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 3976 to 4000 of 4946 results

3976. A Man Of Character And Generosity

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

King Duncan

When business guru Guy Kawasaki and his wife had their first child, they were determined to be politically and environmentally correct. They were going to use cotton diapers and wash them themselves. Two weeks went by. Doing your own cotton diapers, they discovered, doesn't cut it. They didn't want to wash the diapers with their stuff so they found that either their house stank or they felt guilty for doing lots of small loads. So they went to a cotton diaper service. They discovered this doesn't work well ...

3977. Living The Kingdom Life

1 Kings 3:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale tells about walking by a tattoo parlor along one of Hong Kong's narrow streets. In the shop window there was a display of decorations that could be imprinted on your skin--flags, slogans, anchors, daggers, skulls, cross-bones, and mermaids--but the one which caught Dr. Peale's eye was the phrase: "Born to Lose." This made him curious, and he went into the shop. Luckily, the proprietor spoke a little English, and so Dr. Peale asked him if people really did have that message ...

3978. Free At Last!

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

King Duncan

The plot of a recent Tom Hanks' movie, The Terminal, sounds so outrageous that it is hard to believe that it is based on a true story. In 1986, an Iranian man named Merhan Karimi Nasseri flew to Paris, France, without his immigration card or other proper paperwork. He never should have been allowed to board the plane without the paperwork, but somehow it was overlooked. Without his papers, the French authorities could not let him into the country, but they could not deport him either. So they forced him to ...

3979. Transforming Tragedy into Triumph

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

In a certain city in Romania is a burying ground called the "Mary Cemetery." The crosses that serve as tombstones are ornamented with carvings, paintings in bright colors and even amusing epitaphs. They express, of course, the Christian''s belief in the resurrected life. The Communist government, which wrote the travel folders describing this cemetery and its unique tombstones, until recently described the Christian hope expressed on the tombstones as merely "the expression of a certain philosophy ...

3980. ONE SHRED OF SOUL

Drama

Angela Akers

SUBJECT: Surrender, confession, prayer CHARACTERS: Don, custodian SETTING: Church PROPS: Four folding chairs set up to represent rows of pews Don: "Well, I''m here." Custodian: "So you are." Don: (startled) "Man! I didn''t know anyone was here." Custodian: "Sorry. Do you need to see someone? I can get the pastor for you." Don: "The pastor? No, no, that''s okay. I was just looking around." Custodian: "Well, if you need anything, my office is over there. Nice to have you here." Don ...

3981. Childish or Child-like?

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

“And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me...’” (Mark 9:36) I feel sorry for the poor kid who happened to be there the day Jesus decided to use him as an “object lesson.” No child likes being used in this way. Some of us can remember being stood up before a group of adults and having our parents ask us to recite something we’d just learned in school. Or being made to sit down at the piano and ...

3982. Looks Like We're in for Stormy Weather

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Eric Ritz

There is a story in the Bible that, for some of you, happened yesterday, and for others will take place tomorrow; for a few it may be lived out today. It is the story of a boat ride across a beautiful lake. As Mark, the Gospel writer, tells it, it was on the lake of Galilee toward the end of the day. It was late afternoon and the scene was very soothing and pastoral as they cruised across the lake. The followers of Jesus were full of friendly chatter on the events of the day that Jesus had already done. ...

3983. The Power of a God-Shaped Attitude

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Eric Ritz

I have a potential gift for you this morning. There are two marvelous readings shared from the sacred scriptures, and the truth they both profess is the POWER OF A GOD-SHAPED ATTITUDE! Do you remember the lyrics we learned as children which went like this: "Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been? I''ve been to London to see the queen. Pussycat, Pussycat, what saw you there? I saw a wee mouse under her chair." Now London is a splendid and enchanting place to visit. Imagine a city which includes places like ...

