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Sermon
Erskine White
And Jesus asked them, "But who do you say I am?" (Mark 8:29) You have to like Peter, the burly fisherman who became Christ's leading disciple and the rock upon which Jesus built His church (Matthew 16:18). Peter failed greatly many times. Many times, he showed his confusion and lack of understanding about the message and ministry of Jesus. He especially failed on the night Jesus was arrested, wh...
Sermon
Richard Patt
"Tell me, who do people say I am?" (v. 27b) Every photographer knows the importance of having the camera lens in focus before triggering the shutter. You can set the right shutter speed. You can open the lens to its proper setting. But if that lens is not in focus, the picture will be worthless. Anyone who’s trying to sell something these days knows the importance of having an accurate focus on th...
Sermon
Stephen M. Crotts
When I was in divinity school some student had written graffiti on the bathroom wall. And I've never forgotten the humor of it. It went something like this: "And Jesus spake unto Peter saying 'Who do men say that I am?' And Peter answered, 'Thou art, according to Paul Tillich, the very ground of our being. Thou art Emmanuel Kant's deontological categorical imperative. Thou art the man of the Escha...
4. Who Is He?
Mark 8:27-30
Sermon
King Duncan
Actor Rex Harrison and his former wife Elizabeth were dining with a few friends at the "21" Club. While they were preparing to order, as happens so often with actors, a handsome young man got up from a nearby table and came over to meet them. He said, "We just got in on the last flight. You've given me so much pleasure through the years, Mr. Harrison, I just had to come over to thank you." Harris...
Sermon
King Duncan
Some time back someone circulated a form called The College Entrance Exam -Football Player Version. This humorous exam consisted of twenty questions and had a time limit of 3 weeks for completion. Let me read you some of the questions: 1.What language is spoken in France? 2. Would you ask William Shakespeare to (a) build a bridge (b) sail the ocean (c) lead an army or (d) (in large capital lette...
Sermon
King Duncan
One of the most important frontiers being explored by today’s scientists is that of artificial intelligence--that is, teaching computers to think like humans. In fact, there are many reputable scientists who believe that by the middle of this century computers will be able to think more efficiently and effectively than human beings. At that point the sci-fi horror movies of robots taking over the ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There was a rock musical in the 1960s called Jesus Christ Superstar. In the musical, Judas Iscariot mocks Jesus with the theme song of the musical. The lyrics of one of the verses are something like this: "If you'd come today you could have reached the whole nation-- Israel in four B.C. had no mass communication . . . Jesus Christ Superstar, Do you think you're what they say you are?" (1) Makes ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
WATCH YOUR MOUTH! What a lesson. There is a classic story about a minister who comes to church one snowy Sunday morning to find that only one lady has been able to make it to worship. As it happens, the text and sermon for the day came from this third chapter of James and focused on the damage done by gossiping. It also turned out that, of all the people in the congregation, this one lady was more...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
A woman went into a restaurant and ordered the breakfast special, "I want my pancakes well done," she said. "You need to cook them all the way through and golden brown on both sides. Use the light syrup because the regular syrup is too sweet. Make the bacon crisp and thin, not oily or soggy and put it on a separate plate. The eggs must be over-easy, not broken or runny." "And would you like butte...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
The question of the ages is the one that meets us in our scripture lesson today. Who is this Jesus? Jesus asked it of his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” You remember - we’ve just read it in our scripture. “Some say that you are John the Baptist, others say that you are Elijah, and others, one of the prophets.” But Jesus pressed the question, “Who do you say that I am?” It was Peter who a...
Sermon
Robert Leslie Holmes
Jeremy Bowen could not be more wrong and Bono could not be more right! Bowen, the presenter of a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary on Jesus Christ, said, "The important thing is not what Jesus was or what he wasn't — the important thing is what people believe him to have been. A massive world wide religion, numbering more than two billion people follows his memory — that's pretty remark...
Sermon
Brett Blair
Could you believe what the news reported this week? [Pause here] You ask, what news report are you talking about preacher: The one that said $87 billion dollars is an admission of the presidents failed policy in Iraq, or the one that said $87 billion shows the presidents serious resolve in finishing what he started in Iraq? Or the report that said the United Nations is now being asked to come in a...
