Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 126 to 150 of 3160 results

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... kind of story that newspapers like, so the newspaper in Galveston sent a reporter out to talk to the woman about this incident. He concluded the questioning by asking her, "How's Chippie doing now?" The woman said, "Well Chippie doesn't sing much anymore. He just sort of sits and stares." That happens to a lot of people too. Life treats them rough, and they don't feel like singing anymore. They just kind of sit and stare. You can pick them out. They have the unmistakable look of the survivor, or the victim ...

127. Things to Come!

Matthew 13:47-52, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... intent on a relationship with the gentiles and he was willing to give everything on the cross for it. Dragnet The final parable is in verses 47-50 where Christ says his kingdom is like a dragnet pulled beneath a fishing vessel and catching all sorts of creatures. The day is coming when the net is hauled in and the catch is sorted, good and bad. One sees here men dragging the nets ashore. Grace does not work alone. We co-labor with God. The catch is a mixed haul, some good fish, others worthless. A time of ...

128. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... have taught you the truth." Jesus said, "I am the truth." There are those who like to say that Jesus Christ was a great teacher, but he was not God. I hasten to point out that Christ has not left that option open to us. A man who said the sort of things Christ said about himself is either absolutely correct or he is a liar or a lunatic. "If you've seen me you've seen the Father." "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me." "I am the door ...

129. Wrestling for a Blessing

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

James McCormick

... a frog!” A classic pattern of marriage has two neurotic people adjusting to one another and functioning fairly well in a sick sort of way. Then one partner begins to grow in the direction of health and the relationship begins to be in trouble. The ... a number of nights. I wasn’t sure what I believed or why. But that painful experience sent me back to my study to read and sort out. It sent me to my knees in prayer. And that experience helped me to build a solid foundation of faith which I believe can stand ...

130. The Lonesome George Church

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the opposite sex, the solitary tortoise refuses to date, much less breed. No one knows why. Some say his life has been so isolated from any other tortoise he simply doesn’t “get it.” He doesn’t seem to know how to court others or have any sort of “drive” to reproduce his species. Whatever the reason Lonesome George seems stubbornly determined to be the last of his species. When he dies (and he is now guessed to be eighty to ninety years old, so he’ll be around longer than you or I) there will ...

131. No More Camping Out

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... you stole some nights on a friend's couch. Perhaps you were on the road for a while, or maybe you just wandered about for a time, trying out different places and new experiences. I know that it happened to me. For a number of years I lived a nomadic sort of life, trying out a host of different things. I moved here and there, trying my hand at truck driving, selling shoes, carpentry, and running a café. I had a great time. For my folks it was torture. I remember someone reported to me that they had asked my ...

132. Day-Timers or Begging Bowls

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... have not been filled or healed. The fourth bowl position is up, empty, clear, clean and censed. There may be all sorts of cracks in it. But those broken places are actually where we are the strongest, as God's grace and forgiveness ... those locked up in the county jail. He wore the cloth so that everyone there knew what he was up to. I asked him the sort of questions any decent Pharisee would ask. "Don't you keep meeting the same people, coming in and going out? Recidivists, repeaters, losers?" "Well," he replied ...

133. Remember Your Baptism

Acts 19:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... force. The Spirit is given to animate faith into action in the world. In today’s text, Paul re-baptized the sort-of, wannabe twelve disciples in Ephesus in “the name of Jesus Christ” at the very beginning of his two year stay in ... Spirit, which poured forth with “tongues” and “prophesies,” didn’t just create a faith community of those twelve. The Spirit set those sort-of, wannabe disciples on fire and let them loose to blaze the glory of Christ in that Gentile/Jewish city. Baptism of water ...

134. John 15:9-17

John 15:9-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... this after-dinner "table talk" with his disciples that Jesus has spoken of keeping his commandments. The same phrase is found in 14:15, 21 and 23-24. "Loving Jesus" therefore is not simply a reference to an emotional response, but implies some sort of decisive, continued action on the part of the disciples. The disciples must demonstrate that they love Jesus by keeping his commandments in order to remain recipients of Jesus' love. There is both respect and freedom for the disciples' chosen actions implicit ...

135. Abraham Believed God

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... , in which God takes upon himself the weight of the covenant. Abram is directed to split a sacrifice in half. Buzzards come, a sign of foreboding, but a mysterious flame appears in the dark and crosses between the pieces. A human who would make a covenant of this sort would be saying, "May this tearing a body in half happen to me if I let you down." This is what God is saying, as well. It is a solemn pledge from the Creator to the created. Both covenant and pledge are instigated and guaranteed by God. Like ...

136. The Sign of God

Amos 7:7-17

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... conform. But what is less clear is what that means. There is no question that God's will for all of us is that we should live righteously and love our neighbor. But beyond that, does God have a detailed plan for each of us that includes what sort of job we should take, whether we should marry, and if so, who should we marry and how many children we should have? That is less clear from the scripture, though many Christians believe it. E. Stanley Jones, who for years was a Methodist missionary in India, tells ...

137. Mary and Joseph: His Obedient Servants

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... summer, my daughter, Kim and her husband, John. We were coming home from dinner out in the evening and John called our attention to a striking sight. On the end wall of a church sanctuary, a giant shadow of Christ was cast. It was a unique and moving sort of thing, created by the lighting of a small statue of Christ in a garden behind the church. I had passed the church during the day, saw the garden and the little statue, but it held only a momentary interest. Now, in a specially placed light, the figure ...

