Sermon and Worship Resources

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Leviticus 25:1-7

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... order. We can buy more fuel-efficient cars and keep them in good mechanical repair. I read once that the typical car has pumped its weight in carbon into the atmosphere after its first 10,000 miles. Our future really is going up in smoke--out our exhaust pipes! Recycling is something we all can do. Every three months this country throws away enough aluminum to rebuild its entire commercial air fleet. Think about that the next time you dispose of a soft drink can. I enjoyed reading sometime back about ...

2. Holy Smokes! God Is Here

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

The Rev. Thomas Bandy tells about a meeting his wife Lynne, also a pastor, once attended. The meeting was sponsored by a group in their denomination. To begin this meeting, they had a customary sharing time. Each person answered the question: “How did you experience God this summer?” “Several people in the room told how they had experienced God in nature. At the cottage, in the woods, or on the lake, they saw a sunset, heard a loon’s cry, or felt a summer’s breeze.” And as they listened, participants ...

3. The Smell Of Smoke Still Lingers

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

An old Reader's Digest story tells about a family who moved to Seattle from Texas. The whole family was missing Texas, especially when Christmas was just around the corner and the whole place was covered in snow. We like it snow on Christmas morning or Christmas Eve, just as long as it's all gone by the time we get on the road to go to visit our families, right Well anyway, this woman said she went to pick up our first-grade son from school, his teacher told me about a conversation she overheard as the ...

4. Now That School's Out...

Proverbs 8:1-36

Sermon

David E. Leininger

School is out. "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks..." Somewhere I read of the last day of classes being marked by yelling and cheering, bells, whistles, cartwheels in the halls...and that was the TEACHERS! Of course, this is the time for Baccalaureate services and Commencement exercises. It was a delight to watch my own son march with his high school graduating class on Friday night. Just as every other proud pappa, with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, I was snapping ...

5. Casting Out An Evil Spirit

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: Casting Out An Evil Spirit New Title: Good Religion The idea of casting out an evil spirit sounds too much like superstition to many of us. We prefer to relegate such things to the ...

6. A Defiant Response to a Dangerous Theology: Does God Desire to Wipe Us Out?

Gn 6:1-8. 9:6-17

Sermon

Illinois. Michigan. New York. Massachusetts. The rest of New England and the northeastern seaboard. Buffeted by snow. Buried in snow. Blitzed with a blizzard of snow. It is clear that God is venting his wrath and visiting his payback upon the blue states. If, at the last minute, the storm were to miraculously bypass Ohio, there are some of you….or a few of you….well, maybe two or three of you….who might actually believe that. And when the next storm misses us….by riding north of us or dipping south of us…. ...

7. Out of the Barnyard

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." - John 11:43 Would it make any difference to the world if the churches were to shut their doors and never open them again? Many voices within and without the Church say no, it would make no difference. Soren Kierkegaard bemoaned the Church’s indifference to its mission. Frustrated, he wrote a little parable which tells of a flock of geese who lived together in a handsome and secure barnyard. From time to time one of them would climb up ...

8. Don't Fade Out On the Amen and the Hallelujah

Revelation 19:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I begin with a story. Bishop James Baker died in 1969, having lived to be ninety. In all of his years – and even in his last years – he had a zest for life. Even though he was too blind to read during those last years, volunteer readers kept him up on current events. His mind was agile and alert. He had a keen perception and a way of getting at the heart of things – probing their meaning with clear insight. He was the bishop of the Methodist Church who was responsible for founding the Wesley Foundation ...

9. Get Out of Your Big Pickup Truck!

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A few years ago, just before Thanksgiving, Tom Lind, a salesman from Montana, was making his rounds, traveling his regular route along the southern Oregon coast. As usual he was in his older model pickup, piggybacked with his small camper. Looking to continue his route south and east, Lind made a fateful spur-of-the-moment decision. He opted to take the scenic route. Only a few miles on this blue highway, however, the elevation rose rapidly and good ol' Oregon drizzle transformed into swirling snowflakes. ...

10. Any Friendly Bears Out There?

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

They were on a military training exercise and they were getting bored. Still, it was surprising when the radio operators of the British divisional command heard a voice one quiet night breaking the silence. The voice asked over the air, "Are there any friendly bears listening?" After a moment, another voice replied, "Yes, I'm a friendly bear," and then another voice-- "I'm a friendly bear too!" At this point, the Officer at Divisional Command Headquarters grabbed his microphone and let loose a blistering ...

11. Cut It Out!

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When Jesus said, "If your eye/hand offend you, cut it off," it was a vivid, metaphorical way of saying that we must STOP doing those things that harm us and others. Despite dwindling natural resources, massive pollution, overpopulation and overconsumption, we still love our "throwaway" culture. We toss away more and more styrofoam, paper and plastic with every passing day. Not only do we casually toss those things that are designed to be disposable - takeout food containers, diapers, coffee filters, vacuum ...

12. Telling the Right Story

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

George Bass

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "Thou are my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased." The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. Now after John was arrested ...

