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 2626 to 2650 of 2664 results

2626. When God Leads

Joshua 3:7-17

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... the manager of the local Chik-fil-A. Mt. Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie recruited manager Jerry Walkowiak and asked for his feedback on how to manage the flow of traffic at the vaccination site. As Mayor Haynie said, “Jerry got a phone call and dropped everything because he knows getting this vaccine out is a game changer.” Walkowiak quickly spotted the problem with the manual registration process. With the help of volunteers from the local Rotary Club, he reduced the wait time from several hours to just 15 ...

2627. Cast in the Image of God

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the things of Caesar(all that has been created in the image of Caesar, for what bears his appearance is all he is).” “Give back to God the things of God (all that has been created in the image of God).” If you didn’t hear that “mic drop,” you missed the huge punch! Is Jesus a politician? No way! Master political artist! You bet! For what has been created in the image of God? They have been. We all have been. Here’s Jesus’ truth: Caesar’s power and influence amounts to that little piece of ...

2628. The Mustard Seed

Matthew 17:19-20 · Mark 4:30-32

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... one of the very smallest seeds there is. So small that there is really very little to it. If a gentle wind came along while you were holding it and it blew across your hand the, mustard seed would fly off where you might never find it again. If you drop the mustard seed on the cement or even put it in your pocket with a lot of other things you might lose it because it is so small and unimportant looking. If you put the mustard seed beside an acorn or a pumpkin seed or a bean you might even ...

2629. Dirt Jobs

Illustration

Brett Blair

... depression. Remove loneliness. Give you purpose and a sense of pride. My dad always said, "you may not always be proud of the job you have, but you can always be proud of the job you do." [Funny Clarification: What Rowe did at the end of this story is he dropped his head on a microphone he was holding and it made a clunk sound as he said to the audience "No No, you missed it....]

2630. Embarrassing Visits

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Mary Austin

... — being born anew into faith is a long walk with God. There are moments of God’s presence that move us forward. And there are also lessons we learn slowly. Nicodemus finally worked up the nerve to come to Jesus. He started with a little flattery, and Jesus dropped him right into a discussion about God. By the end his head was spinning, and he probably had a big headache. He came to Jesus as a prominent religious figure, and Jesus told him he had to be born again. Well, he was just fine with the birth ...

2631. Never Really Alone

Mark 14:1-15:47

Sermon

Mary Austin

... One thing I never thought about until recently was the expression on Jesus’ face. A Lent book I love suggests, “Surely few of us picture [Jesus as] stern and stoic, ignoring the joy all around him, or anxious and jittery, waiting for the other shoe to drop, or rolling His eyes in dismissal of the nonsense. I picture Jesus smiling, looking around him at the radiant faces of the twelve and the hope-filled eyes of the masses. Knowing that the twelve would soon run for their lives and the masses would soon ...

2632. Knowing, and Known

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... men nodded, put down their heavy bags, and sat on the ground next to the fire. Without speaking, the old man stirred the embers to bring the fire to life. He filled the small pot with water, ground a handful of leaves and when the water began to steam, he dropped them in the pot. The old man got four small cups and set them on the ground in front of him. When he decided it was ready, he lifted the pot and slowly filled three cups with fresh, warm tea. He lifted one cup and held it out to offer ...

2633. A Little Foolishness

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... by him at some point, the lucky ones when they were on their own somewhere without an audience to watch their suffering. The people who lived in houses next door to the church parsonages used to smile and laugh a bit when they saw the preacher suddenly drop the rake in the yard and run to the house. They had apparently seen Hap turn the corner on his bicycle and heading their way. The slow or less-observant ones usually got caught. Hap would pull up silently behind them and say, “Hey Rev’rund. I ...

2634. Click to Unfriend

Hebrews 10:16-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... open wounds. Mary stayed and watched it all. She heard the words Jesus spoke. She saw someone hold the damp sponge to his dried lips, promising the relief of cool water but delivering instead bitter vinegar. She was there when he died. She watched as the soldiers dropped his body from the cross and Joseph of Arimathea and others picked it up before the soldiers could throw it from the column into the trash pile below as they usually did. She watched as they placed the body in one of the tombs dug into the ...

2635. I Want To Remind You — Easter Sunday

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... along one wall where the body is placed and prepared for burial, and sometime later the body is moved into one of the other rooms alongside the others already there. The caves are dark except for the candles and oil lamps we are carrying. The floor is marked with the drops of wax and oil from the candles and lamps of those who have been here before us. The air is dry and is filled with the smells of incense and the scented oils used in the burial preparations. Can you see it? But what I really want you to ...

2636. How Will Dad React?

Luke 15:18-21

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... fact no one was seriously injured. I will continue the investigation. Yes, I’m checking on the young man’s driver’s license, insurance coverage, and then.” I just got my driver’s permit last week. Did okay in driver’s ed but I guess I got distracted when I dropped my smart phone and tried to pick it up and then there was this semi-truck right in front of me. Where did he come from? Oh, I guess he was parked. I wonder what Dad will say? I wonder what Dad will do? (paces up and down stage) Let ...

2637. Let's Go Fishing

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to respond to our efforts. Stick with the program. Do not let discouragement keep you from it. Get up. Get on with it. Let’s go fishing. One day, long ago, Jesus said to some friends, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” They dropped what they were doing and came along. Now Jesus says to twenty-first-century friends, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Our response? How about, “Okay, Lord. Let’s do it. Let’s go fishing.” An ancient legend recounts the return of ...

