Sermon and Worship Resources

Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 226 to 250 of 4964 results

226. Proper 27

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, Hosea 11:1-11, Joshua 24:1-27, Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... All believers will be caught up in the air to be with the Lord. Believers are to comfort one another with this hope. Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Some of the church members wanted an eschatological timetable. Paul reiterates the words of Jesus ... day (v. 15). This matter of choosing one's god has an aura of urgency surrounding it. Today is all we have. Tomorrow is only a hope. We are called to choose while we still have the freedom to do so. There is another aspect here. It is not enough to choose the ...

227. They Also Serve Who Wait

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Thomas Long

... parents who were eager to obey the ritual law of purification, but who were too poor to afford the sacrifice of a lamb and brought with them instead the acceptable substitute, a pair of birds. A man, a woman, two birds, and a baby. Can this be the heralded and hoped-for coming of God? It is hard to wait for God. There are some who wait for God passively, and there are some who impatiently refuse to wait, but the hardest part of waiting for God is to recognize and accept God when he comes and how he comes ...

228. They Also Serve Who Wait

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Thomas Long

229. Life's Not Always Fair, But God Will Straighten It Out

Habakkuk 2:2-20, Habakkuk 1:12--2:1, Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... make sense. “If that day seems to tarry,” the Lord says, “wait for it.” It will come. God is going to have his way with the world. All that fights against goodness and justice and happiness will not prevail in the final analysis. God’s way of giving us hope by pointing us to the End is typical of this Personal God of ours. When he sent us his Son, Jesus, the Son did the same. Think how often Jesus talks about the End Times and about the Kingdom of God. Mark, the writer of the oldest, and probably ...

230. Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1-5

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 's letter, it skillfully builds on all that the apostle has already set forth. The example of Abraham, cited in 4:1-22, surely remains dominant in the minds of Paul's audience as they continue to read about the role endurance, character and hope play in the lives of the faithful. But in 5:1-11, Paul becomes primarily concerned with demonstrating how all the spiritual gifts are in fact contained within that one gift that overwhelms all else "justification by faith." Through the gracious gift of Jesus Christ ...

231. I Am the Ressurection and the Life

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the script to the end and I knew that Robert Taylor was going to save me. Now lift that to an infinitely higher level. We’ve read the Bible. We have the witness of history. We have the testimony of people through the ages and therefore, our hope – our hope is not hoping in the normal sense off the word, it’s not wishful thinking. It is the, it’s the very substance of life itself. It’s our greatest certainty. I like that word form the epistle to the Hebrews, we’re not of those who shrink back and ...

232. The Living Advent Wreath (Love: Pink Candle of the Stars)

Luke 1:26-38

Drama

Frank Ramirez

... Pilgrim: Will you have me look down again? Twice you have directed my attention earthward, first to the hidden bulb, which I cannot see, and then to the earth itself, which I cannot lift, nor can I take it with me. What is left earthward for me to take hope from? Guide: No, I would direct your gaze heavenward. The sun has retreated. The moon is setting. Now look to the beacon stars and remember these words: “You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns ...

233. A Breath of Fresh Air

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

... Look at the cross and the love of Jesus that spills out and fills empty hearts. Look at the gathered people around you and gaze at the memorial gifts throughout your building. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who now live in the reality of hope coming to pass in your midst. A breath of fresh air from the Lord reduces exhaustion and renews energy for even the driest bones. There’s a story about a group of senior/seasoned citizens who were on a bus tour in Switzerland. They stopped at a farm ...

234. Zophar

Job 11:1-20

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... . You will be secure. With trouble and darkness forgotten in the past, Job would experience security throughout the rest of his life. A new sense of inner confidence would match the change in his outward circumstances. This inward change would be based on a renewed sense of hope, as well as freedom from external attack. Job would be able to look about for his former attackers and yet take rest in safety when he sees no one. The next verse restates this promise, that Job will be able to lie down, with no one ...

235. Job's Third Reply to Eliphaz

Job 23:1--24:25

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... ways is instead a warning of divine watchfulness as prelude to judgment (2 Sam. 22:28; Jer. 16:17; Job 34:21; see also Clines, Job 21–37, p. 672). Although he delays now, God knows their ways and will ultimately bring them to justice—at least, Job hopes so! 24:24 Since God is the one who lifts up (they are exalted) and brings low (they are brought low; see also Ps. 75:7), the rise of the wicked to power is no independent achievement but remains subject to the permissive will of God. When God decides ...

236. Failure Is Not Final

Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon

William L. Self

... and victory to those who are committed to him and obey his guidance through all things. God gave explicit instructions as to how the battle against Ai was to be fought, and they obeyed. This time there was resounding victory. So the valley of Achor (trouble) became the door of hope. How many of us have felt locked in a valley of grief and despair? Is that where you are now? No one is free of disasters, of failures that may or may not be of our own making. Today you must hear the word of God to you: failure ...

237. Epiphany 8

Hosea 2:2-23, Mark 2:18-22, 2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... would be a time of separation from his disciples when fasting would be in order. 3. In the church year we balance times of fasting and feasting. 4. Personally, sometimes life is a fast and sometimes a feast. We must know when each is appropriate. 5. Live in hope of the marriage feast that has no end. 2. Sermon Tile: New Containers For New Wine. Sermon Angle: Jesus warns against placing new wine in old wineskins. The new wine will burst the dried-out old skins. He was speaking of the new wine of the gospel ...

