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 3501 to 3525 of 4986 results

3501. Eleven Plus One

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... (Mark 8:14-21). They lacked faith (Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25). They fought with one another over who was the greatest (Mark 9:33-37). They lacked loyalty. When he needed them the most (Peter, James, and John), and asked them to stay awake and keep watch for him, they fell asleep (Mark 14:32-34). One of them betrayed him. One of them denied him. All of them deserted him. (Matthew 26:56) But after Pentecost the negative of disciple-divisiveness is transformed into the positive of disciple-diversity ...

3502. From Ha-Ha's to Ah-ha's

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... blue, gift-of-grace has dropped right into our lap, or even better right into our head. Whether it is something as basic as figuring out how to finish a geometry proof or as complicated as envisioning the DNA triple-helix, they are watershed events that stay with us and transform us. The unexpectedly startling nature of the "Aha" imprints itself on our mind and spirit in a way no ploddingly logical deduction could. "Aha's" strike a spark in the soul and fire up the imagination. In one shimmering moment they ...

3503. Jedi Christians

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to follow the liquid pathway that Jesus was blazing. For an instant Peter throws caution to the wind and lets his feet take him where his heart knows Jesus is calling him to be. As long as Peter looks to Jesus and is wholly focused on following him, his feet stay dry and his future is secure. But, typical of Peter, even as he's the first of the disciples to grasp the power and freedom that are his when he follows Jesus, so Peter is also the first to draw back, retreat, and to put the brakes on his faith ...

3504. Let Familiarity Breed Contentment

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , respect, research, your leaders – those who stand apart, stand aside, stand in front, so that others may follow, be guided, or not feel alone. The mandates directed by the Hebrew's author seem so ordinary: love each other, show hospitality, remember prisoners, stay true to your marriage vows, eschew the love of money, respect and honor leaders. But read them with fresh eyes. See them as the radical, redeeming message they still offer. Do you have mutual love? Can you look across this sanctuary this ...

3505. Obstacles as Popsicles

Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... begins with the reminder that in everyone's life there will be baskets and bulrushes, fogs and mists that obscure our vision and seem to be taking us off-course. One of the hardest lessons in life is trusting God in the midst of the mist, staying on course even when we seem to be taken in directions we do not wish to go. There are diseases of civilization – heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes. But there are also diseases of the spirit – doubt, despair, infirmity of purpose, [add some of ...

3506. Pay It Forward!

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... food so he could feed a multitude! · Sometimes Jesus asked his disciples to go fishing in empty waters! · Sometimes Jesus asked his disciples to sit down with tax collectors, prostitutes and other well-known sinners! · Sometimes Jesus asked his disciples to stay calm during a life-threatening, violent storm! · Sometimes Jesus asked his disciples to leave their families and security to follow him! Today we read how Jesus asked two of his disciples to engage in a little livestock rustling. When the time ...

3507. Poison Control

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , brown and generic-looking, didn't have childproof lids, and neither did the aspirin bottle. Our daughter Soren gummed us up a great smile, completely incapable of communicating to us whether she'd eaten anything, and if so what, and how much. Trying desperately to stay calm and salvage at least a modicum of our former image as responsible parents, we immediately leapt to the phone and called Poison Control. We were ready to ply our poor child with any and all vile remedies to make sure her system was ...

3508. Saved by the Bell

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of internal gases being released after death and muscle paroxysms and contractions, the fact remains: the fear of being buried alive was real. It was as real a terror as having your house broken into is today. The whole idea of a wake was for the family to stay with the body around the clock in case the deceased awakened. George Washington was so afraid of being buried alive that he even put in his will that he would not be buried until 5 days after being declared dead. To allay the fears of the people ...

3509. The Best Places to Live

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , slippery substance called "gooze" which takes on the shape of whatever it is placed in. Thane's came in a big red jewel-shaped container, so it took on the appearance of a slimy red ruby. When you hold gooze in your hand it doesn't stay put. It oozes and seeps downward through your fingers, escaping containment and moving on. It doesn't dissolve or dissipate. It reshapes itself to fit into whatever it is placed. God wanted the exiled people of Israel to become gooze in Babylonian culture and community ...

3510. The CatWalk Church and the CrossLove Church

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... go where the outcasts go, · CatWalk churches wear new shiny crosses. CrossLove churches wear old rugged crosses. · CatWalk churches have it their way. CrossLove churches make God's way their way. · CatWalk churches parade the Jerusalem streets. CrossLove churches stay with Jesus all the way from Galilee to Jerusalem, and then on to Golgotha. · CatWalk churches become duck communions – copying each other, mimicking here what works over there, trying to look and act just like everybody else. CrossLove ...

3511. The Lamb's Book of Life

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... -that they ought to have vanished into mutational meltdown long ago." Little wonder that thousands of researchers are committed to tracking down our most errant gene structures and eliminating them for all time. Sounds good, doesn't it? But who will decide what genes stay and what genes go? Are we prepared to genetically expunge the potentiality for people under 5 feet 6 inches, or all those who may be especially susceptible to alcohol or drug addiction? Or perhaps those whose IQ's won't reach three digits ...

3512. The Miracle Molecule

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... an anonymous email making the rounds that says "Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark..." 1. Don't miss the boat. 2. Remember that we're all in the same boat. 3. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. 4. Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. 5. Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. 6. Build your future on high ground. 7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs. 8. Speed ...

3513. The Monsters We Are All Afraid Of

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... see. He is very like me, from the psyche within the head, And fear of hurting him scares me when I jump into my dread. He hasn't any notion of how adults ought to play And tries to make a fool of me in every sort of way. He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see. I think it shameful to stick to people as my ego clings to me. This side of the door, we will always struggle with these monstrous egoboos. Some things like human frailties and foibles remain much the same. · We ...

