Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: take action, take steps, take measures, take the initiative, move, make a move, react, do something, proceed, go ahead, behave, function, perform, operate, work, take effect, serve, be efficacious, play, play a part, take part, be an actor, be an actress, be one of the cast, appear, pretend, play-act, sham, fake, feign, put it on, bluff, pose, posture, masquerade, dissemble, dissimulate, deed, action, gesture, feat, exploit, performance, undertaking, maneuver, stunt, operation, venture, effort, enterprise, achievement, accomplishment, law, decree, statute, bill, Act of Parliament, edict, fiat, dictum, dictate, enactment, resolution, ruling, rule, judgement, canon, ordinance, proclamation, command, commandment, mandate, measure, stipulation, direction, requirement, division, section, subsection, portion, part, segment, component, bit, turn, routine, number, item, piece, sketch, skit, playlet, dance, song, pretense, false display, show, front, facade, charade, guise, affectation, appearance

Antonyms: do nothing

Showing 526 to 550 of 1076 results

526. A Quiet Man · Andrew

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... best in him. Accordingly, long before anxious multitudes lay their afflicted loved ones in the streets for Peter's healing shadow to touch (Acts 5:15-16) Andrew was aware that his brother's crude exterior sheathed a tender heart. It was an insight to stand Andrew ... the multitude, setting up a feast for all "with fragments left over." (Matthew 15:29-37; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14) III The second circumstance calling for Andrew's response occurred when a party of Greeks approached Philip asking to ...

527. The Ascension Announces a Triumph

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... of the reigning Lord. Our cause must not, will not, cannot fail! The Ascension Announces A Triumph "This same Jesus ... will come back (Acts 1:11)." So the ascension of Christ did not mean his permanent absence after all! As surely as Christ now sits enthroned, as ... us not be side-tracked with idle speculations as to dates, but consider instead what its actuality will mean to us. On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright were able to keep their hand-built airplane in the air for 59 seconds. This was a ...

528. The Strength To Wait

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Erskine White

... I wait all the day long" (25:5). Listen to what Isaiah wrote, "I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding His face ..." (8:17). "We look for light but behold darkness" (59:9) and "God works for those who wait for Him" (64:4). And Micah wrote much the same ... waiting for some playwright's "Godot" who will never come - we are waiting for God, so we know that the waiting itself is an act and a sign of faith. During the Second World War, a group of Scottish soldiers were languishing in a Nazi POW camp until one day ...

529. A Thankful Heart

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Erskine White

... he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice ... giving Him thanks. (Luke 17:15-16) If you ever doubted the importance of saying "thank you" to someone when a "thank you ... let pedestrians cross the street. I wanted to see how many people would say "thank you" for my little acts of kindness. (By the way, I don't recommend that you do this experiment yourselves. If you start acting like a courteous driver and actually share the road with other people, the authorities might send you away ...

530. Together In Christ

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Erskine White

... the community of God's kingdom, which Jesus Christ has already begun in the church with His death and resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:17). Finally, there is the Book of Revelation, where we see the culmination of this theme of community which has run throughout the ... sum of her parts and a powerful witness in the world. Of course, this is precisely what we see in our text from Acts. How could this little band of brand new Christians in the early church ever have survived the onslaught of the Roman Empire? How ...

531. Sing A New Song

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Erskine White

... upon us the most profound changes imaginable. It's not just our habits and customs that change, Paul says; our entire nature changes! Everything about us is different; we are a new creation. "The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). In our text from Acts, it is Peter's turn to learn that God wants a new song - not just from individuals, but from His church as a whole. Specifically, Peter had a vision from God which told him that the church of Jesus Christ shall be open on an ...

532. Doors to God

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... Jesus, and as it is comprehended by thought, is this, that it is only through love that we can attain to communion with God.17 When Jesus was asked which commandment was first, he answered that the first is to love God and that the second is to love ... efforts, which in unexpected ways appear to encourage and delight us, keep us growing, O God. To give ourselves in fresh acts of faith which through the years mature into committed lives, keep us growing, O God. And then at last, to forget ourselves and the self-regard ...

533. Living Beyond Unhappily Ever After

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... do such a thing to her? Why the desert? The loneliest, most desolate place on earth? Her heart was truly broken by this inexplicable act. She loved the man. She needed the man. She had a child for the man, for it was Sarah who originally suggested that Hagar ... all work hard never to let the things which happen to us in the story dictate the ending. Our second scripture in Luke 7:11-17 finds the widow who is unhappy because she has lost both her husband and son. The death of her loved ones has cast a specter ...

534. Redrawing The Landscape

Multiple Scriptures

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... But the Greek word means more than the organ of the body. It means the seat of the inner person. Forgiveness is more than an act we do; it is an expression of who we are. What an incredible power forgiveness turns loose. It is an expansive spirit. A person who ... focused center-stage attention on the primacy of personal relationships. At age 33, basketball great "Magic" Johnson had an annual income of $17.5 million dollars a year, five world championship rings, a new wife, and a baby on the way. At age 46, ...

535. “You Did That for Me!”

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... in return. All we can do is accept. For such munificent gifts we run out of standard responses and think of them as undeserved favors -- acts of grace. Strange workings go on in our souls when there is no way to pay back for a favor or say thank you enough ... . “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17) With what do I come before the presence of God? Nothing buys or merits my way into his presence. So, God provided as a gift ...

536. A Name To Be Remembered

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... through the Hebrew scriptures, the one God of Israel is contrasted with the many Gods of the pagans. Israel’s God alone acts, the idols are only pretend gods, unreal and ineffective. The Old Testament makes no attempt to prove the existence of God. The ... character rather than the color of his skin.” We will be brought to “A land flowing with milk and honey… (Exodus 4:17 NIV).” God understood the mission in that distant yesterday, but more importantly God understands our needs today and has a mission ...

537. We Must Be Blind!

John 9:35-41

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... the same, the man whom Jesus healed stood his ground. "This is a great man," he said. "He is a prophet (John 9:17)." And eventually he took his lumps for saying it. What courage we have here! The man was harassed terribly for his brave defense ... has experienced his great power. The man who was healed can now see, his eyes are working fine, and he is still acting as if he were blind. This man certainly acts an awful lot like you and I do. Week after week, you and I assemble in this building. We come together ...

538. Believing The Living Word

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... regularly. They were also urged to handle the written Word without deceit (2 Corinthians 4:2). The written Word is like a helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17). The written Word protects the brain and makes our thoughts whole. The third form of the Word in the New Testament is the preached Word, the proclamation of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. In Acts 13:44 we hear about the preaching of the gospel,"... Almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the Word of God." The gospel message was ...

539. Crown Him Lord!

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... for the early church the center of its preaching. Luke demonstrates this well in the preaching he records in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. There is here virtually all we need to know about the grace and the forgiveness of God, just as Paul ... through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of Christ (Colossians 1:17, 19-20)." The echoes of this cosmic authority and presence are heard throughout the New Testament. John begins his gospel with the ...

540. Time and Timing

Habakkuk 1:12--2:1, Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

Paul W. F. Harms

... himself. He's given us the central story but not the whole story. Whatever he has not spoken we speak for him, then demand he act the way we do. We have a black/white, on/off, binary idea of the way God should right wrongs, especially if someone has wronged ... way that starts from faith and ends in faith: as the Scripture says, 'He who is righteous by faith shall live.' " (Romans 16:17) And again, "But now, quite independently of law, God's justice has been brought to life. The law and the prophets both bear ...

541. Why Did Jesus Do That?

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... the lectionary readings for the first Sunday after the Epiphany and learned that the gospel selection for that day was Matthew 3:13-17, the Baptism of Jesus. So I opened my Bible and began reading at the beginning of the thirteenth chapter, since I like to ... and mine, so also was he baptized in solidarity with, and on behalf of, you and me." By this act of going to John to be baptized, by this act of joining people who were acknowledging that their lives were totally messed up and empty and uncertain and in ...

