Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: sacred song, hymn, song of praise, religious song, anthem, carol, chant, plainsong, canticle, antiphon, introit, prayer, psalter

Showing 1 to 25 of 1614 results

1. On the Singing of Hymns

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... at their parents’ knees. One wonders whether future generations are going to have such a legacy to fall back upon in hard times. It would be tragic if all our children and grandchildren could call upon in time of trial is the jingle of some silly singing commercial! Hymns are important! III. I IMAGINE THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE IN OUR WORLD TODAY WHO CANNOT POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND THIS. Worship is a lost art to them. Picture if you will a young family on the year 70 A.D. in the city of Rome, as they get up early ...

2. Are You Getting Hymns Out of Your Lions?

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Faith's Review and Expectation." Who says titles aren't important? Do you think we'd be signing this song today if it had the original title "Faith's Review and Expectation?" What song am I talking about? That's right: "Amazing Grace." Many of Newton's hymns were commentaries on the weekly Bible lesson read in his church. The occasion for "Amazing Grace" was the Old Testament story of God's promise to David that he will head a dynasty, to which the former shepherd boy humbly responds, "Who am I, O Lord God ...

3. Country Songs and Easter Hymns

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Thomas Long

As the van rolled down the interstate, Kitty Wells' hillbilly alto rattled the radio speakers; "When you're lookin' at me," she belted out, "you're lookin' at country." In the van were ten of us, all seminary seniors, heading away from our rural South Carolina campus toward the big city of Atlanta, and Kitty Wells had it right: If you were looking at us, you were looking at country. It was not that we urbanly-challenged folk actually wanted to go to the city; the faculty was forcing us to do so. Terrified ...

4. The Ear of the Heart

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... lengthy and esoteric. But the earliest creed of the church is simply four words in which the entire doctrine of the church is confessed--“Jesus Christ is Lord.” It is appropriate that we read and even sing, if we had the music, the Philippian hymn today. Today is Passion Sunday, the first Sunday of Holy week. In the days ahead we will celebrate Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. In the weeks following we will celebrate the Ascension. These weeks contain acts of loyalty and acts of betray- al. We ...

5. Night Moves

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... of the gift the family gave to that school. The latest generation of Candlers is named Woodruf. A few years ago they gave $100,000,000 to Emory University. That is why all good Methodists drink Coca Cola. The tune is named "Candler" because the bishop loved the hymn. They were going to take it out of the hymnal, and he insisted that they keep it in. Bishops have that kind of authority, so it was kept in. But probably the reason it is named "Candler" is that it is a Scottish dance tune, named "Ye Banks ...

6. No Fear

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the ground in one form, and it comes up in a different form. So when we die and are buried, we will be resurrected in a new body. So she began, In the bulb there is a flower; In the seed, an apple tree. She said the inspiration for the hymn came from an evening she and her husband spent with friends. After supper they had wonderful conversation, and it turned to T. S. Eliot, the poet. Somebody recited a line from one of his poems, "In our end is our beginning." That inspired the ...

7. Now What?

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

8. Live the Lullaby

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... prestige or pedigree, a member of a downtrodden people in a land divvied up by Roman rule. But God’s chosenness has transformed Mary from “lowliness” to one who will now forever be “called,” as Elizabeth declared first, “blessed.” God’s actions, Mary’s hymn asserts, are both mighty and merciful. The power and might of the Divine Warrior found throughout Israel’s history (Deut.10:17-18, Ps.24:8, Isa.10:20-27) cannot be foiled by human actions. But the Mighty God is also the Merciful God ...

9. With a Song in Your Heart

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

James L. Killen

... who have set our hopes on Christ, have claimed our inheritance and are privileged to live in praise of God. A person who can sing that hymn with confidence has plenty to be happy about, no matter what is going on in his or her life. Can you sing that kind of a ... reason to dare to believe what God has shown to us about the meaning of life and to choose for the theme of our lives a hymn of adoration. Let's learn to hear each new sunrise calling to us, in the words of the liturgy, "Lift up your hearts." And let ...

10. The Glorious Company

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... of the prophets praise Thee The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee: The Father of an infinite Majesty; Thine adorable true and only Son; Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.2 This fourth-century hymn celebrates the family of Christ to be as wide as the world and as long as eternity! The glorious company, the goodly fellowship, the noble army, and the holy church throughout all the world are gathered into the church's proclamation, its prayers and ...

11. "Crown Him Lord of all!"

Sermon

William Luoma

... a load of guilt, give the assurance of forgiveness. Give us a sense of unity as people of your kingdom. Let there be nothing to divide us or to take away from our mission for Christ. We pray in the words he has taught us ... (The Lord's Prayer) Benediction Hymn"Ride On, Ride On in Majesty" The Credentials of a King A Sermon for the Sunday of the Passion Text: Luke 23:3 And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so."Many of you have experienced the hassle of ...

12. Arise, O Church of God, Arise!

Sermon

... and song is what we need. Did you notice that I said a glad fellowship? In both the Old and New Testaments worship was usually conceived of as a feast. It was a celebration and joyful gathering. For us it doesn't always seem to be that! Are the hymns at fault? Or the other music? Is the liturgy or even the Bible something irrelevant for our time? I doubt it. The things of God are often dreary for us because we have our minds set elsewhere. Our values are straining toward other goals. Our energy is ready to ...

13. The God of War and Peace

1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... 's annual conferences meeting that June could not even proceed with their stated agendas until comment had been allowed from the floor about the action of the hymnal committee. So overwhelming was the sentiment against the deletion of that hymn that by early July, the committee, meeting in special session, reversed itself and decided to include "Onward Christian Soldiers" in the new hymnbook after all. Afterward, when things finally settled down, the committee studied the correspondence and discovered that ...

