Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4601 to 4625 of 4943 results

4601. Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The parable of the prodigal son is perhaps the best-known and best-loved of all Jesus' parables. It is also best at generating seemingly infinite numbers of interpretations, understandings and themes. Start with the way we usually refer to the Luke 15:11-32 text: "The Prodigal Son." True, the behavior of the younger son plays a central role in this parable. But others have noted that an equally precise title for this tale might be "The Waiting Father," or "Joy and Repentance," or even "The Parable of the ...

4602. Mark 13:1-8

Mark 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The gospel of Mark offers scholars a number of agendas for debate and dissension. Alongside arguments about the role and mission of the disciples, the author's organizational strategy, the perceived audience being addressed, and the relationship to and dependence upon Matthew and Luke, lies the debate over Mark's eschatology and the place of chapter 13. It doesn't take more than a quick read through chapters 11-14 to notice that chapter 13 could easily be dropped from its place and the narrative between 12 ...

4603. He Stands Alone

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

King Duncan

Prior to their immigration to the United States, Albert and Elsa Einstein lived through the severe economic times of post World War I Germany. Apparently during this time Elsa saved old letters and other scraps of paper for Albert to write on. Years later, Elsa engaged in a public relations tour of American research laboratories. On this tour American scientists, seeking to impress her, explained the latest scientific equipment and developments. Eventually she was ushered into a high‑chambered observatory ...

4604. Proper 12

Ephesians 3:14-21, John 6:16-24, John 6:1-15, 2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Samuel 11:1-15 Here is the story of a tragedy of a great man's downfall, of one who committed two crimes both worthy of death. And can it be that one who killed a giant in the strength of the Lord, who by his playing stilled the nerves of a mentally ill king, one who was anointed king by God's prophet, one who could write, "The Lord is my shepherd," one who could offer a most beautiful prayer? David had reached a plateau of success, power and wealth. He lived a life of luxury ...

4605. Getting Rid of Anger

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever said something to somebody that you later regretted? A man named Bob Monkhouse says he got angry at the manager of his local dry cleaners and expressed his anger quite forcefully. He realizes now that he probably did not leave the manager with a very favorable impression. He knows that because recently he put a red ballpoint pen in the breast pocket of his white shirt and forgot to put the cap on it. It made a ghastly red stain with a dark center all over the pocket. His wife said, “It won’t ...

4606. God's Christmas Tree

1 Peter 2:24

Sermon

James Merritt

How many of you have real Christmas trees in your house? I am talking about real deal Christmas trees - the kind that you have to water, that have needles that fall on the floor, make you sneeze and give you raspy throats. How many of you have artificial trees, fake trees, or counterfeit trees? You may be interested to know that this year, about 24.5 million real trees will be sold during this Christmas season and about 10 million fake trees. Christmas trees are a big business (as you can imagine) in this ...

4607. The Big Picture

Romans 11:36, Ephesians 1:5, Colossians 3:18-21

Sermon

James Merritt

I have three different family portraits hanging in my home representing three different stages of my life and the life of my family. Most of us have at least one professional portrait hanging on the wall. They are very expensive and because of the cost in money and time, those portraits represent great expectations. I remember every time we would have a family portrait made, I always went into it wanting everything to be literally picture perfect. You know the routine - matching outfits, hair in place, and ...

4608. Bring It On

Hebrews 4:15-16

Sermon

James Merritt

The way Rocky faced the Russian is the way every Christian should face temptation; not because we deal with temptation in our strength, but in His strength, that is, in the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is true if you believe what Heb. 4:15:16 says about Jesus: "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help ...

4609. Don’t Be a Hypocrite

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

There are very few people who never, ever get angry about anything. Even if you are the most mild mannered of mild mannered people, you have a hot-button that if someone just knows where it is and knows how to push it, they can really make your blood boil. What one thing makes you the angriest? Maybe, it is when somebody cuts you off on the freeway. Maybe, it is when your brother or sister borrows some of your clothes and doesn't tell you about it. Maybe, it is when your favorite college football team ...

4610. Compassion Can Do More Than You May Think

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

A teacher was fond of asking students in his counseling classes this question: "What can you know about a perfect stranger the moment you meet?" After the students had a go at the question, the professor shared his own answer, "You can bet that the stranger has just lost something." That person has just lost a job, a promotion, a loved one, a home, a car, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, their health, their zest for living, or God forbid, the very desire to live. Whatever it is, you can bet your life on it. The ...

4611. Thank God We Can Change

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

Someone once said that the only constant in life is change. No matter who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face is managing the changes that take place in life. We have limited control over some of the changes we face. Our hair changes color and sometimes falls out. We gain weight as we become less active and our metabolism slows. Our children grow up and move out of the house. The shifting economy may lead to lay-offs and relocation. The death of a spouse or the breakdown of a marriage may ...

4612. Seeing God In The Ordinary: Others

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Out in the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church in Tennessee, there is a young man by the name of Matthew LeSage. He is now in college but for two years he was the President of the CCYM. What makes Matthew so remarkable is that when he was a fifth-grader, he decided he wanted to do something to help the hungry in his city. So, he started a program, Hams for the Hungry. In 2003, Hams for the Hungry raised $40,000 to brighten the holiday season for people with limited resources. In 2007 they ...

4613. Shaped By The Fire

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Did you hear about the woman who called the fire department one day. She was very agitated, "Come as quick as you can," she cried, "my house is on fire." Then she hung up. A few minutes later she called back, and "Hurry, hurry as fast as you can, it's spread from the kitchen to the dining room." And then she hung up, again. A few minutes later, she called one more time, this time, with the volunteer fire crew all ready to roll the dispatcher said, "OK, lady, just calm down and tell us how to get there." It ...