3984. Great Feast or Sad Fast

Luke 14:1-14, Luke 14:15-24

Sermon

Eric Ritz

As we open God''s word from Luke 14, we find that a grand invitation has been extended by a king to invite persons to a delicious and festive banquet. Our God is a God who invites. One of the things that we notice about this parable is that it instructs us in what gets us into the kingdom and what keeps us out. The kingdom of God or the reign of God is often compared to a grand feast rather than a sad supper. As we open our scripture lesson, we see that Jesus is having dinner at the home of a distinguished ...

3985. Is Anything Unforgivable?

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

David G. Rogne

One morning I was roused from sleep around 3 a.m. by the ringing of the telephone. The person on the other end of the line was distraught because, she said, she had committed the unforgivable sin. It is interesting to me that such calls often occur at such an hour, after the bars have closed. The woman went on to say that at some point in her life she had really been angry about something, and had said, "Damn the Holy Spirit." Now she was remorseful, but she knew that Jesus had said that blasphemy against ...

3986. Follow the Signs to God and Eternal Life

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Richard Gribble

"Red, right, returning." "Even red nuns have odd black cans." To the mariner entering harbor from sea these expressions keep ships, their occupants, and cargo "out of harm's way." Remember the expressions and follow the signs and you will navigate safely home. Navigation, the art or science of moving precisely from one location to a second, has been practiced by humans since the dawn of civilization. With increasing sophistication men and women travelers have used various navigational aids, all of which ...

3987. What Really Matters The Price Of The High Calling

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

The price of a vital faith, and there is a price, the price of a vital faith is continuous struggle. The quest is perennial. We were created God to grow. We were recreated by Christ to grow spiritually. So Paul sets out in this word about pressing toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The pattern is clear. So let me lay it out in the fashion of that old black preacher who said of his preaching, first, I tell them what I’m going to tell them. Then I tell them. And then I ...

3988. In The Beginning And The End...God

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"A fire mist and a planet –a crystal and a cell a jellyfish and a saurian,and caves where the cave men dwell; Then a sense of law and beauty and a face turned from the clod Some call it Evolution,And others call it God. A haze on the far horizon,The infinite tender sky.The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields, and the wild geese sailing high;. And all over upland and lowland, the charm of the goldenrod,Some call it Autumn,And others call it God. Like tides on a crescent sea beach When the moon is new and thin ...

3989. When Being Good Is Bad For You Or Breaking The Chains Of Co-dependency

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"Have you been writing any personal experience articles lately?", the woman asked the writer. "No," replied the writer. "I've been busy having them." (Ruth Peterman, quoted by Melody Beattie, Beyond Co-Dependency and Getting Better All The Time, Harper & Rowe Publishers, p. xi) Most of us have been having the personal experience I'm talking about today. We may not talk about it a lot, and we certainly may not write about it -- but it's a common experience. I'm talking about co-dependency. Let me begin by ...

3990. The Heart -- Our Mirror

Proverbs 25:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Peter Ustinov is one of the great actors of our day. I don't know much about him, but I was impressed by an interview of some years ago during the filming of the movie, "Death on the Nile". He was talking about the images actors have to live with. An image is an awful thing, he said. An actor says, "I'm going to do this or that." And someone will say, "What about your image?" Ustinov said, "I don't know what my image is, I don't want to know." And then he continued, "It is a sad state when the man looking ...

3991. Faith for Troubling Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

Two-year-old son Jack leans on his father’s knee. His rumpled baseball jersey bears a fresh spaghetti sauce stain from that night’s dinner. "Daddy, tell me a bunny story." Rob tears his gaze away from the computer screen. "What was that, son?" asks Rob. "Tell me a bunny story," says Jack. "One with a truck in it." Rob sighs as his glance swings back to the screen. His paper is due in two days. His professor tries to be sympathetic, but there are only so many times she’ll let her students stretch a deadline ...

