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 3476 to 3500 of 4914 results

3476. Having a Good Name

Proverbs 1:20-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

Proverbs is right: Having a good name is a terribly important thing. It is important in business, it is important in society, it is important at home, in a family. When we lose our good name, we have lost our trustworthiness. Sometimes it cannot be replaced. How do we know if we have a good name? What is the measurement? Is it the absence of gossip? Or the presence of trust? Is a good name something that we start out with only to find it comes up missing once we have done one or two things wrong? Or does a ...

3477. Stand by Me

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

As summer heats up it is important to always bring a sweater with you. Huh?! (Yes, I know a sweater is something your mother puts on you when she is cold!) Likewise if you head to Minnesota in mid-winter you would be wise to bring something lightweight and with short sleeves. Crazy?! These seemingly illogical suggestion are actually good ideas. Why? Because our culture is addicted to “climate control.” Air conditioning and central heating make it possible for us to create any kind of climate, any sort of ...

3478. The Problem with ‘Hail Mary’ Moments

James 3:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The end of September means . . . [you might want to Go Live here and ask your congregation to fill in the blank] . . . we are hip deep in football season. So despite the crisp fall weather, and the fashion show of turning leaves, it is not time for weekend afternoon hikes. It is time for the weekend afternoon call of “Hike, Hike!” That means every week for the next couple of months, along with tailgate food festivals and ritual chest painting, yet another “religious” ritual will be enacted by somebody, ...

3479. Proper 8

1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21, 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14, Psalm 16:1-11; 77:1-2, 11-20, Luke 9:51-62, Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: Good morning! It’s a beautiful summer day in our neighborhoods! People: It’s morning in the United Stated of America — our home by birth or by choice! Leader: With people around the world, we are God’s people. People: With all the citizens of America, we thank God for our freedoms. We are grateful for the men and women who ventured into the unknown territory of democracy hundreds of years ago. Leader: Thank God for the vision of “One Nation Under God.” People: We are glad for laws ...

3480. From Slave to Brother

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

We often shortchange love. We think of it as sweet and sentimental, something that is good for children and family members. We think of love as sort of soft and cuddly, nice in its place, but not very useful in the things that really matter. Do we think of love as tough, transforming, powerful? This little book of Philemon, tucked into the back of the New Testament at the tail end of Paul's letters, teaches us about the potential of love. Thomas Long, who teaches preaching at EmoryUniversity in Atlanta, ...

3481. The Lord’s Prayer and The Stones-Serpents-Scorpions Story

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

What you do is your history. What you set in motion is your legacy.” Are you just pouring concrete or building a skyscraper? Every one of us wants to leave a “legacy.“ Something that outlasts our biological lives and can somehow continue to declare “I was here.” For a very few this is achieved through intellect or infamy, greatness or great sacrifice. But for those of us who know we are not Augustine or Martin Luther, or Christopher Columbus or George Washington or Albert Einstein or Martin Luther King, Jr ...

3482. A Miracle Story

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Because of a devastating childhood illness at nineteen months, Helen Keller (1880-1968) was left both blind and deaf. Her life was rightly written up as a “miracle story” and became a play called “The Miracle Worker” (1957) with Anne Bancroft starring in the Broadway production (1959). But the “miracle” Helen Keller experienced was not any return of hearing or vision. The “miracle” she received was the miracle of her committed, loving family, and of her relentlessly optimistic and patient teacher Anne ...

3483. Named, Claimed, and Framed

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Tony Everett

So, here we are just over one week after Easter Sunday. Vigils are finished. Sunrise services are over. Dishes from the youth breakfast have been washed and put away. Brass and tympani fanfares have concluded. Flowers on the cross have begun to wilt and blow away. Fewer pews are filled. In most communities, spring break is over. Easter vacations have ended. The return of familiar routines begin. The joy of Easter is still there, but it has diminished somewhat with a return to “the real world.” Nevertheless ...

3484. Waking the Giant

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

In 1811, Napoleon Bonaparte was at the height of his power as a military and political leader. On one occasion he called together all of his commanding officers. Their purpose was to review and assess his conquests. He stood before a huge map and pointed to spots marked on the map, highlighting his victories over fallen foes. There was one spot on the map, however, that caused him to pause and issue a solemn warning. “Here lies a sleeping giant,” said Napoleon. “Don’t awaken him. He will shake terribly the ...

