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 2926 to 2950 of 4943 results

2926. A Fool and His Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to help him plan bigger barns. The hours pass, finally the architect says, "Look, I have got to get home. I have been out every night this week." "Leave the plans with me," says the man, "I will keep working on them. We can pick it up tomorrow." The man continues to work with his drawings and his figures. Mrs. Farmer came in to say, "Goodnight, dear. Don't work too late." But he barely heard her, he was so caught up in the vision of the future. The hours passed, and he sensed what seemed to be a knock at ...

2927. Would A Loving God Really Let Anyone Go To Hell?

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... other places where it indicates "No." If scripture is not crystal clear, we had best not be making any absolute statements. However, if we take seriously the freedom of choice God has given us, it seems we are forced to conclude that there is a possibility that some will continue to reject God and hang on to their sins, no matter what. As C. S. Lewis wrote, "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done ...

2928. The Incomparable Christ

Colossians 1:15-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... we to wait for another?" (Matthew 11:2 NRSV). Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? Not only the question of an ancient text, but the question that has been repeated ever since, until the end of time, and will continue to be asked by every human heart. Of course, the answer of the gospel, the faith in which we have been raised, says absolutely! Yes, Jesus is the one. This Jesus is unique. He is the incomparable Christ. Read through the text from Colossians, and you will find what ...

2929. Ascension

Psalm 47:1-9, Luke 24:44-53, Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:15-23

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... . Speak through us so that the kingdom of God Jesus spoke of comes to our town. Amen. Call To Confession The writer of Luke and Acts thought repentance and forgiveness were vital for friends of Jesus. Pray with me the printed prayer and then continue your own conversation with God. Community Confession God of Jesus, Mary, and Paul — our burdens sometimes are very heavy. Sometimes our shame and our guilt depress our hopes. Whatever road we’ve taken to get where we are, let your Spirit move through us ...

2930. Epiphany 8

Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15, Isaiah 55:10-13, Luke 6:39-49, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... Word from God, and we will respond in one way or another! People: Let’s pray and sing! Prayer Of Thanksgiving Awesome God — we are grateful for words with which to think and communicate. We are glad you speak to make things begin and end — and continue in the middle. We are friends and neighbors, visitors and regulars; we gladly listen for your voice and respond from our heads and our hearts. Amen. Call To Confession Come everyone who is thirsty. Come, God says, and I will give you life! This is an ...

2931. Epiphany

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12, Ephesians 3:1-12

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... from humankind. We are grateful you have made our bodies homes for your Spirit. As we recognize the systems of nature, we are glad that you have not kept secret your imagination for we see it everywhere in the universe! We do not understand how evolution continues to change this planet, but we do know that we have been negligent with the waters, the air, and the land. Work in us until we demand that industry develop a conscience and protect the hills and forests, waters and air. God of Life — we pray ...

2932. Lent 4

Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32:1-11, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... people before us, we make space and time, day and night to be aware of your sustaining grace. Thank you for bread and wine, for fruit and vegetables for our journey. Amen. Benediction (The candles counting the Sundays in Lent can be extinguished.) May the road continue smooth before you; May there be enough light along the way; May peace greet you at every crossroad And joy accompany you to the end. Through whatever pain and suffering is yours to endure Know that God is in it with you. Amid every temptation ...

2933. All Is Different Now

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... brothers made a couple of five-minute flights. A year later they were flying eleven miles at a time. They increased it to fifteen, then twenty. On October 1905, there was a flight of twenty-four miles which lasted over a half hour. The press continued to be skeptical. The fact that the flights had been ignored seemed to prove that they had not happened. When a New York Herald correspondent submitted an eye-witness account of the Wright Brothers’ exploits to a magazine, the article was rejected. Wrote the ...

2934. Proper 4

1 Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39, Psalm 96:1-13, Luke 7:1-10, Galatians 1:1-12

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... our faith, enlarge our repertoire of praise, and expand our courage. Amen. Call To Confession Perhaps this is the day to notice what we believe and how we integrate it with our view of the world and with our decisions. Pray with me and then continue your own prayer in silence. Community Confession Left side: Awesome God, we believe what we’ve been told without figuring out what is mythical truth and what is functional reality. Right side: Gracious God, sometimes we are ignorant as to the effect of violent ...

2935. Proper 10

Deuteronomy 30:9-14, Psalm 25:1-10; 82:1-8, Amos 7:7-17, Luke 10:25-37, Colossians 1:1-14

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... the painful parts of life and in good times, we share our rejoicings! Hurrah! Yippee! Hallelujah! Offertory Statement With your own sense of what is appropriate and helpful, this is the moment when you can respond with generosity to Holy Generosity so that tangible goodness continues in this place. Doxology "The Lone, Wild Bird" The ends of earth are in God’s hand, The sea’s dark deep and far-off land. And I am yours! I rest in you. Great Spirit, come, and rest in me. Prayer Of Thanksgiving Creating ...

2936. Mark 10:17-31

Mark 10:17-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . We desperately want reassurance that things are going to get better and our financial security will be assured. It is a safe bet that if today’s gospel reading were a stump speech, Jesus wouldn’t get elected dog-catcher. As Jesus is continuing on his journey to Jerusalem, he suddenly encounters a potential disciple. While Matthew and Luke identify this individual as “young” and “a ruler,” Mark does not provide any descriptive details about the man at this time. That the man runs to Jesus and ...

2937. L4G Live For God

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

2938. Proper 25

Psalm 65:1-13, Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22, Joel 2:23-32, Luke 18:9-14, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... ways you bless us and call us to be our best selves. Thank you for your consistent love. Amen. Call To Confession In these next few moments, we have opportunity to breathe deeply and feel in touch with the holy. Pray with me and then continue your private conversations with God. Community Confession Spirit of God — we have received so many ideas and so many things from our ancestors. Still we feel anxious. Fill our empty spots. We see the global village and its needs. Erase our prejudices. As we collect ...

