Sermon and Worship Resources

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Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

... Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." The pastor then turned to Nicholas, who quickly grabbed his father's leg shouting, "Don’t touch me with that water!" Unlocking their son's arms, his parents said with firm voices, "We present Nicholas Robert Martin for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism." Nicholas' defiance toward baptism stemmed from fear and misunderstanding. He did not comprehend what God was doing through this sacrament. The pastor spoke words of reassurance as he touched him gently with the warm water ...

2. Count the Stars

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... rang. An angry voice on the other end said, “We’re gonna get you, you . . .” and the caller used the “N-word"! Young Martin Luther King, Jr. stood in his kitchen, frozen by fear. He wanted to call Daddy King for reassurance and advice. But Daddy King wasn ... can do no wrong,” asks Roberts, “what more can you expect out of life?” Maybe mentally handicapped persons have limitations of the mind, Roberts concludes, but there is no limitation on their hearts. Roberts suggests we call them the “love ...

3. A Sympathetic High Priest

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... : Beacon, 1999), p.8. [4] Archelaus, The Disputation With Manes, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.6, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (2nd print.; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), p.217. [5] Martin Luther, “Lectures on Hebrews” (1517-1518), in Luther’s Works, Vol.29, p.167. [6] Ibid., p.177. [7] Martin Luther, “Good Friday House Postil Sermon” (1533), in The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol.5, ed. Eugene Klug, pp.473-474. [8] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “The Secret of Suffering’ (1538), in ...

4. The Hiddenness Of Life’s Truths: Christian Life As Surprise

2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... Luther’s Works, Vol.31, pp.44. [4] Augustine, “On Marriage and Concupiscence” (419-420), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.5, trans. Robert Holmes and Robert Wallis (2nd print.; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995), pp.273-274. [5] Martin Luther, “Eleventh Sermon After Trinity, Second Sermon,” in The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol.2/2, ed. John Lenker (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), p.367. [6] Oscar Arrias-Carrion and Ernst Poppel, “Dopamine, learning, and ...

5. Building a House (Mother's Day)

Luke 6:46-49

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... talk about building a house of life in the context of the family. I can't imagine that you haven't heard or read Robert Fulghum's "All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten." It appeared in a number of different places, before it became the ... a beautiful story about teaching his four-year-old grandson, Martin, the Gloria Patri. "He said he had taught Martin "Old MacDonald" and "Row Row Your Boat" and decided that he needed to teach little Martin the "Gloria Patri." So they got in the car, buckled ...

6. Building A House

Luke 6:46-49

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

7. Embedded In Bedrock Or Destroyed By A Typhoon

John 18:25-27

Sermon

Dale Dickerson

... Marx. The guide of his tour group enthusiastically told about each of these men and how they had helped the country. In another room was a display, "Enemies of the State." They were people Schuller knew: Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, the Pope. And among the names of these enemies of the state was his own name: Robert Schuller. When he saw his own picture on display he was frightened. He was even more disconcerted when in the middle of the night there was a knock on the door of his hotel room. "Follow me ...

8. It’s Not about You; It’s All about God

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... To Mark, trans. Donald H. Madvig (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1970), p. 96; Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, trans. David E. Green (2nd printing; Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1977), p. 297. 2. Martin Luther, The Large Catechism (1529), I.1, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 386. 3. Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 17. 4. Ibid, p. 260 ...

9. Marriages That Last

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

King Duncan

... in bed each morning. Liz asked jokingly, "And does this trait run in the family?" "It sure does," answered Martin, "and I take after my mom." Dwayne was entering his third month of marriage when he ran across a ... Paris like the Aldas, but there are a thousand and one little things you can do to keep romance alive in your marriage. Writer Robert Fulghum once interviewed Alexander Papaderos, director of the Orthodox Academy of Crete. In Crete the custom of arranged marriage continues to this day. Papaderos ...

