Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 976 to 1000 of 2561 results

976. Grace in the Midst of Unanswered Prayer

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

No one ever really prepares you for your first theological bull session. Usually it arrives without fanfare or advance warning. Usually it happens long before you enter the relative clear-headedness of your adult years, or before you take that philosophy course in college. Usually it happens when you're a junior high school student, up late with friends at a sleepover, or camping out in somebody's backyard. There's just something about a smoky fire and charred food and stars out overhead that turns twelve- ...

977. Sweet-Smelling Fragrance

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Realtors tell us that an empty house is difficult to sell. Regardless of its physical beauty, a home "shows" better when it is furnished. Sellers are advised to have the home cleaned, have a fire going in the fireplace, turn on lamps, have soft music playing in the background, and place fresh flowers on tables and cabinets. The aura and smells that are presented to the customer are important. In major shopping malls the smells of baked cookies are sometimes injected into the ventilation system to lure ...

978. A Love For All Seasons (i)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"You know what I don't understand?" asked Lucy of Charlie Brown in my favorite comic strip -- "PEANUTS" by Charles Schultz. "I don't understand love!" Charlie Brown replies, "Who does!" Lucy says, "Explain love to me, Charlie Brown", Charlie says. "You can't explain love. I can recommend a book or a poem or a painting, but I can't explain love." Lucy comes back, "Well, try, Charlie Brown, try." As is always the case, Charlie can't say no to Lucy. He can't resist doing what Lucy tells him to do, so he says ...

979. Count It All Joy

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Today we begin a new series of sermons on the Epistle of James. If I were to give a subtitle to this epistle, I would call it "A Manual of Practical Christianity." All of us should be able to identify with the thought. We are always asking that everything be made practical. Speakers are admonished to use the "kiss principle": "Keep it simple, stupid." There is a sense in which the Epistle of James is a "how to" book, and any bookstore has a large section of such books, from How To Build a Patio to How to ...

980. Jesus, Desirous

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

In the powerful movie, Ulee's Gold, Peter Fonda plays a tired man who is a beekeeper by day. He runs the old family business of collecting and selling the golden honey that pays the bills. It is exhausting work for a man now in his late sixties. Ulee does most of it by himself because he cannot afford to hire someone to help him. He maintains and moves the hives, gathers the trays, separates the honey from the wax, spins the final product into jars, and ships it off to market. He worries about the ebb and ...

981. Constantly Abiding

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

For nearly 40 years now, I have practiced a discipline that is one of the sustaining forces in my life. A couple of times a year now, four times a year when I was a pastor, I go on a private retreat. Sometimes just for 24 hours – sometimes for 2 or 3 days. These occasions are essential for me -- I am with people all the time. My life is intertwined with so many lives. Daily “quiet times,” snatches of solitude now and then, are not enough for me. I run down and I run out! So occasionally I have to set aside ...

982. The Church: An Enclave of Resistance v2

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In September of 1997 there was a groundbreaking service for a Catholic cathedral that is going to be constructed in Los Angeles. The Diocese of Los Angeles commissioned the famous Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo to design the building. Their hope is that the cathedral will be completed by the beginning of the millennium. It’s to be a peculiar witness to the glory of God. There were models of the cathedral at the groundbreaking service and on the basis of the models a Los Angeles Times reporter wrote a ...

983. Peacemaking and Self Control

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

The date was June 11, 1963; the place- The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Vivian Malone, a young black woman, enrolled that day as a freshman. Federal troops ensured her entrance, but the doorway was blocked by Governor George Wallace. Holding out for segregation, the governor ultimately failed, and Ms. Malone became the first African-American to graduate from the University of Alabama. Vivian wasn't the only newcomer that day. James Hood was at her side and needed encouragement. So she slipped him a ...

