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 4972 results

3976. Return to Jerusalem

Acts 20:7-12

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... ; or he felt so strong an attachment for the people there that he would have been persuaded to stay on much longer than he wished. Appointment of elders had been Paul’s custom throughout his journeys. He usually waited until he was ready to leave a congregation before making the appointment, probably so he could choose the most useful and faithful people. Elders were not ordained in the sense that we might think of ordination today, but they bore a serious responsibility. They were the leaders of the ...

3977. Paul in Chains

Acts 21:27-36

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... "heard the voice but saw no one." Considering the tension of the moment, the slip may have been Paul’s own. The second new fact in the speech was Paul’s revelation of a trance he had experienced in the temple, when the Lord ordered him to leave Jerusalem quickly and preach to the Gentiles because the Jews would never accept his testimony. This is an echo of statements Jesus made to the Jews, when he warned them that because they had hardened their hearts and rejected the Son of Man, the "Gentiles would ...

3978. Rome at Last

Acts 28:11-16

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... scenarios are mere supposition, based on tradition and on some obscure early Christian writings. To stick to the facts, we can only say that after Paul’s two years of teaching openly and unhindered at Jerusalem the final curtain descends and the drama ends, leaving any further developments to our imagination. The truth of the matter is that this story could never have a logical, clear and totally satisfying ending. It is the account of "some acts" of "some apostles." It gives us a newsman’s picture of ...

Man has faith in him when, in the midst of the suffering of history, he recalls God’s yet unfulfilled promises and awaits his faithfulness. Man is obedient to him when he leaves the "safe fortress" of his social systems and, on the horizon of God’s future, devotes himself to the transformation of the world, thereby entering into history.

Jurgen Moltmann

3980. Shirking Responsibility

Illustration

L. Robert Keck

... us thinking that we are being most obedient to God when we think lowly of that which God has created, namely, the human being. I don’t think that pays God any compliments! Harvey Cox, the Harvard theologian, has reflected on the subject in his book, On Not Leaving It to the Snake. Cox suggests that the major sin of humankind is not pride; it is not trying to become more than we were created for, but sloth, the unwillingness to face up to all that we are capable of. Cox suggests that the greatest sin in ...

3981. Purpose

Illustration

Staff

A kindergarten class was asked to bring their birth certificate. Leaving his at home, a little boy told the teacher: "I forgot my excuse for being born."

3982. The Deeper Magic

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Brett Blair

... sacrificed in place of Edmund. The witch is delighted to be rid of Aslan once for all. He is bound, humiliated before the Witches entourage, and killed. It appears to the children that wickedness has won the day and that all is lost. As the children tearfully leave the scene it is dawn. They hear a great cracking, a deafening noise. They rush back and find the great table split in two and Aslan gone. Suddenly he appears before them and as they shake in fear he explains to them “that though the witch knew ...

3983. This God’s For Real!

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

... don’t reprimand. They don’t assault the conscience. Non-living gods can be ignored at seemingly no peril. They can be put away at will (should having a high-profile god go out of vogue) or brought back when appropriate. More appealing still, a lifeless god leaves room for us at center stage. Such gods do not make jealous demands upon our sovereignty nor force us to take bit parts when living out life’s drama. This is not a new state of affairs. It didn’t take the coming of technology for humanity ...

3984. It Isn’t Fair!

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

... Rather, it arrived with grace abounding, grace in all its radicality - an uncompromising, earnest, sweeping, earthshaking and tomb-rending embrace, given in spite of earth’s deserving. That’s the pattern we are called to imitate. We’re beyond payoffs, rewards, incentives, bonuses. Leave subtle bribery of that sort to those who haven’t met the Master yet, or who don’t like his style. We have the promises - the gifts, the Spirit, and the Kingdom. Who cares what the owner of the vineyard wants to pay ...

