Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4126 to 4150 of 4999 results

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... their Council, and they said to him, "If you are the Christ, tell us?" What an onslaught to Jesus' identity. But Jesus was not threatened. "If I tell you, he said, "you will not believe." Do you get the picture? Jesus is not going to be drawn into that kind of controversy -- Jesus knows who He is -- and He knows it so well that He's not even willing to argue with the chief priests and the scribes. The same sort of thing happened when they brought him before Pilot. Pilot asked him, "Are you the King of the ...

4127. Singing In The Rain

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... King James version, Psalm 59:10 reads like this: "The God of my mercy shall prevent me." Let me hurry to say that in old English, the word "prevent" meant "go before." But the penciled interpretation in the margin read like this: "My God in his loving kindness shall meet me at every corner." Hugh Redwood said...when he read those words the message came to him as light in a dark place, light from the very heart of God. It lifted him, consoled him, encouraged him, revitalized him...and gave him the strength ...

4128. God's Hello People

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... games with you, Richard." I protested, "But my Daddy said he'd..." "Sit down," ordered the teacher, "you're disturbing the class.""My Daddy said he'd give fifteen dollars," I exclaimed.She turned around and looked mad. "We are collecting money for you and your kind. ...If your Daddy can give fifteen dollars you have no business being on welfare." "I got it right now, I got it right now, my Daddy gave it to me to turn in today, my Daddy said..." I persisted."And furthermore," the teacher said, looking at ...

4129. The Day Is Not For Sleeping

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in anything, not to care about one another, and only to look after ourselves. Notions such as love, friendship, compassion, humility, and forgiveness have lost their depth and dimension; and for many of us they represent merely some kind of psychological idiosyncrasy, or appear as some kind of stray relic from past times, something rather comical in the era of computers and space rockets." (Newsweek, January 15, 1990) He closed his speech with this ringing conviction...."This, it seems to me, is the great ...

4130. Who Are Christians?

James 5:13-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... has died. When our job has folded and our bank account is dwindling. When someone has spoken a harsh word that wounded our hearts. There are all sorts of occasions when it's so comforting to have someone's hand to hold. The church ought to be that kind of place -- where people hold the hands of people in need. And more...where people who care reach out in love and concern to persons outside the Church. It's not likely that persons who need the saving Gospel and the sustaining fellowship the Church has to ...

4131. The Church Of Our Dreams

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... my change." That's what the church is all about. We are not a fortress in which the saints hover in order to do battle against the world, and never allow the world to break in upon us. We are a hospital for sinners -- for broken people. We are a kind of oasis to which people come for refreshment, for teaching, for renewal, for that power which enables them to go out and live in their day to day world with more hope and more direction and with a greater sense of well-being and identity. I read an article not ...

4132. The Rejected Cornerstone

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a slanting satin ribbon with a large banner lettered "REST IN PEACE". That shocked the bishop. The florist was a friend of the Bishop's and was present for the retirement party, so Bishop Bryan asked him about the "REST IN PEACE" floral arrangement. "What kind of cruel joke was that? He was retiring, not dying." The florist was flabbergasted. He couldn't believe it. In exasperation, he said, "Oh my goodness, if you think you are upset, imagine what that poor family across town is thinking because the floral ...

4133. When Jesus Comes

Luke 8:22-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... or makes us feel good? Anger, when anger is due, is necessary for self-respect and for the respect of this nation by other nations." (quoted by Donald J. Shelby, "When God Settles Accounts"). It's a haunting question. Where is the outrage? What makes you angry tells the kind of person you are. Life is difficult for the man with a hot heart and a blazing temper -- but when that hot heart and that blazing temper is brought under the Lordship of Jesus it can be a mighty force. A fellow said to a friend, "I see ...

4134. More Tolerable For Sodom And Gomorrah

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... vote, by our staying quiet in the presence of evil, by our accepting without protest blatant immorality in our elected officials and persons in responsible public jobs. It is time we did something like the "Shake the Dust Shuffle." Certainly it is time that we gave ourselves to the ardent kind of intercession Abraham was committed to. It is time that each one of us became the kind of godly citizen that if, all citizens were like us, God's reign would prevail.

4135. I Saw Satan Fall

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... into the midst of wolves. vs. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. What a trust! And that kind of trust is what made Satan fall. It is a radical trust Jesus is calling for. His tactic was to send his disciples out utterly defenseless ... me with the chores. I don’t know if he has sense enuf to make it in medical school, but I know he will be the kind of man I’d like to come here to take care of me and my folks.” (Don Shelby, Final Evaluations) Isn’t that beautiful? And it ...

4136. A Pattern For Giving And Living

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... favor of taking part in the relief of the saints? That's moving from building and caring for ourselves -- moving out to be as excited and committed to serving others as we are to provide for our own spiritual needs. As radical as it sounds, that's the kind of church God wants here. A church of people with generous hearts who gladly return God's tithes -- 10% of their income -- as a natural act because they know that's the minimum God requires. To give liberally out of a generous heart is the pattern of the ...

4137. Overcoming The Destructive Dont's That Have Shaped Our Lives

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... you. It was one of my mama's favorite exhortations. I think she thought it was a verse of Scripture. She quoted it with that kind of authority. "A man is known by the company he keeps." Was that ever said to you by your parents? Have you repeated it to ... never said a single word about it. The mother forced them to keep that secret. Can you imagine? Going through life with that kind of secret--not speaking to your brother or your sister or your mother or anyone else about a destructive event that continues to ...

