CROP Walks, why we support groups like the Society of St. Andrew and get out in the fields salvaging perfectly good food that would otherwise go to waste. Last month the National Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People approved the funding of 16 projects totaling over $700,000. The money comes from the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering to which you ...

2468. No Holding Back

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... we at St. Paul support) recently was given the first Hero of Food Recovery and Gleaning Award by the US Department of Agriculture.(5) Since it began in 1979, the Society has collected more than 200-million pounds of fresh produce - perfectly nutritious food that might have some cosmetic deformity, making it unsaleable - and delivered it to soup kitchens, food banks, Salvation Army Centers, homeless shelters, and the like. 200-million pounds that otherwise would have rotted. Ken Horne, a United Methodist ...

2469. Surprise!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... marriage; indeed, the only way to break the engagement was an actual divorce. Suddenly, he hears that his intended is pregnant with someone else's child. He must have been crushed. And remember, this is the part of the world that even today is perfectly OK with "honor killings" - the exacting of murderous vengeance if the family name is besmirched. Dangerous ground. But as the gospel account has it, an angel appeared to him in a dream and explained the circumstances of Mary's pregnancy, so Joseph was able ...

2470. One More Angel

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... God is great, God is good..." Suddenly, the prayer was loudly interrupted by one boy wishing to bring his father into compliance with established behavior. "Daddy, bow your head! Daddy, you're supposed to bow your head! Daddy! PUT YOUR HEAD DOWN!" timed almost to perfection with the rest of the group saying "Amen." Did it end then? No. "Daddy, can you hear me? Are you listening?" By now all eyes are focused on the embarrassed father who was trying to videotape the whole thing. One last comment from the son ...

2471. Gold, Circumstance, and Mud

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Fontaine, to the "CHRISTMAS ILLUSTRATIONS" meeting on Ecunet, December 20, 2003 2. John Buchanan, "Just Like the One I Used To Know," sermon, http://www.fourthchurch.org/120802print.html, 12/8/02 3. Lara Sukhtian, "Palestinians Mark Christmas in Bethlehem," Associated Press, 12/24/03 4. Barbara Brown Taylor, "Past Perfection," Home By Another Way, (Cambridge, Boston: Cowley Publications, 1999), p. 21

2472. Homecoming

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Homecoming. There is something so special about HOME. 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.(1) The Bible is full of homecoming stories that would be perfect for a day like today - Jacob's homecoming to meet brother Esau, the return of the nation of Israel from exile, and this one we just read, the return of the Prodigal Son, in what has been called the greatest short story ever written. "Father, I want RIGHT NOW what' ...

2473. Sonny Moneybags

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... ... hardworking, industrious. We live by the Golden Rule...as much as we can. We obey the Ten Commandments...as many as we can...as many as we know (and most people could not quote you half of them). We do our level best. We admit that we are not perfect, but somewhere, way down deep, we think we are pretty close...just like Sonny. You see, those sins of the spirit do not amount to all that much in our eyes. If someone pushes dope, engages in prostitution, is a thief or a murderer, we and everyone else ...

2474. Would a Loving God Really Let Anyone Go to Hell?

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... But when King Josiah ascended the throne, he ordered that it be desecrated. It was turned into a rubbish heap where fire burned continuously. Everything there had been consigned for destruction. Thus, the "city dump" came to be identified in the Jewish mind as the perfect symbol of God's final rejection of wickedness. This was Jesus' description. Of the twelve times in the New Testament that we run across the word Gehenna, eleven of them are on the lips of Jesus. The Lord was right vivid in his descriptions ...

2475. Leaping Lepers - Thanksgiving

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... take a long time to repair the broken dignity - there is something that happens to a person forced to beg and shunned by all and still expected to say thank you. Bell continues on about a seventh leper who was convinced there would be a perfectly intelligible, scientific explanation for what happened. He did not return to give thanks because he believed Jesus had nothing to do with the healing event. And then leper number eight did not return precisely because he did believe Jesus had everything to do with ...

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