Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2251 to 2275 of 2561 results

2251. I Am the Ressurection and the Life

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Edna Lashon tells the story of visiting with a friend of hers whose husband had died. They went out the graveyard where the husband had been buried and they began to share together memories of their life and their relationship it was a meaningful time as they probed in memory and got in touch with all the joyful times of their life. But then there was silence. No one seemed to have anything else to say. All of a sudden, Liz the little daughter of Edna Lashon’s friend, sprang from the group and suddenly ...

2252. Is There Room For A Prophet?

Malachi 3:1-4, Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

After some last-minute Christmas shopping with her grandchildren, Grandma was rushing the kids into the car when four-year-old Jason said, "Grandma, Susie has something in her pocket." He reached in and pulled out a new red barrette. Though she was tired, Grandma knew it was important for Susie to take the barrette back to the store, tell manager what she'd done, apologize and then put the item back where she had found it. So, they did just that. Later, they stopped for a few quick groceries and at the ...

2253. Joshua People: Remember, Remind and Recommit

Joshua 24:14-18, 2 Peter 1:10-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

The older I get the more I realize that memory is tricky. I can remember the address and phone number of the house I lived in when I was 5 (2470 Highway 66, Zone 2, St. Louis, MO. Harrison 8;7378) but I can't remember which of my kids or Grandkids I'm talking to. I seem to start at the oldest child and work my way down, including the names of all the pets we've ever had, too. But it's nice to know I'm not the only one with this affliction. A number of years ago, the church I was serving received a memorial ...

2254. A Stone’s Throw From: New Life

John 8:3-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever really messed up? Has there ever been a moment in your life when you needed a mulligan or do-over or second chance? Unless your name is Jesus and you were born in Bethlehem, of course you have. We all have, that's one of the things we have in common. We've all made our messes and we are looking for a chance to start over. We're looking for the kind of place described by Louise Fletcher Tarkington: "I wish that there were some wonderful place In the Land of Beginning Again; Where all our ...

2255. Walking First Class

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

McFaith. You know people like that don't you? They want Gospel Lite as if it were something consumable and not something to consume their souls. They don't want to bear the cross as Jesus said, but they'll gladly wear it as jewelry. They don't seem to get it. They have no idea what their destination or purpose in life is all about. They remind me of a story told about the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. When he was eighty-eight years old he was traveling by train. When the conductor came ...

2256. Count the Stars

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Three-year-old Ian Hough of Auburn, Washington, loves the story in the Bible of the time God spoke to the boy Samuel. One night after his mother read Ian this story she asked him if God had ever spoken to him. To her surprise, he answered, “Yes.” “What did God say to you?” his mother asked. Ian thought and then said in his deepest voice, “Ian! Go to bed!” (1) Does God speak to people? What do you think? David Holwick tells a story that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was about a man named Bob Haifley ...

2257. Compliments Of The House

Psalm 23:6

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

An elderly man in Florida calls his son in New York one November day. The father says to the son, "I hate to tell you, but we've got troubles here at home. Your mother and I can't stand each other anymore, and we're getting a divorce. I've had it! I want to live out the rest of my years in peace. I'm telling you now, so you and your sister won't go into shock later when I move out." He hangs up, and the son immediately calls his sister in the Hamptons and tells her the news. The sister says, "I'll handle ...

2258. Shadrach, Meschach, Abeddnego: Unexpected

Daniel 3:1-30

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I've got a question for you this morning. Does anybody know how old the lowly marshmallow is? 50 years? 100 years? Maybe 200 years? Would you believe the marshmallow was around before Columbus discovered America? There's a very real possibility that Jesus, Mary and Joseph might have actually eaten marshmallows while in exile in Egypt. You see, historians estimate that the marshmallow came into being over 4000 years ago. Marshmallows date back to ancient Egypt. Some historians claim marshmallows got their ...

