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 2601 to 2625 of 4934 results

2601. The Living Advent Wreath (Trust: Purple Candle of the Magi)

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7, Isaiah 61:1-11

Drama

Frank Ramirez

Note Pilgrim and Guide have minimal singing parts. Attendant carries the candlelighter and lights the candles in the Advent wreath each week. Faith, Hope, Love, and Trust, representing the four candles of the Advent wreath, enter one per week, then remain through the final weeks. They have mostly singing parts. Mary, Joseph, and Infant have nonspeaking parts and are seated behind a curtain in the final week of presentation. Cast Pilgrim Guide Attendant Faith Hope Love Trust (three people) Mary Joseph ...

2602. Stuff!

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

It's everywhere you look. Stuff! From garage sales, to trunk sales and flea markets, to dumpsters, to folks riffling through your trash to find something of value ... and if they're lucky, something with your social security number on it. Stuff is everywhere. Don't get me wrong. I love stuff. By most measures I have too much of it. When Nancy and I were first married the only reason she could drag me to garage sales was the fact that I wanted to be with her all of the time. But standing there, looking at ...

2603. Proper 8

1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21, 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14, Psalm 16:1-11; 77:1-2, 11-20, Luke 9:51-62, Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: Good morning! It’s a beautiful summer day in our neighborhoods! People: It’s morning in the United Stated of America — our home by birth or by choice! Leader: With people around the world, we are God’s people. People: With all the citizens of America, we thank God for our freedoms. We are grateful for the men and women who ventured into the unknown territory of democracy hundreds of years ago. Leader: Thank God for the vision of “One Nation Under God.” People: We are glad for laws ...

2604. Hill Climbing

Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Life can sometimes seem like an uphill climb, can’t it? Comedian Red Buttons once did a routine in which he told of a bare dinner table. He was a teen and his family was poor. Around the table stood his family dressed in overcoats because they couldn’t afford heat. There was his mother dividing the half-loaf of stale bread among a dozen kids, who swept up and ate the crumbs. “Then,” adds Red Buttons, “then came the Depression!” Buttons was exaggerating, of course. But it does seem sometimes that, when ...

2605. Where the Church Gets Its Power

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s an exciting thing to be part of the church of Jesus Christ. We’ve got a good thing here, and we need to let the rest of the world know just how exciting it is. There’s an old story about a young high school football star who was being recruited by a coach from a major college. The coach had never seen the young man play, so he asked him some direct questions. “Son,” he said, “I understand that you do the passing for your team. Are you a pretty good passer?” “Am I a good passer?” the boy answered. “Why ...

2606. Can Two Become One?

Matthew 19:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

I recently came across a fascinating article called “The Top 10 Inventions That Changed The World.” Whenever I come across lists like these it is always fun to see how many of these I can guess. I am going to put 10 blanks up on the screen, beginning with number 10. Here are the top inventions in order from 10-to-1: 10. The Plow 9. The Wheel 8. The Printing Press 7. The Refrigerator 6. Communications (Telephone, TV, etc) 5. The Steam Engine 4. The Automobile 3. The Light Bulb 2. The Computer 1. The ...

2607. About Getting Drunk

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

A juggler, driving to his next performance, is stopped by a traffic cop. “What are these matches and lighter fluid doing in your car?” asks the officer. Was he a potential arsonist, thought the officer or, even worse, a terrorist? “I’m a juggler,” the driver answered, “and I juggle flaming torches in my act.” “Oh yeah?” says the doubtful cop. “Let’s see you do it.” The juggler gets out and starts juggling the blazing torches masterfully. A couple driving by slow down to watch. “Wow,” says the driver to his ...

2608. No Turning Back

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

Former heavyweight boxer James (Quick) Tillis is a cowboy from Oklahoma. Tillis fought out of Chicago in the early 1980s. A deeply religious man, Tillis is remembered as the first boxer ever to make Mike Tyson go the distance in the heavyweight division. Tillis had his disappointments as a boxer, but evidently they didn’t rob him of his sense of humor. He still remembers his first day in the Windy City after his arrival from Tulsa. “I got off the bus,” he says, “with two cardboard suitcases under my arms ...