4138. Getting Our Lives Out Of Hock

Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . We become guilty when anything around us goes wrong. Also, we get into a pay back or a repay syndrome. "They invited us we must invite them." "They sent us a Christmas card, we must put them on our mailing list." Deeper and more devastating than those kinds of superficial responses to others is to think we have to repay everybody for what they have done for us. Recovering folks think they have to pay back for all the suffering and shame they have caused, all the time that they have stolen from those they ...

4139. The Need To Pay Attention

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... 's a good word for you parents to use in teaching your children about laziness and the reward of labor. But, it's more than that kind of lesson. It is a larger lesson for the whole of life. There is a law of retribution. Jesus stated it this way in Matthew 7 ... , verse 8: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? We need to pay attention to life. We need to pay attention to each other. We need to pay ...

4140. A Rod For The Back Of Fools

Proverbs 25:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the time of day what God was doing in his life. If there is anything in this world I believe, it is that God is doing all kinds of things in the lives of all of us including those who do not believe in God and would have nothing to do with him if they ... re fools if we don't learn from our mistakes. A man had a terrible fear of thunder. He went to a highly rated psychiatrist for some kind of cure. The doctor told the man to think of thunder as a part of the "drum roll of the symphony of life." "Will this cure ...

4141. When the Doctors Can't Help You

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is a day we celebrate our freedom. But there is a different kind of freedom that we need to talk about today. Freedom that only Christ can bring. Jesus had attained celebrity status. People were ... . We can understand. There were no reliable doctors. No MRIs. No CAT scans. Not even x-rays. No diagnostic tools of any kind. Only prayer and herbs and doctors of the most primitive skill and knowledge. So, people who were desperate for help had no ...

4142. We Can't Afford It! Oh, Really?

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... crowd coming up the mountain. A small army really. Five thousand men, and an untold number of women and children. That’s kind of scary. Suppose we were having a church supper and ten thousand people showed up? We would be scurrying around, probably in ... course not.” “Sometimes, if the prayer life is deep enough,” Cosby continues, “decisions which seem irrational are bathed with a kind of wonder. This is true for individuals. It is certainly true with churches.” (2) II. Living by Faith, Not by Fear ...

4143. The Problem with Signs

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... day, to kill a spider in Scotland, or wherever the superstitious Scotch may be, is still supposed to bring the offender all kinds of bad luck. (1) Now, I need to warn you. It would be very risky for you to start making your decisions ... wedding." We would be better off praying, "Please, Lord, regardless of the weather, help me to have a positive attitude so that I can radiate the kind of cheerfulness that will make this a great day for the people I love." Christian faith is rooted in God's love and God's law ...

4144. The Dividing Line

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... gods. Every god requires a sacrifice. That was obvious in a place like Caesarea Philippi. If Jesus really is the Christ, then what kind of sacrifice does he ask? Verse 31 reads, "He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things ... 's he saying?" Peter asks himself. "That he's going to lay down his life? That he's going to be the sacrifice? It was absurd. What kind of God would do such a thing?" And that's the point, isn't it? That's the truth that sets us apart from every other religion ...

4145. Signs of the Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

John P. Jewell

... gained too much wealth in the new booming economy and their children are bored with things. One young father in the Silicon Valley lamented, "We got our son a new Porsche for his birthday and he doesn't have a clue what he wants for Christmas." (Kind of gets you right here, doesn't it?) There is a plus side to the fact that we are increasingly a diverse culture. The season that is upon us is more often than not called the "Holiday Season" rather than the "Christmas Season." Public schools have increasingly ...

4146. Seeing the Good News

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

John P. Jewell

... John the Baptist spoke the words of the prophet Isaiah about the leveling of the mountains and the lifting up of the valleys, he was talking about justice and righteousness becoming the norm. He was pointing to a world where "good news" was a reality. He spoke of the kind of world it would be when God was truly in charge, a world Jesus said his ministry would be all about: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to ...

4147. Faith for Troubling Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... s stories. "A bunny story?" asks Rob. The little blond head bobs happily. "With a truck in it." "With a truck in it," repeats Rob. "Okay, climb up here." And placing Jack on his knee, Rob begins spinning a tale about a mischievous bunny who gets into all kinds of trouble while zipping around in his great, big truck. Every great story has to have an obstacle or a villain. And to keep from overtaxing his imagination, Rob uses the same stock villain in every bunny story--the bad, old Wolf. And so Rob, begins ...

4148. Preparing for Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... field, Stanley felt the tenseness leave the young man’s body and his tight grasp loosen. His eyes softened, and his head leaned against Stanley’s chest. The fear and resistance were gone--he had finally surrendered. (5) Would that every war story had that kind of ending. The Advent/Christmas story is an affirmation of our unity with all humanity. Ultimately every person on this planet is God’s child. Every man is our brother; every woman is our sister. Christmas is a foreshadowing of a world that is ...

4149. God Communicates in Humanly Understandable Terms

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard D. Campbell

... gives extravagant but inaccurate, even repulsive, accounts of the young Jesus as an exhibitionist or some kind of "boy wonder." Christian art has sometimes depicted the incident under the misleading caption, "The Boy Jesus ... with the everyday matter of keeping human contacts warm and lovely. Some persons of official standing in the church, both clerical and lay, have a kind of formal piety, but are poison to live with, like Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield. It has been rightly said that not much credit ...

4150. Epiphany: A Faith to Work Miracles

John 2:1-11

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... so much like a performance, a mere demonstration of power. In a way, it hardly seems worthy of our Lord. What is the meaning of it? Some scholars feel that it was purely a symbolic act. They question whether it actually happened, and think of it rather as a kind of dramatic parable, to show the power of Christ to bring excitement and renewal into human life. Others say this is a beautiful way of showing God's care for the common business of life. In a way, it is a living-out of Jesus' statement that the ...

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