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 201 to 225 of 2561 results

201. On Being Faithful and Focused

Hebrews 11:1, 32 – 12:2

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It was Henry David Thoreau who wrote: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." For the past few weeks, we have articulated a new vision for this congregation focused on “touching hearts and transforming lives." We have organized our church and deployed our staff to embrace a mission of inviting, worshiping, discipling, serving, and healing. We have built castles in the air. Now it is time to put foundations under them ...

202. Praying Our Way Forward

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Have you heard the story about the pastor and the taxi cab driver who happened to die at the same time? They arrived simultaneously at the Pearly Gates. The taxi cab driver was awarded a fabulous palace, complete with fountains, vast lawns and an army of servants. Meanwhile, the pastor was ushered down a lonely lane to an extremely modest place where he was invited to spend eternity. Discerning the discrepancy between the two rewards, the pastor complains to St. Peter saying, “Look, I spent my entire life ...

203. Doing What Disciples Do

John 15:12-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The new pastor of a congregation preached his first sermon from the text, “Love one another.” The people were pleased. The next Sunday the pastor preached the exact same sermon from the exact same text, “Love one another.” The people were surprised. When the pastor preached the same sermon the third week from the same text , the people were angry. The Staff Parish Relations chairperson confronted the new pastor with the obvious question, “Why do you preach the same sermon every week?” The pastor replied, “ ...

204. When It’s Time to Seek Direction

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

There is a story soaring across the Internet these days suggesting things might have gone better if the wise men had been three wise women. After all, had women been in charge, they would have asked for direction, gotten to the Manger on time, assisted with the birth, cleaned up the place and made a casserole for the Holy Family. Will the battle of the sexes ever end? Of course, the author of that analogy evidently failed to read the Gospel of Matthew for our scripture lesson says, “After Jesus was born in ...

205. Building Boats That Float

Genesis 6:1

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

According to an e-mail making the rounds these days, everything you need to know about life you can learn from Noah. Among his most important lessons are these: 1) Don’t miss the boat. 2) We are all in the same boat. 3) In troubled times, travel in pairs. 4) When you are stressed out, float awhile. 5) Remember, the ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic by professionals. No character in the Bible gets more present-day attention than Noah. This great-grandson of Enoch and grandson of Methuselah, has ...

206. Is There More Than One Way to Heaven?

John 4:19-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Around the world of religion today, there are about 2 billion Christians, 1 billion Muslims, 750 million Hindus, 334 million Buddhists, 18 million Jews, and a growing number of people who declare no religious allegiance at all. Once upon a time, religious tolerance consisted of Baptists having a worship service with Methodists or a Protestant marrying a Roman Catholic. Now a Hindu may be your next door neighbor or a Baha'i may be dating your daughter. All of us down in our hearts are trying to decide ...

207. Why Join a Church?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

At the tender age of 18, I accepted my first appointment as pastor of a local church. Almost every Sunday for the past 38 years, I have stepped into some pulpit to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. For a lifetime, the local Church has captured my heart, my mind, my strength, and my deepest devotion. Today, I believe in her mission more than ever before. The local Church, in my opinion, is still God’s best hope for humanity. What makes a church great is not its building and not its steeple. What makes a ...

208. Engaging the Master Designer

Psalm 139: 1-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In the academic mecca of Athens, the Apostle Paul sat down one day to discuss with pagan philosophers the nature of the Unknown God to whom the town had built a monument. This is what he said: “The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him. He makes the creatures, the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and he made the earth hospitable with plenty of ...

209. What Would Jesus Say About Me?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Well, here we are in 2003. The bells have tolled. The balls have dropped and the calendars have turned us toward new responsibilities. Before we get bogged down with the hopes and fears of a brand new year, let us take a few moments on our way to Holy Communion to ponder the deeper meanings of life. Who am I? What do I want? Where am I going? Are not these the essential questions of human existence? While we ask them for a lifetime, Jesus gave answers to them for all time. So let us hear today what Jesus ...

210. What Would Jesus Say About Modern Churches?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The Church is of God and shall be preserved to the end of time as the visible body of Christ on earth. The local church remains God's best hope for humanity. For a lifetime now, the Church has captured my heart, my mind, and my deepest devotion. After all these years I can still join Timothy Dwight in saying: Beyond my highest joys I prize her heavenly ways. Her sweet communion, solemn vows, her hymns of love and praise. I love the Church. Because I love it so much, I want God's very best for it. So I ...

211. 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 ...

212. Come, Holy Spirit, Come

Psalm 104:24-34

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your spirit in this place, Lord, listen to your children praying, Send us love, send us power, send us grace. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Fill the hearts of your faithful. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. It's Pentecost! Pentecost is more than red paraments, strange language and smoke in the sanctuary. Pentecost is about the Spirit of God, bringing creation out of chaos, breathing into us the breath of ...

213. Finding the Courage to Believe

John 20:24-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

As I surfed the Internet preparing this sermon, I ran across a web site entitled Belief-o-matic. It enticed me to answer twenty questions about my concept of God, the afterlife, and human nature and they in turn would tell me what religion, if any, I ought to practice. I took the challenge. Within a few minutes it was clearly determined that I was meant to be an Orthodox Quaker. Since Quakers have neither pastors nor sermons, I decided to wait until after Easter to make the switch. Beliefs—In some form or ...

