Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 751 to 775 of 1182 results

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Some of you may be thinking, I know why the Empty Cross is remembered at Easter but what does the Empty Crib have to do with Easter? Charles Wesley knew that we can never separate the Cross from the Crib. That's why he wrote the words to the classic Christmas Hymn: "Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the new born King, Peace on Earth, and mercy mild, God and sinner reconciled." How is it that all of humankind could be reconciled to God through a child? That's not an idea that could originate with us. It ...

752. Living In The Spirit Of Faithfulness

Galatians 5:22-25, Hebrews 10:23-24

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... We are also called to be Faithful In Our Perseverance. What I mean by that is this. Faithfulness is consistently doing what is right even when it is difficult or when it appears we might fail. Faithfulness of Perseverance is doing what is right because it is right. In the classic Dr. Seus book "Horton Hears A Who," one day, Horton the elephant hears a cry for help coming from a speck of dust. Even though he can't see anyone on the speck, he decides to help it. As it turns out, the speck of dust is home to ...

753. Leaving ‘Last Chance’ Heading For ‘Needmore’

Romans 12:9-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... never be repeated. "The Play" is still unbelievable. In my mind, "The Play" represents the Good News of Jesus Christ because in every situation God always has the last Word. That Word is always filled with Hope and that Word is always "Victory." The classic example and model is the Crucifixion. That night, after Jesus had been laid and sealed in the tomb, sin and death had already stormed the field in celebration. The party lasted the entire weekend, but then on Sunday morning came "The Play." The Greatest ...

754. Followed By Mercy

Psalm 23:6

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... not what God wants. That's not why Jesus came. God wants us to experience Grace and forgiveness. God wants us to experience Grace because Grace leads to Mercy and mercy leads to Goodness. II. Mercy I think there's a great example of Mercy in the holiday classic, A Christmas Story. In the story, it seems all the adults are conspiring against young Ralphie's one desire. All he wants is a Red Ryder B-B gun. Everybody keeps telling him, "You'll shoot your eye out." He gets more and more frustrated and irritated ...

755. This Is Where We Come In

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... this movie, there is no way you can perform this daily rite the same way. The movie is Psycho (1960). The everyday activity is taking a shower. How many of you know exactly what I mean? How many of you have ever seen this Alfred Hitchcock classic? Then you know . . . You hear that awful, screechy music. You feel the helplessness and horror of being cocooned in rushing warm water. You shiver at the coming of that unexpected life-extinguishing knife. Notice, you never see any violence. The movie is so scary ...

756. The Christ Event

Luke 13:18-21

Illustration

Glenn E. Ludwig

The autobiography of G. Stanley Jones is titled A Song of Ascent, and is considered to be one of the spiritual classics. Jones was a great man: a missionary to India, a friend to Gandhi, a tireless world traveler, and a great writer and speaker. What's amazing is that this book was actually his third attempt at an autobiography. And he was 83 at the time. He had actually written two ...

757. I Have Been Found

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Illustration

Mark Trotter

... acceptable to God. But in Christianity the proclamation is just the opposite. It says we don't have to find our way to God, because God has found his way to us. What is unique, Montefiore said, is that God seeks us and God finds us. That is why the classical, prototypical Christian experience is, "I have been found." "I once was lost, but now am found."

758. The Gift of Preparation

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... by several Furbies, beanie babies, care bear figurines and assorted other stuffed animals as the sheep and livestock were a Wookie, the Cat in the Hat, the Hulk and Batman as the shepherds. On the lid of the lunch box sat his sister's Barbie in a classic Rapunzle outfit, as Mary. Standing behind Mary, leaning against the side of the lunch box for stability and playing Joseph was G.I Joe, in full battle gear. And the piece de resistance was Bart Simpson in a shopping cart as the Baby Jesus. Surrounding this ...

759. Follow Your Questions (Series: An Invitation to Christian Discipleship)

John 20:24-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... their expense accounts, take advantage of their customers, and don’t worry about being faithful to their wives make more money that I do when I try to live by the Christian values?” How does one answer that? Why is God so silent? C.S. Lewis wrote in his classic book A Grief Observed, “Why is it that when you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing God, you will be - or so it feels - welcomed with open arms. But go to God when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what ...

760. Central to Our Mission

John 21:1-14

Illustration

John E. Harnish

James Collins' books on leadership have become classics: Good to Great and Built to Last. In Built to Last, his primary theme is "Preserve the core/Stimulate progress." He says the core ideology, the reason a company exists, must be balanced with a willingness to change and grow in order to fulfill the mission. If an organization is ...

761. Hope In The Midst of Uncertainty

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the story, George's guardian angel, intervenes and through showing George what life in the town would have been like without him, gives him renewed sense of hope. And with that hope comes a new lease on life. B. I think one of the reasons this movie has become such classic is because we've all been there. Oh, we might not have stood on the edge of the bridge ready to jump like George. But we've all stood on the edge of despair. We've all felt the total uncertainty of life. We've all felt at the end ...

762. Redemption Is Found Through Suffering

Illustration

John M. Braaten

... who took it easy, who had it good, but those who struggled and who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. A striking example is the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky regarded by many as one of the greatest literary geniuses of all time. His books are classics. The Brothers Karamazov is regarded by many as the greatest novel ever written. His stories all have a similar theme, that our redemption is to be found through suffering, not simply physical suffering, but in the anguish of our selfhood. We become ...

763. To Live Is to Choose

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ways so we don’t have any face at all. We continue to straddle the fence until we have nothing to offer or nothing to say, or nothing to act upon because we can’t make up our minds, and we can’t make a commitment. If that classic reference doesn’t make it clear to you, hear a word from the Beatles. You remember the Beatles, don’t you? That music phenomenon that occupied center stage for three decades in this country. They faded from prominence when they dissolved their group but their music is ...

