Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4351 to 4375 of 4934 results

4351. Where a Cross Should Be Worn

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

The Rev. Timothy J. Kennedy tells a wonderful true story that is perfect for Ash Wednesday. It was told to him by a colleague, Pastor Chris Mietlowski. It concerned a baptism that Mietlowski once performed on an infant named Eric. Mietlowski took Eric in his arms and traced the cross of Christ on Eric’s forehead using a special anointing oil. Following worship, Eric’s family celebrated with a big backyard party. Family and friends ate burgers and chips and played volleyball under a summer sun. Eric, being ...

4352. It All Begins with Prayer

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

Imagine you only have a short time to prepare your successor in ministry. In that time you can only share a few of your insights. What would you tell him or her? There is a story told about a group of seminary students that went to visit an old historic church they had heard a lot about. When they entered the huge building, they were met by a gray-bearded gentleman they thought was the janitor. He offered to lead them on a tour through the facilities and answer any questions they had. They walked through ...

4353. Plenty Good Room

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Time magazine once wrote a story on Eudora Welty, a novelist and Pulitzer Prize recipient from Jackson, Mississippi. It was a story about the silver jubilee celebration in her honor. Jackson named April 13, Eudora’s birthday, Eudora Welty Day, and Milsap’s College staged a southern literary festival. The festival attracted all sorts of outstanding writers from all across the nation, a lot of pipe-smoking academics, and would-be writers too—people who wanted to write, as well as people of the earth, people ...

4354. Shaped By The Fire

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers in congregation. Years ago, I asked my Mom if I was a gifted child, she looked at me sort of funny and said, "Well, I certainly wouldn't have paid for you." Years ago I read story about female physician who was taking her four-year-old daughter to preschool. Mom, the doctor, had left her stethoscope on car seat, & her little girl picked it up, hung around her neck and began playing with it. Mom had this moment of thrill as she thought, "Be still, my heart, my ...

4355. Altar Your Service

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

We all know self centered people don't we? People who get jealous because someone else is honored and they're not, even though they didn't do anything. People who always want to be the center of attention even if the attention should be focused on someone else. These are what we call Self Serving people and while a lot of business have moved to the Self Service model, the church has always taken the opposite stance. We are called to Serve Others. I remember something a Christian athlete said years ago. I ...

4356. Follow Your Calling (Series: An Invitation to Christian Discipleship)

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Back in the 1980’s, popular author Stephen Covey said the key to managing life is distinguishing between the urgent and the important. Urgent matters clamor for our attention. Important matters shape our lives. Before cell phones and Blackberries became a part of our anatomy, Covey warned that a phone call most likely will feel urgent, but it may not be very important. On the other hand, a call from God is both urgent and important. Two critically important questions every person must ask and keep on ...

4357. Stewardship of All (Series: Stewardship: Discover This Word and Love It!)

Matthew 26:6-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Something beautiful, something good, sometimes I need a dose of that. How about you? All the great philosophers of history describe truth, goodness, and beauty as supreme values. Christopher Morley once said, “In every man’s heart, there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty.” So, today I want to tell you a beautiful story. It’s in the Bible. To preach it would be to abuse it. So let me simply tell it as well as I can. I. A Beautiful Act “Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of ...

4358. Characteristics of the Church, Part 2

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere I read of a Seminary professor whose last years were spent in and out of hospitals, suffering from a debilitating, incurable disease. As he reflected on his ministry, he said that when he began, he thought of himself as the expert, standing upon the bank of the stream of life, shouting instructions to the swimmers down below. In the second stage of his ministry, if he saw someone going down for the third time, he would plunge into the water, get the person started in the right direction again, ...

4359. Does Prayer Make Any Difference

Matthew 26:36-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

According to a most recent Gallop Poll, three out of four Americans pray regularly. At special times, the numbers rise to nine out of ten. Fifty percent of patients want their doctors to pray, not just for them, but with them. Interest in prayer is back, if in fact it ever went away. To pray or not to pray is not the question. The question you asked me to answer at the crossroads of faith is “Does Prayer Make Any Difference?” Is prayer power or placebo? Is prayer wishful thinking or divine intervention? ...

4360. Worship

Hebrews 10:19-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

According to the Westminster Catechism, the chief purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The Ten Commandments of Moses instructs us to “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." I can still hear my mother say, “Get out of bed; it's time to go to church." I will never forget that command. Thousands of you have made a commitment to worship at least once a week these fifty days as disciples should and do. What is this thing we call worship? Why do nearly forty percent of Americans worship ...

4361. The King on a Donkey

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Some of you heard my story about the husband and the wife who had quarreled. It had been a high-pitch quarrel, each digging their heels in to preserve the position they had vehemently taken. Emotions ran high. Both were nursing their hurt feelings in defensive silence. As they were driving to attend a family wedding in a distant city — it was an uneasy and quiet trip, both of them starring straight ahead or out the window as the miles went by in icy silence. The angry tension between them was so thick you ...

4362. Heart Religion

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

One day a man by the name of Kirk was having a particularly difficult time. Everything was going wrong for him and nothing was going right. And when he went to bed that night, he laid there in the dark. And he thought about all of the horrible things that had happened to him. And you know, the more he thought about it the more upset he became. He blurted out into the darkness, “Why me God? Why have you done this to me?” But there was no answer and all he heard was the silence. So he blurted out again, this ...

4363. Can You Be Popular and Serve Jesus?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

Chuck Swindoll tells of reading a newspaper article years ago about a guy who earned his living being shot out of a cannon at carnivals. The man’s nickname quite naturally was “Cannonball.” In his younger days Cannonball was blasted out of a cannon 1200 times. He said he did it for the thrill of the crowd’s applause. “Do you know,” he asked, “what it’s like to feel the applause of 60,000 people?” Twelve hundred times shot out of a cannon! (1) We all like to be applauded, don’t we? We all like to hear ...

