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 4945 results

2776. Imagine

Revelation 21:10, 22-26

Sermon

Will Willimon

''And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light…” Today's lesson speaks of the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly City. ''Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first...had passed away'' (Rev. 21:1). When God gets finished with Durham, there will be no sun or moon because the glory of the Lord, present among his people, will be so bright, no other light will be needed ...

2777. Joy on an Elephant

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

Mary Austin

On this third Sunday of Advent, we hear again from Paul’s letter to the believers at Philippi. Many scholars believe that he wrote this letter from prison, perhaps even during his last prison term in Rome, before his death, but we don’t know for sure. It’s clear that he wrote from a prison cell somewhere, and that he wrote about his deeply held idea of cultivating joy in all things. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not ...

2778. Spirit Powered Anointing

Luke 4:14-21 · Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Anointing. This is a term that means that the Holy Spirit is with you, that the Holy Spirit has come upon you. When you are “anointed,” you are not only empowered but commissioned into action. The word comes from the Greek word echrisen, to anoint from the root chrio, also related to christos, anointed one, the word we call “messiah.” Jesus has been “contracted” by God with the power of the divine Holy Spirit to impart “good news” of God’s favor and grace. And what good news it was! This inauguration of ...

2779. When What You Signed Up For...

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to ask you a question this morning: how do you respond when God—or life itself—changes your plans? This question is relevant for everyone in the congregation because at some point in your life, God or life, if you will, will suddenly and unexpectedly change your plans for your day, maybe even for your life. There is an old “Peanuts” cartoon strip that I suspect we all can relate to. In the first panel Charlie Brown says, “I learned something in school today, I signed up for folk guitar, computer ...

2780. Feed My Sheep

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I used to have this great old guitar. It was a “Harmony F-Hole, which was a copy of a much more expensive model, and it was old. I liked it, a lot. It had accompanied me on my many excursions into cafés and coffeehouses. It thumped around in the back of my old Subaru to church outings and late night jam sessions. It was, well, familiar. The varnish was all worn off on the neck and it was scratched and well-used. Again, I liked it. I liked it a lot. Then one day, against my better judgment, I lent it to a ...

2781. How to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Most of us choose to attend a church or a Bible study or a small group because we feel good there. We feel the presence of the Lord. We feel cared for. And yet, in almost every Christian gathering, there is a moment that strikes fear in every person’s heart. No, it’s not when we pass the offering plate. It’s when someone says, “Is there anyone who would like to pray? I’m just going to open us up with prayer, and then each one of you offer up a prayer as you feel led.” For some of us, it is terrifying! You ...

2782. Graciousness and Grumbling

Matthew 20:1-15

Sermon

Will Willimon

Well, religion has suddenly become the burning concern of politicians. I can't remember when religion has been so important in a presidential campaign. It wasn't long ago that John Kennedy had to explain why, although he was a Catholic, his religion would not hinder him from being a good president. And a very short time ago, Jimmy Carter stood before the voters and admitted that, although he was a faithful Baptist, he would perform his presidential duties as if he were nothing at all -- or something like ...

2783. The Way For Troubled Hearts

John 14:1-14

Sermon

April Yamasaki

A young mother said that she was worried about the kind of world her children were growing up in. When her own mother was a child, her mother walked by herself to school; now, like all of the other parents she knows, this young mom always drives her children. New technologies at school and home seem to bring new pressures and new problems. In her nice suburban neighborhood, there was a stabbing in a nearby high school that left one student dead and another seriously injured. Concerned mothers like her are ...

2784. Let's Get Together

Acts 2:1-21 · Genesis 11:1-11

Sermon

Will Willimon

A few days after we bombed Libya, a letter to the Durham Morning Herald urged citizens to unite behind our President. ''This is no time for criticism,'' she said. ''This is a time to unite against those who are evil.'' The letter was unnecessary, for we were already solidly united behind our leader. War does that to people. Even as we Americans were uniting behind our President, dissident Libyans were reported to be suppressing their differences and uniting against the American enemy. War may seem a heck ...

2785. Get Ready

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

A few years ago the Knight-Tribune News Service published a humorous column imagining how some of the leading publications in our land might headline a story on the end of the world should such an event take place. Here are the various headlines that might appear in different publications. The Wall Street Journal might announce the end of all things with this headline: “Dow Jones Plummets as World Ends.” Sports Illustrated might use this simple headline: “Game’s Over.” Discover magazine might feature a ...

2786. AAA=A

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Jesus, the incarnate God, the substance of the Father come down from Heaven to teach, to feed, and to save.” It was hard for Jesus’ own disciples to believe, let alone those who knew his family, grew up with him, taught beside him, saw him as a fellow rabbi and Jew. Now Jesus begins to say some pretty unbelievable things, at least unbelievable to the rational mind, the Jewish mind, anyone’s mind! As we traverse through about 5 weeks of clips in this grand dialogue about Jesus as the Bread of Life, we ...

2787. The Power Of Proximity

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

Imagine being ostracized and isolated, forced to cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” wherever you went, commanded to make visible through your clothing and hair your already physically evident and painful condition. The writer of Luke said they should keep their distance. Those ten with leprosy didn’t dare get close to Jesus, they called out for mercy from a distance. And Jesus, traveling to Jerusalem, between Samaria, that place with those people who refused to welcome him and Galilee, the region where so much of ...

