Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 36 results

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... play Sherlock Holmes for a ... it was something like one of us facing a life crisis, feeling hopeless and lost, only to run into Billy Graham, or Robert Schuller, or Norman Vincent Peale. Philip was certainly a forerunner of today's clergy. So the eunuch turned to him for ... know that it is Jesus Christ who sponsors caring ministries, and Jesus Christ in whom the higher power is to be found. Leslie Weatherhead told in a sermon about two men in his community who worked in the same shop for many years. They became ...

2. When The Baker Becomes the Bread!

John 6:51-58

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

A story is told of a well-to-do man of a former generation who on his brisk early morning walk would daily meet a workingman on his way to the factory. One day as they passed each other, the wealthy man added to his usual nod-of-the-head greeting these words of complaint, "I have no choice but to make this walk early each morning to get a stomach for my meat." The workingman responded, "And I must walk this early each morning to get meat for my stomach!" The reality is that neither man was truly satisfied ...

3. Planning Your Way Out

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

A television news magazine told of a young, adventuresome man, full of life, flown into the desolate north country of Alaska in order that he might find himself among the natural beauty and mysteries there. He prepared for months. He carried sophisticated photographic equipment and more than 1,400 pounds of provisions. He packed boxes of notebooks, in which he intended to record his experiences. Record them he did. His carefully detailed notes describe his sense of wonder at the spectacular beauty of the ...

4. Make Up Your Mind!

1 Kings 18:16-46

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Why hasn’t Hollywood made this into a major motion picture epic? 1 Kings 18 is surely one of the most dramatic accounts in all literature and one of the most significant historical records in the Bible. Its message and natural application are timeless. William Penn said, “Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.” In our Scripture reading for today the people of Israel came together to decide no less a question than who would govern their personal and national lives, who would be their ...

5. Secondhand Religion

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

The life of Elijah is filled with fascinating experiences that help us to see God more clearly and live on a higher plane. Today’s Scripture reading is a good example of that. In a nation whose laws required its citizens to provide for the prophets, God used saucy, impudent birds noted for their thievery and dirty lifestyle to feed Elijah. “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening” (1 Kings 17:6). Ravens live off dead carcasses and steal food stored up by ...

6. Bad News from a Good Man!

1 Kings 21:1-29

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

There are two facts we all need to remember before we can make any real sense out of life. The first is that God is sovereign and holy, just and loving. The second is that we are not. We are servants, unholy, self-centered, and self-seeking. This Scripture passage is a marvelous illustration of this. You would think that seeing God send fire from heaven would change a corrupt heart every time. That, however, is not the case, as we can see from the life of Ahab and his Jezebel. I. The Sliding Spiral Of ...

7. The Second Touch for the Out of Touch

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

There’s an old legend that tells how God sent one of his angels to Satan with the message that all the methods the devil uses to defeat Christians would be taken from him. The devil pleaded to be allowed to keep only one. The angel, thinking it an unusual, modest request from the greedy devil, agreed Satan could keep that one. “Which one would you want to keep?” the angel inquired. “Let me keep discouragement,” was Lucifer’s reply. The angel agreed. Satan could keep discouragement. And the devil rejoiced ...

8. One-Fired Up Preacher!

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Norval Christy was fifteen years old when he agreed with the Lord that everything he possessed was a gift and that he was willing to use it in God’s service however, whenever, and wherever God chose. After attending Westminster College in Pennsylvania, Norval applied to Harvard Medical School and was accepted in spite of long odds. He was in the process of doing his medical residency when a call came to help the thousands of refugees who were flooding into Pakistan from India. Norval agreed to interrupt ...

9. The ABC Gospel

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Someone has called it ABC spirituality, meaning, “Anything But Christianity.” In the search for religious meaning, our generation seems to have a limitless imagination. Past-life regressions, out-of-body experiences, channeling, mantras — the list goes on and on. The New Age (which is truly just old Hinduism warmed over), Zen yoga, seances — anything but faith in the resurrected Lord of the cross. Today’s Scripture reading has a character like that. His name is Naaman. Of all the stories connected with the ...

10. Plumb Line Prophecy

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It’s the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline ...

11. When the Impossible Becomes Imminently Possible!

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Apart from the resurrection, this miracle of the feeding of the multitude alone excites all the gospel writers so that none of them feels the gospel story is complete without it. An exciting missionary adventure is crushed by John the Baptist's death, and Jesus and his disciples retired across Galilee. It was the backdrop for an incredibly timeless human story. Of all the gospel writers, only John writes, "He [Jesus] himself knew what he was going to do" (John 6:6 NRSV). The New International Version ...

12. Soul Bread!

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Someone who grew up in Europe immediately after the devastation of World War II writes about the two staples that were not on ration and that could be home produced; one was potatoes and the other was bread. "We could grow our own potatoes and we could make our own bread," he writes. "And sometimes we would even make bread out of the potatoes. So, while we may have lacked many things we always had sufficient potatoes and bread." Earlier in John chapter 6, we read about food rationing of another kind. Then ...

13. Tough Talk for Tentative Disciples

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Many years ago, a missionary society wrote to David Livingstone, a Scottish Presbyterian pioneer medical missionary in Central Africa, and asked, "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to send other men to join you." Livingstone wrote back, "If you have men who will come only because there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all." Every ministry and every ministry leader in the history of the Christian faith has faced tough times. Usually ...

