Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 51 results

Matthew 26:17-30, Matthew 26:36-46

Sermon

Robert Allen

David was a young man in his early 30s and seemed to have everything going his way. He was a successful businessman. He owned a sales and service-oriented business. He owned an entertainment business and he owned an apartment complex. Besides being successful in business, he was happily married. He had a wife, two children and a big Irish setter that had its own pet chicken. Wherever that Irish se...

2. The Impossibility of Neutrality

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Robert Allen

This last week I spent the better part of three days involved in interviews with the Board of Ministry. It was our responsibility to interview men and women in the United Methodist Church. Those being interviewed ranged from their mid-twenties up to a woman who was 68 years old and will be ordained as a deacon at annual conference. During the interviews, we examined the theological beliefs of the ...

3. The Paradox of the Cross

Mark 15:33-41, Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Robert Allen

It was a few years ago that I spoke of the little cross in my pocket. Since that Sunday, people not only in this church, but people all across this state who watch our services on television, have asked for one of these little crosses to carry in their pockets or purse. It would be a mistake to think of this little cross as possessing magical powers, or supposedly bringing luck like a rabbit's foo...

4. An Empty Tomb

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Robert Allen

Perhaps you saw the story on the news about a couple who had adopted a little girl when she was only two or three weeks old. They accepted the child into the home. They grew to love the child. They watched her grow and develop. But, for some reason, the little girl didn't grow and develop normally. She is now two-and-one-half years old and the doctors have told these adoptive parents that their li...

5. I Believe In Heaven

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Robert Allen

In 1816, Lord Byron wrote a narrative poem that has become a classic. The poem is titled, "The Prisoner of Chillon," and it is the story of a man incarcerated in the dungeon at the Castle of Chillon near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The prisoner was in a narrow, cramped dungeon cell for such a long time that he began to think of it as home. He made friends with the spiders, insects, and mice that sh...

6. Let Me See Your Hands

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Robert Allen

A little boy, growing up in a community where his father served as a Methodist minister was outside playing. He was doing all of the things that a little boy does. He was climbing trees. He was swinging on the swing set and jumping out. He was rolling and playing with his dog. His mother called him for dinner and all of the family gathered at the table. His mother looked at him and said, "Young ma...

7. Encounter with a Stranger

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Robert Allen

I had just sat down to eat with a group in the fellowship hall. There was a covered-dish dinner and everyone had brought their favorite recipes. The food looked delicious and the desserts looked even better. Just as I was about to take my first bite, someone told me there was a man in the hallway who would like to speak to the pastor. I slipped out of the fellowsihp hall to find this man who want...

8. The Scarred Hands

John 20:24-31, John 20:19-23

Illustration

Robert Allen

I read a story by Leslie Flynn who told of a small boy being raised in a frontier city by his grandmother. One night the house catches on fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the boy who was asleep in the bedroom upstairs, is overcome by the smoke and dies in the fire. This frontier city doesn't have much of a fire department. A crowd gathers around the house and they hear a small boy crying ou...

9. Breakfast in Galilee

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Robert Allen

I do not usually eat a big breakfast. Most of the time I just have a bowl of cereal, a piece of toast and a glass of juice. A couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, we were out of milk, so I just headed off toward the church. On the way, I decided to go to a restaurant, grab a bite to eat and look over my sermon notes before church services. When the waitress came to take my order, I ordered th...

10. Love Does Not Compound Guilt

John 21:1-14

Illustration

Robert Allen

A few years ago I was in Washington, D.C., and I went on a tour of all the traditional sites like the White House, the Smithsonian, the halls of Congress and the Lincoln Memorial. There is something about standing in the Lincoln Memorial and reading the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address which gives you goose bumps. One line in the Second Inaugural reminds you what a caring and co...

11. Do You Love Me?

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Robert Allen

There is a very tender and moving scene in the play, Fiddler On The Roof. Tevyev and his wife Golda are being forced to move from their home in Russia. One day Tevyev comes into the house and asks his wife, "Golda, do you love me?" "Do I what?" "Do you love me?" Golda looks at him and then responds: "Do I love you? With our daughters getting married and this trouble in the town, you're upset, y...

12. One More Thing

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

When I was a kid growing up, I don't think I ever went anywhere without my mother saying, "Robert, there is one more thing I want to tell you." It didn't make any difference where I was going. I could have been going to camp, I could have been going to spend the night with a friend or I could have been going to a party. I don't care what it was, before I got out of the car, my mother would say, "T...

13. A Season Of Joy

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

One evening I ran into the cleaners to pick up my shirts. They had told me they would be ready, but now they couldn’t find them. They began searching and I stood there thinking, "This is great. Every dress shirt I own is at the cleaners - except for the one I’m wearing." While I was waiting for them to find my shirts, a woman walked in carrying an old laundry basket. Inside the laundry basket, lyi...