2609. Be Careful What You Ask For

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a wonderful story about the King and Queen of Sweden who were attending the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. Trying to get into an ice hockey game featuring the Swedish team, they were stopped by the ticket taker because their tickets were for another game on another day. The King said that the correct tickets were in his car and he asked that they be allowed in without the correct tickets: “Could you make an exception for us, please?” he said. “You see, I’m the King of Sweden.” ...

2610. Treasure Hidden In a Clay Jar

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

King Duncan

A few years ago, a brother and a sister in west London found an old vase while cleaning out their parents’ home. They thought it might have some value. Subsequently they hired Bainbridge, an auction house, to sell it. They discovered it was valued at nearly $2 million. But, get this: after 30 minutes of spirited bidding at the auction, this vase, which turned out to be an 18th century Qing [pron. cheeng] Dynasty vase went to a buyer from China for more than 69 million dollars, the most ever paid at auction ...

2611. Sparkle

Luke 4:31-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.…Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. (James 14-15; 21) “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy.” (Deuteronomy ...

2612. The Sound of Joy

Genesis 17:1-27, Genesis 18:1-15, Genesis 18:16-33, Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Rejoice in the Lord always….again I say rejoice!” (Phil 4:4) “I grieve if my brother dies because I no longer have personal communion with him. But I can have a deep, abiding joy, for I know that death does not have the final word. It has been conquered in Christ’s death and resurrection.” (2 Tim. 1:10) We are a people born of laughter! Literally, we are all as Christians part of God’s holy people, in a covenant begun with Abraham and Sarah many years ago, when this elderly couple was granted an ...

2613. Calling All Wide Receivers!

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

This is the season of Christmas, but it’s also the season of …..football! How many of you are watching the Eagles play the Washington Redskins today at 4 pm? Go Eagles! Or maybe you’re a Chicago fan! I may not be a wicked-sharp aficionado about football, but I do know that one of the most important players in the game is the “wide receiver.” Wide receivers are the guys hovering out there along the periphery of the field, ready and able to receive the ball if the quarterback throws it their way. They are ...

2614. Body

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

In 2:14–4:6, the first step in his defense of the legitimacy of his apostolic claim, Paul repeatedly refers to heavenly realities he has known as an apostle: He has entered the heavenly throne room of God; he speaks in the presence of Christ; and he has seen the glory of God in the face of Christ (cf. 2:14, 17; 4:6). The emphasis in the previous section has thus been on the glory of Paul’s apostolic ministry. The problem is that Paul’s body does not manifest the glory of God in a tangible way. According to ...

2615. Never Satisfied

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Phillip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Phillip, and still you don’t know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14: 8-9) How is Philip like the Rolling Stones? Right! They can’t get no satisfaction. Remember those lyrics from the mid ‘60s? No matter how much they tried, they ‘can’t get no satisfaction’”. He and the other disciples had been following Jesus around for about three years, watching him heal ...

2616. Proper 22

Luke 17:1-10, 2 Timothy 1:1-2:13, Lamentations 1:1-22, Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

The Servant's Duty Question is sometimes raised about the lack of condemnation of slavery in the New Testament. Jesus never seems to have opposed it. In fact, in the parable about the servant's duty, Jesus uses the duties of a slave as a model. Elsewhere he uses the term for the proper relationship among persons, though it is frequently translated as servant rather than as slave. In a time when governments did not provide a safety net for the unemployed and people without land to farm or other means of ...

2617. Epiphany 5

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20, Isaiah 58:1-14, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God's Illuminating Spirit COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12) (C); Isaiah 58:7-10 (RC); Isaiah 58:5-9a (L) This passage is a dialogue between the pommeled people of Israel and God. The prophet voices the complaints of the people, as well as the Lord's response. This profound passage is from the hand of trito-Isaiah in the sixth century B.C. and the issue is fasting. The people complain that their pious acts of fasting, a sign of sorrow and supplication, are unnoticed by God. God responds ...

