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 4051 to 4075 of 4977 results

4051. Jesus’ 10 Commandments

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... demoniac. The spew from one of our most destructive demons is even now washing up in greasy globs all along the coastlines in the Gulf of Mexico. We are possessed by a life style lubricated by more and more oil. We will do anything to keep the grease coming. We are possessed by a greed that puts profits before protecting people and the planet. We are possessed by an insatiable desire for “more stuff” — and the cost of that “stuff” is increasingly deadly. When Jesus banished the evil spirits from ...

4052. We Believe in Life Everlasting

John 11:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... lindo." Thank you God for this beautiful day. Every day is a beautiful day when you are fully alive. B. Life is a gift: Share it A young man came running to Jesus one day. He wanted to know, “What can I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus replied, “Keep the commandments and you will live." “But teacher," the young man declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked deep into his eyes and loving him said, “There is one thing left. Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor ...

4053. How Can This Be?

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... can hardly imagine. Children write by the scores “We love you, Dr. Olds, please get well." People from my past write me long letters recounting some wedding, some retreat, or some sermon where their lives were significantly touched by God. You, like the Energizer bunny, keep giving and giving and giving. Sometimes when I finish my daily ritual of reading cards and notes from all of you, I ask myself the question: Why do people have to nearly die in order to be affirmed and appreciated? Why do so few have ...

4054. What Would Jesus Say About Me?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . And you know the way where I am going." Like Thomas, we may need it explained over and over. The Lord will be patient with us. Like Phillip we may need to be shown again and again. Just keep coming back until assurance arrives. Hang in there until you can say with W.I. Thompson: Lead me gently home, Father Lead me gently home. Keep my feet from wandering Lest from thee I roam. Lest I fall upon the wayside Lead me gently home. So we start a new year at the table of our Lord. By God's grace let us ...

4055. What Would Jesus Say About the Marginalized?

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... helped anybody has been hurt. We set ourselves up for failure when we exercise too much control by wanting to run the show. Give and let go. Neither the blessed and the unblessed could remember when . I love that idea. Work for the Lord. Forget about the reward. Keeping score keeps us from doing more. We are set free to serve. For 25 years now I have carried a prayer with me, this is what it says: Servants Prayer Lord give us eyes clear enough to see the hurt of the world Ears perceptive enough to hear your ...

4056. The Kingdom for Which We Long

Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , in the County of Williamson, at Sandy Olds’ domain. A kingdom is also a sovereignty, an authority, a reign, a rule. I used to keep a little plaque on my home desk which said: “If you are looking for someone with a little authority, I have as little as ... given to me a very long time ago by my mother. “The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God will not keep you.” You can build your life on that principle. I believe it with all my heart. As I went back this week to that tiny country ...

4057. Using the Best Materials

Galatians 5:16-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of Richard Nixon. People often asked the one-time politician now turned pastor, “How could such a bright, young, good, well-educated American have gone so badly wrong?” Jeb would reply, “We simply lost our moral compass.” Self-control does that for us. It keeps us morally tethered to the right when we are greatly tempted to do the wrong. People capable of great good are also capable of great harm. Oskar Schindler was the German businessman who daily risked his life to save 1200 Polish Jews from the ...

4058. Let the Living Begin

John 10:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. May God have mercy on us. Chris Evert, who won 146 tennis championships, said in an interview, “We get into a rut. We play tennis. We go to a movie. We watch TV. But, I keep saying, ‘John, there has to be more.”’ We are prone to wander. The U2 rock band has a hit song entitled, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The lyrics go something like this: I have climbed the highest mountains, I have run through the fields ...

4059. Can the Rich Be Saved?

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , also. Who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? Not only is he rich, but he is young. Oh, to be young again. We were keeping our grandson a couple of weeks ago when out of the blue Caleb said, “Poppy, you are getting really, really, really, really old.” He could ... with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.” What can God do for us? He can get us out of denial. He can keep us sensitive to the hurts and pain of humanity. One of the problems we have is isolation. We get so far removed from the hurt ...

4060. Repent

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (verse 7). Here John goes for full discourse. You who are the most religious, you who are in your pews every Sunday ... five minutes? What have we done and left undone that is hurting someone else? What are we doing or failing to do that keeps us from fulfilling our God-given potential? What habits are hurting us and others that we need by God’s grace to break ...

4061. The Greatest Story Ever Told

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... stops considering this son the beloved one. But the father cannot compel his son to stay home. He cannot force his love on his beloved. He has to let him go into freedom even though he knows the pain it will cause them both. It is love, itself, that keeps him from keeping his son at home at all cost. It is love, itself, that allows him to let his son find his own life, even with the risk of losing it.” God has endowed us with this wonderful and marvelous risky thing called free will. He gave it to us with ...

4062. News Too Good To Tell

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... mistakes in trying to institutionalize an inspiration. People experience a revelation from God and pretty soon we have a whole denomination of people springing into existence. We love the spectacular. We put it on television and make the recipients stars in order to keep followers in a constant state of adrenalin arousal. All the while Jesus is saying, “Be still and know that I am God.” Discipleship is not lived out on the mountaintop, but in the valley. In the scriptures there is an epileptic boy with ...

