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 4914 results

3976. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

What are you to do if you are a Christian in a non-Christian society? More than that, what are you to do if you are a Christian in an anti-Christian society? What are you to do if you have been reared in a theological atmosphere steeped in Romans 13 with its emphasis on obedience to those in authority? What are you to do if you have been taught that your political leaders hold their mandate from God and that disobedience to these leaders is a sin against God? What are you to do if you are forced to ...

3977. Who Has Everything?

Matthew 5:5

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Some years ago the News and Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, published an article entitled, "Do You Measure Up As a Man?" The article stated that some extensive research had been conducted on the twentieth century standards for measuring a man. The eight criteria are quite interesting: his ability to make, conserve, and amass money; the cost, style, and age of his car; how much hair he has or has not; his size and strength; the job he holds and how successful he is at it; what sports he likes; how many ...

3978. No Condemnation!

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

The prophet Micah, who lived 700 years B.C., was surrounded by people who worshiped many false gods and idols. One scholar has established that the Greeks alone worshiped thirty thousand; and we know the Hindus claim thirty-three million gods. In Mesopotamia every household had its own god. Micah beheld the Canaanites who worshiped Baal and Astarte, the Moabites who worshiped Chemosh, the Philistines who worshiped Dagon, the Amorites who worshiped Moloch, the Nabateans who worshiped Dusares, and the ...

3979. Faith Opens the Door

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Faith opens the door in the human spirit that allows an individual to step from one dimension of living into a higher dimension of living. Dr. Charles Allen tells of a desperate layman who called him one morning over the phone and urgently requested him to come to his office. The businessman continued, "Would you tell me what it means to be a Christian? I have got to know." We ministers are challenged by such a request, but how do we answer the question? It all begins with faith. Faith is a personal ...

3980. Incalculable Riches by Bishop Roy C. Nichols

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Mann

In Ephesians, Chapter 3 and verse 8, Paul says, "To me, least of all the saints, is given the grace to preach the unsearchable riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ." One of our modern translations renders the text thus: "the incalculable riches." I like that better, because it expresses the vastness of the gospel, rather than its "mystery." Paul was sharing this testimony with the members of the churches of the city of Ephesus. They knew him well; for he had first preached in their midst and nurtured them ...

3981. Forgiving Is Forgetting

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Life is full of instances when people, for lack of better wording, "rub each other the wrong way." Members of families have conflicts and spats. Neighbors clash over their actions. People who have been friends for years suddenly fall out over an occurrence in which they felt "wronged" by the other. Unfortunately, many of these people walk through life carrying a grudge. Something that has happened long ago, something perhaps small and insignificant when it occurred, remains a chip on their shoulder. They ...

3982. Numbered Hairs

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

The Plague is personalized in Albert Camus’ play State of Siege. It comes into a town in the form of a man who is accompanied by his secretary. The Secretary carries a notebook in which she often makes entries. She is always smiling, but at a stroke of her pencil, a person can be struck with plague and die. Few have the courage to challenge this threatening team. But a young medical student by the name of Diego does. At one point in the play, he says to The Secretary, "But of course only masses count with ...

3983. The Waters of Your Baptism

Colossians 2:6-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

A few weeks ago I told you about a Baptist preacher in Georgia named Anonymous McBride. He got his name in a strange way. His mother was trying to honor a poet whose work she liked. When Anonymous grew up and became a Baptist preacher, he had a specialty. It had to do with baptism. Because my subject today is baptism, let me tell you the story. Anonymous was very skillful at making Methodists and Presbyterians uneasy about their baptism. He persuaded lots of them that unless they went altogether underneath ...

3984. How to do Extraordinary Things

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One of the lessons we learn from the world of sports is that victory is not always won by the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, or the most talented. Victory is won between the ears. Doing extraordinary things begins with extraordinary thinking. Did you notice the remarkable story a few months ago about Tony Brown, a high school student in Browning, Montana? Last year in a train accident, Tony lost both his legs just beneath the knees. Nevertheless, his coach and friends urged him to go out for the ...

3985. Just Common People?

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Some years ago in the Letters to the Editor in the Saturday Evening Post, I found one letter by an artist, who was describing the illustrations on the cover of the Post. The term that he used for them was pungent - "Insignificance, U.S.A." Well, most of us, I’m sure, have, in the past, found the Post covers, especially those paintings by Norman Rockwell, delightful. Yet, on the other hand, perhaps the artist had his point, because looking back, I discovered that the little, human interest scenes depicted ...

3986. Stand Up Straight

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One weekend in one of our contemporary services, we invited the worshippers in a time of prayer to say out loud what they were grateful for. There happened to be two young mothers sitting on the front row. One said, "For my healthy children." The other mother said, "For God's provision." I happened to know that that second mother has a child who has suffered recurring seizures throughout his young life. Both of these mothers offered legitimate praise to God. But somehow I feel the second mother had seen a ...

3987. Using our Special Talents

Romans 12:6-8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Cup, scissors, picture. Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on this beautiful winter morning? Winter must be a very special season for God, because He decorates His earth with snow and beautiful cloud formations in the heavens. It is wonderful how the various seasons do different things and make us feel differently. It makes me think of some good friends around my house that have special jobs. Let me show you what I mean. First of all there is my friend, Charley Cup. [Hold up cup, admiring it ...

