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 2676 to 2700 of 4490 results

2676. By What Authority?

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. -- Mark 1:17-18 This text is a statement about a radical discipleship. It needs to be pointed out at the beginning that this reading is the most compact and compressed statement of the gospel expressed anywhere in the New Testament. Leonard Sweet points out, "In these few verses, Jesus' role as an authoritative, compelling, charismatic preacher is defined; the kernel of the gospel ...

2677. Whose Work Is It?

Luke 21:5-38

Drama

Pamela Urfer

Cast: Two women, Eeodia and Syntyche, and one man, Clement Length: 10 minutes (The two women are seated on their stools with an empty stool between them. CLEMENT enters excitedly, waving a letter.) CLEMENT: Euodia! Syntyche! Paul has sent us another letter! Epaphroditus just brought it. SYNTYCHE: Oh, Clement! That's so wonderful. I just don't know what we would do without Paul's advice. EUODIA: Yes. It's hard starting a new church as part of a new religion. Harder than I ever expected. CLEMENT: (Taking his ...

2678. Whose Work Is It?

Philemon 1:1-7

Drama

Pamela Urfer

Cast: Two women, Euodia and Syntyche one man, Clement Length: 10 minutes The two women are seated on their stools with an empty stool between them. CLEMENT enters excitedly, waving a letter. CLEMENT: Euodia! Syntyche! Paul has sent us another letter! Epaphroditus just brought it. SYNTYCHE: Oh, Clement! That's so wonderful. I just don't know what we would do without Paul's advice. EUODIA: Yes. It's hard starting a new church as part of a new religion. Harder than I ever expected. CLEMENT: (Taking his seat) ...

2679. Prepared Or Not?

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Weddings are wonderful! That is an expression you may hear frequently at the announcement of such an event. A lot of planning and expense usually go into making the event a special and joyous time. In our culture family and friends will travel long distances to be present at the ceremony. Almost every culture has extensive traditions and customs surrounding a wedding. They underscore the importance of the event. In our culture marriage is regulated by law. The state assumes that it has a stake in the ...

2680. Shared Bread

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Sermon

Alex Gondola

There is an ancient legend that comes to us from Persia. It seems a wealthy nobleman once was sitting alone in his garden. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the sounds of a crowd were heard, and the nobleman was surprised to see a ragged man climbing over his garden wall. Panting and out of breath, the man threw himself at the nobleman's feet and begged for his protection. He said he was just steps ahead of an angry mob. The nobleman nodded and casually handed the man the remainder of the peach he had been eating. ...

2681. Ananias And Sapphira, Liars

Drama

Peter C. Garrison

Ananias and Sapphira's problem isn't so much that they had money and didn't give it to the church, but that they lied to God. Remember, money is not the root of all evil; the love of money is ... (Note: Verse 11 contains the first reference to the followers of Christ being called a "church' or ekklesia: the called out/chosen ones.) (Please read Acts 4:32--5:11) Ananias And Sapphira Ananias has just been carried out dead. Joseph of Cyprus (the Levite who sold his field and gave the proceeds to the church) ...

2682. The Bread That Endures

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

Perhaps you did something this morning that many others do each morning as well -- you had a piece of toast or a bagel for breakfast. Perhaps you put strawberry jam or honey on your toast and spread some cream cheese on your bagel. Around the world, this simple human ritual is repeated in a variety of ways. In Malaysia, that same piece of toast might be smeared with kaya, a thick jam made from coconut milk. In Taiwan or in Beijing, instead of toast, it may be a steamed bun filled with bits of roast pork ...

2683. Proper 27

Luke 20:27-40, Psalm 145:1-21, Psalm 98:1-9

Sermon Aid

B. David Hostetter

Call to Worship (responsively) God is near to all who pray, to all who pray truthfully. God fulfills the desire of all who pray devoutly; God also hears their cry, and saves them. Prayer of Confession God of the living, we confess that our faith is often unimaginative. We are limited by what we know and experience in this life. We find it difficult to believe that there can be another life without the limitations of this life. We hesitate to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven and invest too much in ...

2684. The Easter Season

Mt 28:1-8 · Mk 16:1-8 · Lk 24:1-10 · Jn 20:1-9

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

The Development Of The Season The resurrection of Jesus Christ is, of course, the focal point of the Christian faith. In the primitive church there was no special day singled out to celebrate the Lord's resurrection. Every Sunday was a mini-celebration of the Lord's victory. Since the resurrection occurred around the same time as the Jewish Passover, early Christians referred to the church's chief festival as the Pasca, the Greek word for the Passover. Jesus became the Passover Lamb who frees us from the ...

2685. Trinity Sunday

Mt 28:16-20 · Jn 3:16-18 · Gen 1:1--2:4a · Ex 34:4-9 · 2 Cor 13:11-13 · Ps 8

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

THIS WEEK'S TEXT Revised Common: Genesis 1:1--2:4a · 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 · Matthew 28:16-20 Roman Catholic: Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 · 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 · John 3:16-18 Episcopal: Genesis 1:1--2:3 · 2 Corinthians 13:(5-10) · Matthew 28:16-20 Lutheran: Genesis 1:1--2:3 or 2 Corinthians 13:11-14 · Matthew 28:16-20 · Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40 COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Genesis 1:1--2:4a This is the first of two creation accounts found in Genesis. God creates through the power of his word. This account suggests ...

2686. Rainbow In The Sky

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

"My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; so it is now ..." So wrote Wordsworth. Now we know why. God gave the rainbow, our text informs us, as a sign of the unfailing presence and love of God who assures that the darkness shall never overcome us. Most of us have known the exhilaration of a sudden burst of sunlight through prevailing darkness, a splendid display of color across the sky, and the promise again fulfilled that beyond all darkness is light and beauty. ...

