Sermon and Worship Resources

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Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

I remember as a small boy sitting in a small country church with seats in auditorium style that you flipped up when you got out. Outside the window, where I sat, some wasps were buzzing around in the sunshine. From time to time one would fly in, then back out the window. People were fanning themselves with fans donated by a local funeral home; they had pictures of Jesus on them. My dad was preachi...

2. Counterfeit Christians and the Rest of Us

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

Years ago at Park Rapids, Minnesota a tramp walked into a restaurant and asked the proprietor for a free meal. The hobo looked so hungry and bedraggled that the sympathetic restaurant man said, "O.K., what’ll yuh have?" The tramp sat down at a table and had a good meal, a first class handout. As he was leaving, the hobo walked up to the proprietor and bummed a cigarette. He fished in a pocket for ...

3. Cowherding Christians

Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

I don’t know about you, but I have difficulty identifying with the image of Jesus as the Great Shepherd. This is not said to be negative. I simply have no experience with sheep. I was around cows for a couple of years though. Therefore, today I would like to talk to you about "Cowherding Christians." My grandad was a farmer and for many years he had milk cows. I can close my eyes and almost see h...

4. Effective Teaching

Matthew 10:24-39

Illustration

Gary W. Houston

Robert Frost's first assignment for a class of teachers was to read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." This was Mark Twain's famous story about a frog that lost a jumping contest because he had been pumped full of quail shot. When the class next assembled they were mystified because they did not understand what this story had to do with a course in education. Frost patiently expla...

5. Studying under the Greatest Teacher

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

Robert Frost’s first assignment for a class of teachers was to read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." This was Mark Twain’s famous story about a frog that lost a jumping contest because he had been pumped full of quail shot. When the class next assembled they were mystified because they did not understand what this story had to do with a course in education. Frost patiently expla...

6. What God Can’t Do

Matthew 10:24-39

Illustration

Gary W. Houston

A Sunday school teacher was examining her pupils after a series of lessons on God's omnipotence. She asked: "Is there anything God can't do?" There was silence. Finally, one lad held up his hand. The teacher, disappointed that the lesson's point had been missed, asked: "Well, just what is it that God can't do?" "Well," replied the boy: "He can't please everybody."

7. 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 ...

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