Sermon and Worship Resources

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Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Sermon

Ron Lavin

She was near retirement. Some people thought of her as being old and "over the hill," but she had an idea. The idea was fresh and memorable. She was a schoolteacher in Michigan. Many people thought that schoolteachers made little or no difference in life compared to the powerful people in business and politics. They were wrong. She told her students to write down as many "I Can'ts" as they could t...

2. A Mother's Pride And Joy

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The story of Samuel is a drama of great intensity, great love, great change, great conflict and great challenge. This story begins with Hannah, in the 11th century B.C., praying to the Lord for a son. She was barren. In ancient times barrenness was a disgrace for a woman. A Mother's Pride And Joy As Hanna and her husband arrived at Shiloh for a religious pilgrimage to the place of worship, Hannah ...

3. A Night of Farewell - Peter

Sermon

Ron Lavin

"Tonight we will forget all of this ungodly talk about death. Tonight is a happy time of remembering our heritage. Tonight we shall eat lamb, bitter herbs, wine and bread. It will be good to remember Moses and the journey tonight.""Tonight we are at John Mark's house. No one will find us here. No crowds. No Pharisees. No sick people.""Tonight we will celebrate the Passover." These were my thoughts...

4. A Puzzling Parable with a Sharp Point

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Ron Lavin

A young boy used to describe foods like spinach by saying, "I hate it." His wise mother responded, "Don't say you hate it. Just say, ‘I'm not very fond of it.' " She also taught her son that when he really liked some food to say, "I'm really fond of this." The boy said, he was "really fond" of cookies, candy, and cake. His mother told him, "Too many cookies, too much candy, and cake can be bad for...

5. Abba, Your Kingdom Come

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The provoking incident for Jesus teaching his followers what to pray and how to pray is that the apostles watched Jesus and listened to his prayers. Nobody had ever prayed like this. His prayers were uniquely personal and profoundly humble. The apostles wanted to know more about prayer. So do we. "Lord, teach us to pray," they said (Luke 11:1). We have the same plea today. There is a vague sense ...

6. Anointed Ministry

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Isaiah 61 is a dangerous text! Jesus used this text to launch his ministry in his home town of Nazareth and it caused him to be thrown out of the synagogue and taken to the edge of a cliff. Jesus' life was threatened as a result of his reading, interpretation and application of this text. "Today, this Scripture is being fulfilled in your hearing," Jesus said. But we are getting ahead of our story....

7. Ashes for Remembering

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

In our Judeo-Christian heritage, ashes are for mourning — a symbol of loss, weeping — a signal of deep emotion, repentance — a sign of needed change and sincerity — a desire to be conformed to the image of God. But mostly, ashes are for remembering. Henri Nouwen, the Roman Catholic writer, tells us that from a biblical point of view remembering means more than recalling an event or person. Rememb...

8. At the Foot of the Cross

Sermon

Ron Lavin

"I hope this damn thing doesn't last too long. I've got things to do, people to see."These were my thoughts as I was waiting for the criminals. I am a Roman soldier and part of my job is to help with the crucifixion of criminals. My name is not important, but what happened to me is important, and I'd like to tell you about it. I remember how they walked along the road with the people watching them...

9. Believing The Living Word

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Ron Lavin

There are few things in life which you can count on, but you can count on these two: the Word of God goes forth, and the Word of God does not return empty. The rain falls to the earth and gives life to flowers, plants and trees before it returns to God who sent it. Water means life. The Word of God is like that water. In the Word and the water we have the possibility of new life beginning. Not ev...

10. Chaos and Solitude

Mark 6:30-44, 53-56

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Everywhere Jesus went, people flocked to him. They wanted what he was offering. They wanted inspiration. They wanted healing. They wanted God. Mark's gospel tells us that "so many people were coming and going they (Jesus and the apostles) did not even have a chance to eat" (Mark 6:31). That coming and going provided a chaotic atmosphere for Jesus' ministry. That chaos meant that even before Jesus ...

11. Chocolate Cake, Flooded Waters, and Baptism

Genesis 9:8-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

There was a man, let's call him Rod, who was a fine woodworker. He made cabinets, tables, and mantels for family, friends, and fellow church members. One day his pastor asked him to come to his house and reconstruct a cabinet over his new refrigerator. The new refrigerator was taller than the old one. Rod agreed. When he came to do the work his pastor and his pastor's wife were not at home. They h...

12. Close Calls

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Have you ever had a close call? Have you ever been in an accident where you almost died? Have you ever been overwhelmed by an event or loss so great that you wondered how you would ever get through it? When a close call came, have you ever felt that God either didn't care or that he was asleep because you couldn't reach him? That is what is going on in our story, the story of the apostles in a li...

