Sermon and Worship Resources

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2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Robert Allen

... reveal his eternal love in Jesus Christ. There is hope for all of us who sin. This hope is found in a God who calls us, and forgives us, and restores us. You may have made wrong choices in your life. Your private life may have become a public scandal. Your private life may be hidden from others. But there is hope because confession, forgiveness, and God’s restoring grace is available if you will claim it. Will you claim the new life of promise that is yours through Jesus Christ? Prayer: O God, help us to ...

2. Public Sex

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Will Willimon

... a TV evangelist confessed to having ''a sexual encounter." Whatever happened to ''fornication?'' Now there's a good word: Fornication. You don't know what it is, but you know it's wrong! What is sex for? And why should we be talking about it on Sunday, in public, in church, on Parents' Weekend? Well, the Bible talks about it, Jesus talks about it, in today's gospel (Mark 10:2- 16). Early on, right at the first of creation, first book of the Bible, Genesis, there is talk of sex. In fact, no sooner has the ...

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

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... nation in a tiny corner of the vast Roman Empire 2000 years ago. At the very least God should have waited for the advent of television, since that would have made it so much easier to get the message out to the world. Why didn't Jesus hire a public relations guy? Consider today's lesson. It's one of the most famous passages in the Bible. Jesus and the disciples were on their way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way Jesus asked them, "Who do people say that I am?" They answered him, "John the ...

4. Public Piety

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

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... 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 knew! That is public! And, despite the warning in the lesson, I say good for them! They are showing the whole world whose side they are on. In a way, that is why we gather tonight. We are here to let God and everybody know whose side we are on. This season ...

5. Illusion Or Reality?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... I want to know! I want to know! These are the unfit. These are they who are dead but now they live. These are they who have been forgiven. These are they for whom the Lamb died. These are they for whom the blood was shed. This is the public that is cordially invited to enter the Kingdom of God. The entire message of the gospel comes down to one earthshaking vision, one eternal scene that shivers its way out of the cold corridors of doom - John saw two crowds entering the Kingdom - the fit few and the unfit ...

6. Practicing Righteousness

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... righteousness be drowned. We practice this hidden righteousness when we daily ask that our lives be buried with Christ so that Christ’s righteousness may live and grow in us. Our text makes it clear that Jesus says NO to all the ways in which we try to publically practice our own righteousness. But Jesus says YES to the practice of hidden righteousness. Jesus says YES to the new life that is created in us in the dark and secret working of God within us. Jesus says YES to a new life that he sees even when ...

7. Sandbox First, Soapbox Second

Mark 1:29-34, Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with the unclean spirit identifying Jesus as “the Holy One of God” before it is dramatically banished. Conversely, the second healing event that takes place in Mark’s gospel is quite private and distinctly low-key. Leaving the synagogue and the public eye, Jesus and his first four disciples retire to the private home of Simon and Andrew in Capernaum — a location that has been identified by later twentieth century archaeological excavations. The “fever” Simon’s mother-in-law suffered from does ...

8. When God's Rule is Taken Out of the School

Job 21:22

Sermon

James Merritt

... that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war....we have, in affect, been committing an act of unthinking unilateral educational disarmament."15 All of this is not to say there are not some wonderful students, teachers, principals, and administrators in our public school system. But, at the same time, there is no need to deny it, and no one can decry it, there is a problem. II. The Shift In Education What is even more alarming in the state of education is the shift that has taken place in ...

9. Advertised Goodness

Matthew 6:1-2, Matthew 6:5-6

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the editor, but Jesus' words stopped me in my tracks. If our dominant motive is to look good in the United Methodist Reporter, that defective motive will short-circuit the spiritual power of what we are doing. Now, let's consider this matter of motivation in our public prayer life. Jesus talked about this in verses 5 and 6 of Matthew, chapter 6. Let us be careful that our prayers are directed to God, not to other people who may be listening. It always worries me if I find the words "you know" slipping into ...

10. How to Turn the Ballot into a Blessing Box

Proverbs 29:2

Sermon

James Merritt

... the lie of another under oath, if he perjures himself or suborns perjury, he is guilty under the statute law."6 Roosevelt was adamant. Whatever else may be true about a person, if they are not honest and cannot be believed, they are not fit to serve in public office. The next mark is compassion. "Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." (Prov. 31:8-9) These were the words of a mother to ...

11. God Knows!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... the woman reassured him, "because ever since I lost my teeth, all I can do is suck the chocolate off them." I guess we're kind of like those peanuts. We're naked before God. God knows all about us. And God's knowledge is not confined to our public appearances. Fortunately, as we've already announced, we are sinners in the hands of a gracious God. Or as R. C. Sproul explained (The Holiness of God, 1985): A sound theology must be a theology where grace is central to it. When we understand the character of God ...

12. The Privilege and the Price

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... make our sins plain. They sniff out our little hypocrisies and take delight in doing so. It is the devil’s delight since he is the chief accuser, but God uses it. As a tool it is a blunt instrument. Before God exposes his church to public shame and ridicule, there are many warnings, often over years. And if there is no change, then comes judgment. According to Jesus’ warning, God allows the lost world to trample us down precisely because we have become worthless, like salt that has lost its taste. And ...