3985. Welcome to the Training Table!

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

... the regimen he has in mind for us reshapes us for effective service. At a training table, teammates don’t eat just anything they please. Nor do they eat there without thought of doing service for the leader of the team when they get up to leave each time. God calls all sorts of people to his training table, but he wants an elite corps. That’s what those who stick with him become. Every person at God’s training table has some special reason to be there. Each has potential for becoming extraordinary ...

3986. Let’s Face It

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... from the promises of Scripture and of Christ’s victory for us, we still feel angry about death and dying. Death destroys relationships. It tears our loved ones from us. It interrupts what we have come to know and love. It cuts our time short. It leaves things unfinished. It plunges us into the unknown. It faces us with our own mortality and shows us, once and for all, how small and powerless we are. B. Death Is Our Friend But, paradoxically, death our enemy is also death our friend. St. Francis said ...

3987. Surprise! Surprise!

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... party. Now, I realize some of you may not be quite ready to accept some of these folks. In fact, I’ve circulated among all of you all night. I’ve heard the things you’ve said, and if you can’t identify with these newcomers, please feel free to leave. I won’t make you uncomfortable by making you sit down with them. But if you want to get to know them better and to learn some ways to become better friends with them and help them after they go home tonight, then you can stay for dinner. You decide ...

3988. God's Best Gift In The Worst Times (Sermon Series No. 2)

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... problems. If you have lost a loved-one in the last year, insecurity could be part of your grief. Or the continuing threat of terror and war. James Moore, pastor at the Houston Texas St Luke’s UMC, tells a story about a young man whose wife had died, leaving him with a small son. Back home from the cemetery, they went to bed early because there was nothing else he could bear to do. As he lay there in the darkness--grief-stricken and heartbroken, the little boy broke the stillness from his little bed with a ...

3989. Midnight Turned Into High Noon

Isaiah 42:10-17, Isaiah 42:18-25

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... opposite thesis, pointing out that the light of nature needs to be supplemented by the light of a revelation from God. Mutual friends of the philosopher and preacher decided to bring the two together to debate the matter. When the evening ended, Hume rose to leave. Robertson took a light to show him the way, but Hume protested, saying, "Don’t worry about me. I always find the light of nature sufficient." But when he opened the door, he stumbled over something on the steps and fell headlong into the street ...

3990. No Longer Spectators - But Participants!

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... We must never limit this grand truth to one Sunday in the year. Every Sunday is the Lord’s Day and every Lord’s Day is an anniversary of the Resurrection. When we only observe this event, when we take the place of spectators, it leaves us often with nothing to say. Kurt Vonnegut, contemporary novelist, tells of a meeting which occurred between two novelists, Nelson Algren and Jose’ Donoso. Vonnegut introduced them as they were coming up a stairway and, in the process, told Algren that Donoso was from ...

3991. Are There Two Baptisms?

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... . "You see, God makes us all up in heaven and then sends us down to earth, but before we can come down to earth, we have to pass inspection. So God lines us all up in a row and goes down the line, and when we are all ready to leave for earth, he pokes each one of us in the tummy and says, ‘You’re done, you’re done, you’re done!’ " Now any mother will tell you, it really doesn’t happen that way, but still the child passed out his misunderstanding as truth. Times without number I’ve ...

3992. The Triune God

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... else believe me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14:8-11) (RSV) Many people, like the blind men with the elephant, claim to know God, but in reality they do not know the real God apart from Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus was the only one to leave heaven, come to this world, and reveal to us the true God. The God he has revealed is vastly different from the 2,000 gods worshiped by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or Vishna and the supposedly 330 million other gods of the Hindus, or the godlike spirits ...

3993. Laborers Needed for the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... not been excited and supportive of missions or prayed to "the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Of course, there remains much unfinished work for us because the world population numbers well over four billion, leaving over three billion in spiritual darkness yet awaiting the message of Jesus Christ and his salvation. This seems like a great number to evangelize, but compared to the challenge that faced the original twelve disciples, the odds are considerably more favorable ...

