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 2976 to 3000 of 4943 results

2976. The Light Has Come

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Nothing will or can stop the church. There might be times when the church loses its focus momentarily, but God always sends people to reform the church. The church of Jesus Christ continues in strength as it has for 2,000 years. What once was a mystery has now been made known. Jesus the Light of the world has come. We share that light, the good news of the gospel with others “in boldness and confidence through faith in him ...

2977. Refresh Your Heart

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... has shown them. Paul concludes by asking Philemon to “refresh” Paul’s own heart by welcoming the slave Onesimus as a full brother in Christ. Never bashful about asking, Paul beseeches Philemon to send back Onesimus to Paul so that together they may continue the work of spreading the gospel of Christ to others. Despite all the historical suggestions we do not know anything more about the relationship between Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus, than is contained here in this letter. We do not know if Philemon ...

2978. A One Sentence Legacy

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... his life was shaped by a teacher who once asked, “What do you want to be remembered for?” Drucker was only 13 when he heard this question, and he really didn’t have an answer. “I didn’t expect you to be able to respond,” the teacher continued. “But if you still can’t [answer this question] by the time you’re 50, you will have wasted your life.” That was a wise teacher. Phil Munsey, in his book Legacy Now, notes that there are seventy-eight million baby boomers in America. One of them ...

2979. Building a Solid Foundation

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... heard what was taking place in the church, it must have broken his heart. He loved the Corinthians and certainly wanted the very best for the church that he founded. Paul’s immediate goal was to restore order in the church so that the church could continue to be a beacon of hope and light in their community. Paul claims, “Like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it.” During the eighteen months to two years that Paul was in Corinth, he purposefully set out to ...

2980. Spirit-Direct

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... Jesus’ ministry. Peter retold the story of how sinful humanity put Jesus to death but that was not the end of the story as, “God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear.” The weeks following Easter the risen Jesus met with his apostles. Peter continued his message, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.” And that was exactly what Peter and the others were doing. When we are open to the leading of ...

2981. Thanksgivings to Remember

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

Argile Smith

... came from God’s hand, and you know it. You have never forgotten how your life has been different because God restored your life to you. What have you done to demonstrate to God how grateful you are to him for giving your life back to you? As the service continued, picture some seafarers who spoke up next. They had seen God’s great power in the middle of a fierce storm at sea. Over and over God lifted their ship up high onto the top of a mountain of water. Then God dropped it deep into the yawning valley ...

2982. Let Them Eat Cake

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... all its ingredients — a pound of flour, a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs. It was a “pound cake.” Eventually the recipes for these delicious, dense, moist, simple cakes took on a little more finesse and measuring. But pound cakes continue to be the backbone of a great number of decadent deserts. If you’ve got a pound cake in the freezer and anything else sweet in the house — maple syrup, chocolate sauce, jams or jellies, ice cream, whipped cream — you’ve got a great, company ...

2983. Putting the World Back Together

John 20:1-9

Sermon

David O. Bales

... ’ praying on the cross to forgive those who crucified him, Mitsuo Fuchida recognized Christ as his own Savior. Within a few months Mitsuo Fuchida met Jake DeShazer and the two men spoke at large meetings in Japan to tell of the new life in Christ. Jake continued to speak all around Japan and Mitsuo Fuchida came to the US to speak. People listened intently to these two men talk about how God can put the world back together; because, the American man had been a Doolittle raider who had bombed Japan in April ...

2984. He's Back

John 20:19-23

Sermon

David O. Bales

... your life in Jesus, how he starts over with each of us. The biggest problems in the world and in our lives aren’t always caused by doubting as Thomas did, or by our sinning (Jesus dealt with that on the cross), but by our not forgiving. Jesus continues recreating the world by starting our forgiving others. Forgiving is what Jesus was about to the end of his natural life. Hanging on the cross he forgave; now, first day out of the tomb and he’s telling us to do that also. We assume religion is about ...

2985. Hope from a Stump

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... the forest after a great tree has been cut down. But, he says, like Gerta Weissman’s flower poking its head through concrete, on this stump of Jesse, says Isaiah, a shoot will appear, and a new tree will emerge bearing much fruit. When that day comes, he continues, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion ...

2986. Getting out of the Doldrums

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a cardboard fold-and-cut tollbooth. Bored Milo builds the tollbooth and “drives through” it with his toy car. Immediately Milo disappears from his room and finds himself traveling along a strange road in a new land. But despite this miraculous relocation, as the road continues on and on, and the countryside rolls by and by, Milo begins to grow bored again. He spaces out and begins to be completely oblivious to his surroundings. He doesn’t even notice as his car begins to go slower and slower and then ...

2987. Jesus’ Prayer: The Pause in the Battle

John 17:1-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

... ’s text is the pause in John’s gospel just before Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Immediately before our text in chapter 13, Jesus shares his last meal with his students, washing their feet and teaching them from his humble example. Then in chapters 14 to 16 he continues teaching. Finally, in chapter 17 he offers his prayer in his last few minutes of peace. This break in the fury ends soon. Under cover of darkness the soldiers and police arrest him on the Mount of Olives. From there the action ...

2988. Nicodemus: A Young Old Man

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David O. Bales

... this young Nazarene simply reached into Nicodemus’s life. More than merely pointing to the aching spot, Jesus laid his hand exactly on the raw and bleeding slice of Nicodemus’s soul and made it burn all the more. A gust of wind rattled the door and Jesus continued, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (v. 9). Nicodemus’s mind sifted through fragments of thoughts ...

