Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 2414 results

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to drugs, sex, alcohol, food, giving or taking physical or mental abuse, almost appear to be necessary elements in the lives of the rich and famous. With so much dirty laundry flapping in the public eye, it is hard to imagine that the threat of making public David's sins and downfall before the Lord was considered part of the terrible punishment meted out to the king (see verse 11). Indeed it now appears that Thomas Robert Dewar's sage observation that "confessions may be good for the soul but they are ...

2. Delivery

Sermon

Michael Rogness

... 's voice, relax and open up the throat passage. Listening to yourself on tape enables you to hear yourself as others hear you. In my own case, I noticed that my diction was not clear -- gonna, whatcha. Such phrases are normal in conversation, but they make public speech slurry and indistinct. Scottish poet Robert Burns could have been thinking of the preachers he listened to when he wrote almost two centuries ago: O wad some Power the giftie give usTo see oursels as ithers see us!It wad frae mony a blunder ...

3. The Hinge of History

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... to something and Someone beyond himself. John's style does not fit well in our hype-and-publicity age. The late Andy Warhol said that we live in a time when everyone will be a celebrity for fifteen minutes. When we see how easily the media makes public figures and how Humpty-Dumpty-like they smash when they are ignored, Warhol's prediction seems rather true. The lifestyle of our times seems to justify self-promotion. "If you've got it, flaunt it," is the counsel of the cynical. But don't be deceived ...

4. It's Your Funeral

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... is perfect. Indeed, we are all far from being perfect. We all live contradictory lives. Some folks seem cold and selfish on the outside, and hide their great passion and love in such a way that it only emerges in secrecy or in their dreams. Others of us make public professions of faith and try to build reputations as people who are faithful to God, but we fail to live up to our ideals in some very important areas of our lives. Yet, we are all children of God. Someday, someone you know very well will die. I ...

5. Baptism And Self-Esteem

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... outrageous claim for the church to make. It would be were it not for the one who is making this incredible claim on our behalf. He comes with the highest authorization. He is Jesus. He is God's very own Son. He is the one who comes among us to make public the secret, to reveal what has been all too hidden in the pain and ambiguity of this fallen world: God loves you and me. God forgives us. We are his beloved sons and daughters. We can have self-esteem. There is probably no other action in the church's ...

6. The Nature of the Church and Christian Discipleship

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... was published with the title The Devil at Noonday. After one of those sermons, I received a letter from a woman in the congregation. She began her letter in this fashion: “I just wanted to affirm your boldness to preach on the devil and to ‘thank you’ for ‘making public’ a subject that many of us are too scared to talk about, or too unsure of to accept – the truth of the reality of the devil and the evil he vomits over the world.” She went on to describe the fear that stalked her early years ...

7. Jesus Makes All the Difference

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

Our gospel reading for this Epiphany Sunday is a marvelous story about confrontation. The wise men — more commonly known as the three kings today — were teachers of science and truth. They had been watching the heavens, searching for a sign of God's activity in the world, when they were confronted by a star. The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was confronted while reading their story in the gospel of Matthew. The result was his poem, The Three Kings. And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the ...

8. Making Christmas Last

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Brett Blair

A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine said it all. In the middle of the floor is a dried up, withered, Christmas tree. The calendar on the wall reads December 26. Dad is sitting in his chair with an ice pack on his head. Mom is in a bathrobe and her hair in rollers. The floor is a virtual mountain of torn wrappings, boxes, and bows. Junior is reaching in his stocking to be sure that there is no more candy. In the background we see a table with a thoroughly picked turkey still sitting there. The caption on ...

9. The Public Effect Of Private Living

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Robert Allen

It happens so often that it seems almost routine to our modern world. We read or listen to certain stories with interest and then we make little jokes about how the private morality of people becomes public information. A U.S. Congressman is found guilty of having sex with a 16-year-old and the story becomes headline news. Jim Wright becomes the first speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives ever to resign his office over ethic violations. He was charged with 69 violations of House rules. The public ...

10. Public Sex

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Will Willimon

''Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.'' While you were away over the summer, the Presbyterians (P.C.U.S.A ) discovered sex. They issued a big report on sex at their General Assembly, voted it down by a margin of 95 to 5, the report that is. But not before Presbyterians captured many headlines, so shocked was the media to see staid Presbyterians talking in public about a subject like sex. The report advocated ''justice-love'' for ...

11. Why Jesus Didn't Hire A "Public Relations Guy"

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

There was a rock musical in the 1960s called Jesus Christ Superstar. In the musical, Judas Iscariot mocks Jesus with the theme song of the musical. The lyrics of one of the verses are something like this: "If you'd come today you could have reached the whole nation-- Israel in four B.C. had no mass communication . . . Jesus Christ Superstar, Do you think you're what they say you are?" (1) Makes sense, doesn't it? Judas' line of thinking indicates that God should have hired someone to handle public ...

12. Public Piety

Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"Beware of practicing your piety before others..." Hmm. Sort of flies in the face of what we do with these ashes here this evening. Come to think of it, is there any other ritual that we use that is so public an expression of our faith? As is my habit, I was watching the opening of the stock market this morning and I noticed traders on the floor of the Exchange with black smudges on their foreheads - I knew where they had been before coming to work today. The TV commentators did not interview them, but I ...

13. Am I In Shape Spiritually? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Consult any physician, ask any health guru, read any article in a newspaper or magazine, and all will agree - the best thing we can do for our physical health is exercise. We may not be able to run a marathon or lift weights like a football lineman, but it will do us a world of good to simply take a walk. Here in his letter to his young friend Timothy, Paul, too, notes the value of physical exercise, then quickly instructs Timothy to get in shape spiritually as well. “Train yourself in godliness, for while ...

