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 2851 to 2875 of 4943 results

2851. The Receptive Heart

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... all forms taking root in the valley, and new streams running through it where the shepherd has made dams higher up in the mountain. The young soldier makes a full recovery in the peace and beauty of the regrowing valley, and continues to visit the Bouffier the shepherd. Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. Giono writes: “On the site of the ruins I had seen in 1913 now stand neat farms . . . The old streams, fed by the rains and snows ...

2852. Resolutions for a New Year

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the most important gift of all ... the gift of love. That is quite a list, but what is most surprising is when Paul says that even a church as messed up as the one at Corinth had them all. The implication is that the church in our own day continues to have them all. We begin to get into something about which we can make a New Year's resolution. If we indeed do have all the spiritual gifts ... if there really is nothing we are incapable of doing spiritually ... then the resolution is to take those gifts and ...

2853. The Healing Touch

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... seventy of them out two by two as advance teams to the towns on the planned itinerary, part of their instructions were to "cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you' " (Luke 10:9). The healings continued long after that first generation of believers was gone from the scene. In fact, in the second century, a pagan critic of Christianity by the name of Celsus complained that the church kept going and growing by attracting "the sick, the fools and the sinners."[1 ...

2854. Look Up and Live

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , but folks wanted to stone them into silence. By now, God is getting steamed. Once more, Moses intercedes on the people's behalf, calms God down and extracts a promise that they will not be wiped out. But there would be a price: The wilderness wandering would continue — forty years worth ... one year for each of the forty days the spies were in the land; and the only men of Israel now alive and over the age of twenty who would finally live in the promised land would be Joshua and Caleb, because they were ...

2855. The Earth Is the Lord’s ... And Don’t You Forget It!

Psalm 24:1

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . But it did not. In 1986, as a favor to both Detroit and big oil, the standards for fuel efficiency were rolled back, and that was too bad. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, the non-profit energy research organization, if the United States had continued to conserve oil at the rate that we did in the late '70s and early '80s, we would have no longer needed Persian Gulf oil after 1986.[3] No question, conservation is an important environmental issue, but in terms of our theme - "The earth is the ...

2856. Merry Xmas

John 1:1-9, 10-18

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... lost or when business goes down the tubes? In the middle of the darkest night, as we lie there thinking about the disaster area we call life, to whom would we go ... if not to Jesus? We needed Jesus that night in Bethlehem. We need him now. And we will continue to need him in the same way until he comes again ... not as a helpless infant, but as a mighty conqueror. Then there will be no question as to whether or not he was more than an "X." In that day, every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess ...

2857. Due for Renewal

Mark 2:13-22

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... God is at work in the present time establishing a new relationship with God's people, the only appropriate response must be joy. Fasting and maintaining a long face is as alien to the spirit of the new kingdom of God as is weeping at a wedding feast. Jesus continued with more domestic wisdom. No one sews a new piece of unwashed denim to patch an old pair of jeans. Anyone who does the wash knows that the new piece of cloth will shrink away from the old material after the first wash, and there will be an even ...

2858. On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

John Smylie

... . And by verse 14 we discover that Jesus is back in the Galilee region preaching, "The kingdom of God has come near." Let's start with the baptism. The River Jordan is a small river that begins above the Sea of Galilee; it feeds that lake and then continues on to the Dead Sea. In most places, the Jordan is not a particularly spectacular river. Above the Sea of Galilee the waters run faster and clearer. The river is fed by the streams and mountains of Lebanon. Today there is a pilgrimage rest stop a little ...

2859. The Elephant in The Living Room

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

John Smylie

... ' confrontation of his friend, Peter, in the harshest terms was an invitation to know the truth. Jesus' challenge to Peter was that Peter could name the elephant in the living room of his own life. Peter still had not surrendered his will to the Lord. Peter continued to believe his vision for the Messiah was better than the Messiah's vision. And until Peter could surrender completely his vision and his will to his Lord and Savior he could not be free. Jesus' challenge is to Peter and to us all. Our Lord ...

2860. Speaking Peace

John 20:19-31

Sermon

John Smylie

... the strong words of the Lord to comfort them and they needed to see his hands and his side to affirm that, yes, he was the same rabbi they had loved and known and deserted at his cross, that this marvelous and extraordinary experience had a definite continuity with their past. He came to them even when they had run from him. He found them when they were hiding behind locked doors. He spoke peace to them with the strength that they had known before his death and when their eyes were finally opened, "Then ...

2861. The Five Senses

Luke 24:36-48

Sermon

John Smylie

... sense of them, interpreting them by the rest of the experiences of sound that we have had throughout our lives. Touch, on the other hand, gets us more involved. In a way, touch is a more intimate sense. Our Lord invites his disciples into a continuing intimate relationship with him. No doubt he had touched them and they had touched him as they gathered in prayer, walked together throughout the land of Israel, and embraced when they had been apart and greeted one another again on those occasions when they ...

2862. King Me!

John 18:33-37

Sermon

... were important to him as a follower of Jesus Christ. He gave time and energy to a struggling organization called Habitat for Humanity. He advocated for people of poverty. He continued to teach Sunday school each week at Maranatha Baptist Church. To this day, he takes his turn mowing the church lawn, while his wife, Rosalynn, cleans the church bathrooms. He continues to be a voice that speaks for peace in a world that is bent on war. In 2002, Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And when he was ...

