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 3051 to 3075 of 4957 results

3051. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... were to list Joseph's. This usually would generate a lively discussion, especially once they realized they did not have to stick to nice, neat, happy-ending choices. With not much prompting, they would generate quite a list. Mary could have...had an abortion, claimed she was raped, committed suicide, run away, etc., etc. Joseph, on the other hand, could have...brought her to trial, quietly sent her out of town, left town himself, eloped with her, made up a story, etc., etc. In one particular class when all ...

3052. The Original "Average Joe"

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3053. The Lord's Prayer: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... French or Germans or anyone. But from one week to the next, only about forty-million of us out of a population of over 250-million...less than one-sixth...are in a house of God. The other five-sixths are not blind. They can see when people who claim to be "God's people" live immoral or unethical lives, and they are turned off. One of the worst results of the scandals of the televangelists a few years ago was the negative effect they had on those outside the faith - for all the pious pronouncements over the ...

3054. What Is Truly Important

Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... belongs to God anyway so why fret. I took all the embroidery made by members of my family - especially those deceased - my Mom and my Aunt - all then my will, my living will, checks and recent tax information. I took pictures of everything else for insurance claims and just left. It was very freeing. I had a box of pictures - albums of my childhood, two albums that belong to my children, my wedding album and assorted pictures. This was hauled into my friend's car to keep safe...What really matters after all ...

3055. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be specially anointed to carry out God's plan for Israel. The Christ would be great David's even greater son, and a new day would dawn with his appearing. John had been excited at the arrival of Jesus. Jesus asked for baptism, but John was reluctant, claiming to be unworthy even to loose the thongs of Jesus' sandals. But Jesus persisted, John relented, and at the special moment saw the Spirit of God descend as a dove and heard a voice from heaven saying, "You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well ...

3056. Are You the One?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... next Passover at his house, and for this purpose provide him and his whole family with everything necessary for the eight days of Passover. Then on the Seder night Elijah will certainly come." The man did as the rabbi told him, but after Passover he came back and claimed that again he had waited in vain to see Elijah. The rabbi answered, "I know very well that Elijah came on the Seder night to the house of your poor neighbor. But of course you could not see him." And the rabbi held a mirror before the face ...

3057. Good News for Tenant Farmers

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... enthusiasm but there is no follow-through. It dies away. Stony ground. My life is busy, as is yours. Everyone knows we have far less leisure time than we used to. Good ideas come, and they begin to take root, but with so many competing claims on me, they fade and eventually wither. Thorny ground. Finally, yes, there are times when something comes along that takes root - it grows and blossoms and produces abundantly. I wish that such were always the case, but... Does that sound like anyone you know? Frankly ...

3058. Stay in the Boat!

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... out of the boat. One more time. Peter got out of the boat. Now, I know you have heard dozens of sermons and uncounted Sunday School lessons on this famous story. I have too. Yesterday I logged on to the Internet to a site called Sermoncentral.com which claims to have links to 22,000 messages and outlines (and I have no reason to doubt the number - they even have links to almost 200 of mine), all indexed according to scripture text. For this passage there are titles such as "How to Walk on Water," "Get Out ...

3059. The Imperatives of the Resurrection

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... had been closed two days before. A huge boulder had been rolled across the entrance to prevent anyone from getting in. The leaders of the temple had even convinced Pilate to post some soldiers there to prevent any of us from stealing the body and then claiming that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Those soldiers were under the strictest orders not to let ANYONE in, particularly those of us who had been his disciples. Pilate had even instructed that the seal of Rome be placed over the ropes that held the ...

3060. I Am Sombody!!!

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" What an image! It is as if God the Father is confined to heaven at this fantastic moment and in euphoric frustration rips and tears the very fabric of the universe to lay claim upon his Son. It is a cosmic YES, arms raised high and feet dancing. It is love spilling out, the cup overflowing. Not celebrating the conclusion of a work-well-done, but before ANYTHING was done, and now about to embark on his ministry. THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING ...