3988. The State Of The Church

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

The day after Christmas we carefully made our way out of town on the ice. We were on our way to South Padre Island for a few days of rest and fun. It is a long drive to South Texas, and we were glad to finally arrive. When we found the leasing agent for the condo we had rented, I went inside to get the key. When I went inside the office, the woman at the desk was on the phone speaking Spanish to someone. The longer I waited, the more irritated I became. I was tired after the long drive, I wanted to get ...

3989. Blessed among Women

Luke 1:39-45, 1 Samuel 2:1-11

Sermon

Erskine White

"And Elizabeth ... exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’ " (Luke 1:42) No one knows what she looked like. European artists have made her look European. African artists have made her look African. Native American artists have drawn her in their image, as have artists from South America, the Far East and nearly every other part of the world as well. In a sense, she has become the universal woman, adapted in every generation to every race and culture ...

3990. Where Can We Find Wisdom?

Proverbs 2:1-22

Sermon

Edward Chinn

"Dad, have you cut all four of your wisdom teeth?" asked the teenager. "Yes, son," replied the father. "I have bought a used car, accepted a nomination, been chairman of the civic association, and married your mother." That man obviously thought that he had cut his "wisdom teeth" by chewing on four tough experiences. The four "third molars" have been given that name "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during late adolescence or early adulthood. Wisdom, however, does not automatically come to us with ...

3991. Christmas 1

Isaiah 9:1-7, Titus 2:1-15, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: Isaiah 9:2-7 Theme: Marks of the new reign Exegetical Note This apparent "birth announcement," though probably a coronation poem for a king, joyously anticipates a divinely appointed new reign of peace, political stability, justice and righteousness. Call to Worship Leader: We who once walked in darkness have seen a great light! People: GOD HAS INCREASED OUR JOY AND GIVEN US GREAT GLADNESS THAT MAKES US REJOICE. Leader: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. People: AND HIS NAME ...

3992. When God Is At Work

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Brett Blair

They really didn’t understand it. But, of course, they really had no means to. How could they possibly know that it was contagious only after long periods of very close contact? The only thing they knew about it was what it looked like and what it did to a person in the advanced stages. That they knew well. They understood how it maimed and disfigured. And that was enough for fear to take over. I’m talking about the disease of leprosy. In a world and a time in which the disease has all but been eradicated ...

3993. The Mystery of His Presence

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Richard Patt

"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (v. 52, TEV) In these times of world hunger, when many even within our own prosperous land find it difficult to put food on the table, we ought to be careful when complaining about our daily bread. But some of the "come-ons" that so-called quality restaurants advertise these days can irk any of us. The other evening my wife and I visited a local restaurant that had an attractive advertisement, claiming the "best of everything" in town. The meals were offered for ...

3994. Saved!

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"Then who can be saved?" (v. 26) We have a sublime vignette before us, a scene in the ministry of Jesus which reveals not only secrets about people, life and values, but the nature of salvation itself. Unhappily, we frequently fail to understand, miss the point, strain at the gnat, and swallow the camel in attempting an explanation. An Honest Soul Our young man is transparently honest. (I call him young because he sounds like a student.) Like Jesus, we love him, and his good qualities are abundant. At ...

3995. On Loneliness

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

HENRY CLOSE’S (see biographical note preceding A New Perspective) sermon On Loneliness grew out of discussions with people in alcoholic rehabilitation programs. In it he deals with the subject of loneliness, an emotion the well-known American psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan used to say was the only motivating force in people stronger than anxiety that could move them toward facing the possibility of pain and growth. People have used many different symbols or figures of speech to express their sometimes ...

3996. A Sense of Urgency

Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

In the world we appear to be in a hurry to go nowhere and be on time. In the church we sometimes appear to be going in myriad directions in slow motion and with no sense of urgency. There are some things in life that require our immediate and exigent attention, and it is important that we are on time in the things of God. God is always on time with us. There is an adage in the African American community that church folks use often. “He may not always come when we call him, but he is always on time.” In ...

3997. Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

They say, "There is no fool like an old fool." And I am afraid that is exactly what I have been. I have been so busy protecting our religion that I have been missing our God. I should explain. My name is Nicodemus. I am a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the seventy men charged with the oversight and defense of our historic and honorable faith, the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the faith of our fathers for hundreds and hundreds of years. Our task - one handed down from generation to generation since ...

3998. Beating Babel

Acts 2:1-13, Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Once upon a time, in the dim and distant past, a little Jewish child asked, "Mommy, Daddy, why do people from different countries talk funny?" And the response came from an even dimmer and more distant past - the story of the Tower of Babel that we find in the 11th chapter of Genesis. Human pride had decided it would make a name for itself and would build a city and a tower that would be a gateway to heaven; God would not allow such presumption so the speech of the workers was confused, they fell to ...

3999. The Bush Is Still Burning

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

There is an old story of a very long evening. The search committee for a new pastor had been going over resumé after resumé in hopes of finding the perfect minister. None so far. Tired of the whole process, they were about ready to call it a night when they came upon this letter of introduction from a candidate: To the Pulpit Nominating Committee: It is my understanding that you are in the process of searching for a new pastor, and I would like to apply for the position. I wish I could say that I am a ...

4000. The Ten Commandments #3: God's Name

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Exodus 20:7 "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name." Or, as the venerable King James has it, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain..." On a bulletin board outside an Episcopal church recently was this message: "You say his name often enough on the highway. Why not try saying it in church? You'll feel much better using the Lord's name in prayer. Worship this Sunday."(1) Interesting. The Reuters news ...

Showing results