Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3176 to 3200 of 4944 results

3176. Jesus’ 10 Commandments

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

From Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” to The Nightmare on Elm Street’s “Freddy;” from Friday the Thirteenth’s “Jason” to Stephanie Meier’s vampire “Voltaire”, we are always creating new monsters. Why are we constantly on the lookout for bigger, scarier “bumps in the night?” Why do we keep making up monsters that are so elaborate and extraordinary, so super-powered and immortal? Maybe we need our monsters to be as unlike ourselves as possible so that we can ignore the presence of the real monsters that possess ...

3177. The Exalted Christ

Mark 9: 2-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Robert Louis Stevenson tells the story about a ship that was in serious trouble in a storm. A passenger on that ship, defying orders, made his way to the pilot, who seeing the fear on the passenger's face gave him a smile of assurance. Relieved, the traveler returned to his cabin and said, “I have seen the face of the pilot. He smiled and all is well." There are times in life when we need to see our pilot face-to-face. That's what happened in this mystical story that the Church calls the Transfiguration of ...

3178. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The sun is shining and the sky is clear. As landowner Joe consumes his breakfast he knows he must, likewise, seize the day. My daddy called it “Making hay while the sun shines." Joe might refer to it as “Making wine before the grapes rot." Whatever the phrase, the focus is the same. Harvest won't wait. Joes finishes breakfast, climbs into his pickup truck and drives down Nolensville Road where day laborers assemble looking for work. Well, the time and place may be different, but the story is the same. And ...

3179. Embracing Christ—The Light of the World

John 8:12-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Do you remember the old story about an atheist walking through the woods admiring all the accidents of nature? As he absorbed the majestic trees, the powerful rivers, the beautiful animals, he suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. Turning to see what was the matter, the atheist found himself face-to-face with a seven-foot grizzly bear. The atheist did what any of us would do. He ran for dear life, but the bear was too fast and the atheist soon fell to the ground in exhaustion. Now eye-to-eye ...

3180. A Kingdom that Cannot Be Shaken

Hebrews 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Most of us probably think of the state of Tennessee as part of the “Bible Belt” an area of the southern United States known for its religious fervor. But it has not always been so. According to author and historian Jack Neely, at the turn of the 19th century, Tennesseans were a largely heathen people. Traveling evangelists and missionaries made little impression on either the cotton growers on the west end of the state or the hillbillies on the eastern end. Then, on December 16th, 1811, a massive ...

3181. The Ladder from Our House

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

Stan Purdum

There is a wonderful story about a city mayor. It happened that during one particular year, the mayor made trips to both Washington DC and to Israel. According to the story, while in Washington, the mayor visited the president in the oval office. During the visit, the mayor noticed three telephones on the president's desk and inquired about them. "Well," said the president, "The black one is a regular telephone, the white one is for calls within the White House and the red one is a hotline to God." "Gee," ...

3182. A Living Hope (If It Hadn’t Been for Easter)

1 Peter 1:3-9

Sermon

David O. Bales

A church member read the New Testament and concluded, "Amazing things were going on back then. People converted not just their faith but their lives and values. They were healed, dropped prejudices, crossed ethnic boundaries, and ... and, people were beaten, tried, and killed for their faith." Then she looked at our modern American church and saw little similarity between the early Christian church and our current one. This experience indicates that perhaps it's safer for church members not to read the New ...

3183. Pentecost ... Again!

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

They had been waiting so long for this. It was an interminable fifty days since Jesus had risen from the dead. It had been ten long days since Jesus had ascended into heaven from that mountain outside of Jerusalem and that angel had told them to go back to Jerusalem and wait. They had to wait again for what must have seemed like an eternity to finally receive what they had been waiting for - the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then it happened. In the midst of a sound of a rushing wind with tongues of fire ...

3184. Lifestyles of the Rich and Faithful

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

When a carnival came to town, the strong man was one of the most popular attractions. One of his tricks was to squeeze an orange dry with his bare hand. Then he would offer $1,000 to anyone in the audience who could manage to squeeze even one more drop from that orange. Having nothing to lose, people were always ready to accept the challenge to make an easy $1,000, but they always failed. They would squeeze and squeeze, but their efforts were fruitless. Then, an older man stepped up to try his strength. ...

3185. God’s Most Troubling Promise

Romans 8:28

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever noticed that life is full of challenges? Have you noticed that, sooner or later, all of us are going to have some pretty steep mountains to climb? I heard about a woman named Jill whose car was unreliable. She called her friend John for a ride every time her car broke down. One day John got yet another one of those calls. “What happened this time?” he asked. “My brakes went out,” Jill said. “Can you come and get me?” “Where are you?” John asked. “I’m in the drugstore,” Jill responded. “And ...

3186. Send Her Away!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Those of you who are of a certain age might remember a little song from the 1960s. It was a tune by the Kingston Trio with the misleading title, “Merry Minuet.” It was anything but merry, but it was a satirical song that describes some of the turmoil in the world today. It went like this: They’re rioting in Africa. They’re starving in Spain. There’s hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain. The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French hate the Germans; the Germans hate the Poles. Italians ...

3187. Winning Over Worry

Matthew 6:25-33

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Of all the living things that God created, human beings are the only ones that worry. And we worry about everything - gas prices, the stock market, taxes, jobs, marriages, parents worry about children, children worry about parents. You name it, somebody is worrying about it. In our text, Jesus says we ought not to worry. As usual, what he says makes sense. We do worry too much, especially those of us in this affluent society who seem to have less to worry about than so many others in the world. And the ...

