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 251 to 275 of 4489 results

251. Making Wise Investments

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Pay it Forward is a tender movie about a twelve year old boy named Trevor. His seventh grade social studies teacher offered students extra credit if they could come up with a plan to change the world for the better, and put it into action. Trevor, this serious child of a single alcoholic mother, takes on the challenge by doing three people an extraordinary favor and when they try to pay it back, he tells each not to pay it back, but ‘pay it forward.' Paying it forward is what Jesus' parable of the talents ...

252. Why Join a Church?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

At the tender age of 18, I accepted my first appointment as pastor of a local church. Almost every Sunday for the past 38 years, I have stepped into some pulpit to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. For a lifetime, the local Church has captured my heart, my mind, my strength, and my deepest devotion. Today, I believe in her mission more than ever before. The local Church, in my opinion, is still God’s best hope for humanity. What makes a church great is not its building and not its steeple. What makes a ...

253. Making the Most of Small Beginnings

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

How does one explain the unexplainable, describe the indescribable, or comprehend the incomprehensible? Such was the challenge facing Jesus as he attempted to paint a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven to us mere mortals. So Jesus resorted to telling parables, earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Instead of trying to tell it like it is, Jesus told it like it might be: the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, a little bit of leaven, a treasure hidden in the field, a pearl of great price, a dragnet of ...

254. Totally Poured Out

2 Timothy 4:9-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Mike Krzyzewski [pronounced “shuh- shef-skee”] is coach of the national champion Duke Blue Devils basketball team. He is known as being meticulous in his pursuit of basketball success. In his book titled, Leading with the Heart, he attributes much of his success to his mother. He writes, “You want to know who my hero is? My hero is my mother. Everything she did was something that she put her own trademark on. Whatever it was, something as simple as making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. When we were a ...

255. Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

The song “Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil”[1] by Handt Hanson, is a beautiful piece that suggests a deep sense of longing for something important. The melody, tone, and words all come together perfectly as an interpretation of the gospel reading for today. While it is tempting to want to move on immediately to what a story like the parable of the sower means that reaction is usually an attempt to distance ourselves from the personal impact of the story. The story is safer if we can intellectualize it and ...

256. No Promotion Required

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

On March 4th, 1966 pop music icon John Lennon set off a firestorm in this country by declaring that his band, The Beatles, were more popular than Jesus. And with teenage girls that was probably true. Do you know how the Beatles became famous though? According to Internet marketer Caleb O’Dowd it didn’t happen by accident or simple good luck. According to O’Dowd, Brian Epstein the manager of the Beatles, was a marketing genius. “To begin with,” says O’Dowd, “Brian hired hundreds of teenage girls. He then ...

257. Sermon In A Word

John 20:10-18, John 20:1-9

Drama

Jerry Eckert

Comment: "The Disciples' Tenebrae" was a perfect set-up for the sunrise service. As people entered the church Easter Sunday, the worship room was bare of decorations. The rough cross made of old Christmas tree trunks still stood at the front of the church, draped with the black cloth from the Maundy Thursday service three nights before. There were no lights on in the church. All was very quiet as the people gathered. To begin the service, the liturgist went up to the cross, pulled the black cloth off of it ...

258. Is It God's Will?

Hebrews 2:5-18

Sermon

Erskine White

For because He himself has suffered and been tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18) A young woman is driving her car down the highway on a bright summer's day. She's got the radio turned up and the windows turned down; her long hair is flowing freely in the wind; it's one of those days when it feels just great to be alive. Suddenly, as she rounds a bend in the road, there is another car speeding towards her in the wrong lane. She tries to turn out of the way, but her car spins ...

259. The Heart of the Reformation

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

There are many inadequate views regarding the essential nature of the Protestant Reformation. Some consider Luther as an ecclesiastical rebel who sought to overthrow an ancient church organization. Nothing was further from his purpose. He pleaded only that the gospel of Christ be given free course within the church. The Reformation was not a summons to attack the Roman Catholic Church but to affirm the positive convictions derived from God’s revelation of himself in Christ. Another misconception is that ...

260. Radical Love is Truthful (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Every time I preach a sermon on “Loving Your Enemies” it seems to conjure up more questions than answers. Such was the case with the sermon last week. I was hardly out of the pulpit when people wanted to know: What about truth and justice? How could Jesus teach non-violence and then announce that he came not to bring peace but a sword? Did not the same Jesus who said turn the other cheek also turn the tables in the temple and drive out the moneychangers in a moment of, at best, righteous anger if not ...

261. On Your Mark, Get Set, Hope!

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Remember when? Remember when: Visions of sugar plums danced in your head, Silent night was an exciting night, Away in a manger didn’t seem so far away, Remember when you couldn’t wait for Christmas? Life has a way of turning our hopes and dreams into obligations and responsibilities. The child within us gives way to the adult that is out daily earning a living, fulfilling roles, meeting the deadlines of life. Maybe here in December it’s time to visit that child again, the child that lives within. The ...

262. Kingdom Values According to Jesus (Series: Questioning our Values)

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The world is abuzz these days about values. We promote our values, debate our values, vote our values, teach our values, and hopefully, live our values. Values are the personal qualities that sustain us in the big picture of life. Values are a set of guiding principles that help us make decisions. Values are beliefs and attitudes about what is good and right and desirable and worthwhile. People with fuzzy values live fuzzy lives. So, I invite us to use these forty days of Lent to examine our values. I want ...