138. Plenty Good Room

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... passages in which he is angry – the cleansing of the temple, and passages such as that. But here, he is nearing anger and his anger is tempered only by the fact that he’s deeply disappointed in his disciples. Philip says, Lord show us the Father. And you can sort of feel the rising anger in Jesus as he says, but Philip, I’ve been with you all this time. How can you say, show us the Father? He who has seen me has seen the Father. Now underline this. This is the radical claim of Christianity, it’s ...

139. You Can't Fool God: Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 4:33 - 5:11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... and the displaced who came to follow Christ, began pooling their resources so they could help each other. Life and the necessities of life was sort of like a giant potluck supper. Everybody brings a little bit, those who can bring more, do. and those who only have a little, ... on and on. Whenever we try hide something from our spouses, from our friends, from the family and even from ourselves it's sort of like a small jazz club in New Orleans. In a corner of that club sat an old dilapidated piano. All of the ...

140. CSI: Jerusalem

Luke 24:36-48

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... depositions. What else do we need besides faith. Which is all we really need. But apart from faith and trust in God what is there that can be used as Evidence of the Risen Christ. III. Spiritual Evidence A. I think you would call it Spiritual Evidence. It's sort of like the scene in A Miracle on 34th Street when Chris is being tried because he says he's Santa Claus. There are those who thought he was crazy. But then, the Post Office did something that turned to scales. They delivered bag after bag after bag ...

141. Go

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Yes, you." You because You are much better at it than either me or Leslie. You see, it's because it's part of my job. Most people expect me and Leslie and every other minister in the world to witness and do the "E" word thingy. You're sort of like secret agents. Most folks don't expect you to talk about your faith or be involved in this whole Evangelism deal. But you know what, you are exactly who Jesus would have chosen. Jesus called fishermen, tax collectors, and the every day ordinary kinds of people. He ...

142. What Difference Does It Make?

John 14:15-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... to God It makes a difference to God. Most of us may not think so. Most of us have this sort of gentle heavenly watchmaker philosophy of God. He's the ultimate judge who will sort the good from the evil at the end times, but God doesn't get involved much in our daily lives ... death. Then one of the nurses remembered something she'd read about treatment of preemies elsewhere in the world. As a sort of last resort the nurses put the weaker twin, right into the bassinet with, her 'big sister.' (she was 3 ounces ...

143. To Live in Joy

Revelation 1:1-3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a beautiful butterfly - velvet black with bright yellow splotches and rich orange spots on its inner wing tips. She was stuck in some sort of seaweed, squirming to be free. . I took her wings gently in my fingers and pulled her free from the seaweed, and for ... on that log beside that lake, we had a funeral. She allowed that part of her to die, and we danced at a resurrection. That same sort of thing has to happen every day in the lives of every one of us. When we give ourselves to the Lordship of the living ...

144. No Longer Strangers

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... know what the barrier is - some hidden sin, some unsurrendered aspect of your life, some unresolved guilt, some broken relationship. You may or may not know what the barrier is, but you know it is there, because you still feel like a stranger - a barrier of some sort is there between you and Christ. I want you to know that no matter how strong or ominous you think the barrier, it is flimsy, like tissue paper before the surging power of the Cross of Christ and His love. In fact, the barrier - every barrier ...

145. The Gospel of Marah

Exodus 15:22-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , and the gospel is in the word of God: “I am the Lord, your healer.” What a gospel! We could talk about it in sermon after sermon. The Lord is our ultimate healer. We go to a lot of different places for healing, and give ourselves to all sorts of would-be “healers”. - Yet it is the Lord who is our ultimate Healer. Note His healing is perpetual. I AM the Lord your Healer. His healing never ceases. And note finally that it is universal, you see it could have preached a sermon on this alone – the ...

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

Exodus 17:8-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... for Peter to get up, and when Peter did, mysteriously the chains seemed to fall off from his wrists and his ankles. The angel told him to put on his sandals and wrap his cloak around him and follow him. Peter thought he was dreaming; he was having some sort of vision; this couldn’t be happening. However, he soon became convinced. The cell door was opened, and he followed the angel down a corridor. At the end of the corridor there was an iron gate that was kept locked at all times. But Peter and the angel ...

147. The Unsuspected Trojan Horse

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , that is, look at it and reflect upon the damage that it’s doing, the havoc that it’s playing, the limitation that is being placed upon us. One of the primary causes of resentment is anger which we deny or repress. I see it in all sorts of ways – persons repressing their anger, refusing to deal with it, allowing it to become resentment. I’m counseling with someone and they tell me that they’re not happy, that their life is not going right, but they don’t know why. Everything external seems to ...

148. Facing Our Fears with Faith

Matthew 10: 27-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... forward in handling our fears when we learn to give our fears a name and share them with the people around us. We handle our fears through faith, “by bringing that which is dark into the light," said Jesus. There is something else in this text. II. Faith helps us SORT our fears. V. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. You see, fear is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, fear paralyzes us and on the other hand fear ...

149. Sick People Like Us Will Always Need The (Divine) Doctor

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... that we can contribute to our own salvation by pleasing God. There is no reason to think that these numbers have changed much in the past few years. "Good" folks like us are likely to avoid sinners and other low-life. Deep down, though we might not admit it, we sort of wish our Lord would avoid that type, too. After all, we don't welcome many of them into our church, and if they come in from off the streets or come from good backgrounds like us but get in trouble or get involved in affairs, we are quite ...

150. How Jesus’ Friendship Makes Your Burdens Light

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... to admit that his invitation was meant for us, too.7 What is it like to have a friend who thinks and lives for you? To some extent, friends can think and live for you and know you better than you know yourself. In Jesus, you and I have that sort of full-time intimate friend. And of course, in view of the way in which we twenty-first-century Americans are messing things up, wayward and confused that we are, we need someone to make us sane. With all our squawking despite all the things we have to make our ...

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