Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 26 results

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... the table, he took the bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to themand it was like the experience Helen Keller had as the water trickled over her one hand while Ann Sullivan spelled out WATER with the other. They knew who this stranger ... has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at ...

2. Don't Be Afraid

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... , Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain. Not bad for someone who could not hear or see. Do you know the most remarkable thing about Helen Keller? In the midst of her limited interaction with the world, she was able to say these words, “I thank God for my handicaps, for through ... Simon & Schuster, Inc, 2007), pp. 176-177. 5. Robert J. Morgan, Preacher’s Sourcebook Creative Sermon Illustrations (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007), p. 295. 6. John A. Boadus, A Commentary on The Gospel of Matthew (Philadelphia: ...

3. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... bringing hope and healing as they make a difference in their world for Christ. Quote: Timothy Keller. In his book Counterfeit Gods, pastor and author Keller says, Religion [in the ancient Near Eastern world] was a form of social control. The operating ... it was ordered that Wycliffe’s remains be exhumed and burned. But it was Wycliffe who had the last laugh. Church historian Thomas Fuller wrote, “To city of Lutterworth they come, . . . take what was left out of the grave, and burnt them to ashes, and ...

4. In Quest of a Treasure

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Larry Powell

... streets had a wretched past, sand Samson was arrogant. Solomon was worldly, David was stricken by seizures, Job was afflicted, Thomas, doubted, and the Samaritan was despised. John Wesley did battle daily with cockiness; Captain Webb, a great revivalist preacher, wore ... among their own kind, (3) free from pests, and (4) free from hunger. I do not know much about sheep, but if Keller is correct, sheep and people apparently require about the same things for security. (a) Free from fear. Do we confess Christ ...

5. Three Secrets of A Life Well Lived

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Brett Blair

... parents, friends walk away when you need them most, a loved one dies creating an awful void. The famous author Thomas Wolfe came to this conclusion, “The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from ... she did that as well. Ann Sullivan went on when most everyone else would have given in. Her reward? Her student Helen Keller received the PhD from Temple University in Philadelphia and became an inspiration for thousands. The thing that most distinguished Ann Sullivan’ ...

6. Blinding Specks

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... be greatly dark, The moving Why they do it; And just as lamely can ye mark How far perhaps they rue it.8 When Helen Keller was still quite young, she read Macaulay’s Life Of Samuel Johnson. She said that her heart went out "to the lonely man who ate ... one unreceptive to that grace. In Jean Anouilh’s play, Becket, Bishop Folliot, not for the most commendable reasons, opposes Thomas Becket’s appointment as Archbishop. The King is determined that he shall be Archbishop, and eventually achieves his goal in ...

7. Who's The Blind One Around Here?

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... of faith. Another person who was born blind but had the gift of spiritual sight was Helen Keller. She once wrote, "I learned that it is possible for us to create light, sound and order no matter what calamity may befall us in the outer world." (5) Helen Keller possessed an inner light even in the face of a darkened outer world. There were some ... Buscalgia. New York: Slack, Inc., 1986, p 51. 6. Life's Not Fair but God Is Good. Robert H. Schuller. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, pp. 153-157.

8. The Last Parable

Mark 12:1-12

Sermon

James McCormick

... He had to let us know. It reminds me of the frustration experienced by the mother of Helen Keller. You remember, that while she was an infant, Helen Keller lost both her sight and her hearing. How can you communicate with someone who can neither see ... decision to make. Who is Jesus, and what does he have to do with us? I’ll talk a bit more about that next Sunday. But Thomas Carlyle once said that if Jesus were to come back today we would never crucify him – we are too refined for that. Carlyle said that ...

9. Embalmed With Cardiac Arrest

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... For I am sure of you. What are we saying? That there are many ways of arriving at certainty. Scientific proof is one. Oh, yes, Thomas stuck his fingers in the scars and then he fell down and said: "My Lord and my God," and Jesus rebuked him, because he had ... Does that sound like double talk? It isn’t. This is the truth for all of us. I think of how limited Helen Keller was in obtaining provable certainties. She could not hear. She could not see. She could not speak. When, finally, they developed that ...