263. When It’s Time to Seek Direction

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

There is a story soaring across the Internet these days suggesting things might have gone better if the wise men had been three wise women. After all, had women been in charge, they would have asked for direction, gotten to the Manger on time, assisted with the birth, cleaned up the place and made a casserole for the Holy Family. Will the battle of the sexes ever end? Of course, the author of that analogy evidently failed to read the Gospel of Matthew for our scripture lesson says, “After Jesus was born in ...

264. Household of Faith

II Timothy 1:3-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

As speaker and author, Tony Campolo, tells the story, it happened during a sophisticated academic gathering at the University of Pennsylvania which neither he nor his wife wanted to attend. During their mixing among the faculty, a sociology professor came up to Mrs. Campolo and said, “What do you do for a living?" Mrs. Campolo, feeling the compelling task of raising children, gave this reply, “I am socializing two homosapiens into the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they ...

265. Getting in S.H.A.P.E. for Ministry

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open it up and here’s all the people. Do you remember that childhood jingle? It’s the people part of that trilogy that I want to talk about today. For the past two years, we have worked diligently casting a vision, building a staff and raising the funds for the future of this great congregation. We believe God is calling us to touch hearts and transform lives for the glory of God and the good of the world. Now we must do one more thing to transform that dream into ...

266. Whose Child Is This?

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Here we are in December. The season of waiting has come. Children are waiting for Santa. Christians are waiting for Christ. Someone is waiting for a soldier to come home. All of us are waiting for something. Waiting is hard for me. I spent my days in the hospital reading the Pentateuch, the ceremonial laws of Leviticus, the census counts of Numbers, the speeches of Moses in Deuteronomy. Some of the most boring pages of the Bible you can find, but you do that when all you are doing is just waiting and ...

267. Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A group of boys and girls were trying to find a game to play. “Why don’t we play Hide and Seek?” asked Billy. “No way,” said Sally. “I’m afraid I’ll get hid and nobody will be able to find me. Then everybody will go home and I will be lost.” “Lost and Found.” It’s such a common predicament that the classifieds run a special section for it each day. In Nashville this weekend somebody lost a small, black, fluffy, female cat near Thompson Lane. Somebody else found a silver-grey Schnauzer Terrier dog around ...

268. The Lord of All

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The sermon today is captured in a little chorus we often sing. It's printed on the back of your bulletin. Will you sing it with me? He is Lord! He is Lord! He is risen from the dead and He is Lord! Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, That Jesus Christ is Lord. It's Christ the King Sunday, a day to celebrate Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. As John the Apostle says: I. CHRIST IS LORD OF THE EARTH. The Bible opens with these words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." ...

269. Fanning the Flames of Family

Ephesians 5:8-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“It only takes a spark to get the fires going and soon all those around can warm up to it glowing." Could the lyrics of that old camp song be true for the American family? What happens in your house may be more important than what happens in the White House! The greatest threat to America may not be terrorists abroad, or storms above; our greatest threat may be the disintegration of family to whom we normally turn in times of crisis. So today, let's think for a few moments about fanning the flames of ...

270. Paul's Charge to Timothy

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

Another Appeal to Loyalty and Endurance With this paragraph, which focuses on its single imperative in verse 14 (continue in what you have learned), Paul renews the appeal with which the letter began. (Note how many themes from 1:3–2:13 are touched on: Timothy’s long relationship to Paul [vv. 10–11, 14; cf. 1:4, 6, 13]; Paul himself as the model of loyalty [vv. 10–11; cf. 1:8, 11–12, 13; 2:9–10]; the call to suffering [vv. 11–12; cf. 1:8, 16; 2:3–6, 11–12]; the appeal itself [v. 14; cf. 1:6, 13–14]; the ...

271. The Healing Tree

Revelation 22:1-6, Luke 8:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” --Ezekiel 47:12 “The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will ...

272. Lord, Send The Wind

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Sermon

James McLemore

What does it mean to ask the Lord to send the Wind? Let me give you some examples. Together four eyes peered into the vacant alley of an overcrowded apartment complex. They wiped sweat from their faces as they watched the red sun of a hot day dip below the horizon, only to reveal the white moon of a hotter night. Next door through the paper-thin walls, they could hear a man and a woman arguing about the night before and the night before that. Upstairs, through the hollow ceiling they could hear the cries ...

273. Proper 22

Hebrews 1:1-14, Hebrews 2:5-18, Job 2:1-10, Mark 10:13-16, Mark 10:1-12

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Remaining true to our covenants of faith. In the First Lesson, Job remained true to God in his trials. In the Second Lesson, the writer of Hebrews calls the Jewish Christians to keep from falling away from Christ. In the Gospel, Christ calls us to keep our marriage covenant. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Job 1:1; 2:1-10 (C) This lection comprises the first of four readings from the book of Job, one of the books of biblical wisdom literature. This reading is part of the introduction (1:1--2:13), which sets ...

274. "Hold Your Horses!"

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"... wait for the Promise of the Father." When you were a child, did your parents ever say to you, as mine said to me, "Hold your horses!" I must have heard that phrase literally hundreds of times as I was growing up: when I wanted school to be out for the summer, when I fretted because a meal was not ready, when I wanted to do something exciting "now," when I spoke too hastily, when I demanded something be done immediately, when I couldn’t stand still while mother measured a hem in a skirt - I can hear it ...

275. The Star Thrower

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

O Star (the fairest one in sight), We grant your loftiness the right To some obscurity of cloud – It will not do to say of night, Since dark is what brings out your light. Some mystery becomes the proud. But to be wholly taciturn In your reserve is not allowed. Say something to us we can learn By heart and when alone repeat. Say something! And it says "I burn." -- Robert Frost, "Choose Something Like A Star" The Star of Bethlehem associated with this holy season was taciturn and mysterious. It was lofty ...

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