Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 26 results

1. If You Have To Tell Them Who You Are, Then You Aren't

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

The famous actor Gregory Peck was once standing in line with a friend, waiting for a table in a crowded Los Angeles restaurant. They had been waiting for some time, the diners seemed to be taking their time eating and new tables weren't opening up very fast. They weren't even that close to the front of the line. Peck's friend became impatient, and he said to Gregory Peck, "Why don't you tell the m...

2. A Ministry of Interruptions

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

The places and situations that we consider temporary or simply way stations turn out to be the places or situations that hold the most significance for us. Henri Nouwen once said something to the effect that in his ministry he found himself becoming frustrated and resentful that his work was constantly being interrupted by people who wanted or needed something from him, until one day the Lord spok...

3. A Theological Curveball

Luke 20:27-38

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

A certain minister has made it a policy for many years to refer "six-year-old theology questions" to his wife. Since she has taught very young children for many years, he says, she has a much better grasp than he does of how to address the questions which little kids ask. A first-grader brought a drawing of a skeleton into class where she teaches English as a second language. The title across the...

4. Climbing the Tree

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

A friend told me of the hours he spent as a child in a large cherry tree in his grandmother's backyard. The tree was very large and high, at least as he remembered it. He remembered the very first time he climbed it. He had to jump to catch hold of the lowest branch, and then pull himself by sheer muscle power up onto it. Then he could work his way up the tree. The tree seemed so high, that he got...

5. Every Day to Read the Scriptures and Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

Martin Luther, the great reformer of the church back in the 16th century, made the comment one morning when he got out of bed that his work load that day was so heavy, that he knew he would never get it all done unless he spent three hours in prayer first. Many of us find it difficult to set aside 15 minutes a day for prayer, let alone three hours, but then, not many of us are having the impact on...

6. God's Timetable Not Ours

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

I heard a story which illustrates how we often confuse God's timing with ours. A country newspaper had been running a series of articles on the value of church attendance. One day, a letter to the editor was received in the newspaper office. It read, "Print this if you dare. I have been trying an experiment. I have a field of corn which I plowed on Sunday. I planted it on Sunday. I did all the cul...

7. Humans Are Not Meant For Hibernation

Luke 20:27-38

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

The poet T. S. Eliot in his famous poem "The Wasteland," calls April the "cruelest month," because the showers of April stir up the dull and dormant roots of trees and flowers to begin bursting forth with new life instead of allowing them to remain comfortably asleep in the frozen ground of winter. Yet the sleep of tree roots and flower bulbs is the sleep of hibernation, not of rest. Trees were me...

8. Investing God's Gift

Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

One of the things that frequently happens when we dream during sleep is that in our dreams we find ourselves in a familiar place or situation. We know where we are, yet for some really frustrating and unknown reason, things are just different enough that we're not really sure. In our dream we're about to open a door only to discover that the door isn't where we know it ought to be. Or perhaps we'r...

9. Not Yet Quitting Time

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

You may remember reading or hearing of the Korean Christian group who predicted that Christ was going to return on October 28, 1992, all Christians would be taken to heaven, and the rest of the world would enter the terrible catastrophes of the end times. Well, we're still here, and unless you count the presidential election which was held a month later as a terrible apocalyptic catastrophe, I don...

10. One Hungry Beggar

Luke 17:11-19

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

D. T. Niles, the Indian theologian, once defined evangelism as "one hungry beggar telling another hungry beggar where to find bread." When we are grateful enough for the bread that we have received that we are willing to reach out to the lost and hurting and lonely and excluded ones around us, we will discover that we ourselves are being saved.

11. Out On A Limb

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

12. Pleased To Reconcile

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

Did you ever secretly wish that we had kings and queens here in America? I think that must be a secret wish of many of us, if the tabloid newspapers and magazines which are always on sale at the supermarket checkout counters are any indication. Between the romantic antics of Hollywood and the goings-on of the British royal family, the tabloids do a rushing business. (I won't embarrass any of us by...

13. Remembering The Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

There was a column in the New York Times on Wednesday, October 28, 1992, by Robertson Davies titled "Haunted By Halloween." After tracing the origins of Halloween to the ancient Celtic festival of the Death of the Year, and showing how the Christian church piggybacked the Feast of All Saints onto this pagan festival which marked both the death of the sun at the beginning of winter and the remembra...

14. Sermon Opener - American Speed and Efficiency

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

Two qualities which we Americans value highly and in which we take pride are speed and efficiency. Think of how many products or services which all of us use that are built principally around one or both of these qualities. Hundreds of thousands of microwave ovens have been sold, not because they make food taste better, but because it's possible to cook much faster in them. Since so many people le...

