Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 826 to 850 of 1131 results

826. When God Speaks

Psalm 29:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . God may let me get frightened enough to need Him, but then He comes close enough for me to see Him. God is in the boat with us in the storm. God is in charge. The sooner I recognize that and the sooner I own that and the sooner I surrender to that, the better my life is going to be. In every arena, I need to understand that God is God and I don't have to be God in order to worship him. Where is God in the storm? God is giving strength. Verse 11 says it clearly, “The ...

827. The Kingdom for Which We Long

Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... in the depths of our hearts this morning, every person sitting in this room will make a decision. Will I go out to build my own kingdom or will I go out to embrace the kingdom of God? What do you need to give up, let go of, turn loose, surrender, in order to experience the fullness of God in your soul? C. The kingdom of God is Partial. I know, I just said a few moments ago that it is here and now. But I need to also tell you that it is out there and not yet. And those ...

828. The Greatest Story Ever Told

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... who welcomes his children home? We can accept His grace; we can respond to it and rejoice in it; experience it and live it to its absolute fullest. In John Grisham’s novel, The New Testament, he paints the portrait of one man’s surrender to God’s will. Nate O’Reilly is a disgraced corporate attorney plagued by alcoholism and drug abuse. After two marriages, four detox programs and a serious bout with a chronic fever, Nate acknowledges his need for God. Grisham describes the transformation this way ...

829. News Too Good To Tell

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... minutes or so of your day so that you can sit and reflect on these scripture guides. We have books to help you listen to His voice and let Him speak. Eric Reed says, “We turned off the T.V. for Lent. I loved television. My wife had long surrendered the remote to me. Everybody knows I love my shows and I was going to miss March Madness. Nevertheless, we closed the doors on the television and entered Lent in silence. Our den was stilled before our souls were stilled. In this stillness we went to sleep a ...

830. What is the Future of Marriage?

Mark 12:18-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Marriage is not about me, my, not about I,I,I. We glorify personal choice, autonomy, radical individualism, self-expression, and freedom from constraints. Marriage calls for mutual surrender, sacrifice, self-denial, fidelity, patience, and forgiveness. A friend listened to his buddy describe why 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 ...

831. The Door of Prayer

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the race. To pray is not to convince God of our will but find the strength to do his will. It is not overcoming God's reluctance but laying hold to God's highest willingness. To pray; is to cooperate with Christ. III. TO PRAY IS TO COMPLETELY SURRENDER Verse 8: “I want people everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." Henri Nouwen says we come to God with tightly clinched fists. So prayer at first is painful because we discover we do not want to let go of the things that ...

832. The Power to Rise Again

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... all these years. And I'll leave my heart wide open, I will love and have no fear. When I get where I'm going, Don't cry for me down here. So whatever you are facing today, don't be defeated. Don't wave the white flag of surrender. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead will give you eternal life. Sickness does not come to stay, it comes to pass. No trouble enjoys eternal life. Every problem has a life span. Christians do not live “under the circumstances." They stand on the promises. When trouble ...

833. Get Up and Go

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... About 100 years ago, a lawyer by the name of Max Ehrmann wrote a creed for life entitled Desiderata. In part it goes like this: “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with ...

834. Why Am I a Christian?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Christ is the way for those who practice the faith they have. Romans 4:3 states: “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Christ is the way for the chosen ones. In Romans 11:26 Paul says, “All Israel will be saved." Without surrendering to pluralism or universalism, some of us believe that there is “wideness in God's mercy, like the wideness of the sea and that there is a kindness is God's justice, which is more than liberty." Christ is the truth! Seventy-five years ago, E ...

835. From Greed to Generosity

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... question. Did you get it all? When a pilot is bringing a plane that I'm riding on into the runway, I don't want to know if you got close, I want to know if you hit it. When I come to church I sing “All to Jesus, I surrender; all to him I freely give." What part of “all" don't I understand? Jesus wasn't pulling any punches about this. He turned around to his disciples and said I've got news for you, it's almost impossible for you people who have money to get into the ...

836. Valuing Life Without Playing God

John 10:10-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of the questions I would like to raise with you today. I. LIFE IS A SACRED RESPONSIBILITY May I ask you a personal question? What are you worth? I'm not inquiring about the real estate you own or the assets you have accumulated. You are going to surrender all that anyway. I am talking about you. What are you worth? Harry Emerson Fosdick was the finest preacher of the 20th century. In one of his sermons he asks, “Materially speaking, what is an average man worth? He contains enough fat to make 7 bars of ...

837. Living on the Easter Side of Life

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... words: “I told him I was a child of God and that I wanted to do God's will. I guess he began to want that too. I believe God brought him to my door so he wouldn't hurt anyone else. I told him ‘Your purpose might be to surrender, go to prison, and teach others about God."' The rest, as they say, is history. He let her go and she turned him in. I suppose no one here is running from the strong arm of the law, but there may be plenty of us here running from ourselves, confused ...

838. Light and Hope for the New Year

John 1:10-18

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... persistent, however treacherous the darkness seems to be, it cannot win. God's light continues to shine. That statement is not just wishful thinking, not just looking on the bright side. That statement is faith. It is a faith that refuses to give up, refuses to surrender to the darkness of the world. It is a faith that claims the promise of the victory of the light. It is a faith that seeks to bring light to the darkened parts of our world, sharing grace and healing with those plunged into the deepest ...

