Sermon and Worship Resources

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Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." [Matthew 10:29, 30] What do you think you’re worth? It is not likely you are worth the billions of a Paul Getty or a Howard Hughes. Do you go to the other extreme when you would sell yourself for a nickel and give three cents change? Are you like the young lad who wore a football t-shirt with the letters 00, a double cipher? Was this the way he ...

2. You Are Worth Much!

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

"So do not be afraid: you are worth much more than sparrows!" (St. Matthew 10:31 TEV) The other day I was visiting a man about forty-five years old in the hospital. He was not a member of our parish, but I was informed that he had a spiritual problem and that he might appreciate visiting with a minister. He did have a spiritual problem, one that we all can have at times. You see, the man had been in an automobile accident a few days ago. He was "out with the boys" one night - actually something he rarely ...

3. The Kingdom Is Not K-Mart

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

James Merritt

Think about these words: dedication, devotion, discipleship, commitment, consecration, surrender, sacrifice. There are no blue-light specials on these virtues in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not k-mart. I want you to get these two statements into your heart. Salvation is free, but discipleship is not cheap. You may be familiar with the term day-trader. A day-trader is a high-risk investor who jumps in and out of the stock market often many times a day to capitalize on small price changes. ...

4. An Absolute Cure for Boredom

Philippians 3:7-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

Do you ever feel bored . . . like your life is in a rut . . . that your life is a big, fat zero? Comedian Brad Stine puts it this way, “I feel like I’m in a rut. Every time I go to bed at night, I find myself just getting up again the next morning.” Well, some of us are grateful just to get up the next morning . . . but there are many people, if they were to define their lives at its essence, would define their life with one word: boring! People will sometimes go to desperate measures to escape boredom. ...

5. 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 ...

6. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

Introductory Note "Thomas the Doubter" is obviously an Easter sermon. However, for Christians every Lord's Day is Easter, because ours is a Resurrection faith. Without the Resurrection, we have nothing distinctive -- for our own comfort and growth or for a world in pain. In "Thomas the Doubter" I hazard a hypothesis about Thomas' life prior to his meeting Jesus. The hypothesis seems fairly plausible. His nickname, Didymus, appears in the biblical record (John 11:16). "Thomas the Doubter" argues for the ...

7. The Magic Ingredient

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

I don’t know if any of you ever read the obituaries. My guess is that the older you are the more likely you are to let your eyes drift over to that section of the newspaper. As the comedian would say, “just to make certain your name’s not printed there.” Of course, some of our younger members are asking, “What’s a newspaper?” An interesting obituary appeared in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press recently (12/18/2019) that, in my estimation, was good for a chuckle or two. It was for a Katie McDonald, 80 years ...

8. Fiscal Fitness

Proverbs 3:9-10

Sermon

James Merritt

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Jane Wagner, "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe"[1] You would expect that the richest man who ever lived would have something to say about money, and, in Solomon's case, you would be right. He has plenty to say. There is a wealth of wisdom about wealth in Proverbs. With money, there is not only much to earn, but there is much to learn. In fact, the entire Bible has much to say about money. Howard Dayton, the ...

9. Seeking What Matters

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

"... in his joy ... he sells all ..." - Matthew 13:44 Have you ever thought of it? The process of our living involves a lot of trade-off and barter. We are forever giving up some things in order that we might have others; we are perpetually sacrificing this so we may have that. We do this in our marriages; we do this in our occupational choices; we do this in the matter of having children; we do it at almost every juncture of the journey we make. In most of our choices we are actually giving up certain ...

10. A Lack of Feeding in the American Dream

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

I would like us to consider a subject which becomes important to us all from time to time, but which is generally confusing and threatening so that we normally try to pass on from it as quickly as possible. The subject is suicide. There are a number of reasons why I am concerned with talking about it. I am continually involved as a minister in suicide cases, both accomplished and contemplated. The other day, our ministerial association met with the staff of the mental health clinic, and they told us that ...

11. A Not So Simple Story of Demons and Pigs

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

"This is a strange story," declares J.M. Creed. "Fantastic and grotesque," adds Joseph Fitzmyer. "Unsophisticated, with enough preposterous material to invite the scorn of the skeptic," concludes J. Pesch. These men are all esteemed New Testament scholars. Their statements refer to the story I just read (Luke 8:26-39). If you want a more local opinion, take it from the lady who edits the church page. In response to hearing the title of this morning's sermon, she simply said: "Yuk." But it is a good story. ...

12. Acres of Diamonds

1 Timothy 6:10

Sermon

Russell Conwell

I am astonished that so many people should care to hear this story over again. Indeed, this lecture has become a study in psychology; it often breaks all rules of oratory, departs from the precepts of rhetoric, and yet remains the most popular of any lecture I have delivered in the fifty-seven years of my public life. I have sometimes studied for a year upon a lecture and made careful research, and then presented the lecture just once -- never delivered it again. I put too much work on it. But this had no ...