2788. Doing What You Were Meant To Do

Jeremiah 29:11

Children's Sermon

Teresa L. Major

Concept: Don't let anything keep you from doing what you were meant to do. Preparation: Felt-tip marker, white paper, and clear tape. Put a piece of clear tape over the writing tip of a felt-tip marker. I'm not much of an artist, but I'm going to draw you a picture this morning. (Begin drawing on the paper -- of course, nothing happens because the ink can't flow.) Something is wrong. I've got paper and I've got a marker, but the marker is not working correctly. Let's try again. (Try to draw on the paper.) ...

2789. Please, Don't Let me Jabez Anyone Else (Part 5)

1 Chronicles 4:1-23

Sermon

Eric Ritz

A father was called into school to the principal''s office. Apparently his son had shoved a chalkboard eraser in the mouth of one of his classmates. When the principal told the boy''s father of his infraction, the father was furious. He turned to his son and demanded an answer: "What reason could you have possibly had to put a chalkboard eraser in that girl''s mouth?" The boy meekly answered, "Because her mouth was open." (1) Today we examine the 4th and final petition of the Prayer of Jabez: "and that you ...

2790. A Time for Opportunity

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you are familiar with a 26-year-old blogger in Montreal, Canada named Kyle MacDonald. Kyle is the ultimate modern day horse trader. He has become famous for trading a red paper clip for a house. Yes, you heard right. A paper clip for a house. How did he accomplish this remarkable exchange? Well, he didn’t have a job, but one day he looked at a red paper clip on his desk and decided to trade it on the barter section of the popular website Craigslist. He asked people to trade with him anything of ...

2791. Duuuh!

John 14:15-31

Sermon

David O. Bales

If you’ve been around the Christian faith for a while, you’ve noticed how people pick what they like from the Bible. Like a giant magnet at a wrecking yard we each reach down into the material of the Bible and pick up only what we want — get the iron, leave the wood, paper, and plastics. We’re not convincing if we say, “I don’t do it but everyone else does.” We all do. It’s just that some are so obvious about it. I’ve dealt with two main types of Bible-selectors. One brand of Christian Bible-selector is ...

2792. Peace Be With You

John 20:19-23

Sermon

King Duncan

A man tells of visiting a college which had for its students’ protection, security call boxes every few hundred feet. If you were wandering around the campus at night and felt uneasy about somebody following you, you could hit the button on that call box and have a security officer come investigate immediately. On one of these phones hung a sign that said, “Out of Order.” Underneath the “Out of Order” sign someone had scrawled, “Keep Running!” (1) To me that is a metaphor of how many people live their ...

2793. Titus' Task on Crete

Titus 1:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

Salutation What is striking about the salutation to Titus is its considerable differences from those in 1 and 2 Timothy, especially its lengthy elaboration of Paul’s apostleship (vv. 1–3), a phenomenon found elsewhere only in Romans. These verses, which form a single, extremely complex sentence in Greek, conclude with a note about his apostleship as a trust. The main thrust, however, emphasizes the purpose of that apostleship: to bring God’s people to faith and truth, and thus to life. That life, he ...

2794. God’s Love and Ours

1 John 4:7-21, 1 John 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

God’s Love and Our Love There is little agreement among those who have made a serious study of 1 John as to how to divide 1 John 4:7–5:4, but most have understood 4:7–12 to center around God’s love for us and, in response, our love for one another. It is likely that the opponents of the Elder had stressed their love for God (cf. 4:10, 20), their devotion, piety, and mystical spirituality (cf. 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 6, 9; 3:18; 4:1). But the Elder thinks that it is God’s love for human beings which is ...

2795. Personal Accountability

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

The introductory formula The word of the LORD came to me in 18:1, and the concluding formula declares the Sovereign LORD in 18:32, clearly demarcate the first unit of this section. Unconventional, but equally clear, markers set off the second unit, 19:1–14. In 19:1 the Lord commands the prophet: “Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel.” The final verse of the chapter repeats this identification: “This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.” The common theme connecting the sermon in chapter ...

2796. Faith in the Son of God

1 John 5:1-12, 1 John 4:7-21

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

2797. Echoes

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

When I stand before this text, I hear an echo. What stands out most is the word from heaven as Jesus comes up from the water: "This is my son, the beloved. Listen to him." At another place in scripture where Jesus goes to the mountain with Peter, James, and John to "reveal" himself more pointedly in what we call the transfiguration, suddenly we hear the words of his baptism echo from heaven again: "This is my son, the beloved. Listen to him." The echoes that reverberate from baptismal waters and off the ...

2798. Our Jealous Husband

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

These are Ten Commandments that little children know to be true: 1. When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. 2. No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. 3. You can't trust dogs to watch your food. 4. Never hold a dustbuster and a cat at the same time. 5. You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. 6. Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic-tac. 7. When your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person. 8. Don't sneeze ...

2799. To Have And To Hold (Your Tongue)

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

There once was a Roman Catholic priest, an Episcopalian rector, a Presbyterian minister, and a Lutheran pastor who met together for lunch on a regular basis. One afternoon they got in a confessional mood and the minister suggested that they talk about their personal problems. The priest confessed that he was a compulsive gambler. The rector admitted that he had an obsession about attractive women. The minister hesitated, but then admitted that he was an alcoholic. Then all three turned to the Lutheran ...

2800. The Heart Of The Matter

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

A number of years ago a man owned a red Ford Pinto station wagon. He bought it when he was going to college, and kept it for quite some time. In its last few years of service, the car had several thousand dollars put into it. The owner had to replace the engine; he had to put in a new transmission; and he had the whole body repainted. It looked good on the outside, but it had some serious problems on the inside. The heart of the matter was that it was really on its last legs. When he finally bought a new ...

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