Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3001 to 3025 of 4943 results

3001. Why He Came

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Three middle-aged men--Joe, Fred and Tom--were discussing the possibility of sudden death. "What would you do if you knew you only had 4 weeks of life remaining?" Joe asked. "First of all," Fred said, "I would quit my job and for those 4 weeks I would do nothing but fish." "Not me," Tom said somberly. "For those 4 weeks, I would spend as much time as possible with my children and let them know how much I love them." Joe thought for a few moments and then said, "I'll tell you what I would do. For those 4 ...

3002. Needed: A Radiator Cap Solution

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Passion/Palm Sunday Everybody loves a parade or a celebration. Everyone loves to be part of something big and exciting. Early in Frank Sinatra's career, George Evans, his publicist, used some slick tricks to get Sinatra extra publicity. Evans hired teenage girls to hang around outside the club where Sinatra was singing. They were paid to scream out his name and "swoon." He even arranged for an ambulance to park outside the club. The faked hysterics worked; crowds packed the club to hear this fabulous new ...

3003. A Way Made Ready

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Darrick Acre

Have you been out to see the Christmas lights yet? It is time for the annual excursion, when you pack the car with people on a chilly December evening, and drive around to all the neighborhoods and parks made beautiful by cities or neighborhood associations with lights, lights, and more lights, in a variety of colors and hues. There are bright reds, blues, and greens; beautiful, pastel pinks and yellows; and of course the brilliant elegance of white. As you drive along, there are elves and carolers, Santa ...

3004. How Free Are We?

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Mark Twain once remarked that Americans of the nineteenth century were fortunate to have “freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, and the prudence never to practice either of them!” I have a hunch that his wry comment is not limited to folks of the nineteenth century. Freedom is not really freedom unless it is exercised. Still, most of us believe ourselves to be free beings, freely able to make choices and to decide our own destinies. There is an old story of a Methodist preacher and a Calvinist preacher ...

3005. Lazarus Laughed

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I have always felt sorry for Lazarus. I mean, dying once is bad enough; but this poor fellow had to go through the whole ordeal a second time! And for what? At first glance, it seems as though he was recalled to this earth for the mere purpose of fortifying his sister’s faith. Then he would have to go through the process of dying once again. We are all familiar with the story. Jesus receives the news while He is in Perea that His friend Lazarus is ill. He says, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I ...

3006. Emptying and Exalting (Part XI)

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Dr. Harold Brack, the much beloved professor of Speech and Communications at Drew Theological Seminary, often shared with us that there are some Biblical texts which should be approached with great awe and reverence and preached only with fear and trembling, because no matter how much we share, it is only a glimpse or a snapshot of a much greater picture of truth. St. Jerome once said, "The Bible is like a stream in which elephants must swim and lambs may wade." This is especially true of this passage. As ...

3007. The Gift Of Sleep

Psalm 127:1-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I think I've told you the story of the mother who was trying desperately to get her son out of bed, to get him up and ready for church on Sunday morning. None of you parents have that problem with your children, do you? The mother threatened, begged, cajoled -- but to no avail. "Come on, Son, she pleaded. Why don't you want to go?" "I'll give you three reasons, he said. One, the people down there aren't friendly. Two -- they don't like me, and three, they don't listen to what I have to say." Parents, have ...

3008. The Vocation of Leadership: A Prophet Among Them

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

The original invitation to deliver this Johannaber Lecture included the general instruction that the lecture theme have something to do with spirituality and/or spiritual formation. The more I thought of that in the context of a “ministers week,” the more certain I was that I wanted to focus on leadership – the vocation of leadership. Pastors are leaders, but they are specifically Christian leaders. So that’s my focus: leadership from a Christian perspective. I begin with three pictures. The first is out ...