3061. Power

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" What an image! It is as if God the Father is confined to heaven at this fantastic moment and in euphoric frustration rips and tears the very fabric of the universe to lay claim upon Jesus, the Son. It is a cosmic YES, arms raised high and feet dancing. It is love spilling out, the cup overflowing. Not celebrating the conclusion of a work-well-done, but before ANYTHING was done, and now about to embark on his ministry. THIS CHANGED ...

3062. The View from the Mountaintop

Mark 9:14-32, Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... with his momentous decisions (just as Mr. Bush is today). Many of the arguments were based on religion and the unshakeable certainty that God wanted whatever problem was being discussed handled THIS way (which ever way the speaker was heading). Lincoln said, "In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be WRONG. God cannot be for, and against, the same thing at the same time." He also wrote, "I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say, that if ...

3063. Welcoming Jesus

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... "the greatest." Muhammad Ali. (And you thought I was going to say Jesus.) Ali is a fascinating character (despite his current battle with Parkinson's), and has been since his brash days in Louisville when we knew him as Cassius Clay and heard his boastful claim, made over and again through the years, that, "I AM THE GREATEST." A sportswriter once asked him, "When you say, 'I am the greatest,' do you mean the greatest fighter or the greatest human being?" Ali replied quickly, "I mean that I am the greatest ...

3064. Mary's Complaint

Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Word came to Mary and Joseph that King Herod had gotten wind of the fact that there was a pretender to his throne recently born in Bethlehem, and jealous of his own power as he was, Herod wanted to make certain that no one would be able to claim his place. Information had it that the king was sending troops to Bethlehem with orders to murder every baby boy under the age of two that they found. Time for another trip...this time even longer...to Egypt. They remained in Egypt as expatriates until Herod finally ...

3065. Terms of Endearment

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... I knew he was going to try to guess not who my mother was but who my father was." "The preacher said, 'You're a child of...um. Why, you're a child of God! I see a striking resemblance, boy!' He swatted me on the bottom and said, 'Go, claim your inheritance.'" And then the old man who was telling the story said to Fred Craddock, "I was born on that day!" "You are my Son, whom I love." Terms of endearment. In baptism we find our affirmation. Remember that as we recall our own baptisms in a moment. That ...

3066. Sonny Moneybags

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... another about striking out on his own. Every boy does. But his duty to father and family won out and he remained to do what was expected of him. He was a righteous young man...a little self-righteous, really. But he was virtuous enough to be able to claim that he was righteous to his father without Dad laughing at him. But then nobody ever laughed too much at anything Sonny said. After all, Junior was the one that got the laughs. I wonder what would have happened had Junior met Sonny on the road instead of ...

3067. Would a Loving God Really Let Anyone Go to Hell?

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the church's efforts at evangelism? In years past preachers used the concept of escaping from unending torture in Hell to motivate folks to accept Christ and do right. I would suspect that we could have done it better. After all, if the gospel is the good news we claim it is, we should have emphasized the LOVE of God and God's desire that all humanity be saved. Instead, we have tried to SCARE people into the kingdom. And, let's face it, that has not worked. If our witness is to include the reality of Hell ...

3068. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... or she asked you that question?" queried Guthrie. When no one rose to the bait, Guthrie explained how Karl Barth answered it. Guthrie said, "Barth told the seeker that if he or she was really desiring to know Christ, then one might try just hanging around people who claimed they knew him. See what rubs off on you. See what you think of these people who have a personal relationship with Christ." In short Barth said if one wants to know Christ in that deeper sense, then he or she should go to church!(6) Good ...