839. Nations on Trial

Matthew 25:31-46

Drama

Chris Ewing

... days, the some-time cleaning worker has been at the center of a firestorm that has made headlines across the United States. 2: Hey, I think I've heard of her! 4: It began on August 15 [2006], when Arellano sought sanctuary in this community church rather than surrender to US immigration authorities to be deported back to her native Mexico. "It's been pretty difficult. I draw comfort from the people who drop in to pray for me and reassure me," said a wan and weary Arellano. "But I don't know how it will end ...

840. The Holy Way

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

Tony Everett

... have become so fearful (Isaiah 35:3-4) that a way out seems truly impossible. Where are those scary, wilderness spaces deep inside your souls? Where are those spaces in which your hands weaken, your knees won't support you anymore, and your courage just surrenders? What traps you in the prison of doubt and broken dreams? What blinds your eyes from seeing God's presence or stops your ears from hearing God's promise? What closes your mouth from proclaiming the joy of the coming Christ Child? (Isaiah 35:5 ...

841. Backseat Drivers: Named, Claimed, Commissioned

Isaiah 49:1-7

Sermon

Tony Everett

... that's awesome — to be named, claimed, and commissioned by the Lord for a specific task. As God's servant, this should be easy. It might even be enjoyable to speak God's word with such clarity and precision that conquering armies would surrender their captives. Immediately, the captives themselves would return with rejoicing. Harold also expected that it would be easy to teach his sixteen-year-old daughter how to drive. Poor Harold was quickly confronted with reality. So was God's servant, who complained ...

842. No Room for Gloom

Isaiah 9:1-4

Sermon

Tony Everett

... 't as dark as it used to be or even seemed to be. In God's hand, the future is much better. When Yogi Berra was managing the New York Yankees during one of their rare losing seasons, he refused to let his players surrender to pessimism. "It ain't over 'til it's over," he frequently advised. In former times, God's people in the seacoast provinces of Zebulun and Naphtali experienced only contempt and rejection. Their world was filled with darkness. Nevertheless, God's promised nevertheless, Isaiah proclaims ...

843. I Don't Do Windows

Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28

Sermon

Tony Everett

... our total identity: both who we are, and whose we are. A danger in the present wilderness living was for Israel and for us is to ignore the "whose" we are. This inevitably results in reliance on more self-help strategies and a surrender to the seductive temptations of the currently popular "gods" that promise immediate success and satisfaction. On the outside, God designated specific, clear signs that would both remind Israel of God's past deliverance and of God's continuing presence and guidance. You shall ...

844. Converting to Christianity

Acts 2:14, 36-41

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... to come inside and change us? What a call! What a challenge! It moves us beyond our petty drive to convince others that we have the best religion. It shoves us outside the habitual box of judgment and condemnation, and it calls us today, this moment, to radically surrender all that we are to God's love in Jesus Christ so that we might be reconciled, transformed, and born from above. Come, let us pray together that we might step onto this path of repentance and conversion in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

845. The Three Dimensions of Life

Genesis 6:1-22

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... . I have grown old and [the devil] has grown old with me. He does not have the strength. Now I wrestle with God." "With God? And do you hope to win?" "No. I hope to lose." Is that not what it means to develop the height dimension of life? To surrender to God and let him direct us. Methuselah lived 969 years. Did he fulfill the promise of his life? We have no way of knowing. But we know what we need to do to fulfill the promise of our own life. And God invites us to do just that by ...

846. Eat and Run

Exodus 12:1-14

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... on and walking sticks in hand, they ate their meal in haste. Outside, the wails of grief could be heard from Egyptian households, and in the middle of the night, Moses was summoned to Pharaoh's presence. It was over. The king of Egypt surrendered to the singular God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Israelites were finally free. For us as Christians, the occasion of the Passover meal naturally reminds us of Jesus' Last Supper and, by extension, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Jesus and his disciples ...

847. Do You See What I See?

Exodus 14:19-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... (Exodus 13:17-18). And so, in order to keep them from becoming discouraged, the Lord detoured his people around those conflicts. The decision to head south, however, soon appeared to be a strategic mistake. At least to human eyes. The Egyptian pharaoh, for whom surrender was the momentary exception rather than the rule, had reconsidered his decision to let the slaves go. And so, with an army of chariots in his wake, the pharaoh set off in hot pursuit of the Hebrews. When he caught up with them, he found ...

848. A Question of Loyalty

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... sunburned and spent," she recalled. Before she was rescued by a helicopter the next day, she felt God remind her of the two greatest commandments, love of God and love of neighbor. "I'd loved Jesus since I was eleven," she said, "but I hadn't yet surrendered my claim on my life. I was still going my own way. Those nights on the ledge, I determined to make knowing God's heart, thoughts, and purposes my passion in life." Another lesson she learned from her experience was that you cannot continue down a wrong ...

849. Reversal and Victory

Judges 4:1-7

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... for forty years and according to scripture, "The land had rest forty years." Deborah had accomplished the seemingly impossible. God has an uncanny way of choosing the right person at the right time to bring about God's desires. When we surrender ourselves to God, we will find both meaning and purpose. Henrietta Mears taught college-age, single, young adults for decades at Hollywood Presbyterian Church. She became increasingly frustrated at not being able to give her students first-rate material, so she ...

850. Here I Am

Hebrews 12:18-29

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . But I stopped, stood up on the tractor and said: "I can't do it." And I remember hearing the words: "YOU don't have to," in both my head and my heart. It was then that finally I shut off the tractor, dropped to my knees in prayer and surrendered to the call to preach. I don't know how long I prayed but it was long enough that Grandpa drove out to see what was wrong. Like Moses: after much debate. After much crawfishing and making excuses, I finally said: "Here I am." And I've never been happier ...

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