Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1251 to 1275 of 1795 results

Matthew 16:13-25

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... life like Cheesecake when a life of faith is really like Pie. Bear with me and let me explain. I know you've all seen those Combo Cheesecakes with 4 to 8 different flavors. You do know that they are not baked that way don't you? Each flavor or style of Cheesecake is baked separately, sliced and then like a puzzle all the slices are put into place with a piece of wax paper between each slice. We try to divide up our lives like one of those cheesecakes. We have a slice for family, a slice for work, a ...

1252. A Word to Prodigals

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... plain tragic. In Henderson County, North Carolina they tell the story of the ghost that haunts Mount Hebron Church Road. People say that on some nights if you travel down Mount Hebron, you might catch a glimpse of a woman, dressed all in black clothes of a style a century old. She seems agitated, and those who have looked into her face say that it is full of sadness and longing. Anyone foolish enough to try and confront her soon realizes that he is all alone on the road. The woman has seemingly vanished ...

1253. How Great Is Your Faith

Matthew 15:21-28, Matthew 15:1-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of God. They saw someone hurting and made him feel welcome rather than asking him to leave. Vincent has become a mighty witness both for Christ and for the church who lived and acted like Jesus. Jesus doesn't see tattoos, piercings, scars, haircuts, makeup, style of clothing or misshapen bodies. Jesus sees our hearts and souls longing to be loved and accepted for who we truly are; longing for meaning and purpose in our lives; longing to make a difference. That's what the disciples learned that day from the ...

1254. Spiderman: Saved To Serve

Colossians 3:1-4, 12-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

When I was a teenager two events happened, not too far apart either, which were catastrophic to everything I held near and dear. My allowance at the time was $3.00 a week. Not a whole lot, I know, but the median income in 1965 was only $6,800. Now, I supplemented my allowance by mowing two yards in the neighborhood for $5.00 each. I was saving as much of the money as possible to buy a 5 speed English racer that I had fallen in love with at the local bicycle shop. I had allotted $1.00 of my weekly allowance ...

1255. Harmony and Humor: The Ties That Bind Christianity’s Many Christianities

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a Trickle I'm Fairly Certain that My Redeemer Lives What an Acquaintance We Have in Jesus My Faith Looks Around for Thee Blessed Hunch Above Average Is Thy Faithfulness Spirit of the Living God, Fall Somewhere Near Me Blest Be the Tie that Doesn't Cramp My Style I began this sermon with a hymn. Now let me end it with one. Richard Leach is one of the church’s greatest living contemporary composers of hymns and anthems. I want to conclude the sermon this morning by reading to you a hymn (“Hope is a Candle ...

1256. Valley of Rejection (Series: Peace in the Valley)

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... These are the questions we need to ask if we are to never let a trouble go to waste. Ruth Graham felt an uncontrollable urge to run out of the meeting the first time she heard Billy preach. She was not under conviction. She was put off by his preaching style. Billy had to improve his preaching before Ruth would become his wife. We can handle rejection with focus. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he had anointed me to preach good news.” Jesus knew who He was and why He was here. Do you? Martin ...

1257. Come and See

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... 't remember whether this one was a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese commercial or a Delmonte commercial because they were promoting a new line of canned tomatoes, the ones with Mexican and Italian Seasoning. The recipe was simple, 1 pound of hamburger and can of Mexican style Tomatoes and a family size Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Put it all together and voila, dinner. Josh said, "That sounds good." Well, guess what we had for supper the next night. We tried more stuff mixed with Mac and Cheese than you can imagine ...

1258. The Family Album

1 John 3:1-3

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... and photo albums. We found pictures none of us had ever seen before. We laughed and cried as we went through the pictures. We all commented on how bad the fashions were during certain periods or asked, "What were you thinking?" when we saw certain forgettable hair styles. Some of us even remembered having hair. Going through those photos, looking back at Mom's life and creating that video was cathartic and healing for me. It reminded me who I was, who I am and who I'm connected to. Our passage of Scripture ...

