Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2401 to 2425 of 5000 results

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... amount, an untapped abundance, of the very best wine available. All it took was pouring out that first cup for the floodgates to open. All it took was pouring out that first cup for the water jars to become wine goblets for all. November 2009 marked the twentieth anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. To commemorate that event all over Germany small villages and large cities built their own re-creations of that hated wall. Their celebrations were inspired by the re-enactment of the collapse of the wall ...

2402. Harvesting What We Plant

Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... a huge difference in who they become. Listen for the Word of God and listen to what God is saying to you today as we read from Mark's gospel 4:26-34. What we say and what we do are like seeds planted in the hearts and minds and spirits of our children. Jesus ... shave, I feel the love my dad showed me, and I also remember what it felt like to be innocent. My shaving memory marked the start of a long journey best described as posttraumatic growth. Precious memories are made in an instant and last forever. I am ...

2403. Shaped By The Fire

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... little confused because she said, "Oh, uh, well, don't you have your little red truck anymore?" (1) We can't get much of anywhere without direction can we. Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples and the day we mark as the birthday of the Church. For me, there is no better day to bring a group of Confirmands into the Church. Because this is the day in which God sent the Holy Spirit to empower the people of God to do the work of God in the world ...

2404. Put It In A Sack, Swing it Over Your Head and Scream Like A Chicken

2 Kings 5:1-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... but in the long run they are a good thing. 3. The homes of the high self-esteem boys were characterized by democracy and openness. They had freedom within the set boundaries for individual growth and expression without the fear of ridicule. There was an atmosphere marked by acceptance and emotional safety. In other words, they didn't play the put one another down game. (1) Naaman regained his self-esteem once he was healed but something else probably changed too. His heart. The pride and arrogance that ...

2405. It’s Ok to Be Extravagant – Sermon Opener

John 12:1-11

Illustration

James W. Moore

... what the negotiations must have been like: "$100,000 for that old guy? You have got to be crazy. Just look at him! Look at that gut! You want $100,000 for that? You've got to be kidding. Give me a break here. $30,000 is my top offer." Mark Trotter concluded his rendition of the story with this thoughtful comment: "I suppose there are some here this morning who can identify with the wife in that story, but for some reason I find myself identifying with the husband. I'd like to think if I were in a similar ...

2406. Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1-12

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of faith stressed different details from the first Easter encounter. This makes the reality of the resurrection unique to each gospel audience. Mark’s story might have served as a template for Luke’s gospel, but there are plenty of Lucan additions. As Luke’s ... bow down before the dazzling strangers. The meaning of the empty tomb is now made clear to the wondering women. Unlike Mark (16:6) and Matthew (28:6), Luke’s spokesmen first emphasize the miracle. Jesus is “living.” Jesus is not “among the ...

2407. Drink Deep

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. In ancient times, the Christmas season wouldn't be over until after this Sunday. The reason being that everything in Jesus' life as a baby, a child and a young adult lead up to this point and beyond. Jesus' baptism was the mark of the beginning of His earthly ministry. Not His life but His ministry. And it was His ministry that was the most important part of His life. His baptism is that dividing point between the old and the new. Just like it is for us. I. New Beginning ...

2408. Radical Love is Truthful (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , opened the door briefly and gazed at my brother and me playing, and then went down into the garage where he turned on the engine of the family Chevy and sat down on the running board to wait for the exhaust to kill him. There was no funeral to mark his death. Since the family rules included don’t talk, don’t trust, and don’t feel, my father’s life was seldom mentioned again.” Now, some 40 to 50 years later, Buechner writes a book lamenting that he can’t go on living until he goes back and ...

2409. Touch and Feel, Taste and See

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... any, they are retained." [24] But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. [25] So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." [26] A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said,"Peace be ...

2410. Guard the Good Treasure

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... or going to bed at night And because it was so natural it became in integral part of Timothy's life and his own faith journey. B. For me, one of the incredible things about being a United Methodist Pastor is being able to baptize people. I mark that as an honor and a privilege. And I especially enjoy baptizing babies and children. Their innocence coupled with the high hopes and expectations of their parents and families touches me in a way that's hard to describe. Part of it is the sacrament itself. Setting ...

2411. Our Common Life in Christ

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... sharing among us which makes us one. In that fellowship, which the Spirit gives, we experience the joy of knowing that along with Christ, there are other human beings who know us the way we are and still love us. Mark that down. The fellowship of the Spirit is marked by unconditional love. In his novel, Sweet Thursday, John Steinbeck tells of a young prostitute named Susie who finally finds an opportunity to get out of her life of degradation and begin a new life. Steinbeck is accurate in depicting Susie ...

2412. Living While You Wait

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... hand,” he was thinking about the expected return of Christ. But, the sentence is true in another way. The Lord is near present in us, and present to others through us - when we live as He would have us live. And gentleness is one of his marks upon us. The Greek word translated gentleness in this verse is one of the most untranslatable Greek words. The baffling difficulty is seen in the way both the old and new translations of the Bible have rendered it. The King James Version uses the word “moderation ...

