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 2901 to 2925 of 4972 results

2901. Wait for It...

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . He spent time patiently guiding them through their grief and re-directing them in their purpose. He taught them that he would send the Holy Spirit to continue to lead them forward. And now on what we like to call “Jesus’ Ascension Day,” we see Jesus leaving them, and yet cautioning them still to wait. Their time had not yet come. He had commissioned them for mission. He had re-commissioned them by the sea yet again. He had breathed his Spirit upon them. But until the Holy Spirit would come to invest ...

2902. The Art Of Transition

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... -boomer, who was required by the company he worked for to move to a different part of the state. The move meant a promotion and a sizable raise in his pay, but he was ambivalent about it. His kids were in middle school and had friends they’d have to leave. He and his wife were active in the church and the schools. While he looked forward to the new challenges of his job, he was sad about all that he would be losing in the move. He shared that sadness and ambivalence with me one day over lunch. There was ...

2903. Why Pass By?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... evening nap and then for an hour before we go to bed at 9:00 we just waste time. As you can see, that leaves almost no time for brooding, lagging, plodding, or procrastinating and if we stopped to think or laugh, we’d never get nothing done. ... checkout line. It’s going to be played out when we have to decide whether we’re going to take that close parking space or leave it for the elderly couple with the disability card hanging from their rear-view mirror. It’s going to be played out when we decided ...

2904. Don’t Fall Asleep

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... only to fall to his death out of a window. Luckily, he was resurrected (awakened) by Paul and given a second chance! Listen to the story: On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he ...

2905. Last Things First

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... , no such country. In the second century before Jesus, the Judeans temporarily threw off their shackles and had a king for a short while, but infighting between the various factions led them to invite the Romans to help calm down the situation. The Romans didn’t leave. They stayed to rule with an iron rod. This King descended from David would be none other than Jesus, who would come again in glory, after the manner of the Son of Man’s descent described in Daniel, to reign eternally. But there’s also ...

2906. Bare Stage

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... heard the words. What would happen next? Ah, dreams. They are so vivid, so powerful, so real. Some dreams stick with us for life. Some dreams haunt us. Others fade away, so what we are left with are like a few dry leaves that are the remnant of an ancient autumn. The wind blows the leaves away and it’s all gone. Actually, Joseph had a series of dreams. He had the dream described in today’s scripture, and a dream telling him to high-tail it with his family to Egypt, and another dream instructing him it ...

2907. No Excuse

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... God wants results, and a thousand excuses, no matter how good they are, do not make up for a single good result. But he does not leave us with that, like some despotic boss who threatens that if you can’t do the job, he’ll find someone who can. He’s not ... going to abandon us to a job for which we are not equipped or prepared. He is not going to make demands and then walk away, leaving us with a task that we cannot do. Listen to how he responds to Jeremiah: “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you ...

2908. The Spirit Blows Where It Will

John 3:1-10

Sermon

Will Willimon

... another assignment." I remember growing up in the South, in summer, before the days of air conditioning. How, when chores were done for the day, in the evening, everyone would gather on the porch and rock, and talk in an attempt to escape the heat. And the leaves of the trees would rustle. And the talk would cease. And everyone would fall silent, sit back and savor the breeze, the gift of the breeze. Pneuma. Charis. I don't know as much about preaching as I once knew. But I know this. Preaching appears so ...

2909. When In Our Music God Is Glorified

Isaiah 58:1-9a

Sermon

Will Willimon

... a hymnal, we have St. Bach, St. Watts, St. Dawsey to guide us. When we come empty and unsteady in our faith, we have Martin Luther to force us to rise and sing, “A mighty fortress is our God...." And in singing that, we come to believe it, we leave here with more faith than when we came. Revelation says that heaven, God's Kingdom come, is a place of great singing, in which not only the Saints gather about the throne, but all God's creatures, those who make music in sky, and earth, and sea, all creation ...

2910. Out on a Limb

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and a traitor to the faith. The shame he must have felt ran deep. So, like Adam, when God came looking for him after he had eaten of the Tree of Life, Zacchaeus was “hiding.” Adam and Eve may have made for themselves coverings of leaves, but Zacchaeus was hiding behind the leaves themselves! He had climbed right up the tree! Perhaps it was to see better, since he couldn’t see over the crowd. But I suspect it was also to avoid the crowd, to view Jesus from a safe distance, and to watch this Messiah he ...

2911. The God Of Abraham, Isaac And Jacob

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

... give you a free cone after you buy five. One store is offering the better deal. How much will you save if you buy six ice cream cones at that store?” Do you remember these sort of problems in your math class? Problems about various trains leaving different stations at various times, and then having to answer which one arrived where, when? Problems about oranges and bananas and buying twice as many of one and dropping half and how many were left to give to your neighbor if you’d already given a fourth ...

2912. To Be Alive

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , those who have gone before us in the faith, those willing to be martyred for their beliefs, and those whose sure trust in the truth of the resurrection have stunned us with their confidence. Yet every generation will struggle with the inevitability of leaving this life behind and going on to that still “unknown” and “unseen” future based only in faith. This reliance on human discernible knowledge (and lack of faith as Jesus notes it) is perhaps the reason that the Sadducees find it hard to accept ...

2913. Living A Triumphant Life

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... people today are driven to succeed. That may not be a problem unto itself. The problem comes in how we define success. If we pursue success as defined by secular culture, the focus will be on money and prestige. Those objectives as the key focus of life will leave us spiritually poor, though. G.K. Chesterton's words are insightful here. He said, "To be clever enough to get all that money one must be stupid enough to want it."1 The truly triumphant life can only be discovered in the pursuit of God's purpose ...

