Sermon and Worship Resources

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Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... for his new Christian faith. He could have let that discourage and depress him as well. People do that. Take the case of David Cone, pitcher for the New York Mets baseball team. In a game this summer against the Atlanta Braves, a batter hit to the first baseman and Cone had to cover first base. The umpire ruled the runner safe, saying Cone took his foot off the bag. At that call, Cone exploded. Turning his back to the infield, he began a shouting match with the umpire. As teammates yelled to him and ...

2. Count the Stars

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... Ian thought and then said in his deepest voice, “Ian! Go to bed!” (1) Does God speak to people? What do you think? David Holwick tells a story that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was about a man named Bob Haifley. It seems that Haifley ... cone to Heather. Heather wouldn’t take that either. Her father told her that if she wouldn’t eat that cherry cone she wouldn’t get any ice cream at all and her dad would eat her cone as well as his own. Heather still refused, so Ronald was stuck with two cones ...

3. Saved by the Bell

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... church serving? The one that joined the church? Or the one that remains outside the gates? (With thanks for this insight to church consultant J. David Schmidt.) Is this church facing the church thief? Or is this church facing the world thief? We have to face one or the other. Which ... for as long as 3 hours. In tolling, the cone of the bell hits a stationary clacker, causing a single sound that often symbolizes death. In pealing, the clacker hits the cone of the bell in a continuous rhythmic motion, causing ...

4. A Law Written On Our Hearts

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... for the afternoon, single ladies. In Kentucky it is illegal to transport an ice cream cone in your pocket. So forget about sneaking an ice cream cone into the Kentucky Derby. It’s also quite messy, I understand. In Nebraska a parent ... the Kingdom of God is concerned. For example, you can obey the law and ignore acts of injustice going on all about you. Dr. David Zersen once noted that during Dietrich Bonhoeffer's time, specifically in 1933, roughly 2,500 of the Protestant clergy in Germany sided with Adolph ...

5. Proper 4

Mark 2:23-3:6, 1 Samuel 3:1--4:1, 2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... . The purpose of the Sabbath is to restore and renew our bodies and our spirits. That's why Jesus cites the account of King David and his men eating the bread of the presence (v. 26). God gave his laws to preserve and protect humankind. Jesus is telling the ... chosen to house the treasure of the gospel in such fragile containers! That's a little bit like storing gold coins in ice cream cones. If we stay close to Christ he will use the fire of adversity to keep us from breaking and spilling the contents (vv. 8 ...

6. Stick to the Knitting

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... "retina," and it cross-referenced me to "eye," and I read in the encyclopedia the most fascinating article about the eye, about the cones and the rods, and about the retina, and about the chemical action that takes place and sends an electrical impulse to the brain ... life as well. Then Jesus came, not aloof or indifferent, but in the beautiful words of that Christmas hymn, "Once in Royal David's City": ...he was little, weak, and helpless, tears and smiles like us he knew; and he feeleth for our sadness, and ...

7. The End of Time

Luke 21:5-19

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks — who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering." Henry David Thoreau wrote these words because he was concerned, more than a century ago, that Americans were so busy making a living that ... . He'll never work at the mill all his life like me." We would always celebrate each deposit by stopping for an ice cream cone. I always got chocolate. Dad always got vanilla. When the clerk at the ice cream parlor handed Dad his change, he would show me ...

8. Your Life as a Provenance of the Jesus Story

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... summer plains. People came for free ice water and rest rooms in droves. But then they stayed for an ice cream cone, a postcard, a doughnut. Eventually Wall Drug became the destination stop on the way to another destination stop. The first few ... would that do? You can't see me." "That doesn't matter," replied the child. "When you talk, it gets light." (as referenced in David G. Benner's "Soulful Spirituality" [2011]). When you talk, does it get light? Is your life a provenance for the Jesus story? COMMENTARY ...

9. Offerings for the Tabernacle

Exodus 25:1-9

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... 5:3, which is very close to the so-called “golden ratio” (phi = 1.618) found in the spiral of sea shells, pine cones, the head of a daisy, the proportions of the human face, and many other natural objects. The daily work within the tabernacle ... itself. More often than not, the text has suffered from interpreters’ preoccupation with its historical context (variously exilic, Davidic, or Second Temple) as Israel’s idealized worship space. Scholars differ widely on the sociohistorical setting, in part ...

10. Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

William G. Carter

... Christians who think the devil is as powerful as God, but that’s nonsense. God made the world. God made the squirrels and the pine cones and the sea turtles and the silver mountains. Then God called it all of it “good.” There’s no devil with that kind of ... give in to the evil and say with cynicism, “There’s nothing we can do.” A number of years ago, columnist David Brooks interviewed a young politician named Barack Obama. It was a genial conversation, and Brooks discerned that Mr. Obama read a ...

11. Jesus’ Prayer: The Pause in the Battle

John 17:1-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

In 1936, near the beginning of the Spanish Civil War one horrible center of fighting was the Alcázar fortress near Toledo. In the middle of horrific fighting, however, every day the firing stopped twice in order to allow a blind beggar to tap his way on the street between the firing lines. We can imagine how welcome those few minutes were to the men on both sides. They probably hoped that the blind man walked slower to give them a few more seconds of peace. Then the reprieve ended and the slaughter again ...

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