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26. God for Dummies
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
It's impossible to overestimate people's capacity for stupidity. You can take that truism to the bank. In fact, people are taking that truism to the bank in Brink armored trucks. You don't want to know how many Dummies 101 books I've purchased. My first one was WordPerfect for Dummies. Then there was the Corel WordPerfect for Dummies. Then I coughed up money for the Word 2000 for Dummies while p...
Sermon
James Merritt
Which stranded motorist would be helped the soonest: a pregnant woman, a little old lady, a messy hippie, a smartly dressed career woman, or a scantily dressed sex symbol? A Florida Space Coast newspaper decided to find out, and ran a test on U. S. Route One with a twenty-two year old actress, Sally Mullins, who played the distressed driver in five different roles: Career woman: standing by the ...
Sermon
James W. Moore
Have you heard the story about the elderly woman who lived in a small town in East Texas... who had car trouble on the way to the supermarket one morning? Her car stalled at a stop sign... she tried everything to get her car started again, but no luck. Suddenly, a man in a pick-up truck came up behind her and with obvious agitation he started honking his horn at her impatiently. She doubled her ef...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
Edward De Bono invented what he called "Lateral Thinking." He established a school in New York. He called it, "The Edward De Bono School of Thinking," and started giving seminars on how to think laterally. He also established a school in England. He gave it the more appropriately British title, "The Cognitive Research Trust," but it did the same thing. It taught people how to think laterally. He ...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
There is hardly a better-known or better-loved story in the New Testament than that of the Good Samaritan. A Jewish scholar says that it "is one of the simplest and noblest among the noble gallery of parables in the Synoptic Gospels. Love, it tells us, must know no limits of race .... Who needs me is my neighbor. Whom at the given time and place I can help with my active love, he is my neighbor an...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
“Mister Rogers,” anyone? With his zippered cardigans, canvas sneakers, and handmade puppets (before there were cool “Muppets”), “Mister Rogers” was a pioneer in the early days of educational television for young children. Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister from Pittsburgh, started developing the characters and themes of his program in the mid-1950’s. But it wasn’t until 1967 that “Mister Roger’...
32. Second Thoughts
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
Robert Beringer
Sooner or later the spiritual journey we make as followers of Jesus Christ leads us to a Jericho Road. The Jerusalem-Jericho Road of Jesus' day was the scene of one of the most compelling stories our Lord ever told. To this day, the actual road is little more than a strip of rocky terrain which leads us from Jerusalem south to the village of Jericho. What is remarkable is that in just 15 miles, t...
33. Good Neighbors
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
King Duncan
John was showing off his new apartment to his friends. “Say, what’s that gong for?” asked Ed. “That’s not a gong,” John replied. “That’s a talking clock.” “A talking clock?” Ed asked in disbelief. “How’s it work?” “Watch,” said John. He picked up a sledgehammer and took a swing at the gong. A voice from the other side of the wall screamed, “Knock it off, you idiot! It’s 2:00 A. M.!” A talkin...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
Did you hear about the would be bank robber who held up a bank while wearing a ski mask. He took the money then demanded car keys from one of the customers. I say he was a would be bank robber because he was apprehended when he came back into the bank, without the ski mask and asked the woman, which key unlocked the door. (1) Or how about the poor guy who went into a pizzeria, ordered a slice, we...
Sermon
Arley K. Fadness
We were driving west on Highway 16 from Custer to Newcastle, Wyoming, when Pam and I spotted this magnificent bird along the road. It was feeding on a deer carcass, and as we approached, it sprang into the air and soared off to the south alighting on the branch of a ponderosa pine. It watched us. It waited for us to pass. Yes, it was a golden eagle with a wing span of at least six feet. The next ...
Sermon
David O. Bales
I have the two best jobs in the world. I teach social studies at Leon Griffith Junior High School (a fairly small junior high) and I am Sunday School Superintendent at Calvary Presbyterian Church (an enormous church school). Each job is my vocation. I tell people that at school they'll find my room where the halls cross. At church they can look but probably won't find me. I'll be in someone's clas...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
This is a familiar story. One researcher found in a survey that 49% of the people interviewed said they would be able to tell the story of the good Samaritan if asked to do so, 45% said they would not be able to, and 6% were unsure whether they could tell it or not. Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion who thought they could tell the story rose to 69%.[1] Surpris...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Jokes about lawyers are about as plentiful as puns about preachers. With apologies to my lawyer friends, I want to tell you two or three of my favorite lawyer jokes: When lawyers die, why are they buried 600 feet underground? Because deep down they are really nice people. What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer? A good lawyer knows the law; a great lawyer knows the judge. W...