238. The Journey of Life

Luke 24:13-35

Eulogy

Tom O. Miller

... local congregation. In many instances the family did not have a congregational affiliation either. This sermon has been effective in many such situations. I think of life as being like a journey. We travel through each day of life as though it were a trip. We hope, we plan, we look forward to what is ahead. We enjoy the present and remember the good times of the past. As we travel the road of life, we encounter some surprises along the way. We find unexpected hardships, delays, and problems. Today, we pause ...

239. Sole Brother

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

... of Christ, but somewhere in our travels each of us will be an example to someone. At those moments we have the unique opportunity to make a very meaningful contribution. The world will not change much because we came, but it will never be quite the same. Christ hopes that as we make our difference it will include the joy of having been sole brother to someone in need. It was an hour before conference time. They were getting off to a late start and it looked like speed limit all the way for any chance of ...

240. In The Middle Of The Night

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... , they were able to get their lives back on track again. And that's what many of us need to know in the middle of our long night. God is still God. Christ is still Lord. Beyond the darkness--whatever that darkness may be--there is the dawn. Dr. Hope Kohler had a situation on her hands: one of her patients, five-year-old Billy, was suffering from an aggressive lymphoma. Billy's parents wanted their son to die at home in New Mexico, not in the Boston hospital where he had been treated. They couldn't afford a ...

241. The Compleat Christian

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to focus its energies. As Duke ethicist Stanley Hauerwas has noted, "justification suggests that our lives are given to us as a gift, whereas the virtues seem to imply that the moral life should be construed as an achievement" ("On Developing Hopeful Virtues," Christian Scholar's Review 18 [1988]: 109). Perhaps what Paul was urging the Roman church to consider was transforming themselves into compleat Christians. Compleat is an old variant on the word "complete" - and while they are pronounced the same, the ...

242. Great Expectations

1 Peter 1:3-5

Sermon

James Merritt

... the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (v.3) From the time you were born God had a purpose for your life. God ... For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for holiness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Your life will always be off-center, out-of-kilter, and off-balance until you understand that God has a purpose for you and put you ...

243. Rolling Thunder or Voice of God?

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking for a miracle, and deep down they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. So w hat you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or look at the question this way: is it possible that there are no coincidences?" (1 ...

244. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... righteousness that comes by faith, he uses ek pisteōs (e.g., Rom. 9:30; 10:6) and never kata pistin as in our text. The reality of the unseen is a controlling theme in the present chapter, as can be seen from the following list: v. 1—things hoped for, but not yet seen 3—creation from what cannot be seen 6—that God exists and rewards 7—events yet unseen 8—an unknown country 10—the city with permanent foundations (cf. 13:14) 13—from a long way off they saw (the things God promised) 14—looking ...

245. “Show Me Your Ways, Lord”

Psalm 25:1-22

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... lifting up the evening sacrifice may be the liturgical derivative.[4] In light of Deuteronomy 24:15 (NIV: “counting on it”) and Jeremiah 22:27 (NIV: “long to”), where lifting up the “soul” occurs also, the idea here as there is that of hope and desire, which is in harmony with the stress on hope (25:3, 21) and trust (25:2). 25:2 do not let me be put to shame. This verb occurs here and in 25:3 and 20, framing the psalm. For one to be “put to shame” involved a sense of rejection socially or ...

246. Abraham Justified by Faith

Romans 4:1-25

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... the world is fallen and sinful is to say that it is the object not of God’s damnation but of his love.” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ ” (Jer. 29:11). The promise of God is an expression of his faithfulness (3:4), his “for us-ness” (cf. 8:31). Abraham is the heir of the world. Genesis records extraordinary promises to Abraham—that he would become a great and powerful nation, that ...

247. The Weak and the Strong

Romans 14:1--15:13

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... so for the rabbi from Tarsus. On that day all pretense will be dispelled, all moral judgments and altruistic pronouncements will be exploded as self-serving masks of pride, all gifts and sacrifices will be seen in the light of their real motives, all strivings and hopes and goals will be judged only from the perspective of whatever faith and love inspired them. Each of us will give an account of himself to God (v. 12). How stark and final is this word each! Before God each individual must give an account ...

248. The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... [Christ] unreal v. 16 if the dead are not raised unreal Christ has not been raised either unreal v. 17 if Christ has not been raised unreal your faith is futile; you are still in your sins unreal v. 19 if only for this life we have hope in Christ unreal we are to be pitied more than all [others] unreal Paul effectively stands theological reality as he knows it on its head and proceeds to declare the consequences. Coupled with the unreal conditions of the six unreal conditional statements are sets of most ...

249. Not Yet Quitting Time

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... lazy people in general. He's speaking particularly to people who, probably because they were lazy people to begin with, are using the hope of the soon return of Christ as an excuse to stop working and sponge off the rest of the Christian community. He ... to enable her to endure her travail, so we need the truth of the second advent to enable us to run our race with patience and hope and endurance. It's not yet quitting time. The road is long, the way is hard, we will get tired to the point of exhaustion, but ...

250. Advent 1

Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122:1-9, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon Aid

... acknowledge that it has been an interminably long wait, but Christ will return, as he said, when God gives the signal) is a hopeful wait, because all fear will be banished on that day. 2. Faithful believers watch - always - as if the Lord were to return ... potential "time-bombs" in their chests. One believes that he has less than ten years to live; the other, not yet forty years of age, hopes to live long enough to see an infant child grow up. Both know that death could come at any time; they know the time and ...

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