Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2451 to 2475 of 4914 results

2451. Salvation By Faith Alone

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

King Duncan

"Salvation by faith alone." Martin Luther did not always believe that. If he had, he might never have gone into the priesthood. Many of you know that famous story. The year was 1505. Luther was traveling from his home to the university at Erfurt, Germany. In his heart he was struggling with his relationship with God. Would he be acceptable if he were to appear before the Judgement seat of God? He wondered. Suddenly a violent thunderstorm filled the sky. A bolt of lightning struck. He was thrown breathless ...

2452. Face To Face With The Devil

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

First Sunday of Lent There was a strange story that came out of Vinton, Louisiana last summer. Police there stopped a car with twenty passengers packed in it ” none of whom were clothed. No, this was not a college fraternity prank. According to news reports, Sammy Rodriguez, a Pentecostal preacher from Floydada, Texas, told police he and his family fled Texas in their four cars because the Devil was after them. Along the way they decided their clothes were "possessed" and discarded them along with three ...

2453. Please Use The Servants' Entrance

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Dr. M. Scott Peck is a respected Christian psychiatrist and noted author. You may have read his best-selling book, The Road Less Traveled. Peck is not a theologian, but listen for a moment to his comments regarding our scripture lesson for the day: What a strange way for the guest of honor to act during a final meal with his friends. What incomprehensible behavior from a ruler who would momentarily announce, "I confer on you a kingdom." In those days, foot washing was considered so degrading that a master ...

2454. Smart As A Goat

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

A farmer from Bulgaria, Mihail Janko, is convinced that his goat has a very special talent: it can discern a person's character. Janko claims that he can put pictures of people in front of the goat and the goat will show, by his behavior, whether the person in the picture is of good or bad character. Evidently, the goat head-butts pictures of “unpleasant people," but eats the pictures of pleasant people. Janko has even relied on the goat's special talent to help him choose boyfriends for his four daughters ...

2455. Dark Shadows

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

Robert Orben says he lives in a very religious neighborhood. One time he asked a priest, "Is it true that in this neighborhood, if you carry a cross, you never have to worry?" The priest said, "Yes. But it all depends on how fast you carry it!" The children of Israel were out in the wilderness and they were thirsty and they were afraid. And they murmured against Moses: "Why did you bring us out of Egypt--to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" It must be a terrible feeling to worry about ...

2456. One Commandment, Slightly Used

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

We might consider Jesus’ words to His students (disciples) in the Upper Room as sort of a “Last Will and Testament,” a final summing up of all that He had taught them during His brief ministry among them. He begins to speak of His coming death not as a probability but as a certainty, and He begins to talk with new urgency as though the passing moments are infinitely precious and as though he wants to etch every word indelibly on the minds of each of them. And what does He say to them? “I give you a new ...

2457. The Ultimate Thirst Quencher (Alternate Addition to the "I Am" series: Living water)

John 7:25-44

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Have you ever been extremely hot and extremely thirsty? Go with me in your imagination to South America, to the country of Chile. There is a desert there, the Atacama Desert. In the Atacama Desert it does not rain for centuries at a time. This forsaken, narrow strip of land lies along the western coast of South America. It is protected from clouds by the Andes Mountains, the world''s second highest mountain range. Some parts of the Atacama Desert have not seen rain in 400 years. Although the desert is ...

2458. Sealed with a Prayer: The Seventh Word

Luke 23:44-49

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Tonight, we bring our Lenten journey to a close. We have examined and reflected on the Seven Last Words of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the Cross. So far, we have heard our Lord share these words: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He shares with a repentant thief the promise, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." We saw Jesus commit the care of His mother, Mary, to his closest friend John. Then we heard that powerful cry from the cross, "My God, My God, why hast thou ...

2459. The Servant Who Delivered the Mail

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Today I want to share the story and testimony about one of God''s most faithful servants. His name is Epaphroditus. According to some scholars who share his name, it was common in the era and culture he lived in. It is certainly not a common name today. As Max Lucado shares: "`Epaphro-what-us?'' you say. Just ask the apostle Paul. He''ll give you the correct pronunciation. He''ll also give quite a character reference. To describe this fellow with the five-syllable name, Paul used more succinct words, like ...

2460. The Lord Is My Shepherd

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Today is the first Sunday in our summer schedule, and for the next seven Sundays when I am in the pulpit I want to focus on the timeless truths of what may be the most familiar and comforting passage in all of the Bible--the 23rd Psalm. I have often shared with other colleagues that it is so unfortunate that we only read and preach about this text at funeral services, which are most often offered in a funeral home. This tremendous writing has so much to say about life in the here and now. If we were to ...

2461. A Rod And A Staff

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Eric Ritz

We have been talking about moving through the valley of the shadow--and now we come to the phrase "of death, I will fear no evil." A colleague, Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr., believes the two greatest fears of life are the fear of dying and the fear of living. These two fears conveniently cover everything on our list. I''ve heard of a tombstone somewhere in the mid-West that reads as follows: Pause stranger when you pass me by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so will you be. So prepare for death and ...

2462. When Life Seems to Be Going in the Wrong Direction

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

When he was 88 years old, the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Holmes once found himself on a train. When the conductor came by, Justice Homes couldn't find his ticket; he seemed terribly upset. He searched all of his pockets and fumbled through his wallet but to no avail. The conductor tried to ease his anxiety. He said, "Don''t worry, Mr. Holmes, the Pennsylvania Railroad will be happy to trust the Supreme Court Justice. After you reach your destination, you''ll find your ticket and you can mail it to ...