3009. Here We Go Again

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Mark Trotter

This last week I got a letter addressed to, "The Pastor of the MethodistChurch," unsigned. It began, "To the church that awaits my coming. I am the Lord." That got my attention. This is from Jesus, I could see. It was handwritten, which I want to point out to all of you who have been trying to get me to get a computer. I just follow Jesus. When he gets one, I'll get one. I read on. "I am not pleased with those who claim to be members of my body. You have turned away from me." The letter continues with an ...

3010. Hope Is Medicinal

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The story of the healing of the leper is a wonderful story of Jesus' power over the destructive forces in this world. It comes at the conclusion of the first chapter. The first chapter of Mark is there as an introduction to who Jesus is. The first chapter of Mark has four healing miracle stories in a row, back to back. In fact, there are five in this series. The fifth one opens up the second chapter, the story of the healing of the paralytic, who is lowered down to Jesus through the roof of a house. Jesus ...

3011. The Bloodline of Christ

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In a few short years, Dan Brown’s 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code, became one of the most widely read books of all time. The 2006 Ron Howard Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks only made the novel all the more popular. Why such a blockbuster for a novel about Jesus? Because it was well-written? Because it was well-researched? No, the real reason The Da Vinci Code caught fire was because it served up a juicy heretical tidbit as its main course: the suggestion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and that ...

3012. Heaven: The Home of a Godly Family

John 14:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

A Sunday School teacher asked the children in her class: "How many of you would like to go to heaven?" All of the children raised a hand except one little guy named Derrick. When the teacher asked him why he didn't want to go to heaven, he said, "I'm sorry Mrs. Smith, but my Mommy told me to come home right after church."1 Well, like that little boy, heaven is still a desire and a dream for most Americans. 77% of Americans believe in heaven, and 76% of Americans believe their chances of getting there are " ...

3013. Let Me Tell You about the Birds and the Bees

Proverbs 5:15-23

Sermon

James Merritt

A little third grade boy named Johnny came in from school one day, walked up to his daddy and said, "Daddy, there's something I need to ask you." "What is it son?" "Daddy, where did I come from?" Well, the father very nervously reached over and picked up some diagrams and pictures, because he had been planning for just this moment. He spent the next forty-five minutes explaining the process of birth. With a smug look on his face, inwardly congratulating himself on his great job, he said, "Son, does that ...

3014. How to Connect With God

1 John 5:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

In a Newsweek cover story entitled, "Talking to God", a Gallup poll reported that 91% of women and 85% of men say they pray regularly. That includes 94% of blacks and 87% of whites; 57% of Americans say they pray at least once every day.1 This survey went on to say that 32% of the people who pray, report that praying gives them a deep sense of peace; 26% said they sense the actual presence of God in their prayers.2 All of that sounded encouraging until I read this final statistic: Only 15% regularly ...

3015. Fiscal Fitness

Proverbs 3:9-10

Sermon

James Merritt

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Jane Wagner, "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe"[1] You would expect that the richest man who ever lived would have something to say about money, and, in Solomon's case, you would be right. He has plenty to say. There is a wealth of wisdom about wealth in Proverbs. With money, there is not only much to earn, but there is much to learn. In fact, the entire Bible has much to say about money. Howard Dayton, the ...

3016. The Lost And Found Collection

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Every place where the public gathers has to have a lost and found collection. The church is no exception. Worshippers are always leaving things. We have volunteers at Christ Church who tidy up the worship areas after each service. They bring me interesting things they find. Often they find notes written on bulletins. Surely these were not written during sermon times. A typical message will say something like, “Don’t you think Beth is cute?” or “Go Vols!” Occasionally we find a bulletin with a beautifully ...

3017. Holy Habits

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

For better or for worse, we are creatures of habit. I learned this early when I was a newspaper delivery boy. A customer would tell me that he was going to be on vacation for a week and would not need a paper. Nevertheless, out of sheer habit, I would fling a paper up on his porch each day and then have to pay for that paper myself. Habits can be frustrating. Have you ever done this? You need to stop by the grocery store on the way home. But as you drive homeward your mind is on other things, and you drive ...

