Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 151 to 175 of 2561 results

151. Does Christmas Make Any Difference?

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In John Grisham’s novel Skipping Christmas, which is now a hit movie, Luther and Lora Krank decide to take a year off from all the clutter of Christmas. They spent $6,000 last year on Christmas with very little to show for it. Their daughter is now serving in the Peace Corp so maybe it is time for something different! For one year there would be no rooftop Frosty, no company party, not even a tree—just the two of them setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. Does such a scenario sound enticing to you? Does ...

152. News Too Good To Tell

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Did you hear the story about an inattentive, workaholic husband who suddenly decided to surprise his wife with a night to remember? He went down to the department store and bought her the expensive dress she had been admiring. He bought her a large bottle of perfume to go with it. He ordered tickets to the Broadway play she had been wanting to see and made reservations at their favorite restaurant. On his way home he stopped by the florist and bought two dozen red roses which he carried home under his arm ...

153. The Dynamics of Being a Dad

Ephesians 6:1-4, Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The idea of Father’s Day was first proposed by Mrs. John B. Dodd, in 1909. She wanted to honor her father, William Smart, a civil war veteran who raised six children on his own when his wife died at child birth. So the next year at her Methodist church in Washington state, Mrs. Dodd led the first known celebration of Father’s Day honoring the “father’s place in the home and his role in the training of children.” This religious celebration, however, did not stay religious very long. The associated men’s ...

154. The Door of Forgiveness

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Ernest Hemingway wrote a story about a father and son who had a serious misunderstanding. In the story, the boy finally runs away from home. The father however, is not content to let his son go. In an effort to find the boy, the father puts an ad in the Madrid, Spain newspaper. It contained these words: Dear Paco, Meet me at the town square at noon on Sunday. All is forgiven...Your father That Sunday, 800 males by the name of Paco showed up at the town square. They all came seeking forgiveness from their ...

155. Watch!

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A ninety-six year old man won fifty million dollars in the lottery. When his family was notified, they called their pastor for help since they were afraid the news might cause the old fellow to have a heart attack. The pastor agreed to help. He went over to visit the elderly man. They talked about the weather and life in general. Finally the minister asked the old man, “Suppose you won fifty million dollars, how would that change your life?” “It wouldn’t,” said the man, “I would still have arthritis. I ...

156. From Anger to Courage

Mark 11:12-19

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Last Tuesday morning on I-65 here in Williamson County, a mild-mannered, easy-going, Christian man, flew into a fit of road rage. The episode sent another driver to Vanderbilt Hospital in critical condition. The incident got the father of three arrested and put in jail and tied up rush hour traffic for more than two hours. Anger – rage, wrath, hostility, hate – it's never very far away from any of us. You can find a 100,000 books and articles at Amazon.com to help you deal with it. The Bible is full of it ...

157. Esther: The Problem of Opportunity

Esther 4:11-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It's one of those books that some people doubt belongs in the Bible. Neither Luther nor Spurgeon would write a commentary about it. It's full of sex and seduction, blackmail and attempted genocide. The Book of Esther never mentions the name of God and no one can be found praying. So how did such a book find its way into the Holy Scripture? Maybe only one thing: The courageous act of a pretty woman who wound up saving a nation. Our last Old Testament hero is Esther, the Queen of Persia, a Jewish girl with a ...

158. 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 ...

159. The Compassionate Christ

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

My mother and father-in-law were country music singers before there was country music. With guitar in hand and harmony in their heart, they traveled the hills of Owen County singing at revivals and Sunday dinners on the grounds. One of my favorites was a little ditty that went like this: Your roses may have thorns, but don't forget, Your thorns may have some roses too. The Lord of great compassion loves you yet, And He will never fail to see you through. It is the Lord of great compassion that I would like ...

160. Reaching Up—Reaching Out

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

An elderly man was critically ill when he asked to see his doctor, his minister, and his closest business associate. As the three of them gathered around the man's bed, he said to them, "I know they say you can't take it with you, but who knows for sure? So, I'm giving each of you an envelope with a $100,000 in cash, in case I need a little spending money on the other side." A few days later the old man died. On the day of the funeral, the doctor, the minister and the business man all slipped an envelope ...

161. Make Disciples—Intentionally

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It was a clear crisp autumn afternoon. I was on an airplane headed for a preaching mission in Centerville, Kansas. As I got settled into my seat, a big muscular man wedged his way into the seat beside me. The man took a quick glance at a magazine, then turned to me and said, “What do you do?" For most people that must be a simple question. For me it is a temptation to tease rather than answer. So sometimes I say, “I bury people." This guarantees moments of silence. Sometimes I say, “I stand up and make 20- ...

162. The Loving Friend

John 4:1-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

With apologies to Carole King, I'd like to describe my friendship with Jesus Christ in a paraphrase of a popular song: When you're down and troubled And you need someone to care And nothing, no nothing, is going right, Close your eyes and think of him And soon he will be there To brighten up even your darkest night. You just call out his name And you know wherever he is He'll come running, to see you again. Winter, spring, summer or fall All you've got to do is call And he'll be there, yes he will. You've ...