14. Decisive Battles With Temptation

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Robert Allen

It happens so often that it seems almost routine in our modern world. We read or listen to certain stories with interest and then make little jokes about how public figures shoot themselves in the foot when they yield to temptation and it becomes public knowledge. In recent years, we have become privy to the temptations which have seduced several public figures. Not long ago, Gary Hart was the lea...

15. Create Your Own Happiness

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Robert Allen

One night I was sitting up late watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. A guest on the program that evening was a 94-year-old man. He spoke of the changes that had taken place during his lifetime and he said he was against all of them. He spoke of the garden that he planted every spring. He introduced his 75-year-old girlfriend who drove him to the NBC studio for his appearance on the Tonigh...

16. The State Of The Church

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

The day after Christmas we carefully made our way out of town on the ice. We were on our way to South Padre Island for a few days of rest and fun. It is a long drive to South Texas, and we were glad to finally arrive. When we found the leasing agent for the condo we had rented, I went inside to get the key. When I went inside the office, the woman at the desk was on the phone speaking Spanish to s...

17. I Believe In Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Robert Allen

I don’t suppose that it comes as any surprise to you that a minister would stand in a pulpit and affirm, "I believe in prayer." You would expect this affirmation. But, belief in prayer came normally and naturally for me as a child. Even before I can remember, I was taught to pray. The first prayer I was taught was the bedtime payer that almost all children learn. It is a simple little prayer which...

18. I Believe In Judgment

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Robert Allen

Recently, I heard a preacher on television preach a sermon on divine judgment. I have no doubt that he is sincere in his beliefs. He is very good at using words and manipulating the emotions of his audience. He is charming, witty, and entertaining. But his interpretation of judgment degrades God from a Heavenly Father to a heartless tyrant. He drew a picture of God which makes my heart shudder, b...

19. The Gospel In Miniature

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Robert Allen

It was in the springtime and I was speaking at a church in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma. We had a large crowd of people in that small church when the thunder began to roll in the distance. Once the service was over, there was a reception in the fellowship hall. It was one of those occasions when I was in a hurry to get my car and start home before the thunderstorm dropped its rivers of wa...

20. Religion In A Nutshell

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Robert Allen

Mildred was a fine lady. She was 64 years old when the doctors discovered that she had terminal cancer. She was in and out of the hospital several times receiving her treatments, and each time she seemed to be a little weaker than the time before. Mildred was married to one of the roughest roughnecks in Oklahoma. He was a big, burly man, and one look at him told you that in his younger days, he wa...

21. Facing Life’s Central Tests

Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

Robert Allen

It was a beautiful spring afternoon in Eastern Oklahoma when my secretary told me that Oleatha was on the phone. Oleatha was 67 years old and she had been having problems. She often became confused. She had a tendency to forget. Once, she had gotten lost going from church out to her home on a bluff that overlooked the lake. At the insistence of her family, she had gone through a battery of medical...

22. I Love A Parade

Matthew 21:1-11, John 12:12-19

Sermon

Robert Allen

Several years ago, while I was pastoring the little Methodist Church in Geary, Oklahoma, a Fourth of July parade was scheduled. Well, there is nothing like a parade in a small town. The entire community gets into the activities. The high school marching band provides the music, there are a few floats, there is a riding club, and even the children are invited to participate by decorating their bicy...

23. The Right Kind of Power

John 14:23-29

Illustration

Robert Allen

Dynamite is a powerful device for blowing away part of a mountain, but for the purpose of blowing out candles on a birthday cake, it is not very effective. Atomic bombs and nuclear-tipped missiles are great for destroying life as we know it on this planet, but if the purpose is to cleanse our hearts of hate and to help people to find their way to peace with God and with each other, then the atomic...

24. The Richest Hill On Earth

John 19:17-27

Sermon

Robert Allen

All of us have taken trips that were memorable. There are certain vacations that stick in our minds. Perhaps, we were lying on a beach on a tropical island. Perhaps, the crisp cold wind was whipping against our face as we skied down the side of a mountain. Perhaps, we simply curled up with a good book and forgot about our everyday routines. We all have memories of certain trips or vacations that a...

25. The Easter Event - After The Resurrection

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Robert Allen

A community-wide Easter pageant was planned, and people from all over the county tried out for various parts. The part of Mary Magdalene was given to a Catholic nun, a local doctor became Peter, a high school principle became Judas, and Caiphais, the hypocritical high priest, was played by a local banker. It was relatively easy selecting the people for the various parts in the Easter pageant. Howe...

Showing 1 to 25 of 51 results