Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3351 to 3375 of 4935 results

3351. Team Work is Dream Work

Psalm 133:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

What I want to talk to you about today is something that God desperately desires for his people. It is one thing that Satan fears and works day and night to undo. It is something for which Jesus himself prayed for just before He went to the cross. It is the one thing the bible says that will convince people that the church has something the world does not. It is the one thing that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is meant to accomplish. What is it that I am talking about?—UNITY. Now when I speak about unity ...

3352. Why You Should Study the Bible

Psalm 119:105

Sermon

James Merritt

The Bible is the book that is owned by more people in America than any other single book. But what do Bible owners really know about the Bible? 82% say the idea that “God helps those who help themselves” is taken directly from the pages of the Bible. 66% say there is no absolute truth. 63% cannot name the four gospels. 58% cannot name half or more of the Ten Commandments. 58% do not know Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. 52% do not know the book of Jonah is in the Bible. 48% do not know the book of ...

3353. Joshua: Why These Stones?

Sermon

John E. Harnish

It was bound to happen. God knew it. Joshua knew it. Someday, a child would ask the question. · Someday, when the people were comfortably settled in the Promised Land and the tales of Abraham and Sarah living in tents had given way to high rise lofts and seaside condos; · Someday, when the stories of Moses and the manna had blended into a mosaic of ancient myth and the traveling tabernacle had been replaced by a permanent temple; · Someday, long after the bones of Joseph had found their final resting place ...

3354. You Must Start Over!

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Mike Ripski

I. A personal confession My first appointment was as the Associate Pastor of Grace UMC in the Graceland area of south Memphis. It was 1975. Racial transition had begun in that part of the city. Overnight young adult Sunday school classes moved east. Older adult classes moved to Mississippi. People of a different race and culture moved in. Grace Church’s future depended on its reaching out to its new neighbors. The community had changed. Could the church change too? Things have changed since Belle Meade UMC ...

3355. Theology 101

Psalm 111:1-10

Sermon

Mike Ripski

I. Knowledge and Faith Once upon a time a man had car trouble near a monastery. He knocked on the door, and tells the monk, “My car broke down. Can I spend the night?” The Monks receive him with great hospitality. They feed him a wonderful dinner and even fix his car. They show the man to a guest room for the night. As the man is about to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. It’s a sound like nothing he’s ever heard. It’s a sound that draws him toward it.. He can’t sleep, wondering where that sound is ...

3356. Gratitude: A State of Mind

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

Today's Gospel Reading reminds us once again that Jesus' journey has a destination. He is moving, slowly but surely, toward the holy city. Today we watch and listen as Jesus comes into Bethany, and his journey toward Jerusalem comes ever closer. Geographically, Jesus is probably somewhere between Samaria and Galilee. The miracle that happens here is not in keeping with his other miracles. The miracle has an unusual skew to it. We have learned to expect Jesus to heal someone and for that healing to happen ...

3357. A Squirrely Holiday

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It is a sign that we theologians have run out of ways to ponder the existence and being of God when we start naming our theologies after animals but here goes: "Dog Theology" goes like this: "You feed me. You pet me. You shelter me. You love me. You must be God!" "Cat Theology" goes like this: "You feed me. You pet me. You shelter me. You love me. I must be God." I would like to put forth a Squirrel theology. The way squirrels live their lives puts them on a different theological plane than dogs or cats? ...

3358. Cross Eyed: Anger

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Pet Peeves, we all have them don't we? Those things that just set us off. Some of my pet peeves are: People who don't use their turn signals or turn them on when they're turning. Road maps that aren't folded back up correctly. I don't know why, it just bugs me. I guess it's like the next one, tangled and wadded up extension cords. Fast food lines that aren't fast. All the prescription drug ads on TV with their long disclaimers of possible side effects. (They make me want to run and hide, not ask my doctor ...

