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 4977 results

3476. God Communicates in Humanly Understandable Terms

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard D. Campbell

... father. Unexpectedly, someone knocked at the door. "Who could that be?" she wondered. When she opened the door, she found her pastor standing with his arms full of toys and candy. This man, who was one of the most renowned preachers of his era, said quite simply: "I thought your boys might miss their father on Christmas morning." He spent the next two hours playing with the two boys and their new toys.1 That minister became a living parable of the meaning of Christmas! By his caring deed, he demonstrated ...

3477. At the Corner of Church and Main

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... Beatitudes on a poster in a Sunday school room or on an embroidery in the church parlor. We cherish these familiar teachings. I wonder, though, what the reaction was of Jesus' original audience. I wonder if they resisted these Beatitudes. They are, after all, quite surprising. Even counter-intuitive. Blessed are the poor? Fortunate are the hungry? To be envied are those who weep? That makes little or no sense to us. Happy are you when you are hated? Excluded? Reviled and defamed? These kinds of blessings I ...

3478. The Best Advice He Could Give

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... for prohibition and against slavery got him in trouble with the influential members of his congregation. And so he tried politics. He ran for governor and for Congress, but, of course, he lost. The Civil War came. He volunteered as a chaplain. Two weeks later he quit. The task was too much of a strain on his health. Of course, he was 76 years old at the time. Finally someone found him an obscure job in the back offices of the Treasury Department in Washington and he finished out his life as a menial ...

3479. A Celebration of Love

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

Mark Mail was waiting in line at his local post office. Only one clerk was working the window. The line was moving quite slowly. As Mark waited, he began to fill out a check. He was hoping to speed things up when he reached the counter. Unsure of the date, he turned and asked the woman behind him. ‘It’s the fifth,’ she replied. Before he could write in the date on the ...

3480. Jesus, Desirous

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... not be an allusion to some of Herod's more exotic proclivities."2 Jesus probably bugged the living heck out of Herod. But this is the world we live in. Foxes have always had a certain allure over God's children, in this or any century. They may not be quite as bizarre and murderous as Herod, but foxes still slyly woo away the hearts of God's brood. And this is the thing: Jesus is powerless to stop it. He can walk on water and raise the dead, but he cannot make us love him. He desires such love, but ...

3481. Baptized with Christ

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... each other, but no one spoke. Now, Jim was pretty certain that they all knew the name of their child. After all, he was five years old. So, it was obvious that they hadn’t talked about who was going to say his name publicly. The question caught them quite by surprise, and so there was an awkward silence. Just then, though, there was a little tug on Jim Standiford’s robe. A little five-year-old voice spoke up and said, “Pastor Jim, you know who I am. I’m Michael!” “Thank God Michael knew who he ...

3482. The Two Ways of Life

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... day -- and indeed, all three of our stated texts -- say that there are only two ways of life. There is life lived in trust in God, and there is life lived apart from that trust. And between those two alternatives, there is no neutral ground. Paul would put it quite sharply: Either we are slaves of Jesus Christ or we are slaves of sin (cf. Romans 6). There is no neutral ground that we can choose between those two bonds. What is more, says our text, it makes all the difference in our life as to which position ...

3483. We Must Obey God

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... only to go on preaching and teaching (vv. 33-42). "We must obey God rather than men," the apostles have said (v. 29), and so nothing can stop their witnessing for the Lord. The passage affords many pertinent thoughts for us. First of all, it is quite clear that religious bureaucrats may be wrong. The church receives lots of directions from the "higher ups" in its structure these days, and those directions may be wise, or they may be unwise. The question is: How to judge them? Should the directions of church ...

3484. Peter's Vision

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... Christians were circumcised, according to Jewish law (cf. Genesis 17:9-14). As Gentiles began coming into the early church, the question therefore arose as to whether or not they too had to be circumcised and follow table laws. The Apostle Paul was quite sure that following the Jewish law was no longer incumbent upon any Christians, because when Christians tried to follow the law, they were depending on themselves, whereas salvation depended entirely on faith in God's work in Jesus Christ. Thus, Paul's ...

3485. Escape from the Island of Spiritual Sloth

Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... Deadly Sins," and came upon what has surely been an overlooked theological resource in explaining the mysteries of what Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, called "a classification of the normal perils of the soul in the ordinary conditions of life." There is quite a bit of material out there referring to the deadly list of seven but by far the most intriguing theological website was one I discovered titled, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Gilligan's Island." I am not making this up. Seven characters on the ...

3486. A Longer Stride and a Larger Embrace

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... school as academy. Be stands for the personal character and spiritual formation of persons and equates with a theological school as abbey. Do stands for the practices and skills of pastoral ministry and equates with a theological school as apostolate. Quite a vision for theological education: academy, abbey, and apostolate. Students must go from Asbury knowing how to think critically—theologically and reflectively. They must also go from here having at least begun the process, and given themselves to the ...

3487. My Prayer For You: Barefoot Days of the Soul

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... temptations and then awaken to what has happened, we feel guilt and shame, sometimes to the point of Paul: “Oh wretched man that I am.” You have had that kind of experience, haven’t you? I have. But you have also known the joy of overcoming. There is nothing quite like being able to look Satan and temptation in the face and say “No, no, I will not give in to you.” “Greater is He that is within me than he that is in the world.” I belong to Christ and because I belong to Him, you, Satan, cannot ...

3488. Homesick For a Future: New Life for the New Millenium

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a person who believes that, and is living it unreservedly. Her name is Tammy Hutchins. She came to Asbury four years ago, a recent convert to the Christian faith through Tom Tanner’s Wesley Foundation ministry at the University of Georgia. Tammy came here on faith, not quite sure where the Lord was leading her, or what ministry she was being called to. When I say she came on faith, that doesn’t sound too bold – but Tammy’s faith was bold. She had absolutely no money. For the years that she was in ...

