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 4972 results

3276. A Man Who Was a Lion-Tamer

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... den of lions. Sure enough, as regularly as always and as predicted by his enemies, Daniel opened his window ... faced toward the city of Jerusalem ... and prayed. He knew he would be spied upon. He knew the penalty. He could have avoided it. He could have stopped praying for thirty days. He could have prayed secretly. But he didn’t. He resisted the temptation to be irreverent. He prayed ... he was reported ... and he was cast into the den of lions. My mother taught me this little poem, when I was just a ...

3277. A Man Who Wanted to Burn a City

Luke 9:46-50

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... ? Several biblical incidents can give us a clue. One day, John met a man who had been casting out devils in the name of Jesus - although he was not one of the twelve. John reported to Jesus and said, "Look, Lord, I rebuked the man. I told him he must stop his work." I can picture Jesus as he replied, "Hold on, John. Take it easy. He’s a good man; he’s doing what he can. Don’t disturb him. Simmer down." The Bible doesn’t put it quite that way, but basically, that’s what Jesus had in mind ...

3278. Martin Luther: the Shape of Grace

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... can see St. Anne’s church, where he was baptized at the age of one day, and the house where he was born. Hans and Margaret Luder were on their way to Mansfield to look for work in the copper mines. As they traveled through Eisleben, they had to stop for their son’s birth on November 10, 1483. The next day, November 11, St. Martin’s day, they took their firstborn to the parish church for baptism. They gave him the name of the day. Then it was on to Mansfield where Hans became a prosperous businessman ...

3279. John Calvin, God’s Man

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... it all just as well. A couple of years ago, when our grandchildren visited us here in Des Moines, my grandson Brian was shouting and running down the center of the aisle of the church. I blocked the aisle and caught him. He was baffled as to why I stopped him and made him be quiet. I used a word that was vogue right then with people his age to explain my actions: "awesome." Two years later, this fall, I visited my grandsons in Ohio. I asked them how Confirmation was in their home church. Brian looked at me ...

3280. John Wesley: Religion of the Heart

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). A little later in the morning, Scripture came alive again as he read: "You are not far from the kingdom of God." In the afternoon, he stopped by St. Paul’s and heard the anthem, "Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord hear my voice ..." In his own words we hear what happened next: "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading ...

3281. Party in Room 210 ... Everyone Invited

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Thomas Long

... or for what reason, but I imagined that at 8:00, room 210 would be filled by an unlikely assortment of people - sales representatives seeking a little relief from the tedium of the road; a vacationing couple tired of sightseeing; a man stopping overnight in the middle of a long journey, looking for a bit of festivity; a few inquisitive and wary motel employees, there because of professional responsibility; perhaps some young people who had slipped out of their parents’ rooms, anxiously curious about what ...

3282. An Understated Masterpiece

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Thomas Long

... ’s lines call for him to say to his father that he has had a dream the night before, a dream he has dreamed many times. In the dream he is told that his father is dead, and, when he hears this news, he runs into the street crying. Someone stops him and asks why he is crying, and he says that he is crying because his father is dead and his father never said he loved him. The boy reading Timmy’s part faltered on these lines, his voice taking on a strange timbre. The boy lifted his eyes from ...

3283. Jesus, the Suffering Messiah

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... them. They could not see the Messiah in their suffering Master. Soon Judas came leading a crowd with swords and clubs. He betrayed Jesus with a kiss. The crowd began to lay their hands on Jesus in order to seize him. There was a brief scuffle. Jesus quickly put a stop to it. The hour had now come with finality. It was too late for struggle. And so the crowd bound him off to the high priest of the Jews that he might be tried. And the disciples? They had all said that they would die before they would deny him ...

