Sermon and Worship Resources

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Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... would it take to talk you into coming back to work for ME?" The really interesting thing is that this guy was at the top of Scott's list of possible employers. Now I know that kind of thing doesn't happen for everyone. I thanked God but I'm not even sure ... . It was a love letter . . . a message from earth to heaven. Landon folded the paper carefully, and together they asked God to give Luke its message. But somehow, that wasn't enough. "What I really want to do is tie my letter to a balloon," said Landon. "I ...

2. It's a Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

3. A Not So Simple Story of Demons and Pigs

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

... aloud and bruising himself with stones. In other words, he is self-destructive. He is the kind of person for whom we pad the walls. Luke adds that he neither wears clothes nor lives in a house. He loiters among the tombs. And since pagan tombs are places of ritual ... classical exorcism. But how would I know that, given that I know nothing about classical exorcism? But Scott Peck does. Or so he claims. Scott Peck is greatly esteemed in both the Christian and psychotherapeutic worlds. He is the author of The ...

4. The Greatest Gift

Luke 2:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” What is Luke saying to us in this beautiful story? First of all he’s saying that God took upon himself human flesh. That is a truth too ... sent out a picture of cattle standing on the roof of a house. No, they had not climbed there. Flood waters around Fort Scott, Kansas had carried them there. Just as cattle cannot shimmy up a drain pipe to stand on a rooftop, and a turtle cannot ...

5. A Lost Boy

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... let his son go. The younger son gathered his belongings and inheritance and went off to a far land, away from his father’s house. And, Luke tells us, he squandered his money in wild living. It was party time all the time, and he was living it up. Until . . . the money ... made in his son’s life. He writes, “My wife and I had never really been church-goers, but the change in Scott was too dramatic to ignore. . . Today, ten years later, our family is a Christian family . . . [Jesus] has given us the same ...

6. Changing Dysfunction Into Function: Isaac, Jacob and Esau

Genesis 27:15-24, 30-34

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of the stairs and hollered, "Scott, get up here, NOW, supper's ready." That last time got Scott's attention and just as he came up the basement steps, Dad yelled, "Where have you been?!" Everything would have been OK if Scott hadn't said, "I didn ... have to put him first. He says, "Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Matthew 12:46-50, Luke 8:19-21, 9:49-53; 14:26). We put Christ first because Christ is first. And when Christ is first in our lives, we learn through ...

7. The Call of the Cross

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

... follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it." (Luke 9:18-24) One of my students took the Bell Telephone commercial to heart - "Reach out and touch someone." Last Thanksgiving, he decided ... in Jesus Christ. In his book, Ambition: The Secret Passion, Joseph Epstein, editor of The American Scholar, discusses the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald and points out that he went from early success to a second phase where he sold himself out to Hollywood, ...

8. The Marked Man

Sermon

George Bass

... rise again.’ But they could make nothing of this; what he said was quite obscure to them, they had no idea what it means.” Luke 18:31-34 The beginning of Lent marks the start of a journey to Jerusalem. That’s what it really is, although few of us ... that they will live with Christ forever, and the mark of the marked man is there. When Jennifer watched her baby brother Scott’s baptism several years ago, she posed what might be the most crucial question that we should be asking at the beginning, and ...

9. Boasting

2 Corinthians 11:1-15, 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... late inscription (possibly fourth-fifth century A.D.) attests to the existence of a “synagogue of the Hebrews” in Corinth. 11:23b–29 Cf. Scott B. Andrews, “Too Weak Not to Lead: The Form and Function of 2 Cor. 11:23b–33,” NTS 41 (1995), pp. 263–76. Ben ... are often used synonymously (cf. Exod. 12:4, LXX; Plutarch, Phocion 30.1; Strabo, Geography 2.4.8). Hence, instead of hikanon estin in Luke 22:38, Codex Bezae has arkei. If the “Lord” in v. 8 and the he in v. 9 refer to the Lord Jesus Christ ...