2989. Remembering Jesus

Matthew 26:17-30

Sermon

David O. Bales

... , when I kissed her goodnight, was the memorable day in solving the question of my relationship with the opposite sex. I still occasionally buy her a rose on the fifteenth of the month — any month.”[4] “A memorable day” he said, a day he set out continually and joyfully to remember by doing something in response to the person he loved. We can do something to remember Jesus during any worship. We’ll do what he commanded us here at this altar. But also, like the short brooms laid beside the altar in ...

2990. The Lifesaver App

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... strange new world of “e-mail” created by the expansion of the Internet. In 2006 another snazzy word was reconfigured when “Twitter” was born. By 2012 there were over 34 million “tweets” sent per day. Technospeak is a language that continues to expand exponentially. We used to increase our vocabulary by reading “the classics.” Now we can only increase our new and necessary vocabulary for living in the twenty-first century by reading our “emails” “tweets,” and “blogs.” It seems we ...

2991. Named, Claimed, and Framed

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Tony Everett

... . We are forever named and claimed as God’s own children, God’s own after-Easter people. That’s easy to say but even easier to forget in the real world. Anyone who enters Timmy’s living room can see the framed reality of a love that continues to live in that family. God’s after-Easter people also need a frame for remembering Jesus’ love in the living spaces of their lives. Matthew is almost three years old, and soon he will be the official big brother to Myra, who is still living comfortably ...

2992. Claimed, Framed, Changed

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Tony Everett

... show them what God has promised for them and for their children and “for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him” (Acts 2:39). Now is God’s saving game plan coming into focus? It begins with what God has done, is doing, and promises to continue doing. It begins with God’s saving claim of us and God’s loving frame around us. Because God is in charge, therefore, we can change. Because in Jesus God has turned the world’s view of reality upside down, therefore, we are not trapped and entombed by ...

2993. Framed, Changed, Challenged

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Tony Everett

... is the challenge that the risen Jesus lays before his changed people… you and me… the church? Well, when our text was written, the Spirit formed the church as an alternative community within Jewish society. Today, the Spirit of the risen Christ continues to form us as an alternative fellowship within our society. Although our languages differ, our cultures vary, our ethnicities diverge, and our politics are often diffuse, the shape of Christ’s community looks very much the same as that described in ...

2994. Looking for Ducklings: Kissing the Sidewalk

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Tony Everett

... control of princes, priests, or kings. It is about the power of the risen and reigning Christ, the Son of Man himself. Because God revealed this to Stephen, Stephen was able to suffer and even to die with the courage and confidence of Christ’s continuing presence with him. While the stones were flying, Stephen could still pray, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Here was not only the bedtime prayer of Jewish children (see Psalm 31:15) it also echoed Jesus’ own prayer on the cross (Luke 23 ...

2995. Jesus Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... us to be. What is completely transformable in our lives. We are called to be a light for the world. We are also invited to immerse ourselves and transform ourselves in that new light, that new vision of possibilities and perspectives. And we are invited to continue Jesus’ mission on this earth. No child should have the blank pages of their life filled up with the forbidding text of a story that is over before it has begun, a book that opens only to shut, already weighted down to close by the burdens ...

2996. Will this Be on the Test?

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Tony Everett

... for our attention. We prepared for the test all right. We experienced Christ’s death for us, and we survived. However, we did not prepare for Christ’s continuing life in us. We did not prepare for Christ’s daily dying and rising with us. This Lenten preparation includes learning and practicing spiritual disciplines that will continue beyond the Lenten season; a preparation for an ongoing and renewing relationship that Christ initiated through his dying and rising. So, we are not total failures. We ...

2997. Is the Lord Among Us or Not?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Tony Everett

... wonder! No more problems! No more slavery! We’ll be in the promised land before you know it! God is with us and all is right in our world! However, in reality, the journey was anything but quick and easy. It was full of continued, aimless, and endless wandering within a hostile and barren wilderness. Their food was not the familiar meat and vegetables flavored with Egyptian spices. Their wilderness food was a flaky residue left over from nightly insect activity on the leaves of plants. This new food ...

2998. Hey, What’s that Sound?

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Tony Everett

... us and for us in the water of baptism, in the bread and wine of Holy Communion, in the living word of scripture, and in the gathering of the Lord’s people. The Lord has promised to continue giving forever. How do we get this gift again? Like David in our lesson, just show up! God has given, is giving, and has promised to continue to give God’s own spirit of power and presence forever. And finally, what do we do with this gift when we get it? Just like Samuel in today’s scripture, God will show us what ...

2999. A Breath of Fresh Air

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

... than a remote possibility that something nearly impossible might happen — as in “I hope that I will win the lottery.” In scripture, especially in today’s text, hope is the sure and certain anticipation and expectation of what God has done, is doing, and promises to continue to do with and for God’s people. Hope is given through the breath of fresh air... and the Spirit that God has given to us. Hope includes the wisdom to see things as they are and the vision to see what they will become when the ...

3000. Here's Mud in Your Eye

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... call “laws,” and the world was created. We live in a lawful world, and that is good. Another word for lawful is predictable. Life is generally predictable. The world continues to turn on its axis. The sun will rise tomorrow as it did today. The water will flow in the tap unless a pipe is clogged up. Our bodies continue to function. By knowing and living in harmony with the laws of nature, humanity lives successfully upon the earth. Unfortunately, we are also sometimes victims of the lawfulness of this ...

Showing results