2413. More Than a Book

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , greed, money, but the Bible says, “For what does it profits a man, to gain the whole world and lose his very soul?” (Mark 8:36). That’s the reason the Bible commands us to tithe – to give of our income to the Church – it helps us know ... of power, prestige, worldly influence, but the Bible says, “But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first (Mark 10:31). Some even serve the god of harrow, selfish, nationalism, but the Bible says, “God made me one every nation of men ...

2414. No Longer Strangers

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... God’s power for redemption. In this chapter, Paul used the most dramatic image he could have used to describe the estrangement of the Gentiles, and the reconciling power of the Cross. His image was the Temple in Jerusalem. The layout of the temple painfully marked the separation of the Gentiles. Inside the temple walls were a series of courts. The innermost court was the hallowed “holy of Holies” into which the High Priest could go and that only once a year. Then came the court of the Priests just out ...

2415. Give Yourself

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ? One is eternally valuable, the other is not. One provides in time and eternity, joy and satisfaction; one is in the reach of all, the other is not. “First, they gave themselves to the Lord.” Let me illustrate, and with this I close. My friend, Mark Trotter, is the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in San Diego, California, and he tells of a. radio station in Los Angeles that carries a talk—show each afternoon, It’s a woman psychologist who receives by phone the questions and concerns of ...

2416. The Church: The Dwelling Place of Wonder

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... 21). In his pamphlet entitled “The Character of a Methodist”, Wesley said: “As to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we think and let think. So that whatsoever they are, whether right or wrong, there are no distinguishing marks of a Methodist….” (From The Works of John Wesley, London: The Epworth Press, 1950 edition, page 7) Remember he is talking about things that do not strike at the root of Christianity. Does how we baptize strike at the root of Christianity? What ...

2417. Born Again

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... described Jesus’ ministry. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:14—15). What does all that mean? Let’s seek to stay simple in responding to that probing question by focusing on Jesus’ word in verse 5: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of ...

2418. Who Will Cast the First Stone?

John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the penalty for adultery was strangulation for both man and woman. Even the method of strangulation is laid down. “The man is to be enclosed in dung up to his knees, and a soft towel set within a rough towel to be placed around his neck (in order that no mark may be made, for the punishment is God’s punishment.) Then one man draws in one direction and another in the other direction, until he be dead.” (Barclay, The Daily Bible Study, The Gospel of John, Vol. 2, p. 2). But no man is here. Can’t you ...

2419. There Is a Price for Everything

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it.” That’s pretty clear, isn’t it? But the word that ties the two lessons together is found in the next verse of Mark 8, verses 36 and 37: “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return or their life?” Now that’s the scriptural focus of the sermon today - the theme, “There is a price for everything.” In ...

2420. There Is a Price for Everything, Part 2

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... are dramatic and sobering: THE PRICE OF ENTERING THE KINGDOM, WHATEVER THE PRICE, IS NOT TOO GREAT. That’s the reason I have combined the second passage with these parables. It is that tough saying of Jesus with which we are all familiar. But let’s read it again —— Mark 8:3 ANY MAN WOULD COME AFTER ME LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND FOLLOW ME. FOR WHOEVER WOULD SAVE HIS LIFE WILL LOSE IT: AND WHOSO— EVER LOSES HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE AND THE GOSPEL’S, WILL SAVE IT.” RSV That’s ...

2421. The Blood Shall Be a Token

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... final one. The Angel of Death is going to come and is going to claim the firstborn of all the land. Those will be delivered who do what the Lord calls them to do – that is, slay a lamb that is without blemish and take the blood of it and mark their households with that blood. Someone has put it crudely, perhaps harshly, but truthfully: In every house of Egypt that night, there was either a dead lamb or a dead firstborn. It is a picture, an awful picture, of judgment. And that’s where I want us to begin ...

2422. A Glimpse of God

Exodus 33:19-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... his waywardness down on his face to worship God when he realizes that God loves him in an even greater and deeper way. So that’s who God is - Holy Love. Let me close by simply saying that Moses knew that and you and I need to learn it. In Mark Connolly’s classic play, “Green Pastures,” there’s a moving scene in which Moses watches his people as they go into the promised land. You know that Moses was not able to go into the promised land. That seems to be one of the tragedies of the whole story ...

2423. The Harvest of the Spirit, Part 2

Galatians 5:16-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... have also been with them at the Women’s retreat. There they came through as the loving pastor and the groping pilgrim. You don’t knowable and Freda unless you are those three things together. Courageous prophet, loving pastor and groping pilgrim. Joy and peace are the bonafide marks of their life. During those two day they were with us, I couldn’t get out of my mind the phone conversation I had with day after he had been released from prison last August I was not aware then that he was on the verge of ...

2424. Like a Waving Flag

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... cross flies overhead: whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45) The Kingdom of God is wholly different than any human monarchy. When the ruler of the Kingdom of God is “in residence” in our lives, we fly a flag that announces that divine presence to the world. We must express in every action of our lives that ...

2425. The Shepherd Lord

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... said, “All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). Modern psychology would underline the value of this positive element in praying. The simple reason a negative petition ... the President, the hot line rings, the President answers it and says, “Here, it’s for you.” (Norman Neaves, from sermon by Mark Trotter, “For Status Seekers”, September 22, 1985, 1st UMC, 2111 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, CA 92108 Do you remember that ...

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