163. Honoring God in a Pluralistic Society

Matthew 22:37-40

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

My all time favorite story and one you have heard before, is the story about a little girl sitting in the family room one night drawing a picture. Noticing the intensity of his daughter's activity, her Dad asked, “What are you doing?" “I'm drawing a picture of God," replied the girl. “How can you do that?" inquired the Dad. “Nobody knows what God looks like?" Then with a smile on her face the girl said, “They will know when I finish my picture!" In a pluralistic society driven by uncertainty and relativity ...

164. Loosening Up for Better Production

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Some unknown lover of nature wrote this little poem: The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, I'm closer to God in a garden, Than anywhere else on earth. For all of you nature lovers and garden growers, Jesus told a story just for you. In it He drove home a truth essential for the rest of us, too. We call it the Parable of the Sower, though Jesus interpreted it as an allegory of the soils, which poses no problem for ordinary readers, only for Biblical critics of the 20th Century. ...

165. Conversion or Credentialing?

Acts 9:1-5, 10-12, 17-19

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It's been an eventful week in the Olds' household. Sandy and I flew in from vacation last Tuesday and immediately drove to Lexington, Kentucky to participate in the service of ordination of our son, Wes, who is now a full elder in our denomination. As I recessed from that service a long-time friend of mine asked, “Howard, which was the best, your ordination or the ordination of your son?" Without hesitating, I replied “Need you even ask?" It is a moving and humbling experience to see your son or daughter ...

166. 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 ...

167. Breaking News: A World Gone Wild

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

The media called 2010 “The Year The Earth Struck Back.” Take your pick–tsunamis, typhoons, and tornados. What is called “Natural Disasters” killed a quarter of a million people in that 12 month period. More people were killed world-wide by natural disasters in 2010 than were killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.[1] When it comes to Breaking News you can always count every year on some natural disaster interrupting your regularly scheduled programming. Let’s just take four of them and ...

168. Getting Off Of The Mountain

Matthew 17:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Liturgical Color: White Theme: Getting off of the mountain into the valley and pits of life. Proclamation Consider this: We need mountaintop experiences; we do not need to spend our life on the mountain. God has broken through our sin (alienation) to redeem us and reconcile us, so that we need not live our lives on the mountain. God brings us into a personal relationship with self, others, world, so that every experience becomes a creative experience. God rolls up his/her sleeves and enters into the daily ...

169. When God Is Like a Mother

John 14:15-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Two occasions of celebration bring us together at worship today. On the Church calendar today is Pentecost Sunday, a day to celebrate the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, a day to sing ‘Happy Birthday, Church.’ On the secular calendar today is Mother’s Day. God could not be everywhere so he created mothers; or as Erma Bombeck used to say, “Mothers need 180 movable parts, 3 pairs of hands, and 3 sets of eyes.” So, Mom, today is your day to bask in the sunshine and let someone else fix lunch. When ...

170. Could We Start Again, Please? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

John 3:1-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It’s been said of Jesus that whenever he met a person it was as if that person were an island around which Jesus sailed until he found the real problem. And there he landed. He did that with the wealthy tax collector Zacchaeus and landed on the question of integrity. “All that I have stolen, I will repay four-fold.” He did that with the woman at the well and landed on the subject of marriage. “Go call your husband.” And here in John 3, Jesus does that with the powerful, prestigious, political Nicodemus by ...

171. Radical Love in the Neighborhood (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

One of my most meaningful opportunities for ministry came to me in Crestwood, Kentucky where I served for nine years as a member of the Community Rescue Squad, as well as pastor of the Methodist church. A little group of volunteers, trained as EMT’s, provided this community service. When we inquired about our legal liability, we were informed that we were protected by the Good Samaritan Law. Since then, I’ve discovered most states and many countries have a Good Samaritan Law. The Good Samaritan Law, in ...

172. Radical Love at Home (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When our Lord wanted to drive home a truth, he told a story and the greatest story ever told is the story in the Bible of the Prodigal Son. Every preacher has tried to preach it; songs have been written about it; movies have been made of it. There are Prodigal Ministries and Prodigal Magazines, but let not our familiarity with the story blind us to its meaning for our lives. For whoever you are, wherever you came from, however you perceive your future, you are in this story, in every word on every line. “A ...

173. Am I My Brother’s Keeper? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teaming shore. Send these the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” As I read those words, once more, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, I wondered if we Americans believe that any more. Do we really want the world’s huddled masses yearning to be free? Our founder, John Wesley, had a unique way of weaving personal holiness and social concern into religious conviction. ...

174. Doing Our Best

Romans 12: 1-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Once to every man and nation Comes a moment to decide In the strife of truth with falsehood For the good or evil side. In the wake of worldwide terror, I have wondered aloud and pondered deeply what the leadership role of the church should be in a time such as this. Should we push forward or pull back? Should we unveil a new vision for this congregation or wait for a better day? I have asked many of you to give us some guidance. You have said to me without exception, “Howard, the Church is needed now more ...

175. Knowing When To Run

Genesis 39:1-2, 6b-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In Kenny Rogers' greatest hit, he meets up with a gambler who gives him this advice: You got to know when to hold ‘em Know when to fold ‘em Know when to walk away and know when to run You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table There's time enough for countin' when the dealings done. In this soap opera episode from the life of Joseph, which is our scripture lesson for today, Joseph knows when to run. Maybe there is a lesson from the life of Joseph for all of us who struggle with temptations ...

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