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Sermon
Robert V. Dodd
Epilogue: Some Early Witnesses to Christ Joseph and Mary were the initial human witnesses to Christ. They had experienced angel visitations concerning their first-born son. And they knew for certain that he was God's special Child - unlike any other person who ever walked the face of the earth. They were privileged to watch him grow and to help him grow in his own understanding of who he was and w...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
Every one of us, men and women, young and old alike live with a Legacy. Unfortunately, you can't choose the Legacy you have to live with. It's given to you by those who have gone before you. By those who raised you and influenced your life. Some of us live with a with Legacy that has set us free and empowered us. Some of us live with a Legacy that is more like chains which bind us. And struggl...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Garasenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. — Luke 8:37 In polite society we have not wanted to talk much of demons and the demonic. In our liberal, educated culture, we believe that sin was due mostly to ignorance and that evil could be eradicated by education. In our ps...
4. Playing It Safe
Luke 8:26-39
Sermon
Robert C. Cochran
I am here today to tell you that a great fraud is being perpetrated in my hometown. Ever since I returned to Findlay, people have been telling me: “Join the Y, and you’ll get in shape.” So, I finally joined the Y (I’m old enough to remember when it was called the YMCA!) a year ago, and I have to tell you, it has done me no good. It would serve them right if I’d actually enter the building for the ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
From Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” to The Nightmare on Elm Street’s “Freddy;” from Friday the Thirteenth’s “Jason” to Stephanie Meier’s vampire “Voltaire”, we are always creating new monsters. Why are we constantly on the lookout for bigger, scarier “bumps in the night?” Why do we keep making up monsters that are so elaborate and extraordinary, so super-powered and immortal? Maybe we need our mons...
Sermon
David R. Cartwright
How do you handle what happens when you're not prepared for what happens? Well, sometimes not all that well. I would like to call your attention to a movie, Cheaper By The Dozen, starring Steve Martin. There are numerous scenes in this movie that illustrate how one father tries to take care of things while his wife is away. This movie is about a father who has just gotten his dream job of coachin...
Sermon
Arley K. Fadness
He is a tortured man! His hair is tossed and tousled. His beard appears shaggy and matted with debris. His eyes stare saucer-like and hypnotic, betraying his clueless and clotheless dilemma. He beats and cuts himself with sharp rocks until blood flows, clots, and flows again. Blue bruises dot his skin like a leopard's spots. He lives in the cemetery. Imagined or real zombies are his friends. Gera...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
A familiar story. One wag says it is the only one in scripture that deals with "deviled ham." Yuck, yuck. The narrative builds around the sensitivities of Jewish piety. Pigs were the personification of uncleanness.(1) They were easily associated with Gentile uncleanness. Tombs were also a source of uncleanness, and in Jewish areas they were whitewashed so that one might not come in contact with a ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Anybody here not heard of Murphy's Law? We know it by heart, don't we? Let's say it together: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." Anybody here know where it started and who Mr. Murphy was? The first reference to Murphy's Law was in the April 1956 issue of Scientific American in the "Amateur Scientist" column. Let me give the quote from which the Murphy's Law phenomenon spread like a vi...
Sermon
Alexander H. Wales
Ours is an age that is filled with demons. There is more possession going on in the first decade of this 21st century than has gone on in many a century. And the problem is that we don't want to mention it because demons are part of the mythical past. We in our scientific world do not believe in demons. That is because demons are powers that take away our control and leave us at the mercy of power...
11. Step One - Honesty
Luke 8:26-39 · Proverbs 23:29-35
Sermon
John A. Terry
This past summer I read an article that caused me to make a significant change from my usual practice of preaching from the lectionary. The article, titled, "Coming to Grips with Drug Abuse," made the point that neither clergy nor parents need to be experts on drug dependency, though we do need to be well informed. We need to understand what it means to describe chemical dependency as a disease. T...
Sermon
James W. Moore
The noted author, John Killinger, tells a powerful story about a man who is all-alone in a hotel room in Canada. The man is in a state of deep depression. He is so depressed that he can’t even bring himself to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. He is a powerful man usually the chairman of a large shipping company but at this moment, he is absolutely overwhelmed by the pressures and demands o...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Evil exists. Not Hollywood’s evil with its vampires, witches, werewolves, and fantastical warlords, but the kind that draws true horror to our faces and freezes our hearts in fear –abominations so horrible that we can barely take them in. If evil were merely the stuff of horror films and superstitions, we might go about our day relatively unmussed and unmoved, waving it off as a flight of fancy....
14. Selling Out
Luke 8:26-39
Sermon
Dave Zuchelli
When I was in Israel several years ago, I took one of the boats that crossed the Sea of Galilee. When we reached the far shore, we were whisked by bus to a place near the ancient city of Gadara. In its heyday, Gadara was an urban area — one of the cities of the Decapolis. It was at the southern end of those Ten Roman Cities of fame. Gadara is no longer a city. In fact, it is nothing but a few rui...
Sermon
"This is a strange story," declares J.M. Creed. "Fantastic and grotesque," adds Joseph Fitzmyer. "Unsophisticated, with enough preposterous material to invite the scorn of the skeptic," concludes J. Pesch. These men are all esteemed New Testament scholars. Their statements refer to the story I just read (Luke 8:26-39). If you want a more local opinion, take it from the lady who edits the church pa...
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