10. and Forgiveness Come Easy When You’re Filled with The Spirit

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... of scholarly consensus regarding how John diminishes the testimony of Mary Magdalene, see R. Alan Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), pp. 144, 147, 161. 2. Martin Luther, The Small Catechism (1529), II.III.6, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 356; Augustine, On The Creed: A Sermon To the Catechumens (n.d.), p. 16, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 3 ...

11. Under The Wings Of The Almighty

Ruth 2:1-23

Sermon

Sims Robert

... and kept them safe (John 17:11-12).” We face the world with courage today because we are protected by Almighty God. Robert, a scrawny, 10-year-old boy, answered the knock at the front door. Standing there with hands on hips was the meanest, ... ways, not like that poor miserable toad on the ground, and yet I have never expressed to him my thanksgiving or praised his holy name.” Martin Luther, in commenting about this scene, pointed out that this was not a man of power; he was not a man of wealth; he was ...

12. Possibly Our Best Year! (A Sermon for New Year's)

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... Schuller had said. He told the congregation that Dr. Schuller got tired of his image sometimes, too. "So once a year," Pat claimed, "Robert Schuller checks into a motel under an assumed name, goes to his room, pulls the drapes closed, goes into the closet, shuts the doorand ... in the midst of our own long, difficult nights. Someone was watching over us all through the night. Mrs. C.D. Martin wrote a song about it. With her husband, she was visiting Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle of Elmira, New York. The Doolittles ...

13. The Lord’s Prayer and The Stones-Serpents-Scorpions Story

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , greatness or great sacrifice. But for those of us who know we are not Augustine or Martin Luther, or Christopher Columbus or George Washington or Albert Einstein or Martin Luther King, Jr. — we still have a gateway to a large-than-life memory. What is ... fixes on her eggs, Till that intense affection Kindle its light of life. (Robert Southey, "Thalaba the Destroyer," Book 3, Section 24 in The Poetical Works of Robert Southey, complete in one volume [London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1845], 238- ...

14. Four Magic Words

Psalm 126:1-6, Psalm 145:2-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... are many. She suggests we find three and give thanks for them. A 2005 study led by the well-known psychologist Martin Seligman confirms this approach. Seligman found that completing this exercise of counting three blessings every day for one week led to ... that, can’t we? When we express gratitude to another human being, we make two people happy--ourselves and the person we thank. Robert McCormack was a sergeant in WW I. He nearly lost his life while saving the life of Major Henry Parkin. Fortunately, both ...

15. The Gospel in Miniature

John 3:16

Sermon

King Duncan

... though our lesson from the Gospels for the day is John 3:1-17, we’re going to focus our attention on this one verse. Martin Luther called John 3:16, “the Gospel in Miniature.” If all you had of the New Testament was this one verse, it would be ... you.” People say it all the time. Sometimes they even mean it. It’s a different thing, however, to put love into action. John Robert Fox was an African-American artillery officer who served in the U.S. Army in World War II. In December 1944, he and his unit ...

16. A Life-changing Question

John 9:1-41

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... Sunday morning, Mary found her son Robert shot dead in her neighbor’s yard. Evidently, Robert had been caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival gangs. In trying to understand why Mary’s son, Robert, died this violent and senseless death, ... this Bible story. The question they, and we, should be asking is, “What restores us to God?” Pay close attention here. Martin Copenhaver, in his book Jesus is the Question, notes that Jesus asked 307 questions in the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and ...

17. Your Sins Are Remembered No More! You Are Free!

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... forgetting our sin may send a message that we can go out and sin, since it will be forgiven anyway. The sixteenth-century reformer Martin Luther had a great response. He wrote: For our sins are not forgiven with the design that we should continue to commit sin, but ... to the application of these prophecies to both. See Claus Westermann, Handbook to the Old Testament, trans. and ed. Robert H. Boyd (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1976), pp. 164-165; Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament ...

