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 3851 to 3875 of 4963 results

3851. A Healing Presence

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to remember that peace is not simply the absence of war, peace is that kingdom of shalom, that kingdom of peace, that comes as a result of the living vital presence of the Lord Jesus Christ dominating our personal lives, as well as dominating the relationships of nations. So I hope that you will not be calloused because you hear it so much and because you see it so much on the news and read it so much in the paper. The kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ and we’re ...

3852. Living Lightly

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... this collection. I have two favorites out of them. One little boy prayed, “Dear God, I’m sorry I was late for Sunday School, I couldn’t find my underwear.” And another little boy prayed, “Dear God, please tell me where everybody came from, and I hope you explain it better than my daddy did.” Children are open and alive. They have a perception that we adults seem to have lost. Best of all they have the capacity of what I call living lightly. They’re not burdened down by preconception. They’re ...

3853. Christmas Is On Top Of A Steep Hill

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and said, “At last Lord, at last. You can dismiss your servant in peace as you promised, for my own eyes have seen your salvation.” For Simeon, Christmas was at the top of a steep hill. And Simeon is not only the personification of the longing, groaning hopes of Israel, he incarnates our modern longing and need. Get the original setting in mind. There was not a Jew alive when Jesus was born who did not regard his own nation as the chosen people. Yet the Jews saw quite clearly that by human means, their ...

3854. Miracles In Contrast

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... miracle in contrast. Light against darkness, and the darkness never snuffs it out. Is this what Christopher Frye was trying to summarize poetically. The darkest time of the year, the poorest place in town, cold and a taste of fear, man and woman alone, what can we hope for here? More life than we can learn, more wealth than we can treasure, more love than we can earn, more peace than we can measure, because one child is born. Because one child is born. Born into a world, I remind you, as violent as Israel ...

3855. The Christian Life Defined By Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that agape looks in our lives is etched immortally in Paul’s hymn of love. Love is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful or arrogant or rude, does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. That’s what it means to be a Christian. To be persons whose love is abounding more and more. Is it so with us modern Christians? Answer these questions to answer that one. How could pockets of starvation exist in Memphis ...

3856. Proclaimers Of The Gospel

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to the Upper Room that comes from West Germany in a kind of underground sort of way, our lessons in the year 1983 emphasizes Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:9. How blessed are the peacemakers, God shall call them his sons. This is a promise,” Gunther wrote, “a hope, and a duty for us. Let us work on it in the name of Jesus Christ. Love, Gerta and Gunther.” When a word like that comes out of such an oppressive situation, as East Berlin, you have to take note. There is nothing shallow or superficial about ...

3857. Even Marriages Made In Heaven Require Earthly Care

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... lips to accommodate the twisted ones of his wife, to show her that their kiss still works.” That’s it. Decision and commitment in one act. The earthly care, even marriages made in heaven require. According to the Apostle Paul, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. In fact, Paul declares, love outlasts everything else. Love is promises made and promises kept. It is problems faced and settled. It is darkness waited through until the light comes again. Love is ...

3858. Pentecost: The Neglected Factor

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... shape of your personal witness, it is essential for Christ’s total witness. Every witness here is essential for Christ total witness. In a world of unbelief, Christ needs persons who live from their certainties. In a world of despair, He needs persons who live with hope and say yes to life. In a world of cruelty and inhumanity, He needs persons who are kind and caring. In a world of loneliness and alienation, He needs persons who reach out in love, persons who enter no man’s land with forgiveness and ...

3859. The Eternal Question

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... you know by now that I believe that all preaching should have about it a note of Paul, an invitation to become a part of that great fellowship, which is the fellowship of the church. But more than that, that intimate call to be related to Jesus Christ. While I hope that that’s a part of all my preaching, my preaching today is specifically to that end. A great text like this one we’ve read helps us to really come to grips with it, to rehearse it in our own life and get the scene in which it is ...

3860. Justification By Grace Through Faith

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and we can never be good enough. You recall Jesus’ story of the publican and the sinner in the temple praying. The publican sought to justify himself by rehearsing all the good that he did and telling God how righteous he was. The sinner knew he had no hope in himself or in his own performance, so he cried for mercy. Jesus said, that man went away justified. Now that seems crazy, how can it be? The supposedly righteous man is condemned and the sinner who simply begs for mercy is justified. Let’s look at ...

3861. This Is Eternal Life (Easter Message)

John 17:1-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... have 0.""They have you 23 to 0?" The man was confused. "Ithought you said you were winning.""Oh, we are," explained the little boy. "You see, we ain't come to bat yet!" It was easy for the disciples to quit. The one in whom they had placed their hopes was dead. It was 23 to nothing in their life that Easter morning. And we are sometimes tempted to quit. Jobs don't go well. There is strife in our marriage. A doctor's diagnosis is dismal. Children do not become what we dreamed they would be. Remember -- it ...

3862. A Scream And A Laugh

Colossians 1:1-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . The word "delivered" means rescued from danger. Paul is saying that as God has rescued the Hebrew people from oppression in Egypt, so now he has rescued the new Israel from the dark principalities and powers which rule the present world order. Once exiled and without hope, these sojourners from the promise are settled in the Kingdom of Christ. We didn't read it in our lesson this morning, but verse 13 is a continued development of verse 12. In that verse Paul says that God the Father, has qualified us to ...

3863. A Christian Style Of Being And Doing

Colossians 3:18-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to our church but who hear that word and are helped. I received a letter from a Jewish woman in the community. If I mentioned her name, many of you would know it -- her word was that she makes it through the day because of that word of encouragement and hope that is offered in "Perceptions". The point I am making is this -- our witness is not ours; it is our witness of Jesus Christ. If our words, and the way we present those words, do not reflect his love and concern, then we need not be surprised when they ...

