Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 376 to 400 of 609 results

376. The Christian Life Defined By Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

My grandmother Dunham came to live with us when I was four or five years old. She was a quiet, gentle woman who spoke very little. But her presence was like a benediction to our entire household. I remember Grandma as she sat on the swing on the front porch. Now you don’t know anything about the South, unless you know that swings on front porches are very important. She would sit in the swing on the front porch, reading the Bible. During our play, we often found her with her hands folded over the open ...

377. Leave Your Stuff Behind

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Loren Isley is one of my favorite writers. He is a distinguished anthropologist and essayist. What makes his writing so gripping to me is that he has the eye of an artist and the soul of a poet. He sees beyond the surface and he has that rare double gift which enables him to enter deeply into an experience and then share that experience with us in the kind of way that enables us to vicariously experience what he himself has experienced. In one of his poignant vignettes from boyhood, he shared a moment of ...

378. A Scream And A Laugh

Colossians 1:1-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"My name is Asher Lev, the Asher Lev, about whom you have read in newspapers and magazines, about whom you talk so much at your dinner affairs and cocktail parties. The notorious and legendary Lev of the Brooklyn crucifixion." With those words, Chaim Potack begins his novel entitled My Name is Asher Lev. It's about a young boy whose extraordinary talent leads him away from his family and his faith into a painful maturity and a perilous success. Asher Lev longs to be a painter, and he pursues this longing ...

379. A Love For All Seasons (i)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"You know what I don't understand?" asked Lucy of Charlie Brown in my favorite comic strip -- "PEANUTS" by Charles Schultz. "I don't understand love!" Charlie Brown replies, "Who does!" Lucy says, "Explain love to me, Charlie Brown", Charlie says. "You can't explain love. I can recommend a book or a poem or a painting, but I can't explain love." Lucy comes back, "Well, try, Charlie Brown, try." As is always the case, Charlie can't say no to Lucy. He can't resist doing what Lucy tells him to do, so he says ...

380. The Rejected Cornerstone

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Someone has said that the average man's idea of a good sermon is one that goes over his head and hits a neighbor. I don't believe Jesus' parable at which we look today was a good sermon in that sense. It didn't go over his listener's heads. Though the story may seem a bit strange to us, the people knew precisely what Jesus was talking about. It may hold a lot of questions for us, but not for these chief priests, scribes, and elders of Israel. Jesus took a well-known Old Testament metaphor -- that of the ...

381. How Is It With Your Soul?

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere along the way I read a piece entitled "What is a Person" written by a little boy in West Virginia who was asked to write an essay on that subject. This is what he wrote. "When you are a person...your head is kind of round and hard and your brains are in it and your hair is on it. Your face is in the front of your head where you eat and make faces. Your neck is what keeps your head out of your collar, and it's hard to keep clean. Your shoulders are sort of shelves where you hook on your suspenders ...

382. Headlines and Holiness

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

Imagine for a moment that Jesus is watching television with his twelve disciples. They're on furlough from teaching and healing, taking it easy in the living room of Peter's mother-in-law, doing a little mindless channel surfing. Maybe they catch a little of an NCAA Tournament game, March Madness. These are guys, you know, just relaxing from a demanding schedule. But eventually the evening news comes on. They put down the popcorn and listen intently to the day's tragedies. One disciple says, "Hey, Jesus, ...

383. Being Christ

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

What Christ has been and done for us we must do and be for others. Our life in Christ and our ministry in his name are inseparable. A spirituality that does not lead to active ministry becomes an indulgent preoccupation with self, and therefore grieves the Holy Spirit and violates the presence of the indwelling Christ. Paul's powerful prayer in Ephesians is a profound expression of our call to live a life in Christ. It is an amazing affirmation of God's power working in us to fulfill that ministry. Listen ...

384. The Gospel

Colossians 1:3-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

When I first began to think of preaching for you these days, my intention was to look through the entire letter of Paul to the Colossians and hit the high points of that letter. As I began to work more specifically in preparation for this event, I decided that was altogether too expansive. What I needed to do was to be more focused. So, during this time I am with you, I am going to focus on just the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Colossi. In the services this morning I am going to be ...

385. The Incredibility of the Gospel

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I don’t know how it is with you but I can recall occasions when a text of Scripture grabbed my imagination, gripped my mind, buried its way into my soul, and became a part of my being. In many instances, I can relive the setting when that happened and it energizes my life. Our Scripture lesson for this message is such a case. I may have told some of you the story. It was Senior Recognition Day at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, 1958, and I was graduating. The dean had invited Dow Kirkpatrick ...

386. Called To Be Free

Galatians 5:1-15

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

Call To Worship Leader: You are called to be free; but do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. People: We come seeking the power of the Holy Spirit to direct our lives. Leader: God has called us all to service. People: We pray for the Spirit to produce in us kindness and goodness, that we may be free to serve the needs of others. Collect Almighty God, through your Son, Jesus Christ, you have set us free. Give us this day a clear understanding that we were not ...

387. The Way Up Is the Way Down

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Potato chips, cheese curls, and candy may be some of your favorites, but for twenty-four mule deer in the Grand Canyon National Park, these indulgences proved deadly. Park rangers were forced to shoot more than two dozen mule deer who became hooked on junk food left by visitors. It was death by Cheetos and suicide by Snicker bar! Why eat twigs or chew bark if a Twinkie is nearby? Once deer taste the sugar and salt of snack foods, they develop an addiction and will go to any lengths to eat only junk food. ...

