Sermon and Worship Resources

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Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

The experience in the ninth chapter of Luke is called "The Transfiguration Experience of our Lord Jesus," and is recorded in two other gospels - Matthew and Mark. Preachers, teachers, scholars, and theologians are all aware that something significant happened. I'll join with the ignorant and say like most of them that I don't know what happened, but something special and very unique made an indeli...

2. Bethlehem: Where Extremes Meet

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

Every year at this particular season, I am amazed all over again at the impact that the old, old story of Christmas has on people. In light of how "fad-conscious" we tend to be in this country, it is a wonder to me that we have not grown weary of this ancient story and the figures of the babe and the manger and the shepherds and all the rest. After 2,000 years of exhaustive repetition, why do you ...

3. Building a Victorious Life

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

J. Wallace Hamilton in his book, What About Tomorrow? tells the story of a wealthy builder who called his top assistant and said, "I am going away for ten months. While I am gone, I want you to oversee the building of my home. I am going to be retiring in a few years. I have these wonderful plans and an excellent lot by the lake and I want you to oversee the building of our home." As he left, the ...

4. Creation Is Not Finished Yet

Luke 2:41-52

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

Back in the early days of (the 20th) century, Albert Schweitzer shocked all of his academic contemporaries by resigning his professional post to enter medical school with the thought in mind of going to be a missionary in Africa . When asked why he was doing this, he replied, simply, that he had received so much from Western civilization that it was unthinkable he not give back into the stream tha...

5. Finding Salvation

Luke 1:46-56

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

The good news of the Magnificat is that it is not too late to find the salvation of which Mary spoke. A relationship that comes not with an overpowering force, but a relationship that comes with a change of heart, a change that leads us to spiritual awakening. It was one of those moments that changed the life of Augustine. He was struggling with his own soul, searching for something more in life a...

6. First Things First

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

No moment in the life of a parent is more awesome than when a child leaves home for the first time and as you watch them walk away, you wonder: "Have I prepared this one adequately for all he or she will face?" Because none of us complete the parenting task perfectly, it is not unusual that sooner or later those same children come back and ask: "Why did you not tell me thus and so? I never heard a...

7. Leaving Before the Invitation

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

John and Mary have been married for about twenty years. These are good days for Mary as she looks at her life with a sense of satisfaction and joy. She worked long and hard to help put John through medical school. Now that the schooling debts are almost paid off, they have a nice home, a savings account, and she has been able to quit work. Johnny and Susie, sixteen and fourteen, are happy in their...

8. Mary’s Magnificat

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

Christmas songs have a way of staying with us from childhood. In fact, if you were to ask someone their favorite Christmas song it may range from, "Silent Night" to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Many Christmas songs do carry the element of the holy in their lyrics and sometimes in the melody. Most of all, though, Christmas stands alone from all other holidays by the fact that it carries its o...

9. Our Task: Acceptance and Challenge

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

What do our children need of us really, as adults, as parents, and as the community of faith called the church? I found myself asking that question when the newborn infants of this congregation were brought before us and both the parents and our Sunday school teachers were gathered here at the front. The children looked so tiny — none of them able to walk or feed themselves or do hardly anything. ...

10. Passive Dependency vs. Responsible Involvement

Luke 21:5-38

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

Again and again in history, when events get unusually complex or threatening, the tendency is to turn to our sense of total powerlessness. People can feel that things are in such a mess that only the intervention of God himself is capable of undoing what has been done. The role of passive dependency is always easier than a stance of responsible involvement. Who has not, like a little child, wanted...

11. Praying for the People

Luke 4:14-30

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

Ruby Bridges was the six-year-old African-American girl who was the first person to integrate the schools in New Orleans. It's a lot to ask of one person let alone a six-year-old. So, everyday the federal marshals escorted her into the schoolhouse because both sides of the sidewalk would be lined with people who were screaming threats. Robert Coles, a noted Harvard psychiatrist, volunteered his ti...

