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 3276 to 3300 of 4490 results

3276. Must We Have All the Answers?

Gn 2:9 · Deut 30:19-20 · Job 52:5

Sermon

Robert Noblett

The young man and his father were headed into New York City for a Saturday outing. It had been some time since they had spent much time together, and the father reasoned that a day such as this was just what was needed. As they crossed The Tapanzee Bridge into Fun City, the son asked, "Dad, what is the name of this bridge?" The father answered, "Son, I don’t know." Later they were driving along Fifth Avenue and the son asked his father, "Dad, is that the Empire State Building?" Replied the father, "Son, I ...

3277. Easter Headlines

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest sermon on record was delivered by the Rev. Clinton Lacy of West Richland, Washington, in February, 1955. It lasted 48 hours and 18 minutes, and was based on scripture from every book in the Bible. At the close of the sermon, eight persons were present if not awake. Mercifully, Guinness does not tell us how many were in attendance when the sermon began. Don't worry. I have no plans to challenge the record this morning. That does remind me of a ...

3278. Incalculable Riches by Bishop Roy C. Nichols

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Mann

In Ephesians, Chapter 3 and verse 8, Paul says, "To me, least of all the saints, is given the grace to preach the unsearchable riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ." One of our modern translations renders the text thus: "the incalculable riches." I like that better, because it expresses the vastness of the gospel, rather than its "mystery." Paul was sharing this testimony with the members of the churches of the city of Ephesus. They knew him well; for he had first preached in their midst and nurtured them ...

3279. The Beauty of a Childlike Faith

Matthew 18:1-9

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

An eight-year-old boy was away at summer camp for the first time. His parents did not receive a card from him for a whole week. So, they telephoned to check on him. Frankly, they were a bit disappointed to discover that he hadn't really missed them at all. He was just very busy having a wonderful time. His mother asked, "Have any of the other kids gotten homesick?" He replied, "Just the ones who have dogs back home." Children will almost always tell it just like they see it. The candor and ...

3280. That Hallowed Name (The Third Commandment)

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

The coming Olympic Games to be held in Atlanta remind me of an Olympic gold medalist from Georgia. He is Paul Anderson of Tekoa, Georgia. Paul is the only American to ever win a gold medal in the heavyweight division of Olympic weight lifting. He is a dedicated Christian who for many years operated orphanages allover the Southeast. He traveled widely, putting on weight lifting demonstrations and witnessing for Jesus Christ. I recall some twenty years ago sitting on a wooden platform with ten other men and ...

3281. Straight Talk With A Young Adult

Matthew 19:16-30

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One of my favorite stories concerns a young man who was working in a grocery store. A lady came in and asked for half a grapefruit. Thinking that request rather strange, the young man went to the back of the store and said to the manager, “There is some nut out front who wants to buy half a grapefruit.” Just then he glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the lady had followed him to the back of the store, so he added immediately, “And this gracious lady is willing to buy the other half. I hope that is ...

3282. Like a Mother’s Trust

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

STEWARDSHIP SUNDAY We can talk about money in the Church - as long as we drive in first gear. Moving beyond that speed puts us in danger. Somehow we can discuss the stewardship of time and talents all year long with no repercussions, but when we pull the string on the pocketbook, we have hit the sciatic nerve. But let’s just take that chance and throw caution to the wind. Indeed let’s depend on the wind of the Spirit to blow through here for a while as we traverse this treacherous territory. We have a ...

3283. Broken and Beautiful

Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

If I were to call you a "broken" person, you would probably resent it. But the Bible says that a certain kind of brokenness is essential if we are to be close to God. That late Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard could tickle the funny bone of almost anybody. But when he wrote about his father, he could make you cry. His father was a soldier, a veteran of World War II who returned to military duty in Korea. There in brutal warfare against the Chinese, Mr. Grizzard, Sr. saw more suffering and horror than he ...

