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 2726 to 2750 of 4490 results

2726. Proper 24

Exodus 33:12-23, Matthew 22:15-22, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Psalm 99:1-9

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 33:12-23 is an extended petition of Moses for God to accompany Israel on their wilderness travels. Psalm 99 is a song of praise that celebrates the power of God. Exodus 33:12-23 - "The Power of Petition: Part 2" Setting. See the commentary from last week for an overview of the three-part structure of Exodus 19-34, which is (1) revelation and covenant Exodus 19-31), (2) the breaking of covenant and threat of destruction Exodus 32 -33), and (3) covenant renewal (Exodus 34). The ...

2727. Singing at the Table

Joel 2:21-29

Sermon

John E. Harnish

Joel. One of what are called the "Minor Prophets," not because they are the "minor league," less important, but simply because of their size. The Major Prophets are the heavy-hitters—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. It took up a full scroll to record them. But these little guys played shortstop. They were the quick-read, the USA Today version—short enough for all of them to be recorded on one scroll. So they came to be known as "The Twelve" or the Minor Prophets. In Joel's day, it seems the worst had come to ...

2728. From Silence to Sight

Job 42:1-6, Job 42:7-17

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

Playwright Neil Simon has written a comedy, God's Favorite, based on a contemporary Job, a tycoon whom Simon names "Joe Benjamin" or "Joe B." for short. The setting is Long Island, where Joe B. lives in a nineteen-room mansion with his wife, a prodigal son, and a pair of kooky twins. The family's assets include priceless paintings, irreplaceable antiques, including a Gutenberg Bible, half a million dollars in jewelry, swimming pools, and domestic servants. Joe was not always wealthy, having grown up in a ...

2729. Grits, Grats and Gruts...Not Grunts

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"Where there's a will...." This sermon brings together the financial concept of needing to have a will with the faith concept of needing to have a willing nature, to help people see the complex interconnections between the spiritual and the material, our will and our work, our desires and our deeds. The good news is that by continually flexing our spiritual willpower we can experience redeeming acts of resurrection in our lives. Do you have a will? Everyone needs one. You must not die without it. Do you ...

2730. Hello!?

Romans 8:26-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When we find ourselves shrinking, shirking, shivering and sniveling in fear and doubt, God breaks through to say: "Hello!?" A Harris survey commissioned by United Airlines found that 38 percent of passengers never use the lavatory during a flight, 60 percent do, and another 2 percent aren't sure. "Hello!?" I'm fascinated by that 2 percent. But I sure hope I never sit next to one of them on a flight! "Hello!?!" Did you read about Julee Sharik, from Orem, Utah. She gave birth to a 7-pound, 5-ounce son, just ...

2731. The Oblivious Obvious

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

There are times when it's necessary and important to state the obvious. Such a time is now. Question: What do Smokey the Bear, Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist have in common? Answer: The same middle name. Why is the obvious so oblivious, so hard for us to see? Dr. Samuel Johnson once observed: "Never be afraid to state the obvious. It is what most people have forgotten." As a pastor, out doing some home visitation, climbed the steps to the porch of one of his parishioners, he heard the sound of a ...

2732. Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Matthew the believer and theologian takes seriously the importance of Jesus' words to that first generation of disciples. But Matthew the Gospel writer and apologist to the second generation audience of Christians also takes seriously the needs and questions of his readers. To this end then we need to compare Jesus' words in Matthew 24:34 with his confession in 24:36. In verse 34 Jesus predicts that the events which will immediately precede the parousia of the Son of Man will occur before those listening ...

2733. Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

2734. Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Luke, the master storyteller, spends the first three chapters of his gospel carefully interweaving the lives of two individuals John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. More than any other writer, Luke focuses on the special relationship between these two prophesied figures. While John's ministry and message are given considerable ink, Luke does so only to differentiate with indisputable clarity the mission and identity of John from Jesus. Today's gospel text is part of that distinguishing process. While we ...

2735. Revelation 21:1-6

Revelation 21:1-6

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Using a text from Revelation two weeks in a row may surprise your congregation. The truth is, both last week's and this week's texts are within the realm of Revelation's "kinder and gentler" images. Just as last week's text offered Revelation's readers a needed break from the devastating images revealed by the breaking open of the seven seals, so this week's text offers a vision of perfect peace and plenty after the terrible judgment scenes in chapter 20. Having dispensed with sinners in an all-consuming ...

2736. The Gifts of Word and Table

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Mike Ripski

Turn in The Hymnal to the very front – where the pattern for worship is located. Note the title given to the way we Christians worship together. Our worship is a Service of Word and Table. This morning’s text illustrates how the risen Christ meets us through Scripture and Sacrament. PART I (Luke 24:13-28 is read.) It is Easter evening. Two who’d been part of the Jesus Movement were heading home to Emmaus, about 7 miles outside Jerusalem. They are trying to make sense of Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion. ...

2737. Mark 1:40-45

Mark 1:40-45

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

There is one particular facet of Jesus’ mission that was a complete failure. At least in Mark’s gospel, time and again Jesus instructed those he healed to keep quiet about their experience (see Mark 1:25, 34, 44; 3:12; 5:43; 7:56). Yet those who experienced healing or witnessed Jesus’ miraculous works blabbed the news to everybody they met. The result, according to Mark’s gospel, is that Jesus ended up surrounded by great crowds of the curious (1:45; 6:35-34; 7:24-25; 10:1). What has been tagged as “the ...

