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 3326 to 3350 of 5000 results

3326. And You Thought God Didn't Care!

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Someone asked a man,"Do you think the biggest problem in the church is ignorance or apathy?" The man replied, "I don't know and I don't care!" Lots of folks believe that about God. He is either unaware of all that concerns us or is indifferent to it. For all those who suspect God of this detached inclination, who think God doesn't care, there is marvelous truth in the text to refute that notion forever. Let's lay a bit of groundwork and see how this is so. Moses, the emissary of God, born to deliver his ...

3327. Is God With You, Or Not?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

A mortician tells of an incident on the way to a funeral one day. He pulled up to a curb, the rear wheel of his car dropped off the edge of the road and fell into a drain, and the car was stuck. Since he was already late for the funeral he rushed over to the trunk of the car, got out the jack, and started to raise the wheel of the car out of the drain. The motion of the jack caused the trunk lid to fall down and hit him squarely on the head. It was getting really late now, so he decided he'd better call ...

3328. One Commandment is Enough!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Rules, commandments, and laws are nothing new. For instance, everyone knows Murphy's Law: "If there is a possibility that something will go wrong, it will." Or how about the Law of Gardening: "You get the most of what you need the least." Jones' Rule of the Road is: "The easiest way to fold a map is differently." I like Erma Bombeck's Rule of Medicine: "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." One of my favorites is Agnes Allen's Law: "Almost anything is easier to get into than out of." But no ...

3329. Proper 13

Matthew 14:13-21, Romans 9:1-5

Bulletin Aid

Second Lesson: Romans 9:1-5 Theme: Paul's heartbreak Call To Worship Leader: Let all who would carry the Gospel of Christ to the nations gather. People: For there are wonderful peoples in every land yet to hear of Christ. Leader: Some have already heard the Good News yet they have turned away. People: Would that we could give our lives so all might accept God's love. Leader: But God's love is so real we were each created free to choose. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, You knew us even ...

3330. Mi Casa, Su Casa

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Mark Radecke

The relationship between a landlord and a tenant is at best a tenuous one: the landlord is understandably concerned about the use or abuse of his property (after all, it is his house); the tenant understandably concerned about the maintenance and privacy of the place (after all, it is his home). Our friends’ younger daughter begged - no, she positively importuned - her parents for a pastel colored bedroom. They relented, and asked permission of their landlord, offering to buy the paint, provide the labor ...

3331. "He Who Commands Is He Who Fulfills"

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Some years ago, a parishioner gently offered his pastor a piece of criticism. It had to do with the way one of the rubrics in the weekly bulletin had for decades been phrased: an asterisk in the margin indicated those times when "the congregation reverently kneels." "You can command people to kneel," said this lay theologian, "but you can’t command that they be reverent about it." Interesting observation. On the one hand he had a point: some people kneel humbly and reverently; others kneel haughtily ( ...

3332. Who is Greatest Among You ...

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

How quickly we learn the desire to be great. The quest to become "number one" is a given in our competitive society. To some degree it is what fosters achievement and causes people to strive for excellence. Few people succeed without a fairly strong motivation to be foremost in their field. That’s the positive side. The negative side has to do with the absence of compassion and the undue pride that can go along with ambition. We can feel sorry for losers, but we prefer to associate with winners. Nothing ...

3333. The Sounds at the Summit

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

Shortly before dawn one morning a couple years ago, a gasoline pipeline erupted and a terrible fire flared up right down the middle of a suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, street. A woman delivering newspapers was caught in the flames; her car ignited and she was severely burned, but survived. People were awakened to discover flames shooting higher than telegraph poles. "The whole neighborhood is on fire," was one person’s description. In one home, a father woke up his wife, told her to get her daughter while ...

3334. The Keeper of the Covenant

Exodus 31:1-11

Sermon

Moses had been gone too long from the people of Israel. He had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, after he had given them the terms of the covenant with the Lord, their God. They thought he was dead, that he would never come back, that they would never see him again. It was time to make their future secure, thus they asked Aaron to make gods to replace the God of the Covenant - and he did that. He took up a collection, melted down their gold, and turned it into an idol, a golden calf, for them ...

3335. The End is a New Beginning

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

The Exodus story ends with the death of Moses after he had viewed the Promised Land from Mount Nebo. "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go there." And so, Moses died and, apparently, the Lord buried him in an unmarked grave "in the valley of the land of Moab;" his grave-site has been lost forever. God alone knows where Moses is buried. God really seems to have taken Moses to himself ...

3336. The Beginning of a New Life

Ruth 2:1-23

Sermon

It had been over a decade since Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons had left Bethlehem during a severe famine, but Naomi had not changed very much in that time. "The whole town was stirred" because Naomi had returned after this long absence and had a young woman with her. The women of Bethlehem, who had known her before she left, called her by name; "Do not call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back ...

3337. The Surprising Twist to the Story

Ruth 4:1-12

Sermon

The end of the story of Naomi and Ruth sounds even more like a modern soap opera than the beginning. It has all the intrigue and machinations, which people expect in a drama like Dallas or Dynasty. After Ruth’s recongition by Boaz - remember that she "found favor in his eyes" and was the recipient of his generosity and protection - Naomi had asked Ruth, "My daughter, should I not seek a home for you, that it may be well with you?" Naomi and Ruth targeted Boaz as the most likely and desirable husband ...

3338. Judgment and Justice

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

Israel was always getting into trouble with God, especially when it came to their worship of him. One would think the nation would have learned its lesson for all time when it made and worshiped the golden calf during its trek from Egypt to the Promised Land. Not so, for over and over again, they allowed their religious rites to become corrupt, especially by developing all sorts of ceremonies meant to please God while, outside the Temple, they lived rather secularly oriented lives. Apparently, their ...

