Sermons on civilla martin:

This Thorny Thicket Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 20, 2008

For Martin Luther King Day. The words we offer fall into the thorny thicket of anxiety, despair, and distraction. Like King with his dream, we the church can give hands and feet to help those so captured.

Our back yard is a thorny thicket. Other people have manicured lawns, with friendly plants laid out in neat rows. But our back yard is a tangled thorny thicket. Along one fence there are blackberries, growing in long canes that have to be tied up lest they wander into the next county. They ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:13-20

Denomination: Baptist

Reformaiton: One Man's Pen Changed The World

Contributed by Clarence Eisberg on Oct 30, 2007

This is a Reformation sermon, reflecting on Martin Luther’s contribution to history & renewal of the gospel. The message also reflects the similarity that Jesus had with the Pharisees who believed you could earn God’s love by keeping the commandments.

In Jesus Holy Name October 28, 2007 Text: Romans 1:17, 3:20-22 Redeemer “One Man’s Pen Changed The World” A Jesuit priest in the 16th century complained, “Luther has damned more souls with his hymns than with all his sermons.” Few people have read his pulpit sermons, but his sermons ...read more

Scripture: Romans 3:20-22

Denomination: Lutheran

Who Will Speak For Them?

Contributed by The Rev Deniray Mueller on Jun 22, 2018

Family separation is an anathema to what Jesus taught

Who Will Speak for Them? Mark 4:35-41 Today’s Gospel reading is a story of Jesus calming the winds and waves also appears in Matthew and Luke in some form as well, and was surely meant to show the ways in which Jesus’ disciples were brought to faith in Him early in His ministry. Control of nature ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:35-41, Luke 10:25-37

Denomination: Episcopal

Getting Great Through God’s Great Love Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Nov 22, 2024

Why is John 3:16 such a powerful verse in Scripture - and what it say about who we are and what God thinks about us?

I once read that the printing press was one of the greatest inventions ever. Up until that time, all books were painstakingly printed by hand - which made books very rare and very hard to find. But the Printing press changed all of that. Information was suddenly made available to 1000s of people. ...read more

Scripture: John 3:13-18, John 3:16, Ephesians 2:1-5

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Painful Visit

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 10, 2009

For Martin Luther King Sunday. Misunderstanding comes about because we do not hear one another, we do not have the context to understand, or someone deliberately creates distance. Racial understanding needs to take all this into account.

Misunderstanding is an inevitable part of life. Just because we are human, just because we have limitations and are imperfect, we are going to misunderstand one another. And the sooner we accept that as a part of life and learn to deal with it, the better off we’ll be. There are several reasons ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 2:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Burning The Bulls Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Nov 5, 2017

When Martin Luther posted his challenge to the church's selling of indulgences on the church door in Wittenberg, Pope Leo X was not pleased. The Pope issue a Papal Bull condemning Luther as a heretic. Luther responded by burning copies of the Bull.

OPEN: October 31st was Halloween… but it was also the date of something even more significant. Many churches celebrate the last day of October as “Reformation Day” – the day (500 years ago) when Martin Luther nailed a document to the door of a Church building in Wittenberg, Germany that challenged ...read more

Scripture: Romans 3:19-28

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Are You Righteous Or Religious

Contributed by Melvin Maughmer, Jr. on Feb 28, 2021

Dr. Martin Luther King "If I can help somebody as I pass along, then my living will not be in vain". Righteousness is the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable “behavior that is morally justifiable or right.”

Are You Righteous or Religious? By Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr. OPENING: - A couple of weeks ago I did a message titled “What Kind of Spirit do you Have”? I love how God sends and uses confirmation. My brother Mark also has been dealing with something very similar and dealing with the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37, Micah 6:8

Denomination: Apostolic

Where Is The God Of Justice?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 25, 2010

For Martin Luther King Day 1988: It is irresponsible to continue to whine about God's absence in the face of injustice. He is refining His church to address justice, and will bless us when we give ourselves without reserve to His purposes.

