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 2476 to 2500 of 4957 results

2476. Saints Alive!

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... the whole company of the saints in heaven and on earth, all of God's people who await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. This is the day when the church, with a strong affirmation, lays claim to the living hope we have through the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We give thanks for the life and witness of all the faithful departed. We have affirmed it before and we affirm it again in the words of Paul: "If for this life only we have ...

2477. Is It Hard To Believe?

Sermon

Erskine White

... is that Jesus' friends took His body from the tomb. We know the high priests were worried about this: Matthew's gospel tells us that they went to Pilate and asked that a guard be put on the grave. "Make the grave secure," they said, "lest His followers claim He has risen from the dead, and this last fraud will be worse than the first" (27:64). But suppose you think Matthew made that up? Then there is still this question: why would the disciples die for a fraud? If they really did steal the body, then ...

2478. Chosen For Good News

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... , much-to-be-feared God, but a warm, welcoming, accepting Father who puts his arm around us and says, “Come to me and you’ll be okay.” What a nice relationship Jesus worked out between us and our God! The Interpreter’s Bible says: “Buddha claimed that in his teaching he never selfishly kept a closed fist tight upon what he had discovered, but with an open hand shared everything he had learned with whoever would accept it. And, says Christ, setting it down as a proof of his friendship for us ...

2479. Checking The Vital Signs

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... whether they are a prisoner, an alcoholic, someone suffering injustice because of color or age or creed or sex or political beliefs. In the Scripture today our Lord asks, in verse 42, to receive a piece of cooked fish, and he ate it in their presence. He later claimed that when we fed someone who was hungry, we were actually doing the same as those disciples were when they gave him that fish. When John the Baptist’s disciples went to Jesus to see if he was real, Jesus told them, “Go back home and tell ...

2480. The Vine And The Branches

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... the church always offers Bible study and retreats and other ways to continually deepen and strengthen our spiritual lives and our connection with the vine. Here is a super good reason for regular worship and study. Sure, you can come to church only occasionally and still claim to be a Christian. However, there is a vine here which gives life and sustenance that we all need, and very often. The body and blood of Jesus in the sacrament of communion are something we don’t just take if communion is offered on ...

2481. When Thomas Doubted

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... replied the German. “The optimists are learning English and the pessimists are learning Russian!” Thomas would be learning Russian! One person has described a pessimist as someone who burns his bridges behind him and then crosses them before he gets to them. Another claims a pessimist is one who, of two evils, chooses them both! That may well describe Thomas. To Thomas, the cross was only what he had expected. When Jesus had suggested going to Bethany, when the news of the illness of Lazarus had come ...

2482. Don’t Be Alarmed

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... pulled up the coach and found the deceased sitting on that log? We don’t know what Nelles and the other farmers said or even what the deceased man come back to life said. We do know what a young man said when they came for the same purpose to claim Jesus’ body: “Don’t be alarmed!” Wow! Bad enough that William Bartelt of Hamburg got knocked out by a log, and then they found him alive! Imagine those women who saw Jesus killed on a cross and buried in a tomb with a rock in the door. Now the tomb ...

2483. Death Following Lung Surgery

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Eulogy

Robert Allen

... do, you will realize his life was a gift you shared for a little while. We can also thank God that death is not the end of any life. Our hope and our faith in God is our promise that death is not the end of life - for death may claim our bodies, but not our souls. The God we know in Jesus Christ assures us that death is not the end, but a doorway into his presence. There is a poem by Nancy Byrd Turner which affirms this idea. She wrote: Death Is A Door Death is only an old ...

2484. Teenage Death Due to Drinking and Driving

Job 3:1-26

Eulogy

Carl B. Rife

... , first of all, to pay tribute, to take time to remember Tina, who has touched our lives to varying degrees. We show our respect and affection in these moments for a loving and lovable girl with a winning smile who has walked among us, and who, although now claimed by death, will continue to be a part of our minds and spirits. We also come to express our feelings to those who most deeply mourn. If there were any way we could take on some of your pain, your loss, your suffering, we would do so. There aren ...

