Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4676 to 4700 of 4999 results

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... position. Can we walk the road Jesus walked, the Via Delarosa, the way of sorrows? Can we eat the bread of brokenness? Can we take up the cross and follow Jesus? Sobering questions, serious questions, the kind of questions that crack open a hardened heart and lay bare the tendons of the spiritual life. The kind of questions to be asked on Maundy Thursday. In a Tom Wilson cartoon, Ziggy is looking unusually sad and deflated. “I went to the school of hard knocks," explains Ziggy, “and right now I'm doing ...

4677. Finding the Courage to Believe

John 20:24-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... your children be a haphazard, hit or miss, take it or leave it proposition. We are talking about things of eternal significance here. Of course, some of us have found the testimony in other places. George Lucas says “I put the Force in Star Wars to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people. I wanted them to ask the question about mystery. Not to ask about God is the worst thing that can happen. At least I need to be saying I'm looking, I'm very curious, and I will continue looking until I find ...

4678. Can the Rich Be Saved?

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... in things but thirsty for meaning? 3. Are you making a life or making a living? These are critical questions, crucial questions, the kind of things we need to ask. In the midst of that honest quest for understanding and meaning and purpose in life, Jesus turns ... these I have kept since I was a boy.” He would be an asset to any community, a welcomed member of any church. He is the kind of guy you would like to have. Jesus said to him this day, “One thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give it to ...

4679. Checking Out the Scene

John 1:35-42

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the most. I don’t know what we might say. What words came to your mind? I don’t have time to suggest all of the kinds of things that come to my mind, but let me mention just a few of them. My fellow Christians, why are you here? Some of us ... Jesus; you would like to experience the risen Christ. You are not hungry for religion, but you are hungry for a relationship of a divine kind. What we long for is a life that really matters, a faith that will not shrink, a hope that will not fail, a legacy that ...

4680. Stepping Into the Stream

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... potato or a water-walker? My favorite piece of furniture in the house has become the La-Z-y Boy Recliner. It is the fancy kind with the built in massager and personal heater. It even has a secret place for my remote. It’s not called a risk-boy or a ... worship? Dallas Willard said, “Holy delight and joy is the great antidote to despair and is the wellspring of genuine gratitude—the kind that starts at our toes and blasts off from our diaphragm through the top of our head flinging our arms and our eyes ...

4681. Believe

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Harbor, two cocky pilots by the name of Ralph and Danny are called into Col. Jimmy Doolittle’s office. The commanding officer asks the two pilots “Do you guys know what a top secret is?” Without hesitation Ralph replies, “Yes Sir, it’s the kind of mission where you get the medals but they send them to your relatives because you get killed.” Before that conversation was over Ralph and Danny found themselves engaged in a top secret mission, one they could not explain or understand, but on which ...

4682. The Greatest Story Ever Told

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... me.” You know what God is like. God is like the loving father who welcomes his children home. That is the nature of God. Don’t ever forget it. That is the God you worship. You who are weary are welcome home. III. HOW WILL WE RESPOND to that kind of unmerited, undeserved, unending grace? What will be our response to a love like that? And a certain man had two sons. The first accepted it. We can accept God’s grace. Paschal said, “Every human heart has a God-shaped vacuum that God and only God can fill ...

4683. The Calling of Our Baptism

Luke 3:21-22; Matthew 28:18-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . Out we go. We get our names on diplomas, awards, books and buildings. We come home and still wonder who we are. When I earned my doctorate degree, my father who was a farmer said, “I always thought those little initials after people’s names were kind of like a tail on a pig. They are kind of cute to look at but they don’t necessarily make any more hog.” So we look for an identity. We long for a name. By the waters of baptism we are given a name that is above every name. We are given the name ...

4684. Come to the Party

Luke 14:15-23

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... up Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.” I have taken joy in the first breath of the morning, the nourishment of each meal, the acts of kindness that pour in from others. I rejoice in ordinary days of grace. Come, everything is now ready. II. THERE IS A PARTY REJECTED. “They all began to make excuses” (Luke 14:18). An excuse is something we tell ourselves to get out of doing what we really don’t want ...

4685. What is the Future of Marriage?

Mark 12:18-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... he was hesitant to marry. Among his many reasons was that his fiancée failed to make him completely happy. Finally the friend said to his buddy, —you don’t need a wife, you don’t even need a dog, you need a goldfish—the pretty kind with the long tail that floats around, looks great and doesn’t need a thing in return. In real marriage, wives are not trophies. Husbands are not gold mines. Marriage is the work of two imperfect craftsmen shaping their dream together. They hammer their conflicts into ...

4686. From Hunger to Satisfaction

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Jesus responds to them saying, “You give them something to eat." They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" Probing question. Haunting question. A compelling kind of command. Are we to go and feed the hungry? Hunger is still a world problem. Twenty-four thousand people die from hunger every day. That's one life every 3.6 seconds. Seventy-five percent of them are children under age five. According to the USDA, 4 ...

4687. Esther: The Problem of Opportunity

Esther 4:11-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... says, “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish" (4:16). Do you have that kind of passion about something in life? It's not about us; it's about the Kingdom of God on earth. II. IT'S NOT ABOUT CONVENIENCE ... s cartoon when Ziggy says, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may not come. That's why we call today the Present." Why not live a carpe diem kind of life? If there is any good you can do, any difference you can make, neither defer it nor neglect it; do it now. If you ...