3359. Lessons from Rephidim - Being the Lord's Intercessor

Exodus 17:8-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Last Sunday we began to talk about Lessons from Rephidim. We said there were three lessons. One, being the Lord’s instrument; two, being the Lord’s intercessor; and, three, being inter dependent with the Lord’s people. We considered only the first lesson last Sunday. Today, we want to look at the other two. Our scripture story is a dramatic one. It was Israel’s first battle. They met the Amalekites at Rephidim. Joshua commanded the forces of Israel, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up on the mountain to pray ...

3360. When God Seems Far Off

Psalm 10:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

“Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Have you ever felt that way? You wanted to say that to the Lord? There have been times in my life when God seemed far off, beyond the reach of communication. I have awakened at 3 o’clock in the morning, morning after morning after morning, and anguished in spirit until day break, but my praying was more frustrating than fruitful. My passionate pleas seemed to bounce off the ceiling and ricochet around the walls. It never ...

3361. In the House of the Lord

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

If you saw the “Places in the Heart,” starring Sally Field, you will probably never forget the closing scene. Many in the audience and most critics could not believe what they were seeing. The scene is set in a small and simple sanctuary lit Texas. Everyone who figures in the movie drama is seated there in the pews. The camera moves in on the preacher at the pulpit, and he reads the moving cadences of the apostle Paul’s great hymn on love from 1 Corinthians 13.-We hear again how faith, hope and love ...

3362. Facing Our Fears with Faith

Matthew 10: 27-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“Americans will never taste security and safety unless we feel security and safety in our land," said Osama bin Laden a few weeks ago in a video shown around the world. It is the purpose of terrorists to terrorize and it appears these criminals have succeeded in making Americans more fearful than ever before. Never again will we board a plane, open a letter, or enter a stadium with the kind of innocence we assumed before September 11th. How will we learn to live with this kind of fear? To fear or not to ...

3363. God, What Are You Up To?

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

Stan Purdum

One of the better programs on television from 2003 to 2005 was a series on CBS called Joan of Arcadia. Like many thoughtful shows, this one did not score high enough to stay on the air for long, but it did last two seasons. The title alludes to Joan of Arc, the fifteenth-century teenager who believed she heard the voice of God urging her to save France from England during the Hundred Years War. That Joan led an army into battle, successfully forcing the British to retreat from Orleans. Later, captured by ...

3364. A Man of the Moment

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

Stan Purdum

Do you remember the movie 1988 movie, Twins? It was comedy that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as, of all things, twin brothers. Even if you know nothing about the plot of the movie, the mental picture of those two actors standing side-by-side as twins is itself pretty funny. The setup for the move is that the brothers are the result of an experiment to grow a perfect man, who is the Schwarzenegger character, named Julius. But in the course of manipulating his genes when he's in the ...

3365. Reversal and Victory

Judges 4:1-7

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

"When God is going to do something wonderful," author Anne Lamott claims, "God always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, God starts with an impossibility."1 All of those ingredients are present in our lesson from the book of Judges. The people were experiencing a crisis, a time of great stress thinking doom was all but inevitable. The situation appeared hopeless and impossible until God raised up the right person to meet the challenge head on. Time and time again, the ...

3366. Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round

Romans 8:1-11

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Have you ever been stuck on a playground merry-go-round? You know how it goes. You start slow, pushing with your feet to gain more speed until you are running. Then you finally jump on to the spinning merry-go-round holding on for dear life. That is when you find yourself stuck. On the one hand, the centrifugal force of the spinning merry-go-round threatens to throw you off. On the other hand, you hold on for dear life to the railing because you are afraid of what might happen to you if you fall off. And ...

3367. Ping-Pong Words

Proverbs 15:1

Children's Sermon

Marti Kramer Suddarth

Scientific Reference: Snell’s law: The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. Materials needed: - Board - Ping-pong balls (one for each child if you are going to hand them out after the story) - Card stock printed with scripture reference and verse on one side and Snell’s law on the other - Assistant Telling The Story: (Introduce your assistant. Ask your assistant to hold the board perpendicular to the floor. Stand three or four feet away and throw a ping-pong ball at a 90-degree angle at the ...

