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 4201 to 4225 of 4977 results

4201. Open Talk about Truth

John 18:33-37

Illustration

Will Willimon

... as the "basic religious experience"— as happens, say, when a devotee of Campus Crusade tells a Mormon that she is going to hell—we dismiss this perspective as an unreasonable aberration, an inadequate expression of our basic religious aspirations. The liberal, despite his or her claims of openness, is really quite imperialistic in insisting that all religions be evaluated on the basis of some allegedly universal criteria.

4202. If This Is Your Faith, Tell Me Your Stories

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... because something is not a fact, doesn’t make it untrue. The greatest truth is in the telling of the story itself. Nevertheless during this Advent season each week we are going to look at some of the parts of the Christmas story that we haven’t told quite right over the years. But these new facts might just give our story some deeper roots, even as our children’s portrayals of innkeepers and angels continue to give our hearts wings. In Luke 2:1-7 the gospel writer tells a simple story. Joseph and Mary ...

4203. Goodness and Mercy Will Win

Luke 21:5-38

Illustration

Erskine White

As some of you know, Fiorello LaGuardia was mayor of New York during the Depression, and he was quite a character. He would ride the city fire trucks, take entire orphanages to baseball games and whenever the city newspapers went on strike, he would get on the radio and read the Sunday "funnies" to the children. At any rate, one bitter cold winter's night in 1935, Mayor LaGuardia ...

4204. The Whole Family Survival Kit

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... family huddle and hover around a new baby in their midst? Jesus was not born into any kind of splendid isolation. Jesus was born into a big, extended family — with all the closeness and all the clashes those relationships can bring. The gospels tell us quite a bit about Jesus’ family later in his life, and not all of it is flattering. According to Luke, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist was Mary’s “kinswoman,” an undefined degree of “relative” (Luke 1:36). When the pregnant Mary visits ...

4205. Every Kiss Begins with K

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... carol strikes such an unusual chord. Those so-called “kings” were extreme outsiders. Very doubtfully “kings,” they were most certainly not Jews. Their belief in a single God was unlikely. In a best case scenario, these travelers were elite Zoroastrian priests, quite Gentile, probably from Persia or perhaps Arabia. We know there were at least two of them, but just because they brought three gifts doesn’t mean there were three of them. In short, the “magi” were Arab astrologers who found their ...

4206. I Am the Good Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the sermon at 8:30 this morning, he’s 78 years old, and he told me he was going to worry about that when he got old. But not all of us are that fortunate. Old age comes to us sometimes as something to fear, because we’re not quite certain that we’re going to have enough economic resources to see us through retirement. And tragedy of tragedies, there are people who are fearful of old age, because they have not yet had confirmed for them that their children are going to continue to love and care for ...

4207. I Am the Alpha and the Omega

Revelation 1:1-3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... grace to your neighbors and your friends and your colleagues? Will he find you more at home at a party than at a prayer meeting? Someone said a Methodist is a person who has just enough religion to make him uncomfortable at a cocktail party, and not quite enough religion to make him at home in a prayer meeting. When he comes, will he find you protesting all that which profanes and limits human life? When he comes, will he find you actively engaged in peacemaking? Jesus said, it’s the peacemakers who will ...

4208. I Am the Bread of Life

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the swimming pool and in an effort to attract the girls’ attention, the men began to shout down at the them, asking them for their telephone numbers, telling them that they’re going to finish their mission – taking the statue to the Vatican – and would be quite happy to come back when they finished that mission. It’s a rather amusing thing to see and Frederick Beaconer describes the kind of reaction the audience in a college town where he saw that movie had. At first it was a an immediate reaction ...

4209. Finding Approval from God Alone

Luke 3:7-18

Illustration

Reginald Mallett

... one of Verdi's operas. The composer was young and this particular work had been produced in a hurry. Verdi knew that it was not his best. It was produced for the first time in Florence and at the end the enthusiastic yet undiscriminating audience went into quite unwarranted raptures and cheered the composer. The cheers echoed down the halls of the theatre. But Verdi paid little heed. He had eyes for only one man. He looked to the box where this one man sat. All the plaudits of the crowd would not compensate ...

