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 4026 to 4050 of 4972 results

4026. Rejected at Home

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... of God on his life. He came from a really close family. He finished college and then went off to seminary. After finishing seminary he came back home before going to his first church. He visited with all of his relatives for about a week. He stopped by the church and talked to his hometown pastor. The pastor asked him if he would like to preach that upcoming Sunday. Steven felt honored and took the pastor up on the invitation. Sunday morning came and after hours, yes, even days, of preparation he stepped ...

4027. Adopted! (New)

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... to 2,000 relatives about the family tree. He even planned to write a book about how his great-grandfather left to seek his fortune in Russia and how his grandfather was expelled after the Revolution. Then, after doing all that research, Ian Lewis made a discovery that stopped him in his tracks. He discovered he had been adopted. By birth, he was not a Lewis at all. He was adopted when he was a month old and his real name was David Thornton. And so Ian Lewis, alias David Thornton, went back to square one. He ...

4028. The Problem with Signs

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... IN GOD'S LAW. We live in a lawful universe. We drop a book, and it falls to the floor. Why? The law of gravity. We drive a car off a ledge and we smash into the canyon floor below. Does a Divine hand reach out of the clouds to stop our fall? It could happen, I suppose. Anything is possible with God. But it is not likely. We live in a lawful universe. And what a magnificent universe it is. Writer Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the much-beloved Little House on the Prairie series puts it this way: "What ...

4029. Strategic Kindness

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

King Duncan

... I'm talkin' to you! You come over here, I said." But Scout just keeps on walking. She sees her father, Atticus Finch, down the sidewalk, and all three children run up to him. Plainly he has heard the exchange. In fact, Miss Dubose has not stopped screaming at Scout since she passed. He shepherds the children up to Miss Dubose's porch for a lesson in diplomacy. Atticus says, "Good Afternoon, Miss Dubose! My, you look like a picture this afternoon." From behind his back, Scout whispers to the other children ...

4030. Concerning Miracles

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... wave probably did stand still for a few seconds," she writes, "because God has given us human beings much more power over creation than we know . . . I believe faith and prayer is one of the ways to tap those energies . . . It was not God's caprice that made the wave stop for a few seconds, but rather the same God-given natural laws that caused the earthquake and tsunami in the first place. . . ." (2) Did the wave stand still? I wasn't there. I can't tell you whether it did or it didn't. But I do know there ...

4031. Making Your Days Count

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... then, and it's still a challenge for us today. Verse 33 reads, "When he was in the house, he asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the road?' But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest." Let's stop here and imagine what Jesus was thinking. He knew what his disciples were arguing about. And he knew how shallow and pointless their ambitions appeared when compared to the life-changing mission God had in store for them. But because they weren't thinking with the mind ...

4032. If Only... Next Time

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... grin, Said he couldn't get out but wouldn't give in. "I'll swim around 'til my strength is spent. But for having tried, I'll die content." Bravely he swam, until it would seem His struggles began to churn the cream. On top of the butter he finally stopped. And out of the bowl he happily hopped. So what's the moral. It's easily found. If you can't get out, just keep swimming around! I hope you get the picture: the contrast between an "if only" and a "next time" approach to life. No matter what happens ...

4033. From Hurting to Helping

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... Maybe the voice said to him, "if you don’t get up and get help now, you’ll never have the opportunity again. And so he cried, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Fortunately, over the din of the crowd, Jesus heard Batimaeus’ cry. He stopped and said to his disciples, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, Batimaeus jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. What a beautiful word-picture: "Throwing his cloak aside, Batimaeus ...

4034. Fit for God

Psalm 24:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... it is absolutely true. How else can we expect the truth from them? The truth will set us free. We need to raise our standards as a society. We need to clean house in Washington when we feel politicians are misrepresenting the truth. We need to stop doing business with people who do not have a high standard of integrity. We need to choose friends who can be trusted with our confidences. In other words, we need to take the psalmist seriously. Clean hands and pure hearts do matter. Trust is the foundation ...

4035. And the Word Is...Love

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... the race and kept his vows. He cared for his wife until the end." (5) The word is love. Can you love like that husband loved? Can I? God does, but can we? We begin with those closest to us. But love, if it is Christ-like love, does not stop at home. It’s somewhat easy to love the people at home. But how about the server in a restaurant? How about the clerk in the convenience store, especially the one who can barely speak English? How about the person talking on her cell phone who cuts you off on ...

4036. The Perfect Man

Hebrews 10:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... way they were because he loved them. Jesus always made them better. Listen again to these important words, "he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Christ is at work in us making us holy. Christ accepted us just as we were. But Christ does not stop there. Christ makes us better. Writer Max Lucado says that, at one time in his life he was a closet slob. He just couldn’t comprehend the logic of neatness. Why make up a bed if you’re going to sleep in it again tonight? Why put the lid ...

4037. Preparing for Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... her father was irritated. "Mallory, hurry!" he prodded. So she did. She hurried. But not as her father intended. Instead, she began running in circles faster and faster and chanting "Dee Dah Day" more rapidly. "No Mallory that is not what I mean!" said her father. "Stop with the dee dah day stuff and get over here so I can dry you off. Hurry!" Then Mallory asked her father a profound question: "Why?" Why did she have to hurry? John Ortberg suddenly realized he had no answer. He had nowhere to go, nothing ...

