Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1526 to 1550 of 4946 results

1526. Joy Comes in the Morning

Psalm 30:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It would take very little personal conversation among us this morning to discover the healing, encouraging, strengthening, supporting, comforting power the Psalms have been in our individual lives. A variety and a large number of Psalms would be pointed to as the ones that have ministered to you in a particular time of need. At our Administrative Board meeting two weeks ago, Karla Grant shared her Christian pilgrimage verses from the Psalms. This is her story. Six weeks after she and Don welcomed their ...

1527. Ignite: Set On Fire!

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

Without question, perhaps the most famous well-known name outside of politics and entertainment would be Billy Graham. Of all the stories I’ve ever heard about Dr. Graham, probably my favorite is the time when he was going to a certain city to do one of his crusades. There were some critics who didn’t particularly care for either his style or his methods. They didn’t want him to come. They called a press conference and said, “If we let that man come to our city and preach his message he will set the church ...

1528. One Thing

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

James Merritt

I believe that every year that God gives us on this earth is to be a year where we are as productive as we can be for His work and as pleasing as we can be for His glory. The longer you live the more you realize just how fleeting these years are and just how important it is to maximize the potential of each year for being what we ought to be and doing what we ought to do. Every year at least half of us in this will do something that in the beginning will be very exhilarating, but in the end very ...

1529. Like a Phoenix

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Almost every culture has, in its foundational mythology, a Phoenix or firebird. The one with which we westerners are most familiar is the Greek Phoenix which, like all such mythological creatures, is said to die in a burst of sparks and fire only to be born anew from its own ashes. Because this mythological creature lives in a constant cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, the Phoenix is, in most cultures, a symbol of renewal. While early Christians rejected any literal interpretation of the Phoenix myth, ...

1530. Brace Yourself!

Matthew 5:21-37

Sermon

John Jamison

Before we look at today’s scripture, let’s take a moment to remember where we were and what was going on. After John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus moved from Nazareth to Galilee where he could do what he needed to do to prepare for his ministry. Galilee was more Roman than Jewish, so the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jerusalem would have less ability to stop him before he was ready. He traveled the area preaching, teaching, and finding those who would become his disciples. One day as they were walking along ...

1531. How To Treat Your Enemies

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Did you hear about the man who went into the preaching ministry, worked for seven years, then resigned to go back to medical school and become a doctor? "People," he explained, "don't want spiritual health. They just want to feel good." But after working as a physician for seven years, he again resigned, this time to go back to school. "I'm going to become a lawyer," he explained, "because, in the end, people don't want spiritual health. They don't even want physical health. They just want to get even." I ...

1532. The Coming of the Lord

Luke 21:5-38

Drama

There are four characters in this play. Their sexes are not at all relevant to the action, nor are their ages. #1 is somewhat vain and pompous about being told the news first, but is also a bit giddy at the thought of it all. #2 is a bit dense and slow-witted, but excited and expectant. #3 has a bearing of absolute certitude, knows what is right and will not be swayed. The Angel is somewhat condescending and annoyed at having to deal with these people, especially since the number is more than was planned ...

1533. What Do You Believe About Eternal Life

John 14:5-14

Eulogy

James W. Moore

There is a wonderful new hymn in our hymnal. It is becoming something of a tradition to sing this hymn number 707, The Hymn of Promise, at Easter… and at memorial and funeral services. The hymn was written in 1986 by Natalie Sleeth, a respected and prolific writer of Christian music. She wrote this hymn for her husband, the late Dr. Ronnie Sleeth, who was an outstanding professor of preaching at Vanderbilt Divinity School and later at Iliff School of Theology. In 1986 Ronnie Sleeth was told by his doctors ...

1534. A Most Disagreeable Man

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever known anyone with a thoroughly disagreeable attitude? There are some people who, if opportunity were to knock, would complain about the racket. They would re-write the twenty-third psalm to read like this, "My cup runneth over, what a mess." Senator Sam Ervin told about a man in his home state who did not agree with anybody about anything. The man found that cabbage didn't agree with him, the Senator says, and from that day forward wouldn't eat anything else. Jonah, the Old Testament prophet ...

1535. Family Survival

Genesis 37:1-11

Sermon

Stephen DeFur

This morning I want to spend a few moments talking about families. And to do that, I want us to look at a family in the Bible. It is the family of the Old Testament character, Joseph. Joseph's family was an imperfect one much like yours and mine. So we start with Genesis, Chapter 37, verse 1. "Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bihah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph had brought a bad report of them to their father." ...

1536. The Shy Member of the Trinity

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

The disciples were distressed. They had good reason to be. Jesus had just told them that He was about to leave them. The One whom they had loved most in all the world was going to go away. Soon they would be on their own. How would they carry on without Him? How could they face the world without the encouragement and support of His presence beside them? It seemed to be the end of everything. Then it was that Jesus said some very strange things to them. He told them that it would actually be to their ...

1537. Leave Your Stuff Behind

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Loren Isley is one of my favorite writers. He is a distinguished anthropologist and essayist. What makes his writing so gripping to me is that he has the eye of an artist and the soul of a poet. He sees beyond the surface and he has that rare double gift which enables him to enter deeply into an experience and then share that experience with us in the kind of way that enables us to vicariously experience what he himself has experienced. In one of his poignant vignettes from boyhood, he shared a moment of ...