13. The Battle of New Orleans

2 Timothy 3:1-4:8

Sermon

James Merritt

Being President of the SBC for one year has been both one of the greatest blessings, and one of the greatest burdens of my life. On the one hand, it has reminded me of just how blessed I am to be a Southern Baptist. Southern Baptists are not a perfect people, but they are a precious people. I don't believe there is a group of Bible believers anywhere in the world that love Jesus more than Southern Baptists. I sometimes feel like a lady who lived up in the mountains of North Carolina. She was a Baptist ...

14. Come Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

Charles Wesley began one of the Methodist Church's favorite hymns with this line: "Come Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire." Of course, tradition now uses the alternate term, "Holy Spirit." Wesley called it the "fountain of life and love." And so it is. Once we experience the Holy Spirit, we know it is exactly that: the source of life and love. The giving of that Spirit into the lives of us all is the point of this passage. Actually, there's a bit of politics indigenous to the time and place involved here, ...

15. Teamwork

Nehemiah 1:1-11

Sermon

Rev. Dr. Ward Williams

In the fifth century B.C., the Jewish people were captives in Persia. With the enthronement of a new Persian ruler, those who chose to return to Judah were allowed to do so. Many started life anew in the area of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was a Jew who had held a high position at the Persian court. He received permission to return to his native land, where he was authorized to take charge of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was a dynamic leader with a gift for organizing and directing the cooperative ...

16. The Preacher Was A Bigot

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Jonah. Terrific story. One of Sunday School's most memorable hours - it is great drama. As you recall Jonah was a prophet in Israel. God came to him and said that he should leave his nation and go over to the capital of one of his country's fiercest foes...Ninevah in Assyria. Jonah did not want to go. So he went down to the seaport of Joppa and got on a boat headed for Tarshish in Spain. The direction was exactly opposite the one God wanted him to take. Jonah did not want to preach to the Ninevites. After ...

17. Manual Labor Is Not the President of Mexico

Proverbs 6:6-8

Sermon

James Merritt

"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?" Ronald Reagan1 Two teenagers were talking, and one said to another, "I'm really worried. Dad slaves away at his job so I will never want for anything, pays all of my bills and sends me to college. Mom spends every day washing and ironing and cleaning up after me, and even takes care of me when I am sick." "So, what are you worried about?" He said, "I'm afraid they might try to escape!" That story reflects my belief that ...

18. God Is Not Yet Finished With You

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." On a pastor’s desk was a sign, "Be patient with me, for God is not yet finished with me." It was a humorous way of telling his people that he was not yet perfect as a Christian. It is a fact that God is not finished creating his universe or his people. Contrary to popular opinion, God has not finished his creation, for scientists claim that our universe is expanding at the rate of twenty-six million miles per hour. Likewise, the creation of ...

19. You Are Not Yourself!

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

The Gospel more than anything else is good news! We all know that, but how often we forget. A news story that appeared recently in USA Today might serve as a helpful parable. It seems that many McDonald’s restaurants, rather than using bank bags and armored trucks, move their daily cash intake by putting the money in regular carry-out paper bags and handing the bag to a drive-thru courier. The plan conceals the fact that a large amount of money is leaving the store. In Euclid, Ohio, though, one McDonald’s ...

20. Opportunism? Or Opportunity?

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

A striking television commercial came into our living rooms not long ago. It showed a funeral procession of expensive vehicles, driving single file behind a hearse, toward a cemetery. As the camera focused on the passengers in the first one, and then the next and the next of the procession of luxurious automobiles, a voice could be heard. It was that of the lawyer, reading the will, which each would soon be hearing. "To my nephew," said the voice, "who didn’t know the value of a dollar - I leave one dollar ...

21. When The Going Gets Tough

Romans 8:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

The theologian of the comic strips, Charlie Brown, was once talking with his friend Lucy about the meaning of life. Lucy asks Charlie Brown, "Do you think life has any meaning?" Charlie Brown starts to answer her, but she interrupts with, "I mean, do you think life has any meaning after you've failed nine spelling tests in a row and your teacher hates you?" To which Charlie Brown calmly says, "That's a different question." I was reading recently about the origin of the word "sabotage." It comes from French ...

22. Have You Heard about Grace?

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Mark Trotter

On October 31, over 450 years ago, Martin Luther began what came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. If you are a United Methodist, then you stand in that Reformation tradition. Like anything that happened over 450 years ago, much of the Reformation is dated and is no longer interesting or helpful to us. It was concerned with questions raised in the 16th century, which are not our questions. But there is at least one permanent contribution that Luther has made for all of us, and that is to emphasize ...

23. A King Worth Having

Zechariah 9:9-13

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your ...

24. A Honeymoon at Church Camp: A Real Homecoming

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

Rachael and Wally first saw each other at church camp when they attended a January orientation meeting for new counselors. Just one look into one another's eyes was all it took for these high school seniors to realize that this might be the start of something wonderful. It was. Over the next four summers at camp, Rachael and Wally's infatuation blossomed into romance. They became engaged with plans to marry during the Christmas season following college graduation. Everyone was thrilled. Here was the ...

25. If Christ Had Not Come

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” (John 15:22) What strange words are these! Especially the part where Jesus says, “If I had not come...” What would it be like, I wonder, if Christ had not come? Would it really make that much difference? Are we right in dating all human history from the birth of Christ, so that everything that has happened before He came is called “B.C.” (before Christ) and everything that has happened since then is ...

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