Sermon and Worship Resources

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Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... That we live out what we believe, recognizing that to be effective in our task credibility is everything. The world won't be impressed by how much we know, but whether Christ truly lives within us.] One of the most respected men in government today is Senator John McCain. You may not agree with his politics, but you know that he is a man of character and integrity. And when he speaks about a topic like torturing prisoners of war, it is very difficult to argue with him because he has been there. Pat Williams ...

2. Join in the Singing

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... not speak or make eye contact. But in the dirt, the guard scratched the image of the cross with his shoe. Then he rubbed the cross out and walked away. The enemy guard was a follower of Jesus. That’s why he had risked his life to help John McCain. McCain wrote, “For just that moment I forgot all my hatred for my enemies, and all the hatred most of them felt for me. I forgot about . . . the interrogators who persecuted my friends and me. I forgot about the war, and the terrible things that war does to ...

3. Trying To Grasp The Meaning Of It All

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... even spiritual pain. He knows our distress because he has been here. In 1967, during the Vietnam War, John McCain was captured by Vietnamese Communist forces and spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war. He survived beatings, malnutrition, and ... Christmas hymns. The prisoners gathered together to hear Scripture passages about the birth of Jesus and to sing a few hymns together. As John McCain looked around, he saw tears of joy and tenderness in the men's eyes. In the midst of this hell-hole of a prison ...

4. It Isn't Easy Getting Ready For Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... the other side of the wall was Ernie Bruce, a Marine who had been imprisoned for four years already. In spite of his dire situation, Bruce was tapping out, "We'll all be home for Christmas. God bless America." These simple words of comfort restored John McCain's hope. (8) The message of Christmas is always one of hope. This world needs saving, but God began that process of salvation two thousand years ago with the birth of a babe in Bethlehem. There's something about Christmas that elevates us. Christmas is ...

5. This Little Light of Mine

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the darkest hours of the depression. Our soldiers saw its glow even on distant battlefields. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Now that the election’s over I guess it’s safe for me to mention the name John McCain. Senator McCain once wrote a story for Reader’s Digest. It was about the time he spent as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Any of you who know his story know he was cruelly mistreated in that prison camp. Fortunately, he and the other prisoners were given ...

6. Christmas Means Hope

Luke 3:7-18

Illustration

King Duncan

... other side of the wall was Ernie Bruce, a Marine who had been imprisoned for four years already. In spite of his dire situation, Bruce was tapping out, "We'll all be home for Christmas. God bless America." These simple words of comfort restored John McCain's hope. The message of Christmas is always one of hope. This world needs saving, but God began that process of salvation two thousand years ago with the birth of a babe in Bethlehem. There's something about Christmas that elevates us. Christmas is about ...

7. Was It Really Necessary?

John 19:17-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... puts it like this, “In this is love not that we loved God, but that he loved us and gave his Son to be the expiation for our sins.” There is something about the cross that speaks to us of God’s love. Sen. John McCain discovered the power of this love as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Here is how he put it, “I was tied in torture ropes by my tormentors and left alone in an empty room to suffer through the night. Later in the evening, a guard I had never spoken ...

8. Job Feels under Attack by God

Job 16:1-17:16

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... unlike Job and Jesus, Hester is certainly guilty of breaking a law, she becomes a figure who is spat upon, openly mocked, and hated even when she has accepted full responsibility and lives with dignity. Biography: John McCain: An Essay in Military and Political History, by John Karaagac. In this book, Karaagac cites John McCain’s words describing his solitary confinement after being shot down on his first mission over Hanoi. He had already completed twenty-three solo missions over Vietnam. Karaagac quotes ...

9. A Voice in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... I am not worthy to latch. One of the humorous characteristics of the last presidential campaign was the almost fervent messianic expectations that some of Barack Obama’s supporters had about him. John McCain made jokes about it, and about his own lack of charisma. At a dinner for politicians and journalists in Manhattan, McCain declared, “Maverick I can do, but Messiah is above my pay grade.” Obama also poked fun at the idea. “Contrary to the rumors you may have heard,” Obama said, “I was not ...

10. What Does It Mean To Be Really Free?

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." What do you do with someone like that? Even death held no fears for him. You can't enslave a person if they are so committed to an idea or a cause that fear has become inconsequential. Senator John McCain spent five-and-one-half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He tells of one man with whom he was imprisoned, Lt. Commander Mike Christian. Mike had collected scraps of white and red cloth, and had sewed the scraps together into ...

11. Righteousness Exalts a Nation - The Fourth of July

Sermon

James McCormick

... . As Sir Walter Scott suggested, it is rare to find someone who does not love his country. But patriotic feelings are not enough. Loving your country is not enough. It takes more than that to be a good citizen. George Bush loves his country. John McCain loves his country. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton love their country. So do Kim Jong-il and Hugo Chavez. These political leaders all love their countries – I’m convinced of it. But some love their country more helpfully and more healthfully than others ...

12. The Holy Spirit and You

John 14:15-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... selfishness, but service is our highest honor. Arizona Cardinals Safety, Pat Tilman, walked away from the 3.6 million dollar NFL contract to join the Army after the September 11 attacks. Earlier this month he was killed in action by friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan. Senator John McCain said at his memorial service, “While many of us will be blessed to live a longer life, few of us will live a better one." It is time to remember why we are here and how we are here. It is time to remember that we ...

13. David and Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:1-27, 12:1-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , wink, wink)." In other words, go spend some "quality time" with Bathsheba. The Hittite leaves the king's presence, but instead of going down to his house he spends the night with the palace guards. You see, as one commentator has it, "Uriah belonged to the John McCain school of war: as long as his fellow soldiers were out in the field, he himself would abstain from the pleasures of civilian life, including relations with the Missus"(6) (which, as we all know, is exactly what David was wanting him to do to ...

14. The New Census

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... sermon here, or end it with this story from the civil rights movement that I have adapted from a sermon by John M. Buchanan on 05 March 2000 from “The Fourth Church Pulpit,” Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois). Almost fifty-five years ago ... said, “We count.” One of the Greensboro four remembers: “Those were risky moments for us. McCain and I were the first to sit (at the counter).” McCain recollects that an elderly white woman came and sat beside him, and engaged him in conversation ...

15. Doing Battle with Demons

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... report that our US Senate heard our message delivered from the heart of tobacco country, but the very next day, the McCain legislation which would have done much of what our Assembly called for, was unceremoniously dumped in the political scrap heap. Surprise, ... the Assembly in a most unlikely way. On Thursday evening, a new Executive Director of the General Assembly Council, Elder John Detterick, was installed with great ceremony. He takes office after a two-year interim following the Assembly's refusal to ...

16. The True Olympians

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Christ is written in stone. And the stone is called the Rock of Ages. And on that Rock is written this: “For God so Loved THE WORLD.” (John 3:16) I love that #1 Olympics commercial from VISA: “GO World!” [Let’s here you all say that together: “Go World! Go World!”] If you are ... should be the best “passisonistas” on the planet. We ought to be showing both the Obama and McCain campaigns what “passionistas” are really like. What other people can declare that they exist because of “passion ...

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