2638. Casters and Menders

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... unleash upon the world. Let’s look a bit more closely at their unique descriptions. We learn in Greek that Simon (and Andrew) with the emphasis on Simon is fishing by casting nets. The Greek word here is “amphiballontas” from the root “ballo” –to cast, throw, drop in a circular fashion of throwing.[1] By this method of fishing, a strong, heavy, circular net with weights attached all around it is wound around the arm and then is cast out into the sea by a circular kind of motion. One wound the ...

2639. Vengeance: Human and Divine

Matthew 13:1-9 · Isaiah 44:6-8 · Psalm 1-12, 17-18, 23-24

Sermon

Will Willimon

... at the restaurant last week, but.... Before you're too hard on these Jews who wanted to bash in the heads of the Babylonian babies, think how you would feel about the Nazis who led your little ones to the furnace. How would you feel toward the people who dropped the atom bomb on your city? Don’t worry that vengeance is there in the Psalms, it's here in us. How wel1 the Bible knows us! The Psalms “tell it like it is.” It’s no accident that Psalm 139, which celebrates the mystery of our humanity, also ...

2640. What Time Is It?

Matthew 24:32-44

Sermon

Will Willimon

... late for him now. He’s dead. It’s all over for him. He might have wanted to straighten his life out, but he can’t now. It’s over.” What a comfort this must be to the family, I thought. “But it ain't too late for you! People drop dead every day. So why wait? Now is the day for decision. Now is the time to make your life count for something. Give your life to Jesus!'' Well, it was the worst thing I ever heard. “Can you imagine a preacher doing that kind of thing to a grieving ...

2641. Daniel Interprets the Dream

Daniel 2:24-49

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... , the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold is not unusual, because the image is struck on its feet. However, the order within the set of the nouns is strange, because it has “clay” between bronze and silver, when it should go with “iron.” Perhaps at one point it dropped out of the text and was added back in by a scribe in the wrong place.

2642. New Life Goes On

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

David Coffin

... cafeteria with the guards closely following her. As she fought back tears, she was taking a final walk of shame to make a corporate power point to the other employees who had not been terminated yet. The office was so quiet one could hear a pin drop on the carpet floor. As she turned on the ignition of her car, she was directed to the parking lot exit. Upon leaving the premises, the parking lot gates were immediately closed and electronically locked. Was this the end of this humiliation? No! That evening at ...

2643. Belonging at the Table

John 6:51-58

Sermon

David Coffin

... to feel God’s grace and presence the most, was when it was denied. Again, I persisted and found another congregation. However, today as such stories as mine are shared and there are people who are less patient with the church and simply will drop being part of organized religion totally. Do we need requirements for who partakes in the Holy Communion? In my years of ministry, I have seen the answer to this question evolve. When I was ordained in my denomination in the 1980s, “First Communion” was ...

2644. Not a Religion

Hebrews 10:5-10

Sermon

Scott Bryte & Kimberly Miller van Driel

... Judaism, these people were called priests. Lots of religions have these mediators. They represent God to the people, and they represent the people to God. Today is the last Sunday in the season of Advent. Before we move on to Christmas and Advent drops off of our radar for another year, there is something we need to look at. Advent isn’t just a place-holder until Christmas comes. The season of Advent reveals an incredible secret about Christianity, a secret that we Christians ourselves so often miss ...

2645. When the Rules Change

7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

David Coffin

... you will see him, as he told you” Mark 16:7 (RSV). Galilee was the less domesticated area of Judea where more bandits and unsettled peoples wandered. It was further from the city of Jerusalem. It was the place where the cell phone signals dropped, there was slow internet service and where illegal immigrants might sneak into without being caught by the authorities. The bottom line here was that Jesus told his disciples not to geographically restrict themselves in terms of the next place to do ministry and ...

2646. Recush

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

... sugar maple tree that was alive with bright red leaves, and it was a sunny day, so the red leaves contrasted with the blue sky. That tree brought me joy. That tree reminded me of God’s love and the goodness of creation. That tree even made me happier than dropping off a load of books at the library. Amen.

2647. The Possibility Mindset

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... s inheritance of eternal life. No human being will ever even come close to God’s level of goodness! It’s not possible. Stunned, the disciples reply, “Then who can be saved?” And Jesus agrees: “For mortals it is impossible!” But then…the “mic drop”: “But not for God. For God all things are possible!! DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING! In other words, no amount of achievement or acquisition will ever help us to “measure up” to deserving God’s grace. So throw that ruler away! You don ...

2648. Touched by God

Luke 1:46-55

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... happened one day to Mary. And she found herself pregnant, an unwed mother, in the midst of an unforgiving society, ready to stone her if they ever found out. Something terrifying happened to Mary that made the pit of her stomach feel like it just dropped out. How could she tell her betrothed, the man who was contracted to marry her, that she was already pregnant. How could he ever believe she had done nothing wrong! Something deeply troubling and confusing happened to Mary. And she had no idea what to ...

2649. Into the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... ? Who keeps tabs on the has-beens? Who records the disasters of those who fade away under pressure or disaster? Because of the fickleness of our experiences and the frailty of our existence, our travels are rarely even keel. We rise to heights of ecstasy. We drop to “sloughs of despond,” as Bunyan put it in The Pilgrim’s Progress. We ride the roller coaster with its cheers and fears, some of them deeply disturbing. We had a moment of that desperation in our family years ago. There was a section in one ...

2650. Mountaintop Experience

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... him home. “Lord,” he said, “Who have you left behind to carry on your work?” Jesus told him about the disciples: the little band of fishermen, farmers, and housewives. “But Lord,” said Gabriel, “what if they fail you?! What if they lose heart, or drop out?! What if things get too rough for them, and they let you down?” Jesus replied, “Then all I have done will come to nothing!” “But don’t you have a backup plan?” Gabriel asked. “Isn’t there something else to keep it going ...

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