Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1651 to 1675 of 2332 results

1651. On Being Faithful and Focused

Hebrews 11:1, 32 – 12:2

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... suggests two things: being faithful and being focused. When the writer of Hebrews established the “Hall of Fame," he filled it with the faithful. Some are well-known: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Others unnamed and unknown, facing great persecution, wandered in the deserts and mountains, hid in caves and holes in the ground, with no place to call home and no name to be enthroned- “yet," he says, “the world was not worthy of them." To be faithful is to be committed and consistent, dedicated and ...

1652. Knowing When To Run

Genesis 39:1-2, 6b-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... temptation but deliver us from the evil one." Why would Jesus have taught us to pray for deliverance from temptation unless he knew we would be subjected to temptation? The synoptic gospels all tell the story of Jesus' temptation, the sinless one struggling in the desert for his very soul. Paul says in I Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common for human beings. And God is faithful, and will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." Of course that is absolutely true ...

1653. Hearing the Questions of Children

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , in the nearlies, not fars, the close calls. I have lived in those squeaky moments when it could have gone either way. When I think about the choices I almost made, paths I almost followed and the temptations I almost surrendered to, I thank God today for not deserting me in the almosts of my life. In the critical moment where life hangs in the balance, God speaks. Oh, give me the ability to hear his crying out in the night—Wait a minute, Abraham, you don’t understand. This is not the way it is. You ...

1654. Does Prayer Make Any Difference

Matthew 26:36-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , that’s what I want, too.” When you are ready to surrender like that, you will be set free. I believe that with all my heart. There is a will of God and the will of God can be known. The desire to please God pleases God. God will never desert his own. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Derek, the 26 year old son of Jim Redmond, was favored to win the 400 meter race. Halfway through the semi ...

1655. When God Speaks

Psalm 29:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... before God's glory and visible power Stand at attention! Dress your best to honor him. For the Psalmist a storm was an inspiration to cry “Glory." It was an opportunity to hear the seven-fold voice of the Lord in the thunder that shook the desert and the winds that turned the cedars of Lebanon into toothpicks. The storm last Wednesday that swept Williamson County left our Bishop here in the dark trying to read appointments, but the storm for the Psalmist ushered him into the lightning power of God. It's ...

1656. When You Are Up And Out

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Christianity is more than a great cause. D. Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. There is never a burden that He will not carry. There’s never a sorrow that He will not share. When you walk through the darkest valleys He will not desert you. When you climb the highest summit, He will steady you. In the routine of the day, He is your reason to continue keeping on. Christianity offers us a spiritual friendship with Jesus Christ that changes us forever. Have you heard Him call your name ...

1657. News Too Good To Tell

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... not left me through the years. I learned that night in the privacy of a little Catholic chapel whom I needed to please in ministry and whom I was serving. I went back to that church and we had eight wonderful years of service together. God will not desert you in your hour of need. He will come to you. He will claim you as His own and make His will known. In the last sermon he preached on earth, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. He talked about being on the mountaintop ...

1658. What Is the Future of United Methodism?

John 2:12-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... these sobering statistics, our denominational leaders seem to be buried deep in the miry clay of denial. We don’t play the numbers game, we often hear. It sort of reminds me of a cartoon that I either saw or is just in my mind. On a deserted island there sits a bishop and one leader of a denominational agency where once there were many, many United Methodists living. They look at one another and continue to say, “We still don’t count numbers.” I wonder if a bishop and a general board executive will ...

1659. Making Sure Our Robes Are Washed

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... be God and sent out a decree that all should bow before his image and declare “Caesar is Lord.” Christians in good conscience refused to do that. Because of their resistance many lost their lives. Real survivors are not people who gather on some deserted island to go through contrived challenges only to be voted off at the end of the day. Real survivors are those who go through the “great tribulations” of daily life knowing God to be their hope of salvation and heaven to be their final destination ...

1660. Living on Full Alert

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17. 20-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... wishes, take the water of life as a gift.” Thirst is our most primal human longing. It is more urgent than hunger. It is rivaled only in our need to breathe. We thirst. Thirst signals the absence of something vital to our lives. So these spiritual writers from the desert often used the analogy of thirst to describe our spiritual need for God. Psalm 63:1, “O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Jesus said, “Blessed are those who ...

1661. The Power of a Personal Commitment

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... and faith and build one of the most beautiful modern sanctuaries in America. It took a miracle to make these last steps of building expansion and renovation without additional indebtedness. Nothing would please the devil more than to have us stumble now. Let us never desert to our foes. Instead, let us humble ourselves in the eyes of the Lord; seek his wisdom; follow his will. First and foremost, let us be a people of prayer. II. WILL YOU MAKE A PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO BE PRESENT? One of my favorite church ...

1662. From Anger to Courage

Mark 11:12-19

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Letting it rip' is a dangerous myth which actually escalates the problem and hurts all involved." Maybe it is time for talk show hosts to take responsibility for their actions. III. THE DISCIPLES ARE ANGRY They run and hide. “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled" (Matthew 26:56). Do spacial solutions really work? A couple was celebrating their golden wedding anniversary when the husband announced that for 50 years the two of them had never had a fight. Amazed and intrigued, a guest approached the ...

