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1. How Odd Of God
Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
John A. Stroman
In every generation if we are to apprehend the abiding forces that will dominate and direct the future, then we must believe in the minute, the diminutive, and the inconspicuous, as is seen in such New Testament words as "mustard seed" and "leaven." The most remembered events turn out to be not the vociferous and noisy affairs that split the eardrums of their contemporaries, but rather the embryo...
Sermon
Daniel G. Mueller
Mary was "in trouble." A married woman gets pregnant and we say that she "is in a family way," or "expecting." But when an unmarried girl gets pregnant, we say she is "in trouble." And Mary was definitely "in trouble." She was going to have a baby and she wasn’t married. One day, out of the clear blue sky, with no warning or advance preparation whatsoever, an angel from God came to Mary and told h...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
As our world gets smaller and smaller we become more and more aware of other cultures and religions, and we increasingly wonder about our own religion. If once we thought of them in rather exclusive terms, can we do so in a world which seems to have relative exclusive truth claims? If once we thought of Christianity as the final word in religion, can we do so in face of a vital and resurgent Islam...
Sermon
Paul E. Flesner
This morning's Gospel from Luke recounts God's announcement to Mary that she was to become the Mother of the Savior. It describes Mary's initial reaction of fear and confusion, and Joseph's reaction to the fact that his fiancée was about to have a child that wasn't his. Then Luke records Mary's song of praise (called the "Magnificat") which she sang in response to this announcement. You see, God's...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
The Christmas "secret" must be put back into the Christmas "spirit." Madison Avenue has a problem. In the last two decades, consumers have built up their immune systems to resist traditional advertising methods and slogans: Hence the ever more outrageous tactics to reach us. Ad execs are desperate to find that new gimmick or jingle that will reel us in. Additionally, our attention spans have...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Three days before the first big winter storm hit, the phone rang. It was “Odie,” the local plumber, volunteering to come over and do some work. He offered to drain out the hot water tanks and outside pipes ahead of the blast of arctic air headed our way. “Odie” wasn’t trying to drum up any business for himself. In fact, if all our pipes burst he would make a lot of money repairing the damages. He ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
It has been said the best thing about Christianity is that no one could have guessed it! That the Omnipotent became an embryo, the Infinite an infant, the Almighty, a tiny child nursing at his mother's breast, is more than our small minds can comprehend. So the biggest challenge of Christmas is not busyness but belief. Will we let our mundane minds dance with mystery? Will the wonder of it al...
8. Surprise
Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Surprise, Surprise, life is full of surprises! The Extreme Home Makeover crew drives up to someone's home and surprises them with a brand new house. Amy Grant surprises three people a week on TV by granting their wishes. A crazy youth pastor surprised his bride by having his dog be the ring bearer. To be surprised is to feel wonder, astonishment, amazement, at something unanticipated. To be s...
9. Mary's Complaint
Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56
Sermon
David E. Leininger
I suppose you have had the chance to watch at least a little television during these busy days before Christmas. Have you noticed that the news programs are carrying more stories about unfortunate people these days...people who have lost their homes, people who are facing debilitating disease, people who seem to have had their whole world fall in on them? Have you noticed that? I understand why: s...
10. Surprise!
Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
David E. Leininger
Do you like surprises? Some folks do. Not me, I do not like bad surprises at all and only tolerate good surprises. In general, I prefer no surprises. I realize that life is full of surprises though, so they will come whether I want them or not. Some surprises will be bigger than others, of course. Ask Mary. She surely got a major surprise. There she was, doing the dishes or sweeping the floor or ...
Sermon
James Merritt
Promises, Promises. Every time someone breaks a promise, they just blame it on the old saying "Promises were meant to be broken." It is very hard not to believe that and accept that as a way of life. The world's three most famous promises are promises that are never kept. Do you know what they are? The check is in the mail I'll love you in the morning I'm from the government and I'm here to help...
12. Violet, The Color of Royalty
Luke 1:31-35, Luke 23:33-38
Sermon
"Prepare the royal highway ... the King of Kings is near!" This is Advent! Together, as God’s people in Jesus Christ, we look for the coming of our Lord. Last Sunday morning, we began our celebration of the Advent/Christmas season with a look at the "Colors of Christmas!" For our first color, our emphasis last Sunday was on green - the color of life. We spoke of Christ Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem...