2259. Live and Learn

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When Moses appeared before Pharaoh, demanding that the Egyptian god-king “let my people go,” he threw down his staff in Pharaoh’s face and it was miraculously transformed into a roiling, writhing serpent. Pretty impressive, right? Well, some of the servants and royal attendants surely gasped in amazement. But one group of onlookers was completely bored. Who were they? The royal magicians. They snickered and summarily dismissed such a basic parlor trick. Trained magicians — whether in the court of Ramses or ...

2260. Come and See

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I ran across a story about a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that ...

2261. The Challenge, The Call, The Cure

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

The 1999 movie October Sky, is the true story of Homer Hickam, Jr., who rose from a gloomy West Virginia coal mining town with not much hope of a future to become a NASA engineer. Homer's mind and imagination is completely captured by the launch of Sputnik. All of a sudden he is fascinated by rockets. There's a scene early on in the movie when Homer is thinking about talking to Quentin, the school nerd and his best friend, Roy Lee says: "You can't be seen with him Homer. He's a weirdo." As Homer gets up to ...

2262. John 21:1-19

John 21:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Whenever anything truly significant happens in history, there is never an “ending” to the story. Perhaps this is why scholars are almost unanimous in their agreement that the twenty-first chapter of John’s gospel is a later addition. There is, however, a split decision on whether the original author or a later editor added this final note to the gospel story. There are Greek vs. Hebrew grammatical discrepancies in this final chapter. But the message, the testimony of an ongoing, faithful community, is the ...

2263. Do You Love Me? - Sermon Starter

John 21:1-14

Illustration

Brett Blair

Let's begin with Simon out on his boat fishing alongside the other disciples. He is brooding, thinking deep thoughts not quite sure what to make of all that had happened. Then there is a flashback. He recalls how some months earlier he left his fishing nets at the seashore to become a follower of Jesus and how Jesus liked him and included him and changed his name from Simon to Peter (Petros, the Rock) because Jesus felt that Simon was strong, stable, and solid like a rock. But then all of a sudden, things ...

2264. Evangelism Jesus' Style

John 1:29-42

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Brendon Gill, a New York theater critic wrote an article in the New Yorker magazine in which he was bemoaning the way all the Broadway musicals are miked and amplified. He said that in great old theaters where actors had spoken and sung with ease for fifty years, audiences are now obliged to listen to what he called a “totally phony sound.” He said that in an amplified world “the voice is never heard in its ordinary resonance ... it is pure tin” (James Harnish, “Like Father, like son,” June 19, 1983). ...

2265. The Ministry of Unbinding

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Listen! We cannot raise people from the dead as Jesus did, but we share in the deliverance of those he has raised! Death and what is done about that — is in Jesus’ hand. It is He who can say with power: “Come forth! Come forth from your tomb.” But deliverance — that’s in our hands. “Unbind him” Jesus said, “unbind him that he might live.” So, we talk today about the ministry of unbinding. I Rehearse the story, so that our focus will be clear and we will not be questioning something that we think has been ...

2266. God's Chosen People: Partners

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A certain society matron took a course in First Aid. A few days after completing the course, she was an on-the-spot witness of a bad auto accident. Occupants of the car were thrown out by the impact and lay seriously wounded on the street. Later, describing the accident to a friend, the matron said, “It was awful, awful — and it happened so fast, right there in front of me. Tires squealed, breaks screeched, and all of a sudden there was the grinding crash. The next thing I knew people were lying in the ...

2267. Let God Be God - As if It Could Be Otherwise

Exodus 7:14-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

John Newton once wrote, “If you think you see the Ark of the Lord falling, you can be quite sure that it is due to a swimming in your own head.” (Gerald Kennedy, Fresh Every Morning p. 8). Now I don’t expect you to understand the richness of that statement at this point —- but I hope it gets your attention. If you think you see the Ark of the Lord falling, you can be quite sure that it is due to a swimming in your head.” Today, I’m going to talk about God. No what’s new about that, you ask. There’s nothing ...

