Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1301 to 1325 of 1533 results

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

There was a man named Sundar, a convert to Christianity who decided to go to India to be a missionary and bear witness to others about Jesus. One day, late in the afternoon, Sundar was traveling on foot high in the Himalaya Mountains with a Buddhist monk. It was bitterly cold and darkness was rapidly starting to fall. The monk told Sundar they would be in danger of freezing to death if they did not reach the monastery before nightfall. As they crossed a narrow path above a steep cliff, a cry for help was ...

1302. Mark 10: 35-45

Mark 10:35-45

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

For many parents (yours truly being one of them), one of the most memorable, and mortifying, demonstrations of their toddler’s new mastery of language is when the cute little tyke lets loose with some shocking expletive. Not knowing that the word they are singing out is foul and forbidden, our desperate attempts to shush them usually just results in a louder, more insistent repetition of the bad word(s). The disciples in Mark’s three passion narratives are like that artless child. They keep repeating the ...

1303. Operation Omega

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Sometimes we can get things so perfectly wrong that we don’t have even a hint that we’ve stepped in it again. Here’s one example: Drive through any town or suburb in America and you will see signs announcing the names of local churches. There will be a “First Presbyterian, a “First United Methodist,” a “First Baptist,” a “First United Church of Christ.” Only after the “First” designation has been snapped up to later churches start to shop around for a different name. “Second” isn’t very popular. Better to ...

1304. What Are You Looking At?

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

One of the most obvious things about the night sky is the moon, especially the full moon. The full moon transforms not only the sky, but the earth, creating a dimmer, second kind of day, casting long shadows, and providing some guidance to those who find themselves outdoors. Certainly, it is one of the things that children first notice about the sky. They can point to the moon, ask what it is, stare at it in wonder. And then, a few days later, the child can wonder - where did it go? The sun, after all, ...

1305. Wisdom's Delight

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sermon

Stan Purdum

I have a question for you, but let me tell you right up front that it is a trick question. The question is, "What did God create first?" If you are like most Bible readers, your mind will immediately jump to the first chapter of Genesis, and then it is a matter of trying to recall which part of the world God called into being first. In case you can't immediately bring that answer to mind, I'll tell you: It was the creation of light. Genesis says that in the beginning, "darkness covered the face of the deep ...

1306. Wouldn’t It Be Great?

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

David Beckett

Wouldn't it be great if I won a million dollars? Well, maybe it wouldn't be so great. Not everyone has the same idea of a great time. One person's wish may be another's nightmare. Take, for example, the story of three men who were sailing together in the Pacific Ocean. Their vessel was wrecked and they found themselves on an island. They had plenty of food, but their existence was in every way different from what their lives had been in the past. The men were walking by the seashore one day after they had ...

1307. Fruitcakes, Fruit-Baskets and New Year’s Babies

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of you received a fruitcake for Christmas? How many of you actually ATE any fruitcake this Christmas? [Try and have a fruitcake to lift up and maybe even pass out chunks, especially to the kids.] I am one of a small minority, I know. I actually like fruitcake. Come on, it’s moist; it’s sweet; it’s nutty; it’s got a rich bouquet; it’s texture is unparalleled. That said . . . . There is no more maligned food than the good old fruitcake. What was once the queen of holiday feasts in the Old World has ...

1308. Living In The Spirit Of Gentleness and Self Control

Galatians 5:22-25, Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

It was Christmas, and a little boy was asked to play the role of the innkeeper who turned away Mary and Joseph. "I won't do it!" he exclaimed, "Because the man was mean to Mary and Joseph." But the teacher insisted, and he finally learned his lines. The night of the performance came. Mary and Joseph knocked on the door. The boy, dressed as the innkeeper, opened the door and said, "Sorry, there's no room in the inn," but then he added, "if you want to come in, you can rest awhile and have some milk and ...

