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 4963 results

3051. The Need To Pay Attention

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... are not made for dreary, monotonous, humdrum living. Come up higher. You're made for freedom and flight like the butterfly." In my heart of hearts I knew that my fantasy is close, very close to reality. Rainer M. Rilke cryptically stated the truth: "That which remains what it is, renounces existence." To live is to grow. We need to pay attention to life -- to have hearing ears and seeing eyes as we move through the day. I could spend the entire sermon on this alone -- paying attention to life. II. But, let ...

3052. We Can't Afford It! Oh, Really?

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

One Saturday Ken Erickson’s wife cleaned out leftovers from the refrigerator. She gave the one remaining portion of tortellini to their 6-year-old son, Jeremy. Their 8-year-old son, Matthew, also wanted some, so bickering ensued. After several unsuccessful attempts to mediate the dispute, Ken decided on a theological approach. Hoping to convince Jeremy to share his portion with Matthew, he said, “Jeremy, what ...

3053. The Problem with Signs

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... to be angry at God. Who could have blamed him if he had been? In 1992, he addressed the students at the Niagara County Community College and testified that despite having his disease, his trust in God was firm. Ashe knew that regardless of the outcome, God would remain with him in his ordeal. (2) What an amazing testimony of faith. Could you do that? Is your faith that strong? You see, many, if not most of us, are insecure about God's love. If things are going our way, if the children are healthy, if the ...

3054. Clean Hands

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... set to take place the fourth Sunday in Advent. The church was full. This congregation had the custom of asking this question as part of the baptismal service:"Who will stand with this child?" At this point, friends, sponsors, and the family would stand up and remain standing during the remainder of the service. The pastor and elders were worried that no one but the young woman's mother would stand up with her. When the question was asked, it looked as if their worst fears were being realized. Then one man ...

3055. Concerning Miracles

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... , without drawing any attention to himself. But then he comes to a town where the people want something from him. Mark doesn't say whether Jesus was planning on doing any works of healing in the region of the Decapolis or not. He may have still wished to remain out of the spotlight. But his reputation had spread even to that distant place. When he arrived there, people were waiting for him and they brought to him a man who could not hear and could hardly talk. They begged him to place his hand on the man ...

3056. The Dividing Line

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... 's consul general in France. He was a very wealthy man. The Mendes family, which consisted of Aristides, his wife, and fourteen children, lived in a fine mansion. All the children received a good education and music training. Because Portugal remained neutral during the war, Mendes' job could have been relatively comfortable. But as the Nazis advanced across Europe, Jewish refugees from Holland, Belgium, and France began converging on Portugal's consulate, begging for travel visas that would allow them to ...

3057. If Only... Next Time

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to believe that rather than awful, it is one of the most comforting verses in the entire Bible. There are things which accumulate in our lives which need to be burned away. And that's what God does for us. If God left us alone and allowed us to remain as we are, that would certainly not indicate that he loves us. Could it not be that the very height of his love is that he is a consuming fire? So repentance is at the heart of our faith--acknowledging things as they are--things that are destructive, things ...

3058. When God Comes with a Blessing

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

Sermon

John P. Jewell

... and friends. It has been over 2000 years since the greatest news in history came to earth. Amazingly, there has not been greater good news since that time. To this day, the news of God's intervention into this world through a child born in a stable remains the greatest news of all time. It is news that must be shared. [2] News that must be celebrated. When good news is shared, the immediate response is joy and celebration. Can you recall the moment that first child was born? Remember the time the doctor ...

3059. From Hurting to Helping

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... his feet and came to Jesus. What a beautiful word-picture: "Throwing his cloak aside, Batimaeus jumped to his feet and came to Jesus." He wasn’t going to stay stuck in his pain, not if he could help it. You and I see it all the time--people who remain stuck in their pain. The spurned spouse who will not let go of the rage he or she feels toward his or her ex. The widow or widower who will not let go of the grief following the loss of their beloved husband or wife. Parents who cannot cope with ...

3060. A Strange Kind of King

John 18:28-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... Europe. Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a German diplomat with a troubled conscience, secretly informed King Christian of the Nazi plans. So the king organized a resistance effort that smuggled 7,500 Jews to Sweden within a single two-week period. The remaining five hundred Jews were rounded up by the Nazis and sent to Theresienstadt, an internment ghetto in Czechoslovakia. King Christian interceded on their behalf and all but fifty-one survived their treatment at the hands of the Nazis. King Christian paid ...

3061. The Divine Opportunity

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... wrapped up in the word repent. I. John’s Message of Judgment and Opportunity. This was John's message, and it was a message of hope. "Repent," he cried, "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." With the word repent, John was telling the people that they need not remain as they were. We are not held captive to our failures, our past, or our inadequacy. We can repent. We can get rid of the past. We can start over. I'd hate to live in a world where there was no chance to repent. In a sense, you could ...

3062. Epiphany:The Joy of Fulfillment

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... most significant of these accounts survived, perhaps simply because God meant it to be so. But from the human side we can see a reason, too: no doubt the most beloved books were copied and recopied for sharing. We know as much by the fragments which remain to this day in such relative abundance. But Luke has his own reason for telling the story. It is partly, as he says, because he had "carefully studied all these matters from their beginning," and now he felt qualified to "write an orderly account" (Luke 1 ...