388. What Is Required of Us?

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

“I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In a message titled Seizing Your Divine Moment Erwin McManus speaks of his son Aaron: “One summer Aaron went to youth camp. He was just a little guy, and I was kind of glad it was a church camp. I figured he wasn't going to hear all those ghost stories.... But unfortunately, since it was a Christian camp and they didn't tell ghost stories, because we don't believe in ghosts, they told demon and Satan stories instead. And so when Aaron got home, he was ...

389. The Heart of an Intimate Matter

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Convictions and opinions are not the same, are they? Someone has said, “Opinions are many, convictions are few; opinions change often, convictions rarely do.” Opinions live on the surface; convictions go deep. Opinions thrive around the gossipy edges; convictions live near the center of life. One way to tell the difference is to ask, What would you make a sacrifice for- of real money, of significant time, of patient suffering, even of life if necessary? The more you would pay, the closer you move to the ...

390. Playing to the Right Audience

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

It was an incredible military breakthrough. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Joe Rochefort broke the Japanese codes. From an intelligence base on Oahu, he predicted an attack on Midway Island for June 3, 1942. Because of Rochefort's skill, the United States surprised the Japanese Navy with its first defeat in 350 years. Four carriers were lost, one cruiser, 2500 men, 322 aircraft, and the best of their pilots. The tide turned in the Pacific; Japan never recovered momentum. Commander ...

391. A Kingdom Investment Policy

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

It is by chance that Damian discovers a huge bag of money near his home. It is just days before British pounds are converted to Euros and the old money is worthless. In the scenes that follow, Damian and his brother spend money as fast as they can, with Damian giving to the poor. Their father eventually discovers their secret, and Damian learns that the money was stolen. This is the moral dilemma and plot of the movie Millions. The thief who lost the money soon figures out that Damian is the finder. They ...

392. Obedience Really Matters

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

It is because we are a people of such high intelligence, and perhaps the threat of product liability litigation, that the following warning labels were recently found on consumer products? On a Duraflame fireplace log: "Caution - Risk of Fire." On a children’s Batman costume: "Warning: Cape does not enable user to fly. On a bottle of hair coloring: "Do not use as an ice cream topping." On a cardboard sun shield for a car: "Do not drive with sun shield in place." And, for the first time parent, this label ...

393. A Fool and His Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

It is a familiar scene in courtrooms, families arguing over an estate. It is an especially ugly scene when dividing the inheritance divides the family. That is the scene that opens our text for this morning, the gospel lesson from Luke. A man came up to Jesus, and said, "Make my brother divide the inheritance with me." The request was crass and boorish, but probably not uncommon, for Jesus was known as a Rabbi. In fact, in this passage, he is addressed as Rabbi: "Teacher, make my brother divide the ...

394. Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a popular story going around about a husband and wife who are discussing their living wills. The husband is adamant about his desires. “Just so you know,” he says, “I would never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If I ever get to that state, I just want you to pull the plug.” His wife thought about this for a moment, got up, unplugged the TV and threw out all his beer. Some of us know somebody who’s in that kind of vegetative state. We want to ...

395. Grace Has Appeared

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

James L. Killen

A little baby was born nearly 2,000 years ago under very unimpressive circumstances. He was born to poor working people living in an oppressed country. He was born while the parents were on a journey that was required by a tyrant, and they had to stay in a stable instead of in a home. The baby was laid to sleep in a trough from which cattle usually ate. And yet, Christians down through all of those years have believed that there was something very special about that birth. We have believed that, in that ...

396. Still Under Construction

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

People print all sorts of things on T-shirts, from advertisements to obscenities to affirmations of faith. One fellow was seen wearing a T-shirt with the words, "Christian Under Construction," printed on it. We can all appreciate what he meant by that. We can talk about the difference faith in Christ is supposed to make in our lives and about how it is supposed to work and even about the samples of the new life in Christ that we have already experienced. But, most of us know that we are not yet what God ...

397. How to Love God

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

In the rock opera Jesus Christ: Superstar, Mary Magdalene sings, "I don't know how to love him." You see, Christ had saved Mary from prostitution and demonic possession, and now she wanted to live to please Jesus, to offer him her lifelong devotion. But how could she express her love? In her earlier years she had easily known how to please men. But Jesus was different. What did he want from her? How could she serve him? Isn't Mary like most of us? Here we are saved and wanting to be devoted to God, but not ...

398. The Ultimate Happy Meal

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Can you guess what this is? (Have on hand a McDonald's Happy Meal for a show-and-tell.) Chicken nuggets, French-fries, something to drink, and most important of all – a schlocky piece of plastic that, at least for the next five minutes, spins, bounces, whirls, rolls, or whistles better than any other toy on earth. You know what it is: a McDonald's Happy Meal. Is there alive in North America an adult who's ever spent a lunch hour with a child without feeling compelled to buy a Happy Meal at some time or ...

399. The Uncloudy Cloud?

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One of my favorite books is a children's story called The Trip to Panama (1981) by Janosch, the pseudonym of Horst Eckert, the German illustrator. It's a story about two animal friends, (Little Bear and Little Tiger) who live in a house by a river. They're reasonably happy but share a belief that somewhere else, life might be so much better. One day they find an old banana crate floating past their garden. On the side it says "Panama." Without knowing anything about the place, they decided that Panama is ...

400. When Self-esteem is Snake Oil

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Before there was the modern science of chemistry, there was its forerunner: the medieval science of alchemy. In the chemistry of alchemy, there was as much superstition and wishful thinking guiding the experiments as there was knowledge and experience. Among the alchemists' most frenzied quests was the search for the touchstone that magical element which would transmute the properties of one baser substance into that of a higher substance most notably gold. For centuries alchemists' cauldrons brewed and ...

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