14. What’s So Amazing about Grace?

2 Samuel 7:1-14a

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... seemed to enjoy this song and he said, "Of course. It's the theme song of the South." It occurred to me then that the love for this song is really much more widespread, however, for I've found that "Amazing Grace" is one of the few hymns that people everywhere in America seem to know and like, regardless of their denomination or whether they even attend church. I was reminded of that again when a few years later, folk singer Judy Collins made a recording of "Amazing Grace," and it climbed the pop charts ...

15. Sing Praise

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... . We no longer have the original title or melody of this song. The rhythm of the words doesn't translate well from the original Greek to English, and the words don't rhyme as they do in many of our songs today. But one mark of this ancient hymn that we can still identify is its use of repetition. The most obvious example of this is the repetition of the word "first" to describe Jesus as "the firstborn of all creation" (v. 15), "the firstborn from the dead" (v. 18), "first place in everything" (v. 18). In ...

16. On Claiming One’s Inheritance

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... . But first of all, God accepts us just as we are. There are several different stories about how one of the most popular hymns in Protestantism came to be written. I have come across a couple of them which describe the author’s visiting some church where ... in response to God’s love for us in Christ. And God is pleased to accept us, “Just as we are.” What was Miss Elliott’s hymn? You know it. It begins this way: “Just as I am, without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bidst ...

17. Lord of the Dance

Mark 2:13-22

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... for receiving it is to say, "I am not worthy." Only those who can say that are able to understand why the Christian faith is called "good news," and why the proper response to the good news is celebration. I don't know if you have noticed that the concluding hymn of this service this morning is going to be, "Joy to the World." I can just hear someone saying, "Well Trotter has really slipped this time. He thinks it's Christmas. It's time for him to retire, I guess. Put him out to pasture." Well I say, why ...

18. Singing at the Table

Joel 2:21-29

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... in his word could do. I know it couldn't have been any of those, but whatever the song…just think: · Around the table that night, they sang a hymn. · Around the table of Jesus' farewell dinner, his last supper, they sang a hymn. · Around the table where we break bread and lift the cup in remembrance of him, we sing a hymn. And it is the hymn of final victory, the hymn of triumph, the hymn of joy. To be able to sing in the hope of our Lord's resurrection; to be able to sing in the promise of God's final ...

19. God, What Are You Up To?

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... flat, lit the lamp, and knelt to ask God to forgive him for what he had planned to do. Then he wrote the words to the hymn, which begins, "God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform." It is possible that the story is true as told, but it's equally ... , regardless of actions or inactions on our part, because God is in ultimate control. In the second verse of Cowper's hymn he says: Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill [God] treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will. ...

20. Soli Deo Gloria

Romans 16:1-27

Sermon

Ron Love

... come to us from Luke’s gospel and are probably familiar to all of us. The angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” The doxology Gloria in excelsis is often called the “Angel’s Hymn.” It is regarded by the church as the Greater Doxology. By the year 500 it was sung in churches before the scripture reading. The Greater Doxology was used with the same purpose that Paul used his doxology at the conclusion of his letter to the church in ...

21. The Spirit and the Truth

John 16:5-16

Sermon

George Bass

... and the stories. How many of us think of the Garden of Eden - or Gethsemene - when the words of "In the Garden" - "he walks with me and he talks with me" - are sung or read? We sing them over and over again because they are hymns that rehearse the scriptural stories of God with his people, and we do comprehend the message. "Holy, Holy, Holy" has to be sung - and some congregations used to use it every Sunday of the traditional Trinity season of the year - because it says so much and does it so well: ...

22. Meeting Jesus Along The Way

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... the Sea of Galilee. The name Galilee was magic for him. It brought to mind images of Jesus and his disciples, men who really did walk there and who went fishing there. Standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee he could not help but think of the hymn, "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked." He spent the day fishing with local fishermen. In that holy atmosphere Dan recalled the stories he had learned from the Bible. It was a memory he would carry with him all his life (2) On the road to Emmaus Jesus taught and ...

23. Get a Charge

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... to do what he could to make this world a better place. The other son liked to sing, go to church, but said no when he was asked to make a sacrifice. Which one did the will of the Father?" Talking about hymns, John Wesley's brother, Charles Wesley, was a hymn writer. He wrote the hymn that we will use to close the service today, "A Charge to Keep I Have." It is said that the Methodists would sing their theology. Other churches had creeds, and they would recite their theology to define who they were and what ...

24. The Gospel We Preach

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

... gentleness, No harshness hast thou and no bitterness: O grant to us the grace we find in thee, That we may dwell in perfect unity. (“I Greet Thee, My Sure Redeemer Art,” in The Presbyterian Hymnal [Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990], Hymn 457) This is the kind of God we should believe in. This is the gospel we should preach. Amen. 1. Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana (New York: Penguin Group Publishers, 1976), p. 60. 2. William Barclay, William Barclay: A Spiritual Autobiography ...

25. Overwhelmed

Revelation 1:4b-8

Sermon

Will Willimon

... . You come here on Sundays and, despite my best efforts in the sermon, despite the clear reading of God's word in Scripture, what really moves you, what really fills you with power to go on, is the singing. When we join our voices together in some great hymn of praise, then you know, in the very depths of your being, that Jesus Christ reigns, that he shall rule until all things have been put under his feet, that the enemies of God will ultimately be defeated, that good will have the last word over evil, and ...

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