3994. Echoes of Eternity

Matthew 10:24-32

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... came down." (Nicene Creed) Heaven emptied itself of its costliest treasure in order that it might ransom the souls of people that they might have eternal fellowship with God. You and I will never, in this life, fully fathom the price paid for our redemption: God leaving his throne, God in a manger, God suffering, God on a cross, God shedding his blood, the price of a soul! We now must come to the inevitable question, "What does the great value of a soul demand of us?" What obligation would you feel if ...

3995. Power to the Faint

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... hour, and finally he ended up in front of Cowper’s hotel. So Cowper got out, went upstairs, and was pacing back and forth in his room when his eyes fell on a Bible. He opened it and read of the love of God, who said that he would never leave us nor forsake us; who said that he would wash away our sins; who said that he would work all things together for our good. William Cowper right there acknowledged Christ as his Savior, trusted in him as his Lord, and later wrote the words: "God moves in a mysterious ...

3996. Listening or Hearing?

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... beforehand, but the citizens simply did not believe the warning. They listened, but they did not hear! When the American planes came and dropped their bombs, hundreds of Sicilians were killed; in fact, in some cold, dead hands were found the very pages urging them to leave the city. Listening without hearing is also what Jesus refers to in the Parable of the Soils which was spoken at a high point in his career - when people were flocking to him in great numbers. It was spoken from a boat, where the crowds ...

3997. The Sin of Judging

Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... not always as they appear. Not only are we so often lacking in data and background information for what we see in others; we actually do not always understand what we see them doing. A pastor, in a teetotaling denomination in a small Illinois town, was seen leaving a tavern at 12:45 a.m. "He was with another man, and both were drunk," swore the informant. When confronted with the accusation, the minister readily admitted that he had left the tavern with another man at that late hour, but it was not like it ...

3998. The Stiller of Storms

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... a sure word of peace to the tempest-tossed soul. Whether it be Nicodemus, troubled with important questions, or a dying thief haunted by his past sins, or the Apostle Peter strangely torn by strength and weakness, Jesus stands near at hand to whisper, "Peace I leave with you ..." (John 14:27) In our text (Matthew 14) we learn of three different kinds of storms stilled by Jesus. Those storms continue to rage in human hearts, but Jesus is able to speak the word that calms and brings peace. I. The Storm in ...

3999. When You Follow A Star and Find A Stable

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... , I ask you: have you followed a star only to come in the end to a stable? If you have, then, look for God there. You may be surprised at what you find. Then, offer your best gift to God. He will use it in his Kingdom. And when you leave, go home by another way. Don’t do what the Herods in this world ask you to do. These are the secrets of wise men of every age when they follow a star and find a stable.

4000. What’s God Going to Do With You?

Hosea 5:1-15, Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... time ago. Since its name was Bobbie, the statue has become known as Greyfriars Bobbie. While Bobbie’s master lived, nobody noticed the dog, but when the master was buried in Greyfriars’ churchyard, people noticed him and offered the dog a home if only he would leave his master’s grave. Days and weeks and months passed, but Bobbie stayed by his master’s grave up to the day of his death. Can our love match the faithfulness of this dog’s love? If we would return to God, our old, traditional values ...

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Showing 3976 to 4000 of 4972 results

3976. Return to Jerusalem

Acts 20:7-12

Sermon Aid

CSS

3977. Paul in Chains

Acts 21:27-36

Sermon Aid

CSS

3978. Rome at Last

Acts 28:11-16

Sermon Aid

CSS

Jurgen Moltmann

3980. Shirking Responsibility

Illustration

L. Robert Keck

3981. Purpose

Illustration

Staff

A kindergarten class was asked to bring their birth certificate. Leaving his at home, a little boy told the teacher: "I forgot my excuse for being born."

3982. The Deeper Magic

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Brett Blair

3983. This God’s For Real!

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

3984. It Isn’t Fair!

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

3985. Welcome to the Training Table!

Matthew 22:1-14