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 2501 to 2525 of 2844 results

2501. Proper 12

Genesis 18:20-32, Psalm 85:1-13; 138:1-8, Hosea 1:2-10, Luke 11:1-13, Colossians 2:6-19

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: It’s a good morning! Are you awake and breathing deeply? Are you thankful, angry, secure, defeated? Are you ready to sing? People: Ah, yes. We are thankful for life and we are seeking security and happiness. Leader: We have called to God many times and the Holy One has sustained us and restored us to hopefulness. People: With music and dance, with words and silence, we thank God for divine goodness among us! Prayer Of Thanksgiving Energy of the Universe — dawn reminded us that you ...

2502. Proper 13

Psalm 107:1-9, 43, Hosea 11:1-11, Luke 12:13-21, Colossians 3:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: This is a good place to be this morning. The world goes on around us while we are in sanctuary. Here, together, we know that evil and good exist in our global village yet we choose to rest a while, giving our psyches and bodies a chance to be tranquil. People: Sometimes we feel like the philosopher in the biblical essay, “Ecclesiastes,” thinking that “everything is useless.” We work hard and have little to show for it. The sun rises and sets; the wind blows round and round; rivers ...

2503. Proper 15

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19, Isaiah 5:1-7, Luke 12:49-53, Hebrews 11:29--12:2

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: It’s a good summer morning! We are gathered again. We can ask questions, sing, pray, listen, and talk! People: Yes. We are thankful for life and for the opportunities that come to us. Leader: We have called to God many times and the Holy One has sustained us and restored us to hopefulness. People: We trust the Holy Spirit to minister to our needs and to guide us along the path of joy and service. Prayer Of Thanksgiving God of morning and evening — we are grateful for the breath of ...

2504. The Truth about Warren Buffet's Secretary

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

King Duncan

The election is now behind us. I guess it’s safe for me to talk about Warren Buffet’s secretary. In case you’ve been on a deserted island somewhere cut off from all media, Warren Buffet, one of the richest men on earth and a prominent Democrat, caused quite a stir sometime back when he said that his secretary pays a higher percentage of her salary in taxes than he pays. That is because wages are taxed differently than are investments, and wealthy people have a clear advantage in accumulating more wealth ...

2505. Proper 24

Genesis 32:22-32, Psalm 119:97-104, Jeremiah 31-27-34, Luke 18:1-8, 2 Timothy 3:14--4:5

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: I’m glad today is Sunday and we are here together. People: We are grateful for sanctuary and for faithful friends. Leader: God is with us as usual. People: There’s a poem we like to remember: We lift our eyes to the hills; From where does our help come? Our help comes from God who made heaven and earth. God, our protector never dozes or sleeps; God guards us and is ever by our side. The sun will not hurt us during the day nor the moon during the night. God will protect us from ...

2506. Proper 28

Psalm 98:1-9, Isaiah 12:1-6; 65:17-25, Luke 21:5-19, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: Good morning! I’m glad we’re here together on this November Sunday. There’s excitement in the air as we make family plans for Thursday and continue the countdown to Christmas Day. People: We’re here to enjoy each other and to praise God for life! Leader: Have you brought your guitars? Harps? Trumpets? Flutes? People: No! But we have brought our voices and we can make fascinating harmonies. We can sing new songs to God! Leader: Sing with joy to God! Sing with enthusiasm. Clap your ...

2507. Reformation Day

Psalm 46:1-11, Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 8:31-41, Romans 3:19-28

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: It’s Sunday again! As before, we gather here because we believe that truth sets us free. We are followers of Jesus and children of God. People: In Christ, we are set free from the power of sin. Leader: The Holy One promises to write divine law in our hearts and to be our God. People: We will be forgiven and freed from guilt. Leader: This is cause for rejoicing! Let us sing beautiful words, praising God! Thanksgiving Prayer Living God — what a day! Autumn is everywhere! And we are ...