2485. Death Following Extended illness

Romans 8:28-39

Eulogy

Paul Hegele

... greatest threat any of us face, "the last great enemy" (as Paul said), but it is a defeated enemy. The love of God goes on, to the grave and beyond the grave. That's why Isaiah could promise that "God will swallow up death in victory" and Paul could claim in a builder's language, "If our earthly house were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." These men of God knew death is not a separation from life, but a triumphant promotion to a richer life. And so ...

2486. Athanasius Faithful Teacher

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

... , Athanasius was able to disprove this charge as well. Reader 2: Arsenius, of course, had not been murdered, but had only been hidden away by the Arians. At Athanasius’ trial the Arians produced a box containing a human hand which they claimed belonged to Arsenius. Meanwhile, Athanasius’ supporters had found Arsenius and brought him to the trial wrapped in a cloak. Athanasius paraded the cloaked Arsenius, first revealing his face, then one hand, and then the other; and then Athanasius inquired, “Where ...

2487. Stairways Of Heaven

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

Justin Tull

... heavenly voices -- may well remain hopeless skeptics. But Jacob caught the vision. He caught it not simply because he saw a ladder or ramp. He caught it because he accepted the promises God gave to him and, as he did, heaven and earth touched. The good news that claimed him made earth and stone a holy place. But did you hear Jacob’s confession? The verse that stands out for me is this: “Surely the Lord was in this place and I did not know it.” Does that fit your experience? Have you ever been in God ...

2488. Stairways Of Heaven

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Justin Tull

... and we do not return to health. There are times when personal relationships end in betrayal. There are times when the enemy we are fighting is so strong and so persistent that there seems little chance for victory or for blessing. But I am claiming that every difficult struggle has not just a “token” blessing, but a significant one, that clouds have more than just a pretty silver lining -- that they are draped with the rainbows of God’s blessing. I’m not talking about “success theology” preached ...

2489. Spirit Full Or Foul?

Isaiah 44:1-5

Sermon

Justin Tull

... of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And the results of Pentecost were parallel to those in Isaiah: namely that many would call upon the name of the Lord, many would become a part of the community of faith, many now would be able to affirm the claim of the Divine: “I am the first and the last; besides me there is no god.” The message of Isaiah 44 is about an outpouring of the Spirit. The message of Pentecost is precisely the same. Both speak of the importance of God’s interaction with the individual ...

2490. In The Valley

Eulogy

Joe Barone

... more death, but instead, with resurrection. Let Us Pray So little can be said, Lord. And there is so little for us to do except to look at you as you walk with us in our hour of need. Help us hear the message of the Scripture, and help us claim the promise that, in you, we find not death, but resurrection. *Person's first name**Person's full name

2491. Recollections of Reuben, Uncle of a Young Bethlehem Shepherd

Matthew 2:13-18

Drama

Robert A. Morgan

... Nathanael could make out were, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." That certainly is not how it turned out for the babies in Bethlehem or for their families, after your men got here. But that's what Nathanael claimed this heavenly assemblage said. Then suddenly, it all grew dark again, and the shepherds thought perhaps they'd been dreaming except that they all had seen and heard the same thing. They certainly could not go back to sleep, and one of them said, "Why don ...

2492. Recollections of Mary -- Dramatic Monologue

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Drama

Robert A. Morgan

... years ago, and I haven't heard of them since, but I've never forgotten them. You can picture them here, can't you? You can imagine the little baby Jesus, asleep on the hay in the manger. What did the angel say? What angel? Oh, the angel the shepherds claimed they saw? I think it was something like this: "Don't be afraid, for I bring you good news and such joy. For you and everyone, there's been a baby born in Bethlehem. He is the Savior. He is Christ the Lord." No, I don't know what it ...

