Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 276 to 300 of 1533 results

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm said: "Future historians will see best the multiple factors that led to the decline of America. But I suggest one of the major factors will be the failure to replace ourselves with enough stable children born to families with the ability to raise successful children." What Governor Lamm is talking about is heritage and our failure to receive it, embrace it, enrich it, and transmit it. Thousands of years ago the prophet Jeremiah observed that his own people had loosened ...

277. By Right Paths

Psalm 23:3

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Rev. Dicky Love tells the story of an overworked mother of three active young boys who was playing in the yard with her boys one afternoon when her neighbor came by to borrow a cup of sugar. One of her boys aimed his play pistol at his mother and yelled, "Bang! You're dead!" Mom acted the part perfectly. She took the shot, groaned, "You got me." Then she spun and fell to the ground. When she fell to the ground, she didn't get up. Her neighbor waited for her to get up. But Mom didn't get up, so the ...

278. Brought Together and Sent Forth

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

Lee Griess

There once was a majestic cathedral in Northern Europe that was known for its magnificent organ. Unlike the pipe organs and electronic organs of our day, the organs in the old churches of Europe depended upon air pumped by hand to produce sound. When they had services or wanted to play the organ, an assistant to man the pumps was needed in addition to an organist to press the keys. There is a story told of one time when a guest organist was scheduled to play a recital featuring the works of Mozart and ...

279. Who's the Real Leader?

Joshua 3:1-4:24

Sermon

Argile Smith

At an office meeting, Ben got the official news that he would become the manager of one of the most influential departments in the company. His colleagues admired him because of his tireless work, and they respected him as a dependable person in whom they could place their trust. They were glad when they found out that he had gotten the promotion. In order to celebrate the news with him, they bought him a gift. Well, it was actually more like a gag-gift, the kind that he would place on his shelf and ...

280. Mugwumps

Luke 6:1-11

Sermon

Mugwumps ... elusive ... unforgettable. An experience everyone should have at least once. As a TV ad might say, it’s something you’ll return to many times in your mind. But how do we know Mugwumps? What do they look like? Where do they live? How do they spend their leisure time? These are questions we could expect from someone like Sherlock Holmes if we asked him and friend Watson to track them down for us, so let’s work up a description. Mugwumps come in several shapes and sizes. They seem to thrive in ...

281. Etched in Stone

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A mother and her two small boys were having a serious discussion about stealing and why it was wrong. “Tell me,” she said, “Why do you think stealing is wrong?” Five-year-old Luke said that stealing was against God’s laws. He had learned about the Ten Commandments in Sunday school. Mother asked the boys if they knew any of the other Ten Commandments. Luke remembered two others: “You shall not murder,” and “Honor your father and mother.” But the boys couldn’t think of any other commandments, until little ...

282. Close Up Parents: Be Cheerleaders, Not Jeer leaders

Colossians 3:21

Sermon

James Merritt

I am wondering right now how many frustrated people are in this building, or maybe watching by television, whose memories hearken back to parents that you could never totally please. Most every one of us in this room knows someone that is driven to succeed to the nth degree, because they are haunted by the ghost of unrealistic expectations that one or both parents placed on them. There are others in this room who live in perpetual sadness because of a parent that never showed them the affection and the ...

283. Holiness of Heart and Life

Romans 2:21-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

At Stanford University there is a psychologist named Festinger who has a theory which he calls “cognitive dissonance.’ If you teach at a university like Stanford, you are supposed to use big words like that. As strange and new as it may sound, it’s very simple. It means that there is a big gap between my ideals and my actions, what I believe and what I do, my goals and my deeds. There is a difference between the image I have of myself and the image I try to project for other people and that discrepancy is ...

284. Matthew 5:38-48

Matthew 5:38-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

When the new puppy makes a mistake — piddles on the floor, dines on your Adidas, digs up the flower bed — we correct the bad behavior with our tone of voice. We let the puppy know our displeasure by the way we say “Shame on you!” uttered with great incrimination and a pointed finger. Of course, the dog doesn’t get “shame.” But the dog does eventually get the tone of voice, the displeasure, the “idea” that somehow he/she is “in the doghouse.” Parents work hard to perfect this tone, to instill a “shame on ...

285. The Unwanted Christmas Gift: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Survivor” is a reality tv game show that has proven to be one of the most successful franchises in television history. Starting in 1992 as the brainchild of a British tv producer, Survivor has spread throughout the world to play in over 50 countries as diverse as Chile and China. If you’ve watched CBS’ “Survivor” with its $1,000,000 prize, you notice how quickly the sixteen to twenty strangers separate out into two groups, no matter how many “tribes” there are. In one group are those who, in the face of ...

286. Ignite: Fight Fire with Fire

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

James Merritt

No matter what you do for a living every job has its drawbacks. Every job has its way of jobbing you and all vocations have their frustrations. One of the great frustrations of being a pastor is the realization that people are always looking for the perfect church. I can’t tell you how many times pastors will hear people complain about something in the church, but they will always preface their remarks by saying, “Now I know no church is perfect…” But what you know deep down is they are looking for the ...

287. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Preface Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove; Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou madest Life in man and brute; Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot Is on the skull which thou hast made. Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, he knows not why, He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just. Thou seemest human and divine, The highest, holiest manhood, thou. ...