3489. In the Wrong Place At the Right Time

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . She did the Christian thing and you supported her in it – she chose not to have an abortion and you are going to continue your love and support; Drugs have wasted a son’s life. He is in and out of recovery and you live on edge and are never quite sure if what you are doing is right. And let’s be honest – is anything more chafing and more tormenting than to be compelled to carry a heavy load that is not ours, a load we haven’t chosen – a load we feel we don’t deserve? At the same ...

3490. Awake to Glory

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... the things we can touch and handle are the only realities; and we are instinctively skeptical of that which we get by faith. We always say that love is blind; but a thoughtful woman who was very much in love once replied, "No, love isn't blind. Quite the opposite. It has the ability to see some things others cannot see." The same can be said for faith. True faith does not blind us to the realities of life; it simply enables us to grasp and understand some things which are otherwise beyond us. The Gospel ...

3491. Don't Fade Out On the Amen and the Hallelujah

Revelation 19:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in Pasadena on Sunday mornings and sat with him down front. Over the weeks the bishop had apparently noticed something he didn’t quiet like about the way Rob worshipped and sang the hymns. So, one Sunday, at the close of the final hymn, in a quite voice that could non the less be distinctly heard by many people sitting around them, the bishop turned to Rob Stewart and remonstrated, “Rob, don’t fade out on the amen!” Now that is more than an admonishment about singing. It is a guiding word – a ...

3492. The Proof Is In the Pudding

Luke 7:18-35

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to himself his great power” and again to use it to bring in the Kingdom. But the most natural explanation of it is that John’s faith was wavering. That’s not unusual, is it? After all, John was languishing in prison, waiting for his execution. It’s quite natural if he wondered if his faith had been misplaced. What a lesson for us. When his faith faltered, he stretched out his hand to Jesus. This is not really where I’m going in this sermon—but let me pause to make a significant point: there are ...

3493. The Church: An Enclave of Resistance v1

Romans 12:1-8, Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... How it happened is a dramatic picture of grace. As Norma’s mind was challenged to consider the truth of the gospel, God began working on her heart through a seven-year-old girl named Emily, the daughter of Operation Rescue volunteer Ronda Mackey. Quite understandably, Norma had difficulty relating to children. She had given birth to three, all of whom had been placed for adoption (one of them against Norma’s will). And because she worked in an abortion clinic, Norma was fearful of bonding with anyone so ...

3494. Why Being A Christian Has Worn You Down v2

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... get tired. I don’t want you students to go from this place with a superficial notion about the ministry. As exciting and as glorious as it is – as thrilling and as filled with meaning as it is – even though we know that no other calling is quite in the category of the high calling of God that is ours in Christ Jesus – the calling to be God’s pastors, shepherds of His flock, ministers of His Kingdom – there’s nothing like it. But let’s be honest. It carries with it the possibility of fatigue ...

3495. Abraham and God's Promise

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... his extended family to go to a land that God would show him. And Abram did as God commanded. He did so because he was obedient to God. He also did so because God made him a promise--a promise that he would father a great nation. This was quite an amazing promise considering that Abram and his wife Sarai were senior citizens when God first issue this call, and they had no children. But this was the promise: God promised Abram that he would father a mighty nation. When we come to today’s lesson, many years ...

3496. In the Wilderness With Moses

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... common on college campuses today. Some of the reports on the book’s contents sound like descriptions of the sexual excesses of the old Roman empire. The story is about a poor mountain girl from a small town in remote western North Carolina. She is quite a girl, very intelligent, religious, and pretty. She wins a full scholarship to a prestigious university in the northeast, which is full of sophisticated young men and women, many of whom are rich, smart, socially adept, and many are found to be members of ...

3497. A Time of Transition

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... the mind. (2) Our lesson from Joshua describes a time of transition in the life of Israel. Leadership has been passed from Moses to Joshua. The children of Israel have wandered in the wilderness for forty years. During this time God has provided for them quite miraculously with water and manna. Now the Israelites have entered the Promised Land and are beginning to take possession of it. Then we come to this important verse, Joshua 5:12: “The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and ...

3498. The Incredibility of the Gospel

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Theology over forty years ago. For me that day was one of those Mt.Tabor experiences – you know – one of those experiences when God allows us to see a portion of His glory, and, in the ecstasy of that experience, lays His claim upon our lives, and we are never quite the same again. I am sure I have read that Scripture before, but it never hit me as it did that day. It penetrated to the deepest core of my being, enveloped my soul, and has been a part of me ever since. Listen to a part of it again ...

3499. What Is Required of Us?

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... society like ours where roots, place, and belonging have been thrown to the wind in favor of mobility and experimentation and an open-ended approach to everything, they are increasing in numbers, at least in my little slice of the world, which has been quite active as of late. Most have some acquaintance with Christian faith, often just enough to inoculate them against a full blown case of the genuine disease. I call it cultural Christianity and American folk religion: a little dose of sweet Jesus, a parent ...

3500. Going Hard against the Grain

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... and joyful adventure, free of the cynicism and passivity that often characterizes our world. Through you the kingdom can find an entrance and an abiding place. You can be a star-thrower with the Lord. Let me tell you of one star-thrower who later on became quite famous. He was so grounded in the Bible that the Lord could speak to him through the most ordinary of events. Listen to what he had to say: “My brother and I were driving one evening to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Atlanta. He was driving the car ...

Showing results