Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4776 to 4800 of 4944 results

4776. Praising God on an Oatmeal Box

2 Samuel 6:12-23

Sermon

John E. Harnish

It seems my little jaunt into English grammar, and especially the proper placement of prepositions, produced more response than almost anything I have written in Steeple Notes. I suppose that, in itself, is amazing. Several of you sent me Winston Churchill's famous quotation: "This is a situation with which I will not put up." But the best one came from a couple of my Wednesday morning Arbon Dennis buddies. It's the story of the little girl, already in bed, who berated her father when he came to read to ...

4777. A Level Playing Field for God

Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I remember some years ago taking one of my first walks in San Francisco with my then three-year-old twins. I looked at the map, and it didn't seem like such a big deal to go from one place to the other. After all, it looked flat on the map! But as my wife and I began the trek we quickly realized that this was going to be no easy stroll. Shouldering backpacks filled with three-year-old paraphernalia and dragging tired twins behind, we climbed high and hiked low. We were quickly exhausted. We stood on the ...

4778. New Beginnings

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this first Sunday in a new year. Did you know that New Year’s Day is the one holiday that is almost universal? It is the world’s most observed holiday. I trust you’ve made your New Year’s resolutions one of which is to be in worship each week. Well done for this first Sunday. I won’t ask you if you’ve resolved to lose the weight you gained between Thanksgiving and Christmas, or if you’re planning on joining a health club, or if you’re going to run five miles a day. Five miles, by the way, is my ...

4779. Being a Woman of God

Acts 16:11-15

Sermon

James Merritt

I am at a distinct disadvantage here for one simple reason. I believe it is easier for a woman to address a group of men than it is for men to address a group of women. The reason is simple. Women at least think they understand men; men know they don't understand women. One of the reasons for this problem is there are undeniably tremendous differences between men and women. For example: Women have many faults Men have only two; Everything they say and everything they do. I told Teresa the other day in a ...

4780. Framing Values – Part Two

Daniel 1:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

We are continuing to make progress on our Extreme Home Makeover as you can see and the framing is coming right along. Last week we talked about framing values for your children. Today, I want to talk about framing values for your teenagers. Have you listened to teenagers talk recently? I want to be honest and tell you that I suffer from TLD - Teenage Language Deficiency. If you have listened to your teenager talk lately, you know that their favorite word now is "like". I counted up one time and Joshua, my ...

4781. A Blast from the Past

Deuteronomy 6:20-25

Sermon

James Merritt

I heard about a man who had retired, and he got up one morning and the first thing he did was read the obituary column to find out who had died. Well, on this particular morning he read that column and the newspaper by mistake had put his name in the column and reported that he was dead. He was not only shaken he was irate. He called the editor of the newspaper and fussed him out. Finally the editor said, "I'll tell you what we'll do. In the morning we'll put your name in the birth column and give you a ...

4782. Parenting 101

Ephesians 6:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

There was a young couple who had just purchased brand new appliances for their house, and they decided to give their old refrigerator to their parents. Since they lived many miles apart, they just shipped the refrigerator to their parents. A few days later the phone rang, her mother said, "Honey, we want to send you a check for the refrigerator." The daughter said, "No, Mom, it's a gift. We want you to have it." The mother said, "But you could have sold it and made money." The daughter said, "Look, Mom, ...

4783. The Revolution Against Evolution

Genesis 1:1

Sermon

James Merritt

It is the ultimate question of all questions - Where did the universe come from? Why does it exist? Genesis 1:1 simply states, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, NASB) So the very beginning of God's word to man says man had a beginning, a divine beginning, a supernatural beginning. Believe it or not, the Christian message does not begin with "Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior." It begins with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The Bible ...

4784. Are You In The Know?

John 10:27-29

Sermon

James Merritt

If there is anything this post-modern culture that we live in is sure of it is that you cannot be absolutely sure of anything. You can believe in many things. You can be passionate about a lot of things, but nothing can be known absolutely, especially in the area of spirituality and morality. I discovered this quote by Gandhi that serves to emphasize the almost universal uncertainty that is associated with religious belief of any kind. When he was asked why he tried to persuade people of his political ...

4785. Mourning Our Fallen Tormentors

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Sermon

Stan Purdum

Michael Dirda is the senior editor of The Washington Post Book World, as well as a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for literary criticism. In 2003, he published an autobiographical account of his early years, telling about growing up in Lorain, Ohio. While there is much that he appreciated about his home, he also tells that his years there were colored somewhat darkly by his father, who was a cranky, difficult man. Apparently the man was not physically abusive, but neither was he easy to be around. Unhappy ...

4786. A Sense of Place

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6-10

Sermon

Stan Purdum

In one of his books, writer Scott Russell Sanders tells that whenever his father would come to new place, he would bend down, scoop up a pinch of dirt, sniff it, stir it around in his palm, squeeze it, and finally rake it across his tongue. When asked why he did this, he explained, "Just trying to figure out where I am."1 I have never used that particular method to locate myself, but being in ministry in a denomination where the bishop periodically sends pastors to new churches and communities, the dirt- ...

4787. The Two Prodigals

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

The relationship between and among siblings is a study both intriguing and challenging. Many of us know the truth here firsthand from the experience of growing up in families. Even if one happens to be an only child, we are brought in touch with brothers and sisters in other families. A great deal is made of the birth order in a family. For example, the oldest son has traditionally been known as the child who is to make his mark in the world and, in some cases, look after parents and those siblings who are ...

