Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 36 results

1. Are You Successful Or Do You Just Have Money?

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... your life is a success or not? These principles quite obviously have nothing to do with wealth or power. Wealth and power are transitory. Donald Trump, Bill Gates and Bill Clinton will some day occupy the same size coffin as you and I. All of their wealth and power ... Only a few persons learn to get outside themselves and live for others. Michael B. Brown in his book titled Be All That You Can Be tells about such a person. Brown was serving as a guest preacher at a large suburban church. After the second ...

2. Light For Our Lives

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... a very easy course, taught by an old professor who gave everyone at least a C and gave a lot of A's and B's. After he had registered he learned it was a course about birds and that the old professor had retired. Instead there was ... not? Charles Schultz does a masterful job of capturing those feelings in the cartoon character, Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown, Linus, and Lucy are lying on a hillside looking up at the clouds. Lucy says, "If ... Donald F. Garret. 3. Adapted from C.L. Allen's ROADS TO RADIANT LIVING.

3. Who Is God Anyway?

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Through her experiences in this new land, she learned the answer to her childhood question. Since her eyes were brown, and not blue, she was not recognized as a foreigner and was able to minister much more effectively to the ... , (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995). 2. Jeff Davidson, BREATHING SPACE, (New York: MasterMedia Limited, 1991), p. 26. 3. Marcia B. Cherney and Susan A. Tynan, COMMUNICODING, (New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989), p. 21. 4. Norman Cousins, HUMAN OPTIONS, (New York: Berkley Books, 1981), p ...

4. When Table Talk Won a Super Bowl

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... raised those pointed questions. (5) My friend, you and I are recipients of that same kind of grace. The late President Lyndon B. Johnson had inscribed on the doormat of his ranch home in Texas these words: “All the world is welcome here.” That ... ourselves for his coming—as we go home, Christ goes with us. 1. Rick Brown, 1Life2Love. 2. USA Today, 12-17-93, p. 1D. Cited in a sermon by Donald J. Gettys. 3. “Transfiguring Hiroshima,” http://motherflash.com/sermons/sermonsb0/transfigurationb. html. 4. ...

5. Ready or Not - Here I Come

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

When you were a child, did you play the game, Hide and Seek? If you did, you will remember that the person who was "it" closed his eyes while the rest went to hide. To give them time to hide, the child started counting: 5, 10, 15, 20 and up to 100. Then he would say, "Ready or not, here I come!" The point of the game was to hide oneself so well that the leader could not find you, for if he found you, and beat you back to the goal, you had to be "it" the next go-around. The secret of the game was preparing ...

6. The Most Stubborn Man in the Bible

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

A Sunday school teacher was proud of her lesson for the day. She thought she had presented the material quite nicely. Summing up, she asked the class, “And what do we learn from the story of Jonah and the big fish?” Eight-year-old Suzy thought for a moment and answered, “Always travel by air.” Well, I hope that’s not the only thing we learn from the story of Jonah. Most of you know at least part of the story of the prophet Jonah. It is one of the most colorful and memorable stories in the Hebrew Bible. ...

7. Are You Under Arrest?

Heb 5:11-13; 10:39

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... this issue of arrest that Paul has in mind in this letter to the Hebrews, and J. B. Phillip’s translation of his words do an excellent job of bringing this theme of arrest to ... jailbreak. A lady named Olive owned two shopping bags full of words. One bag was plain brown, very old, and filled with the kind of words that could reach out and connect her ... word. One day as she was walking to the discount store, Olive’s plain brown shopping bag broke and spilled out all its words. Suddenly Olive was connected to ...

8. Flight To Egypt

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... After Christmas, Lucy mutters, "Rats! Phooey! Everything is hopeless! Who cares?" Charlie Brown asks, "Lucy, what in the world is the matter with you?" Again she shouts, "Rats! Phooey!" ... his ability; to each according to his needs." That sounds so Christian, does it not? No more Donald Trumps living it up on lavish yachts, while the poor live hungrily on the streets. Provide ... Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967). 6. JohnW.Center, Center Associates, St. John, Minnesota. 7. BE ...