2618. Forever and Ever

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

On August 20, 1977, there was launched an 1819 pound space craft, Voyager 2, at Cape Canaveral. At 61,148 miles per hour it was directed toward the planet Neptune. In 1989 it arrived, only twenty-one miles from its destination. From 2.8 billion miles from earth it sent back pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Since it completed its mission, it was turned toward outer space, where it will float through the Milky Way forever and ever. In a world of endings, we long for something or someone that ...

2619. Wedding Sermon - Wedding Prayer

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Kenneth E. Crouch

After the prayer of invocation: You look so beautiful and so handsome -- like any prince and princess! We remember the fairytales of our childhood where the prince and princess were married and lived happily ever after. Since that does not happen today, I am obligated to instruct you. No activity is entered into so joyfully and with such high expectations as is marriage. But the happiness does not come automatically. You are not entering a partnership where each partner is asked to give 50 percent; rather ...

2620. The Ambiguity of Life, Deciding for Christ

John 10:22-42

Sermon

Carl Jech

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28) I've seen it from both sides - from the side of the family with a difficult child and from the side of the mother who complained that one "rotten apple" in her son's third grade class was disrupting the learning environment for the whole group. Both sets of parents would no doubt prefer to live in a simple, unambiguous world in which everything rolled smoothly along like clockwork. The fact is, ...

2621. One Commandment is Enough!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Rules, commandments, and laws are nothing new. For instance, everyone knows Murphy's Law: "If there is a possibility that something will go wrong, it will." Or how about the Law of Gardening: "You get the most of what you need the least." Jones' Rule of the Road is: "The easiest way to fold a map is differently." I like Erma Bombeck's Rule of Medicine: "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." One of my favorites is Agnes Allen's Law: "Almost anything is easier to get into than out of." But no ...

2622. Proper 12 & Pentecost 10

1 Kings 3:1-15, Exodus 3:1-22, Romans 8:18-27, Romans 8:28-39, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Once more the eschatological framework of the church year is reinforced by the day's readings, especially the lesson from Romans 8 and verses 47-50 of the Gospel of the Day, which speak specifically of the "end of the age" and the judgment that will come with it. Matthew's Gospel also spells out the nature of realized and present eschatology in the two little parables of the treasure and the precious pearl. Without the readings, the eschatological motif of Pentecost would be virtually ...

2623. A Mother Who Could Let Go

1 Samuel 9:1--10:8

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

In a labor room on the obstetrics wing of a hospital, a doctor found a crumpled paper on which an expectant father had done some scribbling. Obviously, during the pauses in the long labor process, he had been thinking about the child about to be born. This is what he wrote: John Peter Jones, John P. Jones, J.P. Jones, John Jones, Governor John Jones, President John P. Jones, All the Way with JPJ!" Maybe the baby turned out to be Juanita Paulene Jones! I can tell you one thing that father and mother ...

2624. Right on the Money!

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One day a mother was having a deep discussion with her 12- old daughter about values. She said, "Honey, What you need in order to survive in this world is faith in God and a good sense of humor." The daughter thought about that and then, with a twinkle her eye, said, "It also helps to have a credit card." How thoroughly American is that 12-year-old. We are a credit culture. Partly because of the credit cards, many of us have le irresponsible and undisciplined in our finances. If the average 65-year-old ...

2625. Advice For Soldiers At The Front

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a humorous story about a young soldier who was experiencing his first battle. The frightened recruit inched his way backward, and backward and finally just turned and ran. He had gone quite a ways when he was abruptly stopped by an officer. The officer was pointing a revolver at the man's head. He threatened to execute the soldier if he took another step. The soldier pleaded with the officer, "Oh, please Captain, don't shoot me; please give me another chance to prove myself." The officer felt ...

Showing results