1259. Where do You Live?

Romans 14:1-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... to burn the woman as a witch. You know, we may not judge people as witches anymore, but we do judge them by everything else under the sun. We judge people by their clothing, jobs, friends, the kind of car they drive, the music they listen to, their hair style, their family and even where they live. We love jumping to conclusions, don't we? Sometimes that's ALL the exercise some of us get. That's what normal people do, right? But don't forget, we're not the normal people. We're the abnormal people. We've ...

1260. Dare To DV8

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... age these people have it made. They're famous, they have their pictures in magazines, they live in big, expensive homes. But what we don't see are the troubled marriages, the tormented psyches, the incurable self-doubts. Yancey contrasts the life-styles of these stars with a group he calls servants. Servants include such people as relief workers in Bangladesh and language experts scattered through the jungles of South America translating the Bible into obscure languages. "I was prepared to honor and admire ...

1261. Do You Have Beautiful Feet?

Romans 10:5-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . I'd dare say that when it comes to the word "Evangelism" most of us turn into Edwin Carp, "And I need feet to run away from you." I don't know why that word evokes such fear in everyone. Maybe it's because of the years of the buttonholing style of evangelism we were taught. Maybe it's all the fervent flaming fundamentalists who have beat people over the head with the Bible, using God's Word as a weapon rather than the book of love and grace that it truly is. I don't know. But the core of ...

1262. Does Love Really Make the World Go ’Round? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... develops Christ-like people. Let us be honest! Is there anybody anywhere, Christian or un-Christian, religious or non-religious, who does not believe that Jesus Christ showed the world a better way to live? What keeps us from adopting His values and imitating His life style? As my fellow Kentuckian Wendell Berry writes, “In times like these when we have been most cruelly hurt by those who hate us, it is hard to speak of the way of peace and to remember that Christ enjoined us to love our enemies, but this ...

1263. Led To Follow

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... said “Worship is not a hurried visit to the window of a fast food restaurant for a moral sandwich and a cup of spiritual stimulants. Worship is communion with God.” To worship is to admire, adore, respect, revere. It has more to do with substance than style, God than gimmicks, presence than preference. Isaiah 6:1—In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. We have accomplished our reason for being here if somebody ...

1264. The Color Wheel of Blindness

John 10:22-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... think global,” its time to get out the wide-angle lens. Get a grasp of the big picture. Be amazed at the connectivity that binds together all our communities. Discern the presence of God in the big picture, in different places, in different faces, in different styles, in different times. The way we do ministry here isn’t God’s only way. It is just our way in this place for our day. When we need a heavenly perspective, maybe we should get out the telescopic lens. The Hubbell telescope has been letting ...

1265. Catch of the Day

Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... little brother Glen, was 12 and Uncle Bob had a twelve year old son, too. So, the two Dads, three teenage boys and 2 twelve year old boys loaded up in our station wagon and went to an all you can eat seafood restaurant. It was family style, where they bring it out in bowls and platters. Scallops, crab cakes, crab, clams (both fried and steamed), oysters (both fried and steamed), both baked fish and fried fish and of course shrimp (boiled, fried, butterflied and stuffed). It was a teenager's heaven sent meal ...

1266. Are You a Believer?

John 17:20-26

Illustration

Max Lucado

Max Lucado, tells the following story with wit and style. Some time ago I came upon a fellow on a trip who was carrying a Bible. "Are you a believer?" I asked him. "Yes," he said excitedly. I've learned you can't be too careful. "Virgin birth?" I asked. "I accept it." "Deity of Jesus?" "No doubt." "Death of ...

1267. Chosen by God

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... perceptive of the heart of the matter and the kind of decision I was making a decision of vocation, of call. I want you to know that that is the reason I’m here. In the core of my being I feel called, and that will determine the content and style of my ministry with you. Now I am not naïve and I know we can mistake God’s call. It is not always easy - in fact most of the time it is very difficult to discern clearly and precisely how God wants us to express ourselves vocationally. For that ...