3018. A Shepherd's Love

John 10:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Two television evangelists were talking. One was explaining how he was seeking to be the ideal shepherd to his television flock. “There are three ways I seek to do that,” he said. “What three ways do you mean?” asked the other evangelist. “Well” he explained, “First, we FIND them. Every year we find new stations to carry our ministry. Then we FEED them. I give them the plain unvarnished word of God.” “But what’s the third thing?” asked the second evangelist. “Well,” he answered, “Once we’ve found them and ...

3019. Don’t Tempt Me—But If You Do I’m Ready

1 Corinthians 10:13

Sermon

James Merritt

Question: Do you ever feel as if the whole world is against you? Well, I've got news for you. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, it is! If you are a friend of God you are an enemy of the world. God expects you, from the moment you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night, to "go out and whip the world." For the next four weeks I want to share with you exactly how to do that in a practical personal way. I want to deal with a problem that we all face every day. It doesn't matter whether you're ...

3020. What Do I Do When The Load Is Too Heavy?

Exodus 18:13-27

Sermon

James Merritt

I had just been elected the President of the Southern Baptist Convention about two months before and already I was having trouble sleeping. I was waking up many times at 3:30am and 4:00am in the morning. Why? I might have up to ninety-plus emails to respond to, a mountain of correspondence that I had to answer and you never knew when the media was going to come calling. I had agreed to travel all over the world to visit the fourteen different regions where we had missionaries. I had to prepare two messages ...

3021. Shame On Who?

John 8:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

I recently came across an article in a Baltimore newspaper that was entitled, "Whatever Happened To Shame?"[[1]] The journalist who wrote this article made, I believe, a very astute and accurate observation. These are just some of his remarks. "Some of us remember when "shame on you" or "you ought to be ashamed of yourself" meant something. There was a moral obligation to feel shame and to direct it toward ourselves. I don't think this happens much anymore...Instead of feeling shame, we feel embarrassed, ...

3022. The Climb

Joshua 14:6-15

Sermon

James Merritt

A Ph.D. - a Doctor of Philosophy degree is the highest degree awarded in academics. Three to four years of seminars, literacy required in three to five different languages, and three years of continuous research on a dissertation that must be totally original in its subject, meaning that no one has ever written on it before. This dissertation must then be presented in written form and passed by three professors with three different fields of expertise all of which you must study and include in your ...

3023. A Clear and Present Danger

Nehemiah 5:1-19

Sermon

James Merritt

There are always two sources of conflict any leader or any organization faces - external and internal. Believe it or not, by far and away the most dangerous type of conflict is internal. We have already seen how the enemy tries to attack from the outside and one of his primary weapons is criticism, but when he attacks from the inside, he uses an even more powerful weapon – selfishness. In the first four chapters of Nehemiah we saw how the enemy tried several things to stop the rebuilding of the wall. First ...

3024. With The End In Mind

Philippians 3:7-11

Sermon

James Merritt

One of the best selling books written in the twentieth century and one that made a tremendous impact on my life is a book by Stephen Covey, called The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People. That book has sold millions of copies and even to this day sells extremely well. One of the seven habits Covey says of an effective person is beginning with the end in mind. He begins this chapter with this thought provoking scenario. "Picture yourself driving to the funeral parlor or chapel, parking the car and ...

3025. Joshua People: Remember, Remind and Recommit

Joshua 24:14-18, 2 Peter 1:10-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

The older I get the more I realize that memory is tricky. I can remember the address and phone number of the house I lived in when I was 5 (2470 Highway 66, Zone 2, St. Louis, MO. Harrison 8;7378) but I can't remember which of my kids or Grandkids I'm talking to. I seem to start at the oldest child and work my way down, including the names of all the pets we've ever had, too. But it's nice to know I'm not the only one with this affliction. A number of years ago, the church I was serving received a memorial ...

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