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 4962 results

2726. The Catch

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... job, a hard job, with long hours, and sometimes often many failures. It takes endurance, and a whole lot of faith. But it’s also the best job in the world, because disciples make a difference. They are world changers, healers of bodies, minds, and hearts, hope givers, and they build communities of God’s faithful everywhere they go. In each and every church, God is calling some of you to be apostles. Who among you has the heart of a fisher? The resilience, drive, and motivation to fulfill God’s mission ...

2727. Imagine

Revelation 21:10, 22-26

Sermon

Will Willimon

... come? Either God is busy creating a new heaven and a new earth or God is not love, justice, and mercy. Either God will give us a new city, clean, fresh, safe and shining, or we are without hope. Such eschatological vision is not escape from responsibility, but narrow escape into hope and therefore to action. For without hope, there is no action. If you can't see some utterly new world, yet to come, all you can do in this world is to adjust. Action springs not from guilt, but vision, for we act only within ...

2728. The Mighty Mustard Seed

Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... . We are so busy looking for the big calling, the big vision, the big miracle, the big ministry God has for us to do that we overlook the little opportunities all around us. If we overlook the little good works we can do, the little kindness or encouragement or hope we can offer, if we overlook the little ways we can shine God’s light in the world, then we will not be prepared for the big opportunities God has to use us for His glory. In his book How God Works, Edward T. Sullivan writes, “When God wants ...

2729. Holy Hydration!

John 12:20-33 · Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... scripture not only from John but from Jeremiah helps us to understand this today. Listen to what the Lord says, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” Through the gift of Jesus, God infuses hope for salvation into each and every one of us. For true hope, knowledge, salvation, and life come only from God in Jesus. We don’t know Jesus simply from reading a book or accessing knowledge about him in outward places. But we truly know Jesus because we allow him to live out his ...

2730. And That’s All I Need To Know

John 10:11-18

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

... know. Yet Jesus told us in no uncertain terms that God knows us, each one of us. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord tells us, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Not only does the Good Shepherd protect, and know us personally but he does have a plan for our lives. We are not insignificant to God. You matter to God. You belong to his flock. As Matthew 10:29-31 says, “Are not two sparrows sold for ...

2731. When We Are Weak

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... Declaration of Independence, which was accepted by the leadership of the 13 colonies on July 4, 1776. July 3, we were a collection of colonies. July 4, we were the United States of America. That’s why we call July 4 the birthday of our nation. So, I hope you take some time to recognize and give God thanks for the blessings we enjoy as a nation. (1) Of course, no holiday would be as much fun without a blooper somewhere along the way. Like the little fellow who was asked to recite the Pledge of Allegiance ...

2732. Hungering for Some Time Off

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sermon

King Duncan

... found the answer to their hunger. As he says, “Now I'm where God wants me to be, in a life that began, instead of ending, with my obituary.” (7) If you have found new life in Jesus, then you know how he can meet your deepest needs. And I hope you are looking for ways to share Jesus’ love and comfort and strength with others. If you are hungering for love and meaning and purpose and truth, then please pray right now and give your life to Jesus. He came to show you the life that God created you for ...

2733. Our Need and God's Provision

John 6:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... think about our Bible passage for today, I want you to picture it through the eyes of Jesus’ disciples. They had traveled to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee hoping to get away for some rest. But crowds of people, thousands of people, followed them to this remote area. They were hungering for a miracle or a message of hope. The tired disciples hoped Jesus would send them away. The situation of these tired disciples reminds me of a study that the U.S. Army did a few years ago to determine the factors ...

2734. Uncontainable Faith

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... paralyzes one from making one’s situation better. So how do we become curious. I believe it has a lot to do with faith. Faith propels us into action. Faith causes us to seek out a solution, assistance, or to find hope that things can change for the better. Faith gives us hope that when we reach out, someone will be on the other side to help and take our hand. Faith allows us the courage to inquire. Faith causes us to be curious. While care and worry provoke stasis and paralysis, faith provokes curiosity ...

2735. Why Did Jesus Come?

Luke 2:21-52

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... back to its original beauty as each separate piece was leaded into the perfect whole. Frank Court commented about that window and its application to life when he said that “religion enables us to pick up life’s fragments and re-dream our dreams, relive our hopes, rethink our faith, until the light of God once again shines through the window of our life.” That is why Jesus came…to be your personal Messiah! Jesus came to bring salvation to our world (Luke 2:30-35). When God first developed our world ...

2736. One Life-Changing Word

Isaiah 9:2-7 · Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

Sermon

King Duncan

... utter it once. Christmas explains how stingy people can become generous, tired people can become energized, lonely people can feel loved. That is why we look forward to this beautiful time of the year with such anticipation. Christmas. It is a word that carries with it hope, peace, joy and above all, love. No wonder that we greet Christmas Eve with such anticipation. In our minds and hearts we are transported to visions of the kind of world this can yet be, and we are transported in our minds to the kind of ...

2737. Seeking Jesus

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... that nothing else could fill. One Sunday morning, Michelle picked a random church out of the phone book, woke up Johnny and Cameron, and they all headed off for church. She was surprised to find that she enjoyed the message, and the people were nice. Let’s hope visitors can say the same thing about our church! So she went back the next Sunday and then the next. Soon, Michelle began reading her Bible in the evenings. And one night as she read the Bible, she felt the urge to pray for her ex-husband, Michael ...