10. Whatever He Says - Do It!

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... reason for the hang-up is, that these people can't understand the difference between those who drink wine and drunkards. St. Thomas Aquinas could. He said that "the heart of all sin is that men use what they ought to enjoy and enjoy ... way of courage, to show the way of love and sacrifice, to show the way of joy and accomplishment in life. As the great Helen Keller once said: "I like to think that, through my limitations, God is working out some great purpose. My troubles have also been great adventures, and ...

11. Well, What's for Sure?

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... the reach of science and may be, and probably are, forever beyond the comprehension of the human mind." Listen to the words of Thomas Edison: "We don’t know the millionth part of one percent about anything. We don’t know what water is. We don’t ... KNOW. Does that sound like double talk? It isn’t. It’s at the heart of every human life. Think of how limited Helen Keller was in obtaining provable certainties. She could not hear. She could not see. She could not speak. But when they were finally able to ...

12. Light For Our Lives

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean . . . .the cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, a famous painter and sculptor . . . And that group of clouds over there gives me the impressions of the stoning of ... , are all the decorations in place? Do you have peace with yourself? Do you have a purpose for your life? That blessed saint, Helen Keller once wrote: "Christmas is the harvest time of love. Souls are drawn to other souls. All that we have read and thought and hoped ...

13. Don't Look Down

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... of us take risks. We would never have anything if we did not. No new relationships would be formed. No new businesses would be started. No new homes would be built. Helen Keller got it right when she said that, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky put it this way, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." Mark ... Dunnam in Dale Galloway, LEADING WITH VISION (Kansas City, Beacon Hill Press: 1999), pp. 97-98. 4. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997, Jan. 15).

14. Memorial Day

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Angela Akers

... Esquire, November 1998, p.26. 5. Daniel Boorstein (Former Librarian of Congress, Pulitzer Prize winning historian). Cited in Quote, "The Speaker's Digest," August 1995, p. 216. 6. FromAn American Journey, by Colin Powell, cited in The Magic of Teamwork by Pat Williams, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1997, p. 178. 7. Wayne H. Keller, Emphasis, Nov./Dec., 1998, pp. 41-42. 8. The Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min., "Why Do We Remember Our War Dead?" Religion in Daily Life, May 24, 2001. EdwardChinn@earthlink.net

15. Did He Dance?

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... persons whose physical eyes did not function as they should who have lived amazingly whole lives. I think of Helen Keller, vision-impaired and hearing-impaired who became a writer and speaker of renown and is still influencing people all over ... the natural leader that Peter is, and I may not be able to write like John, but I'm certainly as trustworthy as Andrew or Philip or Thomas or Bartholomew. I know you trust Judas with the money, but secretly I've had my doubts about him. Why can't I travel with you like ...

16. Murphy's Law and Messiah's Law

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 's Law is Eric Sevareid's Law: "The chief cause of problems is solutions." CBS News, 29 December 1970. (quoted in Thomas L. Martin, Jr., Malice in Blunderland [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973], 23.) We in the church have a version of Murphy' ... get out, he was able to go back to work. He realized that he would never produce the whole tree, the whole glory of God. -Tim Keller, "Why We Need Artists," in It Was Good Making Art to the Glory of God, ed. Ned Bustard (Baltimore, MD: Square Halo Books, 2000), 87. All ...

17. Good News about Faith

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... high in the U.S. People who kill themselves see no way out they come to believe that there is no reason to live. Helen Keller, who, like Bartimaeus was blind in her eyes, but not in her soul, put it like this: their “eyes are full of light but [they] ... blood changed along with it. When her mind was cured, her body was also on the way to being cured.” Then Tournier quotes St. Thomas Aquinas: “Grace flows from the soul to the body.” (5) No doctor can tell you how much effect the mind has over the body ...