12. Prophet or Profit?

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

I shall never forget the night that Mae June came to church. Mae June was a workingwoman who, in our little community, was often seen in the late hours of the night in some of the darker places of our little town. The rumor circulating over breakfast every morning at the city cafe, was that Mae June had a male companion. Mae June had a boyfriend. They were seen quite often, not only at night, but...

13. Repentance Is Relationship!

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

Repentance is relationship. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story titled, The Birthmark. It is a story about a man who married a very beautiful woman who had a birthmark on her left cheek. She had always thought of it as a beauty spot, but her husband saw the birthmark to be a sign of imperfection, a flaw. It began wearing on him so much that all he could see was that birthmark. He could not see...

14. Stop Speculating!

Luke 21:5-19; 1 Thess 3:11

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

Here, in my judgment, is one of the subtlest temptations that faces any Christian in any era: If we are not careful, we can get diverted here from what Christ has called us to do in this present age. This happened in Thessalonica not twenty years after Jesus died, and Saint Paul met the issue head on. Some of the folk there got so caught up in expecting and predicting the imminent return of the Lo...

15. Taking the First Step

Luke 6:27-38

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

Create in your minds, if you will, a scene where the people are gathering at a small church for worship. They are drifting in one by one. One man storms in, unaware that his entry is causing a disturbance. He's angry! He's mad! He's fuming! As he sits down, his mind begins to recall the events of the day. Someone he thought was his best friend took an idea of his, lied to him, lied about him, and ...

16. The Baptism of the Lord

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

This text invites us to listen as John the Baptist tells the people that there is one who is coming to give a greater baptism than he will ever give. Baptism, from the outset in the gospels, becomes very important and moves very quickly to the baptism of Jesus. This seems to set the importance of baptism initially, and the significance is fortified in Acts. However, as important as baptism is, we ...

17. The Bible: Head and Heart

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

"With Jesus in your heart, you just can't hate anybody." That is our destination, but sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination. I want to take you on a journey through the text for today. As we continue to preach on the life of our Lord Jesus, we will basically arrive at the same destination: "With Jesus in your heart, you just can't hate anybody." This is a wonderful text, a ...

18. Wedding Day

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

It had been a standard practice, in years past, that the most popular month for weddings was June. The idea of someone being a June bride was without doubt not just normal, but expected. As our society has moved in so many directions, it has become the case that June no longer holds the fascination as it once did. We do know that weddings are always the source of much anticipation and, at times, p...

19. What Gift Do You Bring?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

I remember watching a football game between Kansas State and Ohio State. Kansas State was evidently favored to win because they had clobbered Oklahoma just a few weeks earlier, but they were not doing very well. In fact, they were behind by quite a bit and then in the last half they mounted a comeback and midway through the fourth quarter they were doing quite well. They were only behind fourteen ...

20. What Shall We Become?

Luke 3:7-18

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

More than forty years ago a play titled, Mourning Pictures, opened off-Broadway. Written by Honor Moore, it is the moving account of the last six months of her mother's life. Jenny Moore was no ordinary human being. She was the wife of the Episcopal Bishop of New York and the mother of nine vivacious children and an author in her own right. About a year before her death, she was in an automobile a...

21. When the Play Is Over

Luke 21:5-38

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

This is how C.S. Lewis understands the doctrine of the Second Coming of our Lord. He said that when the author appears on the stage, you know the play is over. That's good isn't it? When the author appears on the stage - the play is over. No one has ever claimed that this planet earth was intended to exist forever. Scientists call it "the second law of thermodynamics,"The energy supply of this pla...

22. Woe to the Blessed

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

One of my all-time favorite television programs was M*A*S*H. In the early episodes, Frank Burns and Hot Lips Houlihan were an item. Often they were pitted against Trapper John and Hawkeye. In one such episode, Frank and Hot Lips had been trying to "do-in" Hawkeye but had failed. Hawkeye now had the upper hand, and Radar said, "Why don't you do to them what they were trying to do to you?" Hawkeye s...

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