9. How Have We Made It This Far?

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... amazing thing is that the church has survived as long as it has--especially since it depends on people like me and like you. Dr. Donald Strobe tells about a man who woke up with a hangover. “Your eyes look terrible!” a friend said. The suffering fellow said, “Oh, my! ... of an authentic church. Such a church is a church of joy and power. 1. Contributed by Keith Brown. MONDAY FODDER, http://family-safe-mail.com/. 2. Harvey MacKay, Swim with the Sharks (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.). 3. Chuck ...

10. On Panicking Close to Shore

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Will Rogers once said that “a lot of what everybody knows ain’t so!” Nowhere is that more true than in the realm of Biblical scholarship. From my research in the gospel of John and many visits to the holy land I have discovered that a lot of what biblical scholars and commentators appear to know for sure seems doubtful at best, and downright wrong in some places. For instance, not too many years ago it was an accepted axiom among Biblical scholars that the author of the Fourth Gospel always tended to “ ...

11. One Commandment, Slightly Used

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

We might consider Jesus’ words to His students (disciples) in the Upper Room as sort of a “Last Will and Testament,” a final summing up of all that He had taught them during His brief ministry among them. He begins to speak of His coming death not as a probability but as a certainty, and He begins to talk with new urgency as though the passing moments are infinitely precious and as though he wants to etch every word indelibly on the minds of each of them. And what does He say to them? “I give you a new ...

12. You Can Be Forever Young

Genesis 25:1-11

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

About age 41, I noticed that the quality of print in newspapers and phone books had diminished significantly. The ink they were using seemed of a poorer quality, because the print had begun to blur. The type was much smaller than it previously had been. Prior to complaining to our local publisher, my wife prevailed upon me to consult a nearby ophthalmologist. Following my exam, the man gave me a prescription for bifocals. I asked, "Why do I need bifocals?" and he simply replied with a smile, "It's time." " ...

13. Who Is Jesus Christ?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

There is a familiar greeting which I try to use at the beginning of each and every worship service. It comes from Paul’s Second Letter to the Church at Corinth: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (II Cor. 13:14) Now, that may sound simple and even trite, but I would suggest that that sentence contains the essence of the Christian Faith. It is through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we come to know the love of God, in the ...

14. Life Begins at Thirty-Eight

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be made well?’” (John 5:6) It sounds like a stupid question, doesn’t it? Jesus meets this fellow at the crowded pool, this poor crippled chap who had been coming there for perhaps thirty-eight years waiting to be healed, and asks him point blank, “Do you want to be made well?” We can imagine the look the crippled man must have given Jesus. We can imagine him saying something like, “Do I want to be ...

15. What about Spiritual Healing?

John 4:43-54

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

The story is told of a Methodist and a Baptist who were once discussing the subject of infant baptism. The Baptist asked his Methodist friend, “Do you believe in Infant Baptism?” “Believe in it?” the Methodist replied, “Why, man, I’ve seen it!” The same might be said by almost any minister if the question were asked, “Do you believe in spiritual healing?” “Believe in it, why, we’ve seen it!” We may not talk much about such experiences. We may not write books about it or go on television and talk about it. ...

16. Doors Are for Entering

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) That’s the way the New Revised Version translates the more familiar words of Jesus, “I am the door.” Let us consider these words in the light of the customs and pastoral imagery of Jesus’ day to see if new light can be shed upon them. We might begin by considering a Palestinian shepherd. In the East, the shepherd goes before the sheep, leading them, not driving them from behind. The shepherd leads ...

