Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3326 to 3350 of 4681 results

3326. Jesus' Baptism: Affirmed by God

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... released a dove. When the dove came back with a green olive branch, it meant that there was hope. Land was somewhere out there. The great ministry of the Holy Spirit today is to give us hope by bringing God’s presence alive within us, so that the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are truly children of God. Jesus is not just another person, He’s not just a great teacher of the past, and He’s a living Lord. God spoke and said, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” What ...

3327. Led by the Spirit, Tempted by the Devil

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... do what is expedient. How tempting this must have been. Get the picture. Jesus knew the Scripture. Psalm 91, verses 11 and 12 had promised the Messiah: “For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus could cast himself from the pinnacle of the temple, test the angels, and if the angels protected him, he would be the hero of Israel, and he would be recognized immediately as the Messiah. At the ...

3328. The World's Best-Known Widow

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... windows. But the mere presence of it bespoke a certain air of individuality and distinction for its owner - paused briefly as it was before that regulating traffic signal, until surging out ahead of the pack when the light changed to green. It was an impressive sight - bearing in it a kind of testimonial to the skill and ingenuity that could produce it and to the spirit that had both taste and financial wherewithal to enjoy it. I suppose it would not be at all inaccurate to admit I looked on it happily ...

3329. Emmanuel - God with Us

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... well – more than that, God love you deeply and dearly. That’s the glorious message of Christmas. It’s in one line of the Gospel of Matthew. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet” ‘Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel, which means God with us” (Matthew 1: 22-23) That’s Christmas – and that’s the Gospel. On this Christmas Eve, as we wait for the magic hour of midnight - the birth our Lord Jesus Christ, let’s look ...

3330. The World Is Our Parish

John 3:16-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... sacrificial lives are we willing to live? Isaac Watts asked long ago: "Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease While others fight to win the prize and sail through bloody seas? Sure I must fight if I would reign, increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by thy word." Today it is time to move from self-indulgence to sacrificial service for the sake of the world. That would be a dramatic move for most of us. It is time to make a move today. It is time to make ...

3331. War and the Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... stirring drums. It is with deeds of love and mercy that the heavenly kingdom finally comes. It is with that in mind that I suggest that there is a fourth view to peace. IV. PEACE IS A SPIRITUAL VISION. The wolf will lie down with a lamb. The bear and the child will play together. You heard it beautifully sung this morning by this wonderful choir. A little child shall lead them. What is this vision of Isaiah in which all of creation and all the kingdoms of the universe finally are reconciled one to another ...

3332. On Being Faithful and Focused

Hebrews 11:1, 32 – 12:2

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , the Hudleys and those who founded this congregation 150 years ago find us faithful today? Will R.I. Moore and Jeff Fryer and those who marched from Church Street to this place on Franklin Road find us faithful in our watch? Will the gifts of Walter Nipper bear dividends for the future? Will the seeds of Henry Bixler, planted by Bob Spain and watered by Joe Pennel, come to full fruit and reproduction in our time? In God's plan, “only together with us will they be made perfect," says the writer of Hebrews ...

3333. Facing Our Fears with Faith

Matthew 10: 27-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... from my children and, now, my grandchild. Last month, I took my two year old grandson to the zoo. He was so excited about going that he talked without ceasing, but he was so scared that he needed constant reassurance from his granddaddy that every lion, tiger and bear would not come and eat him alive. What is there about human nature that wants us right on the edge? If trivial fears can excite us, then I ask you, why not use the treacherous days to make this world a better place? Is this not the lesson ...

3334. You Are Invited

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... souls; rest that comes from forgiveness at the heart. Do you ever think of the church as a garbage dump? I know that's hard, isn't it? In all the beauty of this place, to think of this place as a garbage dump is almost more than I can bear. But that's what it is. Yes, I need to bring the Lord my gratitude. But there's something else I need to bring to the Lord. I need to bring my sins to the Lord; my shame to the Lord. I need to confess my sins so that God ...

3335. Knowing When To Run

Genesis 39:1-2, 6b-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Jesus' temptation, the sinless one struggling in the desert for his very soul. Paul says in I Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common for human beings. And God is faithful, and will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." Of course that is absolutely true, but there are times in my life when I wish God did not trust me so much. While temptations come in all shapes and sizes, Richard Foster, in his classic book, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life, says there are ...

3336. The Difference Disciples Make

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... while I try to figure out the instruments on this thing.” With fear and trembling, and a lot of bumping we made it to Memphis. Coming back home that night, the pilot said to me, “See if you can recognize any landmarks of the city so I can get a bearing to find my way to this little airstrip on which we are to land.” I can’t tell you how delighted I was to finally see the lights on the runway and although it took us a couple of times to try to get down, at last we made it ...

3337. Unusual Joy

Psalm 126:1-6

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... church in appreciation for our hospitality. Down and out, Jim still knew the joy of gratitude. Do you? Joy comes to those who are grateful. III. JOY COMES TO THOSE WHO GRIEVE. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy! Those who go forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves (verses 5-6). When the moments make you cry, let God's people say, “Amen." “Can we just skip Christmas this year?" That's the question 15-year-old Marsha asked in a ...