2268. The Trinity

John 16:5-16

Sermon

A preacher proudly boasted that he does not preach doctrinal sermons. They are boring he asserts and people do not understand or relate to them. Further, he claimed, I am a preacher and not a theologian. I get down do the practical issues and simply preach Christ crucified. His thinking is faulty at several points. First, he is wrong when he says that he is not a theologian. The fact is that everyone to a certain extent is a theologian. Theology is nothing more than what you think about God. Well, shouts ...

2269. The Gospel of Marah

Exodus 15:22-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I delight in hearing a great sermon. I relish reading the creative writing, of other preachers. I have a sort of insatiable appetite for preachers. I heard recently of a man who was telling of his surgery. A lot of people like to tell about their operations, though not many people like to hear about them. This fellow said that when the doctor sewed him up after surgery, he left the sponge inside. His sympathetic listener asked him if he had any pain. “No,” said the fellow, “but I sure do get thirsty.” I ...

2270. Lessons from Rephidim - Being the Lord's Intercessor

Exodus 17:8-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Last Sunday we began to talk about Lessons from Rephidim. We said there were three lessons. One, being the Lord’s instrument; two, being the Lord’s intercessor; and, three, being inter dependent with the Lord’s people. We considered only the first lesson last Sunday. Today, we want to look at the other two. Our scripture story is a dramatic one. It was Israel’s first battle. They met the Amalekites at Rephidim. Joshua commanded the forces of Israel, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up on the mountain to pray ...

2271. Taught by a Golden Calf

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

“Atheism is not our greatest danger, but a shadowy sense of God’s reality.” That’s the contention of Harry Emerson Fosdick, and I agree. Our problem is not atheism how many atheists do you know? That which is destroying the moral fiber of our nation, weakening the Christian witness, and turning Christian churches into reflections of the club mentality of a secular age is a shadowy sense of God’s reality. Just let that image tumble around in your mind for a moment - a shadowy sense of God’s reality. ...

2272. A Glimpse of God

Exodus 33:19-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

What would you feel like if you had an appointment with God at 9 A.M. tomorrow? Would you be able to eat for the rest of the day? How much sleep do you think you’d get tonight? You’ve got an appointment with God at 9 A.M. in the morning. He has given you instructions as to where to meet him and what to bring with you. That was the case with Moses. “Come up in the morning to Mount Sinai,” God said, “and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.” Moses was to bring with tables of stones like ...

2273. Exit and Entrance

Galatians 4:21-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It was in the newspaper back in the late 1950’s, at the height of the civil rights movement - an unforgettable picture which captured not only the emotion of one man, but the deep sense of freedom and joy and release and affirmation of a whole people. A black man, who must have been over 100 years old, was being carried on the shoulders of a group of young men. They were taking him up the steps of a courthouse in a Southern town to register to vote. The caption beneath the picture said he was born a slave ...

2274. Like a Waving Flag

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Those of us who live in the United States have no experience with royalty or with “kingdoms” ruled by kings or queens. We have no royal family, so we have to invent our royalty. We had the “King of Rock’n’Roll,” Elvis Presley. We had the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson. We had a “King of Soul,” James Brown. We have a Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. We have a “King of all Media,” Howard Stern. We have a Queen of Clean, Linda Cobb. We even have a King of Greasy Goodness” for the Queen of Clean to clean up: ...

2275. My Name Is Legion

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Many of you know that old poem: Within my earthly temple there’s a crowd There’s one that’s humble and one that’s proud. There’s one that’s sorry for his sins, There’s one that unrepentant sits and grins. There’s one that loves his neighbor as himself. There’s one that cares for naught but fame and pelf. From much corroding cares, I would be free. If I could once determine which is me. Our Gospel story today is of a man who could have written a far more powerful poem than that: “My Name if Legion,” he ...

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