4038. Christmas and the New Family

John 1:1-18

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... any middle ground. If we do not choose to follow God, we have only one alternative. We may call that alternative by a number of less offensive names; but in the final measure, if we reject God, we become the children of destruction. When you stop to think of the condition of our world, that isn't too hard to believe. The daily headlines demonstrate how given we are to destruction. War, hate, prejudice, pornography, hunger, poverty: these words are the language of destruction, and they seem to dominate our ...

4039. Epiphany:The Joy of Fulfillment

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (v. 21). At first the people responded warmly to "the gracious words." But they soon began to be troubled by the fact that he was one of them. They knew Joseph and Mary, had seen the boy grow up, and stopped often to visit with him in the carpenter shop. And when Jesus pressed the issue with them, nothing that a prophet is not honored by his own people, their questions grew into resentment and, at last, into open violence. But Jesus' ministry went on, and grew ...

4040. At the Corner of Church and Main

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... not entertain junctures with ordinary residential streets or country roads. These must go above or below. And if the highway is a turnpike, then still fewer roads are given intersections with it. In our world, highways are not interrupted with stop signs, runways do not cross driveways, and turnpikes do not intersect with parking lots. Such planning would be foolish and unreasonable. Likewise, by all rights, the intersection that took place in Bethlehem was an utterly unreasonable one. That the immortal ...

4041. A Celebration of Love

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik," I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to shield Erik, but Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby’s "pick-me-up" position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man’s. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby met in a beautiful relationship. Erik, in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder. The man ...

4042. The Waster

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... someone's who's been a royal jerk. "Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me," said the younger son before he left. I don't know whether you noticed, but he was asking his dad to execute the will before the old man stopped breathing. In effect, the younger son was saying, "Drop dead, Dad." So tell the truth. Had you been in the older brother's shoes, working double shifts while your younger brother lived it up, would you have gone in to the party? A tongue-lashing, yes. Some clearly ...

4043. Costly Extravagance

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... 't think it's about frugality or money at all. Not centrally, even though it seems to be. This story is mainly about gratitude and recognizing what Jesus has done in our lives. And whether you're rich or whether you're poor, there is a common call to stop, slow down, and give thanks. There will be time to serve the poor. As Jesus says, they are always with us. Never has that call been more pressing or obvious for the world's Christians. Our honoring of Jesus may not involve money or perfume at all. But the ...

4044. The Light Has Come

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... illumining the darkness, Jesus Christ brings us light. Can that be said of you, that Christ brings you light? Certainly we all have our dark times, don't we? When the dailiness of life has got us down, and we just slog along in the same routine, and when we stop to think about it, there seems to be no point to it all. Then the future seems very dark, a tunnel with no light at the end. Or darkness surrounds us when the anguish of a broken relationship crowds in on us, when hurts and fears and wounded pride ...

4045. We Must Obey God

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... apostles from being killed. They do not escape punishment entirely, however. They are beaten and then released, only to go on preaching and teaching (vv. 33-42). "We must obey God rather than men," the apostles have said (v. 29), and so nothing can stop their witnessing for the Lord. The passage affords many pertinent thoughts for us. First of all, it is quite clear that religious bureaucrats may be wrong. The church receives lots of directions from the "higher ups" in its structure these days, and those ...

4046. Escape from the Island of Spiritual Sloth

Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

... the Son'; and on the third, 'in the name of the Holy Spirit.' Then look up into the mirror and remember that you are a child of God, full of grace and beauty." It was a practice that the girl took into adulthood.3 Martin Luther once said, "You cannot stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair." Death will come to us all. In fifty years or so, less for some and more for others, it will seem like we've been vacuumed from the premises without a ...

4047. Compassion Fatigue

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the more aware we become of the needs of love. The closer we walk with the Lord, the more our eyes are opened and the more we see the loneliness, the pain, the quiet desperation of people around us – reaching out – hoping that someone will see, and hear, and stop, and listen, and touch. The closer we walk with the Lord, the more tender our hearts become and we cry within when human needs go unmet. So it’s tough, so very tough for the sincere Christian to recognize that there is a limit to what we can ...

4048. On the Road Again

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... folks may not like me saying that. But punctuating most of the heartbreak stories of lost love and shattered dreams is the notion, “gue sera, sera” -- “whatever will be will be.” For instance one song I heard kept repeating the line, “There ain’t no stopping love when it’s meant to be” – pure predestination and poor theology I would judge. But some of the theology of country music is good. Listen to these lines: “We need to hold who needs holding; mend what needs mending; walk even if it ...

4049. A Church for the 21st Century: Holy, Charismatic, Apostolic - An Enclave of Resistance

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . The picture comes from our work with World Evangelism of the World Methodist Council. The first scene: every morning, early, his wife makes coffee, pours it into pots to keep it hot, and her husband, a Methodist minister in Macedonia, heads to a truck rest stop. The second scene: time after time, a man has climbed into his truck, driving it from Bulgaria to Albania. The same road again, wrestling with the wheel, keeping the vehicle on the road. His eyes are burning and tired. He needs sleep. He pulls into ...

4050. Power For Christian Living: Am I On My Own?

Romans 3:3-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... edge of despair: Where is the victory in Jesus others talk so glowingly about? We have concentrated on victory to the detriment of obedience. How many times have we heard, “Just give your sins to Jesus?” Or “Let go and let God?” Or “Stop trying and start trusting?” There is a kernel of truth in all these slogans. What we do, our discipline, our “works,” have no merit for our salvation. In our “old life” of sin -- having struggled with temptation and destructive patterns of behavior and ...

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