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 3201 to 3225 of 4942 results

3201. A Stone’s Throw From: The Rolled Stone

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

There's an old Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown tells Lucy they have to stop fighting and finder a kinder way to resolve their conflicts. He tells her that the planet is filled with people hurting each other, that it's possible that they, as children, can make a new world order. Lucy listens for a minute and the POW! She slams him to the ground and walks away saying, "I had to hit him quick, he was beginning to make sense." Apart from God's purpose in and through the Cross, I've often wondered if ...

3202. First Class Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Freedom. Freedom is the last word spoken by Mel Gibson in the epic movie Braveheart. It is also the first word spoken when he voiced the character, Rocky, in the claymation movie "Chicken run." I've always liked the irony and humor of that, even though I'm not sure anyone else ever noticed. Freedom, it's what we celebrated with parades and fireworks yesterday. Freedom, it's what makes this Nation so unique. In a sense, it's what brings us here today. Our freedom of religion allows us to gather and worship ...

3203. Walking First Class

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

McFaith. You know people like that don't you? They want Gospel Lite as if it were something consumable and not something to consume their souls. They don't want to bear the cross as Jesus said, but they'll gladly wear it as jewelry. They don't seem to get it. They have no idea what their destination or purpose in life is all about. They remind me of a story told about the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. When he was eighty-eight years old he was traveling by train. When the conductor came ...

3204. Do We Live in ‘Why’ or ‘Whynot’

Romans 12:3-8, 16-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

(Pursuit of Happiness Clip) If you have seen the movie Pursuit of Happiness, it is based on the true story of Chris Gardner. Chris Gardner's life is falling apart. After a business deal goes bad, he feels that the only way he can make a good life for his family is if he changes careers. So despite all the odds, Gardner enters the chase for a lucrative job as a stockbroker at Dean-Whitter. The only problem is that the competitive internship required doesn't pay anything, and there is no guarantee of ...

3205. Superman: More Than A Super Hero

John 1:1-5, 9-14; John 13:31-32; John 20:30-31

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

One of the greatest icons of the 20th and 21st Centuries is Superman. As a boy many of us daydreamed about having Super Powers like Superman. But if you've followed any of the movies, cartoons, comics or TV shows, you know that even with all his super powers, Superman and very other Super Hero has personal problems. But that doesn't negate the fact that we can learn some things from Super Heroes or the portrayal of Super Heroes such as Superman. Introduction In 1978, we were living in Midway, Missouri, ...

3206. Altar Your Gifts

Malachi 3:10, Luke 6:27-42

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Years ago I read a story told about Abe Lincoln and his boys. The boys were both crying and a neighbor asked Abe what the problem was. And Abe answered, "The same problem that is wrong with the whole world. I have three walnuts, and each of my boys wants two." That sort of hits the nail on the head doesn't it? And it kind of makes us all want to squirm. We all want more than we've got. We all want the larger share. No sooner do we get something than we find someone who has one bigger or better or with a ...

3207. Discover the Promise of Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Most, if not all of the leftover turkey has been eaten. Black Friday sales are mostly over. The decorations are up all over town and in the malls. We're stuffed and either glad the relatives have finally left or we're saddened because they could stay longer; or maybe just a little of both. Those are the telltale signs that Christmas is right around the corner. Today we enter the Season of Advent in the Church. It is a season of promise and a season of preparation, preparation to receive the Promise of God ...

3208. LOST? Finding Forgiveness

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Some of you have met my good friend John Heinz and most of you have heard me talk about his love for God and his love for inviting people to church. The other day John and I were talking and John talked about keeping his grandson for the weekend and how much fun that is, normally. I don't know what the boy did but what ever it was, since it was close to bed time, Grandma sent him to bed as his punishment. Off he went, crying like all get out. John went in to make sure he was in bed. When he walked in to ...

3209. Wednesday: The Way Of The Cross: Oooh, That Smell

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A little girl hugged her grandmother and said, "Mmmmm! You smell so wonderful, Grandmother! Is that Oil of Old Lady?" (1) Have you ever noticed how a particular smell or aroma can bring back memories. You smell something and before you know it your mind has taken you back to when you were a child. There's one aroma that immediately brings me back to boyhood and that's the aroma of chicken frying. I'm not talking about KFC or Chicken Express. I'm talking about hand battered skillet fried chicken. Because we ...

3210. Thursday: Broken Bread And Broken Trust

Mark 14:10-26

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Mark 14:10-26 (NRSV) [10] Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. [11] When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. [12] On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" [13] So he sent two of his disciples, saying to ...

3211. The Smell Of Smoke Still Lingers

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

An old Reader's Digest story tells about a family who moved to Seattle from Texas. The whole family was missing Texas, especially when Christmas was just around the corner and the whole place was covered in snow. We like it snow on Christmas morning or Christmas Eve, just as long as it's all gone by the time we get on the road to go to visit our families, right Well anyway, this woman said she went to pick up our first-grade son from school, his teacher told me about a conversation she overheard as the ...

3212. Cleaning House

Mark 1:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A few years ago I read an Ad in the Thrifty Nickel which read: "We cater to Clutter. Dependable house, apartment or business cleaning." And then there were a couple of phone numbers so you could contact the folks. There's nothing real earth shattering or funny about that ad but what struck me is that ad could be the Church's motto. Any Church's motto. We cater to clutter. We don't cater to the perfect. We don't cater to those who have already made it. We don't cater to those who don't need help. We cater ...