1538. Why Being A Christian Has Worn You Down v2

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A mild little boy, not known for being ugly or mean, was being chastised and about to be punished for pulling a little girl’s hair. His mother asked him, “Son, why did you do it? That’s just not like you.” “Mama,” he responded, “I just got tired of being good all the time.” It happens to all of us, doesn’t it? We get tired of being good. But it’s not just a periodic getting tired now and then – the truth is we get worn out – being Christian and practicing ministry wears us out. We talk about fatigue in all ...

1539. Follow Me!

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

James McCormick

It was the beginning of new life for Peter and Andrew on that day, by the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus tapped them on the shoulder and said, “Come, follow me.” And, what an opportunity he gave to Matthew, the tax collector, when he issued the invitation to him, “Matthew, come, follow me.” Those three, and the other nine disciples all answered, “Yes.” But there were others who heard the call and said, “No.” There were those balking inquirers who responded with excuses, “I’ve just gotten married,” or “Let me ...

1540. Mind Games

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Sermon

James Merritt

(After a video of Hershel Walker) Oh, those were the glory days! Now there is something most of you probably missed in seeing that video. You thought the focus was on Hershel Walker, but the key to what you just saw was the offensive line. Not even Hershel Walker, the greatest college running back who ever lived, who happened to play for the greatest college football team, at the greatest university in history, cannot run one yard unless he has an offensive line opening the holes. There is an old football ...

1541. Begin With the Blueprints

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Sermon

James Merritt

Put together one very run-down house, a needy family who deserves a better place to live, several opinionated designers, one week and what do you get? The answer is - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It is not only a fascinating show to watch, but it will touch even the hardest of hearts. Each episode features a race against time on a project that would ordinarily take somewhere between 3-4 months to achieve. A team of designers, contractors, and several hundred workers have just 7 days to totally rebuild ...

1542. Getting Real

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Sometime back there was a brief news report about a youth director of a local church who was fired because he had duct taped one of the unruly boys to the wall of the gym and left him there. The pictures you see are of kids and adults who consented to being duct taped to the wall not for punishment purposes but as fund raisers. The Darwin awards came out this week and the winner was James Elliot. When his 38-calibre revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, ...

1543. Three Wise Women

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Almost every Christmas pageant has the procession of the three wise men bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I’m going to preach about those three wise men next Sunday. But today, I’m talking about three wise women. There were many significant women in Jesus’ life. In fact, someday I’m going to do a series by that title - “The Women in Jesus’ Life.” Today I want to focus upon three of those women – Three wise women, and simply highlight what they have to teach us and the inspiration they ...

1544. Love Sender

John 3:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

Without even trying kids can teach us some of the greatest life lessons and when you are a kid you learn some of the greatest lessons in life. I want to share with you a lesson that I learned as a child. It all revolves around this gift [open gift – take out gumballs and a Milky Way]. Now here is the story behind this gum and this candy bar. When I was a child, I had saved enough money to do something I had never done before at Christmas which was to buy my parents a Christmas gift. I had saved up a dollar ...

1545. The End Times

Daniel 12:1-13

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Final Revelation--The Body: We enter now into the body of the last main revelation of the book of Daniel. There has been some progression in the visions of the book from a more general scope, encompassing larger blocks of history, to a more narrow focus on shorter periods of time. So, for example, Daniel 2 spans four and a half centuries by outlining the four human empires of Babylonia, Media, Persia, and Greece, which are swept away by the fifth—the eternal kingdom of God. Aside from the fact that the ...

1546. Some Things I've Learned Since I Knew It All

Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Have you ever suffered from "sophomoritis"? It's not a physical disease, like arthritis. It's a spiritual disease many college sophomores get when they get filled up with knowledge, come home on a vacation, and act like they know more than the folks around whom they grew up, especially their parents and younger siblings. That happened to a young man named Adam. He was studying to be an engineer at the University of Illinois in Urbana. On Christmas break, he got quite caught up with himself and started ...

1547. Moving On

Luke 6:12-16, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: dusty bowl This bowl hasn’t been used in a long time. You can tell, because it’s covered in dust. It hasn’t been touched, cleaned, moved, because it’s been here in this church on this shelf a very long time. [You could also refer to something in a glass case or anything that has sat around for a while.] It’s not being used in ministry or worship. It isn’t something that is used in healing people or baptizing them. It’s here on the shelf, gathering dust. This is perhaps one of the best metaphors we ...

1548. Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: Shofar I grew up on nursery rhymes. How many of you did too? Today, I want to talk about this one. Say it with me: “Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn, The sheep's in the meadow, The cow's in the corn; But where is the boy Who looks after the sheep? He's under a haystack, He's fast asleep.” It’s said that in early times, shepherds often carried either horns or wooden flutes that they used to call in their sheep. The “voice” of the shepherd could be his actual physical voice, or it could be the ...

1549. The Perisitent Noise Of Solemn Assemblies

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

There is hardly a better-known or better-loved story in the New Testament than that of the Good Samaritan. A Jewish scholar says that it "is one of the simplest and noblest among the noble gallery of parables in the Synoptic Gospels. Love, it tells us, must know no limits of race .... Who needs me is my neighbor. Whom at the given time and place I can help with my active love, he is my neighbor and I am his."1 So it is that Jesus illustrates in an unforgettable way what it means to be neighborly. However, ...

1550. Miracle Three: Healing A Leper

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

BACKGROUND MATERIAL There is considerable variety to the miracles performed by Christ. One was performed in a synagogue (curing the demoniac), another in a home (healing Peter's mother-in-law), and this one he performed on a public thoroughfare. While Jesus and his disciples were walking, a man afflicted with the terrible disease of leprosy approached them. Fear of leprosy was so great that strict laws had been passed concerning the actions of one so afflicted. The law demanded that lepers should isolate ...

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