4210. Sermon Opener - When Our Children Teach Us

Luke 2:41-52

Illustration

James W. Moore

... soiled from almost incessant drooling. She does not walk. Her sleep pattern is erratic. Often she wakes in the middle of the night and her screaming awakens others. Most of the time she is friendly and happy, but several times a day she gets quite agitated without apparent cause. Then she wails until someone comes to comfort her." After presenting the class with this challenging case, Dr. Ruskin then asked his students if any of them would like to volunteer to take care of this person. No one volunteered ...

4211. Chipmunks Aren’t All Alike

Luke 2:41-52

Illustration

Brett Blair

... he would pull on them so that they would get the idea, although he always taught his gardening students not to do that. One morning his wife called him over to inspect the new plants more closely, and he saw that indeed each was delicately formed and quite lovely except for the bruised places where he had pulled on them. "They are not like I thought they would be," he said to his wife. "I guess they decided to be themselves." His wife answered, "Chipmunks aren't all alike either," she added. (Abe's Fable ...

4212. Every Day God Equips

John 14:15-27

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of that on both my computer and on my Palm handheld. A couple of months ago I got a new Treo Smartphone. It's both a phone and a Personal Digital Assistant. It combines the phone and palm handheld all into one. It has a little thumb keyboard that is quite handy and I've gotten pretty fast. But when I really want to type something quickly, I pull out my iGo Stowaway Keyboard. It's even wireless. With both of those devices, I can pretty much leave and travel without my laptop and I can still write and/or edit ...

4213. Every Day God Encourages

Acts 4:36-37; 11:22-24

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... all come through the Grace of God. That unmerited gift of God's love for us. And through that Grace we are Encouraged to share and offer God's Grace to others. There was a little girl whose first-grade class held its "track and field" day. She won quite a few ribbons, among them one blue ribbon for a first place. Later that day, when she came home, the blue ribbon was missing, and her mother asked what had happened to it. "Oh," she said, "Bruce was crying because he didn't win a first place ribbon, so ...

4214. Every Day God Enriches

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . You take one step at a time. B. Several years ago The British Weekly published the following provocative letter: "Dear Sir: It seems ministers feel their sermons are very important and spend a great deal of time preparing them. I have been attending church quite regularly for 30 years and have probably heard 3,000 of them. To my consternation, I discovered I cannot remember a single sermon. I wonder if a minister's time might be more profitably spent on something else?" For weeks a storm of editorial ...

4215. Leap Of Faith

John 8:12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... lives is akin to building a house on sand. On the other hand. B. Budweiser Hank - Hitch Team (CLIP) I want you to know that just because I'm using the commercial, doesn't mean I endorse the product. But the message of the commercial is really quite clear. With hard work, the right motivation and someone who believes in you, you CAN fulfill your dreams. You CAN become all you've created to be. I can affirm that, especially if that someone is Jesus. Jesus said, "The greatest among you will be your servant ...

4216. The Thing With Two Heads

Matthew 16:13-24

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... to mold Simon into the Disicple Peter, so Peter could then "Go" as Matthew 28 says "and make disciples of all nations." It didn't happen overnight. It didn't happen without some growing pains and remorse. But it happened. Simon became Peter, the rock. Peter never quit Becoming A Disciple but after Pentecost, with the help of the Holy Spirit, Peter took up the true mantle of his Discipleship and began making disciples. Jesus didn't just tell us to "Go." He told us to "Go and make disciples." That's what he ...

4217. A Crib, A Cross, And A Cave

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... world to seek and to save that which was lost. Then He returned to God. But before he did, Jesus gathered around him a select group of men and women to carry on his work. There was nothing special about these men and women. In fact, they were quite ordinary. There was only one thing that distinguished them, they had been touched and chose by Jesus. And when Christ left them, he gave them a mission. They were to reach out to others with Christ's unconditional love until the day comes when every person on ...