3213. The Miss, The Kiss, The Mess, The Rest

2 Samuel 11:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A few years back, I read about a group of three burglars in Vang, Norway, who tried to open a large safe in a small factory. They attached a small explosive device to the door of the safe and then hid in the next room until it went off. The explosion was so powerful that it demolished the whole building and left them buried under a pile of rubble. The ironic thing about was, the safe had never held any money. The company money was kept in a cash box in an unlocked desk drawer. But what they did keep in the ...

3214. Batman: Driven By Guilt or Grace?

Romans 5:1-11; 8:1-2; Luke 18:9-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Romans 5:1-11 (NRSV) [1] Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. [3] And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts ...

3215. God's 'Yes!' To Every Promise

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

It's kind of silly now, nothing more than a fond memory that has been replaced by the deep love I have for my wife, Mary. But as a boy in the third and fourth grade it was major. It was no simple school boy crush. I was completely, madly, irrevocably head over heels in love with a girl by the name of Barbara Wissman. I remember one of our teachers reading Tom Sawyer to us. In my mind, I was her Tom Sawyer and she was my Becky Thatcher. When she walked into the room my heart would skip a beat. For a long ...

3216. Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

We spend a lot of time and effort preparing for the future. We tell our kids to get good grades so they can get into a good college, so they can get a good job, so they can have success and security in life. When, after decades of jumping through all those hoops and following a particular pathway, someone suddenly changes their mind about who they are and what they want, we call it a “mid-life crisis.” When that kind of change happened to Saul of Tarsus, we call it “a Damascus Road experience.” When Paul ...

3217. Valley of Weakness (Series: Peace in the Valley)

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ...For when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Corinthians 12:9-10). Let me tell you a very personal story. As a kid I was bullied a lot by older siblings and teased to tears almost daily by adults who somehow saw something humorous about intimidating a small child. In elementary school, I stayed to myself and avoided conflicts at all costs with the big eighth graders in that little four room schoolhouse. ...

3218. Discover the Surprise of Christmas

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Like that Santa, some of us have been desperately trying to grasp the allusive feeling of Christmas. The feelings we remember from younger days and simpler days. Like that Santa Ornament, determined to get those cookies, we go through all sorts of gyrations and antics trying to resurrect Christmases Past because in our memories they feel perfect and unencumbered. But the past is the past, and we're called to live in the present. But Christmas isn't really about the present (or the presents under the tree. ...

3219. In You and Through You

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

In the book, How To Find Out Who You Are, Nelson Price reports that 15 prominent college professors took this challenge: "If all the books on the art of moving human beings into action were condensed into one brief statement, what would that statement be?" The result of their deliberations were four statements: What the mind attends to, it considers; What the mind does not attend it to, it dismisses. What the mind attends to continually, it believes. What the mind believes, it eventually does. If you ...

3220. One Lord, One Table

Exodus 20:1-4

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Growing up, there was a family who lived across the street from us by the name of Wallace. There were six kids, one girl and five boys. Their yard was the cut through yard to get to the rest of our friends houses. Mr. Wallace loved to grow things. He always had a garden and grew tomatoes, lettuce and carrots. But his favorite was peaches. The Wallaces had a double lot and he must have had three dozen peach trees. He sold many of the peaches to a local grocery store. But Mr. Wallace also had red and purple ...

3221. Where do You Live?

Romans 14:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

In the irreverent comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which is a send up of the King Arthur tales, there is a scene where one of the knights, Sir Bedevere is confronted by a group of villagers. It seems they have gripped one of the local women and claim she is a witch. It's very obvious that her long crooked nose is fake and has been tied on and she's been dressed up to look like a witch. Sir Bedevere questions the evidence and the people confess that they made it all up. But they still want to burn ...

3222. Seen The Doctor Lately?

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

One afternoon, a man went to his doctor and told him that he hasn't been feeling well lately. The doctor examined the man, left the room, and came back with three different bottles of pills. The doctor said, "Take the green pill with a big glass of water when you wake up. Take the blue pill with a big glass of water after you eat lunch. Then just before going to bed, take the red pill with another big glass of water." Startled to be put on so much medicine, the man stammered, "Jiminy Doc, what's my problem ...

3223. Winning the War Over Stuff (Series: Winning The War Over Daily Life)

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Have you noticed how almost everything you buy these days has a warning label on it? Welcome to the world of protection from litigation. Some of the wackiest ones include: A bottle of sleeping pills with the warning: “Caution, may cause drowsiness” A fishing lure with the warning: “Harmful if swallowed” Washing machine with the instructions: “Don’t put people inside.” It causes me to start thinking about appropriate warning labels for worship to be printed in the bulletin: “Sleep at your own risk” “Caution ...

3224. Winning the War Over Fear (Series: Winning the Wars of Daily Life)

Luke 12:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

According to a public opinion poll, 40% of Americans fear public speaking, 36% fear heights, and 34% fear being closed in small spaces. According to these statistics, when I step into the pulpit to preach, my fear factor on a scale of 1-100 should be about 110. People ask me all the time if I still get nervous when I preach. The answer to that question is yes. To handle the Word of God and deal with things eternal ought to make us tremble, but there is a difference between awe and angst. I think that is ...

3225. Cast All Your Anxiety on Him

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Open With Video: Incredible Family from www.sermonspice.com I hope none of you are cringing. All of us would like to lay claim to having an Incredible Family. We admit that we have our problems but despite those problems and shortcomings we still want that incredible family. And we usually think our families are pretty incredible. We all have problems in our families. Even God. And we can take comfort from the thought that even God had problems with God's kids. Remember the story in Genesis? After creating ...

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