3368. The Little Golf Club

Sermon

John Smylie

Our Lord's new commandment, to love one another as he has loved us, is easier said than done. Love is such an overused word in our society, and even in sermons, that it's sometimes difficult to get a grip on what it is that love really means. Perhaps our Lord's love is particularly difficult to get a handle on because of the preconceived notions we may have about him. Sunday school images of the mild and gentle Jesus may come to mind: Never a harsh word spoken, a smile on his face, a sweetness in his ...

3369. The Reluctant Celebrity

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

King Duncan

We live in a world that canonizes celebrity. It no longer matters how much a person has accomplished or how much they have contributed to society. All you have to do to become famous in today’s world is to keep yourself in front of the media. We have people, it’s often noted, who are famous simply for being famous. People like Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, for example. They became so famous that they starred in their own reality show “The Simple Life.” Before that, says one critic, Paris Hilton did ...

3370. Jesus - The Leader of Our Team

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

One day a young girl came home from school in tears because she had only been given a small part in the school play, while her classmate and best friend had received the lead role. After drying the girl’s eyes, her mother took off her watch, put it in her hand, and said, “What do you see?” The girl replied, “A gold band, the watch face, and two hands.” Then the mother flipped the watch over, opened the back, and again asked her daughter, “Now, what do you see?” The little girl looked closely at all the ...

3371. Freedom Calling

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

April Yamasaki

Free! No obligation, no sales person will call! Free! Don't miss this opportunity! Free! Two sets for the price of one! In the world of advertising, something is free if you don't have to pay for it; if there's no money down, no payments to make; if you get something for nothing — or at least two for the price of one! Galatians 5:1, 13-25 describes a different kind of freedom. It isn't free in the sense of no cost — in fact, this freedom was purchased at the great cost of Jesus' own life. It isn't ...

3372. Endurance

2 Corinthians 11:24-27, 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

When my daughter, Hannah, was five years old we lived in Minnesota. Before she entered kindergarten, she had to take an entrance exam. Being the non-competitive but responsible parent that I am, I decided to help Hannah prepare for this test. I taught her how to count to ten — in four languages. I taught her the colors by buying a box of crayons — 64 count, including turquoise, magenta, and chartreuse. We worked on a puzzle of the United States with each individual state cut out so we could learn the names ...

3373. The Healing Power of Faith

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

There is an old, old story about a traveling evangelist who also advertised himself as a faith healer. In one of his crusade services he jumped on the platform and said, “I have faith that two people will be healed tonight. Where are you?” he asked. “Who would like to be healed?” A man ran down the aisle, named Harry. Asked what his ailment was, Harry said he had a lisp. He explained sadly, “I can’t talk wite.” He was instructed to go behind a curtain. Another man hobbled down on crutches. His name was ...

3374. Trust

John 4:43-54

Sermon

James Merritt

If you have ever been to a circus you have seen elephants tethered to a chain that is connected to a stake in the ground. You may not realize that that stake is only eighteen inches long and that elephant can easily pull that stake up, because a grown man has to pull the stake up to free the elephant. Now if a grown man can pull up the stake, why doesn’t the elephant pull that stake out of the ground and free himself? Well, when that elephant was a baby, he did not have the strength to pull that stake out ...

3375. The Transforming Power of Grace

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

A minister friend told of exercising outside on a particularly warm summer morning. "It was a magnificent day," he said. "I was running on the sidewalks of tree-lined streets. I chose the route because of the beauty of the neighborhood and the abundance of shade to shield me from the sun. "As often happens when exercising, I was lost in thought. When I run, my legs get more oxygen than my brain. Often that causes me to fantasize on my personal possibilities. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking, ...

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