13. Cooperation with God

Mark 4:26-34

Illustration

Ron Lavin

A Texan was visiting a friend who was a small Iowa farmer. "Is this all the land you have?" he asked. "Where I come from, I can get in my car at 6:00 a.m. and drive all day and never see the end of my land." "Is that right?" said the Iowa farmer. "I used to have a car like that too." Big is not necessarily beautiful. Small can be beautiful. Cooperation with God is the key, whether we are in small...

14. Counting the Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The best thing to say to a pastor after you hear a sermon that moves you is not, "That was a good sermon." That's a little better than saying, "That was a lousy sermon," but in saying, "That was a good sermon," you may be missing the point of preaching. The point of preaching is for the listeners to put the Word of God into action. Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian, says that the role of l...

15. Cured Cripples and Crabby Critics

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Have you ever been crippled by something that happened to you? At age seventeen, Joni Eareckson, dove into the Chesapeake Bay, hit the rocks, and was paralyzed for life. She lives in a wheelchair today. Physically, she is still crippled by the accident, but she has overcome the excruciating mental and spiritual pain of her situation. Faith in Jesus Christ made a major difference in her life. Ron ...

16. Dispelling Ministry Illusions

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Jeremiah is often regarded as a Christ-figure, a prophet like Jesus, who suffered at the hands of his own people because he loved them enough to tell them the truth. A God-inspired man, fearlessly denouncing the religious laxity and social ills of his day, Jeremiah paid the price for his words. Tradition says that in 587 B.C., when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem as Jeremiah had predicted, his...

17. Does Easter Make a Difference?

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

A bully in a small town resented the man everyone looked up to as the wisest man in town. He decided to teach the wise man a lesson. He held a chicken behind his back and asked the wise man, "Is this chicken dead or alive?" Of course, if the wise man said, "Dead" the bully would show him a live chicken. If the wise man said, "Alive" the bully would strangle the chicken and show up the wise man by ...

18. Faithful To The Lord

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Ron Lavin

There are many plots, sub-plots and themes in the Old Testament story of Joseph. The plots and sub-plots are intriguing background for the theme of faithfulness and forgiveness. The main plot is that God is faithfully at work in this holy family. The sub-plots can be misleading. Family Conflict, Temptation And Dreams For example, there is a sub-plot of family conflict between the 11 sons of Jacob ...

19. Faithquakes

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Ron Lavin

A woman who went through her first earthquake in California said, as it was happening, "I think a train just hit our apartment building. I think our foundation is gone. We better pray." A faithquake is something like an earthquake. Something comes along and shakes us up. Something shakes our very foundations. Through the foundation-shaking event, we want to know more about God and faith. Somethi...

20. Family Ties and Good-byes

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Ron Lavin

If ever we needed to strengthen the institution of family, it's today. Many forces of evil are pulling the family apart. Ethical relativism, which teaches that there are no absolutes, not even God, is increasingly popular. Immorality abounds. Listening and hearing one another seems to be a lost art in many homes. Spouses often seem to be going in opposite directions. Parents and children have a ha...

21. Family Ties and Good-byes

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Jesus experienced family ties and good-byes. So do we. According to Mark 3:20-35, Jesus was about to be confronted by his frustrated and conflicted family as crowds gathered around him to hear his stories, behold his miracles, and observe with great interest the conflicts he had with religious leaders from Jerusalem. Conflict. But there were also good, tender, and beautiful joys in Jesus' family....

22. Final Instructions

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Ron Lavin

(Note: Suggestion for reading the lessons on Ascension Sunday: In order to get the proper historical flow you may want to read Acts 1:1-11 after reading the Gospel, Luke 24:44-53.) When you love someone, you try to fulfill their final deathbed directions. If your loved one has a last will and testament, you try to carry out the final instructions contained therein. In Acts 1:1-11 we have Jesus' l...

23. From Inferiority To Fulfillment

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Ron Lavin

A counselor was listening carefully to a teenager. She was speaking about her troubles. She felt out of sorts with everyone and everything. She was depressed. Everything was going wrong. Her recent marriage was on the rocks. There was trouble with the baby who had been born recently. Her job was not working out. After listening to her litany of troubles for a long time, the counselor asked her, "D...

24. Giving Up Control

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Ron Lavin

There are two stories in John 6:1-21 -- the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on water during a storm on the Sea of Galilee. These two stories answer two important questions. First, when does 5 + 2 x 1 = 12? Mathematically, never. But in the story of the feeding of the 5,000, the multiplication formula works just like that: five loaves of barley bread, plus two small fish, times Jesus, the o...

25. God’s Surprises

Acts 10:44-48

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The initiating incident in the story of Peter and Cornelius is reverse anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is prejudice against the Jews. Reverse anti-Semitism is prejudice by the Jews against Gentiles. Gentiles are non-Jews. In the first-century church one of the biggest problems was the big question of what to do with Gentiles who wanted to become Christians. Some Christians insisted that the Gentiles...

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