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Sermon
Alexander H. Wales
The hours were passing rapidly. Time was running out. Jesus was trying to get everything in before the end of his ministry. He had so much to say, and yet, he was aware of the fact that the disciples were just not ready to take it all in. Up to this point, they were struggling just to understand what he had been trying to tell them. They were still stumbling over the meaning of the parables, atte...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
The Festival of Pentecost long has been neglected within American Protestantism. Often coinciding with Memorial Day weekend, it tends to be overshadowed by parades and visits to cemeteries and memories of those loved long since and lost a while. Even more than that, it is overshadowed by the official opening of summer for those of us in northern states. Memorial weekend is for opening cottages, la...
Sermon
Larry Powell
Clarence Macartney tells of a certain Canadian river which flows through a forbidding chasm. Looming on either side of the river are rugged, uninviting crags which bear the names "Eternity" and "Trinity." Macartney suggests that the opposing crags invite an analogy (you understand of course, that to a preacher, most everything invites analogy). "Inseparable from any true conception of God," he say...
Sermon
T. A. Kantonen
Trinity Sunday focuses our attention on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the distinctive Christian teaching on God. The Athanasian Creed, in which this doctrine was first set forth in detail, declares that no one can be saved unless he believes it. But it places a severe burden on our understanding. It is not easy to believe that God can be one and three at the same time. A contemporary theologia...
Sermon
Brett Blair
School’s out. Summer’s here. My kids have been waiting for this for weeks. All summer and nothing but swimming, riding their bikes, endlessly playing video games, and vacations. While our kids live in that world this summer we adults will be living in another. There is the economy and the struggle to keep Wall Street and Main Street happy and accountable at the same time.  There are conflicts with...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. — John 16:13 For some it is ancient history. But for others it is as fresh as yesterday. I speak of 1972 when the word "cover-up" came into our consciousness in a big way — the cover-up by then-President Richard Nixon regarding the Watergate scandal. Assured of a landslide victory in his election for a second term, Richard Nix...
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
Some time ago I read in the paper that the United States Treasury has a "conscience fund," which was created for those who have lied, cheated or stolen, and who now wish to salve their consciences by returning to someone the money which they had gotten dishonestly. The "Conscience Fund" was established by Congress in 1811 when an anonymous donor who claimed to have defrauded the government sent fi...
8. A Mystery
John 16:12-15
Sermon
Robert C. Cochran
Of all the theologians I read regularly, I think the religious writer who most consistently delights me is Peter Marty, son of long-time Lutheran writer Martin Marty. Like his father before him, Peter appears in The Lutheran magazine every month. For me, his article is usually the highlight of the magazine. One month, Pastor Marty spoke of prayer as a conversation with God, not as much a chance t...
Sermon
Larry Powell
Someone has astutely observed that our culture does not handle "endings" very well. "Beginnings," on the other hand, seem to come off quite nicely. Weddings, beautiful and memorable in themselves, are also occasions for parties, bridal showers, gift bearing, and other happy kinds of experiences which we usually associate with the celebration of two persons in love beginning a new home. When a home...
Sermon
James Weekley
But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. "I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'...
Sermon
James Merritt
I heard about a pastor who left the pastorate after twenty years, and decided to become a funeral director. Somebody asked him, "Why did you do that?" He said, "Well, I spent about twelve years trying to straighten out John. He never did get straightened out. I spent fourteen months trying to straighten out the marriage of the Smiths, and it never did get straightened out. I spent three years try...
Sermon
King Duncan
Robert Lewis in his book Real Family Values tells a fascinating story about a remarkable, heartwarming discovery workers at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Ohio, made in the winter of 1993. While renovating a section of the museum, they found a photograph that had been hidden in a crevice underneath a display case. The man in the picture had a bat resting on his shoulder; he was wearing...
Sermon
King Duncan
Kay Strom was teaching third grade in a large elementary school. One morning all of the teachers were called to the teachers' room for an emergency meeting, and they hurried over, leaving their classes unsupervised. Everyone was worried, but none as much as Mrs. Whiting, because her class of first graders was especially mischievous and unruly. When they got to the teachers' room, Mrs. Whiting sai...