2939. Christmas 2

Psalm 147:12-20, Jeremiah 31:7-14, John 1:(1-9), 10-18, Ephesians 1:3-14

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... observations that people create their own futures with their attitudes about life. The Judeo-Christian religion emphasizes positive thinking, hopeful attitudes. Today’s texts demonstrate this. For many twenty-first-century friends of Jesus, the question is how we can continue to hope when the truth of tangible reality is far from the hope of exquisite poetry in Jeremiah, Psalms, John, Ephesians, and others. The images we use at Christmas of a welcoming Jerusalem belonging to the great nation of Israel ...

2940. The Lost Five Commandments

Mark 12:35-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to be better. Jesus asked his disciples, “What do you different than others?” (Matthew 5:47). Thou shalt not pile in. 4. Thou Shalt Not Pile Higher and Deeper A bad idea doesn’t get better just because you proclaim it louder and continually repeat it. The Nazis orchestrated enormous public rallies and brought crowds of hundreds of thousands to their feet chanting, “Sieg Heil.” Do you know what “Sieg Heil” means? It means “Hail Winning.” We have a whole culture that is yelling “Sieg Heil ...

2941. Born at Bethlehem — Hope

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... to the shore. The wind tore at her clothes and the sun warmed her head and filled her with wild, joyful singing! “I felt as though I could fly, as though the Holy Spirit were in the strong gusts, ready to lift me off my feet into heaven.” Ellyn continues, “I stayed there as long as I dared. Knowing that my family would be waiting impatiently, I went down the spiral stairs at last. But inside my heart, I felt as though I carried a promise from God. At twelve, I didn’t know what to call the feel ...

2942. Learning the Recipe for Love

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... privilege of being chosen by God. The message has been given to us; we have been entrusted with a special and magnificent gift. We then have a responsibility to clothe ourselves in this message and to bring it to others. Christ is our teacher and we must continue his work by teaching others, not only in words, but in our actions, attitudes, and in general the way we live our Christian call to holiness. Because we have been chosen, Paul says we are seen as holy and beloved in God’s sight. We are special ...

2943. Learning the Recipe for Love

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... the privilege of being chosen by God. The message has been given to us; we have been entrusted with a special and magnificent gift. We then have a responsibility to clothe ourselves in this message and to bring it to others. Christ is our teacher and we must continue his work by teaching others, not only in words, but in our actions, attitudes, and in general the way we live our Christian call to holiness. Because we have been chosen, Paul says we are seen as holy and beloved in God's sight. We are special ...

2944. Teammates in Building The Kingdom

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... suggests that status in the world is of little or no consequence to Christ. Baptism is the great leveler, the right that is common to all. His message says that no one is more or less important in Jesus' eyes. Paul's analogy of membership to the body continues by speaking of the contributions of hands and feet, eyes and ears. In both cases each part of the body is of significant value. One part cannot say of the other it is not part of the body or unimportant. All parts are members, all parts are important ...

2945. Formula for Eternal Life

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... neighbor, coworker, and certainly with God. Others might have a very different response. Some of us might do nothing differently. Some in a defeatist attitude might say, "There is nothing I can do at this late hour. God has already decided my fate. I might as well continue what I have been doing all along." There are still others who might not change a thing that they are doing, but not in a defeatist mode. Some could hopefully say, "Isn't this the event for which the world has been waiting? Isn't this the ...

2946. Heaven on Earth

Revelation 21:1-6

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... in heaven? In heaven will Aunt Polly still have a limp and walk with a cane? What can I do? I always try to comfort them with answers that assure them that all will be well, even though I have never been to heaven. Today's reading continues our journey through the book of Revelation in these Sundays after Easter. Like all the others, today we have another picture of heaven. The book of Revelation is filled with wild, fantastic, and bizarre images of heaven and what it will be like when God finally brings ...

2947. A Glimpse of Glory

Revelation 21:10-22 - 22:5

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... As my daddy used to say, "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is." How in the world can we make these great and wonderful claims about the ministry of the church? The church? The church? You've got to be kidding! As our critics continually remind us, the church all too often looks like anything but heaven. Our lives are often as flawed and imperfect as the atheist down the street. We have more skeletons in the closet than we would ever like to admit. And despite our efforts the church isn't ...

2948. An Uncomplicated Gospel

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... going to be destroyed and somehow found himself as well; the horse Seabiscuit who was too small and thought to be too wild to ride but when treated well became a record breaker, a jockey who was too big and blind in one eye but was allowed to continue riding, an owner broken by the death of his son and the failure of his marriage but who found new purpose. A common thread runs through all these different parts of the story, illustrated by one line that is repeated in the movie: "You don't throw something ...

2949. But When God ...

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... us is unique, each of us has our own rough edges, and God isn't finished with any of us. Whether we've lived for nine years or ninety, whether we're very passionate and very active like Paul or maybe not so much, God's work in our lives continues, and God isn't finished with us just as God wasn't finished with the apostle Paul. His one-minute written testimony was actually much more than that. It was a lifelong testimony that he was living out — in his preaching, his letter writing, in his daily work as a ...

2950. Living with Integrity

Galatians 2:15-21

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... live in a way that expresses the truth of the gospel, to live as people who have been justified by faith. That's where Peter had fallen short. That's where the Galatians were also in danger of falling into the same error. Today, hypocrisy and personal integrity continue to be challenges for the church and for all of us. Peter has lots of company! In our own day, some church leaders have also been taken to task in very public ways for their failure to live according to the very truths that they have preached ...

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