Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Lust - To Discipline The Eye And The Heart

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

... of unwanted babies"2 and of thousands of abortions. Lust is the hammer that breaks human hearts. Lust does away with people as having feelings, hopes, and dreams, and sees them as only so many body parts, or just a thing to have. We heard the report of Susan Smith in Union, South Carolina, who did away with her two young children by driving them into a lake to drown. The reason? We don't know for sure, but she had received a letter from her boyfriend which said he was not ready to have a family. The ...

2. Lent 4

John 3:1-21, Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... Jesus Christ; he held nothing back. Such giving is costly and so many people in our culture have substituted things material for self. It's easier to give your kid ten bucks than to spare your time. It's difficult to condemn someone you love (vv. 16-17). Susan Smith, the mother in North Carolina who put her kids into a car and then pushed it into a lake, was convicted by her neighbors of murder. However, they did not condemn her to death. It's hard to condemn someone you know and love, someone who is your ...

3. Worthy Is The Lamb

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... to bring you to God." As you can tell from your sermon outline, there are two messages from our texts which I have the joy of declaring. The first is this: Salvation Is Available To All. God desires that everyone be saved. That includes O.J. Simpson, Susan Smith, and Timothy McVeigh. Verse 4 of our Timothy text reads: "God desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." What is salvation? It means that the disease of sin working in me is brought under control. I am restored to right ...

4. Mazing Grace or Amazing Grace

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... cannons and police dogs, we were ashamed - and demanded justice. - After the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City, we viewed the carnage and the wreckage and we were terrified - and demanded justice. - After seeing her weep crocodile tears for her "kidnapped" children and then learning Susan Smith herself had drowned her young boys, we were enraged - and demanded justice. But if any of us were to die tonight, which would we want to prevail - God's mercy or God's justice? Are you having a good day or a bad day ...

5. Names For The Christ Child

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... Christ is coming again. So instead of [Elizabeth and Megan Smith], we might have on our baptismal records, Miss "Jesus Is Coming Soon" Smith, or "In the Hour You Think Not" Smith. Or, perhaps another young couple is concerned with declining ... is the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1: 16). We have no reason to hide or to disguise our association with Christ. Susan Baker of Shelbyville, Kentucky tells of finding a beautiful puppy that had wandered onto her back porch. Her husband was assigned the task ...

6. On Names That Preach

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

... Christ is coming again. So instead of Elizabeth and Megan Smith, we might have on our baptismal records, Miss "Jesus Is Coming Soon" Smith, or "In the Hour You Think Not" Smith. Or, perhaps Bobby and Annita are concerned with declining morals ... is the power of God unto salvation " (Romans 1: 16). We have no reason to hide or to disguise our association with Christ. Susan Baker of Shelbyville, Kentucky tells of finding a beautiful puppy that had wandered onto her back porch. Her husband was assigned the task ...

7. A Desperate Question

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

George Bass

... must have wanted to die in peace; he had to have an answer to his question. In the movie, Desperately Seeking Susan, it is not really Susan, a veritable free spirit, who is being sought by her friends and lovers, but Roberta who is doing the desperate seeking ... Mediterranean magicians who was able to do all sorts of magic tricks with and upon the sick and the handicapped. Morton Smith, in his book, Jesus the Magician, writes: "Jesus the magician was the figure seen by most ancient opponents of Jesus. Jesus ...

8. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

John 16:7-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... asked him, "Why did you do that?" He said, "Well, I spent about twelve years trying to straighten out John. He never did get straightened out. I spent fourteen months trying to straighten out the marriage of the Smiths, and it never did get straightened out. I spent three years trying to straighten out Susan, and she never did get straightened out. Now when I straighten them out, they stay straight." Well, contrary to what many may think, it is not the job of the preacher to straighten anybody out. The fact ...

