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 3226 to 3250 of 4933 results

3226. The Lord's Prayer: The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

And so we come to the conclusion of our series on the Lord's Prayer: "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen." That is the doxology, the hymn of praise, the roll of drums, the clash of cymbals with which the church closes. Words which commit us, not to a great faith in God, but rather to faith in a great God. The kingdom, the power, the glory belong to God and God alone. Easter PROVES it! You may be surprised to learn (or you may already know) that this phrase is not a part of ...

3227. Grace The New Fashioned Way

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

One of the favorite television commercials of many of us, for the past few years, has been John Houseman's commercials for a banking investment firm. You remember his famous words in that commercial. In a beautiful British accent he would say, "We make money the old fashioned way. We earn it." Houseman expresses the deeply held belief of many people that what resources one has should be earned. Expecting to get something for nothing is wrong. Gains that come too easily or too quickly or as the result of ...

3228. One For All

John 10:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometimes in our complex relations with Middle East countries, we are confronted with instances of barbaric forms of justice. We hear of people getting hands cut off for stealing, a princess stoned to death for adultery and so on. We need to remind ourselves that Christian history has also been full of barbaric acts. Humane treatment of wrongdoers and enlightened applications of justice are modern developments. The morality of rehabilitation as opposed to retaliation is still not fully evolved. Consider, ...

3229. Taking Charge

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Every once in a while you hear a story and you think to yourself, that cannot be true! It has to be one of these urban myths that we hear about. It's one of those stories that is constantly making the rounds on the Internet that is allegedly true--though no one can verify it. However, I received this story from a reliable source. In January of 2000, a woman in Austin, Texas, successfully sued a furniture store for injuries she received when she tripped over a small child who was running loose throughout ...

3230. Clearing Back The Jungle

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Do you remember Kipling's classic story titled "Letting the Jungle In"? It is the story of a group of people who went into the jungle, made a clearing, brought their livestock, planted their crops, and built their homes. For awhile it was a veritable paradise, until the rain years came and the jungle crept back. Wild animals killed their stock. The prolific vegetation of the jungle moved in faster than they could cope with it. The jungle took back their paradise. Of course, Kipling wasn't writing about the ...

3231. Feasting and Fasting for Lent (Part V)

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Today, we are concluding our Lenten sermon series on Feasting and Fasting for Lent. It has been good for us to examine the Word of God each week to see how we can rid ourselves of those values, attitudes, and lifestyles that are an insult to the Holiness of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit to replace them with values, attitudes, and lifestyles that honor God and build us up to maximize our potential as disciples of Jesus Christ. We have been fasting to deny ourselves things that render invalid our ...

3232. Saying Yes To Forgiveness

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Joe E. Trull tells of a primitive tribe located deep in the South American jungles. Anthropologists learned the most important role within the tribe was the "keeper" of the flame. Since fire is so precious -- and takes such effort to recreate -- one member is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the flame alive. During the night the flame keeper adds wood to the fire. He keeps the fire alive whenever the tribe moves to another location -- carrying it in some vessel in order that the very difficult ...

3233. Speak And It Will Be

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere along the way I saw a cartoon which showed a man kneeling beside his bed saying his prayers. "God," he says, "is there any way you can help me and make it look like I did it myself?" We chuckle at that. Maybe the reason we don't laugh out loud is that it strikes close home. We are always playing tug of war with ourselves, our identity and worthiness. Assessing who we are and what is important to us is an operational need of all of us. Our scripture lesson tells the story of how people understand ...

3234. Purpose-Driven

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

It was 2:00 a.m. and 26-year-old single mother Ashley Smith needed a smoke. But she was out of cigarettes. And so she decided to go to a nearby market in order to feed her addiction. As she was leaving her apartment, she noticed a blue truck in the parking lot with a man in it. She didn’t think too much about it. She had only moved into that apartment two days prior. So she thought maybe he was a neighbor coming home or something. She got into her car and went to the store. She came back to her apartment ...

3235. Proper 26

Joshua 3:1-4:24, Matthew 23:1-39, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Joshua 3:7-17 is the story of how Israel entered the promised land of Canaan by crossing the Jordan River on dry ground. Psalm 107:33-43 is both praise and reflection on the salvific power of God. Joshua 3:7-17 - "Crossing Over the Jordan" Setting. The primary story of the salvation history of Israel separates into three parts. It begins with the liberating experience of escape from Egypt, then it moves to the wilderness stories where Israel is presented as following God on a journey, ...

3236. Final Instructions

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Ron Lavin

(Note: Suggestion for reading the lessons on Ascension Sunday: In order to get the proper historical flow you may want to read Acts 1:1-11 after reading the Gospel, Luke 24:44-53.) When you love someone, you try to fulfill their final deathbed directions. If your loved one has a last will and testament, you try to carry out the final instructions contained therein. In Acts 1:1-11 we have Jesus' last will and testament, his final teaching about the kingdom of God and his final instructions to the apostles ...

3237. In the Lions' Den (Dealing with Stress)

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I don’t know when it began, but the symbol has been a pervasive one for a long time “The Lions’ Den”. It is a symbol for the conflicts in life. “They threw him to the lions,” we say of those who cruelly thrust an innocent, unsuspecting person into the most difficult of all situations. “The Lions’ Den” is the place where our testing comes, where we struggle to keep our integrity; where we wage the fiery battle with ourselves as well as with others and/or forces outside ourselves. It may be the arena where ...

