Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 3176 to 3200 of 4942 results

3176. Don’t Be a Hypocrite

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

There are very few people who never, ever get angry about anything. Even if you are the most mild mannered of mild mannered people, you have a hot-button that if someone just knows where it is and knows how to push it, they can really make your blood boil. What one thing makes you the angriest? Maybe, it is when somebody cuts you off on the freeway. Maybe, it is when your brother or sister borrows some of your clothes and doesn't tell you about it. Maybe, it is when your favorite college football team ...

3177. The Weakest Link

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

I'm beginning a series of messages that I've always wanted to do on probably my favorite portions of Scripture in the Bible—the parables of Jesus. I'm entitling this series "Virtual Reality—God's Favorite Stories." Did you know that 1/3 of all of the things that Jesus taught, He taught with parables? Someone has defined a parable as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That is why I refer to the parables as virtual reality. Because in the parables we learn there is a connection between the visible ...

3178. Never Give Up On God

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

James Merritt

A little five-year-old girl was watching her mother in fascination as she was rubbing cold cream on her face. She said, "Mother, why do you do that?" The mother replied, "To make myself beautiful." Well, to the little girl's amazement, in just a minute the mother began removing the cream with a tissue she had just put on. The girl said, "What's the matter, giving up already?" I sometimes believe that God looks at our puny prayer lives and asks the question: "Are you giving up already?" Believe it or not, ...

3179. Decisions, Decisions

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

James Merritt

If you haven't yet seen the trilogy of movies called, The Lord Of The Rings you really need to see it. It is not only clean, but it is extremely thought provoking. The author of the work upon which those movies are based was a man named J. R. R. Tolkien. A little known fact about Tolkien is he was the man that was instrumental in bringing C.S. Lewis to faith in Jesus Christ. He spent much of his early life as an agnostic and then an atheist, but through a meeting one night with Tolkien, he became a ...

3180. Finish the Drill

Nehemiah 4:1-23

Sermon

James Merritt

I want you to complete this sentence: ". It's not how you start, it's how you finish that counts." I am convinced that is true because of an article someone sent to me that said the best way to achieve inner peace is to always finish things that you start.ed. This person that sent me the article said "it is definitely working for me. I now make a point of always finishing what I start and I am well on my way toward finding inner peace. Here are the things I have finished today:" Two bags of potato chips A ...

3181. I’m Movin’ On

Philippians 3:12-14

Sermon

James Merritt

Believe it or not, in the last several years I have become somewhat of a country music fan, and one of the groups I like is a group called Rascal Flatts. They came out with a song that both haunts me every time I hear it, and yet also brings me a sense of comfort. I want you to listen to just the first verse: Listen to the words one more time: I've dealt with my ghost, and faced all my demons; Finally content with a past I regret; I found you find strength in your moments of weakness; For once I'm at peace ...

3182. Know Fear: The Fear of God

Proverbs 1:7

Sermon

James Merritt

I am concluding the series of messages we have entitled - fear factor. I am afraid fear may have gotten a bad rap, because some fear in life is good. In fact, some fear is even necessary. Small children need to be taught to be afraid of a hot stove or else they will be burned. As they get older, they need to be taught to be afraid of a busy street or else they may get hit by a car. As they become teenagers, they need to be taught to be afraid of driving a car too fast or they might be killed. The fear that ...

3183. The Thick Darkness

1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43

Sermon

Stan Purdum

Eric Marshall and Stuart Hample have made a practice of visiting elementary schools and asking children to write letters to God. They've published some of those letters in a book titled, Children's Letters to God. Here's a sampling: Dear God, Count me in. Your friend, Herbie Dear God, Are boys better than girls? I know you are one but try to be fair. Sylvia Dear God, Your book has a lot of zip to it. I like science fiction stories. You had some very good ideas and I would like to know where you found them ...

