Sermon and Worship Resources

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Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

James Garrett

During Advent and Christmas we examined Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. The first Sunday of the new year we watched as the young parents brought the Child into the temple. There in the temple was an old man, whose name was Simeon. He takes the baby from Mary and cradles him in his own arms. Holding the baby close, he says: “Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace… mine eyes have seen thy s...

2. A Voice Out Of The Cloud

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

James Garrett

Today we celebrate the Transfiguration Of Our Lord. We will soon begin the Lenten Journey. Often Lent is abused. It has in certain times and places become a period of empty abstinence from tidbits of affluence, and the enjoyment of gloom of self-denial. This is not the purpose of Lent. These 40 days should be a period of engagement with God, of repentance and prayer and a renewal of our baptismal...

3. Blessed Are They Who Find Christmas

teLuke 3:7-18

Illustration

James Garrett

Blessed are they who find Christmas in the age-old story of a babe born in Bethlehem. To them a little child will always mean hope and promise to a troubled world. Blessed are they who find Christmas in the Christmas star. Their lives may ever reflect its beauty and light. Blessed are they who find Christmas in the joy of giving lovingly to others.They shall share the gladness and joy of the she...

4. Called to Obey Love

John 1:1-18

Illustration

James Garrett

Kierkegaard tells a fable of a king who fell in love with a maid. When asked, "How shall I declare my love?" his counselors answered, "Your majesty has only to appear in all the glory of your royal glory before the maid's humble dwelling and she will instantly fall at your feet and be yours." But it was precisely that which troubled the king. He wanted her glorification, not his. In return for hi...

5. Challenging the Provincial

Luke 4:26

Illustration

James Garrett

Dr. James Sutherland Bonnell, a Presbyterian minister of another generation, has a great line on this text. “Jesus was favorably received by his townsfolk until he challenged the provincial, racial prejudice. He dared to declare that the children of Israel were not special favorites of God.” Indeed, the heavenly Father had singled out individuals in Sidon and Syria for unparalleled blessings. “And...

6. Christ Is Coming…

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

James Garrett

Today is the start of the season of Advent. A season of anticipation. A season of hope and waiting. It is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. It has been said: “The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.”1 Jesus shares with his disciples concerning his second coming. An ex...

7. Friendship

John 2:1-11

Illustration

James Garrett

Jesus went to the wedding in Cana that day, not to perform a miracle, but simply to be with friends. We all need friends who share with us in life’s sorrows and joys. When Harry Truman was thrust into the presidency at the death of FDR, Sam Rayburn gave him some fatherly advice. "From here on out, you’re going to have lots of people around you. They’ll try to put a wall around you and cut you of...

8. Habits

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Illustration

James Garrett

The American educator, Horace Mann, described the predicament of habits saying: "Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it." Mr. Mann, you are only half right. Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, but it can be broken. There is One who will help you break it, if you desire it. Habits are often practiced without guilt, justified through clev...

9. He Preached Good News

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

James Garrett

Last Sunday we examined the beginning of John’s sermon where he said the King is coming, prepare! Today we continue with that sermon. Hear the words of John, the son of Zachariah, recorded in Luke 3:7-18. John, austere preacher, calls for the multitudes to prepare the way for Christ’s coming with severe earnestness. His message is a call to repentance with actions that demonstrate an altered life....

10. Home And Temple

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

James Garrett

Columnist Erma Bombeck tells of a Supermom who is perfection itself. She did everything right: kept a perfect home; kept her husband happy. Always had a copy of Bishop Fulton Sheen’s latest book on the coffee table, and answered the door pregnant when the priest came by. One day, I asked her how she did it, and she said, “I emulate the Blessed Virgin Mary,” and I said, “Marge, it’s a little bit la...

11. Jesus’ First Sign

John 2:1-11

Sermon

James Garrett

A bonus in being a minister is that I get to share in a lot of weddings. Weddings are joyous and happy times. In the service of marriage are these words:… we are gathered together in the sight of God,… to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony;… which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence in Cana of Galilee. It was a wedding in Cana of Galilee that Jesus does his firs...

12. Jesus Is Baptized

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

James Garrett

Jesus began his public ministry in a crowd that surrounded John the Baptist, at the Jordan. John was a fiery young preacher who attracted the crowds. He told people what they had to do as well as what they had to be. When John emerged from the desert preaching repentance and baptism, the people flocked to the Jordan to be baptized. He was baptizing everyone who would change their ways. Jesus step...