2738. Walking in the Light

Isaiah 60:1-6

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

Walking in the dark is difficult, even in the familiarity of your own home. Furniture has a way of rearranging itself in the dark so that you can whack your shins a little easier. Small, sharp toys crawl out from their hiding places to park themselves in your path. Your dog or cat is stretched out on the carpet, sleeping blissfully until your foot makes contact with a tail or a paw. At one time or another, most of us have been plunged into darkness involuntarily because of a power outage. Suddenly, we are ...

2739. False Prophets and Messiahs

Mark 13:1-8; Luke 21:5-38

Illustration

Tim Carpenter

Several years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a comedy skit called the "2000 Year Old Man". In the skit, Reiner interviews Brooks, who is the old gentleman. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, "Did you always believe in the Lord?" Brooks replied: "No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him." Reiner: You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why? Brooks: Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands! Reiner: Did you have prayers? Brooks: Yes, ...

2740. The Wisdom of the Wise Men

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I heard a story recently about this negative barber that had a customer in his chair and he said to him, “I hear you’re going to Europe; you shouldn’t do that. The weather is going to be bad in Rome, there is bombing and there’s strife and strikes in London. You think you’re going to get to see the Pope, but he won’t give you an audience, you just shouldn’t go.” About a month later, the same man was in the chair, and the barber said to him, “You didn’t take my advice; you went to Europe after all. And I ...

2741. Ministering Angels

Exodus 23:20-33

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Frederick Buechner is one of my favorite writers. I don’t know of any contemporary writer who says anything clearer or more creative than Buechner, He has one book entitled “Wishful Thinking” which he subtitles “Theological ABC”. In this book he defines words, words that are common in our Christian vocabulary. He’s the one I quoted a couple of weeks ago defining glory as “what God looks like when for the time being all that you have to look at him with is a pair of eyes.” He defines a glutton as “one who ...

2742. A Spiritual “Re-formation”

Romans 3:19-28

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

Elizabeth Strout's novel, Abide with Me, is set in a small town in Maine in the 1950s, where the Reverend Tyler Caskey is on top of the world. He feels overwhelmed by the love of God, his socialite wife, Lauren, and two young daughters. Tyler appears oblivious to Lauren's unhappiness over his low salary, the absence of like-minded friends, and their dilapidated parsonage situated out in the middle of nowhere.1 As is typical of the 1950s, the church serves as a significant gathering place in the life of ...

2743. Stronger after the Struggle

Matthew 14:22-33

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace was without peer in the 19th century except for one name: Charles Darwin. One of Wallace's most astute observations about nature has gotten totally forgotten in the whole debate over the "survival of the fittest." Wallace made a surprising discovery about the saving nature of struggle. One day Wallace was observing moths struggling to hatch out from their cocoons. One of the larger insects seemed to be having a particularly hard time getting out. After hours of ...

2744. Soul Bread!

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Someone who grew up in Europe immediately after the devastation of World War II writes about the two staples that were not on ration and that could be home produced; one was potatoes and the other was bread. "We could grow our own potatoes and we could make our own bread," he writes. "And sometimes we would even make bread out of the potatoes. So, while we may have lacked many things we always had sufficient potatoes and bread." Earlier in John chapter 6, we read about food rationing of another kind. Then ...

2745. Living in The Present

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

Just stop for a moment and take a look at how many opportunities are yours today, right now, this moment. Think about where you are — this church, this group of people, the person sitting beside you. Think about the one behind you and in front of you. Consider how your presence might affect each of these people. Think about what your presence here stands for in this congregation and in this community. This is your life! You are making a statement by being here. You can use these moments not only to fill ...

2746. Watching for a

Mark 13:1-31

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

Theme: Incarnation, God comes hidden in disguise Characters: Ticket Agent Waiting Man Husband Wife Mother Teenager Tone: Puzzling until the end Setting/Props: Airport lobby Approximate time: 6-8 minutes (Waiting Man is standing at the ticket counter talking to Ticket Agent.) Ticket Agent: You found what you are looking for, sir? Waiting Man: Oh yes, in a most surprising but logical place. Ticket Agent: And where was that? Waiting Man: (a bit embarrassed) I found my wallet with my identification, my credit ...

2747. Set Sail For the Golden Shore

Illustration

In his excellent little book When Loved Ones Are Taken in Death, Lehman Strauss made some interesting comments about the Greek word translated "departure." He wrote, "It is used metaphorically in a nautical way as when a vessel pulls up anchor to loose from its moorings and set sail, or in a military way as when an army breaks encampment to move on. In the ancient Greek world this term was used also for freeing someone from chains and for the severing of a piece of goods from the loom. This is what death ...

2748. Give and Take

Illustration

James Packer

What is meant by fellowship in this verse? Gossip? Cups of tea? Tours? No. What is being referred to is something of a quite different order and on a quite different level. "They met constantly to hear the apostles teach, and to share the common life, and break bread and to pray. A sense of awe was everywhere. All whose faith had drawn them together held everything in common. With one mind they kept up their daily attendance at the temple, and, breaking bread in private houses, shared their meals with ...

2749. Plow Through It

Illustration

An old farmer had plowed around a large rock in one of his fields for years. He had broken several plowshares and a cultivator on it. After breaking another plowshare one fall, and remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him through the years, he finally determined to do something about it. When he put his crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only about six inches thick and that he could break it up easily. As he was carting it away he had to smile, remembering all the ...

2750. Mark 1:40-45

Mark 1:40-45

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week’s gospel text offers yet another healing story — a healing that is both dramatic for the cure it manifests and for the impact that cure had on Jesus’ public ministry. The recipient of Jesus’ healing powers in this story is particularly problematic — he is identified as a “leper.” The diagnosis of “leprosy” was applied to many different skin disorders in the first century. But whether or not the “leper” in today’s text actually suffered from what we now call Hansen’s Disease, or some other skin ...

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