3284. Blind Bartimaeus - Model For Healing

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... that Bartimaeus would never have received his sight without determination - persistence laced with grit. Ever since he first heard the stories about Jesus, which circulated around him like newspapers blowing in the wind, he had resolved that, if ever the chance arose, nothing would stop him from throwing himself at this Man’s feet and seeking his gift of sight. Determined? Hear his wild cry once more. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Now watch him as he crawls and claws his way to Jesus when the ...

3285. Take a Close Look (At the Widow)!

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... and widow says, "When you’re part of a Mr. and Mrs. team, you travel in a certain circle of other married people. You fall into a pattern. You go to dinner with them, you go to their house, you invite them back. Then all of a sudden, it stops."[4] It is not that people are unsympathetic. They simply cannot find the right words to say. They dare not bring up the subject of death, not realizing that the bereaved find it therapeutic to talk about the departed. At any rate, we may well imagine that Mark’s ...

3286. Inevitabilities and the Last Days

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... lesson from Saint Francis of Assisi. One day, so the story goes, Saint Francis invited one of his monks to leave the monastery for a walk through a nearby town. They were to preach the Gospel when they arrived. When they entered the village, Francis stopped to talk, first to one and then to another. He blessed children, comforted widows, treated the sick. His face was radiant, his touch gentle, his voice tender. The villagers saw Christ in Francis that day. Finally, at the close of day, the two returned to ...

3287. Finding the Truth That Makes Us Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... failed to connect. Joe swung on the first pitch. Ping! The ball flew to far centerfield. Joe dug in, his legs churning as he circled the bases. It was a sure, inside-the-park home run. As he headed for third, the little guy’s cap left his head. Joe stopped in his tracks, spun on his heels, and turned back to scoop up his errant cap. Then, cap in hand, he streaked for home plate, only to be thrown out by three steps. Joe failed to score because he turned back on the basepath. The Jews to whom Jesus spoke ...

3288. When Things Don’t Work Out, What Then?

2 Samuel 12:1-31

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... don’t work out, what then? Then you have to change your attitude, your outlook, and your approach to living. III Thirdly, when things don’t work out, we can choose to keep on trusting God. David did not take his grief out on Bathsheba, nor did he stop believing that God had a plan for his life. Instead, David consoled Bathsheba and not long afterwards, she gave birth to a son who was given the significant name "Jedidiah" Beloved of the Lord! In the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, we are told that ...

3289. How Can We Meet Grief?

2 Samuel 18:19--19:8

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... " at regular stages of a traveler’s journey. These places were not "mansions" in our sense of the word, but simply accommodations for travelers. A traveler would make his way along that road until the shadows lengthened and the evening came. Then, he would stop at one of those mansions to rest for the night. The next morning he would resume his journey and travel another stage of his journey. In effect, Christ was saying to us, "Within my Father’s world, there are many ‘stations’ marking the stages ...

3290. What Makes People Great?

2 Samuel 23:1-7

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... is better to hope than to despair." That’s why old Samuel Johnson said, "It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking on the bright side of things." The children whom Christ called upon us to emulate know this. A man stopped to watch a Little League baseball game. He asked one of the youngsters what the score was. "We’re behind eighteen to nothing," was the answer. "Well," said the man, "I must say you don’t look discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy said, puzzled. "Why should we ...

3291. Waiting

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... waste of time. After all, he who hesitates is lost. We must be "firstest with the mostest"; and, if the situation is not ready for us to be firstest, then we manipulate things to make it ready. Yet, before we go farther with these attitudes we all share, let us stop to consider that there are many good reasons for waiting. Let’s look and see. We wait for paint to dry. When we do not wait, the second coat bleeds through and we have a real chore on our hands. We wait for children to get well. If not, we ...

3292. All Dressed Up and No Place To Go

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... Christmas into the day-by-day duties until all life glows with a reflection from the day we were all dressed up in the wonder of God’s visitation. Wonderful and strange it all is, even in face of the pain and suffering of this world. For all the false stops and starts in dressing up, we still bring out the creche and practice spiritual exercises before it. If only we could hear the angels, see the star, bow and adore. We strive to be all dressed up in the wonder of it. Perhaps if we could - if only - then ...