4364. Wrong!

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the church. The symbols of the Pentecost gift are wind and fire. Every birthday is accompanied by a cake over which there is the ritual of wind and fire. But in the course of blowing out candles in your lifetime, have you ever missed one? Ever miscalculate the amount of wind needed to get it 100% right? [To make your sermon more EPIC, you might want to showcase a birthday cake, and blow out some candles. You could even have some fun and include some gag (magic re- ...

4365. Don't Be Afraid

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever noticed that fear can cause people to do some really stupid things? When that terrible earthquake and tsunami hit Japan last spring, it reminded me of a Serbian man named Lucas who was a victim of a giant tsunami that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean a couple of years ago. Lucas, aged 30, was nowhere near where the tsunami hit. He was safely at home in Serbia at the time. However, he was watching television and he was so shocked when he saw the tsunami footage on TV that he jumped ...

4366. A Whole City at The Door

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

One of my all-time favorite church magazine cartoons pictures a physician in his office, speaking with his bookkeeper. The subject of their conversation is a patient's bill, which apparently had been in the accounts receivable file for a long, long time. The bookkeeper says to the doctor, "He says that since you told him his recovery was a miracle, he sent his check to the church." Our passage from Mark touches on the subject of miraculous healing. This early sequence of events in Jesus' ministry seems to ...

4367. Our Family Inheritance

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

We speak of being "baptized into Christ." Baptized ... wanna fight? Let's talk about baptism. Unfortunately, this beautiful sacrament has been a bone of contention in the Christian church for generations. Why does the church baptize? The quick answer is that Jesus told us to do it: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). How should we do it? Depending on your tradition, one of several ways, as it turns out. Some ...

4368. A New Point of View

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

In 2000, Mel Gibson appeared in the comedy, What Women Want. The film was fairly successful at the box office because it built on a fantasy that I think all of us have indulged in at one time or another. He plays an executive who works at an advertising agency in Chicago. His life dramatically changes when he is jolted by electricity and develops the ability to read women's minds. It leads to some absolutely hilarious and humorous situations. Sure enough, it transforms him into a great lover who knows ...

4369. Making Something Out Of Nothing

Haggai 1:15b—2:9

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

Making something out of nothing. We often use that phrase in a negative sense. For example, when we believe someone is reading way too much into a situation or when someone is overreacting and jumping to conclusions that aren't merited by the actual situation or facts, we dismiss the person's comments by saying, "You're making something out of nothing," or "You're just making a mountain out of a molehill!" The Jewish people who had returned out of exile in Babylon to Judah and Jerusalem during the reign ...

4370. Peter Explains His Actions

Acts 11:1-18

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

11:1–3 The final scene in this story of Gentile conversion is played out in Jerusalem, with Peter having to defend what he had done. Apart from the fundamental question of whether Gentiles should be included or not, there were practical issues. How could Jewish Christians who regarded themselves as still bound by the law have fellowship with those who did not? Surely any Gentile who became a believer must also submit to the law? These are the sorts of questions that must have been thrown up to Peter by the ...

4371. Abram in Egypt

Genesis 12:10-20

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

Abram’s Perilous Encounter in Egypt: On reaching the southern region of the land of promise, Abram faces two dangers that cast a heavy shadow over the promises God has made. A severe famine strikes Canaan, causing Abram to leave the land of promise for Egypt. Then, in Egypt Sarai is taken to Pharaoh’s harem. Only God’s intervention delivers Abram and Sarai from Pharaoh’s power so that they may return to Canaan together. 12:10–13 Up to this point Abram had journeyed from Haran through Canaan apparently ...

4372. Jacob Gets Isaac's Blessing

Genesis 27:1-40

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

Jacob Steals Esau’s Blessing: This suspense-filled narrative portrays a family torn between the conflicting wills of a father and a mother. An indulgent father favors a rugged, athletic, unpretentious older son while a brilliant, domineering mother manipulates matters to the advantage of her younger son, who loves to take care of the animals and do chores around the tent. “Son” is a controlling word in this narrative, being employed by each parent to emphasize his or her respective love for and favoritism ...

4373. Jesus Is Tested in Gethsemane

Mark 14:32-42

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: At Gethsemane Jesus battles with the disciples as they desert him, within himself over the “cup” of his passion, and with his enemies at his arrest. He wins the internal battle regarding his willingness to endure the passion and its suffering, surrendering to the will of his Father. Understanding the Text Chapter 14 follows a natural chronological progression, from the Wednesday event of Judas’s decision to betray Jesus (vv. 1–2, 10–11) to the Last Supper on Thursday evening, when Jesus makes the ...

4374. Message to Smyrna

Revelation 2:8-11

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: Jesus encourages his church to endure suffering faithfully, knowing that he can bring life out of death. Understanding the Text The message to the church in Smyrna is the second in the series of seven messages in Revelation 2–3. Among the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2–3, only Smyrna and Philadelphia receive all praise or encouragement without any blame or accusation related to a sin. Interestingly, the message to Smyrna contains fewer Old Testament allusions than any of the other ...

4375. Blood Vengeance in Gibeah

2 Samuel 21:1-14

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: Sin sometimes has devastating consequences: God’s justice must be satisfied. Understanding the Text The Structure and Function of 2 Samuel 21-24: These final chapters of 2 Samuel are an epilogue. They are arranged in a mirror structure, in which the elements in the second half of the literary unit thematically correspond to those of the first half, but in reverse order, creating a mirror effect:1 A Saul’s sin and its atonement: David as royal judge (21:1–14) B The mighty deeds of David’s men (21: ...

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