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 2776 to 2800 of 4937 results

2776. The View from Jesus' Pew

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

David E. Leininger

There is an old story of a father going to church with his three daughters and giving them each two quarters to put in the offering. When the offering came around the oldest put in her two quarters, the next did the same, but the last held onto hers. When she was going out of church, she pulled the pastor down to her level. "Sir, my daddy gave each of us kids two quarters to put in the offering. Sally put hers in the offering plate, and Julie put hers in, but I wanted to give mine to you." When the pastor ...

2777. Love Is Extravagant

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

“But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ “ (John 12:4-6) You’ve got to admit that Judas had a point. His was the voice of sweet reasonableness. “Let’s not let ourselves get carried away,” he said, “Let’s not jump off the deep end. This is wasteful extravagance. This costly perfume could be sold and the money given to the poor.” Never mind that the author of the Fourth ...

2778. Million Dollar Christmas

Matthew 19:21

Drama

Matthew Powell

Cast Edgar 1 Edgar 2 Bartimaeus Tintoes Helene Essay Reader 1 Essay Reader 2 Essay Reader 3 (Edgar 1 sits facing the audience and addresses the audience only. Edgar 2 stands next to him, but speaks to himself and the other characters in the play. Helene and Essay Readers 1-3 sit at center and stand when they "enter") Edgar 1: I rubbed my eyes and looked at the letter a second time. Yes, I was not asleep; the thing had happened. There was my cup of coffee and the half-eaten donut just as I had left them ...

2779. Survivor

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

It is one of the strangest television shows I believe ever produced. Deprived of basic comforts, exposed to harsh natural elements; your fate is at the mercy of people you have never met. Stranded somewhere perhaps on a remote island or in the jungle, you are forced to band together and carve out a new existence, using the collective wits of all the people involved to survive in a rugged and primitive environment. Different tests, from the elements, to the weather, to dangerous animals, tests the endurance ...

2780. Dealing with Stress Creatively

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

James W. Moore

One Sunday morning, a mother said to her ten-year-old son: “Billy, I’m not feeling well enough to go to church today, but I do want you to go on as usual… and then you can tell me all about it.” Obediently, Billy carried out his mom’s wish. When he returned home, his mother asked: “Well, Billy, how was church?” “Fine,” Billy responded. “Where did you sit?” Mom asked. “O, I think I sat in about the same place we always sit.” Billy’s answer was just vague enough to make mothers suspicious. “What was the ...

2781. One Heaven of a Party

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Moses saw that look in their eyes. He saw that glimmer of hope on their faces. For when those words dripped like honey from his mouth, the people of God dreamed about what it was going to be like. At first glance, they really do not seem to be very exciting words, but for those who had been toiling in the wilderness, these words were like living water to a parched soul: “When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it ...

2782. What’s God Going to Do With You?

Hosea 5:1-15, Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

What shall I do with you, o Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. "What in the world am I going to do with you?" Have you ever heard that before or said it? A mother shakes her head at a child who is always getting dirty and asks, "What am I going to do with you?" A husband, like Hosea, has a faithless wife, and each time he takes her back, he despairingly asks, "What am I going to do with you?" A criminal appears before a judge ...

2783. A New Perspective

Deuteronomy 7:1-26

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

HENRY T. CLOSE is a gifted therapist, teacher, and writer, a Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors currently working as a pastoral counselor in Florida after many years on the staff of the Georgia Mental Health Clinic in Atlanta. His special interest in the world of intimacy is reflected in the two sermons in this volume. A New Perspective developed from an allegory he wrote for his wife Nancy. (See VOICES: The Art and Science of Psychotherapy, Summer, 1979, "A Boy and His Kite.") In ...

2784. When Jiggling Wires Is Not Good Enough

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

David McCasland tells about a woman whose car was stalled at an intersection. The hood was up, and she flagged McCasland down to help. "I can't get it started," she said. "but if you jiggle the wire on the battery, I think it will work." McCasland grabbed the positive battery cable and it came off in his hand. Definitely the cable was too loose. "The terminal needs to be tightened up," he told her. "I can fix it if you have some tools." "My husband says to just jiggle the wire," she replied. "It always ...