4063. What is the Future of Marriage?

Mark 12:18-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . When Sarah couldn’t have children, she insisted that Abraham sleep with her handmaiden, Hagar, whom she later hated. Jacob loved Rachel, but he had to marry Leah first because she was the oldest of Laban’s daughters. King David had several wives, but that did not keep him from having an affair with a married woman by the name of Bathsheba. King Solomon had a harem of about 1,000 wives and concubines and managed to live an elaborate lifestyle beyond the means of the people of Israel. But in all of this ...

4064. The Dynamics of Being a Dad

Ephesians 6:1-4, Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... single part of the armor is designed to cover your back side. Think about that. So let there be no turning and running. Hang in there. Face the enemy. We can Stick Together! When the storms of life are raging we can help each other. Never fight a war alone. Keep in the company of those you trust. We can Pray! Verse 18 says, Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always ...

4065. Making Sure Our Robes Are Washed

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the Shepherd over there. He will lead them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Never again will they be hungry. The sun will not smite them by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep them from all harm. Keep hope alive. Admiral Jim Stockdale was the highest ranking U.S. military officer in the Hanoi Hilton POW camp. Tortured over twenty times during his eight year imprisonment, Stockdale said the key to survival was hope. “I never lost faith in the end of ...

4066. The Power of a Single Life

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... you open wide your hearts today? Open-hearted people know how to love and be loved. C.S. Lewis wrote, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.” If you want to make sure of keeping your heart in tact, give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully and surround it with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements, lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, aimless ...

4067. The Power of a Helping Hand

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... A religion that passes by on the other side is really no religion at all. Who is my neighbor? A robber says nobody, what’s yours is mine and I’ll take it. The religious people say some people, selective ones. What’s mine is mine and I’ll keep it. But a Samaritan comes by. III. WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? THE SAMARITAN REPLIES, THE ONE IN NEED. Verses 33-35 — But a Samaritan while traveling came near him, and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured ...

4068. One Task

Luke 9:51-62

Illustration

Ernest Munachi Ezeogu

... charge of a lighthouse along a dangerous coast was given enough oil for one month and told to keep the light burning every night. One day a woman asked for oil so that her children could stay ... one hundred lives were lost. The lighthouse attendant explained what he had done and why. But the prosecutor replied, "You were given only one task: to keep the light burning. Every other thing was secondary. You have no excuse." Temptation is a choice between good and evil. But perhaps more insidious than temptation ...

4069. Worship

Hebrews 10:19-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... than adore, would rather speak than surrender, and would rather defend than follow, but Jesus would have nothing to do with that. He cut to the core. Worship is about God. Isn't all this stuff about dress, music, style, instruments, symbols, the devil's way of keeping our attention on the methods of worship and our minds off God—who alone is worthy of our praise? We need to worship God because we were created to worship God. Nothing else will satisfy the soul. When Noah stepped off the ark, he built an ...

4070. The Road of Joy

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... with a baby inside. “What's your brother's name?" inquired the pastor. The kid replied indignantly, “If he were my brother his name would be Bobby, but that's not my brother, she's my sister, and her name is Susie!" If we keep asking the wrong questions we are likely to keep getting the wrong answers. As long as we continue to know nothing definite about God we are free to be the captains of our fate and the masters of our soul. But we do know something definite about God. God is love; God is just ...

4071. The Compassionate Christ

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... so starved for attention that he cannot resist the temptation to become the talk of the town? Maybe some news is just too good to keep. How could a healed man hide it? The very site of him in the marketplace would be a testimony to the miracle. So Stuart Hamblin ... portrayed in our television screens before they are communicated to neighborhood rescue squads, what are normal people to do? Keep your heart tender and your prayers current. In the desert, Abbas and Ammas expressed their compassion for a hurting ...

4072. The Exalted Christ

Mark 9: 2-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... little replicas of the temples we are building and they would buy them and take them back home as pilgrims do from place to place. Let's just stay up here. It is wonderful. Then Verse 9 says, “As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders to keep quiet and go to work." Life is not lived on the mountain top. It's hammered out in the valleys among the people where they hurt and struggle and try to make up their minds what they are going to do. As He led them down the mountain He reminded ...

4073. Why Am I a Christian?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... going to see this through. All other religions place salvation on the shoulders of human beings. If we try hard enough, pray long enough, keep coming back often enough, we will eventually find God. Christians say we cannot save ourselves. So, we let Christ do it for us. Salvation is ... is the Life! On the one hand, life has us. She gives us what she wills. Buddhists say escape it. Hindu's say keep coming back until you get it right. Muslim's say it is the will of Allah, bear it. Christ says you have ...

4074. What Can Christians Learn from Hindus?

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Hindus it's reincarnation until we reach Nirvana. Shirley Maclaine says, “Reincarnation is just like show business, you just keep doing it until you get it right." Twenty percent of Americans believe in reincarnation. Of course, the goal of ... life. In II Corinthians 5:8 Paul says, “To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord." I don't have to keep coming back until I get it right, for God in Christ Jesus has already made it all right. Evangelist Billy Graham said not long ago, “When you ...

4075. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... -going, right-living, honest folk amazed. It leaves us “green with envy." May the Lord have mercy! II. Envy runs in the workplace. I don't have to tell you envy runs rampant in the workplace. Its grumbling can be heard among the employees. I know, you try to keep salaries a secret. Let me tell you, they know. They've got it figured out just like these workers in the vineyard. They knew who made what, and the grumbling and the griping happens. “How come I'm not making more than they are? I know I agreed ...

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