3284. Great Is Your Faith

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

What would you think if I told you that on your tombstone would be inscribed a four-word epitaph? Well, you might respond, it would depend on who would write this epitaph an enemy or a loved one. It might also depend, you might say, on how well this person knew and understood you. If a newspaper critic wrote of a concert pianist the four words: "He was a failure," you could always say: That was his opinion. But if one of the world's great musicians wrote, "He was a genius," then you are apt to take the ...

3285. Returning to Genuine Religion

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Donald Macleod

There is a simple poem by Louise F. Tarkington which goes in part this way: I wish there were some wonderful place Called the Land of Beginning Again, Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door And never put on again. What has this to do with the return of the Jewish exiles from seventy years in slavery in Babylon? Everything! Because, as they left Babylon behind and turned their faces toward their homeland, they carried a lot of mental baggage along ...

3286. Easter Journeys Out and In

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Donald Macleod

A local television station has omitted the use of a commercial during one hourly break and has featured a spot announcement called Reach Out. It is a simple challenge to their viewers to reach out with all their affluence and resources to someone in need - the homeless, the friendless, the confused in mind and soul - and especially to bridge the gap between race and race, class and class, creed and creed. A question can be raised appropriately: To what and with what? And any answer must work both ways. Any ...

3287. Agony

Illustration

Louis H. Evans, Jr.

The Greek word translated race is agon, from which we get our word agony. It signifies a wrestling match or race where endurance and determination must overcome the aching desire to quit. In a race, such as the quarter mile, there are moments toward the end when the body cries out to let up. Pain starts in the calf and works up through the hamstrings to the gluteus maximus. At times it is so intense it feels like a burning fire. Agony is the best way to describe it. A wrestler knows the same pain when ...

3288. Why Don’t You Send Somebody?

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

In the entrance of the magnificent modern cathedral of St. Michael in Coventry, England, a most enigmatic statement is emblazoned upon the floor in large gleaming brass letters that demand to be read. There is no escaping it, for one has to walk over it to enter the nave. It says, "TO THE GLORY OF GOD THIS CHURCH BURNT, NOVEMBER 14, 1941." The incredible irony of that statement is what grabs the attention. "To the glory of God?" How can that be? That’s the kind of statement one inscribes under a stained ...

3289. Just A Whisper

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

A newborn child is such a small and fragile thing. Can it have the power to change anything? In the eighth century B.C.E., Ahaz, King of Judah, faced the armies of two kings advancing to attack Jerusalem, and a state of mind bordering on panic seized the king and the people. Into that climate of fear came the prophet Isaiah, who met Ahaz one day as he was inspecting the water supply of Jerusalem in anticipation of the siege of the city. Isaiah called upon Ahaz to have unwavering faith in Yahweh, so that ...

3290. Stewards and the Hungry

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

So God called into existence his creation and then, according to Genesis 1:28, he said to us humans, "I’m putting you in charge." That makes us caretakers of all which God has given to us. That includes the Earth and all its natural resources. In the days ahead, we’ll discover that being a caretaker and steward involves a lot more than whether we tithe or not and what we put in the church offering plate. It involves our caring for our bodies, how we use our skills, how we apportion our time, and what we do ...

3291. Resurrection: From Lesser to Higher Morality

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

Sarah was five years old. She had lived all her life in a little village in Galilee, six miles from the shore of the great Sea. She had never been farther away than the olive tree grove, a long stone’s throw from the last house of the small community. But then, Sarah was only five. She lived with her grandfather who was unofficial rabbi for the twenty families of the village. Her grandfather, by his knowledge of the scripture, was the source for understanding the Hebrew law. Sarah’s town was distant from ...

3292. A Man Who Laughed at God

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

The Bible begins, as we all know, with the beginning - the story of creation, of God’s making his universe. But following the impressive story of the creation of the world, and then the majestic story of the creation of man (God "breathed into his nostrils, and man became a living soul"), sin was introduced into God’s beautiful world. The man, whom he had created, disobeyed and fell into sin; the image of God was tarnished; and fellowship with the Creator was interrupted. Eden became a "Paradise Lost." In ...

