Sermon and Worship Resources

Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 176 to 200 of 2561 results

176. What Would Jesus Say About the Marginalized?

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When the immensely popular author Stephen Covey wowed the world with his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he encouraged every person to sit down and write a personal mission statement. “Once you have that sense of mission," said Cover, “you have the essence of your own proactivity. You have the vision and values which will direct your life." Jesus of Nazareth never read Covey's books. But fresh from the wilderness of temptation, Jesus enters the Nazareth Synagogue to announce his reason for being. ...

177. The Forgiveness Which Oils the Human Machine

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A Gallop poll asked Americans what they try to do when wronged. Forty-eight percent said they try to forgive. Eight percent said they try to get even. In our minds, at least, forgiveness wins over revenge six to one. Forgiveness, what a great idea. Forgiveness is the oil that lubricates the human machine. Without it, all of life becomes hot and screaky. Lewis Smedes says, “God invented forgiveness as a remedy to the past that even He could not change.” Jesus said when you pray learn to say, “Forgive us our ...

178. Checking Out the Scene

John 1:35-42

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It is the mission of the Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus said it plainly: “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” By the waters of baptism we are claimed and cleansed. Along the river of discipleship we are shaped and formed into Christ-likeness. Salvation is God’s free gift to us. The best we can do is to receive it with grateful hearts. Discipleship is a life long ...

179. Stepping Into the Stream

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When it comes to water, I am fundamentally afraid. It’s my mother’s fault. She was so concerned that one of her children might wade into a pond or fall into a creek that she put the fear of water into our psyche. So I was an adult before I learned to swim. When the water is deep and the waves are fierce, I can still find myself getting anxious. Perhaps that is why I have never preached a sermon on this text about Peter walking on the water. It’s just too personally intimidating. But, here it is, in three ...

180. Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A group of boys and girls were trying to find a game to play. “Why don’t we play Hide and Seek?” asked Billy. “No way,” said Sally. “I’m afraid I’ll get hid and nobody will be able to find me. Then everybody will go home and I will be lost.” “Lost and Found.” It’s such a common predicament that the classifieds run a special section for it each day. In Nashville this weekend somebody lost a small, black, fluffy, female cat near Thompson Lane. Somebody else found a silver-grey Schnauzer Terrier dog around ...

181. The Family As Church

2 Timothy 1:3-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In the big game of life, what really matters? I find myself asking that question more and more these days. The blessing and curse of surviving a life-threatening disease is that it causes you to lift up the floorboards of your soul and examine the priorities of your life. What really matters in the light of eternity? Lost golf balls don’t matter to me any more — Lost people do. Church conferences don’t matter much to me anymore. Local churches where God and people make a connection do matter. Family status ...

182. Living on Full Alert

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

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

An evangelistic preacher in a small church announced his text for the day in a booming voice by saying “Behold, I am coming soon.” Unsatisfied with the attention of the congregation the preacher said it even more forcefully a second time. “Behold, I am coming soon.” Still not content with the response, the preacher took a couple of steps back and charging the pulpit said “Behold, I am coming soon.” This time he managed to shove the pulpit off the platform and trying to hang on for dear life, the preacher ...

183. From Greed to Generosity

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Author and spiritual director Richard Foster says, “The great moral question of our time is how to move from greed to generosity." That's what we would like to talk about today. A. GREED: the Bible calls it avarice, or covetousness. Greed is the gratification of my desires often at the expense of the common good. We all have a need for greed. We are born to be greedy. It would be easy today to talk about the greediness of Enron executives who are on trial for pocketing millions of dollars. It would be ...

184. By Enduring

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Sometimes in our lives we have great pain and deep sorrow. Life is hard. It is hard by the yard and it is no cinch by the inch. Suffering is not an option in the school of life. Last Friday night, Larry King assembled a panel of preachers and New Age proponents to discuss the nature of good and evil. It was an interesting discussion. But when you are down in the trenches, doubled over with some pain that won't go away, you are not very interested in a discussion. What you would like is some relief. And if ...

185. The Joyful Provider

John 2:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The season of Lent has arrived. It's time to repent and believe the Gospel. We are encouraged to remember that we are mortal, as if our bodies would ever let us forget. Lent is a 40-day period of self-examination and self-denial — except for Sundays. Tucked into these forty days are six “little Easters" — days to remember that God in Jesus Christ gives us the victory over sin, over death, over all that destroys our relationship with Him. So this First Sunday of Lent, I invite you not to the wilderness of ...

186. Breaking Down The Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

King Duncan

Lucy and Linus have a chicken wishbone. They are going to pull it to make a wish. As Lucy explains to Linus how the wishbone works, Linus asks, "Do I have to say the wish out loud?" Lucy says, "Of course, if you don't say it out loud it won't come true." Then she makes her wish first. She says, "I wish for four new sweaters, a new bike, a new pair of skates, a new dress and one hundred dollars." Linus goes next. "I wish for a long life for all of my friends," he says. "I wish for world peace, I wish for ...

187. Commitment (Series: Fundamentals of Family)

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Last September, Sandy and I celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary. I could tell you today that it’s been 43 years of heavenly bliss, but she would correct me by saying there’s been a lot of hell in the mix. Like all couples we married for better for worse, for richer for poorer, and in recent years it has been a lot more sickness than health. Yet, relationships are held together by an invisible cord called commitment. Commitment is an island of certainty in a sea of change. We are not human butterflies ...