13. Jesus Is Rejected

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

James Garrett

Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath day at Nazareth. He stood there in the center of all those who knew him. He was a hometown boy, the center of attention that day. “The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him” says Luke. From the prophet Isaiah, Jesus reads these words: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to pr...

14. Jesus Said: “Try Again”

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

James Garrett

Here is the good news for today from Luke 5:1-11. This is the Word of God! A word of great encouragement and hope. Hope is the unique signature of the Christian gospel. What makes a Christian a Christian is this inability to quit hoping. A new gift from God is at work on our behalf, at all times in all circumstances. The crowds had pressed Jesus right up to the edge of the water at the Sea of Gali...

15. Luke’s Beatitudes And Woes

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

James Garrett

The Beatitudes are familiar to us. We have heard them many times. Someone gave me an interesting article about the Beatitudes. It is titled: “The Lesson.” “Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain, and gathering these around him, he taught them saying: “ ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the mer...

16. Make Room for God

Luke 5:1-11

Illustration

James Garrett

Many years ago Oswald Chambers said to a group of students in a college chapel service: We have to learn to make room for God -- to give God “elbow room.” We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, and we forget to make room for God to come as he chooses. Expect him to come, but do not expect him only in a certain way. At any moment he may break in. Always be in a state of ...

17. Prepare The Way Of The Lord

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

James Garrett

Jeannette Clift George, director of the Houston-based A. D. Players, sent me a copy of her book titled Travel Tips from a Reluctant Traveler. It’s a delightful book with many helpful tips for the journey of life. In the opening chapter she writes: “My cousins live in Asheville, North Carolina, where Jesse is a prominent surgeon. He is a fine man, a very gracious man, a very loving man, but a man ...

18. Refuse To Be A Victim

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

James Garrett

When a person enters into any society or any fellowship, he takes upon himself the obligations to live a certain way, by certain standards. If the person fails to live the kind of life necessary, he hinders the purpose of the society. Once we make the claim that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true then a claim is put on our lives. In today’s Scripture lesson, Jesus sets down behavior patterns for k...

19. The Christmas Song

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

James Garrett

The business side of Christmas -- the commercialism -- doesn’t bother me as it does some. There are those who think the spiritual import of Christmas may be forgotten. There’s no danger of that. The spiritual significance of Christmas is so dominant that many who are ordinarily indifferent go out of their way to find a religious service. That is part of the miracle of Christmas. Personally, the e...

20. The Eighty-Yard Run

Luke 5:1-11

Illustration

James Garrett

Irwin Shaw wrote a short story called The Eighty-Yard Run. As a college freshman, at his first football practice, he broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown run. His teammates looked at him with awe. His coach said, "You're going to have quite a future around here." His girlfriend awarded him with a kiss after the practice. Irwin Shaw has the feeling that life is completely satisfying and rewarding. ...

21. The First Christmas Message

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James Garrett

The story of the birth of Jesus as told by Luke is the most familiar to most people. The familiarity of the story can be a frustrating thing for the preacher. Who is capable of rising to an occasion on which the most beautiful text of the Bible is read? It makes the preacher turn pale and stammer. However, the familiar can be the preacher’s delight. That the text and message are familiar means the...

22. The Gospel Of Christmas

John 1:1-18

Sermon

James Garrett

A wife gave her husband two ties for Christmas. He, being an obedient and peace-loving man, went immediately and put on one of the ties. He returned to the kitchen where his wife was preparing breakfast. Seeing he had one of the ties on she asked: “What’s the matter, don’t you like the other tie?” Through the Advent season we read Luke’s story of the coming of the Lord and of his birth. These week...

23. The Lamb Who Was Lost

Luke 3:1-6

Illustration

James Garrett

John Killinger has taken some of the parables of Jesus and retold them in the language of Christmas. What person among you, taking 100 children to the theater for a performance of A Christmas Carol, if you lose one of them, does not stand the other ninety and nine in the theater lobby and go in search of the one that is lost? And when you have found the little tyke, you take it in your arms with ...

24. The Proof Is In The Fruit

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

James Garrett

Oswald Chambers in the daily devotion book titled, My Utmost For His Highest, wrote: God expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transfigured by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that his Son might be manifested in my mortal flesh. A Christian is a person who is in Christ and in whom Christ dwells. This indwelling expe...

25. This is My Son, Listen to Him

Luke 9:28-36

Illustration

James Garrett

In the book, Unconditional Love, Father John Powell tells of a young man, Tommy, a student in his class, The Theology of Faith. Tommy turns out to be the “atheist in residence” in the course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father-God. At the end of the course he asked in a slightly cynical tone: “Do you think I’ll ever find God?...

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