Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 397 results

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Christmas Eve. Are you ready? The stockings all hung by the chimney with care? Was shopping fun this year? A fellow was brought before a judge and was asked what his offense was. He responded, "I was doing some early Christmas shopping." The judge was puzzled. "Why are you in this court because of early Christmas shopping? Early shopping is not a problem. Just how early were you doing your shopp...

2. A Contented Man

Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

Illustration

David E. Leininger

A story is told of a king who was suffering from a malady and was advised by his astrologer that he would be cured if the shirt of a contented man were brought to him to wear. People went out to all parts of the kingdom after such a person, and after a long search they found a man who was really happy...but he did not possess a shirt.

3. A Date with Destiny

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

December 7th - Pearl Harbor Day - the "date which will live in infamy," according to President Roosevelt. A Date with Destiny. December 7, 1941 was, for what is called "the Greatest Generation," the day that changed their world, just as September 11th is the day that changed the world for the generation of today. "Where were you when you heard about September 11th?" We all could answer that. "Whe...

4. A Disaster of Biblical Proportions

Job 38:1--41:34

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This place is still beautiful. Just a week ago we gathered here to sing and celebrate. We told stories about a baby - a baby whose birth was greeted by angels, a baby whose birth meant tidings of joy for all people everywhere, a baby who would save the world. We sang familiar songs, we enjoyed familiar company. We went home, drank egg nog, ate Christmas treats. God was in heaven and all was right ...

5. A Disaster of Biblical Proportions

Job 42:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Christmas is such a beautiful time of the year. Physically beautiful with the color and light; spiritually beautiful with story and song. Then there is the special baby - a baby whose birth was greeted by angels, a baby whose birth meant tidings of joy for all people everywhere, a baby who would save the world. We gather for worship, enjoy familiar company, exchange holiday wishes, then go home, d...

6. A Drum Major for Righteousness

John 1:43-51

Illustration

David E. Leininger

Next week the nation remembers the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. He had his own story to tell about listening to the voice. He had gone into the ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him to do. Martin wanted a quiet life as a professor, possibly President of Morehouse College in Atlanta someday. He did not intend to be a national civil ...

7. A Faith That Makes A Difference

Acts 16:16-34

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This familiar account of the conversion of the Philippian jailer begins with Paul and Silas curing the madness of a young woman of the city whose insanity had been used by some unscrupulous men for their own personal gain. There was the belief in those days that insanity was a strangely special gift from the gods, a tool they used to convey their messages to mere mortals; it was based on the idea ...

8. A Faith That Matters Between Sundays

Romans 3:19-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

On October 31, 1571, an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther marched up to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, where he was on the university faculty, and posted 95 theses or propositions concerning church policy and practice he proposed for debate. Why there and then? Well, the church door was the community bulletin board — notices and advertisements were regularly placed ther...

9. A Fool and his Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A fool and his money. Are soon parted, right? Someone has rewritten it to suggest that "A fool and his money are some party!" OK. Some of us are old enough to remember Adlai Stevenson, Governor of Illinois, UN Ambassador, two-time Democratic candidate for President, and rare wit. Stevenson once said, "There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody."(1)...

10. A Fool and His Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A fool and his money are soon parted, right? Someone has rewritten it to suggest that "A fool and his money are some party!" Of course, this link between a fool and money (or possessions) goes back at least as far as our gospel lesson. The story is prompted by a man from the crowd that has been surrounding Jesus: "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me" (Luke 12:13). Apparently...

11. A Fork in the Road

John 20:1-18

Illustration

David E. Leininger

Tom Long writes, "It has been my observation that somewhere deep in the forest of life many Christians come to a fork in the path. Some head in one direction, traveling their last few days in bitterness, shouting at the world for its iniquity, wagging their heads over the sad plight of our time, cursing 'what this world has come to nowadays.' Others, however, are given the gift of traveling the ot...

12. "A Friend Indeed"

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"A friend in need is a friend indeed." Familiar old aphorism. Do you believe it? Do you UNDERSTAND IT? For a long time, I did not - it is not the clearest. I wondered why in the world someone who is in need should be considered a genuine friend. Instead I rather agreed with whichever wag adjusted the saying to "A friend in need is a PEST!" Finally I realized that the original version meant that a ...

13. A Gospel for Losers

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A fellow is standing at a bar, just looking at his drink.(1) For a solid half-hour, he just stares at it. Suddenly, a big trouble-making truck driver steps up next to him, takes the drink and chugs it down. The poor schlemiel starts crying. The truck driver says, "Come on man, I was just joking. Here, I'll buy you another drink. I can't stand to see a man cry." "You don't understand," says the f...