2914. A Living Memorial

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... stage in our spiritual development is our experience of God's grace. Judgment is not the end of our journey; it is only the beginning. In fact, if we dwell on judgment, we can end up with a legalistic understanding of spiritual matters. That would leave us in a position not too far removed from where the Pharisees stood. The Christian experience cannot be limited only to the concept of judgment. Judgment is the beginning point but we must push for something deeper. Only by going deeper do we find something ...

2915. Suffering And Service

Isaiah 51:17--52:12

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... to her through this person, saying, "I am with you in your pain." One week when she was feeling fatigued and weary, she attempted to slip into church unnoticed. Someone approached her though, and told her, "You are not the kind of person that people can just leave alone." She felt Christ was reaching out to her at that time to let her know, "Even when you desire to be alone, people will surround you with love because you are important to me. I want you to know that." Some time later, the young woman ...

2916. Whom Shall We Obey?

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... if the religious leaders had all of the power on their side. In reality they were no match for God's dedicated witnesses. I know of a family that went on vacation for several days. While they were away, they had someone come in to stay with their children. Before leaving town, the parents gave a list of rules to be followed while they were away. No fighting. Be sure to brush your teeth before going to bed. Go to bed at 8:30 p.m. There were several other rules that were stressed and then they left. The first ...

2917. God's Vision For The Church

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... , bringing them together at the moment that was right according to God's plan. When you have experienced God's hand in your life in such a way, planning for the future can never be the same. God's unexpected ways and God's impeccable timing leave you wondering why you were ever reluctant to relinquish control in the first place. And God has a way of bringing two unsuspecting individuals together who turn out to be a mutual blessing for each other. Such a reciprocal blessing could never be orchestrated apart ...

2918. A Call To Community

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... was in their backyard. The dogs would come to play with Cocoa. Or what more likely happened is they would come into the backyard and they would all be eating Cocoa's food. The children would run outside and chase the dogs off. Cocoa would sit and watch them leave and still he could never figure out how to get out of the fence. Or maybe it's just that there was no place else that he would rather be. In time Cocoa grew to be quite large and much more courageous than the family had ever dreamed possible ...

2919. A Maturing Faith

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... blood from a blood transfusion during the delivery of her first son. The two sons were then infected at birth. Jimmy Allen's son was a minister, too. He hoped to find strength and encouragement from his church. Instead, he and his family were asked to leave. During this time, Jimmy Allen had another son who admitted to being gay. He too became infected with the HIV virus. Allen has written of his family's experiences. In doing so, he told of watching a diamond being cut. When the diamond cutter struck the ...

2920. "No Contest"

1 Kings 18:16-46

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... feel they must sample them all. So we have the Eastern religions, new age, humanism, secularism, and a plethora of strange sects, all promoting their own private brand of God. A lady told me recently, "I've finally worked out a theology about God all on my own. It leaves me lots of options and plenty of leeway, it makes no demands and carries no judgment, and best of all, it feels good. What do you think of that?" The truth is that she is not a lot different from what everyone else does who opts for a god ...

2921. The Beginning And The Ending

Luke 1:1-4; 24:44-53

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... and makes us want to know more. But the symbolism is clear. Jesus is now exalted to the highest place of power and authority. He shares the glory of God. His work on earth is completely vindicated. The disciples seem to have no sense of loss as Jesus leaves them. They worship him and return with joy to the Temple in Jerusalem where the first scene in Luke's gospel is laid. There the priest, Zechariah, had heard the joyful news that his aged wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son who would "make ready a people ...

2922. Topsy-turvy Christianity

Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... at variance with the accepted criteria of our time concerning what it takes to make one healthy, wealthy, and wise. They also do not fit a theology which presents the gospel as a sure road to success, peace of mind, and easy forgiveness. These sayings leave little room for "cheap grace" which emphasizes the grace and mercy of God, but gives little attention to the moral demands of the Word of God. We need to remind ourselves that these beatitudes and woes were never meant to be rules for the ordering ...

2923. Food For The Body And Food For The Soul

John 6:25-59

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... gathered throng. All eat their fill and the disciples gather up twelve baskets of leftover broken bread. Needless to say, the people are filled, not only with food, but also with excitement by this seemingly easy way to satisfy their hunger. Jesus and his disciples leave the crowd and go across the Sea of Galilee. But the people hunt Jesus down and find him at Capernaum. They are puzzled about how Jesus got there and question him about when he arrived. This brings us into the threshold of our text. Jesus ...

2924. How The Mighty Have Fallen!

Luke 9:18-27

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... weakness." Swaggart's weakness for pornography often led him to Louisiana brothels. It doesn't appear to be the case that Swaggart had sex with these women. He just asked them to pose for him in some suggestive ways. One night as he was leaving a brothel, however, someone who was out to expose him took some pictures. The pictures undid him. Scandal raged. Swaggart faced his congregation with tears running down his cheeks and remorse in his heart. The response to Swaggart's fall was highly judgmental. People ...

2925. When The Light From Heaven Does Not Flash

Acts 9:1-19a

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... out. The pastor was at the back door greeting the worshippers. The pews were quickly becoming empty. But Dawn did not move. She sat silently, her hands folded, her head bowed in prayer. Bridget Glass was a life-long friend of Dawn Hetland. As she was leaving the sanctuary that Sunday morning she happened to see her friend Dawn with her head bowed low. Bridget thought something must be wrong. She went quickly to Dawn's side, tapped her on the shoulder, and asked if everything was all right. "Oh, yeah, sure ...

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