Sermon and Worship Resources

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Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... and we owe it to the world to share them with others. One of the things that separates us from other animals is our capacity to learn from the experience of others, and we dare not withhold that capacity from those who might benefit from it. My experience can be of value to others and my failures are as much of my experience as my successes. If all I share with others are my success stories, I’m denying them a major part of the gifts that have been given to me. We can let go of our failures because they ...

2. Is Christianity Practical?

Jeremiah 17:19-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... the Lord." Let's face it, we are paradoxical, a people who, while expressing our trust in Almighty God, are motivated by the apparent conviction that humanity is more to be trusted. That which is real is that which is pragmatically, empirically proved to be of value to humanity, and it is almost without exception something that humanity has produced. We have closed our ears to the warning of the "weeping prophet" Jeremiah: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man." The story is told of the man who went into the ...

3. Proper 14

Hebrews 11:1-40, Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Genesis 15:1-18, Luke 12:35-48

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... that God would fulfill his promise. He did, for all of us in Jesus Christ, and he will again, when Jesus returns at the end time. Jeremiah 18:1-11 (C) - "The Potter." 1. God is like a potter who is shaping the clay into something that will be of value to him and useful to others. God is attempting to shape his people into what he wants us to be. 2. Jeremiah believes that God, like the potter, will break and discard those who cannot be shaped into creatures who are acceptable to him and will be discarded. 3 ...

4. Kingdom Values According to Jesus (Series: Questioning our Values)

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The world is abuzz these days about values. We promote our values, debate our values, vote our values, teach our values, and hopefully, live our values. Values are the personal qualities that sustain us in the big picture of life. Values are a set of guiding principles that help us make decisions. Values are beliefs and attitudes about what is good and right and desirable and worthwhile. People with fuzzy values live fuzzy lives. So, I invite us to use these forty days of Lent to examine our values. I want ...

5. What's the Value of Your Life?

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When is a hollowed-out, well-worn, foot-long hunk of wood worth 3.5 million dollars? When it's a hunk of wood that was carved into a violin 267 years ago by the renowned violin maker Guarneri del Gesu. 3.5 million dollars was the extraordinary value settled upon by the tiny cadre of great violin collectors when violinist Robert McDuffie put together a consortium of investors to purchase one of del Gesus' almost mythically great instruments. The consortium has been assured that when the instrument is resold ...

6. If Your Sense of Purpose Ever Becomes a Burden, Remember Your Value

Matthew 10:40-42

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Do you ever wish you counted for something, that you had value? All the talk about purpose in church circles these days tries to respond to the natural human desire to count for something, to be somebody. But I worry about that way of thinking. If your value is all about your purpose in life, what if you fail? Are you then without any value? Today's gospel lesson is Jesus' final words of instruction to his disciples, as he commissioned them to undertake their mission and continued instructing them about ...

7. Family Values

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

Last week I was reading a newspaper article on family values. The gist of the article was that everyone wants strong family values but few can agree on what they are. Then I heard Roger Rosenblatt on public radio being cynical about family values. Rosenblatt said that there are plenty of perfect families around like yours and mine. But, there are so many others that fall short, families like the Walker spy family or the Medicis in Italy or the Macbeths of Scotland or the Oedipus Rexes of Greece. Rosenblatt ...

8. What Are Your Core Values?

Illustration

Bob Logan

Values are often unwritten assumptions that guide our actions. Values demonstrate our convictions and priorities. Values are confirmed by our actions, not just our words. Values are not a doctrinal statement; they are convictions that determine how our church operates. Values provide the foundation for formulating goals and setting the direction of the church's ministry. Core values are the 5-10 key statements that reflect the distinctives of a church. Key issues for determining your core values: If the ...

9. Framing Values – Part Two

Daniel 1:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

We are continuing to make progress on our Extreme Home Makeover as you can see and the framing is coming right along. Last week we talked about framing values for your children. Today, I want to talk about framing values for your teenagers. Have you listened to teenagers talk recently? I want to be honest and tell you that I suffer from TLD - Teenage Language Deficiency. If you have listened to your teenager talk lately, you know that their favorite word now is "like". I counted up one time and Joshua, my ...

10. The Fifth Commandment: The Value of Family

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Eric Ritz

So far in our series on the Ten Commandments we have completed the first four commandments--those dealing primarily with our relationship to God. This is the vertical dimension. Today we begin the section which deals with our relationships to family and the enlarged family which include our neighbors and the world. This is the horizontal dimension. These next commandments reveal God''s plan for our relationships with other people. The first four commandments deeply impact and influence this dimension as ...

11. Family Values

Mark 3:20-30

Illustration

Kristin Borsgard Wee

A newspaper article on family values said that while everyone wants strong family values few can agree on what they are. Soon after this article came out, Roger Rosenblatt was on public radio being cynical about family values. Rosenblatt said that there are plenty of perfect families around like yours and mine. But, there are so many others that fall short, families like the Walker spy family or the Medicis in Italy or the Macbeths of Scotland or the Oedipus Rexes of Greece. Rosenblatt's point was that ...

12. The Revolutionary Values of the Kingdom of God

Luke 18:31-34, Luke 18:18-30, Luke 18:15-17

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: In the kingdom of God accepted human values of status and importance are turned upside down. Understanding the Text As the journey to Jerusalem nears its end, encounters with others on the way illustrate the principle expressed in 18:14b, and in so doing they reveal how far those around Jesus still are from grasping the true nature of God’s kingdom and the necessary pattern of Jesus’s own mission. Their incomprehension focuses especially on the issue of wealth, and thus it provides an opportunity ...