18. The Voice of the Shepherd

John 10:1-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Voice of the Shepherd. And when we listen, The Voice of the Shepherd Guides Us. At the age of forty-seven, Nick Thomas found himself unemployed and under tremendous financial pressure. He had had a successful career in the Air Force and the insurance ... Us. IV. The Voice of the Shepherd Tells Us Who We Are And finally, The Voice of the Shepherd Tells Us Who We Are. Phillip Keller in his book, A SHEPHERD LOOKS AT PSALM 23, tells us that sheep are very fearful creatures. They simply won't lie down unless they ...

19. In Spite Of

Illustration

... huge amount of money, a wonderful education none of these guarantee success. Booker T. Washington was born in slavery. Thomas Edison was deaf. Abraham Lincoln was born of illiterate parents. Lord Byron had a club foot. Robert Louis Stevenson ... there was Louis Pasteur, so near-sighted that he had a difficult time finding his way in his laboratory without glasses. There was Helen Keller, who could not hear or see, but who graduated with honors from a famous college. "Got a handicap? Call on the Lord. No problem ...

20. The Season Of The Resurrection

John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Bulletin Aid

Wayne H. Keller

Theme: Jesus Appears to the Disciples, and Makes a Special Appearance to Thomas. Today is also Bright Sunday, not Low Sunday. AN INVITATION TO THE EASTER CELEBRATION Pastoral Invitation In the name of the risen Christ, welcome. Last week, I asked you to wear bright clothes today; thank you for doing so. Now, how many of you know that this past Monday is known as Bright Monday? How many of you know that today is Bright Sunday, which we clergy have often called "Low Sunday," because it is the Sunday after ...

21. Living in The Present

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

Just stop for a moment and take a look at how many opportunities are yours today, right now, this moment. Think about where you are — this church, this group of people, the person sitting beside you. Think about the one behind you and in front of you. Consider how your presence might affect each of these people. Think about what your presence here stands for in this congregation and in this community. This is your life! You are making a statement by being here. You can use these moments not only to fill ...

22. The Season of the Resurrection

John 20:24-31, John 20:19-23

Sermon Aid

Wayne B. Keller

Liturgical Color: White Theme: The risen Christ confronts a doubting Thomas Pastoral Invitation to the Celebration Suggestion: Begin, when we worship, we celebrate our personal relationship with God, our affirmations and our doubts, and our worldwide relationship with each other - as fellow humans, both friends and enemies, as fellow Christians, both known and unknown, both living and dead. Continue with this litany between pastor and ministers: Pastor: Be alert! Be aware! Be expectant! Ministers: Make us ...

23. The Season Of Expectancy

Mark 13:1-31, Mark 13:32-37

Sermon Aid

Wayne H. Keller

Liturgical Color: Purple/Blue Theme: Be Alert/Be Prepared. Advent (which means "coming") is the great getting-ready-moment for the birth of the world's Savior. THE COMMUNITY PREPARES Choral Invitation You will need two choirs, or partial choirs. One choir, placed in the chancel, will sing with much vigor and enthusiasm, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." The second choir, from the rear of the sanctuary, will sing quietly, almost in a whisper, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." Have the choirs sing these separately, ...

24. The Calling of the First Disciples

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon Aid

Wayne H. Keller

The Community Gathers Pastoral Invitation Again, God, the Evangel, has invited, has called us to worship. We, God's evangels, have said, "yes." God has called us to no spectator sport. The liturgy, that is, the order of worship, is defined as "the work" (and I add, the play) of the people, not the production of the pastor, church secretary, or musicians. So, as always, as God's evangels, we work and play in worship, in order to work and play in our vocation, education, socialization, and recreation. In one ...

25. The Season Of The Holy Spirit

Matthew 6:25-34

Bulletin Aid

Wayne H. Keller

THE COMMUNITY GATHERS TO CELEBRATE Pastoral and Congregational Invitation (Pastor and Ministers) In the name of the Christ who says, "Do not worry," did we come today bringing any worries? (Pause.) Will anyone take the risk of sharing those worries at the beginning of worship? (Pause.) I invite us to learn some new ways to deal with those worries during this thanksgiving worship. We begin by focusing on the one who has given us the message not to worry. (R.S. - Right Side; L.S. - Left Side) Pastor: ...

Showing results