3339. A Day For All the Saints

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

When Dr. Gerhard Frost, much beloved and saintly retired professor of Luther Northwestern Seminary, died quite suddenly, in less than three weeks, in May, 1987, he did have time to plan his funeral service with his wife and pastor. Hymns to be sung included: "O Day Full of Grace," "Jesus, Priceless Treasure," "O Bread of Life from Heaven," and "In Thee is Gladness." The Lessons were from 1 Corinthians 15, Romans 8, Job 19, and John 17 - some of his favorite biblical passages. Dr. Alvin Rogness, president ...

3340. Confirming Our Relationship

Isaiah 6:8

Illustration

Staff

Each day, day after day for a number of weeks, a minister observed a small boy enter the church auditorium, sit quietly before the altar for awhile, and then quietly leave. Always it was about the same time of day, shortly following the dismissal of school, and obviously the lad, carrying his books, was on his way home when he made his daily stop. One day the minister approached the boy, told him he had observed what he was doing and that he was pleased to see him doing this. Then the minister asked, "What ...

3341. Finding Our Souls

Mark 8:36

Illustration

Staff

An old legend says that when Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden he lay down under a tree and slept, his soul beside him. While he slept the four spirits - Earth, Water, Air, and Fire - stole man's soul and carried it away. Then the four spirits looked about for a place to hide man's soul so that he could never find it again. The spirit of Earth said, "I will hide it in my depths." The spirit of Water said, "I will sink it into the deepest waters of the sea." The spirit of Air said, "Let me hide it ...

3342. Keeping on Course

Illustration

In the old days of ocean sailing, a small boy was traveling on shipboard with his father. About once a day the boy saw the captain stand on deck with sextant in hand, and, as they used to say, "shoot the stars." The boy said to his father, "Daddy, what is the captain doing?" His father replied, "The captain is taking our bearings, seeing where we are, finding out if we are going in the right direction." As a matter of fact, my dear friends, it is something of this kind that each of us is doing as we are in ...

3343. Keep Looking Up

Illustration

A house painter was at work atop a tall ladder that leaned against the second-story gable of a house. A small boy playing about the yard, discovered the ladder, and as is natural for small boys, he began to climb. Coming out to check on her son, his mother was shocked to find that he was more than half way to the top of that ladder. As the woman stifled a scream of panic, the man at the top looked down, saw the child, and instantly perceived the danger. Signaling the mother to be silent, he calmly said to ...

3344. When the Tide Comes In

Illustration

A boy and his grandfather were at the beach playing together - as grandfathers and their grandchildren should and sometimes do. They made small boats of paper, and placed them on the sand alongside the water. Then the tide came in, reaching the boats, lifting them, and carrying them delightfully dancing on its ripples. Make your boat and await the tide! Make your boat and be ready when the tide comes in. We are doing something of this kind when we worship. In worship, we are preparing our hearts for the ...

3345. Come Apart and Rest Awhile

Illustration

Staff

The relationship between Jesus and John the Baptizer is one of the most touching atories in the New Testament. Relatives and devoted friends, their mothers had spent about six months visiting together immediately before the birth of their two sons. It was John who first identified Jesus as the Savior, introducing him to the people at the Jordan. As Jesus commenced his ministry, John continued with his, the two often communicating, always keeping in touch, sending messengers back and forth. When Herod, the ...

3346. Rekindling Our Fires

Illustration

Among the ancient Indian cultures of Central and South America there was usually a highly developed sense of community. Various rituals and routines were used to demonstrate identity and inter-dependence. Typical of these was a ritual of re-lighting fires. The people lived in homes as we do, about the city and the country. At the center stood their temple, and in the temple burned a perpetual fire, a fire that never went out. In the homes of the people fires also burned - each home had its own. In ...

3347. The Meeting House

Illustration

In a time less complex and more elemental than our own, the church building was not called this: it was known as "the meeting house." And, you know, when you think of it carefully, there is no better name by which to call a place such as this. The meeting house: that puts the emphasis where it belongs - people ... together. The church is people, not building. The building is the meeting house where the church gathers to gain comfort, strength, and insight, and from which the church scatters into the ...

3348. Who Is This?

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Let us pray: Gracious and eternal God, we come to you this day seeking to have your Holy Spirit lead us as we enter the week which is called "holy." May we in these moments deepen our faith and draw closer to Jesus as we reflect upon what he has done for us. In his precious name we pray. Amen. We have sung together "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" The words of this old and familiar hymn give us reason to pause and consider the meaning of Christ's sacrifice for us as he gave his all so that we ...

3349. Power

2 Corinthians 6:7

Sermon

Harold Warlick

For generations many people have told us that the driving force behind us human beings is the will to power. Power is everything. In fact, God has often been viewed as one who gives power to God's special people. Ancient people prayed for God to give them power over the antelope and the buffalo, whose pictures they drew on the walls of caves. The ancient mariners prayed to Proteus for power over the sea. In our day and time, money is power. So we have prayed for that power and tried to help God along by ...

3350. Real Strength

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Harold Warlick

In our fast-paced and advertisement-oriented world, it is easy to get trapped. In fact, there are people who specialize in trapping the public. The invitation comes in the mail. You are invited to visit a new condominium complex at some beach or lake or mountain setting. They'll give you gas money to drive there. They'll give you free lodging and free meals. Why, you even have guaranteed prizes waiting on you, perhaps a new Oldsmobile Cutlass or a color television. Of course, you could also wind up with a ...

Showing results