3338. Dreaming Impossible Dreams

Genesis 37:2-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

To dream the impossible dream To fight the unbeatable foe To bear the unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not go To right the unrightable wrong To love pure and chaste from afar To try when your arms are too heavy To reach the unreachable star. Those lyrics sung by Don Quixote in Man From LaMancha clearly characterize the life ...

3339. Hearing the Questions of Children

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the thought of seeing my day, he saw it and was glad.” In America’s best-loved hymn we continue to sing, And when I think that God his son not sparing, Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on a cross, my burden gladly bearing He bled and died to take away my sin. In the obedience of Abraham, we glimpse the faithfulness of God who was willing to sacrifice his only son for our salvation. The obedience, the righteousness of one man continues to be a blessing for Christians like us. Somebody said ...

3340. Why Do People Suffer?

John 9:1-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... in human freedom. I would not want it any other way. However, God took a gigantic risk when he chose to make humans free moral agents. People fail to realize their place of freedom stops at the fingertips of another. O what pain we often bear by the foolish and wrongful actions of others. David was a man after God's own heart. When Samuel anointed him king of Israel, David was as pure as newly fallen snow. But power corrupts. Absolute power absolutely corrupts. Foolishly thinking he needs what he wants ...

3341. The Holy Spirit and You

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... I said to those gathered, “This may be the closest thing to a Pentecostal experience you will ever behold at a Methodist gathering." Of course, it is not the special effects of wind, fire, and smoke that make Pentecost a Christian holiday. It is the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. Believe it or not, one year later, a young adult at that party wrote me a letter describing the spiritual transformation that started in his life on that embarrassing night. God moves in ...

3342. The Uniting Peace of Christ

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... for the holy of holies. To get out of your place meant sudden and certain death. The hostility Paul references is between Jews and Gentiles. Jews hated Gentiles. It was unlawful to help a Gentile woman in need. Better for her to die than run the risk of bearing a child. To enter the house of a Gentile was to render a Jew unclean. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl the funeral of that Jewish boy was conducted. He was as good as dead. The walls are real and the hostility is horrific. Imagine the radical ...

3343. How To Triumph Over Terrorism

Ephesians 6:10-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... FOES TO FACE Verse 12. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world. All of us have flesh and blood problems. We have bosses to please, people to manage, families to facilitate, burdens to bear, sorrows to share. Such is the nature of life. Never morning wears to evening but some heart breaks, a heart just as sensitive as yours or mine. One way or another we learn to get along with it and adapt to it because, as we like to ...

3344. Why Join a Church?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... me give just a few. Love one another, encourage one another, be kind to one another, comfort one another, edify one another, fellowship with one another, confess your faults to one another, forgive one another, pray for one another, minister to one another, bear one another’s burdens. We will never achieve Christian maturity apart from Christian community. We need more resources than our interior lives can supply and more influences than our few like-minded friends will give us. We need the support of a ...

3345. We Believe in Life Everlasting

John 11:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of others. When we are in the tough moments, we expect somebody else to be there. We want our friends to gather around because life is one of those things that you share. A community is where people come together and share each others joys and bear each others burdens. Joys shared are doubled; sorrows shared are halved. Life is a gift, share it. Harold Kushner wrote: “Each lifetime is like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. For some there are more pieces. For others the puzzle is more difficult to assemble ...

3346. Furnishing It with Love

1 John 4:7-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to love. Sandy might say I have miserably failed at it. So I no longer read that chapter with my name in it. Howard does fail, can be rude, and is easily angered. I Corinthians 13 describes the nature of God. God is patient and kind. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He’s never failed us yet. III. The love of God is UNENDING Consider the affirmation of faith we used today, where Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or ...

3347. The Power to Resist Temptation

I Corinthians 10:13-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... me a mountain, a mountain too steep to climb. Tempted and tried, I'm oft made to wonder, why it should be so all the day long? All my trials, Lord, gonna soon be over. Our songs state it clearly. To live is to face troubles, some too heavy to bear. To live is to struggle with temptation, some with a power of its own. No, no, it's not an easy road. Life is difficult. It always has been and always will be. Like Job of old, we have a choice. We can curse God and die, or take the ...

3348. We Believe in Jesus Christ

John 20:19-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of his malignancy and his death. Natalie was no stranger to suffering. Fighting with life threatening MS, herself, she knew what it was to look into the darkness of the night and know that there was a dawn. How can we live, how shall we die, how can we bear the cross of grief who have not yet the eyes of faith or the courage of belief? “I am the resurrection and the life, and those who believe in me, though they die, yet shall they live." Christ, Himself, is Christianity. IV. HE IS THE WAY AND TRUTH ...

3349. Convening A Construction Crew: Nobody Builds Alone

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... know how much you care. One of the great phrases of the Bible is one another—love one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, admonish one another, greet one another, serve one another, teach one another, accept one another, honor one another, bear one another’s burdens, forgive one another. Community is not just a place for the suffering to find comfort but for the comfortable to find suffering and thereby draw closer to the cross of Christ who suffered for us all. Verse 47: “The Lord ...

3350. About Whose Business Was He?

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , then do your best to lose them in a safe place like church. I will always be grateful for the youth groups, Sunday school teachers, and special friends, who provided a place for our boys to run to when staying at home was too difficult to bear. II. It is a Story About a Church that Listened “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers." When it comes ...

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