Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 63 results

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Cross of San Damiano, Jesus spoke to Francis: "Rebuild my church." And Francis set off to do just that, becoming the saint everyone loves. Francis knew. The tomb was empty because the risen Jesus was right there with him. C. St. Patrick gives the same witness. The risen Christ walks with us. Remember Patrick's the saint who converted Ireland to Christ. According to the old custom, each spring to celebrate the new year, the king would light a new fire on the Hill of Tara. The day before, all the fires in the ...

2. What On Earth Is the Trinity?

John 14:18-27, John 16:12-16

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... associate with a four-leaf clover? That's right--good luck. But a three-leaf-clover is much more important than a four-leaf-clover. To show you why, we must go back many years--to a man named St. Patrick. You have heard of St. Patrick, haven't you? Once a year we celebrate St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick, an Englishman, was sent to Ireland in the fifth century as an evangelist. His most memorable lesson was his explanation to the people of the Holy Trinity. He plucked up a three-leaf-clover and held it up ...

3. Part of the Ritual

John 18:33-37

Illustration

Brett Blair

The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness. Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, "I thought it was part of the ritual." I am here to tell you that your king ...

4. David Spares Saul’s Life—Again

1 Samuel 26:1-25

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... , rather than following the advice of his men, is a reminder that vengeance belongs to the Lord (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:17–21). Illustrating the Text The believer must wait on God’s timing, maintaining integrity during the wait. Poetry: St. Patrick. This prayer by St. Patrick (387–493), who was born in Scotland and traveled throughout Ireland while preaching the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, has been called one of the most powerful Christian poems written. It is a declaration of faith in which ...

5. Magnify Your Ministry!

Romans 11:11-24

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... nor of the one who was reawakened to Christian discipleship, but whether they know them or not, the words from St. Patrick’s breastplate are engraved on their hearts: Christ he with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before ... right now, in our time. The Sunday school song by C. Austin Miles was once brushed aside as poor theology and worse methodology, but both St. Paul and time have proved Miles’ lyrics to be both right and effective: If to Christ our only king men redeemed we strive to bring ...

6. The Family Album

1 John 3:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... said, "If anyone has an urge to kill anybody at an abortion clinic, he should kill me instead." The cardinal opposed homosexuality and objected to gay Catholics marching in New York's annual St. Patrick's Day parade. But in his homily one Sunday when a Gay Pride Parade was to pass in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral, he warned the congregation, "Please do not believe for a moment that you would be defending the church or advancing church teachings by expressions of hatred." O'Conner campaigned against the ...

7. I Love a Parade!

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... , though they surely were loud. These were not events anchored around politics or national pride, though political implications were abundant. No, Palm Sunday in Jerusalem two millennia ago and June 21, 1990, in New York shared from a deeper well than the Macy’s or St. Patrick’s Day Parades. There are those among us who lead, not merely with words, but with their lives. This was true of Mandela, and it was certainly true of our Lord and Savior. In Jerusalem on that day the joy and the power of Jesus ...

8. Returning: Real or Ruse?

Hosea 5:1-15

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... voice exclaimed, "I will if you will!" That’s what real repentance and returning is; it is going for "broke" if one truly returns to God. I preached a revival at the Wilmington Island United Methodist Church in Savannah, Georgia, recently. The meeting closed the day before St. Patrick’s Day. It is a memorable experience to be in Savannah for the Big Day of the Irish! They go as "all out" in Savannah as they do on the "old sod." They’ve been known to paint the dome of the City Hall green. The Savannah ...

9. You Are Invited

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... O'Brien, his first night on the air after the tragedy, began by saying these words, “I don't know exactly how we are going to do this. But we are going to try. Today I did something I haven't done in years. I went across the street to St. Patrick's Cathedral where I sat in silence and prayed. I needed someone; I needed something to help me." You, who are weary, come. You who are worried, come. On lighter days, I might have said, “Throw your fears to the wind." After all, about 60% of the things you ...

10. A Vital Night Call

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... birth experience?" Jesus must have smiled as he shook his head. Here you have a classic case of miscommunication. Like the little boy who visited his grandmother in New York City. She took him on a tour of the city, including the huge and imposing St. Patrick's Cathedral. When they got to altar area down front she said, "Under here is where all the cardinals are buried." He looked in amazement and said, “you mean the whole team? 1 " My favorite miscommunicator of all time was a businessman who attended a ...

11. Save The Children

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... . "Well, if it's a girl," she went on, "can we name her Mary?" "Maybe." Finally, the youngest child, anxious to prove her intelligence, piped up, "Well, if it is a dog, Mom, can we name it Lassie?" (1) A grandmother took her grandson to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. She showed him various parts of that magnificent structure. Finally, they arrived at the altar. "Under here," she said, "is where all the cardinals are buried." He looked in amazement and asked, "You mean the whole team?" Thirty-five ...

12. Atlas or Jesus?

1 John 1:1-4

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the overwhelming urge to flex your own shoulders, crick your neck back and forth, loosen up your own sympathetically tightened muscles. This guy is doing some hard work. Across the street from Rockefeller Plaza is St. Patrick's Cathedral, itself a monumentally impressive structure. But tucked back behind an interior chapel in St. Pat's is another image that depicts the world being held aloft. In this case, however, in this unassuming corner of the church, the one who holds the planet is only a little child ...

13. They Said 'Yes!'

Ephesians 1:11-23

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the church. I. Who They Were A. John & Charles Wesley, Zwingly, Martin Luther, Augustine, Billy Graham, Iranaeus, St. Patrick, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Allen, Harry Hoosier, Franics Asbury, Peter Cartwright, John Calvin, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, the Disciples, Mary & ... Joseph, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, St. Jerome, Constantine, Saul of Tarsus, Stephen, Spurgeon, Theresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart, Bob Core, Albert ...