2785. A Bridge over Troubled Waters

Psalm 23:2

Sermon

James Merritt

Is there anyone here today dealing with stress? Just looking out, I see a lot of people who are all stressed up and no place to go. Stress is a problem. Believe it or not, this is a problem for the pastor. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, psychologist Richard Blackmon said, “Pastors are the single most occupationally frustrated group in America.” About 75% of pastors go through a period of stress so great that they consider quitting the ministry; 35-40% actually do. Incidents of mental breakdown are ...

2786. Learning to Love Ourselves

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

James McCormick

She was a beautiful Scandinavian girl. She had come to the hotel room of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Trobisch for counseling, just one day after they had given a lecture at one of the universities of northern Europe. As they talked about her problems, one basic issue kept coming up – one that seemed to be at the root at all her problems. She could not love herself! In fact, she hated herself so much that she was only a step away from ending her own life. She had been raised in a very religious home. Her parents ...

2787. John the Baptist, Sanctified Indifference, & the King of Pop

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Who wants your head on a platter? What truth is worth your head? What truth is worth your life? There are two types of people in the world we despise. The first are people who can never be trusted to tell the truth. The second are people who can only be trusted to tell the truth. We all know people who have trouble telling the truth. Is there anyone here who doesn’t know someone for whom a lie is just a more convenient interpretation of reality? The great psychoanalyst Carl Jung once noted that there were ...

2788. The Cost of Discipleship

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

Nothing that is really very big or very signiﬁcant is ever accomplished without some cost. Why should we expect that the great and good new possibility that God offers to each of us and to our world, the one that Jesus called "the kingdom of heaven," should come without cost? It is costly to God. Why should we not expect that it will be costly to us? But once we recognize how great and good that possibility is, we will know that it is worth the cost. An interesting interchange took place between Jesus and ...

2789. You Are Gifted

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: ribbons or if possible small gift boxes tied with ribbons (you can also tie ribbons to a manger….or to the altar or another item, such as a cross) All of us know the talk in our culture today about giftedness. If you go into any bookstore, you’ll find titles such as “The Drama of the Gifted Child,” “Gifted Grownups,” “Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom,” “The Gifted Adult,” and there are many others! Not everyone agrees. Authors like Seth Godin will tell you that every person in his or her own ...

2790. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

From Persia to Greece (11:2-20): Big Idea: Often working behind the scenes, God foresees and oversees the struggles of his people with hostile world forces. Understanding the Text See the unit on 10:1–11:1 for a discussion of the larger context, structure, and comparisons of chapters 10–12. Against this backdrop, 11:2–20 (the extended unit’s second section) divides into two parts: a summary of the transition from Persia to Greece (11:2–4) and a description of key events in the Ptolemaic and Seleucid wars ( ...

2791. Preach the World and Reach the World

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Sermon

James Merritt

A young preacher just out of the seminary had been called to pastor a church in a college town. Most of the college professors were members of the church. As he thought about that cultured congregation, he became very intimidated in preparing his first sermon. He called his dad, who was a wise and godly pastor, and said, "Dad, I'm having a hard time preparing my sermon. If I talk about geology I will be looking at a Ph.D. in geology. If I talk about sociology I will be staring at a Ph.D. in sociology. If I ...

2792. Miracles? No Problem!

Luke 2:1-7

Drama

Lois Anne DeLong

Characters (in order of appearance) Elizabeth Mary Gabriel King 1 King 2 King 3 Mary’s Mother Joseph Mary 2 Shepherd 1 Shepherd 2 Shepherd 3 2nd Angel 3rd Angel Angel Choir Props Stool/chair Bowl Star Broom Sack Carrots and veggies Knife Handkerchief Bundle Notes This play puts the viewer in Mary’s home the day she received the news that she was to have a special child, and is based on Luke 1:26-38. It envisions Gabriel arriving in Mary’s kitchen and Mary’s reaction to the news. As he talks with Mary and ...