3864. The Game Is For A Team

Colossians 4:7-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... who is seeking to follow the same Lord that we claim as our guide. Let me plant a question in your mind that I hope will be your guide to relationships both within and outside the church. Will you continually ask yourself this question as you respond to other people -- " ... to get the full impact of this designation. Onesimus is one of the two primary characters in the little book of Philemon. I hope that you will read that book this week. You may have difficulty finding it in your Bible, because it's only one ...

3865. Singing The Lord's Song In A Strange Land (i)

Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . The Bible is to be read as the story of the triumph of God's Grace. If we will remember that, we won't get stuck on an issue such as a super patriotic and true-believing Jew giving into his self-pity and revengeful spirit, relishing in the hope that his enemies' babies would have their heads bashed against stones. Rather, we will read on and stay with the story until the story, and we ourselves, are baptized in the light of God's grace shining brightly in Jesus Christ. Kierkegaard used to say that most of ...

3866. The Dayspring From On High

Luke 1:5-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of the Gospel covers the last few hours before the sunrise. The night had been long and, for Israel, at times very dark. But through it all -- through times of national success and disaster, through the conquest and the monarchy, through the exile and return -- hope had persisted that the night would at last end, and as Malachi put it, "the sun of righteousness would arise with healing in his wings" (4:2). Isaiah had prophesied (40: 3-8) that before the "glory of the Lord" should "be revealed", a forerunner ...

3867. Noah: The Bearer Of An Alternative Possibility

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... we give and sacrifice our best to someone and he casts it disdainfully at our feet, after having first vilified everything we love? "I hope we understand now the pain that is expressed in this statement that God was sorry that He had been so kind as to ... winces beneath the blows of what we do, for what we matter to Him. His heart is a father's heart." (Thielicke, pp. 255-256). I hope that helps -- that it's more understandable now as to why the Bible would say that the Lord was sorry He made man. When that ...

3868. I Am Christ's

2 Corinthians 5:17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... God, dedication, and determination, there is nothing within the will of God a person can't achieve." What a challenge! What a truth! In Christ, we are related to a new source of strength. So persons like Bob Wieland can make his testimony. And Paul can say, hopefully for all of us, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." There are people seated around you today who are laying hold of that strength. --a young woman who is just finding it -- a life in Christ and a source of strength to rear ...

3869. The Nuclear Truth Of Christianity

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... He made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked." You could tell me your story -- I hope you could tell it -- and I would love to hear it. Nothing moves my soul more, nothing quickens me to new life and new ... sins and from eternal death -- He will come into our dead lives -- do away with our deadness, and quicken us to life and joy and hope and meaning. This is what Paul was saying to the Romans: Chapter 8, verses 1 and 2: "There is therefore now no condemnation for ...

3870. Singing In The Rain

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... be happy in pleasant circumstances when life is sunny and bright, and everything is moving along like a song. But to sing in a dungeon and at midnight -- when happiness is a victory and cheerfulness a miracle -- is a special gift and grace of the Christian's hope and faith in God." (John Thompson, "Singing in the Rain," Pulpit Digest, March-April, 1979, page 55.) So the Christian walk is a walk of joy. Now let me give you a banner word -- a word to memorize and remember: "Joy is the banner flying high over ...

3871. It's All God's Doing

Ezekiel 17:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Then they were shown that picture of the boy and the tank and they were asked: How could you help this child? How could you break through the silence and get him to talk again about his feelings and fears? How could you offer him faith and comfort and hope? It was suggested to the students that the best approach would be for them to try to communicate through this drawing...by adding something to the picture. One by one the seminarians came forward to try. One drew a picture of a man holding a stop sign in ...

3872. Where The Spirit Of Jesus Is

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... building, it isn't the Church. That's what this text says. The spirit of Jesus is what makes the Church. So, if the spirit of Jesus is not there, it's some other kind of organization. That's the reason we call the church the Body of Christ. I hope you stir with excitement when you think of that image the Body of Christ, the gathering of those in whom Christ has breathed his spirit. "What does it mean for us to be the Body of Christ? I can never forget how the late Bishop Kenneth W. Copeland answered this ...

3873. At Home In The Daylight

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and the mother could hear him say to the caller, "She can't come to the phone right now. She's hitting the bottle." I hope whoever the caller was knew Mrs. Adams. Otherwise you can imagine all the things that went through her mind. The story gets at our theme ... you, and sometimes come and laugh with you -- as on our way we go. There isn't much that I can do, but I can share my hopes with you, and I can share my fears with you, and sometimes shed some tears with you -- as on our way we go. There isn't much ...

3874. If Only -- In Spite Of

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... for, and things stuck with. The thorns are what we are stuck with. We cannot extract them. All of them cause pain, the real pain that is associated with loss: Loss of health; loss of faith and hope, as when we somehow feel "unblessed"; loss of joy; loss of love; and certainly loss of power." (William Sloan Coffin, _The Courage to Love_, page 24.) Some of you may not know Nash Vickers. He's a lay person from our church who, four years ago, went out as a ...

3875. The Day Is Not For Sleeping

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... need to hear what Peter said in his first Epistle: "Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you." (3:15b) How much time do you spend each week studying the Bible? Are you in a Sunday School class? Do you ... easy lie.*We are not awake spiritually when we are not willing to put forth the energy necessary to save a dying relationship. I hope you are alive enough spiritually to add to the list. The day is not for sleeping. IV. Let me close now. I've said that ...

Showing results