10. Boasting

2 Corinthians 11:16-33, 2 Corinthians 1:1-11, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

11. Pet Peeves and Pet Pleasures

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... violence of the Columbine school massacre. But in the aftermath of that horror Darrel Scott, father of murdered student Rachel Scott, established “Rachael’s Challenge,” a foundation devoted to “motivate, educate, and bring positive change ... seek redemption will find themselves with the same fate as the chaff in judgment day, facing the “unquenchable fire.” Luke’s text separate Jesus’ actual baptism from John’s physical presence by interjecting the description of Herod’s displeasure with ...

12. Setting His Face Toward Jerusalem

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

King Duncan

... That’s why this opening verse about setting his face toward Jerusalem is so important to understand. CBS News journalist Scott Pelley once interviewed a man named Dean Chabot, a former neo-Nazi. Chabot had spent years preaching hatred and ... from heaven to destroy them?” It’s amazing how “out of sync” his disciples are sometimes with Jesus’ plans for the world. Luke tells us Jesus turned and rebuked James and John. Then he and his disciples went to another village. As they were walking along ...

13. The Gift Of Encouragement

Acts 11:19-30

Sermon

Erskine White

... had was a penny to give at the temple (Luke 21:3). He praised John the Baptist when he lay discouraged in a prison, saying that no one born of woman was greater than John (Luke 7:28). At every opportunity, Jesus provided an uplifting word ... so pious and holy - they walk around with their hands folded and their heads full of sacred thoughts - I'm not like that!" But Charlie Scott just looked at me and said, "The church needs people like you," and that planted a seed. It encouraged me to think that yes, maybe ...

14. The God of All Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... specific peril in the past (cf., e.g., Pss. 28:6; 31:21; 66:20; 124:6; Gen. 14:20; Exod. 18:10; 2 Sam. 18:28; Luke 1:68–79; 1QM 14.4–5). Typically, the psalmist gives praise in the assembly that, in response to his cry for help, God delivered him from ... 11.29. 1:4 On Paul’s use of first person plural pronouns (we, us) to refer to himself in 2 Cor. 1–3, see Scott Hafemann, Suffering and the Spirit: An Exegetical Study of II Cor. 2:14–3:3 within the Context of the Corinthian Correspondence (WUNT 2/19; ...

15. People With Shining Faces

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... more of the fat. I don’t know if rinsing your cottage cheese makes that much difference or not, but evidently Dave Scott believes it does. Scott burns at least twice as many calories as the average person does each day. He is a lean, mean running machine. Yet ... MOSES WAS FOCUSED ON SERVING GOD. No wonder his face shone. There was another leader in Scripture who had a shining face. In Luke’s Gospel we read about that time when Jesus was on the mountain with three of his disciples “and while he was ...

16. Jesus Calling and Accepting the Outcasts

Mark 2:13-17

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... named “Matthew,” and in the list of the Twelve he is called “Matthew the tax collector” (Matt. 10:3; cf. Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). The traditional view is that the man had two Jewish names (“Matthew” and “Levi”) similar to “Paul/Saul,” “Simon/Peter ... are actually my strengths.” Needless to say, Michael was not hired for the position. Sadly, many of us are like Michael Scott (as well as the Pharisees in Mark 2). We are unwilling to see our weaknesses, our failure, our sin, our need for ...

17. The Dishonest Manager

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... than “the children of this age” that they don’t take enough time for hard thinking? Amen. [1]. Robert Rubin and Jacob Weisberg, In An Uncertain World (New York: Random House, Division of Random House Inc., 2003), 59. [2]. Fred B. Craddock, Interpretation: Luke, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990), 189. [3]. M. Scott Peck, M.D., The Road Less Traveled and Beyond : Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 40-41.

