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Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Buy a cup of coffee from any fast food restaurant and somewhere on the cup you will likely find these words, CAUTION: CONTENTS MAY BE HOT. What you need to wake you up can also scald your tongue. So beware, say the makers, and keep us all out of court. Something similar could be said about the Beatitudes of Jesus. These formulas for bliss are also bombshells for life. They are flashes of lighteni...
Sermon
King Duncan
Chuck Swindoll tells of reading a newspaper article years ago about a guy who earned his living being shot out of a cannon at carnivals. The man’s nickname quite naturally was “Cannonball.” In his younger days Cannonball was blasted out of a cannon 1200 times. He said he did it for the thrill of the crowd’s applause. “Do you know,” he asked, “what it’s like to feel the applause of 60,000 people?” ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Sometimes the words of Jesus, taken out of context, can cause us real problems. Imagine if you and I were sales people and we had invited Jesus to speak at our annual sales banquet. Imagine Jesus standing up as the guest speaker, looking us over with a strange mixture of anger and compassion, and then speaking these words: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. ...
Sermon
David J. Kalas
Once there was a great intersection in the ancient city of Bethlehem. We know a little something about great intersections. When we travel by car, we discover that the intersection of interstate highways becomes the epicenter of all kinds of activity: lots of traffic, and with the traffic come motels, restaurants, gas stations, fast food places, and more. Furthermore, within certain cities, some ...
Sermon
Wallace H. Kirby
My father was in the theatre business when was growing up, so names like Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were household words in our family. They were the big studios in Hollywood, the big movie producers. In my father’s office, hanging on a side wall over a bookcase, was a huge picture, probably twenty-four by thirty-six inches. It was taken ab...
Sermon
Wallace H. Kirby
Of our five physical senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - which do you think is predominant? Some years ago a test was given in an English school to determine this for a class of boys. They were sent into a special room for two minutes. When they came out they were told to make a list of everything they had noticed there. Some listed as many as forty objects, some could list only te...
Sermon
Brett Blair
Some years ago the Raleigh, North Carolina NEWS & OBSERVER published an article entitled: “How Do You Measure Up As A Man? The article stated that some extensive research had been conducted on the 20th century standards for measuring a man. The criteria were quite interesting and I thought that I might list them for the men here this morning just to see how they measure up. 1. His ability to make...
Sermon
My theme for this All Saints’ Sunday is the question, "Is the Gospel only for women?" Let me explain why I put it that way. Recently I attended a theological conference at which one of the lecturers was a woman, a professor at a church college. She observed that although there are more women in the church than men, we men are still in control, that theology - the study of God - has always been a m...
Sermon
Larry R. Kalajainen
During the last presidential election, you may have seen the comic strip "Frank and Earnest" where Frank is sitting on an airplane with a worried look on his face, and he asks the stewardess, "Are there any air bags on this plane?" She replies, "There are a couple of congressmen up in first class." By the time the presidential election campaign wound down to its final hours, most of us were eager...
35. Plain Talk
Luke 6:17-26
Sermon
Charles H. Bayer
Two men were traveling by light airplane to a business meeting in Alaska. Somewhere over the tundra the plane's motor failed and they were forced down. When they returned home each wrote an article for his favorite magazine about the resulting crisis. One was an avid outdoorsman and his article was titled, "Survival In The Frozen North." The other was very religious and his article was titled, "Ho...
Sermon
Larry R. Kalajainen
During the last presidential election, you may have seen the comic strip "Frank and Earnest" where Frank is sitting on an airplane with a worried look on his face, and he asks the stewardess, "Are there any air bags on this plane?" She replies, "There are a couple of congressmen up in first class." By the time the presidential election campaign wound down to its final hours, most of us were eager...
Sermon
Theodore F. Schneider
Harmless fun some call it. Others suggest it is never harmless or funny to joke about evil, even if we know that the witches and gremlins, devils and werewolves who roam our streets are the little children of our neighborhood, and the glaring faces in our windows are no more than hollowed-out pumpkins whose candles will not even last the evening. While there are some October Scrooges who bemoan t...