1268. To Live Is to Choose

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... are constantly faced with those either or situations in which there is only one vote that matters - ours alone. Persons are decision makers. This is what identifies us as persons and herein lies our glory and our shame. You, and only you, decide your life style. You make the decision about drinking, the use of drugs, premarital sex. You make the decision as to whether you will choose a profession just to make money or follow the Lord’s call to a Christian vocation, to be a medical missionary, a preacher ...

1269. To Live in Joy

Revelation 1:1-3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... cry above the noise of the thronging mass at the pool of Bethesda. He saw Zaccheus peeking out from the branches of that Sycamore tree. On the spot, He responded to all of these. Because He lived in the now, the life Jesus gives us is a now life. The style of living to which He calls us, and for which He empowers us, is now-living. I haven’t forgotten my butterfly friend. I made my way back up the beach that evening, but I couldn’t find my friend. The waves had come in and I couldn’t even ...

1270. Being Christ by Affirming and Forgiving

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , reconciliation, strength, guidance are the miracles of love which take place when I attend, when I listen and look in the spirit of the indwelling Christ. Jesus no only listened and looked, he touched the leper. To be an affirming presence in the style of the indwelling Christ and to be an effective witness we must touch. We cannot remain aloof; we must deliberately reach out, touch, and become involved. Dr. James Lynch of Johns Hopkins has written a challenging book entitled The Broken Heart. In it ...

1271. Living While You Wait

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the Lord” (3:1, 4:4). The second time, he repeats the call twice “Rejoice…again, I say rejoice!” And adds the word “always” The joy of the Christian is not a pausing quality. Rejoicing is not to be times of worship or praise. It is the style of the Christians, and then it is to be uninterrupted and unbroken. For Paul to repeat twice in verse four the injunction to rejoice must mean that conditions in Philippi were such as to make the call to rejoice seem unreasonable? So he is saying, in spite ...

1272. A Priesthood of Believers

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of under-bearing. While some of us seek to bear too much of the burden of others, still some of us fall into the under-bearing snare. That is, caring and bearing too little—that every man for himself kind of syndrome. A Christian style of caring is neither a smothering dependence or an indifferent independence, but a wholesome interdependence, a recognition that we belong to each other. We are ministers and we are ministered to. This is what the priesthood of believers is all about. III. MAJOR ROADBLOCKS ...

1273. Three Great Resolutions for the New Year

Psalm 118:1-29

Sermon

James W. Moore

... were moving slowly. Just then, Barbara looked up and saw Zan Holmes coming up the steps toward them. Zan Holmes is one of the great preachers in America today. He is also one of the most respected ministers in America today. Barbara had studied Zan’s style of preaching and he was her “great hero in the faith” and here he was walking toward them. Zan walked over to them to speak but before he could say a word, Barbara’s mother stood tall and said to him proudly. “I’m Barbara Edwards’ mother ...

1274. The Third Kind of Love

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James W. Moore

... he came home frustrated and angry with himself. Now it so happened that his wife had bought him a new suit that day. He tried it on… and then complained bitterly: “I can’t believe you bought this suit. It looks horrible. The color is wrong. The style is wrong. It doesn’t fit.” “OK! OK!” his wife responded. “I’ll take it back!” The next day was a great day for Dr. Fitzgerald. He accomplished a lot and corrected some of his mistakes of the day before… and he came home whistling, feeling ...

1275. When You Have To Face Your Own Personal Goliath

1 Samuel 17:1-58

Sermon

James W. Moore

... Shamblin Lectures a few years ago… our speaker Dr. Ellsworth Kalas did a workshop on preaching for the ministers of the area. Dr. Kalas used to teach the art of preaching and he said his biggest problem was to get the young preachers to create their own style. He said he would say to the students over and over. “Don’t be a copy Cat!” And, “Don’t be a Counterfeit!” The students, he said, were always tempted to try to copy some favorite teacher or preacher (to mimic them)… or to change their ...

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