18. The Deeper Meaning Of Christmas

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

King Duncan

... ? That he totally emptied himself of his divine power and knowledge is made clear in the last verse of the second chapter of Luke: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man." If he possessed all of God's wisdom ... Associated Press sent out a picture of cattle standing on the roof of a house. No, they had not climbed there. Flood waters around Fort Scott, Kansas had carried them there. Just as a turtle cannot climb a fencepost or cattle shimmy up a drain pipe, we cannot by our ...

19. Don't Forget the Mustard

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and the faith of those who would reside there. It is no accident that Jesus picks the mustard seed in today's example of faithfulness (Luke 17:5-6) as well as in his parable of the kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 13:31-32). Its reputation for being proverbially (though ... mustard meant healing, not hot dogs. This is the philosopher Pliny the Elder (as quoted by biblical scholar Bernard Brandon Scott in Hear Then the Parable): Pythagoras judged [mustard] to be chief of those whose pungent properties reach a high level, ...

20. Liberating the Possessed

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... as a vital part of his pastoral care ministry, was successful at it, and is still revered and remembered by many today. M. Scott Peck wrote after much reflection and prayer, "I now know Satan is real. I have met it."1 The demons in "Legion" beg ... it. Bob is now an alcoholic counselor at a recovery center here in South Dakota. It's a long way from the Gerasene region in Luke 8 to Trondjhem Lutheran Church in rural South Dakota. But I must ask the question: So what happens when a snake interrupts a wedding ...

21. Paul's Hardships

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... they had learned. Paul’s strong language is strikingly similar to Jesus’ stern warning against “scandalizing” one of the little ones (Mark 9:42 par.), and to other dominical sayings about skandala (Matt. 18:7 par. Luke 17:1; Matt. 13:41–42; 16:23). Cf. Scott Hafemann, “ ‘Self-Commendation’ and Apostolic Legitimacy in 2 Corinthians: A Pauline Dialectic?” NTS 36 (1990), pp. 66–88. 6:4–10 The practice of compiling lists of virtues (and vices) was widespread in the ancient Mediterranean ...

22. Gift

2 Corinthians 8:16--9:5, 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... service, a word that Paul himself uses of the collection (Acts 21:19; cf. 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:1, 12, 13; Rom. 15:31). Then, Luke states, “Those who heard it praised God” (Acts 21:20). As verse 14 goes on to state, the Jerusalem saints are bound together with the ... 9,” NovT 32 (1990), pp. 340–48. On Isa. 66:18–21 as foundational to Paul’s missionary strategy, see James M. Scott, Paul and the Nations: The Old Testament and Jewish Background of Paul’s Mission to the Nations with Special Reference to the ...

23. Jesus Made Like His Brothers

Hebrews 2:5-18

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... . Again it is necessary to distinguish between fulfillment and consummation. The devil has been defeated in principle in and through the ministry of Jesus (Luke 10:18) and especially through the cross (cf. John 10:31), and yet he is not destroyed, but continues to have real, if limited ... 5:31, absolutely, “Prince.” See G. Johnston, “Christ as Archēgos,” NTS 27 (1981), pp. 381–85; J. J. Scott, “Archēgos in the Salvation History of the Epistle to the Hebrews,” JETS 29 (1986), pp. 47–54. H. ...

24. John Mellencamp and the Danger of Procrastination

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-62). Jesus’ call is one of urgency. This is the way life is. The really important things require us to respond without delay. Consider ... with the painting only half-finished. Two of his disciples were forced to finish the master’s work. Sir Walter Scott wrote in his diary in his study at Abbotsford, “Tomorrow, we shall . . .” But this last-written sentence of one ...

25. Don't Forget the Best!

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... record is clear that Mary could not see where God was leading her son. Only after his resurrection did she comprehend. Luke tells us that Simeon recognized immediately that this was the Christ Child. The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he ... us. A voice says to us this morning: Don’t forget the best. Sir Walter Scott wrote an interesting novel which he titled, Old Mortality. It was the last novel written by Scott. In this novel he describes a character who lived about the middle of the 18th century ...

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