9. A Table Like No Others

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... him to make himself real to you once again? 1. Pete Kontra, http://oaklandchurch.org/pdf/sermontexts/OS-04-10-11-If%20You%20Share.pdf. 2. (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1992), pp. 139‑140. Robert J. Morgan, Preacher’s Sourcebook Creative Sermon Illustrations (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007), p. 528. 3. Susan Warrener Smith. Cited Dr. Mickey Anders, Nttp://www.pikevillefirstchristianchurch.org/Sermons/Sermon20020113.html.

10. In the Service

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... soap opera,” or a “subway sandwich of love stories,” but the acting by such “greats” as Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Shirley MacLaine, Penelope Wilton, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, etc. catapult it into a category ... stay at your hotels. And I will tell my friends to stay at your hotels.” (Told in Turned On by Roger Dow and Susan Cook [Harper Business, 1996].) [This would be a great moment to move down into the congregation for a time of congregational interaction. You might ...

11. The Ice Bucket Challenge

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in the fight against ALS. High school kids and college students, socialites and celebrities, Bill Gates and Martha Stewart, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey, Triple H and George W. Bush — all have been online "tagged," digitally "dared," to participate in the ... is not the first disease to use community rituals to get people motivated and in motion. The hugely successful 3day Susan G. Komen breast cancer fundraising walks are a community building "rite" — a time of bonding and commitment by those committed ...

12. Can It Be Sin to Be Shy?

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... shy, God made you just as you are. There are virtues that grow out of shyness. In fact, there is a best-selling book by Susan Cain titled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking that helps shy people appreciate some of those virtues. [ ... a determination that they will no longer be our masters. Analyze your fears, see them for what they really are. Logan Pearsall Smith once said something about this. He asked, “What is more mortifying than to feel you’ve missed the plum for want of ...

13. Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Luke 9:11b-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... 4) That is the second thing Jesus is teaching us in this passage: always be ready to meet a need. Taylor and Susan Fields pastor a church with an interesting name, Graffiti Church in New York’s Lower East Side. They and their church members ... John Ortberg, Soul Keeping (Zondervan, 2014), pp. 98-99. 2. Sent by Mary Sutherland MONDAY FODDER, http://family-safe-mail.com/. 3. Alan Smith @Thought-For-The-Day. Join-thought-for-the-day@hub.xc.org to subscribe. 4. http://www.stmatthews-bowie.org/Worship/Sermons/2006 ...

14. More Than Gimmicks

John 6:24-35

Sermon

David Coffin

... asked myself, “What would Jesus say?” Amen. 1. R. Alan Culpepper, Interpreting Biblical Texts: The Gospel and Letters of John, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998). 2. Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of John, (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1998). 3. Gail R. O’Day, and Susan E. Haylen, Westminster Bible Companion: John, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006). 4. D. Moody Smith, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: John (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1999).

15. Discerning In Love

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

Many people have come to rely on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to travel from one place to another. GPS is especially helpful when you are traveling in an area that you are unfamiliar with. By typing in the address of your destination, the GPS will inform you where and when to turn. If you miss a turn it will recalculate your position and get you back on course. The GPS will get you to your destination in one piece and in the same condition you were in when you left. While there is a definite advantage ...

16. The Future Present

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

We Protestants don’t know what to do with Mary. Because the doctrines of the Catholic church have turned Mary into a sweet passive icon of virginal purity, we Protestants have been content to leave her out of our gallery of biblical saints — except of course, for her obligatory appearance in our Christmas pageants. Today in both scripture and song, we meet Mary again. The woman we meet this time is no quiescent vessel. Lifting up the radical reversals of God’s vision, this Mary predicts a revolution — the ...

17. Counting The Cost?

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing ... she out of her poverty has put in everything she had ..." (vv. 43-44) It has been called the world’s greatest business transaction. A widow’s gift of two copper coins - perutas, the smallest of Jewish coinage, having the value of two cents, or less - will be remembered for all time. What is it about this familiar scene? It tugs the heart. Are we sorry for the woman? Oh, some like to dwell on sentimentality and ...

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