Sermon
King Duncan
One of the strangest plays in baseball took place years ago at Ebbets Field, home of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers had men on first and second with no outs. The batter hit a towering fly to right center. The runners stayed close to their bases, thinking the ball would be caught. The batter, however, ignoring the men already on base, lowered his head and charged around the bases like a stam...
Sermon
King Duncan
An aging Jew was crossing the street in front of a Roman Catholic church. He was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver. As he lay there, half conscious, a priest hurried out, and prepared to administer the last rites. "Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost?" the priest asked. "I'm dying," cried the old man, "and he's asking me riddles!" Peppermint Patty steps up to...
Sermon
King Duncan
Sometimes fact IS funnier than fiction. According to a recent article in the New York TIMES, over the past 50 year authorities in the Soviet Union have been deliberately sabotaging their own maps of the Soviet countryside. Rivers, bridges, cities and coastlines have all been shown in wrong locations on maps or deliberately drawn incorrectly. Distance scales have been an absolute joke. Soviet theor...
17. The Quiet Day of Pentecost
John 16:5-16, John 15:18--16:4
Sermon
George Reed
Pentecost is a celebration of the church's beginning. The coming of the Spirit brought great excitement and power to those early disciples of Jesus. In an extraordinary way, the presence of God was heard, seen, and felt as the rush of mighty wind, the tongues of fire, and the speaking in various languages which came upon them. As the story unfolds that day, there are about 3,000 souls added to the...
18. Learning to Live Without Jesus
John 16:5-16, John 15:18--16:4
Sermon
William G. Carter
Everywhere you looked, you saw people in tie-dyed t-shirts. Mothers gave drinks of apple juice to their children, while men in gray pigtails sipped Budweiser and tossed the empties beneath somebody's car. Teenagers spread blankets on the asphalt and took naps in the summer sunshine. Middle-aged hippies danced freely throughout the Philadelphia parking lot. Hundreds of mourners spontaneously gather...
Sermon
James Merritt
A great preacher in our Convention once told the story of skiing in Colorado, and he noticed on the slopes some people wearing red vests. Wondering who they were, he went closer and read these words on them: BLIND SKIER. He was astounded. If you've ever been skiing or just watched other people ski, you know how hard it must be to ski with two good eyes, much less with no eyesight at all. He wonder...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
A few years ago in the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, a float stalled. Frustrations increased quickly because other floats could not move, and this event was televised around the world. Mechanics quickly descended upon the stalled float, searching all over for the problem. Finally, someone had the presence of mind to check on the fuel level of the vehicle. It was empty, out of gas. This became even...
Sermon
James Merritt
Perry Mason. A name that can strike the fear of God into the heart of any prosecutor. For any defendant accused of murder, he was the supreme "ace in the hole." From September of 1957 to October of 1966, Perry Mason tried 270 murder cases on television. How many cases did he lose? Believe it or not, he appears to have lost two. In "the case of the Terrified Typist" a jury returns a guilty verdict...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
The teacher kept saying it would suddenly dawn on me. That there would be a cloud-clearing, sun-streaming moment of revelation and I would miraculously get it. I [Elizabeth] was in the ninth grade and the "it" was working out proofs in geometry. For months I had been struggling to understand why the teacher and some of my friends could look at a problem and immediately visualize, then verbalize, ...
Sermon
Ron Lavin
According to the dictionary, an advocate is "a powerful and influential person who defends or maintains a cause or proposal on our behalf." Someone working for us and on our behalf can be very beneficial when we are in some kind of difficulty or trouble. Someone working for us and on our behalf in life with integrity has value beyond description. In other words, a strong human advocate can save us...
Sermon
James Merritt
A great preacher in our Convention once told the story of skiing in Colorado, and he noticed on the slopes some people wearing red vests. Wondering whom they were, he went closer and read these words on the vest: BLIND SKIER. He was astounded. If you've ever been skiing or just watched other people ski, you know how hard it must be to ski with two good eyes, much less with no eyesight at all. He w...
Sermon
David R. Cartwright
There are two main ways to go about teaching someone something. You can teach them what you think they need to know, or may need to know sometime later on. Or you can teach them what you think they're ready to understand at the moment. These two approaches are the basic ways of going about teaching. But sometimes these two methods can come into conflict. I began my ministry as an associate minist...
Showing 1 to 25 of 41 results