Sermon and Worship Resources

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Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

David G. Rogne

Some people have a talent for getting to the core of things. Julius Caesar wrote a good-sized book titled On the Gallic War. It is still used as a textbook by students of Latin. However, Caesar was also able to cut through all the details and get to the nub of a matter. He wrote a sentence that has become a classic in condensation: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" — "I came, I saw, I conquered." That sums it al...

2. Always Ready

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

David G. Rogne

Some literature students at the University of Chicago once asked Ernest Hemingway what hidden meanings were in his stories. He merely shrugged and said he didn't know of any and that they could make of his stories whatever they wanted. Biblical scholars seem to have a similar attitude toward the story Jesus told about ten bridesmaids who went out to meet a bridegroom. Five of the maidens neglecte...

3. Being a True Disciple

John 8:31-36

Sermon

David G. Rogne

I attended a church recently where the pastor was lamenting the fact that the Christian church has many members who are fans of Jesus but too few who are committed disciples. He described a fan as an enthusiastic admirer who wants to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits but not so close that it requires sacrifice. Fans may feel fine about repeating a prayer, attending church on the wee...

4. Chosen

John 15:1-17

Sermon

David G. Rogne

It is a difficult thing not to be chosen. I can still remember what a relief it was to be appointed by the teacher as one of the two captains who would choose team members when our class would be divided for softball. It meant that I would be, in effect, the first one to be chosen. What agony it was, however, when others were doing the choosing. As an uncoordinated youngster, with very little to o...

5. Feeling the Suffering of Others

Mark 6:30-44

Illustration

David G. Rogne

Flannery O'Connor, the insightful Roman Catholic writer, lifted up the Christian dimension when she wrote: "You will have found Christ when you are concerned with other people's sufferings and not your own." The beginning of compassion involves becoming aware of the suffering of others. But it is not enough simply to see the suffering of others, we need to feel it. It is possible to see suffering...

6. Hallelujah! Come On, Get Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

At the entrance to Disneyland is a sign that reads: "Disneyland — the happiest place on earth." Millions of people have come from all over the world to visit and partake of the happiness it was designed to create. Happiness is something that humans seek naturally. We are all on a pleasure hunt. We Americans even wrote the pursuit of happiness into our constitutional rights. Yet the more earnestly ...

7. He Came by Night

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David G. Rogne

I came upon Jesus quite by accident. We didn't travel in the same circles, so it was unlikely that we would ever have met socially. I was passing through the marketplace in Jerusalem one day when I heard him speaking to a handful of people who had stopped to listen. "Just another wandering street-preacher," I thought to myself. But as I passed by I heard him talking about the Kingdom of God, and a...

8. Is Anything Unforgivable?

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

David G. Rogne

One morning I was roused from sleep around 3 a.m. by the ringing of the telephone. The person on the other end of the line was distraught because, she said, she had committed the unforgivable sin. It is interesting to me that such calls often occur at such an hour, after the bars have closed. The woman went on to say that at some point in her life she had really been angry about something, and had...

9. It's Happening!

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29

Sermon

David G. Rogne

In an effort to stimulate their thoughts about the nature of God, I invited a group of teenagers to join me in watching the movie, Oh, God! In the course of the movie, God, in the person of George Burns, has prevailed on Jerry, the assistant manager of a supermarket, played by John Denver, to carry God's message to the world. Toward the end of the film, Jerry is lamenting to God that nobody seems ...

10. Keeping Sunday

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

David G. Rogne

One of the churches where I served was located next to a Jewish synagogue. That synagogue was served by a rabbi who quite typically walked to the synagogue on the Sabbath, though his house was some distance away. It was not that he didn't have a car, but that for him it was improper to drive on the Sabbath, for that constituted work. Sometimes I would see him riding a bicycle to synagogue. I sugge...

11. Making Compassion a Verb

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

David G. Rogne

The Superintendent of Schools was having a bad year. Some contentious issues were being dealt with by the school board. One Sunday, during the coffee hour after church, I heard the Superintendent say in a particularly loud voice, "For crying out loud, it's my day of rest, too!" Someone had approached him about a concern in the school district, and he felt that there was no place he could go to get...

12. Patience Is Important

Mark 4:26-34

Illustration

David G. Rogne

People grow and mature at different rates. Thomas Edison's teacher said he could never amount to anything and advised his mother to take him out of school. Winston Churchill was admitted to school in the lowest level classes and never moved out of the lowest group in all the years he attended Harrow. Albert Einstein seemed so slow and dull that his parents feared that he was mentally deficient. On...