4688. The Road Home

Luke 2:1-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... spirit. We need new eyes for seeing, new ears for listening. We need faith beyond the questions, and hope beyond the doubts. “O Holy Child of Bethlehem, be born in us today." For ultimately faith is not about creeds, but about a relationship, a relationship of a Divine kind. III. COME HOME TO A CHURCH YOU CAN CONNECT WITH. The shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." I think the hardest thing I've ever had to do on ...

4689. The New Road

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may be able to know the will of God (Romans 12:2). Here at the gate of a new year, we must decide. Will we just talk the talk, or walk the walk? Integrity is kind of like the weather, everybody talks about it, not many people do anything about it. Integrity is: Long-term good taking charge of short-term desire, being sexually pure in the heat of passion, business ethics under the pressure of making a living, believing goodness to be worth ...

4690. Why Am I a Christian?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of it all. When I first professed faith in Christ as an eleven-year-old kid, living ten miles from the nearest sin, I was more interested in friendship than forgiveness, acceptance than atonement. What I found was a deep, abiding, long lasting understanding of friendship of a divine kind. When I'm scared, I sing. I figure my singing will even cause the devil to run. When I can't remember the words to a song, I just make up my own as I go along. Back in 1997, when I first started this battle with cancer, I ...

4691. David: The Problem of Family

2 Samuel 18:28-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands," Saul went insane with jealousy. He couldn't stand it. Nobody should have that kind of recognition. That day Saul set out to kill young David. The story unravels again and again in that contest when David ... remarkable parables that you can find in the Bible. Nathan says, ‘Let me tell you a story about a rich man who had all kinds of livestock and cattle and sheep, everything you could imagine. He had an abundance of them. There was a poor man who had a ...

4692. From Greed to Generosity

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... what Paul said in Romans 12:2: Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. For as of all people, Bob Hope said, “If you don't have charity in you heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble anybody could ever have." Transformation happens when we dare to trust God. Greed is grounded in fear. We fear we will not have the fundamental necessities of life — food, shelter, safety, stability — so we keep saving for a rainy day. When is enough, enough ...

4693. The Power to Be Saved

Acts 4:5-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to spell a word." “Fine," said the husband, “Give me the word." The wife thought a moment and said, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." There is no password to salvation. Grace is free for all and in all. Grace is not cheap, but grace is free. In loving kindness, Christ invites whosoever will to come. Do we have sense enough to accept the invitation? B. BY HIS RESURRECTION Paul put it plainly in I Corinthians 15, “If Christ has not been raised from the dead then our preaching is useless and your ...

4694. Make Disciples—Intentionally

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of God. We are in that stream somewhere and God is making and shaping us into what we are called to be. Disciples. They come in all kinds of stages and forms of life. Some of us are just checking out the scene, looking around, trying to figure out, as that man on the ... is free. Whether you are rich or poor, young or old, you are welcome here. Discipleship includes membership. The church is the kind of place that will let you in. I've had religious fraternities who were not interested in my company. I have ...

4695. Pray

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... read scientific studies about the impact of prayer on heath, we need to be reminded that prayer is neither a show to be watched, nor a science to be studied. Prayer is a relationship to be enriched, a relationship with God, and a relationship with all human kind. So let us behold its mystery and bow in humble adoration. III. PRAYER IS COMMUNION THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT The disciples came to Jesus and said “Teach us to pray." People come to me and say, “I don't know how to pray. Could you help me?" Prayer ...

4696. In Prayer’s Way

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... congregations the prayer you breathe out will not be the same prayer you breathe back in. Respiration brings transformation. Maybe the church today needs a conversion . . . a conversion to prayer. Here in the US, we’ve tried to become every other kind of church imaginable — a planning church, a seeker-sensitive church, a purpose-driven church, an organic church, an Emergent church, an National Church Development church, a house church, a missional church. Isn’t it time we got off our feet and back ...

4697. Lighting up Your Neighborhood

Acts 13:44-49

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a couple of years ago, leaving our garage door wide open, our neighbor came over and closed it for us. For nearly two years now, another neighbor whom we have nicknamed the ‘paper fairy' lays our morning paper at the door. Who could ask for anything more? What kind of neighbor am I to those who are nearby? Not as good as I was ten years ago. Sure, I smile, wave and speak but I don't take the time to know my neighbors as well as I used to. Novelist Jonathan Franzen writes “The American family today ...

4698. The Resurrection and Life

John 11:32-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... ...Jesus wept." Why did Jesus cry? Jesus weeps because he cares. As human beings we feel emotion. When someone is kind to us, we feel grateful. When something good happens, we experience joy. When someone betrays us, we feel anger; when ... of the dying on our way to the land of the living. Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life. To cry it aloud when life is kind and tender and smiling and the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming is one thing. Even more important is to affirm it when the ...

4699. Living on the Easter Side of Life

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... got on your mind today? Are your thoughts full of lust, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, or do you concentrate on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience? Do you forgive as the Lord has forgiven you? Does the peace of Christ rule in your heart? These are ... the thoughts of those whose minds are set on things above, says Paul. These are the kinds of things that control us and guide us. Today, this Easter Sunday, I want you to know that you are a child of ...

4700. By Humbly Doing Good

1 Peter 5:6-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... slipped and fell. Was that someone you? Be watchful. Be alert. Live on the edge. Life is tough out there. IV. BE STRONG IN THE FAITH Stand firm in the faith because you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering (I Peter 5:9). Andrew Jackson said, “One person with courage makes a majority." Courage is expressed in a variety of ways. Courage is the power to endure in unchangeable situations of life. Courage is the ability to give a reason for the hope ...

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