2508. God's Gift

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Margery Tallcott relates that during the Depression she and her husband were barely making the money stretch from week to week. It was particularly tight during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Their finances would not allow for purchasing gifts for each other or for their son, Pete. With Christmas a week away, they told Pete there would be no store-bought presents for any of them. “But I’ll tell you what we can do,” said his father with an inspiration born of heartbreak. “We can make pictures of the ...

2509. Thanksgiving Means Giving

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Richard Gribble

When Billy Walsh was a youngster, his family lived near Mrs. Smithson. A widow eighty years of age, Mrs. Smithson was in constant pain and crippled by rheumatoid arthritis that ravaged her body. Living alone she could only walk a few steps at a time with the help of her cane. Every week when Billy’s mom went to the market, she took her son, who would always deliver groceries to the old widow. The family car would pull up into Mrs. Smithson’s driveway and the command would be heard, “Billy, here are Mrs. ...

2510. Freedom Calling

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

April Yamasaki

Free! No obligation, no sales person will call! Free! Don't miss this opportunity! Free! Two sets for the price of one! In the world of advertising, something is free if you don't have to pay for it; if there's no money down, no payments to make; if you get something for nothing — or at least two for the price of one! Galatians 5:1, 13-25 describes a different kind of freedom. It isn't free in the sense of no cost — in fact, this freedom was purchased at the great cost of Jesus' own life. It isn't ...

2511. From Slave to Brother

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

We often shortchange love. We think of it as sweet and sentimental, something that is good for children and family members. We think of love as sort of soft and cuddly, nice in its place, but not very useful in the things that really matter. Do we think of love as tough, transforming, powerful? This little book of Philemon, tucked into the back of the New Testament at the tail end of Paul's letters, teaches us about the potential of love. Thomas Long, who teaches preaching at EmoryUniversity in Atlanta, ...

2512. Anatomy Of A Testimony

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

David J. Kalas

You see a man busily writing. His face reveals the intensity of his focus. He sometimes smiles as he writes, then stops to think again. At times he shows some dissatisfaction, and he goes back to rewrite some sentence or phrase. Clearly, he wants to get this just right. We hesitate to interrupt his concentration, but we can't restrain our curiosity. "Excuse us," we say. "What is that you're working on so diligently?" He looks up from his work and smiles. "I'm writing a toast. It's a toast that I'm going to ...

2513. A Resume of Righteousness

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Statues don't perspire. The characters portrayed in stained-glass windows don't blink. And so we are tempted to forget that the people they so nobly represent were human beings, just like us. In the statue's solidness and in the window's beauty, they cannot do justice to the blemishes and the frailties of the men and women they depict. We have seen so many of our biblical heroes portrayed in art: in glorious stained glass, in noble statues, and in sweet portraits on Sunday school room walls. Those ...

2514. The Man Who Wasn’t There

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

I've never had a vision — at least not of the sort that Paul had. I don't know personally, therefore, what you feel the next morning. But it's clear from the story that whatever Paul felt, he felt it so strongly that he and his companions changed their itinerary immediately in response to that vision. Perhaps this sort of turn-on-a-dime operation is acceptable for a missionary. It's a little hard to imagine in other lines of work, however. Does the salesman staying in Phoenix tell his boss that he ...

2515. When God Measures The Church

Amos 7:7-17

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

We begin to hear about prophets in the Bible after Israel convinced God to let them have a king. It was almost as if God set up his own checks and balances system. Once the people looked to a king and the government to guide them, God also called prophets to remind the government that it, too, was subject to God. There were apparently professional prophets in Israel who served as ethical advisors to the king, but occasionally a voice arose that challenged the very nature of the society. Amos was one of ...

2516. Parenting — Not For The Faint Of Heart

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

Parenting is not, I repeat, not for the faint of heart. For many of us, it was easy enough to bring our sons and daughters into this world and to hold their tiny forms in our arms. We had no idea what was coming. The 4 a.m. feedings, the nights spent vainly trying to comfort a wailing child, watching as they took their first steps, the joys of toilet training, the "terrible twos" ... those moments are but distant memories now. In the blink of an eye, our sons are teenagers, and as I am working on this ...