3485. Trust

John 4:43-54

Sermon

James Merritt

If you have ever been to a circus you have seen elephants tethered to a chain that is connected to a stake in the ground. You may not realize that that stake is only eighteen inches long and that elephant can easily pull that stake up, because a grown man has to pull the stake up to free the elephant. Now if a grown man can pull up the stake, why doesn’t the elephant pull that stake out of the ground and free himself? Well, when that elephant was a baby, he did not have the strength to pull that stake out ...

3486. Spiritual Marines

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

A few years ago there was an eye-catching commercial on television sponsored by the United States Marine Corps. They had one that shows a young man fighting, and then slaying a fire-breathing dragon with an Excalibur-like sword. At the end of that commercial, with that sword gleaming in the light, decked out in that resplendent dress blue uniform, the commercial ends with these words: “The Few-the Proud-the Marines.” Do you know what the Mission Statement of the Marine Corps is? On their Website that I ...

3487. The Fellowship of the Believers

Acts 2:42-47

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

It is a feature of Luke’s method in these early chapters to intersperse his narrative with little cameos of life in the early church, intended, no doubt, as models for the church of his own day (see R. J. Karris, Perspectives, p. 117). This section contains the first of these sketches. It touches on a number of matters: the teaching, the miracles, the fellowship, and the prayers. Other such summaries are found in 4:32–35; 5:12–16; 9:31; 12:24. Compare also 5:42; 6:7, and 28:30f., which are similar in ...

3488. Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

Acts 16:11-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The story that begins here and runs through to 21:16 covers the greatest years of Paul’s life—years that saw the foundation of the churches of Macedonia, Achaia (Greece), and Asia and the writing of some of his most important epistles. The story is told by means of a few typical pictures (see disc. on 3:1–10) by which Luke is able to show both the power of the gospel and the effect of its meeting with the other powers of that day: philosophy, religion, and the Roman state. At a number of points the story ...

3489. The Second Appearance and Its Sequel

John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The scene shifts from the tomb in the garden to a locked room somewhere in Jerusalem, and from “early on the first day of the week” (v. 1) to the evening of that first day of the week (v. 19). Despite the faith of the beloved disciple (v. 8) and despite the message brought by Mary Magdalene (v. 18), the disciples as a group are still afraid. Their reaction to her message is not recorded in John’s Gospel, but another tradition appended to Mark by later scribes states that after Mary had seen Jesus she “went ...

3490. Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5--2:14, 1 John 2:15-17

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

Walking in the Light and the Problem of Sin The next two sections of 1 John are on the theme of walking in the light. The first section, 1 John 1:5–2:2, addresses the theme in relation to the issue of sin, while the second section, 1 John 2:3–11, focuses on walking in the light in relation to obedience, especially to the love command. The terms walk, light, and darkness occur throughout the section (1:5–7; 2:6, 8–11) and unify it. The Elder’s opponents are always present in the background. They have made ...

3491. Jacob Blesses His Sons

Genesis 49:1-28

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

Jacob’s Last Testament: Just before his death, Jacob, the patriarch whose name Israel will become the name of the nation that will develop from his children, delivers his last testament, focusing on the destinies of his twelve sons. Since God has appeared to Jacob from time to time, he has the authority to describe the character of each tribe in regard to its future settlement in the promised land. This testament is a complex piece, for it is the composite of three genres: deathbed blessing, farewell ...

3492. Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

2 Kings 18:17-37

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

The Assyrian Assault on Judah: The second David has arrived. He has reformed Judean worship according to Mosaic law, casting off foreign influence and domination. We wait to see what will happen when the king of Assyria tries to take the kind of vengeance on Judah that he has just inflicted upon Israel. 18:13–16 The beginning of the Assyrian assault is reported in verses 13–16, as a new king (Sennacherib) attacks all the fortified cities and captures them. This is not a very promising beginning. It seems ...

