Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing all results

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

It is no longer politically correct to use the word “crippled.” We are now supposed to say “disabled.” I get it, but the Bible was not written in (or to) twenty-first-century people. So please forgive me as I proceed to “kick against the goads” for a while. Our scripture lesson for today begins with a woman “who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.” This passage poses a double dose o...

2. Giving Away the Kingdom

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

One thing I learned a long time ago is that the Bible makes sense. Some things, of course, are mystical and difficult to understand. Other things seem fantastic and beyond the reach of reasonable explanation. But in the grand scheme of all that we find in scripture, everything begins to make sense as we see God’s plan laid out before us. With that in mind, when I hear Jesus say, “Sell your posses...

3. How Did I Get That Job?

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

Apparently, Jesus wasn’t crazy about the idea of helping people squabble over their possessions. Truth be told, Jesus didn’t seem to be all that crazy about having many possessions in the first place. I once heard someone say that Jesus spoke more about money and possessions than about any other single subject (except for hell). Frankly, I don’t know if that’s true or not. I’ve never counted. I s...

4. I Need

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

My lovely bride and I used to laugh about our youngest daughter’s use of the phrase, “I need…” It seems as though she never simply wanted things — she “needed” things. At one point in her life, these two words became her mantra. “I need this dress. I need a car. I need to go out tonight. I need…” I don’t mean to pick on her, because I’m sure most other parents go through a similar stage with each...

5. I’ve Come To Bring Fire

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49). This is a pretty startling statement from Jesus. This is something we’d expect old Beelzebub to spew forth as he foamed at the mouth. It’s not the kind of thing you’d expect Jesus to say. It is, undoubtedly, one of his least quoted utterances. Out of context, it sounds as though he’s about to bring hel...

6. Lamb and Wolves

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

In last week’s lectionary passage (Luke 9:51-56), we were told that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem. This didn’t mean he was making a beeline toward the city, but it was clear the Holy City was his goal. Many things happened along the way to the cross. He met hundreds of people, taught most of them, and healed many. He did this by moving from village to village, and town to town. We don’t tal...

7. Selling Out

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

When I was in Israel several years ago, I took one of the boats that crossed the Sea of Galilee. When we reached the far shore, we were whisked by bus to a place near the ancient city of Gadara. In its heyday, Gadara was an urban area — one of the cities of the Decapolis. It was at the southern end of those Ten Roman Cities of fame. Gadara is no longer a city. In fact, it is nothing but a few rui...

8. Shameless!

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

One of the reasons I want to preach on this passage of scripture is because I’ve never really understood it. The only way to really make sense of it is to view the story of the friend at midnight as a parable. You may remember the old definition of the word, parable. It goes something like this. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. We could flesh that out considerably, but this ...

9. Show Us the Father

John 14:8-17, 25-27

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

Philip put forth what seemed like a really good request. “Show us the Father.” He added, “That will be enough for us” (John 14:8). Yes, that would be great. If we can just see the Father, we’ll be cool. We’ll have all the inspiration we need to keep plugging away. We’ll be set for life. We’ll be good. This reminds me of the old Steve Martin movie, “The Jerk.” There’s a scene in which Navin (Steve...

10. The Lawyer

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

“You jerk! What kind of question is that?” That might have been my response if I had been Jesus in that moment when asked, “And who is my neighbor?” The question was obviously a set-up. This expert in the law was trying to trip him up to catch him in some sort of “gotcha” moment. This was typical of his exchanges with the legalistic types — the Scribes and the Pharisees who were hung up on the la...

11. The Steady March Forward

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

Some people get distracted by almost anything. As focused as I can often be, I’m also one of those guys who can walk from one room to another and forget why I went in there. I remember once, when I was about twelve years old, my Dad gave me some money to go pick up a loaf of bread. I hopped on my trusty bike with the basket on the handlebars and set out for the convenience store a mile or two down...

12. Three In One

John 16:12-15

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

One of the most difficult ideas in the Christian faith is the concept that God is three persons in one being. We call that triad the Trinity. The actual term, Trinity is not in scripture, but the idea is all over the place. It began in Genesis when the Spirit of God hovered over the waters (v. 3) and God said, “Let us make mankind in our image…” (v. 26) It stretched through to Revelation 22 where ...

13. Watch This!

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

The first verse of this chapter in Luke is fascinating all on its own. Luke indicated that Jesus was being “carefully watched.” It almost sounds like a spy novel. Better yet, it sounds like Big Brother keeping an eye on unwary citizens. Jesus, of course, knew all this was happening. He warned us to be alert, and I’m sure he was vigilant as well. As a congregation, we’ve gotten access to the demog...

Showing 1 to 13 of 13all results