2517. What God Expects From Worship

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

I heard it again at a meeting last week ... a comment about the length of the worship service. Somewhere along the way, people in our Christian tradition came up with the idea that worship should last about no more than sixty minutes. The comment was innocent enough and was being made in reference to recommendations our ministry team would be making regarding the Sunday morning schedule of worship and learning. How much time should there be between the close of the first worship service and the learning ...

2518. Finding Fault With God

Jeremiah 2:4--3:5

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

It is never a pleasant prospect to deal with someone who has a complaint with you. As a new pastor, and a very young one at that, one of the things I struggled with most was the experience of conflict with members. I remember as if it were yesterday a significant misunderstanding that developed between the congregation's "matriarch" and me very early in my time there. I prayed about the difficulty we were having, and I knew that I needed to go to her home and ask for the opportunity to talk things out. I ...

2519. Collections or Connections?

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Happy Easter, church. Christ Is Risen. He Is Risen Indeed. The resurrection of Jesus is God's final word spoken in the face of sin, suffering, evil and death. Thanks Be to God. Easter egg hunts have been in the news all week, both because of the controversy in the White House over the invitations that went out warning that the one on the White House lawn might need to be cancelled, as well as the refusal of some school districts to refer to “Easter eggs,” only “Spring eggs.” Come on. Easter egg hunts? They ...

2520. Jailhouse Rock

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

King Duncan

I’m not certain that I have ever titled a sermon after a song by Elvis Presley before. That may be surprising to you considering the timeless quality of some of his early hits like “Hound Dog,” “All Shook Up,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” and “Hard-Headed Woman.” I guess I could have derived a sermon from some of those, but somehow it seemed a stretch. Today’s lesson from the Book of Acts, however, is a different story. The story really does at least fit the title of Presley’s 1957 hit record “Jailhouse Rock.” ...

2521. What Really Matters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

A joke appeared on the Internet recently that many of you women can relate to. A man was praying, “Oh Lord, please have mercy on me, I work so very hard, meanwhile my wife stays at home. I would give anything if you would grant me one wish. Please, switch me into my wife. She’s got it easy at home and I want to teach her a lesson about how tough a man’s life is!” As God was listening he felt sorry for this poor soul and granted his wish. So . . . the next morning this man wakes up at dawn . . . as a woman ...

2522. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

There is no escaping hecklers. Preachers, politicians, any public speaker will someday find themselves confronted by a heckler. A heckler is someone with their own agenda who is anxious to take advantage of a gathered, attentive audience to voice that opinion publically. In this week’s gospel text, Jesus encounters a “heckler.” But he then uses the seemingly unrelated concerns of this man to connect both the larger crowd and Jesus’ own chosen disciples to a clearer vision of true faithfulness and the ...

2523. The Dirt on Jesus

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of us have a garage that can no longer be parked anymore because it is filled up with so much other “stuff?” How many of us have an off-site storage unit because we have too much “stuff” to keep in our homes, so we arrange for visitation rights to see our “stuff?” The late comedian George Carlin famously did an entire monologue on this “stuff” — proclaiming that the “meaning of life is trying to find a place to put your stuff” and that “A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out ...

2524. Financial Planning

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman who lost her husband several years ago developed a friendship with a man who had also lost his spouse. They seemed a perfect match. All their children agreed they should get married. So a date was set and invitations were sent out. The invitations read like this: “Phil, Richard, Karen, Allison, John, Matt and Steve request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their mother and father. Because they are combining two households, they already have at least two of everything. So please, no ...

2525. Real Heros

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Those who are into Xtreme sports know that there are cameras that will allow you to film your exploits. You have probably seen ads for these cameras. It is specially designed for bikers, surfers, snowboarders, scuba divers, dirt track drivers, skiers, auto racers or participants in any other action sport. The name for one of these cameras is the HD GoPro HERO camera. You can mount the HERO camera to your helmet, handlebar, windshield, car bumper or any other place you can think of where you might capture ...

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