Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing all results

Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Joe Pennel

At 7:00 a.m. every Monday, I teach Bible study. About twenty of us meet from 7:00-7:15 a.m. for coffee, juice, and a light breakfast. Each week, a different member of the group brings the food for the rest of the crowd. The fare consists of biscuits, muffins, bagels, and various breads complete with the appropriate condiments. For fifteen minutes, we sip hot coffee and nibble on high-calorie homem...

2. Christians Trust in God

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Joe Pennel

One of the most fascinating chapters in Loren Eisele’s autobiography, All the Strange Hours (The Excavation of a Life), is called "The Ghost World." It is the story of a near tragedy in Eisele’s life when he was beginning his career as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He awakened one night and discovered he was "running a fever and babbling a lecture to some unseen audience." "Slowly...

3. Experiencing God's Call in Our Lives

Mark 1:14-20

Illustration

Joe Pennel

Every now and then, someone does respond in a radical and unexpected way. Dr. Fred Craddock tells the story of a medical student who heard the call and made a radical response. A young woman came to him after hearing his sermon on today's text. She had decided to leave medical school and go to work among migrant workers in the Rio Grande Valley. Dr. Craddock did not manipulate her unexpected respo...

4. Obedience and Compassion

Matthew 1:18-25

Illustration

Joe Pennel

There is a lot of talk today about what makes Christmas. Newspaper and television advertisements coax people into believing that they can have a real Christmas by going to a festive shopping center, eating at trendy restaurants, or watching glittering "Christmas programs" on television. Others believe that Christmas is made by the fastidious keeping of time-honored family rituals, such as, sentime...

5. Responding to What We Hear and See

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Joe Pennel

In the semantics of the church, doubt has been a negative word. It is rarely used in a favorable way. Faith, not doubt, is the great word of the church. As I stand here every Sunday morning and look into your up-lifted faces, you look so proper, so content, so believing. You seem to be so certain, so full of faith, and so free of doubt. But, I have a suspicion that the way you look is not the wa...

6. Settling Our Differences

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Joe Pennel

On the surface "Tribute" is a motion picture about a man who is diagnosed with cancer and about his response to that disease. But at a much deeper level, "Tribute" is about a man who is not reconciled to his own son. "Tribute" is about a father and son who needed to settle their differences. Like those characters in "Tribute," one of the persistent needs of our life is to settle our differences. ...

7. Shaped by the Future

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Joe Pennel

For our children, Christmas is in the distant future; for adults, Christmas is just over the fence. For youngsters Christmas is a long journey; for grown-ups, it is just around the corner. When I was a child, I thought December was the longest month of the entire year. I would get a commercial calendar and "X" off the days, hoping that such "X's" would somehow hasten the coming of Christmas. The ...

8. The Called Ones

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

Joe Pennel

The Gospel lesson for today makes me want to fuss at Jesus. It makes me want to fuss at Jesus because the message of the text is so radical! It is radical to believe that people would actually leave their place of business to follow after a teacher who said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." After Jesus had finished preaching a sermon in Capernaum, he took a stroll along the banks ...

9. The Primacy of Human Relationships

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Joe Pennel

People being properly related to one another was important to Jesus. He spoke with great clarity about the primacy of human relationships. He wanted good relationships to be maintained. The re-establishment of broken relationships was a central concern. According to his teaching a person who was not properly related to others could not be properly related to God. People loving God by loving each o...

Showing 1 to 9 of 9all results