15. The Bread That Endures

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

Perhaps you did something this morning that many others do each morning as well -- you had a piece of toast or a bagel for breakfast. Perhaps you put strawberry jam or honey on your toast and spread some cream cheese on your bagel. Around the world, this simple human ritual is repeated in a variety of ways. In Malaysia, that same piece of toast might be smeared with kaya, a thick jam made from coc...

16. The Global Effect of a Galilean Peasant

Luke 23:26-43

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

If history did not tell the story, who would believe that, nearly 2,000 years after an obscure Galilean peasant gained some local notoriety as a wandering preacher and healer, and was executed by the Romans, there would not be a single nation in the world where this obscure peasant was not worshipped and acclaimed as a king, a king whose kingdom shall never end, and who by his power holds the univ...

17. The Good, The Bad, And The Justified

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

18. The Importance Of Asking The Right Questions

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

A certain minister has made it a policy for many years to refer "six-year-old theology questions" to his wife. Since she has taught very young children for many years, he says, she has a much better grasp than he does of how to address the questions which little kids ask. The other day, a first-grader brought a drawing of a skeleton into class where she teaches English as a second language. The ti...

19. The Politics Of The Saints

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

During the last presidential election, you may have seen the comic strip "Frank and Earnest" where Frank is sitting on an airplane with a worried look on his face, and he asks the stewardess, "Are there any air bags on this plane?" She replies, "There are a couple of congressmen up in first class." By the time the presidential election campaign wound down to its final hours, most of us were eager...

20. The Politics Of The Saints

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

21. The Saving Grace Of Gratitude

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

On the old television show "All In The Family," there was an episode when Archie Bunker's son-in-law Mike, or "Meathead" as Archie always called him, asks Archie a riddle. "A young man is seriously injured in an accident and is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. When the surgeon is called, it turned out that the young man was the son of the surgeon, but the surgeon was not the boy's fat...

22. The Son Makes Us Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

On a television movie about a family of Virginia plantation owners during the Civil War, one of the sons married a woman whom his family despised because she was not of their class. She was the daughter of a poor "dirt farmer," without the privileged education, carefully cultivated social graces, or the wealth of the family who lived in the big house on the plantation. She became pregnant with the...

23. Tough Faith In Tough Times

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

24. What Can We Do to Be Partners with God in Mission?

Luke 20:27-38

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

At a church-growth workshop the leader, Bill Easum, who himself grew a church from 29 members to over 2,400 members, said that too often the questions churches ask themselves are questions that are motivated by a desire to maintain whatever is comfortable. That's why some have said that the seven last words of the church are "We've never done it that way before." Bill Easum spoke of the three gre...

25. What Kind of Sinners Can Be Members

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

Samuel Colgate, the founder of the Colgate business empire, was a devout Christian, and he told of an incident that took place in the church he attended. During an evangelistic service, an invitation was given at the close of the sermon for all those who wished to turn their lives over to Christ and be forgiven. One of the first persons to walk down the aisle and kneel at the altar was a well-know...

Showing results

Showing 1 to 25 of 26 results

1. If You Have To Tell Them Who You Are, Then You Aren't

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

2. A Ministry of Interruptions

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

3. A Theological Curveball

Luke 20:27-38

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

4. Climbing the Tree

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

5. Every Day to Read the Scriptures and Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

6. God's Timetable Not Ours

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

7. Humans Are Not Meant For Hibernation

Luke 20:27-38

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

8. Investing God's Gift

Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

9. Not Yet Quitting Time

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

10. One Hungry Beggar

Luke 17:11-19

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

11. Out On A Limb

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

12. Pleased To Reconcile

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

13. Remembering The Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

14. Sermon Opener - American Speed and Efficiency

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

15. The Bread That Endures

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

16. The Global Effect of a Galilean Peasant

Luke 23:26-43

Illustration

Larry R. Kalajainen

17. The Good, The Bad, And The Justified

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

18. The Importance Of Asking The Right Questions

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

A certain minister has made it a policy for many years to refer "six-year-old theology questions" to his wife. Since she has taught very young children for many years, he says, she has a much better grasp than he does of how to address the questions which little kids ask. The other day, a first-grader brought a drawing of a skeleton into class where she teaches English as a second language. The ti...

19. The Politics Of The Saints

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

20. The Politics Of The Saints

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

21. The Saving Grace Of Gratitude

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen