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 1051 to 1075 of 1076 results

1051. Paradise Promise

Luke 23:33-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... they look and behave on the surface. Justine was a young teen when she first began to get into trouble. Her family had experienced difficulties, and she found herself acting out instead of dealing with her tumultuous emotions. This went on into her early adulthood until one too many offenses landed her in prison for a time. Lost, alone ... not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). May Jesus’ blessing of peace and promise be upon you this day and always.

1052. Time to Listen

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... 2015 Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens” the day after it came out. We don’t know if this was a malicious act or if the ending was accidently spilled. Still, Runawaybucket was highly offended. So that Christmas he bought his friend a large Star ... to fellowship. A healing took place that night in their relationships when their past disagreement was erased. (5) In II Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Think ...

1053. Close! But No Cigar!

John 3:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” Water refers to the act of baptism, which symbolizes dying to our old lives and being raised again to new life. And not just a second chance at the same ... knowing God or earning salvation. And that’s a good thing. God already did the work on our behalf. As John writes in vs. 16-17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal ...

1054. Why the Cross?

Hebrews 2:17-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... question or you know someone who does, this message is for you. Most Christians believe that the cross represents God’s redemptive act in Christ forgiving us of sin and reconciling us to him. Take a look at these words from Hebrews: For this reason he ... of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18 NIV). These verses are profound and mean a great deal to millions of Christians. However, the atonement is also what turns many ...

1055. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... while wearing my favorite T-shirt—does that count as dusting?” I think it’s especially helpful that Swedish death cleaning isn’t a one-time act, but an every-few-years practice. We can use it to assess what is meaningful to us, and to remind us not to waste our lives. And ... =daily-digest&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email. 2. “6 Artists Who Predicted Their Own Deaths” by Beth, January 17, 2014 https://blog.redbubble.com/2014/01/6-artists-who-predicted-their-own-deaths/. 3. “Life may ...

1056. Trick Questions

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Steve Molin

... not the one. Who am I?” (His mother). I recently heard a riddle that was allegedly solved by 80% of kindergartners, but only 17% of Stanford University students. Here’s the riddle: What is… More powerful than God More evil than the devil Poor people have it ... talk of love and forgiveness and grace. So they kept on asking him trick questions. Master, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery. Our law says that she should be stoned to death; what do you say? Which of you has never sinned? Master, ...

1057. Your Body Is a Temple

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

Ronald Love

... hall. They had a Catholic wedding ceremony at the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church in Paris on July 7, 2007. On November 17, 2010, Longoria filed for divorce from Parker in Los Angeles, citing “irreconcilable differences.” Longoria told the media that she had discovered hundreds ... the belief that bodily functions possessed no importance for a man’s spiritual life. This meant that sexual acts, such as fornication and visiting prostitutes, could not defile the human spirit. Only the spirit could inherit ...

1058. Marketplace Christianity

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... more insistent language and follows this up with brash, dramatic, attention-drawing action. Today, we see one of his most powerful messages acted out. But are we really noticing what’s going on in this interaction? What is he doing? And what does it ... house will be a house of prayer’ but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Luke 19:46; Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17), referencing Jeremiah 7:11. If you read the entirety of that passage in Jeremiah, you see that this is no solitary phrase but part of ...

1059. Schadenfreude

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How many of you grew up watching either the originals or the re-runs of Wile-E-Coyote and the Roadrunner? Throughout the series of cartoons, we laughed, as Wile E Coyote was continually foiled in his attempts to catch the super-fast and super sly roadrunner. Time and again, the coyote’s efforts and plots come back to bite him, so to speak, as he blows himself up, plunges off of cliffs, and gets pounded by boulders. Every trick up his sleeve backfires, and he never does catch the Roadrunner! (Beep, beep). ...

1060. Good News from the Threshing Floor

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

... me to leave you…. Your people… my people… your God, my God… your resting place, my resting place….” Ruth 1:16-17 (NRSV). Ruth’s passion was so strong Naomi stopped arguing. Bethlehem was buzzing like a beehive when Naomi returned, but Naomi ... Judah’s sons was thwarted by Judah, who decided she was cursed after his sons Er and Onan died, leaving her childless. Tamar acted as a prostitute and conceived twins with Judah. It’s a long story, best told at another time. Ruth was among three woman ...

1061. Christ, Our King

John 18:33-37

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

Today is the last day of the church year. The church year starts four Sundays before Christmas, so next week when I wish you all a happy new year, I hope to get a better response than blank stares. The last Sunday of the church is called both “Christ the King” Sunday, and “Reign of Christ” Sunday. This festival goes all the way back to 1925, when Pope Pius XI added it to the calendar. It was set as the last Sunday of the church year in 1970. When I learned this I was a little surprised. I love looking into ...

1062. Messiah’s Community

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... “breathed on them” (20:21), imparting to his disciples the divine Spirit, and sending them out as his ambassadors, exactly in the manner of which he prayed back in chapter 17, on Thursday night, before the betrayal, arrest, farce of a trial, and horror of crucifixion. Is this, as some have suggested, John’s different version of Pentecost (Acts 2)? Actually no, it is not. John was very consistent about every detail in his gospel. Remember that on Thursday night, as they sat together in the upper room ...

1063. The Rhythm of Your Heart

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of God! Let the music of God’s presence wash over you like the crashing waves of the sea. And may Christ fill you with His Spirit so mightily that your every act will resonate with the healing power of your Creator! Amen. [1] Shahram Heshmat, “Music and Empathy,” Psychology Today, May 17, 2024, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-of-choice/202405/music-and-empathy. [2] “Deep Calls Unto Deep,” All Things Restored (blog), September 3, 2020, https://allthingsrestored.org/deep-calls-unto ...

1064. No Excuse

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... is the way people behave in their professional lives, where their livelihood is on the line, can we really expect them to act differently in their spiritual life? Inspired by Bleech’s work, I once asked a group of clergy friends of mine to write ... Cease to do evil. Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17). Jeremiah: “Amend your ways and your deeds…practice justice between a man and his neighbor; do not oppress the alien in your ...

1065. Revising The Agenda

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

William G. Carter

Whenever I hear this Bible passage, I smell potato soup. One day when I was about fourteen years old, my mother announced we were going to church for something called a “sacrificial” supper. She said it had something to do with the season of Lent. That was curious, too. We were a low-church Presbyterian family. Liturgical seasons didn’t mean much to us. Any talk of Lent didn’t make much sense. At least, not until that night. There we were, one Sunday night in late winter. The fellowship hall was half-empty ...

1066. Where's God?

John 16:12-15

Sermon

David Coffin

Rather than taking a traditional, historical confessional approach to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, I would like to suggest how this complex and mysterious teaching of the church might work in modern day situations. Imagine a person coming to worship on Holy Trinity Sunday who is not wondering if they will confess the lengthy Athanasian Creed. Rather, the person’s mind is weighed down with the stunning news that their employer of 25 years is closing down the plant and company. All three hundred or so ...

1067. Family Ties And Unties

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

David Coffin

In the 1993 movie Rudy, Sean Astin plays Rudy Rudiger, a young man who grew up in a Roman Catholic working class family that was employed at the steel mills, which is major town economic bedrock. Rudy always wanted to play football for the University of Notre Dame. There were a couple problems. First, he was short, lacked strong talent, and he had difficulty in school due to dyslexia. His family and girlfriend all thought that he would fail in this venture. At age 22, when his best friend Pete died in an ...

1068. Building Trust

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

David Coffin

Imagine a family member receiving a late night phone call, in which the caller ID reads, “County Corrections.” A close loved one is being held in custody due to an arrest of being intoxicated either on an alcoholic or opioid drug influence while driving their motor vehicle. The loved one needs the family member to immediately call them a lawyer and drive down to the county corrections facility. This is like being unexpectedly ambushed at night from a person whom we least expect to be acting like this. This ...

1069. Sister Act

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The headline on the cover of a Sports Illustrated sometime back read: "Sportswoman of the Year." One of the pictures on the cover showed Mary Decker pressing the tape as she defeated by inches the Soviet champion, Zamira Zaitseva, in a 1500 meter world championship race. The article went on to describe Decker's phenomenal performances in San Diego, Los Angeles, Gateshead (England), Stockholm, Paris, and Oslo. One comment was made about Mary Decker by the writer of the article that is relevant to our ...

1070. The Road of Joy

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Browse through any local book store and you will be bombarded with books on joy. Joy of Cooking, Joy of Sex, Joy of Not Working, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing –just to name a few. Our Advent word for consideration today is JOY. The Bible is full of joyful sayings: “The joy of the Lord is our strength" (Nehemiah 8:10) “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy" (Luke 2:10) “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4) A nervous pastor conducting his first Christmas Eve Candle ...

1071. Show Us the Father

John 14:8-17, 25-27

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

Philip put forth what seemed like a really good request. “Show us the Father.” He added, “That will be enough for us” (John 14:8). Yes, that would be great. If we can just see the Father, we’ll be cool. We’ll have all the inspiration we need to keep plugging away. We’ll be set for life. We’ll be good. This reminds me of the old Steve Martin movie, “The Jerk.” There’s a scene in which Navin (Steve Martin) is breaking up with his wife, Marie (Bernadette Peters). She tells him to leave, so he begins to walk ...

1072. Giving Away the Kingdom

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

One thing I learned a long time ago is that the Bible makes sense. Some things, of course, are mystical and difficult to understand. Other things seem fantastic and beyond the reach of reasonable explanation. But in the grand scheme of all that we find in scripture, everything begins to make sense as we see God’s plan laid out before us. With that in mind, when I hear Jesus say, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor,” I have to wonder: Does he mean for us to sell everything? It seems like quite a ...

1073. Day of Pentecost

John 20:19-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

One Sunday after Easter, some children were playing in a Sunday school room. The class was about to start. The teacher was pulling together a few things for the lesson, and he heard them playing over in the corner. They had built a small wall out of cardboard bricks, and one of them was hiding down behind it. Apparently the little guy was playing the role of Jesus after Easter, which he must have heard about in a worship service. He called out, “Hey Pontius Pilate, I’m back.” The kid who was playing Pilate ...

1074. Rest

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

I don’t know of a more inviting invitation: “Come to me and I will give you rest.” Jesus speaks to the woman who cannot sleep, to the child who is anxious, and to the man is bone-tired. Come ... rest. The invitation is gentle, not forceful. He speaks from a level place, a humble place. His invitation includes all: “all you,” or as they say in the South, “y’all.” There’s not a single person excluded. Everybody come, come and rest. What intrigues me is why so many people turn him down. Have you ever noticed ...

1075. Advocating For Whom?

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Sermon

David Coffin

In March of 2019, a New Hampshire lunch cafeteria worker was fired for giving a high school student an $8.00 meal because there was no money left in his account. She saw the student’s lunch account was empty as he went through the line and allowed him to keep his food. She also asked him to have his mother add money to the account. The next day, the mother paid his lunch bill. However, the cafeteria manager who witnessed her act of leniency fired her. This quiet hero might be an advocate for students, as ...

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