Sermon
William G. Carter
In a certain town, a man walked into a bookstore to return a purchase. “It’s a Bible,” he said, handing to the clerk at the cash register. “Was it a gift?” asked the clerk. “No, I bought it for myself,” he said, “and I made a mistake.” “Didn’t you like the translation? Or the format?” “Oh no,” the man said, “the format was clear and the translation was fine. I made a mistake.” The clerk said,...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
We are blessed to have many deeply committed, very capable people on our church staff. One of them is our chief of security, Reggie Johnson. He does so much more than just keep the church campus safe. Reggie learns and remembers the names of our worshippers. In fact, he knows your children and what kind of cars you drive. When a funeral takes place, Reggie grieves with the family. If your left fro...
Sermon
King Duncan
Chicago newspaper columnist Bob Greene writes about a ten-year-old girl named Sarah Meyers whose grandfather had died. Sarah's mother said, "He hadn't been feeling well for sometime. He went to the hospital for some tests. Just to find out what was wrong." He died two weeks later. Sarah was not able to go to the hospital to see her grandfather before he died. She never got the chance to say good-b...
Sermon
John Wayne Clarke
Today's Gospel Lesson mirrors the Sermon on the Mount that is found in Matthew 5-7. The sermon is directed at the disciples. It explores some of the things that will be expected of the twelve in the days and years ahead. It delineates the kind of outlook they should have as well as the kind of life Jesus expects them to live. Both Luke and Matthew start out with related materials. They both presen...
42. The House on The Rock
Lk 6:12-49 · Mt 5:1-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18) Props: river stones (rocks) passed out among the people at the beginning of the service or beginning of the sermon OR small tools (such as small hammer, nails, concrete trowel) OR bricks Setting: Consider hol...
Sermon
Will Willimon
"Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh." Imagine a sermon which begins, "Blessed are you poor. Blessed are you that hunger. Oh how lucky are you who weep. How fortunate are those of you whom people hate, exclude, revile. Leap for joy those of you who have cancer. How lucky are you unemployed. How blessed are those going through marital crises." The congregation does a double-take. W...
Sermon
King Duncan
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, just in case any of you men need something to panic about. Just a friendly reminder for any procrastinators who might be in the house. Tomorrow’s big day reminds me of an article that came out last year about candy hearts. You know those candy hearts that are bright pink and orange and yellow, and they have sappy sayings stamped onto them—“Kiss Me,” “Hot Stuff,” “Be Mi...
Sermon
Derl G. Keefer
Rules! Rules! Rules! We have a love/hate relationship with them. They bring order to chaos…stability from unpredictability…soundness to erratic changes. However, rules can frustrate, overwhelm and discourage us because we view them as concrete, never-bending or always rigid. At times we resist them with a passion while at other times we embrace them with vitality. How often has this conversation ...
46. Fool's Gold
Luke 6:17-26
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Sir Martin Frobisher was an English adventurer, seafarer, and explorer, who thought he struck gold on Baffin Island in what we now know as Canada. Excited and beaming with pride, he mined and brought back 1350 tons of his prize to Queen Elizabeth in 1578 only to be told that his beautiful, sparkling find was not gold, but in fact pyrite with some other minerals mixed into the ore.[1] Labeled a foo...
47. The Way of a Saint
Revelation 7:9-17 · Luke 6:20-31
Sermon
King Duncan & Angela Akers
The way of a saint has never been easy. In today’s lesson from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking to people who knew what it was to be rejected, persecuted, discriminated against, held down. And the interesting thing is that he calls them “blessed.” Listen to his words: Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now,...
Sermon
Richard A. Wing
It takes a steady hand to carry a full glass of water. It takes an even steadier heart to carry forgiveness to one who holds you in opposition. In the Old Testament I like the story of Joseph, particularly its outcome. Joseph is the favored one. The older brothers say, "Dad always liked you best." In this case it was true. The brothers go out and fake Joseph's death. They bring back some bloodied ...
Sermon
James Garrett
When a person enters into any society or any fellowship, he takes upon himself the obligations to live a certain way, by certain standards. If the person fails to live the kind of life necessary, he hinders the purpose of the society. Once we make the claim that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true then a claim is put on our lives. In today’s Scripture lesson, Jesus sets down behavior patterns for k...
Sermon
Susan R. Andrews
In a stunning biblical slap in the face, our gospel reading for this morning also served as the lectionary text ten days after 9/11 — ten days after Ground Zero became a devastating reality in our nation’s history. Love our enemies? Offer forgiveness? God, you have to be kidding! That first week after 9/11 — after the terror struck — after our world changed forever — I kept reading about other mi...
Showing 26 to 50 of 72 results