4218. Living In The Spirit Of Peace

Galatians 5:22-25, Colossians 3:14-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... pray. His sister, who didn't have the same depth of faith, laughingly said to him, "What's the good of praying about a ring? Will praying bring back your ring?" The Young Man said, "No, sister, probably not, but praying has done this for me: it has made me quite willing to do without the ring, if that's God's will. And isn't that almost as good as having it?" (5) Peace born of faith quiets us. Faith fills us with a Peace that makes us willing to do without what we once prized, if that's God ...

4219. Seeing God In The Ordinary: Family

Luke 4:16-30

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of movies, including playing God, twice. He even headlined at University of Florida Gator Growl in the 1970s. He died at age of 100. He definitely lived the life of the comma and not the period. (4) It would have been easy for George Burns to just quit. His partner and love of his life was no longer with him. He was 68. Everyone would have understood. But Gracie's encouragement from beyond the grave helped him Hold It Together and continue in the career he so loved. We can see God in the ordinary when ...

4220. God IS In The Ordinary

Romans 12:1-2, 9-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... from Nazi antiaircraft guns. That wasn't unusual, but on this occasion their gas tanks were hit. Later, as he reflected on the miracle of a twenty-millimeter shell piercing the fuel tank without touching off an explosion, the pilot, Bohn Fawkes, told him it wasn't quite that simple. On the morning following the raid, Bohn had gone down to ask the crew chief for the shell as a souvenir of unbelievable luck. The crew chief told Bohn that not just one shell but eleven had been found in the gas tanks. Eleven ...

4221. Is There Room For Shepherds?

Luke 2:8-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... baby lying in a manger. They rejoiced and they couldn't wait to tell anyone who would listen. That is the action of Humility. Shepherds Teach Us Humility. II. Shepherds Teach Us To Risk A. Secondly, Shepherds Teach Us To Risk. Most of us are quite contented where we are spiritually. We like where we are. It feels good. We feel close to God. We feel safe. It's comfortable. Unfortunately, faith isn't about comfort. And certainly walking with Christ isn't supposed to be comfortable, not when He says things ...

4222. Room For A Savior?

Luke 2:22-33

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... church just as the Sunday School lesson was concluding. The pastor entered the church and greeted some of the people as he made his way to the pulpit. That morning he delivered a strong and inspiring sermon. People in the congregation weren't quite sure what to think, but they listened attentively. When the worship service concluded, the pastor descended from the pulpit, shook hands with the people, said his goodbyes and headed toward home. Meanwhile, there was another small church a few miles away, filled ...

4223. Joshua People Obey and Serve

Joshua 1:6-8, 24:14-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Achan's clan, he confessed. The entire people of Israel meted out the punishment, death. Everyone shared responsibility for Achan's actions as well as Achan's punishment. Because both Obedience and Disobedience Have Consequences. When we are obedient the Consequences are usually quite rewarding. When we join the church and take the vows of membership, especially when someone is baptized, we take and renew our vows to live before one another as the Children of God so that we can see Christ in each other. We ...

4224. Joshua People: Remember, Remind and Recommit

Joshua 24:14-18, 2 Peter 1:10-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... ourselves and others that God is still in charge. Just because times got tough doesn't mean God gave up. We need to remind ourselves and others that Jesus is still working. God will never take a vacation. As long as people seek God and even when the quit seeking God, God will continue to seek them. God in Christ is looking for people who are hurting, people who are lonely, people who are scared, people at a loss, people who are bound by addictions of every kind. And the message of Christ is this: "Come to ...

4225. For Comfort, Guidance and Strength

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... in them. I think you can see that whole idea in a clip from the movie "Miss Potter" about the life of Beatrix Potter the author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other stories. Watch. Beatrix Potter glowed in her father's praise, because there is nothing quite like a father's approval. The Holy Spirit reminds us of God's greatest gifts God knows us, notices us, loves us, and God approves of us. It doesn't matter what the world might say because the Spirit reminds us that we are the children of God. The ...

Showing results