14. Where Are You?

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

Richard L. Sheffield

... 9:30 a.m. I was buying a baker's dozen bagels at the Essa Bagel Shop on Third Avenue. At 9:45 I was trying to find the men's room at Rockefeller Center. At 10:00 a.m. I was in a pew in the Lady Chapel at St. Patrick's Cathedral. At the other end of the pew, by coincidence, was an old friend I hadn't seen in 15 years. Richard had lost most of the hair on the top of his head. I had lost all the hair on my top lip. So it took us a ...

15. Discovering The Unexpected

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... the creeds and in the cathedrals. But he was found in the shadows, by the pool of Bethesda with the crippled and the diseased. A man jumped into a cab in New York City and told the cabbie to take him to God. Without hesitation the cabbie drove him to St. Patrick's Cathedral. As the man got out of the cab he asked the driver, "Are you sure that God is here?" "If he is not here, he is not in town," the driver answered. I wonder if it ever entered the mind of the driver to take the man to ...

16. The Road To Jerusalem

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

Everybody loves a parade. I spent 10 of my growing up years in Savannah, Georgia, where my father was the pastor of a church. On March 17th of each year Savannah has the second largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the country. The whole city turns out for the parade. They dye the river green. Everybody wears green. They eat green grits. Some drink green - well, beverages. For several years I went to that parade and enjoyed watching it. But then when I was in the ...

17. An Intimate Conversation and an Exclusive Covenant

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

... order for people to fulfill who live in a world that tells them there is no God, and they may live any way they choose, as long as they are within the law of land and the limits of decency and decorum. Jonathan Swift is buried in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, where he served boldly and faithfully as dean. A plaque was placed on the wall over his tomb: Here is laid the Body of JONATHAN SWIFT, Doctor of Divinity, Dean of this Cathedral Church, Where savage indignation can no longer Rend his heart. Go ...

18. Three Arrows

1 Samuel 20:1-42

Sermon

... . Each day he would call his sheep by name, and legend has it, that he even talked to the birds and played melodies to them with his flute. Legend insists that this shepherd of peace drove out the serpents of his new land. His name was St. Patrick. The shepherd we worship had not read Dale Carnegie and the pop psychologists who exhort us on effective methods enabling us to "win friends and influence people." He had no friends on that black Friday night of betrayal. Christ, who is the friend of us all, died ...

19. Do You Believe In Easter?

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

What a thrill it is to be a preacher on Easter morning! It’s better than being Irish on St. Patrick’s Day or a child on Christmas morning or Tiger Woods at the Master’s or a Duke basketball fan on April 2nd of this year. (You knew I would mention that sooner or later, didn’t you?!) The great New Testament scholar C.H. Dodd said, "The resurrection is ...

20. Tongue-tied By Three Zeros

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

... the subject up. You've heard some of the illustrations I've heard (and used) to explain the Trinity. When I stood back to look at them, they sound as inadequate as "The Double Oh's" or "The Zilches " or "The Aughty Aught Aughts." There's St. Patrick's Cloverleaf image of the Trinity. One clover--three leaves. Then there's the egg: one egg, three parts--shell, white, yolk. Then there's the H2O analogy. Water in three states--liquid, frozen, and steam. And who can forget the person in three roles analogy ...

21. The Lord's Prayer: Thine Is the Kingdom

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... recite this prayer every Sunday and throughout the week. People from every nation, tribe, color, class and station of life; people from every denomination. God must be happy when this takes place. Once when John, Jennifer, and I were vacationing in New York City, we stopped at St. Patrick''s Cathedral where I offered a prayer for traveling mercies for my wife as she visited her folks in Iowa. I also lit a candle for John and Jennifer. If I was going to watch these kids for five days, I needed all the help I ...

22. The Urge to Purge

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... sanctioned deathbed repentance. While this safeguarded the well-being of the soul as it fled this mortal sphere, the practice did little to appease churches who found themselves up to their necks in young, healthy sinners. It was the Irish St. Patrick who created and popularized the system of private confession and repeatable penances. The practical monk cataloged a list of popular sins coupled with their appropriate penances, which he then passed out to all parish priests. This privatized vision of ...

23. The Hand, the Lamb and the Dove

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... exist. Some of the best attempts, however, have come exactly when we seem to be grasping at straws or perhaps more accurately, at braids. One of my favorite contemporary authors, the British essayist Sara Maitland, writes that "Although many of us have grown up gratefully with St. Patrick's cloverleaf image of the Trinity three leaves making up one clover leaf there is always room for some new imagery as well. My favorite model of the Trinity is that it is like a child's pigtail. If the Trinity is seen as a ...

24. Hope That God Is Nearby

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... eye is on the sparrow, I know he watches over me.” Of that I am certain. On that promise, I stake my life. Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that God is with us regardless of how it turns out. St. Patrick’s Prayer: Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, ’Christ beneath me, Christ above me, I bind unto myself the name, The strong name of the Trinity. Amen ...

25. We Believe in the Trinity

John 16:5-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a mystery because God is bigger than I can think, thank God. Every attempt to explain the Trinity is inadequate. I’ve tried all of them and I’ve failed every time. The Trinity is like a three leaf clover—three leaves on one stem; a great idea of St. Patrick’s Day but hardly a full description of the Holy. The Trinity is like water which can be liquid, steam, or ice, but always H2O. That is great science, but poor theology. Or the worst one I ever tried, was using a hard boiled egg that I pretended ...

Showing results