288. When We Are Weak

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Sermon

King Duncan

Today our nation celebrates Independence Day, which commemorates the day that the 13 original colonies joined together to declare their independence from Great Britain. In fact, the first time we were ever referred to as the “United States of America” was in the Declaration of Independence, which was accepted by the leadership of the 13 colonies on July 4, 1776. July 3, we were a collection of colonies. July 4, we were the United States of America. That’s why we call July 4 the birthday of our nation. So, ...

289. Maundy Thursday

Lk 22:14-30 · Jn 13:1-17, 31b-35 · 1 Cor 11:17-32 · Ex 12:1-14 · Ps 116

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 12:1-14 The passover marked the beginning of a new era for the Israelites. "This month shall be for you the beginning of months" (v. 2). The people are ordered to set aside a flawless lamb to be slaughtered, roasted and eaten on the 14th day of the month. Everyone was to be part of the feast. The meal was to be eaten in haste because God was on the move. The people are to be ready to leave as soon as the Lord breaks the bars of slavery. The blood is to be placed on their ...

290. Robert Paul, You Were Right!

Daniel 7:1-14, Daniel 7:15-28

Sermon

Richard Hasler

Professor Robert Paul and his family had just returned to Hartford Seminary from a trip to the Rocky Mountains. As a doctoral student in church history studying with him I had always been stimulated by his lectures and seminars. Now, I was anxious to talk with him and with his gracious and perceptive wife, Eunice, to get their impressions of the trip. Paul, a native of England, was ecstatic about the natural beauty of America, but he also was appalled by the lack of appreciation for what he called “a sense ...

291. The Household Leader

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

(Moses said), "And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Perhaps you have heard this old story, but I feel it bears repeating on this Father's Day. A crowd of men was standing outside the pearly gates of Heaven waiting to be admitted. They were instructed by Saint Peter to get into two different lines. ...

292. Being Christ

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Our scripture lesson for the message is found in Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus. The 1st chapter, the 15th through the 23rd verses. This is the word of the Lord. “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your ...

293. How the Lord has Covered the Daughter of Zion

Lamentations 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Lord Is Like an Enemy: 2:1 Alef. The opening word (How) invites the reader to contemplate the extent of Judah’s destruction. It also strikes a tone of lament over that same suffering. One can hear a note of disbelief that God would bring such a horrific judgment on his people. Indeed, it is total as expressed by the fact that the cloud of his anger has engulfed all of the Daughter of Zion. The expression Daughter of Zion is an intimate way of referring to Jerusalem by its most sacred space and then ...

294. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

Daniel’s Success and Darius’s Decree (6:1-9): Big Idea: God may allow those who remain faithful to him and his word to experience jealous opposition from unbelievers in a hostile environment. Understanding the Text Daniel 6:1–28 is woven into the book’s overall literary structure in two ways. First, it advances the narrative of chapters 1–6, in which the first four focus on Nebuchadnezzar (chaps. 1–2 with historical markers and 3–4 without) and the last two show the transition from Belshazzar of Babylon to ...

295. Count It All Joy

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Today we begin a new series of sermons on the Epistle of James. If I were to give a subtitle to this epistle, I would call it "A Manual of Practical Christianity." All of us should be able to identify with the thought. We are always asking that everything be made practical. Speakers are admonished to use the "kiss principle": "Keep it simple, stupid." There is a sense in which the Epistle of James is a "how to" book, and any bookstore has a large section of such books, from How To Build a Patio to How to ...

296. It Was the Birthday of a King

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

James Merritt

Ironically, the time of year called Christmas is a time of both celebration and separation. Because at no other time of the year is the Christian more separated from the world than at Christmastime. The world celebrates a season, but the Christian celebrates a Savior. Whether this world likes it or not, and increasingly the world doesn't like it, Christmas is the celebration of the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are some people who will be so drunk they will not know whose birthday it is. ...

297. Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18, Psalm 119:33-40, Matthew 5:38-48, 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter--Psalms 119:33-40 First Lesson--The holiness God requires is not piety alone but justice and compassion for one's neighbors. Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Second Lesson--Only what is built on the foundation of Christ will endure. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 Gospel--Jesus updates the commandments with startling changes to nonviolent behavior. Matthew 5:38-48 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Leader: Turn your hearts to God's ...

298. Does Love Really Make the World Go ’Round? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

What makes the world go ’round? Do you ever ask yourself that question? In our global economy, many people would say that money makes the world go ’round. How else can one explain our obsession with the stock market and the federal manipulation of interest rates? Some might say that power makes the world go ’round. That might be why two smart men would spend 2 million dollars each trying to be elected mayor of Nashville. A job, mind you, that pays $136,000 a year! Hunger for recognition and status is in ...

299. Paradise Lost

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

James Merritt

Vesna Vulovic made history on January 26, 1972 and in doing so made the Guinness World Book of Records. It is not an honor that she wanted, was looking for, or particularly enjoyed. She was a flight attendant on a DC-9 that was flying over what is now the Czech Republic when a bomb went off and blew the plane apart. She fell 33,330 feet and going 122 miles an hour landed on the side of a mountain and even though she suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, and two broken legs, and was in a coma ...

300. God's Sovereign Choice

Romans 9:1-29

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

The Election of Israel What remains of God’s promises to the Jews now that the Messiah has come and the Jews from whom and for whom he came have, for the most part, failed to recognize him? That is the theme of Romans 9–11. Finding the exact term to describe Paul’s discussion of the theme is somewhat difficult. On the one hand, Romans 9–11 is more or less an excursus complete in itself. The beginning declaration (9:1) and the concluding doxology (11:33–36) delimit it clearly from the remainder of the ...

Showing results