188. Valley of Rejection (Series: Peace in the Valley)

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The book Crossing Over is the story of the rejection one woman faced when she fell in love with a person outside the Amish Community and ran away to marry him. Ruth Garrett had always been a little rebellious, but not even she could imagine the pain she was about to experience from being shunned by her family and community. Rejection, even the word, has a foreboding sound. Yet, it is an experience with which most, if not all of us, are familiar. Everybody experiences rejection sometime. It may come from a ...

189. What Matters In the Light of Eternity: “Life Matters”

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Living is a thing we do, now or never, which do you? Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present. Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man to gain whole control and lose his own soul?” Life, what a wonderful four letter word. Life, what a gift. Life, what an opportunity. Life, what a trust. It is one of those things that matters in the light of eternity. I’d like to take this brief time to share with you my thoughts on living a life that really ...

190. Thanks for the Memories

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When I was the student pastor in Woodlawn, Kentucky, the biggest Sunday of the year was not Easter, not even Christmas. The crowning Sunday of the year was Memorial Day. The church owned a little cemetery and people came from near and far to remember their ancestors, eat fried chicken, and tell tall tales. It was such an important day of the year that I was never allowed to preach the sermon. We always had a guest preacher from Louisville or Lexington. My, how times have changed. Who uses Memorial Day any ...

191. On Finding Pentecostal Power

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Lord, as of old at Pentecost Thou dist thy power display, With cleansing, purifying flame Descend on us today. Power, Power, the world is full of power - military power, political power, economic power, industrial power. Our children’s Power Rangers protect our planet from evil forces. Power plants dam up our rivers in order to send us electricity. The world is full of power. But do you have the spiritual power to become all that you are created to be, and to do all that God wants you to do? That is what I ...

192. On Your Mark, Get Set, Hope!

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Remember when? Remember when: Visions of sugar plums danced in your head, Silent night was an exciting night, Away in a manger didn’t seem so far away, Remember when you couldn’t wait for Christmas? Life has a way of turning our hopes and dreams into obligations and responsibilities. The child within us gives way to the adult that is out daily earning a living, fulfilling roles, meeting the deadlines of life. Maybe here in December it’s time to visit that child again, the child that lives within. The ...

193. Follow Your Changes (Series: An Invitation to Christian Discipleship)

John 16:5-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

On January 31, 1829, Governor Martin Van Buren of New York wrote this letter to President Andrew Jackson. “As your know, Mr. President, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 mph by engines which roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.” Do you remember when a mouse was a rodent that liked cheese, a chip was a piece ...

194. Follow Your Questions (Series: An Invitation to Christian Discipleship)

John 20:24-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Why? Why? Why? Why? - Once more Americans are asking why? Why should thirty-two people lose their lives in a shooting rampage on Virginia Tech campus? Inquiring minds want to know why. You would think after the Oklahoma City bombings, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the high school shootings in Texas, Colorado, and Kentucky, we would eventually become too numb to notice. But something inside the human spirit will not let us off that easy. So people with ...

195. Kingdom Values According to Jesus (Series: Questioning our Values)

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The world is abuzz these days about values. We promote our values, debate our values, vote our values, teach our values, and hopefully, live our values. Values are the personal qualities that sustain us in the big picture of life. Values are a set of guiding principles that help us make decisions. Values are beliefs and attitudes about what is good and right and desirable and worthwhile. People with fuzzy values live fuzzy lives. So, I invite us to use these forty days of Lent to examine our values. I want ...

196. Stewardship of All (Series: Stewardship: Discover This Word and Love It!)

Matthew 26:6-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Something beautiful, something good, sometimes I need a dose of that. How about you? All the great philosophers of history describe truth, goodness, and beauty as supreme values. Christopher Morley once said, “In every man’s heart, there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty.” So, today I want to tell you a beautiful story. It’s in the Bible. To preach it would be to abuse it. So let me simply tell it as well as I can. I. A Beautiful Act “Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of ...

197. Stewardship of the Earth (Series: Stewardship: Discover This Word and Love It!)

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When God made you and God made me, He gave us a wonderful place to be. We have woods and hills and waterfalls; We have varieties of creatures, great and small. When God made you and God made me, He gave us an awesome responsibility. There is a great political debate waging in our world concerning global warming. Some affirm it and others deny it. Meanwhile, the rest of us sweat our way through one of the hottest, driest summers in history, but I have not come to preach about an inconvenient truth. I. I ...

198. Winning the War Over Fear (Series: Winning the Wars of Daily Life)

Luke 12:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

According to a public opinion poll, 40% of Americans fear public speaking, 36% fear heights, and 34% fear being closed in small spaces. According to these statistics, when I step into the pulpit to preach, my fear factor on a scale of 1-100 should be about 110. People ask me all the time if I still get nervous when I preach. The answer to that question is yes. To handle the Word of God and deal with things eternal ought to make us tremble, but there is a difference between awe and angst. I think that is ...

199. Should America Repent?

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Responding to a sermon I preached two weeks ago about religious signs on rural roads, someone said to me on the way out of church, “The sign I remember seeing was, GET READY TO MEET GOD." We had those signs in Kentucky, too. As we think about building a highway from Chaos to Christ this Advent, we would do well to hear again the words of the prophet John, who encouraged us and warned us to GET READY TO MEET GOD. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for ...

200. When It's Time to Wait

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It has been reported that the average American in a lifetime will spend five years waiting in line, two years returning telephone calls, eight months opening junk mail, and six months staring at traffic lights. In spite of all our modern technology, the first words we often see on the computer screen is “please wait". Anyone who makes a telephone call these days is likely to be put on hold long before they hear a human being on the other end of the phone. Some of you got to church today in a “holding" ...

Showing results