2863. The Season of Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... relationship with him, to be reconciled. That's the action of Lent. It's not about performing empty gestures, denying ourselves, or giving up bad habits that we'd be better off giving up anyway. It's about reconciliation. In Old Testament times, God and his people had this continuous on-again, off-again relationship going. God's people would stray and pay the consequences, then they would repent and be restored to their relationship with God once again. Then they became complacent and strayed, and the cycle ...

2864. Bothered and Bewildered

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... grace - God's work is not confined to us or totally dependent on us - and careful words of caution to us - don't try to capture God. He reinforces this with his famous phrase in verse 7: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels." It is a continuation of a powerful theme in his letters to Corinth: "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise" (1 Corinthians 1:27). There is again a clear distinction between the messenger and the message, between the vessel and its contents. He uses the metaphor ...

2865. Eyes on the Prize

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... eternal life found in Jesus Christ. These efforts are not just for the Corinthians, but that they, too, may share with others, thus continually widening the circle of believers. The point of such sharing and such growth is not as much an increase in numbers as it ... to live in the presence of God now. Just as God rolled away the stone from the tomb of Jesus on that Easter morning, so God continues to roll away the stone from the tomb of our hearts so that we may be released from the power of death. It is what ...

2866. The Vision of God

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... down again in relation to this vision, just as God knocked him down on the road to Damascus. He calls this second knockdown "a thorn in the flesh," and the literal translation for the word "thorn" is "stake." It is as if someone is continually stabbing him. There has been much speculation concerning the nature of this thorn. For some, it meant that Paul had epilepsy. For some like Tertullian and Jerome, it was something similar to migraine headaches. Others like Calvin and Luther noted that for Paul, "flesh ...

2867. Welcome to the Center of Life

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... the purpose of the cross is to show us how captive we are, for us to realize the depth and the consequences of our captivity — we would rather kill Jesus than be loved by him. An astonishing thought! Even a cursory look at twentieth-century history (that continues now in the twenty-first century) reveals the truth of the cross: We prefer death to love. We believe in death — we believe that love is naive and simplistic. The author of Ephesians tells us that there is another way. It is the mystery of life ...

2868. Romans 14:1-12

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... as members of the church that is Christ’s peace, even though they fought just as much as we do. To be a member of the church is to share Christ’s peace, however much we annoy one another or disagree with one another. As Paul continues his parenesis in today’s epistle lesson, his advice to these Christians at Rome suggests that there were divisive issues within that faith community similar to those that caused frictions and factions at Corinth (and similar to the ones that divide the church today). How ...

2869. Cheering for the Underdog

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... ?” they asked. She swallowed hard a few times and then said, “He came to see me just once. I was in the hospital. He brought me my bathrobe and a few things,” she continued. “The doctor stood in the hallway and told him about my leukemia.” Her voice started to crack and she dabbed at her eyes before continuing. “[My husband] went home that night, packed up all his things, and left. I never saw him again.” “How long had you been married?” Yancey asked after a pause. The group gasped aloud ...

2870. Looking for the Child of Bethlehem

Luke 2:1-7

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” I learned those words as a child. They are written on my heart. The child I have been seeking, the baby Jesus born in our stable in Bethlehem, is the same Jesus you honor in this church and continue to serve. He is the Messiah, come to set his people free. Praise the Lord! Asher, Leader, and Readers: Thanks be to God! Leader: (to audience) Let’s stand and sing. (Sing a Happy Christmas carol.) This sketch was written by Jean Ann Hillegass. It is reprinted with ...

2871. Jesus Brings New Life

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... return to the world. He writes to the people, "O that you [God] would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence — as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil" (Isaiah 64:1-2a). He continues by asserting that God will make his name known to all adversaries so that nations will tremble at his presence. The prophet is suggesting that, as the Hebrews now experience a new existence in their life after the exile, so in the future God will return ...

2872. Contemporary Prophets Speak the Truth

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... to which all Christians are called is to listen to the truth and to speak it on behalf of God to a world that is often lost. We may wish to avoid this task, but as Jonah was tracked down by the Lord to continue his work, so too will God continue to seek us to meet our responsibilities as contemporary prophets. Confrontation, speaking the truth, being courageous — these are not easy things to do. We all want to be accepted and speaking the truth can, at times, put us at odds with others. But we have ...

2873. You Are in Good Hands with God

Isaiah 40:21-31

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... shoes, and pointed them in the new direction toward which he was going. Unknown to him, however, a jokester came during a night while he was asleep and turned his shoes around. When the man awoke the next morning he carefully stepped into his shoes and continued onto the Magical City. After a few days, he arrived at his destination. It was not quite as large as he imagined, in fact it looked somewhat familiar. He found a familiar street, knocked at a familiar door, and met a familiar family. There he lived ...

2874. Ascension Answers

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... cow paths and rustic little lanes curving around colorful gardens and white-washed houses decorated with murals telling the stories of saints and biblical events. The Austrians led the American up to a house to pick up a key. With key in hand, the path continued to lead the party upward to a small stone chapel capping an elevated ridge protruding from the mount. The chapel measured perhaps 20 by 35 feet. Inside was a simple altar framed by the walls of the nave decorated with old, faded frescos from another ...

2875. Small Sin, Large Grace

2 Samuel 11:26-27, 12:1-13a

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... any hope for David? After his sin and his retribution? Of course — we will see the hope and see how it unfolds as these stories continue. But for now, we must stay close to the punishment. There is no way around it but through it. We may try to go for ... ongoing need protoplasmic or genetic repetition? Why would it care about what we do to each other? We live. We die. The universe continues. David just can't be that big a deal. The very problem that causes me to want takes a premature seat — that the ...

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