17. The Shy Member of the Trinity

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

The disciples were distressed. They had good reason to be. Jesus had just told them that He was about to leave them. The One whom they had loved most in all the world was going to go away. Soon they would be on their own. How would they carry on without Him? How could they face the world without the encouragement and support of His presence beside them? It seemed to be the end of everything. Then it was that Jesus said some very strange things to them. He told them that it would actually be to their ...

18. Christmas and the Condensed Bible

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I must confess that I am not a great fan of Reader’s Digest, but in a strange way, the magazine is partly responsible for my being in the United Methodist ministry. You see, during the late 1940’s and 1950’s, the “red-baiting” era of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Reader’s Digest published an article titled “Methodism’s Pink Fringe.” The article purported to show that Methodists were, in reality, Communists, because they believed in such radical things as civil rights and world peace. Having recently ...

19. On Doing the Truth

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

There is an old story about a family consisting of mother, father, and small son who went into a restaurant. As they were seated at the table, the waitress sailed up. You know, the particular kind of waitress who moves as though she were the captain of a ship. She sailed up, pad in efficient hand, looked, and waited. The parents ordered. Then the boy looked up and said plaintively, “I want a hot dog.” “No hot dog!” said the mother. “Bring him potatoes, beef, and a vegetable.” The waitress paused for a ...

20. To Who Can We Go?

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Back in August of 1969 a Conference on Liturgy and Worship was held in the city of Milwaukee. Several hundred delegates from churches all across the country were in attendance. At a set time in the program the participants were given an unusual assignment. They were asked to go out singly into the streets of the host city, look for signs of hope, and then report back. As far as I know, they are still out! (I imagine that they came back, but the news report I read about the conference failed to say so.) At ...

21. Only the Neighbors’ Kid

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In his excellent little book, How Can It be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?, Professor Lew Smedes says that one source of our salvation is to cultivate a sense of wonder. He reminds us that Jesus was a source of wonder to all who came into contact with Him, from the humble shepherds who were struck with wonder at the sight of blazing angels sashaying around the Judean hills to the Wise Men from the East who came and laid their gifts at Jesus’ feet and wondered. All His life Jesus made people wonder ...

22. Little Jimmy

Mark 3:13-19

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I have a very close, long-time friend by the name of Jim. The problem is that his son is also named Jim. When his son and our son were growing up together, it was simple to identify Jim the son from Jim the father by calling him “Little Jimmy.” But now, “Little Jimmy” is bigger than “Big Jim,” and has a son of his own named Little Jimmy, and so the whole thing gets rather confusing. I have no idea what they do at family reunions. Their family is sort of like that group of Twelve apostles. I. THERE ARE AT ...

23. A Sign for a Sign

Mark 8:11-13

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I happened to see part of a comedy program on television a couple of weeks ago. One of the segments of the program consisted of two or three short movies made by a producer unfamiliar to me. I take it that he is just getting started in this business. But he had a terrific “gimmick.” He found out when buildings were to be demolished in New York, and then arranged to take pictures of them being blown up or torn down. Only he interwove himself and his own dialogue into the picture. He would talk to the ...

24. On Being the Greatest

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Muhammad Ali is reported to have said, “When you’re as great as I am, it’s hard to be humble.” Whether or not he actually said it, I don’t know, but it sounds like him. I recall seeing pictures of the famous fighter waving his boxing gloves in the air and saying, “I am the greatest!” How much was media “hype” designed to strike fear into the hearts of his opponents in the ring, and how much he actually believed it himself, is open to conjecture. But once we start saying it, it becomes hard not to believe ...

25. What Kind of Vote Would Jesus Get?

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

All four Gospels make reference to Barabbas, the man who got more votes than Jesus did on that fateful Good Friday so long ago. In his book PERSONALITIES OF THE PASSION, Leslie Weatherhead says: “Matthew and Mark tell us that the priests incited the multitude to choose Barabbas as the one who should be released by the act of clemency with which the government marked the day of Jewish festival. It seems a strange choice.” (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1953, p. 87) I. NOT TO ME IT DOESN’T. It ...

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