3514. What Is Jesus Doing?

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... low Sundays--ever. This Easter Sunday isn't the end of the Church's high holy days. It's just the beginning. In Matthew's gospel Mary Magdalene and the other Mary make their way back to Jesus' tomb just as dawn breaks on Sunday morning. These women had stayed near Jesus as he suffered and died on the cross. They had watched Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus take Jesus' body, anoint him in a body cast filled with 100 pounds of spices, wrap him in a linen shroud, and place him in the tomb. They watched as the ...

3515. Are You Turned On to Christ?

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... -century millennialists used to wait on mountain-tops for the Second Coming. Not-so-active activities turn some people on. Malls are full of window-shoppers, stadiums are full of screaming fans, movie theaters are full of people looking for new stories. But it is hard to stay turned on, totally fulfilled, on-fire-for-life, by a baseball game or a new boat. Looking for that long-range, never-lets-you-down turn-on is what leads some of us to abuse alcohol, to turn-on with drugs, to keep moving from lover to ...

3516. The Golden Bull or the Old Rugged Cross?

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... image the American Dream) Paul and Silas were slapped around and clapped into prison because they interfered with the economic flow of some first-century businessmen. But rather than moan about their unjust incarceration or complain about their injuries, Paul and Silas stayed up late to party. At midnight they were still awake "praying and singing hymns to God" (verse 25). Paul and Silas rejoiced because their "dream" had become a vision of the Kingdom of God-as preached by Jesus and brought into this ...

3517. What's Your Status Symbol?

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... valid driver's license. · For long haul truckers, status is millions of miles without a scratch. · For frequent fliers, status is The Platinum Club. · For Hollywood deal makers, status is making them come to you. · For middle class 8-year-olds, status is a stay at home mom. · For sunbelt trailer park residents, status is movin' on up. · For vegetarians, status is eating it all raw. If you have to cook it, you can't eat it. Real vegetarians eat it raw. · For Las Vegas gamblers, status is getting the ...

3518. Son-burned, Wind-blown, Earth-Stained

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... make a pitch to GM engineers. The image of the Microsoft CEO on his hands and knees to please some customers made such an impression on the author that he wrote a whole article based on this one incident. (Steve Hamm, "Why High Tech Has to Stay Humble," Business Week, 19 January 2004, 76.) Corporate executives will get on their hands and knees to show customers how much they care. Will Christians get on our hands and knees to show people how much God cares? At the Transfiguration, when Jesus took Peter and ...

3519. My Precious, My Precious

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... equipment." ("Event Shows Amish Latest in Traditional Technology," Star-Press (Muncie, Indiana), July, 2004. With thanks to Jim Beckley for this reference. There are two kinds of churches in this world: there are pristine churches and there are patina-ed churches. A pristine church stays clean, perfect, untouched. It's proud of how it looks and presents itself. It's beautiful. A patina-ed church gets dirty quick. No matter how many times you clean it up, it takes on a deeper, richer glow because of all the ...

3520. By Heart

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8, Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a prompter.) Whether it was a Bible verse, a poem, or a song, those words learned so long ago remain imbedded in our minds, even if in a garbled, jumbled form. Anyone know where Gitche Gumee is? For good or ill the first lessons learned are the ones that stay with us the longest. That's why you can remember your first bicycle-lock combination, but you can't remember where you put the Christmas lights last year. That's why you can still sing all the words to the camp-fire songs sung at your first sleep-away ...

3521. Living Outside the Box

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the box in which it lived. Even though there was nothing genetic to keep the baby dime-store crocs from growing to enormous sizes, as long as they remained inside their boxes, as long as they were never exposed to greater space and freedom, they would stay the same small, kid-friendly size. The human mind and soul is a lot like those little crocodiles. Given unlimited food, nurturing environment, and a safe place to develop, the growth of our minds and souls is amazing. We've been given the capacity to grow ...

3522. You're Fired!

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to force down their throats. Yet their failure only testifies to the fact that they have a weak stomach and perhaps ultimately, good sense. But to be on The Apprentice the contestants pour all their creative juices, all their intellects and energies into trying to stay in the game. When Donald Trump looks at them across the mahogany table of the dimly lit Board Room, points his finger and declares "You're Fired!" these players that are now us know without a doubt that they've failed in every way possible ...

3523. Inward, Upward, Outward

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... was just finishing up a long in-depth report on the nasty mad-cow threat. Mad cow meat. Cancer causing farm fish. Avian flu chicken. What's left to eat any more? Pretty soon they'll find deadly bacteria on broccoli. The radio news channel, staying on the theme of American eating habits, moved on to a special segment on obese kids. Because of obesity, "This may be the first generation of children who will die before their parents," argues Baylor College of Medicine researcher John Foreyt. According to the US ...

3524. Are You Living the Three Advents?

Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of 10am. Then doors began opening at 6am. Then 5am. Then this year it was 4am. You heard right: 4am. But that wasn’t enough for one huge mall outside Seattle. At this mall the entire place opened at 12:01am, with all the stores prepared to stay open until Saturday at 10pm. “Black Friday (so named because merchants hoped a strong showing on that day would put them “in the black” for the whole holiday season) is now more apt a name than ever. The biggest sales are conducted in the blackness of night ...

3525. Learning the Three Step Faith Walk

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the last chapter of his memoirs, My God and I. In the last chapter of this, his last book, Smedes wrote under the title of "God and an Impatient Old Man:" "When I was young I hoped with all my heart that Christ would never come, that he would stay up in heaven where he belonged and leave me alone. Every Sunday morning as my family shuffled down to our pew in the Berean church, I was scared half to death by a biblical prayer, taken from the Book of Revelation, painted large on the front wall: Maranatha, Even ...

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