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Sermon
Johnny Dean
This may sound contradictory to you, but the longer I stay in ministry, the less I understand about preaching. In fact, I know less about preaching today than I knew ten years ago. Back then, while I was a seminary student, I could tell you what constituted a good sermon, what was needed to do it right. All I had to do was ask one of my homiletics professors. Today, I’m not so sure they knew all t...
2. Hate Evil
John 3:1-21
Sermon
Harry N. Huxhold
In the Holy Gospel appointed for today our Lord refers to the manner in which Moses "lifted up the serpent in the wilderness." The incident to which our Lord referred is narrated in the First Lesson. The occasion was the outburst of frustration when the Children of Israel had to backtrack from Mount Hor down to the Sea of Reeds to detour around Edom. The reason for the runaround was that the Ed...
Sermon
Leonard H. Budd
The city darkness is very different from the hillside darkness. Out on the hillside, where the shepherds work, the darkness gently settles upon the landscape. It is a quiet dusk that melds into deeper shadows and finally, after so long a stretch of time, becomes the dark in which the stars are the only light. But in the city, the darkness comes as if some giant curtain was suddenly pulled tight, b...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
One of the things that pastors, doctors, fire-fighters, and police have in common that they all receive occasional night calls. And most pastors would agree that some of our most significant opportunities to help people have come in response to night-time calls, usually of an emergency nature. However, not all of our night calls are that significant. Dr. Robert Ozmont of First united Methodist Chu...
5. The New Birth
John 3:1-21
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
When Jimmy Carter was President, the press often described him as a "born-again Southern Baptist." Everybody knew what a Southern Baptist was (just a Methodist unafraid of water and willing to tithe). But the term "born again" was a mystery to many. There was and is something different about Jimmy Carter. Even his political enemies detected in him an inner peace, a spiritual depth, and a transcend...
Sermon
Robert Allen
It was in the springtime and I was speaking at a church in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma. We had a large crowd of people in that small church when the thunder began to roll in the distance. Once the service was over, there was a reception in the fellowship hall. It was one of those occasions when I was in a hurry to get my car and start home before the thunderstorm dropped its rivers of wa...
7. Nicodemus
John 3:1-21
Sermon
Brett Blair
For years, the opening of "The Wide World of Sports" television program illustrated "the agony of defeat" with a painful ending to an attempted ski jump. The skier appeared in good form as he headed down the jump, but then, for no apparent reason, he tumbled head over heels off the side of the jump, bouncing off the supporting structure down to the snow below. What viewers didn't know was that he ...
8. Nicodemus
John 3:1-21
Sermon
David E. Leininger
They say, "There is no fool like an old fool." And I am afraid that is exactly what I have been. I have been so busy protecting our religion that I have been missing our God. I should explain. My name is Nicodemus. I am a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the seventy men charged with the oversight and defense of our historic and honorable faith, the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the faith of ou...
Sermon
David G. Rogne
I came upon Jesus quite by accident. We didn't travel in the same circles, so it was unlikely that we would ever have met socially. I was passing through the marketplace in Jerusalem one day when I heard him speaking to a handful of people who had stopped to listen. "Just another wandering street-preacher," I thought to myself. But as I passed by I heard him talking about the Kingdom of God, and a...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Sometimes, not often and never intentionally, the secular calendar and the sacred calendar mesh. The liturgical calendar has us in the midst of Lent. Lent is traditionally a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and study, leading up to the solemn events of Passion week. Lent is usually associated with giving up something, making some small personal sacrifice in order to better understand the immen...
Sermon
David T. Ball
I don’t know how many foreign films you’ve seen — subtitled in English, so that you hear the foreign language and read the dialogue at the same time. I’ve seen a few, and for the most part I’ve been impressed by how well the English subtitles seem to flow. They must have translators who are pretty good at expressing in English what is being said in another language. But sometimes the subtitles see...
12. Wrong!
John 3:1-17
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Are things ever actually as bad as they seem? Or are things really much worse than we ever imagined? As Christians we have never been promised that life will be smooth and easy. What we have been promised is the assurance of God's presence in our lives through good times and bad, in prosperity and poverty, in our strength and in our weakness. "Good news/bad news" jokes are a common humorous ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
To exist in God is to exist in trinitarian relationships with the world. The liturgical calendar calls this Sunday "Trinity Sunday" a day set aside to "celebrate" the unique triune character of our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. "Celebrate" or stumble over? The complex theological doctrine of the Trinity has always managed to leave scholars somewhat frustrated and the faithful somewhat...
