Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Classic Goldwynisms

Illustration

Staff

Sam Goldwyn, the movie producer, used to mangle the English language so badly that his malaprops and mixed metaphors came to be known as Goldwynisms. Some that have become classics are... A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named William. Now, gentlemen, listen slowly. For your information, I would like to ask a question. Include me out. Don't talk to me while I'm interrupting. I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong.

2. Mugwumps

Luke 6:1-11

Sermon

... beside those who are not. Then we would know for sure the "Who?" and the "Where?" of Mugwumps. But unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. No person nor group anywhere can be given the flat label, Mugwumps - not even the scribes and Pharisees of our classic case. Mugwumps is a tendency that can visit any one of us. It’s doubtful that we can avoid it, but it’s very important that we know it’s there. The Pharisees and scribes apparently were unaware of its presence, and through the words of Christ ...

3. Should Christians Always Oppose War?

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... one who opposes and will not participate in any violence. Many Christians have been pacifists over the last 2000 years, but the majority of Christians have not held that view. It may surprise you to know that Jesus was not a pacifist, at least in the classic sense. If you had asked the moneychangers in the Temple if Jesus was a pacifist, they would have replied, "Are you kidding? He drove us out with a whip!" Jesus allowed his disciples to carry swords, and the swords were not for killing snakes. They were ...

4. Staying Alive All Your Ministry Life: Will You Finish Well?

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... immediate awareness now and then. John was a Scot Presbyterian preacher. During a part of my tenure as the World Editor of The Upper Room, he was the editor of the British edition of The Upper Room. He was a marvelous preacher in the classic style of the Scot divines. I remember long walks in the evenings through the streets of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. I remember extended hours across a table in a café over coffee – talking and talking and listening and listening. We were never together without ...

5. Asa King of Judah

2 Chronicles 14:2-15

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... regarded by the Persians (and Greeks) as the southern extreme of the known world. Furthermore, excavations in Nubia indicate that the Persian invasions never managed to take complete control of this remote part of the world. Although the evidence from classical writers is scanty (and biased), people in the Persian province of Yehud may have known this reputation of the Cushites, perhaps through the Elephantine Jewish community on the southern border of Egypt with Nubia. Could one perhaps imagine that these ...

6. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... that follow, there are primarily a series of words from the NIV that are first given in their Gk. lexical form and then explained briefly in an effort to provide more than a superficial acquaintance with the elements of the substance of Paul’s thought. The classic study of love, which has undergone much refinement through criticism, is A. Nygren’s Agape and Eros (rev. ed.; London: S.P.C.K., 1953). More recently, J. G. Sigountos (“The Genre of 1 Corinthians 13,” NTS 40 [1994], pp. 246–60) shows how ...

7. Proper 6

Galatians 2:11-21, 1 Kings 19:1-8, 2 Samuel 12:1-31, 2 Samuel 11:1-27, Psalm 32:1-11, Luke 7:36-50

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... wilderness, and he knew that God would make good his escape from Jezebel and see him to his final destination. Galatians 2:11-21 (E, L); 2:15-21 (C); 2:16, 19-21 (RC) It took a conflict with Peter to prompt Paul to spell out this classic statement of justification by faith alone through grace over against, as with the Jews, justification by the works of the law. Peter and others apparently were confused about the difference between the law and the gospel; no one can be saved by obeying the law of God; God ...

8. Proper 21

Luke 16:19-31, Psalm 146:1-10, Amos 6:1-7, Joel 2:18-27, 1 Timothy 6:11-21

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... his day and ours. To remember and to celebrate St. Luke is to remember and celebrate the very heart of the gospel, Jesus' death and resurrection, and this reinforces the kerygmatic theology of this part of the church year. The Prayer Of The Day The classic and contemporary collects for St. Luke's Day emphasize the work of healing in Jesus' ministry and in the church today. In The Book Of Common Prayer the contemporary collect reads this way: "Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set ...

