Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Be Careful Who You Judge

Matt 21:31

Illustration

Roger G. Talbott

A young minister graduated from seminary just before World War I and he was appointed to a church in a very small town. He had been there only a couple of weeks when he received the call every new minister dreads – the call to do his first funeral. The person who had died was not a member of his church. She was, in fact, a woman with a very bad reputation. Her husband was a railroad engineer who w...

2. Getting Out Of Our Own Way

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

I'd like to ask you to relax for a moment about the clothes that you are wearing. Think about how your clothes say something about who you are: your gender, your age, your economic status, maybe even how you feel about yourself. As you think about that, imagine yourself in quite different clothes. Note that your real self would not change. Even if you were wearing Eskimo clothes or Arabian clothes...

3. Good News! You Are Going To Be Tortured

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

Some of you may be familiar with the two-minute radio program, Ask Dr. Science. Dr. Science, as the initiated know, isn't a real doctor. He has a master's degree . . . in science! This disclaimer always runs at the end of the program, however. In the meantime, the announcer asks Dr. Science a question sent in by a listener like, "Why can I only see the stars at night?" Then Dr. Science answers the...

4. It's Your Funeral

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

Today people in our society are less and less willing to completely leave things to the "experts." Patients insist that their doctors talk to them about the options for treatment and include the patient as a full partner in making the final decision. The computer software stores are full of programs that allow people to draft simple legal documents like wills and to keep financial records and fill...

5. Love Without Limits

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

The epitaph on the grave of Albert Camus, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, reads: "Here I understand what they call glory: the right to love without limits." In our gospel lesson we see two people who love without limits. Neither of them seem very glorious. One is a tired itinerant preacher named Jesus. The other is a woman who has no name -- only a racial designation: a Canaanite w...

6. Prayer And Compassion Fatigue

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

They were tired and they needed a day off. The crowds kept getting larger. More and more sick people were being brought to Jesus and his disciples were getting burned out dealing with all that human misery. So Jesus declared a holiday. "Let's go camping," he said. At least that is what I think he said. Matthew makes it sound like he said, "Let's go off alone to a deserted place." My guess is he g...

7. Professor Of Paradox

Matthew 13:47-52, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

Once upon a time, a strange old man came to a small village. He carried a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. This sight was odd enough to cause the people of the village to notice what the old man did next. The old man took the bowl to the plowed field next to the village and he put some dirt into the bowl until it was about half full. Then he went to the village pump and filled it with water to abou...

8. The One Thing That Would Make The Biggest Difference

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

What one thing could you do that would make the biggest difference in your life and in the world? Some say praying and reading the Bible every day would make the biggest difference. Some say working for world peace would make the biggest difference. Some say doing a kind deed every day would make the biggest difference. All of these things are important, but I am increasingly convinced that the ...

9. The Psychological Tricks We Play on Ourselves

Matthew 21:33-46

Illustration

Roger G. Talbott

In Tom Wolfe's book about the first astronauts, The Right Stuff, he says that the corps of young test pilots from which the first astronauts were drawn spent a lot of time going to the funerals of comrades who were killed in the planes they were testing. Going home from those funerals, they didn't face the reality that testing experimental aircraft is an inherently dangerous line of work. Rather, ...

10. The Rock Of Faith

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

Most libraries divide popular novels into categories: westerns, mysteries, romance, spy novels and science fiction. The novels in those categories follow a certain formula. I'm watching to see if a library will someday have a shelf for the threat-to-Christianity novel. The threat-to-Christianity novel is one in which the hero has discovered a document that proves that Christianity is false. Someti...

11. There Is Always More Need

Matthew 14:13-21

Illustration

Roger G. Talbott

You know how the disciples felt when the crowds showed up... The two of you haven't had a night out without the kids in weeks. You finally get away. The waiter has just brought your appetizer when the baby-sitter calls and tells you the youngest has a high fever and has started throwing up. You've been planning this vacation for six months. Your reservations are all made and three days before you...

12. Why Do We Ignore Warning Signs?

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

Recently the New York Times Magazine showed a series of photographs of a rock formation in Yosemite National Park near Bridal Veil Falls. A prominent sign in yellow plastic was attached to the rocks which clearly said: "Danger. Climbing or scrambling on rocks and cliffs is extremely dangerous. They are slippery when dry or wet. Many injuries and even fatalities have occurred." One picture showed a...

13. Why Not Walk On What Jesus Walked On When He Walked On Water

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

I wish Matthew, Mark and John had consulted me before they wrote their gospels. If they had only sent me their rough drafts, I could have put a big red "X" through this story about Jesus walking on the water. (Luke apparently had a good editor. He didn't include this story.) I would have written a note in the margin stating that I think it would be best not to include this story because it woul...

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