14. Radical Love is Forgiving (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Alexander Pope said “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” Lewis Smedes says, “God invented forgiveness as a remedy for a past that not even he could change nor forget.” Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven. Those who are forgiven much, love much.” Come, let us take a closer look. Jesus is invited to join Simon the Pharisee for dinner. Why Simon invited Jesus is anybody’s guess. Maybe Simon sincerely wanted to know Jesus. Maybe dinner was a trap. Maybe Simon was just curious and decided to find out for ...

15. What Makes You Blush?

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

An ad once appeared in the personals column of a newsletter. It read like this: "Married, professional man, 47, with problems in home, seeks dalliance with a married/unmarried, intelligent woman." The ad had been written by some researchers. They were curious about who would respond to such an ad. Much to their astonishment, they were deluged by responses. For example, here's one: "I am a 34-year-old female, pretty, rubenesque, brown hair, dark blue eyes. I work as a nurse in large urban hospital. My ...

16. Would You Make a Good Witness? (Ascension Day)

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

We live in a crazy world. People do and say funny things. Even lawyers. No, I’m not going to start off with any lawyer jokes, but many of you may have seen lists of “bloopers” taken from real life courtroom cross examinations. These lists contain funny things that lawyers say. I want to enter them into evidence at this time: One unnamed lawyer, during a cross examination pointed to a picture. “Were you present,” he asked, “when this picture of you was taken?” Another lawyer asked: “She had three children, ...

17. How to Make Heaven Our Home

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The year was 1846. Abraham Lincoln was running for a seat in the U.S. Congress. His opponent was a Methodist Circuit Rider by the name of Peter Cartwright. One night, Lincoln went to hear Cartwright preach. As the fiery Cartwright came to the conclusion of his sermon he said to the congregation, “Everybody here who wants to go to heaven, stand up.” The whole crowd stood up except Lincoln. Cartwright, who considered Lincoln an infidel said, “I observe that all present want to go to heaven except for Mr. ...

18. Winning the War Over Fear (Series: Winning the Wars of Daily Life)

Luke 12:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

According to a public opinion poll, 40% of Americans fear public speaking, 36% fear heights, and 34% fear being closed in small spaces. According to these statistics, when I step into the pulpit to preach, my fear factor on a scale of 1-100 should be about 110. People ask me all the time if I still get nervous when I preach. The answer to that question is yes. To handle the Word of God and deal with things eternal ought to make us tremble, but there is a difference between awe and angst. I think that is ...

19. On Finding Pentecostal Power

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Lord, as of old at Pentecost Thou dist thy power display, With cleansing, purifying flame Descend on us today. Power, Power, the world is full of power - military power, political power, economic power, industrial power. Our children’s Power Rangers protect our planet from evil forces. Power plants dam up our rivers in order to send us electricity. The world is full of power. But do you have the spiritual power to become all that you are created to be, and to do all that God wants you to do? That is what I ...

20. Making a Difference

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Paul E. Flesner

How many of you know someone who is partially or completely color blind? Seeing colors is something we frequently take for granted until we try to imagine what the world looks like to someone who cannot. One such person described the task of getting dressed in the morning as one of the more difficult decisions that he faces during the day. He admitted that there have been many times when he went to work wearing some very strange color combinations. He went on to say that he is fascinated by his wife's ...

21. If Everybody’s Okay, What’s the Problem? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses, And all the king’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again! Like Humpty Dumpty, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. The Bible calls that problem sin. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves” (I John 1:8). Forty years ago, Dr. Tom Harris wrote a best seller entitled I’m OK, You’re OK. As a tool for analyzing interpersonal transactions, the book was immensely helpful. As a philosophical statement of the human condition, the book ...

22. What Difference Does It Make?

John 14:15-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I ran across a story this week about a seven-year-old granddaughter who said to her grandfather, "In this family we are kind of serious about God, aren't we?" Grandpa said, "Yes, we sure are." And the little girl asked, "Why?" Grandpa wrapped the little girl in his arms, hugged her real close and said, "So that I can hug you and tickle you and try to tell you how much I love you and how glad I am that God gave you to us." The little girl grinned and said, "That's cool." I'm not sure that hugging and ...

23. What Making a Difference Looks Like

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

I am told there are at least eight million cats and eleven million dogs in the Big Apple. Since New York is mainly concrete and steel, when you have a pet that dies, you can't just go out in the back yard and bury it. In response, city officials decided that for fifty dollars they would dispose of your pet for you. Now in that grand city was a certain enterprising lady. She thought to herself, “I can render a service.” So she placed an ad in the paper: "When your pet dies, I will take care of the carcass ...

24. The Ministry Of Making Many Rich

1 Timothy 6:11-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

One of the most effective and colorful congressmen to ever go to Washington was a crusty old gentlemen from Texas named Sam Rayburn. He served Congress for over 50 years — during the last ten of those years, he was Speaker of the House. But the real greatness of Sam Rayburn was not in the public positions he held. It was in his common touch. One day he heard that the teenage daughter of a Washington reporter had died. Early the next morning he went over to the reporter’s house and knocked on the door. “I ...

25. The Things That Make for Peace

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Each gospel has a different version of what happened during this Holy Week. This year we look at Luke's version. We will stay with Luke as we move through the services of Holy Week. The calendar is printed before you in the bulletin. We start this morning with Luke's version of what happened on this Sunday, the Sunday he entered the city. Our vision of Palm Sunday has been shaped by the Church's celebration of Palm Sunday, which always involves children in procession, waving palm branches, which we ...

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