3184. Only the Lonely

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Ron Lavin

There are three words I hope you will take home from church today. The words are "Only The Lonely." As you think about these words, the assurances of God's Word will comfort and strengthen you. But I'm getting ahead of my story. Before we get to these three words, we need to look at the full text of Luke 14:1, 7-14. That involves looking at three other words: humility, hospitality, and hope. Humility The inciting incident in our story is that guests at a party started to take places of honor. Jesus told ...

3185. Building God’s Kingdom: The Christian Challenge

Romans 10:8-13

Sermon

Richard Gribble

On December 26, 2004, the greatest natural disaster experienced in the world in over a century struck southern Asia. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake, with its epicenter some 1,000 miles southwest of the island of Java, generated a tsunami that traveled outward at almost supersonic speed in all directions. It created death, destruction, dislocation, and mayhem for literally millions of people in some ten nations that border the northeast regions of the Indian Ocean. Thousands of people, tourists on vacation ...

3186. Jesus, The Light of the World

Revelation 21:10, 21:22-22:5

Sermon

Richard Gribble

In the beginning when the Great Spirit created all that exists, he gave great gifts to all the animals. The Great Spirit gave each animal a cedar box inside of which were very special and wonderful gifts. And, one by one the boxes were opened. The first box contained water. The second box contained the mountains. The third box contained the seeds of all things that grow. The fourth box contained the wind to carry the seed to the corners of the earth. Thus, one by one all the boxes were opened, except one. ...

3187. God Is Rock Solid

Hebrews 12:18-29

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

The phone rang in the pastor's office. On the other end of the line, a still, small voice was asking for help. The unidentified woman didn't say much. She simply said that her world had been turned upside down and she didn't know where else to turn. Many of us can identify with that woman. We have lived it at times. One day your husband comes home and announces he wants a divorce. You get a phone call that your son has been in a car accident. Your daughter tells you she is moving in with her boyfriend and ...

3188. He Will Abundantly Pardon

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Perhaps you have taken a vacation with the intention of seeking out some historical or national monument. Some of the favorites are probably Mount Rushmore, the Liberty Bell, the Gettysburg Battlefield, or Valley Forge. Indeed, this may have been the point of the whole vacation, to take in an important site that ties the past to the present, and on into the future. Certainly, if you have been to Valley Forge, for instance, even on a warm summer's day, it is hard not to shiver as you consider the horrific ...

3189. God's Call for All

Acts 9:35-43

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

A church in Pennsylvania reported the death of one of their members recently. Though this woman and her husband, who had died a few years before, had been immensely wealthy, people spoke not of their wealth, although they were very generous, but of what this woman did. They talked about the cookies she would bake for church functions, the in-home visiting she did, the leadership she provided for the youth, and the soapsuds that lathered her arms as she did dishes after every church dinner. People felt the ...

3190. The Kindness of Strangers

1 Kings 17:8-24

Sermon

Stan Purdum

In 1994, a 37-year-old man by the name of Mike McIntyre decided to confront his fears and the shaky path his life was taking. Living in San Francisco at the time, he left his job, his girlfriend, his apartment — all the trappings of his life, and decided to hitchhike across America, heading for Cape Fear, North Carolina, a location he selected for its name, which symbolized his fear of many things in life. He put a few things in a backpack, but to help him with this confrontation with his fears, he left ...

3191. The Sign of God

Amos 7:7-17

Sermon

Stan Purdum

Most of us have wrestled with questions like these at one time or another: What career should I pursue? Whom should I marry? Where should I attend college? What church should I attend? Should we have another child? Should I accept a job offer that moves my family far away from our hometown? What community responsibilities should I accept? And so on … You recognize, of course, that questions of this sort are much more significant than simple ones like, "Should I wear my green shirt or my gray one today?" ...

3192. 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Every parent knows one thing: when your teenager suddenly starts complimenting dinner or volunteering to take out the trash, something is up. How bad was the grade? Which fender got dented? You want to go to the movies with whom? But wait a minute: we adults practice this same good news/bad transparency tactic as well. Super-nanny Mary Poppins counseled that “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, in a most delightful way.” Or in more mountain culture terms, it’s called warming the water before ...