3493. Sermon on the Mount: Allegiance and Trust

Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:25-34

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus calls his disciples to undivided and primary allegiance to God and the kingdom, which will lead to trust in God for their needs. Understanding the Text This section of the Sermon on the Mount focuses on human allegiances and trusting God for daily needs. The Lord’s Prayer in the previous section has already highlighted these themes: allegiance to God and God’s kingdom (6:9–10) and requests for daily needs (6:11). Matthew 6:16–24 then deals with issues of allegiance, followed by attention to ...

3494. Jesus’ Compassion and Authority to Feed and Heal

Matthew 15:21-28, Matthew 15:29-39

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew demonstrates Jesus’ compassion and authority in a miraculous feeding and in healing that extends even to a Gentile, indicating that trust is the right response to Jesus. Understanding the Text For a third time in Matthew, Jesus withdraws from controversy (15:21; see also 12:15; 14:13) to minister with healing to the crowds (15:22, 30–31). Given that Matthew focuses almost exclusively on Jesus’ ministry to Israel (10:5–6), it is significant that the story of the healing of a Canaanite ...

3495. The Christian’s New Dominion: Dedicated to Righteousness

Romans 6:15-23

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: The familiar contrast that runs from 5:12 through 6:14 continues in 6:15–23: the law of Moses cannot rescue from sin, which leads to death, but the grace of God in Christ engenders righteousness, which leads to eternal life. The new component of this contrast in 6:15–23 is Paul’s usage of the metaphor of slavery. Understanding the Text Romans 6:15–23 continues Paul’s enumeration, begun in 6:1–14, of the blessings of the new dominion as a part of the new covenant. Romans 6:1–14 was devoted to the ...

3496. Church Divisions and Confusion of Allegiance

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

Big Idea: Schisms and splits have no place in God’s community. Paul says, “Forget what you know from the world around you. Christians are followers not of various patrons and human leaders but of Christ alone.” Understanding the Text Paul’s introduction continues. Verse 10 is his summarizing thesis for the rest of the letter, a thesis he will return to throughout the letter (e.g., 3:1–15). Whether Paul thinks of verse 10 in formal rhetorical terms as a propositio1or simply as a strong reminder to Christian ...

3497. Moses’s and Aaron’s Sin at Meribah

Numbers 20:1-13

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Leaders of God’s people are fallible. Understanding the Text Numbers here skips to the fortieth year after the Israelites left Egypt (see comments at Num. 20:1). Evidently, not much worth mentioning has happened in the intervening years. The Israelites had been condemned to forty years of wilderness wandering when they refused to enter the land of Canaan (Num. 14:33–34). By now, as predicted, most of those persons twenty years of age and older have died in the wilderness. Even the old leadership ...

3498. “Even When I Am Old and Gray, Do Not Forsake Me, My God”

Psalm 71:1-24

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: When our strength ebbs with age, our spiritual inclination is to pray that God will not forsake us. Understanding the Text Psalm 71 has no title, evoking the idea that Psalms 70 and 71 might be viewed as a single unit. In view of their verbal affinities (see “Additional Insights: Corresponding Verbal and Thematic Connections in Psalms 69–72,” following the unit on Ps. 72), the latter psalm, perhaps composed by David himself in his old age, was likely adapted by the compiler of Book 2 to provide a ...

3499. Gabriel Brings an Answer to Daniel’s Prayer

Daniel 9:20-27

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

Big Idea: Despite the prayers of a faithful servant, the persistent sin of God’s people can bring serious consequences before their punishment is completed. Understanding the Text See the unit on 9:1–6 for a discussion of the larger context, structure, and comparisons of this chapter. Against this backdrop, 9:20–27 is the appearance vision proper. It can be divided into three parts: Gabriel’s arrival to answer Daniel’s prayer (9:20–23), the announcement of “seventy ‘sevens’” (9:24), and an explanation of ...

3500. The God of Hope

Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

King Duncan

There are two basic attitudes toward life--one of hope and one of dread--one of trust, the other of fear--one of optimism, the other of gloom. A misprint of a weather forecast read like this: “There is a five percent chance of . . . today and tomorrow.” I would hope that the odds are better than that! In a “Frank and Ernest” cartoon, you see Frank rousing slowly from his sleep, then looking out at the sun coming up. He says dryly, “Well, the sun is rising in the east . . . so far, so good.” You may know ...

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