9. Shake It Off!

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... Mark 3:5, he is confronted by the Pharisees for healing. The scriptures say that he looked at them with anger, then told the man to stretch out his hand and be healed! He took the harm of others and turned his anger into healing for someone else. Remember that classic scene in the movie Gandhi, where a Muslim man comes to the Mahatma, confessing his murder of a Hindu boy's father? "What shall I do?" asks the man. "Raise the boy as your own, but raise him as a Hindu," Gandhi says. Take what you have done and ...

10. Pentecost

Psalm 104:1-35, Joel 2:28-32, John 20:19-23, Acts 2:1-21

Sermon Aid

... has been operative in the world since it was created by God, gives to the people who belong to the body of Christ, the church. The Prayer of the Day Two prayers are provided in the LBW, both more theologically oriented to the themes of Pentecost than the classic Pentecost prayer. The first prayer bears some resemblance to the classic collect for Pentecost in that it mentions "our hearts" over against the "hearts of thy faithful people" in the older prayer, but the tense of the two prayers is different. The ...

11. The Waiting Game

Sermon

James Bjorge

... we’re going to make the destination. In the detective thrillers of the telelvision world, such as "Mannix" or "Hawaii 5-0," the outcome is obscured until the very end. Everyone seems to be under suspicion as the plot thickens. The writers of the classical period used an entirely different technique. Men like Homer tell us how it will end from the very start of the literary work. Now, is the last form less adventuresome than the first? Not necessarily. It depends on your approach to the mystery. In the ...

12. The Greatest Story Ever Told

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... "Da Da", the same guy who will come quickly if she screams. She also notices that if she raises an arm, the good- looking baby in the mirror will do likewise. Suddenly, with a flash of understanding, she gets it. The kid in the mirror is I. The classic story of the Prodigal Son is like a mirror. You may think you are listening to an ancient parable that has little or no relevance for you, but then, suddenly, you see yourself in the story. Sometimes you identify with the father, often with the wayward son ...

13. How To Love

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... friends as Lee. When Lee was a small boy growing up in Wisconsin, he had to play piano in beer halls to make money. His father was a very stern, somewhat humorless classical musician who insisted that Lee become a classical pianist. Lee reluctantly complied with his father's wishes. Finally, he was booked to play a classical concert and his father attended. Liberace performed at his best that night with an unusual flair. But when the concert ended and he turned toward his father's seat, hoping to see him ...

14. Eavesdropping On Eternity

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... 's plan of salvation is for all people, in all circumstances, at all times. Have you lead anyone to the door recently? Let's leave here with a commitment to go back down into the valley and share with someone the glory of God. 1. "Classic conversation stoppers," Lexington Herald-Leader, Wednesday, October 6, 1993, p. 25. 2. The Executive Speechwriter Newsletter, Volume 7, Number 5, p. 5. 3. By Tony Campolo in Ten Great Preachers, edited by Bill Turpie (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), p. 15. 4. Nancie ...

15. What If God Is Dependent Upon Our Praying?

2 Chronicles 7:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the Old Testament. “If my people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways” - those are the conditions. Then God says, “Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.” The classic example of it from the New Testament is Jesus’ great metaphor of the vine and the branches in the 15th chapter of John. In that metaphor, he tells us who he is in relation in to God and who we are in relation to him, but he also ...

16. What If

1 Chronicles 7:1-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the Old Testament. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, those are the conditions. "Then," says God, "then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land." The classic example of it from the New Testament is Jesus' great metaphor of the vine and the branches in the 15th Chapter of John. In that metaphor he tells us who he is in relation to God and who we are in relation to Him, but He also gives us ...

17. The Sin of Being Less

Colossians 3:1-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... suggest that if you don't, then it is a sin. "Sin" is most often described as "pride." That is the way classical theologians have described it. But ironically, that is the way the Greeks described sin. They called it "hubris." "Hubris" means "pride." Hubris ... God, to know what God knows. Trying to break out of human limitations. Trying to be more than who you really are. That is the classical understanding of sin. It is certainly a sin to play God. But my experience has been that not a whole lot of people are ...