214. Believe

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It’s been said that even the deepest meaning of Christmas is chocked full of make-believe. God does the making and invites us to do the believing. That’s what I would like to talk about today. Why not make this Christmas more than an adventure in fantasy? Why not, for you personally in your life, make this Christmas an affirmation of faith? For beyond the tinsel and beneath the hay and more important than all the cultural wrappings of Christmas, lies the truths that can shape and form our lives for today ...

215. When You Are Up And Out

Luke 19:1-10

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 where the real problem was and there he landed. He did that with the woman at the well and landed on the question of marriage. “Go call your husband,” Jesus said to her. He did that with the rich young ruler and landed on the question of money. “Go sell all of your possessions and give them to the poor,” He said to that man. He did that with Zacchaeus and landed on the ...

216. What is the Connection Between Church and State?

Mark 12: 14-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Well, here we are on the 4th of July. What a great time to be alive. What a privilege to be an American. What a joy to worship God in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Among other things, we hold this right to be sacred: “That Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” We believe in the separation of Church and State. The thought is inherent in the statement of Jesus who said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s ...

217. The Door of Prayer

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

During my seminary days, I pastored two small churches near Bardstown, Kentucky. One of those churches had Sunday night services. Since it has always been a challenge for me to produce one sermon a week worth hearing, the thought of two sermons a Sunday seemed overwhelming. So we had a lot of hymn sings for Sunday night service. At a hymn sing the people present call out their favorite tunes and everybody sort of sings along. Mrs. Stora Barlow was a public school teacher in that congregation. Every time I ...

218. The Holy Spirit and You

John 14:15-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A new seminary graduate on her way to her first appointment approached her professor and asked what she should preach about in her new church. Without hesitation the professor replied. “About God and about twenty minutes." Today I would like to preach about God and I will try to do it in about twenty minutes. We believe in God the Father Almighty creator of heaven and earth. We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord and Savior. We believe in the Holy Spirit as the Divine presence in our lives ...

219. The Power of a Single Life

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

My particular profession causes me to spend a lot of time in the cemetery. The messages on tombstones, especially in older cemeteries, never cease to fascinate me. Some are funny: “Here lies my wife, here let her lie, now she’s at peace and so am I.” Some are sad: “Here lies the body of a man who died; nobody mourned, nobody cried, how he lived, how he fared, nobody knows, nobody cared.” Some are tender: “Gracie Allen and George Burns Together Again.” Some are instructive: “My dear friends, as you pass by ...

220. When God Builds the House

Psalm 127:1-5, 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Let me begin this sermon on a personal note. This time last year I was a patient at Vanderbilt Hospital feeling much too weak to either eat or pray. Through that dark night of the soul, the looming question of my ability to continue as pastor of this great congregation weighed heavily on my heart and mind. Last fall seems like a long time ago now. As we pause to celebrate a building milestone in the history of this congregation, I want to thank God for the privilege of being able to be present. Life is a ...

221. The Power of a Vision

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Exactly three years ago today, we introduced the vision of Touching Hearts and Transforming Lives as the guiding light of our life together. People’s hearts are being touched and lives are being transformed. One middle-aged man walked into this church about 14 months ago and walked out a changed person. God is capable of instant conversions. For others the transformation has been like a precious flower coming to full blossom. Slowly but surely their lives are being formed into the image of Christ as they ...

222. Get Up and Go

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A primary Sunday school class invited their pastor to view their Christmas art work. On the bulletin board were posted pictures of the Holy Family at the manger, angels singing to shepherds in the field, and wise men bringing their gifts to the Christ child. One drawing, however, puzzled the pastor. It was a picture of the Holy Family boarding a jet plane with the pilot already in the cockpit. “Tell me about this picture," said the pastor. The little boy who drew it spoke up and said, “That is Mary and ...

223. Why Am I a Christian?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Christian theologian C.S. Lewis once said that Christianity is a religion that you could not have guessed. It is not the sort of thing that anyone would make up. That the Almighty would humble Himself and become a human being in order to suffer and die on a cross to bring new life to His own creation, well, who would have thought it? How odd of God. Yet, it is here that Christians are distinct from other religions of the world. So, I want to begin this series of sermons on world religions by asking myself ...

224. Amos: The Problem of Justice

Amos 5:18-24

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

His name was Amos. He was known as the troubler from Tekoa. He was a sheep herder and a fig picker that marched up to the capital and confronted the king. At a time of unprecedented prosperity and unlimited power in Israel, Amos came pleading for justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. The message of Amos is relevant today. On the way to Holy Communion, I want to pose it in two questions? I. WHAT IS LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL? I suppose most of us consider liberty ...

225. Jonah: The Problem of Mercy

Jonah 4:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Rual Perkins was a long time friend of mine. I buried him last July. Unlike me, Dr. Perkins knew how to use a hammer as well as pastor a church. He could stretch a board and extend a dollar further than any man I've known. Back in the late 1970's, Dr. Perkins and I took on a challenge to build a Spiritual Life Center for the Conference. Like most church projects, we were big on ideas and short on cash. So the project was stressful to say the least. When Dr. Perkins got under stress, he would say, “Oh Mercy ...

Showing results