Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing all results

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... at the zoo. He hated humans and had tried to maul anyone who passed his cage. He had also killed two female polar bears. Gary had unlocked one door in Ivan's cage in order to let Ivan walk out in the sunshine in his enclosed space. But Gary realized that he had forgotten to close and lock another door at the end of the hallway, one which the bear could easily enter. If it did so, Gary would have no way to escape. And he knew the bear would attack him. The bear, a creature of habit, was just finishing his ...

2. Changed Lives - Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... I will not believe it.” A week later the disciples were gathered in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus again came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. ... shines in all that's fair; In the rustling grass I hear Him pass; He speaks to me everywhere. Psychologist Gary Greenburg, tells of sitting with his seven‑year‑old son, marveling at the beauty of a giant Ichneumon [IckNOOman] fly ...

3. The Gift of Purpose

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , on the newly oiled hinges, the great door swung shut behind him. Sudden darkness and the final click of the automatic lock startled him into panic. Desperately he pounded on the door. Then he realized no one would hear him. Everyone was gone ... he wouldn't be able to keep himself from being swept over the falls by the raging stream for very long. Seeing his friend's plight Gary immediately grabbed hold of a sapling and stretched out over the water as far as he could in a desperate effort to reach his friend. ...

4. The Reality Of Sin

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Robert Allen

... not read the Bible, but we have read human nature and we are under no illusions about the reality of sin in our world. Many of us were shocked with the news of nine-year-old Darlwin Carlisle being found in an abandoned house in Gary, Indiana. Apparently, she was found locked in the unheated attic of an abandoned house. Doctors said that her frostbitten legs were so damaged after being in the extreme cold for five days that they would have to amputate both legs. The girl’s mother was on drugs and she had ...

5. A Perfect World

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... a perfect world seems a long way off. Last Christmas, Donna McGee received a police scanner as a surprise from husband Gary. "They're popular in our neighborhood here in Memphis," says Donna. "People like to listen to police calls. Sometimes a scanner ... his most beautiful work, an elaborate altar, the woodcarver died. When he reached the gates of Heaven, he found them locked. He tried to pick the lock with his extraordinary knife, but it didn't work. He was confused. The hermit had said that his knife would ...

6. Living “I Don’t Know” While “In the Know”

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a religion of pc-ness. You all know what “PC” means, although the best example of it was given by Gary Trudeau, the “Doonesbury” cartoonist, at an opening-of-the-year speech at Yale University a few years ago: Dean Kagan, ... the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." The religious authorities at the Temple choose to lock the doors of knowledge and follow the party line. The “don’t ask/don’t tell/don’t let on to what you know” line ...

7. A Formula For Greatness

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... the Hebrew word for "irrigation person." Literally, it means to "make function properly." The irrigation person was the one who controlled the locks on the irrigation dam. This was a very important job because this person made the precious irrigation water "function" and "flow" properly. ... position of registrar at the university. So Victor and his wife, Marion, and his two children, Susan and Gary, moved to Statesville. Victor had been the registrar at the university for 25 years. They had been good years ...

8. Illusion Or Reality?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... If it does not do this and we become insensitive to the Lazarus figures in our world, then it has failed us miserably. Gary Redding repeats a story of how comfort and enjoyment can become a deceptive power in our lives. One frigid day a great golden ... recognized and named:Benjamin, Reuben, and so on.34 Those are, indeed, the fittest. And they made it! That's scary. I don't want to be locked out of the Kingdom of God. 144,000! Of all the people who ever lived! I'm not in the top 144,000! I guarantee you, Hal ...

9. Taking Charge

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... couch to see . . . What he could find, And this is what he dredged up out . . . Of my unconscious mind. When I was one my mommy locked . . . My dolly in the trunk, And so it follows naturally that . . . I am always drunk. When I was two I saw my father . . . Kiss the ... you on behalf of Christ," writes St. Paul, "be reconciled to God." 1. Homiletics, Mar. 2002, p. 30. 2. Gary E. Parker, The Guilt Trip (McCracken Press, New York, NY, 1993). 3. "What Are You Doing After Graduation?" by William H. Willimon, Preaching May ...

10. Under New Leadership

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... and a knitted brow testified to a hasty encounter with his wife. But he is carrying that talisman of his success, his briefcase--solid-brass hardware, combination lock, lined with watered silk with his name embossed in gold. The prestigious bag probably weighed ten pounds. A neighbor lady two doors down, a social worker ... ?id=1. 3. (New York, NY: Warner Faith, 2005), pp. 69-70. 4. The Rev. Dr. Gary Charles, Day 1, 2005. http://www.day1.net/index.php5?view=transcripts&tid=512. 5. As told by Dr. Glen Schmucker

11. Guilt: How to Keep Your Conscience Clear

Psalm 32:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” Guilt is excruciating. Guilt is suffocating. Guilt is debilitating. Gary Gilmore was the first person executed after the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, and he was executed by ... says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jere. 31:34) When God forgives our sins He locks them in the vault of His grace, and then throws that vault into the sea of His mercy, never to be heard from again. I heard about ...

12. Being Prepared

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... to the wedding feast. When the five who had gone to buy more oil returned, they found the door to the wedding feast locked. They had missed the feast because they were not prepared. “Therefore keep watch,” the Master said, “because you do not know the day ... . You better be prepared. One of the best examples of a mother preparing her young for the ups and downs of life comes from Gary Richmond’s book, A View from the Zoo. In chapter one Richmond gives us an amazing look at the birth of a baby giraffe. ...

13. On the Ropes: Round 1 - Doubting God

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... fire broke out on the top floors of the ten story Asch building in New York. 145 of the 500 employed there died that day, trapped in the building by locked doors and collapsed escape ladders, or jumping to their deaths from the eighth and ninth stories. The investigation of the tragedy resulted in rules like fire exits and sprinkler systems ... realized He was listening, He was working, and He was accomplishing His purpose all along. [1] Gary E. Parker, The Gift of Doubt, (San Franciso:Harper & Row,1990)p 69.

14. Where Are the Lilies Now?

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

Two years ago our family was on vacation. We drove up into the countryside near Bedford, Indiana to a small white church named the Mundel Christian Church. This is the place where I was baptized as a youth. At this pilgrimage spot of mine are fond memories of pitch-in dinners and all-day meetings as my father once held the pulpit there. But what remains with me more than anything is the fact that so many of my family members are buried there behind the church. The graveyard is big because the church has ...

15. 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. If they are to become fully functioning human beings, obviously many things are going to have to be done for ...

16. What Doors to Unlock

Matthew 16:13-20

Illustration

Gary Charles (adapted)

In our I.D.-electronic-cryptic-cyber-coded age, keys are not only physical things that plague our pockets and puncture our purses, keys are also digital. We're all janitors of the high school now with hundreds of keys to access hundreds of apps and inboxes. The problem is that these digital keys are mental keys, hauled about in the mainframe of our sometimes feeble minds. "Hey, mind, what's the key code to open the garage, raise the gate, log on, launch the app, access the ATM, retrieve the messages, ...

Showing 1 to 16 of 16all results