2687. Drop-Everything-Discipleship

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

This text is a statement about a radical discipleship. It needs to be pointed out at the beginning that this reading is the most compact and compressed statement of the gospel expressed anywhere in the New Testament. Leonard Sweet points out, "In these few verses, Jesus' role as an authoritative, compelling, charismatic preacher is defined; the kernel of the gospel message is expressed; and drop-everything-discipleship -- the result of seeing Jesus and hearing his message -- is described." The word " ...

2688. A Dead Girl and A Sick Woman

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

The revised lectionary cycle serves us well by putting the intercalated stories of the healing of the unclean woman with the flow of blood and the raising of the twelve-year-old girl together again. We still have the problem, however, that vv. 1-20 are omitted totally from the lectionary readings. It can be argued on a number of premises that these three stories belong together. They belong together, for example, as a threefold response to the question of the disciples: "Who then is this, that even the ...

2689. Putting God In His Place

Matthew 6:33

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

Purpose: To show the importance of keeping God at the center of life. Materials: A small toy car with a friction motor. Several large cardboard disks, glued together. A pencil. Drill a hole, the diameter of the pencil, through the center of the disk; and drill another hole about one inch off the center. Lesson: By just looking at this toy car, you cannot tell what kind it is; but when I spin the wheels, the sound tells you that this is a special kind of car. Once you have the wheels turning fast, they will ...

2690. Repent Your Way To A Merry Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Brett Blair

A number of years ago a couple traveled to the offices of an Adoption Society in England to receive a baby. They had been on the waiting list a long time. They had been interviewed and carefully scrutinized. Now at last their dreams were to be fulfilled. But their day of happiness was another's pain. Arriving at the offices of the Society they were led up a flight of stairs to a waiting room. After a few minutes they heard someone else climbing the stairs. It was the young student mother whose baby was to ...

2691. The Spear

John 19:31-35

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A spear Perhaps you remember the moment that we spoke of when the soldier came up to Jesus, climbed the ladder and put a sponge with sour wine to Jesus' lips. Jesus died very shortly after that moment. I don't know how many people who were there that day heard Jesus say it, but after the soldier lifted the sponge to His lips Jesus said, "It is finished." He was dead. It seemed impossible that only a few hours before He was eating with His disciples and now He was dead. This was a Friday and only a ...

2692. A Sealed Promise

Ephesians 1:13

Children's Sermon

Tim Carpenter

Exegetical Aim: To illustrate the permanence of a seal. Props: A piece of writing paper, a pen, a candle, a match, and something to leave an impression in wax A ring with some kind of insignia would be best. You will probably want to practice this at home before doing it for the children. Lesson: Once upon a time, there were lots of kings. Kings were the most important people in the land. From time to time they would need to send important letters to someone. But they would not want anyone else to read the ...

2693. Whose Work Is It?

Philippians 1:1-11

Drama

Pamela Urfer

Cast: Two women, EUODIA and SYNTYCHE, and one man, CLEMENT Length: 10 minutes The two women are seated on their stools with an empty stool between them. CLEMENT enters excitedly, waving a letter. CLEMENT: Euodia! Syntyche! Paul has sent us another letter! Epaphroditus just brought it. SYNTYCHE: Oh, Clement! That's so wonderful. I just don't know what we would do without Paul's advice. EUODIA: Yes. It's hard starting a new church as part of a new religion. Harder than I ever expected. CLEMENT: (Taking his ...

2694. No Grey Area

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

Our text this morning is about one of the greatest spiritual and theological events in the history of the Christian church. Interestingly enough, it was not a dramatic martyrdom, nor a mass miracle, or even a crusade. It was not a worship service, a great sermon preached, or a crowd conversion. It was a church convention - a convention held about fifty years after the death of our Lord. For those of you who have ever attended a convention of the church, it may sound unbelievable that it could be a ...

2695. Christ Is King

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Today we have the privilege of a preview of that glory when eternity begins, when every knee shall bend and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father. The day is Christ the King, the final Sunday in another round of time with Christ. We can hear the trumpet of the seventh angel, and the voices loudly shouting in the heavens (Apocalypse 11:15), "The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." We are in the ...

2696. Slavery and Freedom

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will be made free’?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever. So if the Son makes ...

2697. Proper 15

Matthew 15:21-28

Bulletin Aid

Call to Worship Pastor: Many barriers come between God and his people, limiting his ability to give wholeness. People: It seemed the Canaanite woman would be rejected; but her faith overcame her barriers, and brought healing to her daughter. Pastor: The gift of faith is available to everyone, and breaks through any barrier to God's grace. People: May God give us faith to overcome any obstacle which seems to withhold his love from us. Collect Father of love and mercy, whose blessings come in proportion to ...

2698. The Sermon in the Supper

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Edward Chinn

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Several years ago in England, a man wrote to the editor of the British Weekly. In his letter, the writer reported that he could not remember any sermons preached in any of the churches he had attended. Because of that, the man questioned whether sermons were really as important as preachers thought they were. "I have been attending a church service for the past 30 years and I have heard probably 3,000 ...

2699. Repent Your Way To A Merry Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

2700. Shoestrings and God

Matthew 5:21-26

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A broken shoestring. Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever had to be somewhere in such a hurry that when you were tying your shoestring it broke? I have seen children and grownups break their shoestrings and become very angry when they had to take the time to fix them. Some children I know just try to forget that they have broken the shoestring and go off running or walking with the broken shoestring. The first thing that you know they have a sore foot where their shoes have rubbed them in ...

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