3293. Noise Is Anything That Corrupts the Integrity of a Message

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... ’re busy." This throws me for a loss, so I say, "I’m in the hospital twice each week and wish to visit people." "I know, you have lots to do." Something in them corrupts the message that I sent. We read words. The message we bring to them often stops us from grasping what the words actually say. Once I gave a person a manuscript to read and evaluate. He kept it for a long time. Finally, we met for lunch so I could hear his comments. Naturally, as a writer I was eager for a critique. We talked about ...

3294. It’s as Simple as That

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... being instituted in Jesus; and we all know the long years of hard work, precarious faith with its successes and failures that have marked history since that day, as we work out for the world the meaning of John’s announcement. We may be sorely tempted to stop our journeys after we have crossed into a new estate. After all, life is transfigured from the old to something new and marvelous. Why not stay there in wonder and bliss? We are, indeed, sorely tempted to remain on the other side of the river. But if ...

3295. Epiphany 2

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1, John 1:35-42, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... commitment to your will. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession God of loving-kindness, we confess that we are not always attentive to your Word or your will. Like Samuel, we live in times when your voice seems seldom audible, so we often stop listening for you at all. Forgive us our hardness of hearing and heart; open our ears and our souls to your bidding; and give us the strength to respond in complete submission to your will, whatever the challenge or cost. In the name of the One who ...

3296. Christmas Carols · What Child Is This?

Luke 2:1-20

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... time that Jesus was born to his mother Mary. For some people it would be hard to be sick in Scotland and think about Jesus in Bethlehem, but it wasn’t for William Dix. He loved to think about it, and once he started writing poetry about Jesus he never stopped. You might think that he grew up to be a minister, but he didn’t. Mr. Dix was one of the biggest insurance men in the world during his time and he insured many of the huge ocean ships that sailed around the world. One of his favorite poems was ...

3297. Thomas - The Hard Worker

John 11:16

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... spear. Oh, I suppose you wonder why there is a spear. Well, one day when he was teaching about Jesus in this very strange land, a heathen priest threw the spear at Thomas and killed him. This priest thought if he killed Thomas the people would stop wanting to hear about Jesus. But he was wrong because Thomas had brought Jesus to the people forever and Jesus would never leave. Sometimes we forget all of the hard workers like Thomas and just remember the good thinkers and good talkers. But Thomas is one hard ...

3298. Matthew - A Changed Man

Luke 5:27-32

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... from travelers who were moving their merchandise along a road a certain person said to him, "Follow Me." It was Jesus who said that, and you know what? Matthew did. He left his job and followed Jesus. That’s right, he laid down his money bags, and stopped collecting taxes from the people who used the road and followed Jesus. Well, Matthew was so thrilled to meet Jesus and follow him and start a new life that he threw a big party and invited all of his tax collector friends. The other tax collectors came ...

3299. Christmas International

Drama

Dory Younger

... aisle, bow to baby in manger, kneel at stage right as choir sings "O Come Little Children," verse three. When song ends:) NARRATOR: At about that time, some wise men from eastern lands were following the star of Bethlehem, and saw that the star had stopped over a small stable. (As NARRATOR reads the following, child comes up center aisle carrying star above his head. WISE MEN follow child, lay gifts near manger, kneel in front of angels, stage left. Child hangs star on top of tree.) NARRATOR: They entered ...

3300. "The Sawdust and the Circus"

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

This being Evangelism Sunday in our church, I made the flip remark to someone last week that I was going to preach about the "sawdust trail." And the answer I received really stopped me. "Oh," this person said, "going to talk about the circus, huh? What’s so theological about that?" I had thought that the "sawdust trail" was an expression that was so much of a cliche that everyone knew just what it meant - but apparently that was not the case. The ...

Showing results