13. Believing Isn’t Easy

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

A fellow was on an airplane flight home one afternoon. He sat in the non-smoking section, as he always did. This day he was seated on the aisle of the plane. After the plane had taken off the man across from him took out one of those little short cigars that look like compressed leather. He lit up and started puffing noxious black smoke into the air. The first man leaned across the aisle and said, “I’m sorry, sir, but this is the non-smoking section. You can’t smoke here.” The smoker just ignored him, and ...

14. Time to Pull the Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

In Saint Louis a few years ago a woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees that was taking up residence just above her ceiling. The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands ...

15. When Life Isn't Fair

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Beloved preacher and teacher Fred Craddock tells about being on a flight back when they still had smoking sections on airplanes. Craddock was seated in the no smoking section. He was seated on the aisle. Across from him sat a man who pulled a long black cigar out of his pocket and lit it up. Soon the area was filled with foul-smelling smoke. Craddock stopped the flight attendant, a very attractive young woman, and said, “Am I in the wrong section? I asked for no smoking.” Realizing what he was saying, she ...

16. The Golden Hour

Exodus 19:1-25, Genesis 15:1-18, Ezekiel 24:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” --Exodus 34:29 “Only God lives forever! And he lives in light that no one can come near. No human has ever seen God or ever can see him. God will be honored, and his power will last forever. Amen.” --1 Timothy 6:16 In the medical field, the first hour after someone suffers a traumatic injury is ...

17. At War with Myself

Romans 7:15-25a

Sermon

William G. Carter

In a certain church, a woman was leading the congregation in the prayer of confession. She called the people to confess, reminding them of the sin within their hearts, and then all joined in reading the prayer of confession. She paused for the silent confession, and she kept pausing for a good long while. So long, in fact, that the people began to rustle as they waited for the next part of the service. It was awkward, and more than a few worshipers thought she had lost her place or mislaid the piece of ...

18. Faith-Filled Living

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." The apostles said to the Lord, " ...

19. Spiritual Resuscitation

Romans 8:6-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

One spring when I was about ten, I was home alone after school. I don't know where the rest of the family was, but I did my chores as quickly as possible so I could join the rest of the neighborhood boys in our field for a baseball game. As I was dashing through the house and yard doing my jobs, I worked up an early appetite and thought I should prepare some nutritious morsel before the ordeal of a baseball game. In the refrigerator I found frankfurters. Not hotdogs. These were the fat — literally fat, I'm ...

20. Things Change

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

Stan Purdum

Here's a fact about life: things change. Now that is hardly a profound observation, but it is a significant shift in thinking that for many of us can only be gained by living a while. Think back to when you were a child living with your parents. Whatever the circumstances of your home life, you likely had a sense that how things were in your family was more or less how things would always be there. It is a natural mark of immaturity to think that things won't change. In high schools, for example, kids who ...

21. Dim Visions And Blind Guides

Sermon

Harold Warlick

The societal limits which impinge on our world also affect our personal existence in profound ways. Nowhere is this more critical than in our own dreams and visions. Dreams and visions are important in life. Every action we take in life was designed by someone. Every piece of clothing, every building, every hymn book, every chair, every light fixture, and every automobile existed first in someone's vision. Someone had to have the idea or the dream to turn out the product. The same holds true for the way we ...

22. Praise God! Selah!

Luke 1:67-80, Luke 1:57-66, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:1-4

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: Music: To God Be the Glory [You can have it playing just before the sermon. There are a lot of good versions, both old and new. You can also play a YouTube for your people.] To God be the glory! Say it with me: To God be the glory! Now I want you to repeat that phrase after me, like a refrain. Each time I speak a line, I want you to respond with: To God be the glory! Ok? Let’s try it! “The weather is beautiful today!” [To God be the glory!] The beginning of the season of advent has come upon us ...

23. Advocate and Redeemer

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Imagine the wind rushing through an open door while the roar of the propeller in an aging old Ford Trimotor airplane rattles in your ears. You can smell the smoke from a raging fire hundreds of feet below. You are dressed in thick, padded clothing, wearing an old-fashioned football helmet with a jury-rigged grille in front of your face making it hard to breathe — that is, if it weren't already impossible for you to take a breath because of what is waiting beyond that open hatch. In a matter of minutes you ...

24. Great Balls of Fire!

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Happy Natal Day, church! As a kid did you ever terrorize a sibling by scuffing your feet on the carpet and walking towards your “prey” with an index finger pointing at them? The threat, of course, was “static electricity.” If you touched you brother or sister, it meant a small but smarting little zap. A small shock — big fun! A local grocery store (actually, the local Orcas Island Supermarket where we live) recently bit the bullet and spent big money on some major renovations. Among the improvements was ...

25. Slow Burn

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. (Ephesians 1:18) “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” (Mark 9:50) Everyone will be salted with fire. (Mark 9:49) Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow? (Job 6:6) Prop: large salt ...

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