984. Pass the Pigweed

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Bill Mosley

They tell a story about a hurricane blowing through Galveston, LaMarque, and Texas City heading straight toward Houston. A man's farm, his home and all he'd worked for, all he'd ever owned was directly in the storm's path. He didn't want to leave, and he believed the Lord would take care of him. A bus came by and a Red Cross volunteer told the man they were evacuating everyone in the path of the hurricane. The man sat tight on his front porch and said, "The Lord will provide." The water came up and the man ...

985. Blinders

Acts 17:22-31

Sermon

Bill Mosley

Loggerhead turtles lay eggs among the sand dunes on beaches. The little turtles dig their way up through the sand and struggle along the beach seeking the ocean waters that wash upon the sand wave after wave. It's a hunger that is born deep within them to seek this sea water, for it is life -- even living water. If they don't find it, they die. But if they find the water, they can live over 100 years and weigh over 600 pounds! If a little turtle gets sidetracked, say it falls into a moat around a sand ...

986. Quarterback 101

Jeremiah 32:1-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Any fans here this morning lucky enough to have your favorite baseball team in a division play-off? Anyone want to predict who's going to play in the World Series? (Customize your opening interactive to your own setting. If you don't want to make this an interactive moment, you can redo in narrative form.) For you it's still baseball season. For the rest of us, our days of summer are done and it's definitely time for football. Football is a sport that can easily fill up every part of a fall weekend. High ...

987. Thanks Be to God

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Once upon a time there was a woodcutter who spent the majority of every day in the woods. He knew every trail and basically every inch of the forest. One day the woodcutter was preparing to fell a tree when he heard a cooing sound not far away. He followed the sound and found two white doves that were caught in a wooden trap. He felt sorry for the birds and thus opened the trap door and allowed them to fly to freedom. He then returned to his job of felling the tree and forgot all about the birds. As the ...

988. My Precious, My Precious

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Who would have thought that a public television show about the junk, or, excuse me, family heirlooms cluttering up everyone's closets, attics, and basements would turn into one of the hottest TV shows going? What's the name of it? Anyone? It's my favorite TV show. That's right: Antiques Roadshow. Antiques Roadshow is now a classic treasure itself, having been public televisions' biggest audience grabber for over a decade. It's even spawned dozens of spin-offs and copycats, and made the Keno twins (Leigh ...

989. Are You Living the Three Advents?

Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Theme: The Christian tradition invites us to celebrate 3 advents the 4 weeks of advent. It would help your sermon if you wore some kind of “garment” that signified your ordination or calling. The Word-Made-Flesh . . . Exegesis of Romans 13:11-14 It seems strange that as the church’s calendar enters into its most hopeful, anticipatory season, the first of our four Advent readings turns once again towards that final Day of Judgment and end-time scenarios. Yet the eschatological words from Paul to the Roman ...

990. Dare to Be Different, Not Just Better

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

[This sermon needs popcorn and popcorn smells. You may want to distribute little bags of popcorn with the bulletins. Or during the sermon you may want to have someone making popcorn so that the smell can percolate through the sanctuary. But in some way, your parishioners need to have a popcorn experience to go along with the sermon. Maybe even give each person an uncooked popcorn kernel so that the contrast between one that has undergone fire and one that hasn't can be felt and tasted.] The New Year always ...

991. The Dash of Discipleship

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

So What? Give this assignment to a kid write an essay about some famous person (like Alexander the Great) and I can predict how the first sentence will read: "So-and-so was born in . . . and died in . . . " We adults write the same essay on our tombstone: Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929-1968. The most grounding and grounded fact about those we want to know about is when they lived and how long they lived. Knowing when someone lived does give us an immediate handle on what some aspects of that individual's ...

992. Under New Leadership

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Writer Robert Fulghum in his humorous book, Uh-Oh, tells about a neighbor of his who drives a brand-new Range Rover, a vehicle that Fulghum says “can outrun a lion and take a rhino charge head-on.” One Tuesday morning Fulghum left his house about the same time as his neighbor. The neighbor was carrying a golf bag, a gym bag, a raincoat, an umbrella, a coffee cup, a sack of garbage for the dumpster, and his briefcase. He was in a hurry. Two little pieces of toilet paper stuck to his chin from a hasty ...