542. Giving Away the Store

Luke 22:7-38, John 13:1-17

Sermon

Carl Jech

... not appeasement. It is, rather, learning what love and graciousness mean in all our relationships with one another. Love consecrates the humblest act ... Love serves and willing stoops to serve. (S. B. McManus) In John chapter 13 we read that people will know us ... and develop in our discernment of what the faith is all about. It is one of the ways in which we grow in grace. John 19:17-30Good Friday What's Love Got to Do? When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his ...

543. Divine Liturgy, Divine Play, Divine Comedy

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Carl Jech

... and saying "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child shall not enter it." (Luke 18:17) One of our loveliest hymns is the Swedish favorite, "Children of the heavenly Father." A major characteristic of children is ... divine liturgy is a form of divine play. The liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox churches tend to be quite long because they are essentially an acting out of the life of Jesus. Most liturgies play around quite a bit with names, images and symbols for God. More often than not ...

544. If Only We Would Be Open To The Spirit ...

Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... those disciples experienced that guidance, that inspiration, that comfort. "That’s the Spirit!" they might have said to one another. Peter recalled Joel’s oracle at Pentecost when he was trying to convince onlookers that the coming of Jesus had initiated the new age. (Acts 2:17-18) We all have many personal feelings tied up with our belief about the movement of God’s Spirit in our lives. Those feelings defy explanation. They are so private to some of us that it is impossible to share them with others ...

545. Deliverance by a Dream

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

... had just died. She invaded my den, wailed and wept in my presence, and I felt that the child had just died in the den.17 Indeed, as we have been it seeing it happen all over the world, "Rachel is weeping for her children and will not be comforted." It might ... innocent children die today. He couldn’t step in and intervene then, anymore than he can right now, but he does expect us to act, on his behalf, to save the children of the world. Jesus was delivered by a dream. Children and babies today will have to be ...

546. Jacob’s Dream - A Dream Come True W. Dexter Moser

Genesis 27:1-40

Sermon

... this point, Rebekah, hearing that both Isaac and Esau felt Isaac would die, decided that she could not wait for the Lord, but must act for him; or her favorite son would lose the blessing. Could it possibly be that the Lord was using her vision of what she thought ... to remember for all time. "... This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Genesis 28:17) Jacob could have affirmed the prophets future word: "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near and ...

547. "He Who Commands Is He Who Fulfills"

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

... attitude? Does God’s greatest and heaviest expectation of his people then have to do with the way they feel rather than the way they act? There is no time to ask such questions, for Jesus immediately proceeds to part two of his answer: to love God with heart and soul ... I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them" (5:17). The twin commands to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbors as ourselves forever and relentlessly convict ...

548. A Glory Revealed in the King

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Charles M. Mountain

... is the King. This affirmation is really the united testimony of the entire New Testament, culminating in Revelation 17 and 19 where Jesus is called the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Several times in ... and oppressors!" The next acclamation means much the same, but is even stronger. To "come in the name of the Lord" means to act as God’s agent or instrument; and it means also to act with his full authority and approval. We see this in a negative way in Iran these days. Much of the cruelty and blood- ...

549. A Glory Revealed in Grace and Love

John 13:1-17

Sermon

... one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." - John 13:1-17; 34f. (RSV) Throughout this Lenten season we have been looking at Jesus’ glory, a glory expressed in his being "lifted up." His "lifting ... one, do the work of slaves for his disciples. Can you imagine how that must have felt? Can you conceive the turmoil Jesus’ simple acts created in the hearts of the twelve? "Lord Jesus, you’ve got it all mixed up! I should wash your feet. I am the ...

550. Acceptance: The Keynote

Ruth 2:1-23

Sermon

... them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (John 17:14) The cult of success in America and among those professing his name has many worshipers. It is almost as if success, in secular ... the Church. The Christian God therefore, is not the ‘unknown God’ venerated by philosophers, but a living God who reveals himself and acts." It is through and with this third person of the Trinity we are enabled to allow other disciples see us, "warts and ...

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