Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3526 to 3550 of 4884 results

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... clean up your act, nor erase your history. Christ the Savior is born. He wants to be your Savior today. D. Jesus Christ, the Son of Joseph As Max Lucado spins the story, Joseph was perched firmly on his branch of the family tree. It was thick, reliable, and perfect for sitting. It was so strong he didn't tremble when the storms came, nor did he shake when the wind blew. This branch was predictable, solid, and Joseph had no intention of leaving it – until he was told in a dream to go out on a limb – not ...

3527. What Would Jesus Say About Me?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... God He created them." We are spiritual beings. We are God-made. We were created by God and we bear a resemblance to God. Russell Kefler put it this way: You are who you are for a reason, You are part of an intricate plan You are a precious and perfect unique design Called God's special woman or man. You are who you are for a reason You've been formed by the Master's rod. You are who you are, beloved, Because there is a God. Our problem is that sin clutters our thinking, evil works on our mind ...

3528. How Can We Stand on Holy Ground?

Psalm 24:1

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... will of my Father who is in heaven!" (Matthew 7:21). Are your hands clean? Are you washed in the blood of the crucified one? We ought to wash up our lives; we ought to purify our souls. II. IS YOUR HEART PURE? To be pure is not to be perfect. It is to be genuine, unmixed, real, authentic. Kierkegaard once said, “Purity of heart is to will one thing." I think it's a great definition. Purity of heart is to will one thing. It's a singleness of mind and a singleness of motive. It's what you do ...

3529. Finding the Courage to Believe

John 20:24-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... grow roses, you don't buy an acre of land at the North Pole. You go where roses will grow. If you want to believe, associate with believers. Watch their actions. Observe their attitudes. Notice how they handle the difficulties of life. They won't be perfect. In fact the devil will point out their imperfections to you. But notice how their beliefs form the foundations of their being. Then go and do likewise. II. THE COURAGE TO BELIEVE COMES FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. John 20:26-28 A week later his disciples ...

3530. Marching Forward by Faith!

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... say—look within. Opportunists say—look around. Optimists say—look ahead. Pessimists say—look out. Christianity says—LOOK UP. Look all the way up until you gaze into the eyes of the One who is looking for you. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of your faith. I know there are times when looking up, that we would prefer a second opinion, another person up there to talk to. Since we see in part and know in part, life appears to be a mixture at best. I embrace this beautiful ...

3531. Checking Out the Scene

John 1:35-42

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... same dream. The Lord said to Adam, “It is not good for you to be alone. I will make a helpmate for you.” We were made for community. The Church is God’s best hope for “loving and being loved.” While we are certainly not perfect at it, the Church does offer community, extend compassion, and offer prayers for those in need. It was Bonhoeffer, that great leader of the Church during the Holocaust that says, “Because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians long before we entered ...

3532. Diving Deeper

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... turn into tears of gratitude before God’s healing grace. What does it mean to confess? It is to be honest and to be humble. c. Confession is being helped. Deeper, deeper, blessed Holy Spirit Take me deeper still. Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus And His perfect will. Is that a prayer you are willing to pray? III. WHEN SURFACE FAITH IS NOT ENOUGH, IT MAY BE TIME TO HEAR OUR CALL. Verses 10—11 say, “Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid, from now on you will catch men and women.’ So when ...

3533. The Down Side of Christmas

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... good reason to weep with Rachel and not be comforted over that which would destroy the most innocent that live among us? Evil happens. II. GOD HELPS “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Let me be perfectly clear. It is not the will of God that children suffer. It is not the design of God for children to be neglected. It breaks the heart of God that any child should fail to receive the good gifts of loving parents, positive opportunities, and unconditional ...

3534. Finding Our Reason For Being

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... As I got up to board the plane I said to her, “Thank you for practicing what you wear. Today you did what Jesus would do.” With a big smile she said, “I try to do what Jesus would do every day.” That’s what disciples do. They are not perfect, just forgiven. Not proud, just grounded; not wandering, just following the One who called them to be disciples. They are just trying to do every day what Jesus would do. III. WE ARE HERE TO SERVE THE WORLD. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that one day, on ...

3535. The Door of Service

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the patronizing of giving. When we give as we have received, we discover a common bond between giver and receiver. We are not qualified until we have learned to receive. Some service is rendered in common courtesy. Titus 3:2 says be gentle and show perfect courtesy to all men. At a conference held at St. Simons, Jim Rush, the Director of the Center, reminded us that the people behind the lunch counters are people too. Treat them respectfully when they ask for your order. The grounds people have families and ...

3536. The Power of a Personal Commitment

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... God that you present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern the will of God—what is good, acceptable and perfect.” I. WILL YOU MAKE A PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO PRAY? ‘It’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.’ I am here today as a result ...

3537. When God Builds the House

Psalm 127:1-5, 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died. Let us never forget our foundation. Or as G. Campbell Morgan put it: The church of God apart from the person of Christ is a useless structure. However ornate it may be in its organization, however perfect in all its arrangements, however rich and increased with goods, if the church is not revealing the person of Jesus Christ, lifting him up for all to see, then the church becomes a sham, a blasphemy, a fraud, and the sooner the world is rid of it, the ...

3538. The Power of a Vision

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... this vision of Touching Hearts and Transforming Lives. I figure I have one last chance to get it right when it comes to leading a church. With all my heart, I want to build a congregation that honors God and ministers to people. Let me be perfectly clear. It’s not about staying ahead of the Baptists, keeping up with the Catholics, or being one of the largest Methodist churches in the country. My final report will not be made to an annual conference or to a reporter surveying the religious landscape of ...