Sermon
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.... (Luke 1:26) From our text in Luke you have heard the Bible’s account of how God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary. But this is not the only version of the story. There is another, unofficial, version which came to light recently when an ancient manuscript was discovered in Bethlehem. For those of us who li...
14. Where's The Treasure?
Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
Thomas Long
When I was a child there was a game we would play in our neighborhood to pass the time on rainy afternoons. It was a game of the imagination, and if it had a name, which I don't think it did, it would have been called "Where Would You Leave the Treasure?" The idea was this: Suppose you had a large amount of money, a treasure really, but some unexpected crisis has come up, and suddenly you have to ...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
Three sisters lived in the forest. The oldest was named Bean Plant, the middle sister was named Marigold, and the youngest was called Lily. It was summer; the weather was beautiful and all who lived in the forest were happy and gay. The two older sisters thought themselves to be rather important. Bean Plant attracted lots of attention through the lush and rich beans which she produced so abundant...
Sermon
King Duncan
One of the most beautiful of the modern Christmas songs was written by a man who is best known, perhaps, as a comedian. His name is Mark Lowry. Lowry is also a musician of some note. He performed for many years with the Gaither Vocal band. In 1984 he was asked to pen some words for his local church choir and he wrote a poem that began like this, “Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day...
Sermon
John E. Harnish
It's an obvious understatement to say we live in a day of great fear. The language of "terror" has become the motivating mantra of our day. I did a Google search for the word "fear," and I came up with a fascinating site called "The Phobia List"—pages of phobias, A to Z. Everything from Alliumphobia—the fear of garlic and Lachanophobia—the fear of vegetables to Zemmiphobia—the fear of the great mo...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
It’s a shame that about the only time we think about Mary, the mother of Jesus, is around Christmas. I’m grateful for the recent movie, “The Nativity,” that focused attention on her. Mary was a remarkable young woman. In our Apostles Creed, she is one of only three people mentioned—Mary, Jesus, and Pontius Pilate. (1) When we meet Mary in Scripture, she is just an adolescent Jewish girl, probably...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
It is always interesting to discover the origin of names. I suppose most of you were named for a relative. Some are named for saints, or heroes, and some just bear the names that were chosen because they sound distinguished. Some names are unfortunate. I heard about a man who joined the Navy. His name was Tonsillitis Jackson. The Navy couldn't believe it, so they did a check on him, and discovere...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
An elementary public school south of Seattle had its own run-in with this year's holiday tree controversy. The school had set up a "Giving Tree," one of those neon coiled silver-trees adorned with cut-out paper mittens, each one of which held the wish of a particular child living at one of the nearby homeless shelters. School kids were encouraged to select a mitten, purchase a wish-gift for the h...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
That haunting song you just heard, written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene and sung so beautifully by Cheryl Sarfas (or Amy Ford), causes me to wonder, “What did Mary know? And, conversely, what did she not understand?” Mary, the mother of Jesus, was probably about 14 years old when we meet her in Scripture. She was a simple Jewish girl born to Hannah and Joachim in the village of Nazareth, up in ...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
Noah Webster, for whom the dictionary was named, was a lexicographer. He is responsible for the standardizing of American English at the beginning of the 19th century. As you might imagine, he was a stickler for the proper definition of words. One day his wife opened the kitchen door and discovered Noah kissing the maid. Mrs. Webster exclaimed, "Why Noah, I'm surprised!" He said, "No, my dear. We'...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
As a little girl climbed up into Santa's lap, Santa asked the usual, "And what would you like for Christmas?" The little girl just stared at Santa with her mouth open and horrified look on her face for a minute, and then she gasped: "Didn't you get my E-mail?" That had to have been the same sort of horrified look that Mary must have had on her face when the Angel of the Lord appeared to her and s...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Almost every Christmas pageant has the procession of the three wise men bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I’m going to preach about those three wise men next Sunday. But today, I’m talking about three wise women. There were many significant women in Jesus’ life. In fact, someday I’m going to do a series by that title - “The Women in Jesus’ Life.” Today I want to focus upon thre...
Sermon
King Duncan
Pastor Ben Patterson tells about his 5-year-old niece, Olivia, and her best friend, Claire, who were participating in a nativity play at school. Claire was playing Mary, and Olivia played an angel. Before the show, a young boy was going around the dressing room proclaiming to all who could hear him, “I’m a sheep.” Then asking, “What are you?” Each child responded politely, including Olivia, who pr...
Showing 1 to 25 of 66 results