Sermon
King Duncan
How many dreams would you say you have each week? Do you remember them? Have you ever awakened from a dream and thought, “What was that all about?” Discover Magazine interviewed a man named Chuck Lamb who found his life’s work in a very strange—even disturbing—dream. One night Lamb, a computer programmer for Nationwide Insurance, dreamed that he was lying on the floor dead, with a detective stand...
14. The Secret Man
Mark 8:27-38
Sermon
Frank Ramirez
In 1972 two relatively unknown reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, began to cover what was described by one person as “a third rate burglary.” On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into the Watergate Hotel, where the Democratic National Committee had its headquarters. They were attempting to place a wiretap in the party offices. Even though it was an...
15. God Think
Mark 8:27-38
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Leadership is a widely celebrated quality in our culture. Our educational institutions love to train leaders and to fete the success of their alumni. Companies applaud and reward their best leaders, whose minds and spirits forge new pathways, sell products, and make tons of money for boards and stakeholders. Leadership qualities like initiative, innovative thinking, risk-taking, and analytical sk...
16. The Journey
Mark 8:27-36
Sermon
Will Willimon
A few years ago, we had a representative from ''Teach America'' visit our campus. Teach America tries to recruit this nation's most talented college graduates to go into some of the nation's worst public schools. This is Teach America's means of transforming our schools into something better. This woman stood up in front of a large group of Duke students, a larger group than I would suppose would...
17. The Power of Weakness
Mark 8:27-38 · Psalm 19
Sermon
Thomas C. Willadsen
Our lessons this morning feels like an archery target. The psalm starts with the long view, the perspective of the psalmist marveling at the beauty of creation. “The heavens are telling the glory of God,” it begins, but that translation doesn’t quite capture the essence of what is to be expressed Psalm 19:1 (NRSV). It more closely means, “The heavens are continually telling the glory of God.” It’s...
18. Risky Business
Mark 8:27-38
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“Danger, danger!” “Danger Will Robinson, danger!” Who remembers that line from the 1960s series, “Lost in Space”? I know some of you do! For those too young to remember the show, “Lost in Space” was a pre-Star Trek show that told the stories of the Robinson family and their outer space-time adventures. Robot, a large metal contraption with harmonica-like arms, is programmed to protect son Will Rob...
Sermon
Richard A. Jensen
Peter was always doing it. He was always out in front of the other disciples. He was always putting his foot in his mouth. "Who do people say that I am?" Jesus asked his disciples one day. The disciples answered that some people thought he was John the Baptizer or Elijah or one of the prophets. "Enough of what other people think," Jesus said. "What about you? Who do you say that I am?" This time P...
Sermon
John Jamison
After Jesus was baptized by John, he went to spend time in the desert lands east of the Jordan River, to begin preparing for the work he was going to do. While he was there in the wilderness, he got word that John had been arrested and killed. It was then that he decided it was time to come back to Galilee and get to work. He traveled around Galilee, which is not a big place, and began preaching ...
Sermon
Harry N. Huxhold
Glenn Tinder, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, has written a book titled, The Political Meaning of Christianity. While the author acknowledges that what he offers is an interpretation, he also believes that he represents a view that could be common to many Christians. He unabashedly confesses that he is beholden to a unique point of view. What he sees as...
Sermon
Thomas Peterson
A friend and I were having lunch. We enjoyed jumping from one topic to another, sharing, interrupting, countering. I did a double-take when my friend slipped in a surprise. “My marriage is in trouble.” The conversation changed at once. Another new topic had occurred to me, but I dropped it. The time had come for listening. Our conversation had changed from a freewheeling exchange to an intimate op...
Sermon
Donald Macleod
And Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." And he charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
The world invites us to climb ladders; the gospel invites us to lift crosses. What will it be? The Ladder or the Cross? There are two contemporary works of art that have rare symbolic power: the Vietnam Memorial and the AIDS Quilt. Both address the mystery of suffering that has no rhyme or reason; both restructure reality to enable us to deal creatively with the mystery of suffering. In the last...
25. Unacceptable
Mark 8:31-38
Sermon
David T. Ball
Going off to college can be an unsettling experience for Christian students. Somewhere, sometime, college students are going to encounter, and many for the first time, the notion that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Truth with a capital “T.” We may wish that the situation could be otherwise. Parents may especially wish, after all they’ve invested in trying to instill positive values in ...
Showing 1 to 25 of 71 results