Sermon and Worship Resources

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John 2:12-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... over his life. As he wrote, “. . . I survived on hate.” Until one day when he accidentally caught a glimpse of Bill McVeigh, the father of Timothy McVeigh, one of the bombers, on TV. It disturbed Bud to see pain in Bill McVeigh’s eyes. Bud recognized that pain. Ever since the day of the bombing, Bud Welch had been an outspoken proponent for executing Timothy McVeigh. But after seeing McVeigh's father on TV, Bud stopped campaigning for the death penalty. In 1998, Bud was invited to speak to a religious ...

2. God, The Enemy

Luke 12:1-12

Sermon

... long enough, we eventually lose the ability to hear the Spirit. We can't be forgiven because we see no reason to repent. Given that definition, it would seem that Timothy McVeigh, with his self-proclaimed unconquered soul, might be a poster child for the unpardonable sin. But of course, ultimate judgment is up to God, not to us. And although McVeigh said he was an agnostic (as, by the way, was Henley), during his final hours he reportedly accepted a visit from a Catholic priest, who gave him last rites. Of ...

3. God, the Enemy

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

4. Master of My Fate; Captain of My Soul

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

Years ago this country witnessed the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. A USA Today poll taken in April showed that 81 percent of Americans wanted McVeigh to be executed -- and 28 percent of that support was from people who are normally against the death penalty. No matter where you stand on the issue of capital punishment, this particular execution has forced itself on our consciousness. One thing that particularly caught my attention ...

5. The Truth about Trouble

2 Timothy 4:16-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... Apostle Paul. Nobody was singing, "Stand by your man" in this trial. Paul's former friends had deserted him like rats jumping off of a sinking ship. It is incredible that even a Timothy McVeigh, guilty of perhaps the most heinous, hateful, horrible crime in the history of the United States, could get a lawyer. That even a Timothy McVeigh had some friends and family who stood with him, and yet Paul had absolutely no one. Correction—he did have someone. He did have the Lord. In trouble, you can always count ...

6. In the Mood for Murder

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... the Branch Dividian crisis in Waco. He got angry . . . so he blew up a building and killed over one hundred innocent men, women, and children. (1) All of us, at some time or other, experience anger, resentment, hostility and rage. Thankfully, we handle it better than Timothy McVeigh. For some of us, however, anger is a big issue in our lives. It causes us to lash out at our spouses and our children. We unleash it on others on the road or in the workplace. We make ourselves and those around us miserable. In ...

7. Worthy Is The Lamb

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... 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 relationship with God, myself ...

8. Gentiles 'R Us

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... sins against us? Is forgiveness limited or unlimited? If we’re supposed to keep score, wouldn’t three be an easier number to keep up with than seven times seventy? Do we HAVE TO forgive everyone who sins against us, no matter what? Even people like Timothy McVeigh or Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic? How can we do that? Let’s try an experiment. I want each of you to think of the absolute worst thing anyone has ever done to you. You shouldn’t have any trouble remembering that – the big fat lie ...

9. Yes! (Easter Sunday)

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... We are sinners. We are imperfect, flawed, despoiled. But still God loves us and invites us into His eternal house. In April 1995, Edye Smith lost her two small sons, Chase and Colton, in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, two men with a deep hatred for the American government, set off a truck bomb that destroyed the front half of the federal building, including a day care center, and killed 169 people. Edye and her mother, Cathy Wilburn, were devastated ...

10. Faith for Troubling Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... no place on this earth that evil and suffering and heartbreak cannot access. Americans were stunned when Islamic terrorists struck on 9-11. We hadn’t stared evil in the face like that before. Oh, sure, we knew there were demented individuals like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Oklahoma City should have prepared us. But it didn’t. We thought it was a freak, an anomaly. Who could imagine that a small group of committed terrorists could wreak such violence, such destruction as occurred on September 11 ...

11. On Defeating the Devil

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... the devil anymore? We've left him behind with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, relegating "evil" to more manageable and explainable psychoses that can be named and catalogued within the human heart. There's nothing wrong with Hitler, Pol Pot, Timothy McVeigh, Osama bin Laden, and even the fictional Hannibal Lecter that a little pharmacological therapy can't fix, right? I remember approaching my systematic theology professor in seminary and asking, "Do I really have to say that line about the devil and ...

12. Headlines and Holiness

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... be our all-time favorite philosophical question. One of the real classics. Not only that, it is also quite easy to watch the evening news and point out examples of really evil people and really evil events. The nation breathed easier, for example, when Timothy McVeigh was finally executed. One less atrocious human being in the world. It's easy to spot people like him. We are far less comfortable, however, discussing our own role in the suffering and injustice of this world. And we may say to Jesus, "Look ...

13. The Offense of Grace

Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... ethic - to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, to forgive and love no matter what - it is what Jesus asks. But does it make sense? And does it work? Or is it an offense in our dog-eat-dog world? Is it realistic to expect the families of Timothy McVeigh's victims to forgive him and to love him? Is it appropriate to ask a battered wife to pray for the one who abuses her, to offer the other cheek to the husband who has struck the first one? Yes, God sends sun and rain on the righteous and the ...

14. Worry and Wonder

Matthew 6:24-34

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... anxiety of that inconclusive mammogram? Or the elevated PSA levels? And these are just the anxieties buried in our personal lives. What about the anxieties of that uncontrollable world out there? A turbulent stock market? Remember the anxiety of Y2K, the Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh? The anxiety of 9/11 and anthrax, of the sniper, of Osama bin Laden, and yes, despicable Saddam Hussein? Saturated by a world of worry, it's no wonder we respond irrationally - buying duct tape and plastic sheets to entomb us in ...

15. Do You Renounce All the Forces of Evil?

Luke 4:1-13

Illustration

Frank G. Honeycutt

... devil anymore? We've left him behind with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, relegating "evil" to more manageable and explainable psychoses that can be named and catalogued within the human heart. There's nothing wrong with Hitler, Pol Pot, Timothy McVeigh, Che Guevara, Osama bin Laden that a little pharmacological therapy couldn't have fix, right? I remember approaching my systematic theology professor in seminary and asking, "Do I really have to say that line about the devil and all his empty promises ...

16. No More Tears

John 11:17-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... universe. There is one who sees and sympathizes with our distress. Or as we read in Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses . . .” Jesus understands our pain. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder rental truck filled with explosives in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The resulting explosion killed 168 people and destroyed the entire north face of the building. Across the street from the bombed out Federal ...

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