3992. Saints in Shorts

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Seven years ago, our family moved from southern Virginia to northeast Wisconsin. As you might expect, spring comes later here. Fall comes earlier. And winter is a much different experience in northeast Wisconsin than it was in southern Virginia. The same temperatures that seemed bone-chilling in Virginia are good reason to leave the mufflers and mittens at home in Wisconsin. Of course, many of the retired folks in my congregation here take their cue from the geese and fly south for the winter each year. ...

3993. Timing

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

All of us know that there are proper times to do and say certain things. For example, if we are gardeners, we know that peas and lettuce should be planted in the early spring. If we are attending a funeral, we are aware of the fact that it is no time to laugh. If a family member is unreasonably angry with us and thinks we don't care for him at all, it may be the time to put our arms around him and assure him of our love. Words and actions have their proper times, and that is part of the Wisdom teaching ...

3994. Living by a Promise

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

The preacher who confronts the three stated texts for this Sunday once again faces the confusing situation of wondering how on earth the three lessons are related. Perhaps several answers are possible, but to my mind, all three of them have to do with living by a promise. In the context of our Genesis text, Abraham and Sarah and their households have obeyed the command of God and left Ur of the Chaldees (v. 7; cf. 11:31), settled temporarily at Haran in Mesopotamia, and then journeyed on to Canaan, the ...

3995. Peter's Vision

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

This story about Peter's mission to the Gentiles continues the account that began in 10:1, and it repeats in greater detail the content of Peter's vision that was already mentioned in 10:9-16. It is a remarkable story, because it treats rather lightly a dispute that was widespread in the New Testament church, the dispute over conditions to be laid upon Gentile converts to the faith. The apostles and disciples of Jesus, who were the earliest Christians, were originally Jews, and some of them, at least, ...

3996. Get Rid of the Junk

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

Nome, Alaska, on the edge of the Bering Sea, is like many villages of the Arctic. The ground on which the community sits is frozen tundra. Burying the dead is a real challenge. Sanitation landfills are unheard of. Garbage trucks do not haul off the kind of refuse we leave curbside in the “lower 48.” Instead, a typical front yard displays broken washing machines, junked cars, old toilets, scrap wood, and piles of non-degradable refuse. Tourists who visit Nome in the summer are amazed at the debris and shake ...

3997. We Who Are Many Are One Body

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Though it was written four decades ago, most of us remember Alex Haley’s novel Roots. That book and the TV miniseries produced from it was read and seen by millions and millions of people on every continent of the world. It was a moving presentation of a two-century epic of Kunta Kinte and the six generations who came after him. You may recall that Kunta Kinte was the great-great-great-great-great- grandfather of Alex Haley, the author. One of the most significant episodes captured in the television drama ...

3998. Dealing With Your Enemies

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

King Duncan

How do you treat your enemies? This is an ancient question, and it is a question that is still relevant to our world today. A little girl came home from Sunday School and asked her father if she could send a note to Osama Bin Laden. “Why him?” asked her startled father. “Because,” said the little girl, “if Mr. Bin Laden got a nice note from a little American girl, maybe he’d think that we’re not all bad and he might start liking us a little. And then maybe he’d write a note back and come out of his cave ...

3999. Abraham and God's Promise

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Mickey Anders tells a hilarious story about a man who took his film to a one-hour photo developing service in downtown Chicago. He left his film and returned in an hour to discover that the place was no longer a one-hour photo shop. Now it was a one-hour dry cleaners. The confused man hesitantly entered the store, met the same clerk, and asked about his film. The gentleman behind the counter said, “Was that a suit or just shirts?” The man replied, “It was 35-millimeter film.” The clerk asked, “Was it ...

4000. The Baptism Of Jesus

Luke 3:1-20

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

Call To Worship Baptism is the rite of passage into the family of God. We are baptized not only with water, but with the Holy Spirit. In this time of worship, let us strive to understand the full meaning of Baptism, as we mark the Baptism of Jesus. Collect Lord, we know that when Jesus began his ministry he was baptized with water by John the Baptist, and with the Holy Spirit as you declared he was your Son. This morning as we reflect on this event, help us to understand more fully the meaning and ...

Showing results