14. A Gospel for Losers

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A fellow is standing at a bar, just looking at his drink. For a solid half-hour, he just stares at it. Suddenly, a big trouble-making truck driver steps up next to him, takes the drink and chugs it down. The poor schlemiel starts crying. The truck driver says, "Come on, man, I was just joking. Here, I'll buy you another drink. I can't stand to see a man cry." "You don't understand," says the fir...

15. A Labor of Love - Labor Day

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This sermon is based on Matthew 16:13-28 You are no doubt familiar with the Japanese word Kamikaze. The Kamikazes were the suicide pilots in World War II who, at the cost of their own lives, attacked Allied ships in the Pacific. Some 1200 died in sinking 34 ships. The word Kamikaze in Japanese means "divine wind" and recalls a typhoon in the year 1281 that crushed the invasion fleet mounted by th...

16. A Lesson in the Snow

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

O, what a beautiful morning O, what a beautiful day, The grass and the trees are a-greening, The snow is all going away! Amen? Amen! And that is not April Fools!!! Snow, snow, snow. I have had enough. You too? But did you notice how the kids responded last Sunday when I asked them if they had had enough snow this winter? NO-O-O-O!!! Ugh! Why the difference of opinion? Simple. Adults look at snow...

17. A Meal with Friends

Luke 9:10-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"...looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke..." Familiar sounding words. Reminiscent of the Last Supper. A foreshadowing of what we ourselves will do today. Our lesson is a well-known one, the feeding of the 5,000. Of all Jesus' miracles, this is the only one repeated in all four gospels.(1) Five loaves, two small fish...and by the time it is all over, 5,000 men PLUS their women and childr...

18. A Mother's Gift

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

If there were ever a day that felt like Mother's Day to Hannah, this was it. This was the day she would get to see her son, Samuel, for the first time since last year. Each autumn, Hannah and her family would make the pilgrimage from their home in Ramah to the religious center of the nation in Shiloh for the Feast of Tabernacles - the annual celebration of the harvest, a time to renew the covenant...

19. A New Look at an Old Treasure

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"The Lord is my shepherd..." Probably as well-known and well-loved as any phrase of scripture: the twenty-third psalm. Generations have memorized it, in Sunday School or at the knee of parents or grandparents. It is one of the first Bible passages we learn, and, as often as we hear it funerals, it is among the last words said over us when we die. A wonderful affirmation of our faith in God's abili...

20. A New Year’s Resolution

Ephesians 4:25 -5:2

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Good instructions. I know we are in the middle of summer according to our lectionary cycle, but this text sounds like a perfect list of New Year's resolutions for Christians. In the For Better Or Worse comic strip, the family is sitting around the breakfast table as Dad says, "Here we are in a brand new year. I think we should all make some resolutions, don't you?" Mother responds, "Okay. I reso...

21. A “No Surprises” Easter

John 20:1-18

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Why do so many millions gather for worship on Easter morning? No doubt there are millions of answers to that question, but I suspect that one of the appeals of an Easter day is that the story is so consistent and has been from the beginning. The last thing we would expect as we listen to the gospel lesson for the day would be ... Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary M...

22. A Place At the Table

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This comes under the category of "Flattery will get you everywhere." Or "You get more flies with honey than with vinegar." As you Bible scholars know, this is the shortest letter from Paul in the entire New Testament — not much more than a post card, really. It is unquestionably bold in this attempt to get involved in a situation that could easily have provoked a response that this is none of his ...

23. "A" Priorities

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

David E. Leininger

A time management guru, a professor in the business school at Harvard, speaks about A, B, and C priorities, and then he notes that too many people spend too much of their time on the C priorities! And then he asks, "Why do you think that is?" The answer is that the C priorities are, first, much easier to accomplish, and, second, give you the impression that you are actually getting something done....

24. A Religion that Shows

Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Someplace or other at sometime or other, I heard of some little girls who had gone on a hike with their scout troop. They were all dressed up in their uniforms and most proud of the way they looked as they tramped around the countryside. But, of course, with all that tramping around, some became a bit disheveled as the day wore on. One little girl, who normally wore a St. Christopher medallion und...

25. A Religion That Shows

Haggai 1:15, 2:9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Some little girls went on a hike with their scout troop. They were all dressed up in their uniforms and most proud of the way they looked as they tramped around the countryside. But with all that tramping around, some became a bit disheveled as the day wore on. One little girl, who normally wore a Saint Christopher medallion under her clothing, became just active enough to have it pop out from its...

Showing results