3539. From Hunger to Satisfaction

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... you hear the story about the husband who bought his wife a very special birthday present? He really wanted it to be a surprise, so he tried to find a place in the house to hide it where no one would ever look. He came up with the perfect place. He put it in the oven. Mariam Weinstein has a book on The Surprising Power of Family Meals. In it she says that when families eat together there are fewer incidences of alcohol and drug abuse, less obesity and fewer eating disorders, children have reliable access to ...

3540. The Power to Belong

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... still struggle for equal rights in the Church? What makes unity possible? The grace of Jesus Christ! “And much grace was upon them all" (Verse 33). Where grace abounds, it's no longer about me. Where grace abounds, nobody has to be perfect. Where grace abounds, position is eliminated. Where grace abounds, differences are accepted. Where grace abounds, God is glorified. Where grace abounds, unity is possible. III. BELONGING HELPS US HELP OTHERS “There were no needy people among them" (verse 34). In the ...

3541. The Power to Make a Difference

Acts 16:1-5

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a relationship with God. Seek God's wisdom. Accept God's guidance. Receive God's strength. Remember He is with you always– even when the kids are screaming, and the bills need paying, and you are trying to juggle two careers. You don't have to be perfect to be effective. I have always been offended by pious pictures of Christian families where a mother and father and a couple of children are sitting serenely at the dinner table with their hands folded and their heads bowed in prayer. Was it that way at ...

3542. Follow

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... you hear about the gentleman who walked into the card shop on Valentine's Day and asked the clerk to help him find a very special valentine. “Here's a good one," said the clerk. It read, “To the one and only love of my life." “That's perfect," said the man, “I'll take four of them." Our problem is that we have too many ultimate loyalties. When we lived in Lexington, Kentucky and had UK basketball tickets, Sandy and I would go down and worship at Rupp Arena. It was probably the most exciting worship ...

3543. The Forgiving Christ

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... weary paralytic to go home. Henri Nouwen in his book Finding My Way Home reminds us that most of us have an address, but are seldom there. We are out trying to find life here or there. Meanwhile, the real journey of life is to discover the perfect love that only God can give us. We are homesick— homesick people are grumpy people, restless people, critical people. You know how it is when you are homesick, nothing goes right and nobody does right. I remember years ago when I was doing a junior high camp ...

3544. Daniel: The Problem of Power

Daniel 6:10-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... means you don't have to get it all right in order for it to be all right. Grace means you don't have to have all the answers in order to live the questions. Grace means it can be all right even when it is all wrong. Let me perfectly clear. Grace is not magic. Grace does not whisk us off into some fantasy land or Disney world. Grace does not cure all our cancers, turn all our kids into model children, nor guarantee a life of happiness and success. In fact, grace most often shows up when we are ...

3545. Develop Leaders—Humbly

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Amish. The Amish community helped establish a relief fund for Mrs. Roberts and her three children. When stunned reporters asked the grieving community what they were doing by such acts of mercy, they simply responded, “That's what we do. We forgive." To be perfectly honest, I have always been a little leery of fast forgivers. Forgiveness for me has been a much slower process—one step forward and two steps backward. Sometimes I lose ground in the process of forgiveness. Often I just stand still for a ...

3546. In Prayer’s Way

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in the heart. After a long, hurry-up-and-wait plane trip, I finally checked into my hotel. Entering the elevator I pressed the button for my floor. But the lift didn’t go there. It went a floor above. It went a floor below. It stopped and started perfectly for a half dozen other passengers who came and went as I rode aimlessly up and down. Finally I returned to the front desk and demanded to know why the elevator refused all my commands to take me to my floor. The check-in person patiently explained that ...

3547. Valuing Life Without Playing God

John 10:10-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... and that is what Holy Communion is all about B. Life is difficult when it comes to the question of euthanasia. Euthanasia literally means “a good death" but we call it “mercy killing" or taking a person's life to alleviate suffering. Let me be perfectly clear. Euthanasia is not the removal of life support or the refusal to receive medical care. You need to have a living will and make your wishes about delaying death by medical procedures clearly known to family and physicians. We need to allow people to ...

3548. The Joyful Provider

John 2:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... penitential time, let me praise my Maker while I’ve breath and when my eyes shall close in death how to still let praise flow from my very being. Give me Jesus. As the writer of Hebrews 12:2 says, Let us fix our eyes on him, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame. The Jesus I want to know is the joyful Jesus. Do you know him? Are you acquainted with him? II. The Jesus I want to know is a RESOURCEFUL JESUS. Here at the wedding ...

3549. The Resurrection and Life

John 11:32-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... his command post in Iraq to finish the job he had started. Other wounded military personnel have done the same. They are going back to finish the job they started. The highest form of courage belongs to those who won't quit. Real courage means being perfectly aware of the worst that can happen, yet doing the right thing anyway. Jesus went back to Jerusalem. In raising Lazarus from the grave, Jesus set in motion his own crucifixion and burial. “So from that day on they plotted to take his life" (Verse 53 ...

3550. Marketing or Disciplemaking?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... called to be a family of faith. Family implies connection, cooperation, conflict, consensus. We are called to be together in the family of faith. Henri Nouwen wrote, “We are unified by our common weakness, common failures, common disappointments, common inconsistencies." The Church is not perfect, because people like you and me are members of it. That's why I say to those who like to point out the hypocrites in the Church — come on and join, you should feel right at home. The Church is not a museum for ...

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