Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 201 to 225 of 4489 results

201. David: The Problem of Family

2 Samuel 18:28-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

For nearly a hundred years now Americans have paused on the third Sunday in June to honor their fathers. There are about 66 million of us fathers in the United States. Either out of love or obligation, people will spend one billion dollars buying us 100 million neckties. It's Father's Day. There is a father whose name appears in the Bible more than any other name. That man is David. Jerusalem is called the City of David. Jesus is called the Son of David. He was a man of great accomplishment although ...

202. Brightening the Corner Where We Are

1 John 1:5-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowances for their doubting too, If you can dream and not make dreams your master, If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same," Ah, that is the stuff that adulthood is made of, said Rudyard Kipling. The biggest little word in the English language is that two letter word ...

203. Never Give Up On God

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

James Merritt

A little five-year-old girl was watching her mother in fascination as she was rubbing cold cream on her face. She said, "Mother, why do you do that?" The mother replied, "To make myself beautiful." Well, to the little girl's amazement, in just a minute the mother began removing the cream with a tissue she had just put on. The girl said, "What's the matter, giving up already?" I sometimes believe that God looks at our puny prayer lives and asks the question: "Are you giving up already?" Believe it or not, ...

204. The World's Greatest Cover Up

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"Catch Me If You Can" was the title of one of the big movies out a few years ago, starring two superstars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. When Leonardo DiCaprio's con-man character Frank has to sneak out of the Miami airport while being watched by hundreds of FBI agents, he first sneaks in by attracting the maximum amount of attention. Instead of trying to move through the airport unobtrusively, Frank surrounds himself with a crowd of beautiful young women dressed as flight attendants. Every FBI agent ...

205. How Can We Stand on Holy Ground?

Psalm 24:1

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A Sunday school teacher asked her young elementary class where God lives. After the usual answers of heaven, church, and in our hearts, Bobby spoke up and said, “God lives in the bathroom at our house." The surprised teacher asked Bobby to explain his answer. “Well," said Bobby, “every morning about 7:30 my Dad gets up, walks down the hall, beats on the bathroom door where my sister is locked inside getting ready for school. Then he screams, ‘My God are you still in there?' God lives in the bathroom at our ...

206. Born One Of Us

Drama

Production Notes This play, Born, One Of Us, is designed to be used in the church service at any time during the Christmas season; perhaps it is particularly appropriate for Christmas Eve. The play is preceded by three persons reading paraphrased portions of scripture (chapters and verses indicated) concerning Bethlehem. These readings should be read dramatically. The readers may sit in side or front pews. A music stand may be placed beside each one to be carried on and off for the readings. A litany, for ...

207. Loving Close-up

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I was with Bishop Bevel Jones recently, and he told me about a funny experience that happened to him recently. He was preaching at a camp meeting down in South Georgia. The tabernacle was packed with people and Bev was really getting with it. He had preached longer than normal – but still had about 10 minutes to go. He was in the midst of a dramatic point of sharing, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a little boy get up from the front row and start toward him. Well he didn't know what was going on. ...

208. Coming Back Down

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

John Jamison

I have visited some places I really wish I could have stayed. If it were my choice I would still be there right now. As much as I like it here, I would rather be there. There is a tent, set on a hill at the top of a 1,500-foot cliff overlooking the Jordan Valley in southern Israel. When the sun comes up in the morning it breaks over the mountains a few miles to the east and literally shatters the darkness around you. The winds sail up the face of the cliff from the valley below and almost make you believe ...

209. Never Give Up

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

For many years men dominated the world of humor. But today, as in most fields, women are making their mark. Here are some oneliners from various famous women. The first one is from singer Dolly Parton. "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes," says Dolly, "because I know I'm not dumb . . . and I also know that I'm not blonde." Here's one from Erma Bombeck.: "Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth." "I'm not going to vacuum until Sears makes one you can ride on." That's from ...

210. Missing the Mark

1 Samuel 8:1-22

Sermon

Charles Allo

I love movies. I love movies because they make me think. No matter what I am going through, I can walk into the theatre and focus on a story other than mine. I see the images and how they paint a story about situations in life. Real situations. Unreal situations. It doesn't matter. For two hours and seven bucks, I get to experience a situation. Just a combination of circumstances; a state of affairs. In which I become lost, engaged in the flashes and personalities that remind me of my world, a world I want ...

211. Up Close & Personal: Coming Into Focus

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

James Merritt

This is what most of us know as an “eye chart.” The actual name for this piece of paper is a Snellen Chart, and it is used to test your vision. More specifically, it is used to test how well your eyes can focus. At a distance of 20 feet, if you can read the red line on this chart, then you have 20/20 vision. Now, if all you can read is one of the larger letters, then this tells the eye doctor that your vision is out of focus. [Pastor’s Note: A PowerPoint slide of a Snellen Eye Chart is included in your ...

212. Chapter X

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

"You will not want for yourself your neighbor’s house; you will not want for yourself your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s." Exodus 20:17 With this Commandment we come to the end of the "Words" that God spoke to his people at Sinai. The warning that he gave that we should not long to have for ourselves that which belongs to our neighbors serves to cap off, and bring to a conclusion, this handful of directions for living. We ...

213. Take Up Your Cross

Luke 8:1-15

Sermon

Robert V. Dodd

It'll make you undefeatable! In Luke 8:4-8, our Lord tells a parable about "the sower and the seed" to illustrate the proclaiming of the Word and human response. It is curious to note the audacious, almost reckless way in which the seed is sown. The sower must have been really throwing wildly, because we are told that some seed fell on the footpath, some on shallow rocky ground, some among thistles, and some in good soil. To many people the sower's haphazard way of sowing would appear wasteful. Couldn't he ...