18. Acts 17: 22-31

Acts 17:16-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... or social status, education or ethnicity, in the Divine’s judgment of the world (v.31). The one God who created the whole world will also judge all creation together. The underlying oneness of humanity is further demonstrated by Paul’s use of classical texts to suggest a common spiritual yearning (or “groping”) towards a divine connection. Paul cites two sources: first a fragment from a poem attributed to Epimenides the Cretan (c.600 BCE—-“But thou are not dead; thou livest and move and have our ...

19. The Outstretched Arms

John 19:28-37, John 19:17-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... will never cease to forgive us. That is the God revealed in Jesus Christ, and in the end the hardest of hearts among us shall find it an irresistible revelation of irresistible love." By forcing us to confront our own pain and suffering, Augustine’s "classic theory" of the Atonement is also upheld - the cross makes us face the ongoing battle between good and evil. In the person of Jesus Christ, God participated in the human struggle with this battle. God has so fully entered into our human condition that ...

20. The Widow and the Unjust Judge

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... reality — that of a sinful, broken world — with a new reality, a world made whole and living in covenant with God’s design for shalom and love. Will you be found among those of faith, living in that kingdom, this coming week? COMMENTARY One of the classic descriptions of insanity is when someone continues to practice the same behavior, over and over, but expects to get different results. If you turn on the cold-water tap you cannot keep waiting for it to turn warm. If you kick the neighbor’s dog you ...

21. Ruth and Boaz on the Threshing Floor

Ruth 3:1-18

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.” But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them. (Judg. 19:23–25) This is a classic case of good intentions substituting for leadership. First, the Gibeahite tries to address a lust-driven mob as “my friends” (lit. my brothers, akhay), attempting to converse civilly with a group the narrator himself calls the “sons of Belial” (19:22). Then, after begging them ...

22. Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Micah 3:1-12

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... that is, God will show no mercy or favor toward them (contrast to Num. 6:25–26). And of course, if God be against us, who can be for us? False Prophets and True Prophet (3:5-8): 3:5–8 In many passages in the writings of the classical prophets, we find condemnations of false prophets in Israel, who led the people astray by their preaching (see Jer. 23:9–22; Ezek. 13:1–16). Sometimes the message of such false prophets was in direct contradiction to what the true prophet was proclaiming (see 1 Kgs. 22 ...

23. Who's The Neighbor

Luke 10:25-37

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... Milt. And I'm ready to play. MILTON: Well, I guess if you're ready, so am I. Audience, how about it? ("CHEER" SIGN IS HELD UP AND AUDIENCE CHEERS) It looks like we're ready to play WHO'S YOUR NEIGHBOR! As usual our story is a classic. Gentlemen, you must act out the parts assigned to you. The other parts will be played by professional actors. Here are your scripts. Let's begin. (THE THREE CONTESTANTS WALK TO THE SIDE OF THE STAGE, LOOKING AT THEIR SCRIPTS) ANNOUNCER: (IN A STORYTELLING VOICE) A certain man ...

24. Failure Is Not Final

Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon

William L. Self

... would you like to have your whole career riding on a can of New Coke? He was a hero no longer. He became their scapegoat. New Coke was taken off the market and the old Coke was reintroduced as Classic Coke. Sergio Zyman went away to do some consulting for a while. He was trudging through his valley of Achor. Classic Coke came back stronger than it had ever been before, and that year became the best year in Coca-Cola's history up to that point. Officials at Coca-Cola said, "We wish we could have a New Coke ...

25. Who Lives In You?

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Lee Griess

... be citizens of heaven, we often live as strangers before God. A researcher for a publishing company recently interviewed a number of people to determine what kind of books they liked to read. Among the most common answers were: the Bible, Shakespeare, and a number of classic works such as A Tale of Two Cities, The Red Badge of Courage, and others. In return for their cooperation, the company offered each person a choice of a free book from a list of titles published by the company. There was a large variety ...

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