Sermon and Worship Resources

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Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , and as most who return home will tell you, it can be difficult to get a hearing. Imagine relatives and old neighbors crammed in the third pew, bursting with pride. A teacher from childhood peered through the cataracts and remembered "that cute little scamp." All ... . 3. John Duckworth, Joan 'N' the Whale (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1987), p. 101. 4. David Rhoads and Donald Michie, Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982), p. 84. 5. I am ...

2. On Staying Awake

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... real agenda, our real thirst, our real hunger and what we’re really looking for. Even though we try, nothing else satisfies this need. Donald Miller, in The Case for Liberal Christianity, tells about his return to the life and faith of the church. Academic training and teaching ... fill the hunger of our heart. But it does take some doing. Emily Dickinson said it in these lines, Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God. We must remember that God has the secular franchise, too. He is ...

3. When Is It Tolerable to Be Intolerant?

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

Donald Macleod

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be ...

4. Putting Lent into Focus

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

Donald Macleod

Within the lifetime of many of us of the Reformed or Free Church tradition, any serious observance of the season of Lent had been somewhat rare or, indeed, optional. Lent was the private and sophisticated preserve of the Episcopalians and Roman Catholics and of a few Protestants who wanted others to think they were "with it." Nowadays, however, the whole Christian world recognizes Lent almost routinely, and seemingly it has now a secure place with everyone in the Church Year. Familiarity with Lent has bred ...

5. What the Heck Is Sin?

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In a church-related college, a philosophy professor was giving a lecture on some of the traditional Christian doctrines. After he had concluded, he asked if there were any questions. One student lifted her hand and said, “I have a question. You have talked a lot about sin in your lecture. What I would like to know is: what the heck is sin?” I. SIN IS NOT A VERY POPULAR WORD THESE DAYS. Awhile back psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book titled Whatever Became of Sin? bemoaning the fact that people don’t ...

6. What’s the Good Word?

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I have always felt sorry for Steven Seymour. You may not remember who Steven Seymour was, but Steven Seymour was the interpreter President Carter took along with him to Poland some years back. Interpreters in such situations face a formidable task. They must do immediately, on the spur of the moment, what it takes the translator of a work of literature hours or days to do at their desk. And poor Steven Seymour mistranslated one of the President’s words of greetings to the Polish people. When the President ...

7. The Autobiography of God

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Halford Luccock once told of a woman in a certain American city, who called a local minister on the telephone a week or so before Christmas. She was in much agitation, and explained that she was in charge of the community Christmas tree lighting ceremony. What disturbed her was the limited selection of carols to be sung. She could not, she said, find just the right songs for such an occasion. “Most of the Christmas songs,” she said, “are so distressingly theological.” “Well, replied the minister, “ ...

8. Food for the Fed-up

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Some years ago I had a friend who was on a 300-calorie-a-day diet under a doctor’s supervision. 300 calories! That boggles the mind! I inhale 300 calories just smelling the aroma of a good pizza. But my friend on the three-hundred-calorie-a-day diet lost sixty pounds, and as a result reached his near-ideal weight in a very short time. But one cannot subsist indefinitely on a 300-calorie-a-day- diet. Sooner or later there must come and end to the dieting, for starving oneself in this manner is highly ...

9. 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 ...

10. Son of Thunder, Son of God

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I just love the story of Jordan Gollub. It came out of Religious News Service in June of 1989. It seems that Jordan Gollub was leader of the Mississippi Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. (Now there’s a contradiction in terms for you!) At least he was until they discovered that he was born of Jewish parents. Then they kicked him out. Thus, this bigot found himself ousted by his own bigoted group! The article says that he now plans to start his own organization, so he can kick everybody else out, I ...

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