14. The Heart of the Matter Is the Heart!

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Traditionalism is the living religion of the dead or the dead religion of the living. Tradition imagines that nothing worthwhile will ever again be done for the first time because everything worth doing has already been done. Therefore, traditionalism repeats what it imagined always was and what it imagines always will be. The problem with tradition for tradition's sake is a terminal case of spiritual heart disease. In this scripture reading, a delegation of religious leaders makes their way from Jerusalem ...

15. The Inconcealable Christ!

Mark 7:31-37, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

In this amazing passage of two miracles, we find just one message. The first miracle is the healing of the daughter of a Greek woman, born in Syrian Phoenicia. In many ways, it is among the most significant of Jesus' miracles not just because the child received healing. Syrophoenicia is not a candidate region for the zip code 90210. The "pretty people" do not take up residence there. In fact, they do all they can to avoid going that way. It is a remote place sustained by commercial fishing and, if we can ...

16. The Great Inescapable Question of Eternity

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Jeremy Bowen could not be more wrong and Bono could not be more right! Bowen, the presenter of a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary on Jesus Christ, said, "The important thing is not what Jesus was or what he wasn't — the important thing is what people believe him to have been. A massive world wide religion, numbering more than two billion people follows his memory — that's pretty remarkable, 2,000 years on."1 On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2, asked if ...

17. Right-Handed Sinners!

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

For the above title, I reach back across Matthew's more detailed record of the same message where he recalls that Jesus specified the right hand, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off" (Matthew 5:30). That might be significant because research indicates the somewhere around 85% of humans are right-hand dominant, and it could mean that Jesus is not just saying that a sinning hand should be excised but that even if it is the dominant hand that sins it must go! Let us think about it, and ...

18. This Gospel Is for Our Children

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

The gospel of Jesus Christ is for our children! "The promise is for you and your children" (Acts 2:39). It always has been. Since the dawn of the grace covenant, God has spoken of his interest in and love for our children. He tells Abraham, "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you ... to be your God and the God of your descendants after you" (Genesis 17:7). Children always have been, and are, a vital part of God's covenant plan for his world ...

19. Are You Sorry Enough to Wash Your Face?

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

For Christians around the world, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It was the practice among early Roman Christians for penitents to begin their period of public penance on the first day of Lent. They were sprinkled with ashes, dressed in sackcloth, and obliged to remain away from fellowship with other people until they reconciled with fellow Christians on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday and three days before Easter, the day of resurrection. Ash Wednesday is ultimately about one of the ...

20. Jesus or Niccolo?

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

This world's kingdoms have never been presented in a more Machiavellian fashion or more compellingly. And never before and never again have they been nor will they be targeted to one with more reason to succumb. Surely one of the great strengthening comforts of taking Jesus Christ as our Lord is that he, more than anyone else, understands our temptations. Scripture tells us, "He himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested" (Hebrews 2:18). So we can say with ...

21. A Jiffy for Eternity

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Character Sometimes Who's Who doesn't know for sure just what's what! Consider the character of this man who comes to Jesus at night. Nicodemus clearly was a well-connected man yet it is clear he lacks some very vital information. He is remembered here as a "Pharisee," the highest sect among the Jews. We often think of the Pharisees as harsh, hypocritical, and uppity (and certainly there were moments when Jesus heaped scorn on them). Here, however, is a Pharisee, Nicodemus, who does not fit that mold. He ...

22. The Womb of Amazing Grace

John 4:5-42

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

In John 3 we have the record of an amazing encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, a man described as a leader among the Jews and a member of the sect of the Pharisees. John 4 presents another stunning encounter, one even more startling. It involves a person from "the other side of the religious and political tracks," someone who lived out her life at the other end of the social and religious strata of that time and place. It is hard to imagine any greater contrast than that which is pictured in these two ...

23. Here's Mud In Your Eye

John 9:1-41

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

"Just the facts, ma'am!" That phrase, often attributed to Sergeant Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, even though it did not originate with him, goes straight to the point. Now here is another "just the facts personality": Julius Caesar was admired for his ability to make uncluttered summations of his great achievements. In a few words Caesar could lay bare the story of his accomplishments. Perhaps none of his statements is any better known than that famous terse tricolon that has followed Caesar since his quick ...

24. When Lazarus Leaped and Laughed

John 11:1-45

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

This gospel according to John is filled with a series of vivid verbal masterpieces of the genius, glory, and grace of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Bible scholars have long believed that each of the four New Testament gospels is targeted at a particular group. Matthew writes his gospel to the Jews. We see that in his frequent references to the Old Testament. Mark writes his gospel with the Romans as his primary target. Hence, Mark is succinct and to the point. His is the first written among the four gospels. ...

25. Live Spelled Backward

Matthew 26:14-27:66

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

In a CBS News 60 Minutes interview, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was asked why she had resigned as an Assistant District Attorney for the Bronx. She replied, "Because for the first time in my life I saw evil first hand and I felt that if I stayed that close to it, it just might rub off on me."[1] Come think with me about an age-old human affliction that has impacted the life of every person ever born and the two people who were not born but created in the Garden of Eden, a thing called evil. ...

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