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 3001 to 3025 of 4938 results

3001. A Stone’s Throw From: Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever noticed how on some signs the message which was intended isn't the one that comes across? Like the one in a Department Store which announced: "Bargain Basement Is Upstairs." Or how about these signs: "Show Signs" My favorite is actually a mistranslation, at least I hope. I'm pretty sure they meant valuables but the sign in a Paris hotel read: "Please leave your values at the front desk." Unfortunately, many people do that without being told. And sometimes we are tempted to leave our values ...

3002. The Garden of Temptation

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman tells of joining a weight-loss organization. At one meeting the instructor held up an apple and a candy bar. “What are the attributes of this apple,” she asked, “and how do they relate to our diet?” Among the answers that came from the group: “Low in calories” and “lots of fiber.” She then detailed what was wrong with eating candy, and concluded, “Apples are not only more healthful but also less expensive. Do you know I paid seventy-five cents for this candy bar?” The group stared as she held aloft ...

3003. What Really Matters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

A joke appeared on the Internet recently that many of you women can relate to. A man was praying, “Oh Lord, please have mercy on me, I work so very hard, meanwhile my wife stays at home. I would give anything if you would grant me one wish. Please, switch me into my wife. She’s got it easy at home and I want to teach her a lesson about how tough a man’s life is!” As God was listening he felt sorry for this poor soul and granted his wish. So . . . the next morning this man wakes up at dawn . . . as a woman ...

3004. Choosing

Joshua 24:1-27

Sermon

Argile Smith

Do you remember the generation gap that existed between you and your parents when you were a teenager? Do you sense the same kind of gap widening between you and your children? When we consider the story of Joshua in his old age calling on Israel to serve the Lord, we have to factor in the reality of a generation gap. It presents a challenge for people of different generations when they try to communicate with each other. Parents who grew up in the seventies and eighties regularly have difficulty talking ...

3005. Food Sacrificed to Idols

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

Contrasting Knowledge and Love At this point in the letter to Corinth Paul enters into the discussion of an issue that will engage him, in one way or another, through 11:1. While the concrete concern that calls for his attention is the issue of “food sacrificed to idols,” at a theological level his focus is Christian rights and responsibilities, especially regarding “knowledge” and “freedom” in lifestyle practices. Interpreters trace the course of Paul’s reflections in slightly different ways, for at one ...

3006. Joseph, When Did You Know?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

We are just days away from Christmas, and I hope that this season has been full of hope, joy, love and peace for you. I hope that you have had time to reflect on the promises of the Advent season, the season in which we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus. It’s funny that the modern Christian church spends four weeks—the season of Advent—preparing for Christ’s coming, because the first Christmas was a total surprise that sort of snuck up on everyone involved. And it’s funny that this fourth Sunday of ...

3007. Food For The Body And Food For The Soul

John 6:25-59

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

A good many years ago in a certain theological seminary in the South there was a professor of theology who was the master of the pithy, memorable saying. He used to give young seminarians about to graduate this advice: "Marry as soon as possible and as often as necessary." He had a classic table blessing which he used frequently, especially at public functions: "Lord, we thank you for food: food for the body and food for the soul. May we never lack for either and give us an appetite for both." This ...

3008. Bread In Our Baskets

John 6:25-59

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

After the Lord's miraculous multiplying of the two fish and the loaves of bread, the crowd had seen the disciples shove off for the farther shore. They knew there had been only one boat by the shore. They knew Jesus had not entered it with the disciples. Do you suppose some in the crowd said to one another, "Jesus missed the boat"? Those who wanted to make Jesus king might have said that and meant that he could have become a great deal more than he was. They didn't realize that no one ever was greater than ...

3009. Blessed Be The Title That Binds

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The TITHE. You do know what that is, right? You would be surprised how many do not. Lots of folks think the tithe is simply what you give to the church, no matter what amount - a dollar, two dollars, a hundred - no matter what proportion of income the amount represents. And that is why, according to the Gallup folks, 17% of church members say they tithe. Unfortunately, lots of those good people are wrong. The word tithe comes from the Old English and simply means one-tenth. A tithe is one-tenth of ...

3010. Don't Be a Turkey (Thanksgiving)

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Alex Gondola

There is little question that the commercially grown turkey is, pound for pound, one of nature’s less intelligent creatures, at least according to an article I once read. In that article, author Fred McGuiness calls the domesticated turkey "as brainless as a baseball," and describes how turkeys can have trouble doing even simple things. For example, your average turkey can get into trouble doing something as simple as eating. Turkeys have been known to starve to death right next to a mountain of food. But ...

3011. Martyrdom Chic

Acts 7:55-60

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

This story about Stephen is a hard one to preach about these days. Lately, the idea of martyrdom has fallen under a bit of a cloud, don't you think? What do you think of when you hear about martyrs? In my experience, a martyr is either reduced to a psychological complex foisted off on someone who does too much for others, or it's a poor child with a dynamite vest ready to doom himself or herself and plenty of others for the sake of the cause, and the cash benefits paid to the family, after the fact. There' ...

3012. Connected To God

Sermon

Lee Griess

In his book On a Wild and Windy Mountain, Dean of the Chapel at Duke University William Willimon tells of being in New Haven, Connecticut, as a student in 1970, during the famous Black Panther trial. Perhaps you remember those days the 1970s? It was a turbulent time for our country a time of strife, discord, and agony that threatened to tear our country apart. Much of the unrest of those days came to a focus during the trial of those Black Panther leaders. It was just at that time that Willimon happened to ...

3013. A Glory Revealed to Faith Alone

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, saying, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water, and we’ve had it with this stupid manna."1 And the Lord sent deadly serpents among the people, and they began biting the people, and many of the sons of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said to him, "We have sinned because we spoke against the Lord and against you. So now, pray to the Lord that ...