3193. Luke 3:7-18

Luke 3:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Wall Street vs. Main Street is an old story. The rich always seem to get richer and live lofty lifestyles of opulence and overindulgence while the “non-rich” become larger segments of society. While the depths of poverty might be less deep than they were in the past, the excessive heights of the “haves” makes the view from “have not” seem subterranean. Sound familiar? But no, not just 2009. How about ’09? How about the world in which John the Baptist and Jesus both grew up? The Roman rulers lived high-on- ...

3194. Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

Luke 1:1-4

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Everyone is on the move in Luke’s birth narratives. Immediately you think of the journey of the Holy family from Galilee to Bethlehem. But there was a lot of traipsing about before that. Closely weaving together the stories of John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ births, Luke physically brings together the two mothers-to-be: Mary and Elizabeth. This meeting necessitates Mary going on an extraordinary journey. As a young, unmarried woman it would be highly unusual for Mary to go anywhere unaccompanied. This means ...

3195. Fruitcakes, Fruit-Baskets and New Year’s Babies

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of you received a fruitcake for Christmas? How many of you actually ATE any fruitcake this Christmas? [Try and have a fruitcake to lift up and maybe even pass out chunks, especially to the kids.] I am one of a small minority, I know. I actually like fruitcake. Come on, it’s moist; it’s sweet; it’s nutty; it’s got a rich bouquet; it’s texture is unparalleled. That said . . . . There is no more maligned food than the good old fruitcake. What was once the queen of holiday feasts in the Old World has ...

3196. Every Day God Equips

John 14:15-27

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I grew up in construction. My Dad worked in construction either for someone else or later for his own construction company. I learned about tools and how to use them early on. If Dad was working on something and hollered for a Magillacuddy's double-barreled left-handed wedginator, I'd better know what it was. When I was in the Coast Guard, I was a marine diesel mechanic and while in school we had a week long class on tools. Until that time, I'd never met anybody who didn't know how to use the business end ...

3197. Leap Of Faith

John 8:12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Well here we are. I hope you've anticipated this sermon as much as I have. Somebody asked me why I do this? Why do I use the commercials and comment on them. That's a good question. I do it for a couple of reasons. First, it's kind of fun. But secondly and the main reason is that we live in a very multimedia, multi-sensory society. And the world's message is everywhere. It bombards us constantly. Commercials come as pop ups during you're favorite TV shows. They're on web sites, DVDs, email, they've even ...

3198. Living In The Spirit Of Gentleness and Self Control

Galatians 5:22-25, Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

It was Christmas, and a little boy was asked to play the role of the innkeeper who turned away Mary and Joseph. "I won't do it!" he exclaimed, "Because the man was mean to Mary and Joseph." But the teacher insisted, and he finally learned his lines. The night of the performance came. Mary and Joseph knocked on the door. The boy, dressed as the innkeeper, opened the door and said, "Sorry, there's no room in the inn," but then he added, "if you want to come in, you can rest awhile and have some milk and ...

3199. God IS In The Ordinary

Romans 12:1-2, 9-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever noticed how people see things differently? For example, three people, a minister, a geologist and a cowboy, were all getting their very first view of the vastness of the Grand Canyon. As the minister approached the viewing rail he was heard to say, "Whoa, this has to be one of the most beautiful examples of the handiwork and glory of God!" The Geologist was equally as stunned and commented, "Wow! What a wonderful example of the creative process of nature all outlined before your very eyes in ...

3200. A Stone’s Throw From: New Life

John 8:3-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever really messed up? Has there ever been a moment in your life when you needed a mulligan or do-over or second chance? Unless your name is Jesus and you were born in Bethlehem, of course you have. We all have, that's one of the things we have in common. We've all made our messes and we are looking for a chance to start over. We're looking for the kind of place described by Louise Fletcher Tarkington: "I wish that there were some wonderful place In the Land of Beginning Again; Where all our ...

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