4788. 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 ...

4789. Like a Venomous Snake

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Radio preacher and best-selling author Chuck Swindoll once spoke to a group of pastors. He told about a man who was mountain climbing in the Sierra Mountains of California. In one particularly difficult section of his climb, he pulled himself on to a ledge only to find a six‑foot timber rattlesnake looking at him with his mouth open and tail rattling. The man froze. The rattler struck. The man moved so that the snake’s fangs barely missed grazing his neck. Still, the snake’s fangs got caught in the man’s ...

4790. Altar Your Prayers

Mark 1:29-37

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Lord, out of the silence, we come into Your presence. Truly help us to set aside all thoughts and distractions. Help us to lay them at the Altar as we give this offering of time to hear Your word for our lives. Help us to put our worries and concerns about all of life into Your hands for safe keeping as we worship. In Your hands they don't look quite so big, so urgent, so burdensome. Help us to come into Your presence this morning ready to receive what you would have us hear. Introduction There's an old ...

4791. Generous Hearts

1 Timothy 6:11-19

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you all heard about the Preacher who stood up one morning and told his congregation. "This morning we'll have an interactive service. I've prepared 3 different sermons for today. First I've prepared a fifty dollar fire and brimstone sermon which is about two hours long." "Second I've prepared a hundred dollar sermon on the evils of sin that should take about an hour to deliver. And finally I have a $500 fifty dollar sermon on love and generosity, it will only take about 10 or fifteen minutes. We'll ...

4792. God's 'Yes!' To Every Promise

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

It's kind of silly now, nothing more than a fond memory that has been replaced by the deep love I have for my wife, Mary. But as a boy in the third and fourth grade it was major. It was no simple school boy crush. I was completely, madly, irrevocably head over heels in love with a girl by the name of Barbara Wissman. I remember one of our teachers reading Tom Sawyer to us. In my mind, I was her Tom Sawyer and she was my Becky Thatcher. When she walked into the room my heart would skip a beat. For a long ...

4793. Jesus Saves, We're Called To Invest

Matthew 25:14-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A few years ago I read that EmoryUniversity had posted the new tuition rates on a bulletin board in the administration building. Every department and every school had a significant increase, except for one. Because Candler School of Theology was so heavily endowed, their tuition stayed the same. Someone noticed the significant difference between the school of theology and the rest of the departments and in red ink above the school of theology's tuition rates they wrote: Jesus talked a lot about the use of ...

4794. Radical Love is Truthful (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Every time I preach a sermon on “Loving Your Enemies” it seems to conjure up more questions than answers. Such was the case with the sermon last week. I was hardly out of the pulpit when people wanted to know: What about truth and justice? How could Jesus teach non-violence and then announce that he came not to bring peace but a sword? Did not the same Jesus who said turn the other cheek also turn the tables in the temple and drive out the moneychangers in a moment of, at best, righteous anger if not ...

4795. Kingdom Values According to Jesus (Series: Questioning our Values)

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The world is abuzz these days about values. We promote our values, debate our values, vote our values, teach our values, and hopefully, live our values. Values are the personal qualities that sustain us in the big picture of life. Values are a set of guiding principles that help us make decisions. Values are beliefs and attitudes about what is good and right and desirable and worthwhile. People with fuzzy values live fuzzy lives. So, I invite us to use these forty days of Lent to examine our values. I want ...

4796. Our Common Life in Christ

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It glows with light and power today as we turn to verses 1 through 4 of the second chapter of this Philippian letter. “If then our common life in Christ yields any thing to stir the heart, any loving consolation, any sharing of the Spirit, any warmth of affection or compassion, fill up my cup of happiness by thinking and feeling alike with the same love for one another, the same turn of mind, and a common care must be no room for rivalry and personal vanity among you, but you must humbly reckon others ...

4797. There Is a Price for Everything, Part 2

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is an old adage which has God saying: “Take what you wish - take it and pay for it.” That puts us immediately into the heart of our theme today: There is a Price For Everything. There is truth in that saying that the best things in life are free but we have to be careful about that. It isn’t absolute truth. Certainly we can’t buy love, but isn’t there really a price tag on love? How can we appropriate the love of a husband or a wife without paying the price of attention and tenderness, caring and the ...

4798. We Believe in the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-18, 25-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Let us begin this sermon with a prayer. Let us pray: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful And kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit Did instruct the hearts of the faithful, Grant that by the same Holy Spirit We may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations. Amen. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We baptize our people in the name of the Father and of the Son and ...

4799. We Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins

1 John 1:5-2:2

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Ernest Hemingway wrote a story about a father and son who had a serious misunderstanding. In the story, the boy finally runs away from home. The father, however, is not content to let his son go. In an effort to find the boy, the father puts an ad in the Madrid, Spain newspaper. It contained these words: Dear Paco, Meet me at the town square at noon on Sunday. All is forgiven. Your father. That Sunday 800 males by the name of Paco showed up at the town square. They all came seeking forgiveness from their ...

4800. Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A group of boys and girls were trying to find a game to play. “Why don’t we play Hide and Seek?” asked Billy. “No way,” said Sally. “I’m afraid I’ll get hid and nobody will be able to find me. Then everybody will go home and I will be lost.” “Lost and Found.” It’s such a common predicament that the classifieds run a special section for it each day. In Nashville this weekend somebody lost a small, black, fluffy, female cat near Thompson Lane. Somebody else found a silver-grey Schnauzer Terrier dog around ...

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