Some twenty-four centuries ago, when the prophet Malachi's ears were assaulted by an impertinent question, he heard it as a confession of irresponsibility. When the men and women of Judah shouted at this prophet, who had accused them of wearying God, who had charged that their blabbering talk was ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

"For The Glory Of God" Series

Contributed by David Henderson on Oct 30, 2017

When Martin Luther hung his writings on the door of the church in Wittenberg, 500 years ago, everything in the church changed. This gave man a renewed purpose. Now all that we do is for the glory of God. It is all for God and God alone.

“For the glory of God” It has been said that history repeats itself. Now I believe that to a point but I think that it is more accurate to say that people repeat the same mistakes in the same choices and the same decisions others have made before them and that’s why history repeats itself. Because ...read more

Scripture: Romans 11:33-36

Denomination: Baptist

On Your Marks, Get Set, Go! A Sermon On Philippians 3 Series

Contributed by Nickolas Kooi on Oct 4, 2017

In Philippians 3, Paul describes our Christian life twice by using a race analogy. It is an effective analogy. For like in a race, we have a reason to run (or cause). We keep our eyes on the prize, and we are encouraged along the way.

One night in college, I needed a study break, and I decided to read some online articles. As I was scrolling through, one caught my interest. It was titled: “Top Ten Greatest Canadians.” As I saw the title, I wondered how many people on that list would be hockey related, since it is Canada, ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 3:4-14

Denomination: Lutheran

It Was A Setup Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 30, 2003

We set ourselves up for failure if we are afraid to risk using all we have been given, if we are shy about our average-ness, and especially if we are ashamed of our poverty. Sermon for Martin Luther King Sunday

On one of our trips to Louisville to see about my mother-in-law, we stayed at a motel right next to a Baptist church. It happened to be a church which had been started as a mission congregation by my home church back when I was a teenager. I told Margaret that I remembered that vacant lot between ...read more

Scripture: Luke 19:11-27

Denomination: Baptist

Does The Reformation Still Matter?

Contributed by Richard Futrell on Oct 26, 2010

After 500 years, does the Reformation still matter? After all, a recent poll showed that over half of American Protestants didn’t even know that Martin Luther’s writings and actions inspired the Reformation. And this was a multiple-choice question with

Intro After 500 years, does the Reformation still matter? Do we still need a day every year to remind us of the Reformation? After all, a recent poll showed that over half of American Protestants didn’t even know that Martin Luther’s writings and actions inspired the Reformation. And this was a ...read more

Scripture: Romans 3:19-28

Denomination: Lutheran

No Middle Ground

Contributed by Bruce Ferris on Oct 13, 2003

I marvel at God’s forgiveness and His unchanging love when I fall – His is a forgiving love that is unconditional and not based upon your performance or your character but rather His holiness and righteous character. As Martin Luther discovered after a f

No Middle Ground Hebrews 5:12-6:9 "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving...Colossians 2:6-7" I marvel at God’s forgiveness and His unchanging love ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Down The Jericho Road Again Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 17, 2003

Sermon for Martin Luther King Day: we must go "down the road" of compassion, understanding that human hurts are both physical and spiritual, that we must see hurting people as our neighbors, and that we must devote substantial resources to caring for them

There’s something we say every time we find ourselves repeating an unpleasant experience. Whenever you see yourself about to get into the same trouble you’ve already been in, you say, “I don’t want to go down that road again.” For example: Some fellow comes to your door and says, “We’ve been ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

Denomination: Baptist

A Completed Appointment

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 30, 2008

Funeral sermon for Alfred Bailey, long-term chair of the church Building and Grounds Committee, civic activist, and Martin Luther King Memorial founder. His unfinished tasks and his missed appointments are completed by a God who gave him many assignments

It’s tough to be on time. And it’s tough to get things finished. In fact, those two items are closely connected. It’s tough to be on time precisely because it is so tough to get things finished. And if you are involved in a great many things, chances are you will never complete them all, nor ...read more

Scripture: Job 23:1-14

Denomination: Baptist