3188. Mark 16:1-8

Mark 16:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Although nearly all biblical scholars agree that Mark’s original manuscript concludes at 1:8, and that the so-called “longer ending” is a later addition to this gospel, it is still difficult to deal with the abrupt and apparently incomplete nature of this text. Matthew, Luke, and John add oodles of details to the Easter morning event, with as much traffic back and forth from the tomb as some Monday morning commutes. In contrast, Mark’s presentation is stark and simple. Mark focuses his reader on a very ...

3189. Bridge Builders

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

As the three cousins ran through the woods, jumping over fallen trees, zigzagging through knee-high ferns, and pushing branches out of their way, a chorus of laughter rose in the still air. "Don't be so pokey, Michael," teased his older cousin. "Watch out for that rock on the left," Sam warned the boys. A yelp went up as Jeremy stumbled. "Come on, come on. We're almost there," Sam hollered. "I can hear the river now and there's the bridge to Uncle David's camp." The boys lined up along the edge of the ...

3190. Stuff!

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

It's everywhere you look. Stuff! From garage sales, to trunk sales and flea markets, to dumpsters, to folks riffling through your trash to find something of value ... and if they're lucky, something with your social security number on it. Stuff is everywhere. Don't get me wrong. I love stuff. By most measures I have too much of it. When Nancy and I were first married the only reason she could drag me to garage sales was the fact that I wanted to be with her all of the time. But standing there, looking at ...

3191. The Great Divide

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

I have to admit, this is not the Jesus I'm comfortable with. All this talk about bringing fire to the earth and that he can't wait until it's set ablaze. What kind of talk is that? Then there is the part about how households will become divided because of him. For goodness' sake, that's exactly opposite from the kind of community we're trying to build here. Can you imagine if I announced an adult education program that promised to teach you how to divide your families in five easy sessions? You wouldn't ...

3192. Quitters

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a time-honored story about a football game featuring two mismatched teams. One team was much larger than the other. The larger team was dominating the game, severely intimidating the smaller team in the process. The hitting was fierce. The smaller team had one player, however, who might make a difference. His name was Calhoun and he was the fastest running back in the league. His coach felt that if Calhoun could get any blocking at all, he could easily break free and outrun the larger players. The ...

3193. Repressive Religion

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I wish it were not so, but it is. Religion can be horribly repressive sometimes. Indeed, our text certainly reflects it. The story opens with Jesus teaching in a synagogue where services were normally informal: primarily prayers, reading of scripture, comments, and offerings for the poor. Any man in attendance could read from scripture and then teach or preach if he were so inclined, and on this day apparently, Jesus was. He noticed a woman, identified in scripture as only "crippled" and "bent over" — some ...

3194. The Utmost Patience for the Foremost Sinner

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

We usually don't spend too much time thinking about our own sinfulness. On occasion, of course, our feelings of guilt overwhelm us. We can't stop thinking about our sinfulness. If we are in that situation, we may need to talk that out with someone. Apart from times like that, we don't think much about our own sinfulness. We have ways of getting around that. We don't think about our sins because we are too appalled at the sins of others. The news media throws in our faces the outrageous sins of other people ...

3195. Prayer-Conditioning Your Life

Luke 2:29-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Today is a national day of prayer. Okay, not “officially.” Not sanctioned by any denomination or government decree. But there will still be more prayers hurtled heavenward today than on any other given Sunday. Yes, it is Superbowl Sunday — and there are prayers going up for that favorite team by player, family members, coaches, investment brokers, and, of course, fans, all over this country. And, like the pizza-hawker “Papa John’s,” who promised a free pizza to anyone who correctly calls the “head or tails ...

3196. Suffered under (Saint) Pontius Pilate

John 18:28-40

Sermon

David O. Bales

Christians Sunday by Sunday announce our collective memory of Pontius Pilate: “Suffered under Pontius Pilate.” By repeating this creed regularly, we agree with church tradition and we don’t wonder further about Pilate. We certainly have no sympathy for him. Pilate’s Jewish contemporaries had nothing good to say about him. Christians, especially on Good Friday, don’t let anyone forget our opinion of him. However, some early church traditions decided that Pilate was a believer and two churches still, ...

3197. What Difference Does it Make?

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Tony Everett

What a joyful day! Throughout the world Christians are gathered to celebrate resurrection… new life emerging from the grave; new light bursting forth from a darkened tomb. Throughout the world Christians celebrate as the cross of a suffering, bleeding, dying Jesus is now surrounded by dancing children waiting their turn to decorate it with brightly colored spring flowers. Throughout the world, churches are filled with Christians shouting back and forth “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” ...

3198. Here's Mud in Your Eye

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

There is much speculation on the Internet about the origin of the time-honored toast, “Here’s mud in your eye!” Google the sentence and you will find numerous explanations as to its origin. Some say it became common in the trenches of Word War I as mud was everywhere, and in everything, including the drinks. But we know it didn’t originate there. The phrase was being bandied about in U.S. saloons as early as 1890 and was popular with the English fox hunting crowd before then. Others contend it comes from ...

3199. Around the Family Table

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Deana Dudley tells about a movie called Soul Food, which came out five or six years ago. In the movie, Mama Joe, the mother of an African American family, has held her clan together for 40 years around a Sunday dinner of soul food fried chicken, smothered pork chops, greens, cabbage, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese. Sounds good, doesn’t it? [I shouldn’t torture you so close to lunch.] But one day Mama Joe has to go to the hospital, so the dinners stop. And the family begins to fall ...

3200. You Have a Friend (Memorial Day)

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

An anonymous e-mail tells a story we need to hear on this Memorial Day weekend. It’s about an old man and his wife sitting in the parking lot of a supermarket. The hood is up on their car. Evidently they are having engine problems. A young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm walks in the direction of the elderly couple. The old gentleman emerges from the car and takes a few steps in the young man’s direction. He points to the open hood and asks the young man for assistance. The young ...

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