13. Paying What's Due

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

David G. Rogne

In Joseph Heller's book Catch-22, an Air Force bombardier is desperately seeking relief from going out on the deadly missions he must fly each day. As he gets close to the number of missions that will allow him to be rotated, the number of missions needed for rotation keeps changing. He concludes that only a crazy person would keep flying those dangerous missions. He thinks he must be crazy, and t...

14. Switching Tracks

Mark 6:1-13

Illustration

David G. Rogne

Sometimes the best thing we can do is to move on to another field. Paul Harvey tells the story of Joe, who was born into a family of Sicilian immigrants, a family who had a 300-year history as fishermen. Joe's dad was a fisherman. His brothers were fishermen. But Joe was made sick by the smell of raw fish and the motion of a rocking boat. In a family where the only acceptable way to earn a living ...

15. Talented People

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

David G. Rogne

In 27 BC, Augustus Caesar became the ruler of the Roman empire. Petty kings came from near and far to plead for reappointment to their kingdoms. Among them was Herod, king of the Jews. He had to leave his kingdom temporarily in the hands of others while he sought continuance of his rule. Those to whom he entrusted the kingdom were responsible to Herod for how they administered the kingdom in his a...

16. Thanks-Giving Is Good for Everyone

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

David G. Rogne

A.J. Cronin tells of a doctor he knew who prescribed in certain cases of neuroses what he called his "thank-you cure." When a patient came to him discouraged, pessimistic, and full of his own woes, but without any symptoms of serious ailment, he would give this advice: "For six weeks I want you to say 'Thank you' whenever anyone does you a favor, and to show you mean it emphasize the words with a ...

17. The Fox

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David G. Rogne

I know that I don't have much status up here in Gaul, but will you do me the favor of listening to me? I've had an awful lot of time to think during these years I have been in exile, and I need to share my conclusions about life with someone. My name is Herod. The problem is that our family is so extended, and so many people bear that name, that I should really use my given name, which is Antipas...

18. The Healing Touch

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

David G. Rogne

Recently, when I renewed my driver's license, I was presented with the opportunity to renew the accompanying organ donor card. I decided to renew, but I subsequently asked a doctor what organs were likely to be harvested. He mentioned many that I was aware of through stories of successful transplants. Then he pointed out that there is a continuing need for the largest, oldest, most sensitive, most...

19. The Real Thing

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

Mahatma Gandhi of India is alleged to have said, "If I had ever met someone who was a genuine Christian, I would have become one immediately." It is a stinging judgment of Christians. At the same time, it challenges every Christian to examine the genuineness of his or her walk and witness. We need to ask ourselves: "How authentic, how credible is my demonstration of the Christian life?" In our sc...

20. The Smallest Beginnings

Mark 4:30-34

Illustration

David G. Rogne

Whatever God's Kingdom may one day become, it starts out as the smallest of things. The great advances of the race have often started without any trumpets sounding or anybody being aware that anything exceptional was taking place. On the one hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, John McCutcheon drew a famous cartoon. He showed two Kentucky backwoodsmen standing at the edge of a wood in...

21. When the Boat Begins to Sink

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

David G. Rogne

In the Gardener Museum in Boston hangs Rembrandt's painting of The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. The artist recreates the scene so powerfully that a viewer can sense the danger the small craft is in and the panic of those who are on board. The small boat is being lifted on the crest of a giant wave; sail and lines are torn loose from the riggings and flailing wildly in the gale. Five disciples are ...

22. Who Cares?

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

David G. Rogne

When Vince Lombardi, the eminently successful professional football coach in the 1960s, was asked how he produced winning teams, he declared that any group of naturally endowed athletes could win more games than they lost if they concentrated on the "little things" of the game — the fundamentals. After a close game won by his Green Bay Packers, Lombardi called a special session for Monday morning ...

23. You Are Free to Fail

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

David G. Rogne

Following his service as Prime Minister of Great Britain during the dark days of World War II, Winston Churchill was invited to speak at Harrow, his boyhood grammar school, from which he had been graduated some seventy years before. As he stood at the lectern, looking out at his young audience, he said, "Young men, never give up! Never give up! Never! Never! Never!" With that he sat down. The audi...

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