Sermon
Mike Ripski
I. A personal confession My first appointment was as the Associate Pastor of Grace UMC in the Graceland area of south Memphis. It was 1975. Racial transition had begun in that part of the city. Overnight young adult Sunday school classes moved east. Older adult classes moved to Mississippi. People of a different race and culture moved in. Grace Church’s future depended on its reaching out to its ...
Sermon
Brett Blair
I can’t think of a greater condemnation to be levied against a people than this: They loved darkness instead of light. I would never want that to be said of me. But that is the way God sees the world. You and I see the world as it is right now. Most of the people around us try and do the right thing and when we are wrong hopefully we apologize. So we tend to think well of most people. But look out...
Sermon
James Merritt
We are now entering my absolute favorite time of the year - the Christmas Season. If you think about it, there are three things that are absolutely essential to celebrating Christmas, at least here, in America. First of all, you have to have a Christmas list. You've got to make a list of the people that you want to buy gifts for. Incidentally, since many of you ask me every year, I wear an ex...
17. Born Again
John 3:1-21
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Nothing is more revealing of persons than the way they share themselves in conversation. Our Scripture lesson today provides one of the most profound encounters Jesus had with a person —— and the deep conversation they shared. The person is Nicodemus, and we need to refresh our minds as to who this person is. Nicodemus is a Jew, a Pharisee, and a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was one of ...
Sermon
Lee Griess
How much faith does it take to follow? How much trust in God must we have? What does it mean to be part of the kingdom? How can we be born again? That's the question that Nicodemus asked. That's the theme for our time together this morning. How much faith does it take to follow? I came across an interesting idea this past week. I read an article about businesses that reward their employees when th...
Sermon
Charley Reeb
Today I continue our series “Pop Verses.” We are taking a closer look at some of the most popular Bible verses. We are going to find out why they are so popular and how they apply to our lives. What you might discover is that some of these verses don’t mean what you think they mean or they mean a lot more than you think they mean. You see, quite often our favorites verses are just that – they’re ...
20. Rebirth
John 3:14-21
Sermon
John Jamison
The city of Jerusalem was packed with strangers during the Passover feast, so you could walk a long distance and never see anyone you recognized. He was counting on that, as he quickly moved along the streets with his head held low and his face covered. He moved from alleyway to alleyway, looking carefully in all directions before stepping into the openness of a street, making sure there was not s...
Sermon
Ron Lavin
It started with a question in the form of a statement. It ended with the most memorable words in the Bible. In between, there were many mysteries, not the least of which was the declarative statement by Jesus about rebirth and the kingdom of God. I'm talking about the story of the nocturnal meeting of Nicodemus, the member of the Jewish supreme court, with Jesus, who according to John's gospel was...
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
It was late, almost bedtime, when the Jewish leader came to Jesus' residence. Into Jesus' presence came Nicodemus, one of the best-known Jewish professors in all of Israel (a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin). Nicodemus finally reached the short ruddy-faced leader of the disciples, and he said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unl...
Sermon
King Duncan
Some of you will remember when the first heart transplant took place. It was an amazing feat. The first transplant was performed in 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa by Dr. Christiaan Barnard. The recipient was Louis Washkansky, a fifty three year old grocer with a debilitating heart condition. Unfortunately Mr. Washkansky survived only 18 days after the operation. The first successful transplant w...
24. Love Sender
John 3:1-21
Sermon
James Merritt
Without even trying kids can teach us some of the greatest life lessons and when you are a kid you learn some of the greatest lessons in life. I want to share with you a lesson that I learned as a child. It all revolves around this gift [open gift – take out gumballs and a Milky Way]. Now here is the story behind this gum and this candy bar. When I was a child, I had saved enough money to do som...
Sermon
King Duncan
A young woman posted some soul searching thoughts on Facebook recently. Her post was in response to another Facebook post about a teenage boy in Jamaica who was beaten by his classmates. The reason he was beaten is because his father visited his son’s school and informed the boy’s peers that his son is gay. The young man’s father had already informed this young man that he was not welcome back at ...
Showing 1 to 25 of 92 results