Sermon
Johnny Dean
The final Episode of the Seinfeld show which aired at the end of the 1998 TV season received a lot of flack for being disappointing. Perhaps the reason so many were disappointed in the show is because it moralized. It wasn’t very funny; in fact, it was self deprecating. All of the characters receive a one year sentence for failing to help someone who was robbed. What happens is this: Jerry plays ...
Sermon
James W. Moore
In the golden days of the settling of the west, you will remember, of course, that one of the major means of public transportation was the stagecoach. But, did you know, that in stagecoach days, they had three different kinds of tickets you could buy… 1st class, 2nd class or 3rd class. A First Class Ticket meant that you got to sit down. No matter what happened, you could remain seated. If the st...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
The Good Samaritan. Familiar story. One researcher found in a survey that 49% of the people interviewed said they would be able to tell the story of the Good Samaritan if asked to do so, 45% said they would not be able to, and 6% were unsure whether they could tell it or not. Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion who thought they could tell the story rose to 69% pe...
Sermon
Frank Lyman
Recently I heard about a Scotchman who was admitted to Oxford University. He moved into a dormitory. His clan was excited that one of their own made it into such an exclusive school. His mother worried, though, how he'd do with all those snobbish Brits in a strange land. She gave him a month to settle in, and then called him. "How do you find the English students, Donald?" she asked. "Oh Mother," ...
43. Booby Trap
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered righ...
Sermon
Steven Burt
The story of the good Samaritan is perhaps the most misunderstood of all Jesus’ parables. We’ve lost sight, over the nineteen centuries since Jesus told it, of its real impact. Since we’re not familiar with the original context in which its hearers heard it, we’ve seen it reduced to a good neighbor story, a Boy Scout doing a good deed a day, a driver stopping to help a little old lady change a fla...
45. Crossing Over
Luke 10:25-37, Genesis 48:1-22
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, I spent some time this week investigating the whole chicken and road dilemma and here are some of the best explanations I’ve found: Machiavelli: The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The ends of crossing the road justify whatever motive there was. Thomas de Torquemada: Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out. Ti...
46. Parabola
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
Lori Wagner
[This is an interactive sermon. In order to preach this well, you need to allow your congregants to take part, answer questions, imagine themselves as part of the story.] Prop: ostrich egg I have here an egg.   [You can pass around the egg.] This egg belongs to an ostrich. Let me tell you a story about the ostrich, who one day took her eyes off of the place in the sand where she buried her eggs...
47. The Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
Lori Wagner
This morning, I want you to imagine with me for a moment. Close your eyes if you will. Sit back. I’m going to take you to another place. But first a warning: during a big chunk of this sermon, you will have your eyes closed. You can tell your friends that you went to church this Sunday and the preacher told you to shut your eyes and keep them shut for a long time. Where else can you go to church a...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
One of my most meaningful opportunities for ministry came to me in Crestwood, Kentucky where I served for nine years as a member of the Community Rescue Squad, as well as pastor of the Methodist church. A little group of volunteers, trained as EMT’s, provided this community service. When we inquired about our legal liability, we were informed that we were protected by the Good Samaritan Law. Since...
Sermon
King Duncan
I have an important question for you this morning: what is something that is essential for human life, is highly contagious, yet most of us take it for granted? Any ideas? It’s kindness. You might think I’m exaggerating when I say it’s essential for human life and highly contagious, but I believe I can back that up. A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead what she considered to be the f...
50. The Lawyer
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
Dave Zuchelli
“You jerk! What kind of question is that?” That might have been my response if I had been Jesus in that moment when asked, “And who is my neighbor?” The question was obviously a set-up. This expert in the law was trying to trip him up to catch him in some sort of “gotcha” moment. This was typical of his exchanges with the legalistic types — the Scribes and the Pharisees who were hung up on the la...
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