13. How Can Religion Go Bad Doing Good?

Matthew 7:21-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... graffiti appeared on one of the blank concrete slabs. You can guess what it was: a Nazi swastika. Although it was quickly removed, when asked if the memorial was demeaned by such graffiti, Eisenman cast his vote for interactive public art: "Maybe it would add to it." The public comments on this public art have only just begun. But whether one thinks this latest memorial is eloquent and moving or mute and misses the mark, it does rivet our attention on a place and a time within the living memory of people ...

14. Religion's Built-in Hazard

Isaiah 58:1-14

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... 's golden tones ring out above the ordinary noises made by fellow singers! To know that others are hearing the same lovely voice that rings in one's own ears; what could be sweeter? But is God glorified by such a display? No, says Isaiah! One does not need a public validation. If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, is there truly a sound? If one transposes that to the life of faithfulness, the answer is a solid yes. The hearing or seeing by others is not what makes our acts faithful. It is the ...

15. Wellspring for the Soul

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... teachers in the inner cities of the country. The unspoken feeling is that there is too much violence, too much distraction, too much indifference on the part of everybody to make teaching worthwhile. From time to time a call goes out to restore prayer in the classrooms of the nation. Public school teachers cannot be called upon to lead prayers that have to be so generalized, so disconnected from conviction, so isolated from the community of living faith. It is right to desire spiritual good for masses of ...

16. Hotline to Heaven

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

James Merritt

... the weeds of neglect because you are not making that trek everyday to the secret place to spend time with God? The next time you pray, ask yourself a question: Do I pray frequently or more fervently when I'm alone with God, than when I am in public? Is my public praying an overflow of my private praying? Am I thinking of what others are thinking about when I am praying? Am I looking for "just the right" phrase? Am I thinking more about the people who are worshipping with me than the One who is supposed to ...

17. Getting Your Politics Right

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... life is a vacation? And if you have so lowered your expectations in life that you are happy with a welfare check and resigned to public housing, why bother with God? There is much gospel preaching but not much gospel action in this county so far as I can see. ... loves the sound of his children’s voices and wants to hear from you. Don’t make prayer a show; even if you pray in public, as Jesus often did, make sure you are speaking to God and not preaching to others. Get alone with God. Go into a closet if ...

18. Jail House Joy

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

... the text today. More than likely, you hope the answer is "Nothing!" However, the truth is that this is a direct lead-in to our text. The passage from Acts, read as our First Lesson, has to do with a man named Paul. He also shocked the public with his actions. He, too, radically dislodged culture from its historic moorings. Certainly not in the same direction as Elvis did it; but Paul ushered in a change in the culture of his day. The change Paul wrought was like that of Elvis Presley's song - the discovery ...

19. Thou Shalt Not Judge - True or False?

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... [she receives 2,000 letters a day]. I have concluded this a very popular President. They are saying it is not our business, and we don't care….this is not just sophisticated New York and California, this is middle America." When asked if the public's refusal to condemn Mr. Clinton signaled some kind of moral collapse, she replied she thought just the opposite. According to Ms. Landers, "People are much more willing to forgive now, they are more permissive, they are more realistic. This is the way life is ...

20. The TV Revolution

Sermon

Michael Rogness

... preaching?" "Where have all the good preachers gone?" Preaching has fallen on hard times. There are several reasons for this malaise. Some pastors don't work very hard on their sermons. Some are out of touch with their congregations. Others are ineffective public speakers. Much preaching is theological fluff. Another part of the problem is that people in the pews have such a wide range of expectations from the sermon that it is impossible to satisfy everybody. Yet the truth is that many pastors work hard ...

21. Want To Sit At The Head Table?

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... at the head table? Then do it like he did it. Give more than you get. Humble yourself and serve others. 1. James Dent in Charleston, W.Va. Gazette, 12/9/91. 2. Donnie Radcliffe, SIMPLY BARBARA BUSH (Warner Books) 3. "Researchers' Dispute Over Who Gets Credit Delays Sex Survey Publication," The Knoxville News-Sentinel (June 27, 1989), Section A, p. 7. 4. Robert Burdette 5. Victor Rangel-Ribeiro, READER'S DIGEST, August 1989, p. 76. 6. Conrad Hyers, AND GOD CREATED LAUGHTER (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987).

22. Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments

1 Peter 3:15

Sermon

James Merritt

... make it right. I want to deal now with three specific "hard cases" and give answers to each one of them. 6. What About Abortion When The Mother's Life Is At Stake? a. This case is extremely rare. When the United States Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop, stated publicly that in his thirty-eight years as a pediatric surgeon he was never aware of a single situation in which a pre-born child's life had to be taken in order to save the life of the mother.12 As already stated, this would account for only 3% of ...

23. Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments

Proverbs 24:11-12

Sermon

James Merritt

24. The Urge to Purge

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Indeed it now appears that Thomas Robert Dewar's sage observation that "confessions may be good for the soul but they are bad for the reputation" is quaintly passe. Increasingly the quest for fleeting fame requires infamy. Ironically, while the public confession of particular, individual sins has ballooned in the past decade, our ability to acknowledge the existence of large-scale, all-permeating Sin has dramatically decreased. As the ranks swell of those involved in the plethora of "confessional" self-help ...

25. God's Eminent Domain

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... force them to sell their property to make way for a hotel and other private facilities. In June of 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 that their local government (and yours) has the power to confiscate private property, not only for public projects like roads and parks, but also in the name of economic development. A lot of folks disagree. This authority, known as "eminent domain" is not new. Included in our Constitution's Fifth Amendment on private property is a "takings clause" which permits such ...

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