3293. I Am The Good Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

Everyone, it seems, is interested in my numbers. I go to the grocery store to buy some groceries. After the checkout woman rings up my bill, I pull out my checkbook and write out the check. She takes it from me. She looks at the information. Numbers tell her where I live. Numbers tell her how to reach me on the telephone. "Is this information correct?" she asks. "Yes, it is," I reply. "May I see your driver’s license?" she asks. She looks at my driver’s license and writes some more numbers on my check. ...

3294. How Can We Meet Grief?

2 Samuel 18:19--19:8

Sermon

Edward Chinn

Across thirty centuries, comes this cry of grief from David, whom God called from being a shepherd of herds to be the shepherd of His people, Israel. David had a son named Absalom. Absalom had murdered his brother because that brother had raped his sister, Tamar. After being accepted back into the family, Absalom had led a rebellion against his father, the king. That rebel son had won the Israeli army to his side. In a dramatic showdown in the woods of Ephraim, Absalom rode through the forest away from his ...

3295. If You Had Been Here

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Have you ever felt as if God had let you down, had withdrawn His protecting arm from you? Even the question seems foolish, because we know the answer before we ask it. We pastors who have walked hospital corridors with loved ones have seen the prayers of so many people seemingly go unanswered. We have seen parents pray earnestly for a sick baby, and then have gone to the cemetery to bury the much-prayed-for child. We have sought to comfort men whose wives have slipped from them just when their families ...

3296. Recognizing The Hidden

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

This is an account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Two men were walking the wide, dusty road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It was a day’s journey in those first century years. The men talked of the recent crucifixion, of the Romans, of the fearful priests, of the good man, Jesus, who had given so much of himself to others, only to be crucified to death for his trouble. As the Palestinian sun crept toward the western hills the two were joined by a third a stranger, and lonely, on that highway ...

3297. Believable Light

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

Ambiguity and ambivalence, relativity and equivocation are what make the gray world which lies between black darkness and bright light. So much of life must be lived in the twilight zone. Lines of demarkation between right and wrong, good and evil, seem so often blurred or fuzzy. Marilyn Monroe said wistfully, "I believe a little of everything." That's the same as saying, "I don’t believe all of anything." It's the human condition. Sometimes we dignify this by praising "the validity of honest doubt." May ...

3298. Should Christians Always Oppose War?

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Should Christians always oppose war? Pope John Paul II sent a special envoy to Baghdad to support peace. The Pope did not believe a preemptive strike against Iraq met the church criteria for a just war. Methodist Bishops have spoken out against the war. Baptist and Episcopals have also. Christians around the world marched with others against war. All these sentiments were expressed 10 years ago in the first Gulf War. But if America and her allies had not liberated Kuwait and sent Saddam Hussein scurrying ...

3299. Strong Faith For Tough Times

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

It is always sad when nations go to war. In recent years the sadness has been magnified because just a little more than a decade ago, we seemed so close to a lasting peace. The wall had gone down in Berlin. Eastern Europe had opened up. The cold war with Russia had thawed… and at that time in the early 1990s, we thought, “Finally! At long last, we can have a peaceful world. But then suddenly on August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait launching a crescendo of tension-packed events that led to the Persian Gulf ...

3300. Ode to Wisdom

Job 26:1--31:40

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

This is an Ode to Wisdom - wisdom that is not discovered in computer banks, nor taught in schools and colleges, nor learned from parents, nor symbolized in Wall Street winnings. "Where, then, shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?" (v. 12). In this age of new enlightenment, in our high tech society, this Ode to Wisdom simply doesn’t fly. When God came down from heaven to survey the Babel tower that the people back in Genesis 11 had designed, he was both amazed and amused. This ...

Showing results