3063. The Glory of Christ

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... , God "has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). God, in his glory, has come into our midst in the incarnated Person of his Son. Moreover, he has promised us that he remains with us always, even to the close of the age (Matthew 28:20). And he has assured us that nothing in all creation, not even death itself, will separate us from Christ's loving presence with us (Romans 8:38-39). We do not deserve that presence any more than ...

3064. The Two Ways of Life

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... :13). Such a person is grounded and rooted in the life of God who never dies. So the person can bring forth good fruit in his or her life, fruit of the Spirit given by God (cf. Galatians 5:22-23). And in the heat of the day, vitality remains, unaffected by circumstance. Significantly, Jeremiah centers trust in the heart (vv. 5, 10). It is there, in the inmost part of our being, that the prophets locate our dependence on God, for as Jesus says, it is what comes out of a person, out of the heart, that defiles ...

3065. Return and Be Forgiven

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... , we have for many days spent our money for that which does not feed our hunger for goodness and our labor for that which does not satisfy our longings. Buying and selling, laboring and longing, the world's rewards have not fed our souls, and there remains within us a restless desire -- for what? Surely for God who created us to live in fellowship with him always. God offers us that loving fellowship, that deep sense that we are finally home, returned to the family of God, where there are joy and laughter ...

3066. Passover and The Lord's Supper

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... of uncultivated vegetable, pulled up from the ground. Moreover, the participants are to be prepared for flight, with their long robes pulled up and girded, their sandals on their feet, and their staffs in their hands. The whole lamb is to be eaten and any parts remaining are to be burned. But the blood of the lamb is to be smeared on the framework of the Israelites' doors. When God sees the blood, he will "pass over" the houses of the Israelites and not slay their children. The slaying of the firstborn of ...

3067. Tasks For The Living God

Acts 16:11-15

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... second, is the leader of a household church in Rome (Romans 16:3). The first witness of the resurrection and therefore the first apostle was a woman, Mary Magdalene, according to John (John 20:11-18). And in Luke, it is the faithful women, who remained at the cross when the other disciples deserted Jesus, and who first discovered that Jesus' tomb was empty (Luke 24:1-12). Women played an important part as supporters and leaders of the church in the spread of the gospel in the first century. And only ...

3068. The Book that Changes Lives

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

King Duncan

... ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people . . . and when he opened it, all the people stood up.” They stood up! Now, we’re not told whether they remained standing for the whole half day or not, but clearly this was a sign of reverence and respect. Student sections at universities stand for entire sporting events to support their teams, but it’s rare when local congregations are that enthusiastic about the reading of the ...

3069. Purpose-Driven

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... questions of all kinds. And one day I read in the Knoxville News-Sentinel that Albert Schweitzer was going to be in Cleveland, Ohio, to play the dedicatory concert for a big organ in a big church up there. According to the article he would remain afterward in the fellowship hall for conversation and refreshment. “I bought a Greyhound bus ticket and went to Cleveland. All the way up there I worked on this Quest for the Historical Jesus. I laid out my questions . . . I made references to the pages . . . I ...

3070. Escape from the Island of Spiritual Sloth

Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... that a person sings "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" but really never spends enough time with Jesus so that a friendship with the man is truly constituted. "Sloth," in the original list of seven deadly sins, describes the state of a Christian who remains in an embryonic, beginning state of discipleship, year after year after year. The leaders of the early church assumed that one's eternal life was a gift from God. They also assumed that one's internal life required discipline, study, commitment, and a lot ...

3071. A Church Shaped By The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... are most solemnly charged to do… There in the big top a man is hanging by his teeth, twisting, spinning, spotlights playing over him, the drums beginning to roll. He’s going to fall and nothing can be done, no net, but in the moments remaining he may yet achieve something remarkable, some glittering stunt, a movement perhaps of breathtaking beauty… Any turning away to watch the dancing bears is a betrayal of the dangling man…hold fast, stay with him. (Quoted by Mark Trotter, Grace All The Way Home ...

3072. Being A Man of God

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... its meaning. Peter was writing some Christians who were facing slander and persecution. They were Christians in dispersion – exile. This was a circular letter, to be passed from group to group. Its purpose was to fortify these Christians and enable them to remain steadfast in their Christian commitment. Listen again to a portion of what Peter said. “Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” These Christians knew what ...

3073. Homesick For a Future: New Life for the New Millenium

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... she became what she called “a warden by default” at an orphanage located in one of the poor areas of Bangalor, a city of 7 million citizens located in South Central India. She moved into the orphanage, fell in love with the 90 children, and ended up remaining there for her entire seven-month visit. She is back in India now and has established a home for children; she calls it “Kirubai”, which is the Tamil word for God’s grace. She has a vision of a home which will simply be a place where ...

3074. Some Healing Is Up To You

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... day out. But whenever he received an invitation, whether it was in Iowa or California or New York, he does all of that to get to his destination. When he spoke, usually hanging over his wheelchair because he has no control of his muscles or sometimes remaining seated in his wheelchair – when he spoke – the Glory of God was on his face and the power of the Christian message radiated through his words and people knew – people know the miracle of the sufficiency of God’s grace. And then there’s the ...

3075. God Outwits Us

Psalm 31:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... our ruined estate. We want to be purified as well as pardoned. Justification without sanctification would not be salvation at all. It would call the leper clean, and leave him to die of his disease; it would forgive the rebellion and allow the rebel to remain an enemy to his king. It would remove the consequences but overlook the cause, and this would leave an endless and hopeless task before us. (All of Grace, page 34). We must acknowledge and stay aware of our fallenness. A second ongoing mistake is our ...

Showing results