2738. For the Love Of God is Forgiving

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... odor. We do that with the stink of sin. Sometimes we don't run from it and we don't blame it on anyone else, we just gloss over it. We cover it up and ignore it or pretend it isn't there, hoping that it will go away, hoping that it will get better on its own. Or hoping that the little fix we make will be sufficient enough to get us through. Maybe you saw it, Ziggy is standing at Ed's Garage. Ed has a clipboard in hand and tells Ziggy, "I've got it pretty will fixed. But don ...

2739. When Good People Pray

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... seriously. The very next morning, he arrived at work loaded down with tools and all the parts he had “taken” from the company during the years. He explained the situation to his foreman and added that he’d never really meant to steal them and hoped he’d be forgiven. The foreman was so astonished and impressed by his action that he cabled Mr. Ford himself, who was visiting a European plant, and explained the entire event in detail. Immediately Ford cabled back: “Dam up the Detroit River,” he said ...

2740. When Table Talk Won a Super Bowl

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... special occasions and special people important to our lives. Remembering is a very important part of life. Stories serve the same purpose. Rev. Patricia Gillespie reminds us of the story of little Sadako “dying of leukemia from the radiation at Hiroshima. How she hoped that if she folded a thousand paper cranes the gods would hear her prayer. We remember Sadako, and children still today fold paper cranes and pray for peace.” Rev. Gillespie says that when her daughter Miranda was small, she sat in church ...

2741. They Should Have Fired That Shepherd

Luke 15:1-3 (8-32)

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... Christ, the joy of being together in love and celebration is more important than the resources it takes to be there. Community is what matters. You, the Body of Christ, in this time and place are not only what matters, you are the hope of the church. So we celebrate the love and the hope, the trust and the integrity we find in ministry. In this ministry, sisters and brothers, we will spend more than we have. We will dare to spend ourselves and take great risks to open the gates of love, the doors of wonder ...

2742. Jesus Meets Our Needs

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... illness. The last personal hurricane was the death of her adult daughter. Her words haunt me, “I hurt so badly, pastor. I feel so at a loss.” I struggle to counsel her. Words seem so empty. The platitudes and phrases meaningless. The only hope I have…her only hope is to put her faith in Christ. With his help she could find the right grief support program…friends who could listen…people who cared…words from God found in the Bible that would instill a trust and faith…a loving congregation who ...

2743. Hold the Candy

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Mary Austin

... is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they ... see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13) Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is right ...

2744. Without the Mask

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Sermon

Mary Austin

... out to be the most grounded, thoughtful teenager I’ve met in a long time. She talked about her work in the drama club, her parents and the advice they give her, and her work as a peer counselor. The next race, she talked about school, and I found myself hoping that the kids at her school could see past the veil of the outside to the interesting person inside. I know at least one person did. When the cross country season started the next year, when I saw her the next year, at the first race of the season ...

2745. Unspectacular Faithfulness

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

... had to ask permission. If she showed up unsummoned by the king, even the queen could be killed. Esther reminds Mordecai of the rules. Bother the king when he doesn't want to be bothered, be a dead queen. Mordecai reminds Esther that she is the only hope her people have. Esther is in great fear. She lies awake in torment for three days. Finally, she decides that she will go, saying ''If I die, I shall die. Esther entered the throne room. She was terrified. Yet the king bid her to speak. ''Dear King," she ...

2746. Unspectacular Faithfulness

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

2747. Understanding What God Expects of Us

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

Sermon

King Duncan

... heart that God could easily fill-up.” So she began to pray for this man and for healing from her anger. Not only was Katherine able to forgive the man. As she said, “. . . my prayer went from ‘Oh, I hope these bad things happen to him’ to ‘I hope he knows Jesus and I hope that he can experience that forgiveness too because he’s a sinful human and so am I.’” In college, Katherine Thacker began a new letter-writing venture. She founded Words of Worth, a Christmas letter ministry to families of ...

2748. The Lonely Prophet

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a

Sermon

King Duncan

... And that long journey through a perilous desert to an uncertain end is exactly the life God has laid out for those who love Him. God calls us to faithfulness in our journey, not success in our endeavors. Your journey will be filled with joy and pain, hope and sorrow, strength and struggle. Just as God showed Himself to Elijah before sending him back into the world, God has shown Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He has walked in our shoes and shared our suffering. And his painful, humiliating and ...

2749. The Unlocked Brain

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... “literally” feel the wounds on Jesus’ body. His mind, like the others, has been in lock down. And he needs to be released. There is more than one “resurrection” in the Easter story. This is another. It is a story in which Jesus resurrects the faith, the hope, and the joy of his disciples. He lifts them from the depths of grief and despair and sets them back upon their feet, so to speak. He makes them “whole” again by allowing them to process that he is not dead but alive, that the mission has ...

2750. Not As the World Gives

John 14:23-29 · John 5:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... empathy, this engagement has to do with the ability to literally feel what people around you are feeling, to stand in someone else’s shoes and become part of their experience. This is our ideal. This is our clear and stated vision. This is the place where hope takes shape. However, the voice of the cynic is loud in the land and it gets expressed in seemingly endless lines of queries that go something like this: “How am I supposed to know what someone else is feeling?” “I’ve never done this or been ...

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