764. Where In the World Is God?

Mark 15:33-41

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... me say that again. The presence of God is not to be determined or measured by the moment but by the movement of our total life, and our history. Again, let me illustrate. Allen Payton is one of the premier novelists of this century. Do you remember his classic work, Cry, the Beloved Country? Payton is a citizen of South Africa. He has spent his whole life trying to rid his “beloved country,” as he called it in his novel, of the evil of racism. He has learned a lesson that challenges us. Listen to him ...

765. A Priesthood of Believers

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... God has given us are going to choose death over life. That’s just the way it is. Some people are going to choose death over life and the more we try to impose life upon them, the more determined they become in their pursuit of death. The classic example of this is the relation of a person to an alcoholic spouse. In my experience with innumerable alcoholics, I’ve never known one to choose the way of sobriety until his spouse released him and ceased struggling to solve his problem for him. You need to get ...

766. He Breaks the Power of Cancelled Sin

John 8:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... word: Christ frees us from death. One of my most vivid boyhood recollections is the ringing gospel songs that dominated our worship. In our little country church we didn’t know too much about the proper movement of worship, or that there was high and low or classical and popular forms of music. The songs were always very personal. One that remains clear to me was set to a rousing tune that even now I catch myself humming. The first verse went, Tis a sweet and glorious thought that comes to me, I’ll live ...

767. Dealing with Stress Creatively

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

James W. Moore

... message deep into her daughter’s soul with words and actions and body language and tranquilizers…because her escapism philosophy of life was rooted in the false notion that all stress is bad and should be “avoided like the plague.” This is a classic example of this first approach, escape the stress… and as we have seen, this “escapism mind-set” has lots of weaknesses and problems. That brings us to a second approach. Some say “escape the stress”… that’s number one. II. SECOND, OTHERS ...

768. On the Road with Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

James W. Moore

... to hurt you or disappoint you.” But merely saying, “I’m sorry” is not enough. Just mouthing those words is not enough… In addition, we need to make amends by fixing the problem and by changing the behavior that caused the problem in the first place. A classic illustration of this is found in the Zacchaeus story in Luke 19. When the light of Christ splashed into his life, Zacchaeus saw himself as he really was… and he didn’t like what he saw. So, he came down out of that sycamore tree in the ...

769. Assurance: The Privilage of All Believers

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and we talked about it last Sunday – regenerative and sanctifying grace keeps man so long as man keeps it. In our scripture lesson today from Romans 8, Paul uses the terms “flesh” and “Spirit” to designate our dual nature. In the preceding 7th chapter he shared his own classic witness of the conflict that continues to rage in the life of the Christian : “For the good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not, that I do - 0 wretched man that I am.” In Galatians 5:17, Paul puts it this ...

770. Discipline and Means of Grace

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ’re not told to wash the old nature, however, but to kill it. True Christianity is a state in which we are utterly, absolutely, and completely surrendered to God. The Surrendered Heart Testimony to the surrendered heart is the hallmark of a Christian classic. It is not a coincidence that so many of the ancients have written about it. Consider just these examples: Ignatius Loyola: “We do not for our part wish for health rather than sickness, for wealth rather than poverty, for honor rather than dishonor ...

771. Lessons from Rephidim - Being the Lord's Intercessor

Exodus 17:8-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... from Rephidim — the lesson we learn about being the Lord’s intercessor. This is a form of prayer that may be best described with a word “wrestle”. Great teachers in prayer have often referred to prayer as a battleground, in his classic book on prayer, Harry Emerson Fosdick has a chapter entitled, “Prayer us a Battle ground”. He reminds us that prayer has often been the place where people reconquer faith and reestablish confidence in God and themselves. It’s a battlefield where struggles ...

772. A Glimpse of God

Exodus 33:19-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... on his face to worship God when he realizes that God loves him in an even greater and deeper way. So that’s who God is - Holy Love. Let me close by simply saying that Moses knew that and you and I need to learn it. In Mark Connolly’s classic play, “Green Pastures,” there’s a moving scene in which Moses watches his people as they go into the promised land. You know that Moses was not able to go into the promised land. That seems to be one of the tragedies of the whole story. Having given his life ...

773. The Shared Life of the People of God

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... St. Francis, I can believe that. He so identified with Christ, so intensely sought to reflect the love, poverty, joy, simplicity and openness of Jesus’ life that he actually communicated Christ through his person. No wonder his prayer is the classic summary of the person in Christ. Lord, Make me an instrument of thy peace, where hate rules, let me bring love, where malice, forgiveness, where disputes, reconciliation, where error, truth, where doubt, belief, where despair, hope, where darkness, thy light ...

774. The Harvest of the Spirit, Part 1

Galatians 5:16-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... 7: 19 and Vt: “For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. O wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (KJV) We know the struggle don’t we? In the classical scriptural language of Paul, it is the internal war between spirit and flesh. It is easy to forget, when we read our scripture that Paul was writing to Christians who had received the spirit of God. Paul is aware of the Christian’s potential lapse into fleshly existence, the ...

775. Jesus' Baptism: Affirmed by God

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... on some growing edge, it’s an important part of my life. Douglas Steere, the Quaker giant of the Inner Life, is the patriarch of the group, and one of my spiritual mentors. Morton Kelsey, one of the most prolific and helpful writers I know, the author of the classic spirituality, The Other Side of Silence. Doris Donnelly, who led a Mini-Retreat for us at the church, her best-selling book, Learning to Forgive, which is in a library, she’s a part of the group. Ed is a part of it too. He’s one of the ...

Showing results