3014. Marching Forward by Faith!

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Have you heard the story about a man who slipped and fell while trying to clean the limbs from his roof? He slid down the steep shingles, slipped over the eave, and barely managed to grab hold of the gutters. Dangling there three stories from the earth, the man looked to the heavens above and shouted “My God can any body help me?" Suddenly time stopped, the clouds parted and a voice from heaven said, “Have faith, turn loose." The man took one more glance at the ground below, then looked back to the heavens ...

3015. The Parables About Response

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The kingdom of God is described in many different ways in the Bible. In Mark 4, the kingdom of God is described in terms of small seeds quietly planted by a farmer. The seeds can grow to great size, like a mustard plant which in ancient Israel became one of the largest of bushes. Small beginnings can have great endings. Before looking further at this slow but potentially great growth in Mark 4:26-34, it helps to look at the context of our text, the passage before the two parables of the slow growing seeds ...

3016. Two Thieves

Luke 23:32-43

Sermon

Erskine White

And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43) Have you ever thought about how lonely Jesus was as He made His way to Calviary’s hill and hung on its cross to die? Someone has compared it to the feeling you get in the hospital as you are being wheeled into the operating room. You feel radically alone as you wave good-bye to your family and friends, because they can’t undergo your surgery for you! You have to do it yourself. You are surrounded by people - the ...

3017. Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1-13, Psalm 104:1-35, Joel 2:28-32, Genesis 11:1-9, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, John 16:5-16, John 20:19-23, John 15:18--16:4

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Pentecost is the "50th day" of Easter. It brings the great 50 days of the Pasch to a close and, at the same time, it introduces the Pentecost cycle, which is also the longest season of the church year; it extends to the First Sunday in Advent. As early as the eighth century, in France, there was an attempt to break the long season into shorter segments. Saints days provided the key to the division of the season - June 29, Saints Peter and Paul; August 10, St. Lawrence; September 29, St. ...

3018. The Signs Of Salvation

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Would that we could know what Zacchaeus was thinking as he ran ahead of the crowd that day in Jericho! What would he have known or believed about the Galilean preacher? What did he think of the crowds that thronged the streets of Jericho, straining to glimpse the teacher as he journeyed toward Jerusalem? Could he have remembered that more than 500 years earlier Isaiah had promised there would be a day like this? Probably not. Zacchaeus had other problems. To begin with, he was a short man. He had spent ...

3019. The Ladder of Success

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Paul Hegele

The window into my childhood sometimes opens for me. I can catch glimpses of scenes from the past. The image most vivid is of two small boys - my best friend and me - sitting on the steps of my back porch. Our conversation is always the same. It begins when one asks the other: "What are you going to be when you grow up?" The answers then are much like the answers children give today. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" A cowboy, a teacher, a football player, a doctor. Being Superman was my personal ...

3020. Advent 1

Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122:1-9, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The risen, ascended Lord, Jesus Christ, whose reign has begun, will return at the end of this age, to bring in the fullness of God's Kingdom and reign over all of the affairs of the earth. Be prepared! Wait! Watch! Wonder! Work! Walk! The First Sunday in Advent is the theological/thematic key to the entire year's preaching from the lectionary; it sets the stage, as it were, by directing the attention of preacher and people upon the completion of God's business with the world in Jesus ...

3021. The Light that Shines Within

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Mann

The story of the birth of Jesus has been variously told. Luke has told it in relation to the appearance of angels and the visit of shepherds. Matthew has told it in the context of a brightly shining star and the coming of wise men from the East. Others may very well have associated the story with other signal happenings mentioned by neither of these; for any event of importance is attended by a variety of incidental circumstances, and in telling of it, one witness will choose to relate one of the ...

3022. No Longer Orphans

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Have you ever wondered where sermons come from? I have. Especially when I first entered the ministry. I had an idea what I was going to preach about next Sunday, and a pretty good idea of what I would like to say a week from next Sunday; but I wondered: what on earth I would find to preach about five, ten, fifteen or twenty years down the road? Fortunately, thanks to the limitless resources available in the Holy Scripture, I never ran out of sermon topics in forty years of parish ministry, but the whole ...

3023. Whatever became of Kingdomtide?

John 16:17-33

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I wonder whatever became of Kingdomtide. Kingdomtide used to be listed on the liturgical calendar of the old Methodist, and now United Methodist, Church as the period between Pentecost and Advent. It began on the last Sunday of August which has traditionally been designated as the “Festival of Christ the King.” During Kingdomtide clergy got to wear green stoles symbolizing the growth of the Kingdom of God in the world. After all, our Lord did teach us to pray: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth ...

3024. The Work of An Evangelist

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I was driving down Poplar Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in Memphis, when I noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. In large letters, it said, “I AM A GENERIC CHRISTIAN.” Well, that got my attention. I never thought about anyone being a generic Christian. I saw that something else was written on the bumper sticker and I wanted to know what it was. I’m afraid I got dangerously close to the rear end of the fellow, so that I would be close enough to read what was there. It said, “Ask me ...

3025. Like a Good Neighbor, Jesus Is There

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

Which stranded motorist would be helped the soonest: a pregnant woman, a little old lady, a messy hippie, a smartly dressed career woman, or a scantily dressed sex symbol? A Florida Space Coast newspaper decided to find out, and ran a test on U. S. Route One with a twenty-two year old actress, Sally Mullins, who played the distressed driver in five different roles: Career woman: standing by the side of her broken down Pontiac, dressed in a double-breasted suit, holding up a "stop and please help sign" - ...

Showing results