3069. The "E" Word

John 1:35-42

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... our own family, some 6-million say they are Presbyterian, but our statistics reflect less than half of them as actual members. As to those who attend worship regularly, the figures are even worse: 60% say they attend religious services on a regular basis; 36% claim they attend weekly or more often(3) - less than two out of five - but the actual numbers are half that. However, in all that bad news, there is one figure that has remained remarkably consistent through the years - 95% of America believes in God ...

3070. About Kissing

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... , 2002, nine miners in western Pennsylvania became trapped 240 feet below ground in a flooded mine shaft. Rescue efforts began immediately, but the rescue crews knew the odds were against them saving all the men. Amazingly, all nine miners survived the ordeal. These men claim that it was their decision to bond together that saved their lives. From the outset of the danger, the men watched out for one another. They tied themselves together, so that no one could float away or slip under the water. If one man ...

3071. Surprised By Christmas

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... with fear." This was no ordinary night. I wonder, if later, as they tried to tell their story to their neighbors about what they saw that night, if people didn't look at them like some of us do those people in Roswell, New Mexico who claim to have seen UFOs. Can't you hear their friends and neighbors: You saw what? Angels? They did what? They sang? The shepherds were surprised by Christmas. Mary and Joseph were surprised. The whole affair put a terrible strain on their relationship, as you can imagine ...

3072. Jerry's Christmas

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Clark D. Cowden

... . Again, he said, "But, I am your father. I wrote you all those letters. For five years, I have written to every one of you. Didn't you get them?" One son said, "We never got any letters from our father. But, every year, imposters have stopped by claiming to be our father, trying to get some of our money. I think you're just another imposter; You should leave." Just then the five- and seven- and nine-year-old great-grandchildren rushed into the entryway yelling, "It's great-grandpa, it's great-grandpa! You ...

3073. "Weird People" Everywhere

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... God can know. And, if it is God's plan, it must be good. It must be beautiful. It must be an occasion for celebration. James Moore tells about a man named George. George was a peacemaker with a big heart and wonderful sense of humor. George claims he was, "so tenderhearted that he cried at supermarket openings!" Everyone loved George at church and he was respected at the hospital where he worked. The reason why so many people loved George was because he was always kind and respectful to everyone he met. His ...

3074. What We Have Is A Communication Problem

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... weeks not unusual, so when the British attacked New Orleans, the peace treaty was still at sea. (2) How many times has it been said, "What we have here is a communications problem?" Peter Drucker, often called the "Father of American Management," claims that 60 percent of all management problems are a result of faulty communications. A leading marriage counselor says that at least half of all divorces result from faulty communications between spouses. And criminologists tell us that upwards of 90 percent of ...

3075. Now Is The Day Of Salvation

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... an accident. Walker had argued, as he has in four other petitions filed with state and federal courts, that he was deprived of a fair trial because no one in his jury pool had a last name that began with W,X,Y, or Z. Walker claimed that people with surnames late in the alphabet have an increased tendency toward "alphabetic neurosis," a mental illness brought on by "the constant strain of waiting for one's name to be reached in the classroom and in other situations." He derived his theory from a scientific ...

Showing results

Showing 3051 to 3075 of 4957 results

3051. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3052. The Original "Average Joe"

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3053. The Lord's Prayer: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3054. What Is Truly Important

Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3055. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3056. Are You the One?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3057. Good News for Tenant Farmers

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3058. Stay in the Boat!

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3059. The Imperatives of the Resurrection

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3060. I Am Sombody!!!

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3061. Power

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" What an image! It is as if God the Father is confined to heaven at this fantastic moment and in euphoric frustration rips and tears the very fabric of the universe to lay claim upon Jesus, the Son. It is a cosmic YES, arms raised high and feet dancing. It is love spilling out, the cup overflowing. Not celebrating the conclusion of a work-well-done, but before ANYTHING was done, and now about to embark on his ministry. THIS CHANGED ...

3062. The View from the Mountaintop

Mark 9:14-32, Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3063. Welcoming Jesus

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

3064. Mary's Complaint

Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

David E. Leininger