4614. Holiness of Heart and Life

Romans 2:21-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

At Stanford University there is a psychologist named Festinger who has a theory which he calls “cognitive dissonance.’ If you teach at a university like Stanford, you are supposed to use big words like that. As strange and new as it may sound, it’s very simple. It means that there is a big gap between my ideals and my actions, what I believe and what I do, my goals and my deeds. There is a difference between the image I have of myself and the image I try to project for other people and that discrepancy is ...

4615. Christ's Chosen People: Privilege

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Back in 1981, the attention of the world was focused on the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. My wife, an almost hopeless romantic, (I really praise God for that) became tremendously involved in that event. We were traveling when the wedding took place, and I remember she stayed up almost all night in a hotel room where we were, watching the live television presentation. She also read all the newspaper accounts, and she even gave our two daughters beautiful color picture albums that recaptured this ...

4616. Exodus and Easter

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is an old story that has made the rounds in the church many, many times, but it’s worth telling again. An eight year old boy was reporting to his folks at Sunday dinner what he had learned at church school that morning. “Boy, was it exciting!” he exclaimed to his parents. “Moses organized all the Hebrews into a resistance group and through careful planning they broke out of Egyptian slavery. They moved as quickly as possible toward Canaan, driving every kind of vehicle available: jeeps, tanks, half- ...

4617. Exit and Entrance

Galatians 4:21-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It was in the newspaper back in the late 1950’s, at the height of the civil rights movement - an unforgettable picture which captured not only the emotion of one man, but the deep sense of freedom and joy and release and affirmation of a whole people. A black man, who must have been over 100 years old, was being carried on the shoulders of a group of young men. They were taking him up the steps of a courthouse in a Southern town to register to vote. The caption beneath the picture said he was born a slave ...

4618. Jesus’ 10 Commandments

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

From Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” to The Nightmare on Elm Street’s “Freddy;” from Friday the Thirteenth’s “Jason” to Stephanie Meier’s vampire “Voltaire”, we are always creating new monsters. Why are we constantly on the lookout for bigger, scarier “bumps in the night?” Why do we keep making up monsters that are so elaborate and extraordinary, so super-powered and immortal? Maybe we need our monsters to be as unlike ourselves as possible so that we can ignore the presence of the real monsters that possess ...

4619. Convening A Construction Crew: Nobody Builds Alone

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A cartoon in a Saturday Evening Review features a young boy sitting under a tree taking inventory of his relationships. So far, I have fourteen people who love me, twenty-two people who like me, six people who tolerate me, and I have only three enemies. When it comes to relationships, how are you doing? John Donne said over 400 years ago, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. Any man’s death diminishes me...therefore, never ask for whom the bell ...

4620. The Power of a Vision

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Exactly three years ago today, we introduced the vision of Touching Hearts and Transforming Lives as the guiding light of our life together. People’s hearts are being touched and lives are being transformed. One middle-aged man walked into this church about 14 months ago and walked out a changed person. God is capable of instant conversions. For others the transformation has been like a precious flower coming to full blossom. Slowly but surely their lives are being formed into the image of Christ as they ...

4621. From Anger to Courage

Mark 11:12-19

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Last Tuesday morning on I-65 here in Williamson County, a mild-mannered, easy-going, Christian man, flew into a fit of road rage. The episode sent another driver to Vanderbilt Hospital in critical condition. The incident got the father of three arrested and put in jail and tied up rush hour traffic for more than two hours. Anger – rage, wrath, hostility, hate – it's never very far away from any of us. You can find a 100,000 books and articles at Amazon.com to help you deal with it. The Bible is full of it ...

4622. The Exalted Christ

Mark 9: 2-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Robert Louis Stevenson tells the story about a ship that was in serious trouble in a storm. A passenger on that ship, defying orders, made his way to the pilot, who seeing the fear on the passenger's face gave him a smile of assurance. Relieved, the traveler returned to his cabin and said, “I have seen the face of the pilot. He smiled and all is well." There are times in life when we need to see our pilot face-to-face. That's what happened in this mystical story that the Church calls the Transfiguration of ...

4623. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The sun is shining and the sky is clear. As landowner Joe consumes his breakfast he knows he must, likewise, seize the day. My daddy called it “Making hay while the sun shines." Joe might refer to it as “Making wine before the grapes rot." Whatever the phrase, the focus is the same. Harvest won't wait. Joes finishes breakfast, climbs into his pickup truck and drives down Nolensville Road where day laborers assemble looking for work. Well, the time and place may be different, but the story is the same. And ...

4624. The Flood Story

Luke 10:25-37

Illustration

Carveth Mitchell

During a severe flood in a Midwestern community, the water had covered the streets several feet deep. A man was sitting on his porch, where the water was up to that level. Two men came by in a rowboat, pulled over to his porch and said, "Hop in, Brother, we'll take you to safety." He replied, "Not me, thanks, the Lord will help me." The water continued to rise to the level of his porch roof, and he was perched up there. Two men came by in a motorboat. They pulled over to his porch roof and said, "Hop in. ...

4625. One in Faith and One in Service

John 17:1-11

Sermon

Lee Griess

A few choice words — that's what Jesus gives us this morning — a few choice words about our lives and faith. Just hours before being arrested, just hours before being tried and condemned, Jesus gathered his disciples around him and in all sincerity bowed his head and prayed for them and for us. These words from John 17 are part of a great discourse recorded by the gospel writer John, part of a great priestly prayer that Jesus offered up to his heavenly Father. These are words that unite us to God. And in ...

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