214. Oracles of Restoration

Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Ezekiel 37:15-28

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

Ezekiel’s Message of Hope and Restoration: Ezekiel 34–48, the second major part of this book, is concerned with a message of hope for the exiles and with the promise of Israel’s future restoration. That message has broken through in a muted sense in chapters 1–33 (11:14–21; 16:53–63; 20:33–44; 28:25–26), but it now becomes the central theme. These fifteen chapters fall into three sections. The first, chapters 34–37, is a series of seven oracles dealing with the restoration of Israel. The second section ...

215. The Way Up Is Down!

Mark 9:30-37

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

There once was a palace servant who longed more than anything else in life to be a knight. He yearned to represent his king and vowed within himself that if he ever had a chance to be a knight he would serve his king as the noblest knight who ever lived. His dream came true. His great day came. At his knighthood ceremony, the former servant, now a knight, made a special oath within himself. He vowed that from that day forward he would bow his knees and lift his arms in homage to no one but his king. As a ...

216. Second Chances

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

(Growing Strong in the Season of Lent, Lent 3) There is a hilarious story about a farmer who had three sons: Ron, Don and Little John. All had their names on the church roll but none ever attended church or had time for God. Then one day Don was bitten by a rattlesnake. The doctor was called and he did all he could to help Don, but the outlook for his recovery was very dim indeed. So the pastor was called to evaluate the situation. The pastor arrived, and began to pray: “O wise and righteous Father, we ...

217. God, The Son

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

Comment: I spoke earlier of having someone in mind as I wrote a part. For the second sermon of a series on the Trinity, I decided to interview John the Baptist. In the congregation was a young man who weighed about 240 pounds, most of it muscle. He had a very large, full, nearly black beard. Although he is a gentleman in every respect, he is able to hold his own in a car repair shop and on an athletic field. He also happened to be in the church's drama group. I called him early in the week to see if he was ...

218. God, The Son

Matthew 2:1-12

Drama

Jerry Eckert

[Author's Note: I spoke earlier of having someone in mind as I wrote a part. For the second sermon of a series on the Trinity, I decided to interview John the Baptist. In the congregation was a young man who weighed about 240 pounds, most of it muscle. He had a very large, full, nearly black beard. Although he is a gentleman in every respect, he is able to hold his own in a car repair shop and on an athletic field. He also happened to be in the church's drama group. I called him early in the week to see if ...

219. Heads Down, Thumbs Up

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The old adage, "Pray as if everything depended on God; work as if everything depended on you," can be translated into body language: Heads Down, Thumbs Up. On Palm Sunday, Jesus gave a thumbs up to the bowed down. Christians commemorate the strangest things. We make a big deal over the fact that Jesus was born in a cave or stable full of smelly animals, into a family of dirt-poor Jews. We tell all sorts of stories about Jesus' closest followers, his most devoted disciples focusing on their being ignorant ...

220. A Chance To Be Made Whole

Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A young man and woman had been dating for a long time. One starlit evening, the young man called up his sweetheart to ask her to go on a ride with him. He said he had something very special to share with her. He picked her up in his much loved antique sports car and drove out to the park. There they had a lovely candle and starlight picnic. For some reason, the young man did not talk much. He seemed distracted. The young woman noticed all of this and was too excited to talk much, herself. She'd been ...

221. How To Plant An English Garden

Mark 4:26-29, Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

William G. Carter

A service club gathers for lunch each week in a nearby hotel. After lunch and a little business, someone from the group usually introduces a speaker. Club members rarely know in advance what the program will be. They may hear from a Mexican exchange student, a tax attorney, or a team of skydivers. They discover the topic when they arrive. Anticipation was high when one speaker arrived with a carousel of slides. Much to the chagrin of many, he was introduced as a landscaper with an interest in English ...

222. The Law of the Harvest

Psalm 126:5-6

Sermon

James Merritt

Recently while being on a mission trip in Romania, I had the privilege of staying overnight in London, England. While touring that beautiful city, I was standing in front of Westminster Abbey, the beautiful church where all of the monarchs of England are crowned, and the site of the funeral of Princess Diana. I thought about an elderly lady who was in a group of tourists visiting London, and the guide was explaining the history behind Westminster Abbey. She interrupted him and said, "Young man! young man! ...

223. Moses: A Traveling God in a Pop-Up Camper

Exodus 13:17-22, 33:7-11

Sermon

John E. Harnish

So Joseph died in Egypt. Having saved the family from famine, this great-grandson of Abraham dies in hope of the day when they will return to the Promised Land, the land of Abraham's sojourn and God's covenant. And as he requested, the people pack his bones in a coffin, promising to carry them along when the time comes. Decades pass; the people of Israel grow in influence and power. Like many immigrant groups which establish themselves in a new land, they become a threat to the powers that be. (There are ...

224. Broken Pieces

Matthew 1:3, 5, 6

Sermon

James Merritt

Whether you are rich or poor, black or white, Jew or Gentile, male or female, there is one thing every single person on this earth has - we all have family trees, genealogies, ancestors and if we live long enough descendants, but family trees represent more than babies and bloodlines. They represent a mosaic. Remember the definition of mosaic? mosaic (mo-za'ik) n. 1. A picture or decoration made up of diverse, multi-colored small pieces. In reality, that is what a family tree is - a picture of a family ...

225. Resurrection Power (Series: Living on the Resurrection Side of Life)

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Sing with all the Saints of Glory; Sing the resurrection song. Death and sorrow, earth’s dark story, To the former days belong. For over forty years now, I have been trying to preach that sermon and sing that song. Today I would like to try once more. I take for a text the words of Paul who said, “I want to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead.” What a worthy ...

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