2463. Teammates in the Cause of the Lord

Acts 4:32-37

Sermon

Richard Gribble

"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction, and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuldreher, Miller, Crowley, and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below." Grantland ...

2464. Why I Believe In Tithing

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Let’s pray together. Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly dove, with all your quickening powers. Come shed abroad a Savior’s love, and that will quicken ours. I believe that preaching is not so much the preparing and the delivering of sermons, as it is the preparing and the delivering of oneself. I hope you know by now that there is nothing I take more seriously than my call to preach. And there is nothing I invest more time, energy, and spirit power in than the task of preaching from Sunday to Sunday. When I ...

2465. Food That Is Needful

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Listen to a letter I received from a friend of mine in Laurel, Mississippi, a few months ago. "A few years ago when Lessie and I moved back to Laurel I took on the job of trying to sell a farm that was left to Lessie and her two sisters and one brother. After a period of a year or so of being unsuccessful at the task, I decided to buy the other shares and keep the farm in the family for future years. The farm was overgrown because of many years of neglect. One of the beauty spots of the farm that I always ...

2466. Jesus, Desirous

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

In the powerful movie, Ulee's Gold, Peter Fonda plays a tired man who is a beekeeper by day. He runs the old family business of collecting and selling the golden honey that pays the bills. It is exhausting work for a man now in his late sixties. Ulee does most of it by himself because he cannot afford to hire someone to help him. He maintains and moves the hives, gathers the trays, separates the honey from the wax, spins the final product into jars, and ships it off to market. He worries about the ebb and ...

2467. How May We Come to God?

Psalm 24:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I spent last Sunday and Monday with my father down in Perry County, Mississippi. He’s 90 years old. It was not a planned visit. His left leg went dead on him -- that’s the way he put it -- his leg went dead on him. The doctors said it was a blood clot. The arteries were too hardened to deal with the clot through surgery and they were afraid they would have to amputate the leg. Thankfully, that has not been the case and we are grateful. Being there with him brought back powerful memories of my mother. She ...

2468. To Be a Pilgrim (Thanksgiving)

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Alex Gondola

What do you think of when you hear the word "Pilgrim"? Most of us — especially around Thanksgiving — hear the word "Pilgrim" and think of the English Separatists who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, landed on Cape Cod, and settled in Plymouth. We hear "Pilgrim" and think "Thanksgiving." But, when you think of that kind of Pilgrim, what do you think? Some consider the Pilgrims stained-glass saints. A church in Utica, New York, was designed as a shrine to the Pilgrims. Three tall stained-glass windows ...

2469. Bad or Good?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In a syndicated newspaper cartoon, Santa Claus is pictured at his work bench putting a new toy together. From his nearby TV set, he hears a reporter saying, "We continue our look at the real meaning of Christmas – sales indicators. Consumers have dramatically cut back their borrowing which could slow the economy, but which might be a healthy development after their earlier borrowing which boosted the economy but added to concerns of low savings and over stimulation, but could result in sluggish sales ...

2470. Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

James McCormick

From the time Patricia and I first came to Big Canoe, almost four years ago, every day I have thought to myself, “What a rare privilege it is to live in this place, and especially to be a part of the faith community that is Big Canoe Chapel. So many people - so many rich histories - so many varied faith traditions! What a privilege to be here!” At the same time, every day I have thought to myself, “It is difficult to live graciously in the midst of so much diversity. We have to work at that every day!” ...

2471. You Shall Name Him Jesus

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

Author Calvin Miller tells a wonderful story about a boy named “Fruit Stand.” The story takes place in Santa Cruz, California. As the hippie era of the 1960s began to wind down, many of the refugees of San Francisco’s Haight‑Ashbury district moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. As they had children these hippie parents never gave them simple names like Tiffany or Michael. Instead, they gave them profoundly meaningful names like Snow Princess, Sea Foam, and Panache. People around Santa Cruz grew accustomed ...

2472. The Bloodline of Christ

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In a few short years, Dan Brown’s 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code, became one of the most widely read books of all time. The 2006 Ron Howard Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks only made the novel all the more popular. Why such a blockbuster for a novel about Jesus? Because it was well-written? Because it was well-researched? No, the real reason The Da Vinci Code caught fire was because it served up a juicy heretical tidbit as its main course: the suggestion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and that ...

2473. Romans 7: 15-25a

Romans 7:7-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Romans 7 is among the most recognized, remembered, and recited of all Paul’s writings. Today’s epistle reading gathers up a substantial chunk of this great chapter. Is there is any person alive who has not at some time found Paul’s words absolutely true: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate” (v.15). This is what we are calling a “Romans 7 Moment:” when you do the very thing you don’t want to do. Yet as much as Romans 7:15-25 may resonate with ...

2474. Stand Up and Be Counted

Daniel 3:1-30

Sermon

James Merritt

The Olympics are coming to Atlanta. The Olympic Flame is coming through America. But Cobb County, in Atlanta, has been declared off limits to the Olympic Flame. Why? Because of this resolution that was passed by five Cobb County Commissioners: Whereas, the Cobb County Commission is legally charged with protection of the safety, health, and welfare of the community; and Whereas, there are increasing assaults on those community standards which further the protection of the public safety, health, and welfare ...

2475. Have You Heard the News?

Ephesians 2:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

That question used to be a very simple question that called for a simple answer. But thanks to what is now known as the "Information Super Highway," that has become a deeply complicated question. Go to any news sight on the Internet, and you will be bombarded with a series of choices. It's not so simple just to call up the news. Because when you go to any news website, you have to make a decision. Do you want local news? National? International? Financial? Political? Social? Medical? And on and on it goes ...

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