993. The Lost and Found Sheep

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

He called himself Father Gabriel. He was a “self-proclaimed” modern-day prophet of God. He came to the town… where we were living… in the early 1980’s. He set up shop in a store-front and announced pompously that he had special gifts from God… which no other living person in the world possessed. With TV and radio spots, with Billboards and newspaper ads, he proclaimed boldly that all who followed him and put their faith in him and joined this church would be blessed with great wealth and perfect health. ...

994. Don't Look Back, Remember Lot's Wife

Genesis 19:24-26

Sermon

James W. Moore

When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I was a sprinter on the Memphis Tech High School track team. Back then, tenth grade was the first year of high school, so I was a real rookie on the track team. I had been running: - The one hundred yard dash. - I was also running on the sprint relay teams. - In addition, I was doing the long jump and the high jump. One day in a practice track meet, the coach suddenly decided to try me in the two hundred and twenty yard dash. I had never run this event before, ...

995. His Name Shall Be Called Emmanuel

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

James W. Moore

G. K. Chesterton, the noted British poet and theologian was a brilliant man who could think deep thoughts and express them well. However, he was also extremely absent-minded… and over the years he became rather notorious for getting lost. He would just absolutely forget… where he was supposed to be… and what he was supposed to be doing. On one such occasion, he sent a telegram to his wife which carried these words: “Honey, seems that I’m lost again. Presently, I am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be ...

996. The Play's Playbook for the Game of Life

1 Peter 4:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It is known simply as “The Play.” “The Play” is the name of the greatest game of football ever played--anywhere, anytime. Can anyone here this morning tell me who played in “The Play?” Right: California vs. Stanford. Can anyone tell me the year of “The Play.?” Right: 1982. Can anyone tell me what was so special about “The Play?” Right: With 53 seconds left in the game, Stanford was down 17-19, stuck in their own backfield. It was fourth down, 17 yards to go. But miraculously the Stanford QB (anyone? . . . ...

997. Don't Worry, The Light Is Still Burning

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Don’t worry, the light is still burning.” Is there any more reassuring line than that one: “Don’t worry, the light is still burning.” But the light that is still burning is not beckoning you back from the window of your home, sweet home. The light that is still burning is in a fire station in Livermore, California. “Don’t worry, the light is still burning” is the headline that greets visitors to the homepage of this one light bulb. WWW.centennialbulb.org is the web site dedicated to keeping track of the ...

998. A World Without Easter

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Sermon

James Merritt

Dr. Billy Graham once told Time magazine, "If I were an enemy of Christianity, I would aim right at the Resurrection, because that is the heart of Christianity." Well Dr. Graham knew what he was talking about because more and more theologians, those who admit to be liberal, and even some who claim to be conservative, are taking dead aim at the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The founder of the infamous Jesus seminar, Dr. Robert Funk, told Time magazine as well, "The tales of entombment and ...

999. High and Lifted Up

Isaiah 6:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

Several years ago Life Magazine devoted an issue to God. On the front cover was one big question: "When You Think of God What Do You See?" I began to imagine if that magazine came out today, how we, here in America, might answer that question. I believe there are some people who see a God who looks like Santa Claus, and really doesn't care whether we are naughty or nice; a God who winks at sin and giggles at iniquity; a God who is "too loving to let anyone go to hell;" a God who accepts everyone just the ...

1000. Nothing Great Happens Without It

Luke 14: 25-35

Sermon

James Merritt

There's is an old fable about an Emperor who many years ago gathered together the wisest people in his kingdom and said, "I want you to assemble all of the great knowledge of our civilizations so that it will be available for future generations." They worked many years before returning with ten bound volumes. The Emperor glanced at the stack of books frowned and said, "Too long." The sages scurried back to work and did not return until they had edited the ten volumes down to one. However, when they handed ...

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