1309. A Cloud Of Witnesses

Hebrews 12:1-3

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Last week was actually All Saints Sunday and because of our Stewardship Campaign we kind of set it aside. But, I think it is an important Sunday in the life of the Church and in our personal Journey of Faith so we're going to celebrate it today. All Saints Sunday is a day to remember those people who have been a major influence in our life of faith. If we put it in terms of our Running on Faith study, we might think of these people as the Road Signs along the way for all of the individual saints in our ...

1310. Set An Extra Place

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Leonard Sweet in his sermon, "The Exquisite Attitude of Gratitude" writes: "On a gray Friday in January 2007, during the peak of the early morning commuter rush, an unassuming young man entered the L'Enfant Plaza train station in Washington D.C. As the crowds rushed by, the man found a place to stand out of the way of the foot traffic. He opened the violin case he carried. He threw into the case a few coins and dollar bills to "prime the pump." And then he proceeded to begin playing. But this was no ...

1311. LOST? Looking For Peace

Matthew 18:21-22, Colossians 3:8-15, Hebrews 11:1

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

There's an old story, and it's a groaner but I'm going tell it anyway. It's about three flies buzzing around a messy kitchen table where somebody had just made a bologna sandwich. The knife used to slice the bologna was covered with little particles of the meat and so was the cutting board. Two of the flies decided to work on the cutting board, while the third fly went to work on the knife. He started at the tip of the knife and ate his way all the way to the end of the handle. Then he decided to fly over ...

1312. Unstoppable Determination

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Years ago the Florida State University football team recruited a place kicker named Scott Brantley. Brantley lived in Colorado and was considered the premier high school place kicker in the country at the time. According to a report in Sports Illustrated one of the Florida State coaches asked Brantley how he would react if, in the biggest game of the year on the opening kickoff against Miami the only player they sent out on the field was himself, leaving the other ten players on the sidelines. Brantley ...

1313. The Miss, The Kiss, The Mess, The Rest

2 Samuel 11:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A few years back, I read about a group of three burglars in Vang, Norway, who tried to open a large safe in a small factory. They attached a small explosive device to the door of the safe and then hid in the next room until it went off. The explosion was so powerful that it demolished the whole building and left them buried under a pile of rubble. The ironic thing about was, the safe had never held any money. The company money was kept in a cash box in an unlocked desk drawer. But what they did keep in the ...

1314. Cross Eyed: Anger

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Pet Peeves, we all have them don't we? Those things that just set us off. Some of my pet peeves are: People who don't use their turn signals or turn them on when they're turning. Road maps that aren't folded back up correctly. I don't know why, it just bugs me. I guess it's like the next one, tangled and wadded up extension cords. Fast food lines that aren't fast. All the prescription drug ads on TV with their long disclaimers of possible side effects. (They make me want to run and hide, not ask my doctor ...

1315. What Matters In the Light of Eternity: “Prayer Matters”

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Big Ed went to church and listened to the preacher. When people were invited to come forward for prayer, Big Ed got in line. “What do you want me to pray about?” asked the preacher. “About my hearing,” answered Big Ed. So the preacher promptly put one finger in Big Ed’s ear, lays his hand on his head and prays fervently for Big Ed’s hearing to improve. After several minutes the preacher said, “Amen,” and asked Big Ed, “How’s your hearing?” “I don’t know,” replied Big Ed, “the hearing won’t be until next ...

1316. Why Should I Read The Bible? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine portrays a man making an inquiry at a large metropolitan bookstore. The clerk begins tapping on her computer, spelling out the word B-I-B-L-E. “Yes,” said the clerk, “we have it. You will find it in the self-help section of the store.” Sometimes I wonder if that cartoon is all too true. Have we who read the Bible reduced the Bible to nothing more than another book in the self-help section? When we ask new members to affirm their faith in the scriptures as found in the ...

