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 3751 to 3775 of 4943 results

3751. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... slowly upward through quiet air. The origin of his ascent was his own will and his own power. Another striking contrast concerns the transition of authority. Elisha receives a falling mantle, the transference of unfinished business, so he can be fitted for continuing the work which Elijah left undone. An office is passed on so the functions would be the same. That's the way worldly leadership, even religious leadership, tends to operate. Preachers and teachers die and their sons and daughters bow before the ...

3752. Forsaking All Others

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... a genuine attitude of "I'm going to get all the junk out," turns into a "I'll give up the easy stuff and hold onto the junk I really like." We, in essence, are like the boy who was told repeatedly by his mom to sit down. The boy continued to stand, disobeying his mom. Finally, the mother went to him, and physically plopped him in a chair. Angry, the boy bellowed, "I may be sitting down on the outside, but I am standing on the inside!" Joel was preaching for a sincere change of heart which would show in ...

3753. Something Old, Something New

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... husband, God! He created a new covenant (marriage commitment) with them, and we are a part of that new covenant today. Why was there the need for a new marriage? Not because God didn't keep his wedding vows, but because his bride was continually unfaithful to God. The Old Testament community loved other men constantly more than her childhood sweetheart and that broke God's heart. The covenant with Noah wasn't enough for the wayward wife. Abraham's covenant wasn't honored for very long. The other covenants ...

3754. Shameless Passion

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... relationships, especially with guys. She would never get close to them or let them kiss her. There was a man who had another problem. He had the worst case of smelly feet ever smelled. He never removed his shoes and took great pains to wash his feet continually so even he could sleep with himself. Yes, you guessed it. These two people met, and they started to date. Somehow through the months they hid their ailments from each other. She never opened her mouth to kiss, and he never took his shoes off, even ...

3755. Held In His Arms

Isaiah 51:17--52:12

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... his son was no longer with him, the boy's life would live on because of those he had touched. He soon learned that his son had rescued dozens of wounded soldiers before a bullet took his life. As the stories of his son's gallantry continued to reach him, fatherly pride and satisfaction began to ease his grief. The painting of his son soon became his most prized possession, far eclipsing any interest in the pieces for which museums around the world clamored. He told his neighbors it was the greatest gift ...

3756. Open Grave, Open Hearts

Acts 4:32-37

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... their giving spirit, their care for the less fortunate! A man complained to his pastor, "I've been listening to your sermons and to our leaders at church and what you are asking us to do here and in our community is getting to be just one continuous 'give, give, give.' " To which the pastor replied, "Say, that's one of the best descriptions of Christianity I've ever heard!" The early Church understood this. Our society has lost much of what the early Church had, including the desire to find a need and fill ...

3757. Hear, Hear

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students. "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would continue, "Because anyone who does believe in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that he is God, and yet he can't do it." And every year he would drop the ...

3758. Advent 1

Isaiah 63:7--64:12, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, Psalm 80:1-19, Mark 13:32-37, Mark 13:1-31

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... be wars and rumors of wars, and that those who take the sword shall die by the sword, as justification for participation in warfare. They argue that those who work for the elimination of warfare are wrong since Jesus predicted that these things would continue. They fail to distinguish words of scripture which are descriptive of what is as opposed to prescription for what should be. They do not give more weight to the scriptures' repeated admonitions to minister to the poor and the passages where Jesus, Paul ...

3759. Accepting Responsibility

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

... during the exile. Each poem is an interpretation of the national tragedy of 586 B.C., designed to deepen the sense of personal responsibility. The writing and inclusion of this book in the Bible was one way for God's people to accept responsibility and continue the process of recovery from their tragedy. There are bad things that happen to us all the time. Some of them can be blamed on other people or circumstances beyond our control. But many things that happen to us are our own responsibility. We need ...

3760. Promises Kept In Unusual Way

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

... will walk with us through our heartache and pain. A little girl was in the hospital with a serious illness. They were doing everything they could medically, but they were losing the battle. Her parents stayed with her constantly. When she slipped into a coma, they continued to stay with her, holding her hand, talking to her, making sure someone was in the room 24 hours a day. After four days in a coma, the girl miraculously woke up and started to improve. The doctors could not explain her recovery. When her ...

3761. So Much To Say, So Little Time

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

... to be fairly smug if we believe that we are somehow going to stop his message from getting through to us. Jesus has so much to say and we have so little time to listen to all that he wants to teach us. It was true with the disciples. It continues to be true with us. We intend to listen. We are determined to be faithful followers. But the moment we hear his voice, we begin to get anxious. His words pour down upon us like a shower, and we worry about getting wet rather than seeking to understand. He speaks ...

3762. Simply Simon

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

... this woman? I came into your house as your guest, but you didn't offer me any water to wash my feet. She washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn't welcome me with a kiss, and all she seems to do is continue kissing my feet. You didn't provide any olive oil for my head after a weary day in the hot sun, but she has bathed my feet with perfume. The great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven a little ...