13. Valuing Life Without Playing God

John 10:10-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

God likes life, He invented it. It is to the full-flowing, free life that He invites us. I have lived my life by that simple motto. Jesus put it even better in John 10:10 which is the text I want to linger on today. “I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly," or to the full, to the maximum. In our quest for Christian values, we must do some serious thinking about this thing called life. Who gives it? What's it worth? Who has the right to end it? Those are some of the questions I would ...

14. Rethinking Our Riches (Series: Questioning Our Values)

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Buy a cup of coffee from any fast food restaurant and somewhere on the cup you will likely find these words, CAUTION: CONTENTS MAY BE HOT. What you need to wake you up can also scald your tongue. So beware, say the makers, and keep us all out of court. Something similar could be said about the Beatitudes of Jesus. These formulas for bliss are also bombshells for life. They are flashes of lightening across the landscape of our ordered lives. As William Barclay says, “The Beatitudes of Jesus turn standard ...

15. A Higher Value than Freedom

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Johnny Dean

If there’s one thing we Americans value above everything else, it is freedom. We cherish, guard and exercise our freedom, and woe be unto those who threaten it in any way. We’re even willing to go to war to defend freedom, whether it’s ours or someone else’s. We are the world’s self-appointed watchdogs of freedom. But Jesus says there’s a higher value than freedom. The first words the writer of the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus speak are not about freedom, but about obedience to the will of God. That’s what ...

16. Our Value in God's Eyes

Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

Illustration

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of two hundred, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 bill to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the $20 bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now ...

17. A Whole New Set of Values

Luke 9:51-62

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Barbara Brown Taylor once said that if a man in the church loses his job, the pastor may well call this person to offer sympathy and prayer. But suppose that a pastor one day got wind of the fact that a certain member of his congregation had gotten a big promotion at work along with significantly more pay. And suppose the pastor then called this person and said, "Charlie, I've heard your news and so was wondering if it would be OK if I came by sometime to pray with you about this. I'm concerned about the ...

18. A Higher Value than Freedom

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Johnny Dean

If there's one thing we Americans value above everything else, it is freedom. We cherish, guard and exercise our freedom, and woe be unto those who threaten it in any way. We're even willing to go to war to defend freedom, whether it's ours or someone else's. We are the world's self-appointed watchdogs of freedom. But Jesus says there's a higher value than freedom. The first words the writer of the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus speak are not about freedom, but about obedience to the will of God. That's what ...

19. The Value of the Job - Motherhood

2 Timothy 1:5

Illustration

Being a mother is a demanding job. As a matter of fact, according to a recent report from Salary.com, a website dedicated to researching average salaries for various jobs and industries, reports stay-at-home moms would earn an average of $162,581 annually, including overtime, if they received a paycheck. Women who work a full-time 40 hour a week job could expect an additional $85,939 for the work done at home. Among the jobs the stay-at-home moms reported to Salary.com were day-care center teacher, van ...

20. Our Deepest Values

Luke 4:1-13

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

Dan Louis, of The United Methodist Reporter, told about an experience he had one morning while listening to a radio talk show. He said that the announcer informed the listeners that the tenth person to call in that morning would receive $1,000 in cash, the ordinary ploy used by many stations to build their listening audience. In a few moments, sure enough there was a winner. The announcer immediately "went live" and began interviewing the young woman on the phone. "What's your name? Do you realize you've ...

21. Reassessing Our Laughter (Series: Questioning Our Values)

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

On that tragic Tuesday of September 11, 2001, a New York City parish priest standing on the corner of 14th Street and 1st Avenue witnessed the first terrorist plane plunging into the Twin Towers. “I stood there in shock and disbelief,” says the priest. “Without fully comprehending what was happening, I walked into the church and said the morning Mass.” Normally, about a hundred persons attend this weekday service. That morning there were several hundred. The Gospel reading for the day was, “Blessed are you ...

22. Reviewing Our Hungers (Series: Questioning Our Values)

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

There is an old parable about a seeker who sought out a mentor for spiritual advice. The mentor welcomed the seeker and proceeded to pour the visitor a cup of coffee. When the cup overflowed, the mentor kept pouring. When the saucer spilled over, the mentor kept pouring. When the hot drink started stinging the seekers fingers, he complained loudly, “What are you doing?” The mentor calmly replied, “Teaching you a lesson. You come to me seeking spiritual fulfillment, but you are already full. There is simply ...

23. Reduced In Value

Illustration

Staff

Two theological students were walking along a street in the Whitechapel district of London, a section where old and used clothing is sold. "What a fitting illustration all this makes!" said one of the students as he pointed to a suit of clothes hanging on a rack by a window. A sign on it read: SLIGHTLY SOILED GREATLY REDUCED IN PRICE. "That's it exactly," he continued. "We get soiled by gazing at a vulgar picture, reading a course book, or allowing ourselves a little indulgence in dishonest or lustful ...

24. Suffering Has Value

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Several years ago, there was a man going through great physical problems and one of his legs had to be amputated. That did not arrest the course of his disease, and he ultimately died because of it. Just a few days before the man’s death, a minister visited him in the hospital, and the patient said something that perfectly expresses what “rejoicing in suffering” means to a Christian: “I never would have chosen one of the trials that I’ve gone through, but I wouldn’t have missed any of them for the world!” ...

25. Not For Sale at Any Price

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it." [Matthew 13:45-46] Before you answer this question, think deeply for a minute. What is your most valuable possession? What is so valuable to you that if someone would want to buy it, you would say, "It’s not for sale at any price"? The person who answers like that is saying to the prospective buyer that the article is considered so valuable that ...

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