18. With a Firm Foundation, Application Is Second Nature

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... , see my Blessed Are the Cynical: How Original Sin Can Make America a Better Place (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2003), esp. pp. 22-23, 114-115; Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1998), pp. 55-63, 101-102; Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), esp. pp. 241-245. 14. Martin Luther, Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount (1532/1533), in Luther's Works, Vol. 21, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis: Concordia, 1956), p. 280.

19. Epiphany 4

Psalm 71:1-24, 1 Corinthians 14:1-25, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Jeremiah 1:1-19, Luke 4:14-30

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... of Journeys Toward Narrative Preaching, Dr. Robert Hughes, of the Lutheran School of Theology at Philadelphia, writes about a pastor - Pastor Gilbert Martin - who made a deep impression upon him as a child. He says that "Moose" Martin (a 245-pound former college football ... pastor's style predating that of Frederick Buechner by several decades. But what I know for sure is that when Pastor Martin told Bible stories we kids could feel the centuries melt. We were there, on Mount Sinai with Moses, in the lion's ...

20. A Protestant (And Catholic) Way To Confess

Romans 10:8b-13

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... Luther, “Lectures On Isaiah” (1527-1530), in Luther’s Works, Vol. 16 (63 vols.; St. Louis-Philadelphia: Concordia Publishing House-Fortress Press, 1955ff.), pp.230-231. [8] Martin Luther, Torgau Sermon On Christ’s Descent into Hell and the Resurrection (1533), in Sources and Contexts of The Book of Concord, eds. Robert Kolb and James A. Nestingen (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), p.249. [9] John Calvin, Commentary On The Book of Psalms (1563), in Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. V/2, trans. James Anderson ...

21. Giving It All Up For Jesus And What’s Ahead

Philippians 3:4b-14

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... faith we get married to Christ. And in a good marriage, you become a little like your beloved spouse. You share everything in common. Martin Luther once profoundly made that point. He wrote: The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride ... .273-274. [3] Philip Melanchthon, “Apology of The Augsburg Confession” (1531), in The Book of Concord, eds. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), p.116; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian ...

22. The Tiger At The Edge

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... that we have been changed by its telling. And now, we must tell that story. And we dare never make it boring! Robert McAfee Brown, professor of theology and ethics at the Pacific School of Religion, said it better than I can in his book, Creative ... what they did? ..." Tell me about the church, "Well, there were a great many people who worked together: Mary and Priscilla and Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr., and John and Sister Teresa, and you know what they did? ..."1 Don't forget who you are! We ...

23. The African Foundations Of Christianity

Exodus 4:1-17

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... black people's contribution to the development of the Nile Valley culture, civilization, and subsequent world history. As Martin Bernal tells us in his great work Black Athena, many excavations were sponsored by people and governments bent ... Schweitzer called off this quest, warning that the Jesus we discover may not be the one we are looking for. A German scholar, Robert Eisler, in his work The Messiah Jesus and John The Baptist, gives a startling description of the historical Jesus based upon the historian ...

24. What Form of Church Does God Want for the Furture?

Romans 12:1-8, Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... Humbard’s "Cathedral of Tomorrow" and Oral Roberts’ "City of Faith." More than $250 million was given last year - not to advance Jesus Christ and his kingdom - but to advance Jerry Falwell, Robert Schuller, Herbert W. Armstrong and Sun ... at what happened to him. He was transformed from Saul, a murderous, hard-hearted Pharisee, into Paul, a loving, warm-hearted Christian apostle. Martin Luther did this, and God enabled him to bring about a change that saved the church of the sixteenth century. John Wesley ...

25. Jesus, Where Are You?

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... Cal left the retreat center, Father Lambert gave him another picture of a smiling Jesus. This picture, painted by a Mrs. Joyce Martin, was like the first picture of the laughing Christ in certain ways. Instead of a pale, blond, sorrowful man with a ... How can I believe in someone Whom I have not seen?'" "Sir, we would see Jesus," says a hurting world. "A Christian," says Robert E. Gibson, "is the keyhole through which other folks see God." Earl Palmer, in a fine little book entitled, The Enormous Exception, ...

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