2793. Proper 12

Lk 11:1-13 · Col 2:6-15 · Gen 18:20-32 · 2 Ki 5:1-15

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY 2 Kings 5:1-15 General Naaman of Syria is healed of leprosy by obeying Elisha's order to bathe in the Jordan. The confession of faith by an unknown Jewish slave girl in the home of Syria's chief of staff results in the cure of leprosy for her master, Naaman. On the basis of the confession Naaman goes to Israel. When Elisha the prophet orders him to wash in the Jordan seven times, he goes off in a rage feeling insulted. But his aides convince him to stay. Naaman then dips himself in the Jordan ...

2794. Lifestyles of the Rich and Faithful

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

When a carnival came to town, the strong man was one of the most popular attractions. One of his tricks was to squeeze an orange dry with his bare hand. Then he would offer $1,000 to anyone in the audience who could manage to squeeze even one more drop from that orange. Having nothing to lose, people were always ready to accept the challenge to make an easy $1,000, but they always failed. They would squeeze and squeeze, but their efforts were fruitless. Then, an older man stepped up to try his strength. ...

2795. New (Testament) Math

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Johnny Dean

A couple of years ago, The Mattel Corporation marketed a new version of their immensely popular (and now somewhat controversial) Barbie Doll. This particular model could "talk." And one of the phrases in her vocabulary was, "Math is hard." I can’t argue with that. Anything beyond simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division has always given me difficulty. I can balance my checkbook, but don’t ask me to figure out algebraic equations (as my daughter can tell you). But several national women’s ...

2796. Half-Price Crosses

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

In a jewelry store window of a large shopping center, a sign was posted which read: "Crosses for sale, half-price." That sign just set my mind to reeling with its implications. In our culture it means very little to wear a cross. For many it is a meaningless piece of jewelry. When the singer Madonna wears a cross, her audience does not presume she is making a faith statement. Perhaps a fashion statement, but not a faith statement. I am convinced that were it not for all the jewelry, lots of major league ...

2797. A Pilgrimage To Bethlehem

Matthew 3:1-12

Drama

Matthew Powell

Cast Storyteller 1 Storyteller 2 Gregory Ivan Peasant Man Peasant Woman Gregory's Wife (The Storytellers remain seated or standing throughout the performance, as the director chooses. The other actors sit until they make their "entrances," then they stand) Storyteller 1: Once in Russia there lived two men who had decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. One of them was a well-to-do farmer named Ivan Petroff, who was short and had curly hair. Storyteller 2: The other, Gregory Radinsky, was not so ...

2798. In Defense of the Offense

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Sermon

James Merritt

Recently on an airplane, as I was traveling back to Atlanta, I sat next to a lady whose name was Judith. We got into a conversation and she got around to asking me what I did. I told her that I was a minister. She immediately began to discuss religion. She began to criticize a certain Baptist seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and the extreme right-wing fundamentalists that had taken the seminary over. She had seen a movie about it and she was appalled at what had happened. That led into an extremely ...

2799. How to Hug

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

The world has changed so much that even certain jokes don’t work anymore. For example, there is a time-honored story of a man who was in love with love that is, romantic love. He bought every book he could find on the subject. One day he was in a book store when he spied a book titled How to Hug. He didn’t have time to thumb through it and find out what it was about, but from its title, he knew he had to have it. He paid for it quickly and took it proudly out of the store. It wasn’t until he got home that ...

2800. A Voice Calls in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

I guess everyone has his or her own concept of what is important in life. There’s a tombstone in Wisconsin that leaves no doubt about the priority of the person who lies in that particular grave. Under a certain man’s name and the dates of his birth and death is carved this inscription: “Bowled 300 in 1982.” Well, that was what was important to this man. He once bowled 300 and he wanted the world to know it. Some of you bowlers can relate to that. A woman was taking her time browsing through a yard sale. ...

Showing results