2493. Seek Good, Not Evil (That You May Live)

Amos 5:1-17

Sermon

Paul W. F. Harms

... magazine. It then proceeded to detail its answer, young men and women bent on making fortunes and spending fortunes in the most profligate way. The righteous are afflicted, not the wrongdoer. There is a readiness to take bribes. The poor man's claims, if he dare make them public, are ignored because he is powerless to press for justice. The language is fierce, scathing. But no matter. What should provoke denial and retaliation merits only indifference, not unlike indifference in the West. How many times ...

2494. Foretaste

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Eulogy

Richard F. Bansemer

... you see it. You be judge and jury and decide according to the evidence of Scripture whether or not Christian hope is for this world only.No, we are not to be pitied. The world is to be pitied. We do not live the falsehood of the world that claims that hope dies when bodies die. Instead, we are the honored few who know that Christian hope anticipates the future, looks forward to Christ's return, and foresees a new sister in a brand new spiritual body, suited for eternal life.We have in every Holy Communion a ...

2495. Step Seven - Humiltiy

Mt 23:25-36 · 2 Ti 2:20-26 · Ps 51:1-14

Sermon

John A. Terry

... is nice to fantasize about how good we would be if we lived in pre-Civil War days when slavery still existed in this state. But living in a past we never knew can cause us to miss the opportunities of the present which is where God is claiming us. Like much of what appears in the Bible, humility is not popular today. We do not like to hear the woes of our condition. We are taught to admire rugged independence, an upwardly mobile ambition, the ability to stand up for ourselves. Humility brings reminders of ...

2496. Strangers at the Manger

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

... not hesitate to pull the trigger or push the button. A few million innocent lives are of no consequence when it comes to protecting the glory of their empire. Let me ask you a question: If today’s rulers are as concerned as many of them publicly claim to be over the plight of the children of the world, why do they continue to spend more on weapons of destruction to protect and preserve power than they are willing to spend on children to protect their lives? Toward the end of the 1980’s UNICEF estimated ...

2497. Dealing with the Devil

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... amount of freedom we enjoy and instead focuses on the limitations of our lives and inevitably, almost instinctively, rebels against them? We certainly don’t get that from studying the life of Jesus, do we? Does the devil make us do it, as we so often claim? "Oh, come on, preacher – you don’t really believe there is a ‘Devil’ do you? The last time I saw ‘The Devil’ was in the funny papers! Wake up and smell the coffee, Johnny! It’s 1999, not 1899! You’d better wise up, friend." Maybe ...

2498. Are You the One?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... candidate for political office or a political issue that’s being brought to a vote. Fear is a powerful motivational tool. The folks in Washington are well aware of that and make frequent use of it. As if that were not bad enough, some people who claim to speak for God also use fear to achieve their personal agendas. The most common mistake we make about fear occurs when we equate fear with things or people we don’t understand. We should be afraid of "those people over there" because they don’t ...

2499. It Just Doesn't Work That Way

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... the wicked seem to flourish and prosper and the righteous struggle to make it from payday to payday? What are these weeds doing in here amongst the wheat? Did God plant them, or did the Devil sneak in when God was asleep? We can laugh at the farmer’s claim that an enemy planted weeds in his field, but it’s not funny when the weeds spring up in OUR garden, is it? When cancer cells spread and good cells starve in the body, when defenseless students are gunned down by classmates in a place where they were ...

2500. Monday Morning Faith

Matthew 21:23-27, Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... than all those hypocrites who go to church." (And if we really are hypocrites, is there a better place for us to be?) But when we meet or hear about people outside the church whose lives and actions seem to be more Christian than those who claim to BE Christian, our neat little categories of "us" and "them" get rearranged, don’t they? We have all seen or known church members whose Monday morning actions make a mockery of what they said in church on Sunday morning. When our Monday morning faith appears ...

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