1663. The Power to Make a Difference

Acts 16:1-5

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... became obedient even to death on a cross." A spiritual leader invests in people rather than plans. The last Book of the Bible that Paul writes is his second letter to Timothy. He closes it with these words: “Do your best to come quickly for Demas…has deserted me. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Do your best to come before winter." An evangelist preaching in a park in Dublin once said: “The world has yet to see what God can do in and through and for one individual who is completely ...

1664. The New Road

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... benefit of a roadmap or, for that matter, even a road. There was no GPS on the noses of their camels. Such is the nature of faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." By faith, Noah built a boat in the desert that saved his family from the flood. By faith, Abraham when he was called…obeyed and went, even through he did not know where he was going. By faith, Moses chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a ...

1665. What Can Christians Learn from Muslims?

Genesis 21:1-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the Scripture lesson today, we recall the story of Abraham and Ishmael. Ishmael is Abraham's son by his maidservant, Hagar. When Sarah, Abraham's wife, becomes miraculously pregnant, she wants nothing to do with Hagar and Ishmael. So, Abraham sends the two of them into the desert of Beersheba. But God does not easily forget his own. When it looked as though the two of them would die of thirst, an angel of the Lord called Hagar from heaven and revealed a well of water. Then God made a promise, “I will make ...

1666. David: The Problem of Family

2 Samuel 18:28-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... is not always evident to the observer. A résumé will tell you about degrees earned, positions held, and experiences accumulated. But potential is a matter of the heart. The Lord looks at the heart. In unlikely places, David had been preparing to lead a nation. In the desert he learned how to fight a bear and kill a giant. As a shepherd he learned how to play the harp. With time on his hands out in the fields, he put thoughts into words; words like “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh ...

1667. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a gardener. Cain offered some grain to the Lord. Abel brought a prize lamb, the best of his flock. God was pleased with Abel's offering but rejected the offering of Cain. The pain of rejection was too much. A few days later, Cain coaxes Abel into the desert where the first murder in the history of the world takes place. Its cause? Jealousy, envy. It seeps around the cracks of the soul. It runs in the family. Jesus told a story about a father who had two sons. One son, wrapped up in himself, rebelled, ran ...

1668. Encountering Incomparable Riches

Ephesians 2:4-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. The Bible is explicit on this subject — Sin kills us. We Are Estranged From God. Adam and Eve hide in the Garden. The last person they want to see is God coming to visit them. We Have Deserted Our Ideals. “There are no sadder words of tongue or pen, than those which say ‘I might have been.'" We Have Lost Our Will. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do (Romans 7:15). Who in their right mind has not ...

1669. Love

John 15:9-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!" Jesus is not just a friend of saints. He's a friend of sinners too. To Judas, who is about to betray Him; to Peter, who is about to deny Him; to the other ten, who are about to desert Him; Jesus says, “I do not call you servants any longer; the servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends" (John: 15). A friend is that unique person who asks “How are you?" and then stays around long enough to hear the answer. A ...

1670. By Enduring

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of human history. The stains of it will never be completely erased from the American mind nor should it be. We must never forget what one human being is capable of doing to another. Somewhere between 5 to15 million Africans were forced to desert their villages, their families, and their relatives to be shipped in deplorable conditions to this country. No more than half of those shipped from Africa ever became effective workers in the New World. The rest died of horrible diseases, committed suicide by ...

1671. The Loving Friend

John 4:1-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... about divorce. It was the husband's prerogative in every case and circumstance of her life. What if five times she had gotten a letter that said ‘you are no longer my wife and you are out of here'? Maybe she was abused for burning the toast, or deserted for not bearing children. What if five times she had been rejected by five different people? It would leave you thirsting. It really will. We do not know the source of her thirst, and it probably doesn't matter. We do know that our peace is often forfeited ...

1672. Being Open to the Impossible

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... selves to a lonely place, and rest a while.” Have you ever noted how often this appears in the Gospel? Jesus was always slipping away to some quiet place to stay in communion with the Father. He even spent six weeks in the silence of the Judean desert before He launched his public ministry. Daily quietness and arid prayer were at the heart of his ministry style. If it was essential for Jesus, how essential for us — to stay in close communion with the Lord. No man can work without rest; and no man can ...

1673. Prayer Loosens Up the Heart

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

William R. Long

... natural course of our lives the "earth of our hearts" becomes parched, weed-infested and hard as flint. Unless we take care to break it up to run our fingers again through the rich soil that we know is there, our lives become as destitute and as desiccated as a desert.

1674. Do You Need an Air Conditioner?

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Charles Swindoll

... small group of apartments that have since then been destroyed, I am happy to say. Hot and cold running rats—all the joys of home were there. In the summer the weather came inside, and it was hot. Hot? Hotter than you can imagine. Like a desert. That hot fall we began to pray for an air conditioner; we didn't have one. I remember through the cold blowing winter we were praying for an air conditioner. Through December, January, and February, we told nobody, made no announcement, we wrote no letter; we just ...

1675. A Strange Way in and a New Way Out

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... we all receive at least one Christmas card with their picture on the cover. Every card depicts them exactly the same way: long flowing robes, beards, and big turbans. They are always in one of two poses: either kneeling at Jesus' crib or sojourning across the desert on camels. In our carefully carved nativity sets, they rub elbows with the shepherds from Luke. We don't really know them very well, though. Most of us have probably heard by now that what we think we know about them is not accurate. They weren ...

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