1317. What Is Man?

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

I don’t know what you think about human nature. Someone once said, “Little monkeys grow up to be big monkeys; little pigs grow up to be big pigs; but people, wonderful people, can grow up to be monkeys or pigs.” Winston Churchill once said, “I like pigs. Dogs look UP to us. Cats look DOWN on us. Pigs treat us as EQUALS.” Well, maybe he’s right. The legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite was once reading the news about luxury car maker Rolls-Royce having a recall campaign. Here is what he said, “Rolls-Royce ...

1318. A Curse for Our Redemption

Galatians 3:1-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” (verse 13) This is one of the most diff cult verses in the New Testament. How do we translate it in order for it to make sense to us today? There’s a marvelously funny story about translation that comes out of Texas. There was a certain Mexican bank robber by the name of Jorge Rodriguez, who operated along the Texas border around the turn of the century. He was so successful in his forays into Texas, that the Texas rangers put a ...

1319. Getting in S.H.A.P.E. for Ministry

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open it up and here’s all the people. Do you remember that childhood jingle? It’s the people part of that trilogy that I want to talk about today. For the past two years, we have worked diligently casting a vision, building a staff and raising the funds for the future of this great congregation. We believe God is calling us to touch hearts and transform lives for the glory of God and the good of the world. Now we must do one more thing to transform that dream into ...

1320. Why Am I A United Methodist?

I Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In the early 1800’s, after attending a Methodist “frolic of faith” known as a Camp Meeting, somebody wrote this little ditty: I’m a Methodist, Methodist, Methodist, Methodist, Eatin’ Methodist pie. I’m a Methodist, Methodist, Methodist, Methodist, Methodist till I die. Here at the dawn of the 21st century, nobody is concerned about the makers of the pie and to commit to anything until you die — well, that is scary. Nevertheless, in this series of sermons on church membership, I would like to share with you ...

1321. The Door of Service

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Toward the end of his life, Albert Einstein removed the portraits of two scientists, Newton and Maxwell, from his wall and replaced them with portraits of Gandhi and Schweitzer. When asked why, Einstein explained it this way; “The time has come to replace the image of success with the image of service." It would be a meaningful day of worship today if that were to happen in the hearts and lives in those of us who gather here. The time has come to replace the image of success with the image of service. The ...

1322. Follow

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

If my wife puts up with me another five weeks, we will have been married forty-two years. For those of you too young to remember, things have changed. There were no cell phones or text messages forty-two years ago. E-mail and iPods were not even dreamed of. Even land phones were party lines. So, young teenagers in love back then had to find creative ways to communicate. That's where The Cokesbury Hymnal came in. During long sermons in the little church of our childhood, Sandy and I communicated through ...

1323. Marketing or Disciplemaking?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

I don't remember my first experience at worship. I was carried there as an infant in my mother's arms. I can almost count on one hand the number of weeks in my 59 years of life that I have not been somewhere in a worship service to praise and thank God. Worship is a part of my DNA. It's just deep within my soul. It was the Westminster Catechism that stated years ago, the chief purpose of humanity is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We were not created to please ourselves. We were made to please God. I ...

1324. Holy Waste

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There was a man who bought his fiancée a diamond ring, and showed it to his friend. His friend asked, “Is it a real diamond?’ He said, “If it isn’t, I’m out five bucks.” Then there was the fellow who wanted to buy his sweetheart some perfume. He went to the counter of an exclusive store, and the saleswoman recommended a perfume called “Perhaps” that sold for $100 an ounce. $100!” cried the young fellow. “For $100, I don’t want “Perhaps”, I want “For Sure!” Behind the hint of humor is the suggestion that if ...

1325. Be Square

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Every generation has its own language of “cool” from “everything’s jake” to the “cat’s pajamas” to “bees knees” to “groovy,” “fat,” “sweet” and now “ridiculous.” But even though a flash-in-the-pan pop song proclaimed “It’s Hip to Be Square,” no one has ever really aspired to being rectangular with equal sides until Nickelodeon made it “ridiculous” (now synonymous with “cool”). SpongBob SquarePants was such a dorky, goofy, lovable guy, he truly made it “hip to be square” for the first time in a very long ...

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