Sermon and Worship Resources

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Isaiah 60:1-3; 18-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

One of my favorite stories goes something like this: An old man was walking the beach one morning when he saw a kid in the distance doing something like a dance. As the old man got closer to the boy he said, “Good morning, what are your doing?" “Saving starfish," replied the kid. “The sun is up, the tide is going out. If I don't throw these starfish back into the ocean they will all die." “Bu...

2. A Very Present Help

Psalm 46:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“Sometimes in our lives we all have pain, we all have sorrow. But if we are wise, we know that there is always tomorrow.” [Taken from the song, Lean On Me.] To think that in one short week, we have witnessed persons leaping from burning buildings, spouses calling to loved ones from hijacked airplanes, thousands of Americans entombed in an inferno, and the United States of America attacked in the f...

3. About Whose Business Was He?

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The thing I like most about working in a church is the opportunity to connect with people of all ages and stages of life. We baptize babies and conduct funerals. We celebrate weddings and visit hospitals. Confirmation begins in a few weeks for our 6th graders and the PEP Club meets monthly for our seniors. Faith is important at every phase of life. So it is that Luke's gospel includes a few child...

4. Am I In Shape Spiritually? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Consult any physician, ask any health guru, read any article in a newspaper or magazine, and all will agree - the best thing we can do for our physical health is exercise. We may not be able to run a marathon or lift weights like a football lineman, but it will do us a world of good to simply take a walk. Here in his letter to his young friend Timothy, Paul, too, notes the value of physical exerc...

5. Am I My Brother’s Keeper? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teaming shore. Send these the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” As I read those words, once more, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, I wondered if we Americans believe that any more. Do we really want the world’s huddled masses yearning to be free? Our f...

6. 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,...

7. An Invitation to Christian Discipleship

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Day by day they arrive in the mail. We call them invitations. A new store is opening for business and you are invited to see. A friend is getting married and you are invited to share in the celebration. Your class is having a reunion and you are invited to attend. Hardly a day passes, but someone requests the honor of your presence. There is an invitation of a divine kind that cuts through histor...

8. Are You Able?

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Are you able? We've been asking that question this Holy Week. Are you able to drink the cup I am going to drink? asked Jesus as the disciples shuffled for position. Can we walk the road Jesus walked, the Via Delarosa, the way of sorrows? Can we eat the bread of brokenness? Can we take up the cross and follow Jesus? Sobering questions, serious questions, the kind of questions that crack open a har...

9. Be Silent

Luke 1:11-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Old Zechariah hit the jackpot. He won the lottery. His one in 20,000 chance paid off. He got a once in a lifetime opportunity to enter the Holy of Holies where God is so real you can touch, feel, and taste him. He gets the privilege to celebrate that high priestly function. There, while burning incense to kill the smell of sin, Old Zechariah slipped in another prayer—a prayer of the heart, th...

10. Before I Build a Wall…

John 4:1-26

Illustration

J. Howard Olds

Robert Frost was a great poet. One of his best poems is "Mending Wall." It's the story of two New England farmers who go out each spring to mend the rock fences that have fallen down over the winter. They do it every spring, under the belief that "good fences make good neighbors." But this particular spring, one farmer is beginning to question that long held assumption. As they work their respecti...

11. 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 import...

12. Brightening the Corner Where We Are

1 John 1:5-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowances for their doubting too, If you can dream and not make dreams your master, If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same," Ah, that is the stuff that a...

13. Building a Lasting Legacy

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

First, let me just say I am honored and deeply humbled to be your pastor and to have this special moment in the life of this church. I am grateful to my staff that has been here all morning long, to all of those who put this moment together, and for hundreds and hundreds of lay people who have made this day possible. Once to every man and nation, comes a moment to decide. Today is a decision day ...

14. 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 Bi...

15. By Believing

1 Peter 1:13-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

While researching the sermon for today, I ran across a web site entitled, “I Used to Believe." Among its entries were these: 1. I used to believe that God was always watching me so I danced around when I brushed my teeth so God would not get bored. 2. I used to believe that God lived in the church, and the reason bad things happened was that God woke up grumpy from sleeping on the hard pews. 3....

16. By Belonging

1 Peter 2:2-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When I was out three years ago trying to raise eleven million dollars for building expansion and renovations, a member of this congregation gave me a brick. She didn't throw it at me even though she might have felt like it. She discreetly handed it to me after a meeting saying, "As we forge into the future let us not forget the past." You see, the brick came out of our old building on Church Stree...

17. By Enduring

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Sometimes in our lives we have great pain and deep sorrow. Life is hard. It is hard by the yard and it is no cinch by the inch. Suffering is not an option in the school of life. Last Friday night, Larry King assembled a panel of preachers and New Age proponents to discuss the nature of good and evil. It was an interesting discussion. But when you are down in the trenches, doubled over with so...

18. By Faith

1 Peter 1:3-9

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

One thing I have quit doing the last couple of years is cleaning gutters. Every time I mention it, Sandy immediately hires someone to do it and sends me the bill. Maybe she has heard me tell this story too many times. A certain husband was cleaning leaves off his roof when he slipped and fell. As he slid off the edge, he managed to grasp the gutter for dear life. Dangling there between the he...

19. By Humbly Doing Good

1 Peter 5:6-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The pastor of a congregation preached an unusually short sermon one Sunday. As he came to the conclusion, he offered this explanation for the brevity of it all. “We have a new dog at our house," explained the pastor. “The dog is prone to get into things and chew them up. Last night the dog got hold of my sermon and chewed up the last several pages." The congregation seemed to understand the p...

20. Can the Rich Be Saved?

Mark 10:17-27

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 questions of marriage. He said to her, “Go call your husband.” In a luncheon conversation He landed on the question of integrity with Zaccheus and before lun...

21. Carpe Diem

John 11:1-44

Illustration

J. Howard Olds

In the movie, Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams plays the role of John Keating, a transformational teacher in a rigid, regimented private school. On the first day of Literature class, Keating takes his students down to the school lobby where trophy cases display the photos of earlier graduating classes. "Look at these pictures, boys," says Keating. "The young men you behold had the same fire in t...

22. Celebration (Series: Fundamentals of Family)

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

When our Lord wanted to drive home a truth, he told a story. There were 99 sheep safe in the fold, but the good shepherd went searching for the one that was lost. A woman had 10 precious coins. She lost one of them. A certain man had two sons. The Bible never gets better than here in Luke 15. The thread that binds these stories together is the single word celebration. (Luke 15: 23-24) “Let’s have ...

23. Chaos or Christ: Dreams Which Calm our Fears

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Author Scott Peck opens one of his most popular books with these three simple words: LIFE IS DIFFICULT. “If we can embrace that truth," continues Peck, “life will no longer be difficult." I'd like to talk about that for a few moments this morning. In Matthew's account of Jesus' birth, there are no angels singing, no shepherds watching, no cattle lowing, no tiny babe wrapped in swaddling clothes l...

24. Checking Out the Scene

John 1:35-42

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It is the mission of the Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus said it plainly: “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” By the waters of baptism we are claimed and cleansed. Along the river of discipleship we are shaped and formed into Christ-likeness. Salvation ...

25. Christ May Be Closer Than You Know

Matt. 24:36-44; 25:40

Illustration

J. Howard Olds

Martin, the Cobbler, is Leo Tolstoy's story about a lonely shoemaker who is promised in a dream that Christ will come to visit his shop. The next day Martin rises early, gets his shop ready, prepares a meal and waits. The only one who showed up in the morning was an old beggar who came by and asked for rest. Martin gave him a room he had prepared for his divine guest. The only one to show up in th...

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