3238. A Friday We Call “Good”

Hebrews 10:16-25

Sermon

David O. Bales

After our last trip to Israel, a number in our group met to share photos and memories. Several of us said that we didn't respond favorably to the elaborate Byzantine and medieval church buildings. They made none of us feel particularly worshipful. We'd rather be outside and see the place something like it was when the folk of the Bible were there. Yet, our visiting Jerusalem and seeing the places was sufficient for us because we already have our times and places that make us feel worshipful. The tragedy ...

3239. I Am Baptized!

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Because of their age and relative inexperience, children and young people rarely get asked for advice by adults. This is sad, since the young tend to have amazing powers of observation, as well as the free time to ponder the strangeness of human nature. In his book Wit and Wisdom from the Peanut Butter Gang, H. Jackson Brown, Jr. interviews children and young teens to get their ideas on subjects like families and school. Here is a sample of their wisdom: “You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.” Patrick, ...

3240. A Concert of Praise

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

The Christmas concert was about to begin. The professional musicians were ready. All eyes were on the band director as he brought down his baton. Softly, flutes began weaving a magical introduction, capturing the audience's spirit. An instrumental duet formed with clarinets adding their voices. Then more wind instruments came in. Finally, brass and percussion entered and volume and tempo increased. Each section's contribution melded into a harmonious voice. The rehearsals had been worth it; the time and ...

3241. Learning the Recipe for Love

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

In ancient times, a king decided to find and honor the greatest person among his subjects. A man of wealth and property was singled out. Another was praised for his healing powers and a third for his wisdom and knowledge of the law. Still another was lauded for his business acumen. Many other successful people were brought to the palace, and it became evident that the task of choosing the greatest would be difficult. Finally the last candidate stood before the king. This woman had white hair and her eyes ...

3242. Learning the Recipe for Love

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

3243. Redeemed

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: paycheck (month) or $2000-$3000 in cash [Hold up the check or cash.] I’m holding here a paycheck for $3,000. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s an approximate month’s take-home salary for an average American today. $4,000 gross. $3,000 net. Some of you probably make more than that, some less. But that’s the national average for 2015. At the dawn of the first century, an average wage for an Israelite would have been the equivalent of about 7 or 8 silver shekels per month (in ...

3244. I Saw a New Heaven

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Two ninety-five-year-old sisters died at the same time and went to Heaven. There they were overwhelmed by the magnificence and glory of heaven. They ooh-ed and ah-ed at the wonders they saw. They couldn’t get over what a matchless place it was. Then one said to the other, “You know, we could have been here five years earlier if you hadn’t insisted on our eating oat bran.” If you’re going to Heaven, the earlier the better, but let God appoint the time. There’s a barbershop quartet song that has these words ...

3245. The Disciples' Tenebrae

Mark 12:13-17

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

Comment: Emmanuel Church in Horicon had accepted the Christmas Eve "Pageant" very well (see page 25) but had showed no signs of interest in such drama for sermons. However, when we began planning the Maundy Thursday service, there was a fond remembrance of a tenebrae service, a service of candles, that had been done six years before. I wrote to the former pastor, Rev. Owen Miller, who generously sent what he had done. The concept was to say something about each disciple and extinguish a candle to bring ...

3246. Unfinished Journeys

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Erskine White

I have let you see [the Promised Land] with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. (Deuteronomy 34) The art of living is not so much our ability to pick one path and pursue it doggedly to the end. It has more to do with how well we are able to change paths and shift directions when the situation demands it. Most of all, the art of living is the ability to respond with grace and faith when the journeys we make in life are interrupted and left unfinished. If I may use the analogy of sports: life is not ...

3247. Do You Love Me?

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Robert Allen

There is a very tender and moving scene in the play, Fiddler On The Roof. Tevyev and his wife Golda are being forced to move from their home in Russia. One day Tevyev comes into the house and asks his wife, "Golda, do you love me?" "Do I what?" "Do you love me?" Golda looks at him and then responds: "Do I love you? With our daughters getting married and this trouble in the town, you're upset, you're worn out, go inside, go lie down, maybe it's indigestion." Tevyev interrupts and asks the question, "Golda, ...

3248. The Spirit and the Truth

John 16:5-16

Sermon

George Bass

"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty" is one hymn that will never be deleted from our hymnals. Many of us cut our religious and theological "eye teeth" on it after we were weaned from the hymns of Sunday school days and childhood. We may never forget - and may continue to sing, on occasion - those gospel hymns that were so easy to learn and to love. They were so simple and so totally oriented to the Bible stories we learned, but we didn’t always see the connections between the hymns and the stories. How ...

3249. Proper 20

Lk 16:1-13 · 1 Tim 2:1-8 · Amos 8:4-7 · Hos 11:1-11

Sermon Aid

THE LESSONS Hosea 11:1-11 Yahweh so loves his disobedient people that he cannot give them up to destruction. In one of the most moving passages in the Old Testament (Lesson 1), Israel is pictured as Yahweh's prodigal son. Hosea sees God and the nation as a loving father and his rebellious son. As a loving father Yahweh loves Israel when a child, brought him out of slavery in Egypt, and cared for him in the wilderness. He took his child in his arms, taught him to walk, and nurtured him. In spite of this, ...

3250. The Rite of Remembrance

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Edward Chinn

[Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." "We are what we remember," wrote Dr. Ernest T. Campbell, the late pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City. The word remember came from two Latin words: "re" (back, again) and "memor" (mindful). To remember is to call an event, person, or thing back to mind again. It is to reassemble the members of a past event. The act of remembering ...

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