3763. Ya Can't Make Me

Luke 9:57-62, Luke 9:51-56

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

... . His young son saw the man and said, "Daddy, aren't we going to help him?" The father, who knew of the dangers of stopping to help strangers on a highway, said, "No, we have to get to the restaurant before they stop serving lunch." The little boy continued, "But he looks like he could really use some help. Shouldn't we help?" "We just don't have time," the father snapped back. The boy then queried, "Is this kind of like the parable of the Good Samaritan that we studied this morning in Sunday School?" Why ...

3764. The Last Days

Luke 21:5-38

Drama

Pamela Urfer

... be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. [All members of the CONGREGATION except the 3RD WOMAN grow more and more hysterical as the PREACHER continues his tirade.] CONGREGATION: (Variously) Ooooh! No! Protect us! PREACHER: For these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written. CONGREGATION: Praise God! PREACHER: But woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing infants in those days ...

3765. Standing and Understanding with the Apostles

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... work from what we know: that God is a God of love who wills good for us. Whatever is inconsistent with that we reject, even as we seek to live with the questions that remain. There has always been a place for theological inquiry, and we will want to continue to question and struggle and seek to deepen our understanding of God. But in striving for what we don't understand, we dare never lose hold of what we know best: the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The two disciples who had walked with Jesus on ...

3766. There's More To Thanksgiving

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... choices used in the creed are very significant. The creed begins, "A wandering Aramean (i.e. Jacob) was my ancestor." It starts by the speaker looking back into the past from their vantage point in the present, but as the creed continues the speaker chooses words that eliminate the distance between the past and the present. When talking about their ancestors' time of bondage, the worshipper does not say, "When the Egyptians treated them harshly and afflicted them ..." Instead, the worshipper says, "When ...

3767. An Unfamiliar Place For God

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... of being surrounded by that which is familiar? The exiles naturally longed to return home where things were familiar, comfortable and settled. So what did they do? I suppose you could say they did what many prisoners do. They "did time." They waited. Oh, they continued to go through the motions of living, but they had their hearts and minds on hold. Things would not really be okay for them until they got back home. Hopefully it would be soon. They had heard rumors that some of the prophets, like Hananiah ...

3768. The New Life

2 Corinthians 5:17-19

Children's Sermon

Robert B. Lantz

... to see what they look like inside to see if they have God in their hearts, but we can often see it on the outside by the way they love other people. Maybe we all need to be a little nuts! Brand new on the inside. (Prayer for God to continue to make us new persons inside.) (Give each child a peanut in the shell. Encourage them to share the story with their friends or parents.)

3769. The Gift of Wisdom

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... Lord. As through Lent we sought to make a pilgrimage toward wholeness and renewal, so this Easter we will celebrate this new life in Christ. Throughout the ages, Easter Eve was a time for baptism and renewal of baptismal promises. In many of our churches that tradition continues in the Easter Vigil, and if there is not always a midnight baptism, at least there is often a gathering around the font and a renewal of the promises made at our baptism and a celebration of God's promises made to us. One Order for ...

3770. Uplifted By The Blues

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... . His pastor had frequently mentioned that the book of Psalms was filled with inspirational prayers. Raymond opened his Bible and began reading Psalm 138. There he read, "I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise." He continued, "On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul" (Psalm 138:1, 3). Raymond liked what he had read. It lifted his spirits. "The pastor was right," Raymond thought to himself. "This is a very upbeat part of the Bible ...

3771. Cultivating Our Garden

Isaiah 58:1-14

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... Spirit, gives us new energy and new life. Listen to the words of Isaiah: ... if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden ... (Isaiah 58:10-11) The only way for worship to be worship is to be sure that it comes bubbling up out of being in ministry in and ...

3772. Adjusting To The Light

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... the first resort. Sexual promiscuity is out in the open, women are still fighting for equal recognition and pay, but are now privileged to get the same stress-related diseases as men. Youth have all the stimulation they want through videos and automobiles, and racism continues. And congregations worship and preachers preach and ... and what? I'll tell you what. There really are those who are aware of the darkness. And there are those who have seen the great light. But it takes a long time to adjust to the ...

3773. The Christmas Cactus

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... their religious desert. Isaiah wrote to exiles who wanted to go home to Zion, thinking that that was the only way to get close to God. Do you think that you need to be in some other place or circumstance in order to get close to God, in order to continue the journey? Would you like to inhabit some other desert, any other desert than your own? I was touched by a quote from Scott Russell Sanders: "To withhold yourself from where you are is to be cut off from communion with the source. It has taken me half a ...

3774. It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... live? Listen to the rattling across the valleys of our lives. We who have our hope in Christ live in him, and we can take hope and give it to one another, and to others beyond. Now, as we take the last steps on this Lenten journey, let us all continue to draw closer to God, seeking his will for our lives and the power to bring it to life. Can these bones live? Ours? Lord, you know. Now we know too. "Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Christ, Son of the living God, coming into the world." And into ...

3775. Sometimes Goodbye Is Hello

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... and goodness, sin and fear, sorrow and joy which make up our lives. This journey we've begun again -- of repentance, reflection, and renewal, of the gifts of God's grace to live a new life -- this can't be undone. We can depart from it, we can fail to continue, we can deny it -- but we can't go back to being the people we were before we heard again this amazing gospel. Our world is not the same; it never has been since that Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Ascension. By faith we see that all these weeks ...

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