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 401 to 425 of 1185 results

401. Take a Close Look (At the Widow)!

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... admiration and respect. I. He shows us - without saying as much - a woman who is to be admired for holding fast to her faith, when death snatched her husband away. Her kind bolster our own faith. The preacher, who stands behind the pulpit, never ceases to be amazed and inspired when he sees a woman, who buried her husband on Friday, sitting in her accustomed pew on Sunday morning. "What faith!" he silently exclaims. Take Rhonda for example. Rhonda, her husband Rod, (not their real names) and their four ...

402. Finding the Truth That Makes Us Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... way." In the fellowship of Christ, he was making fresh discoveries of truth, even as his days dwindled down to a precious few. The beautiful thing about it all is that God’s truth is an inexhaustible treasury of fresh discoveries. The truth never ceases to be exciting. Every new discovery whets our appetite for more. And it makes us free indeed. 1. Wilbert F. Howard, The Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1952), vol. 8, p. 600. 2. Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus (New ...

403. God’s Dwelling Place

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it" (Exodus 25:9). This is a place where holy things were done, and in the holy of holies God dwelt in the presence of the ark. When the Israelites settled down in towns and ceased to be nomads they became zealous to do as their sophisticated neighbors. The Canaanites had been urbanized centuries before the Israelites. David, in a passion of devotion and probably a desire to keep up with the Canaanites, went to Nathan the prophet with the prospect ...

404. You Don’t Really Feel That Way

Job 6:1-7:21

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... p. 48). If a person is incapable of growth, he cannot learn from despair. Or, more profoundly yet, if a person is cut off from the source of life, she cannot grow. He cannot move on from despair and make sense out of what has happened to him. She will cease to struggle, will cave in to mental illness, or become so depressed as not to be capable of normal life functions. To claim our pain is to claim also the other side of pain, namely that which heals, the yet-to-be-disclosed good news which lies beyond the ...

405. Proper 19

Proverbs 22:1-16, James 2:1-13, James 2:14-26, Mark 8:27-30, Mark 8:31--9:1

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... WE SOMETIMES PAY ATTENTION TO THOSE WHO HAVE MORE AND GIVE MORE. Leader: But Scripture tells us that God has no special regard for the rich, and even suggests, that the poor may somehow have a special place in God’s Kingdom. People: LET US THEREFORE CEASE TO PAY HOMAGE TO WEALTH AND BEGIN TO VALUE RIGHTEOUSNESS INSTEAD. Collect Gracious God, whose Gospel and Kingdom are for rich and poor alike, help us to alter our scale of values to match yours; that, whereas in the past we have admired the rich and ...

406. The Gift

Drama

Esther Lense

... way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. "Love never ends; as for prophecy, it will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease, as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowlege is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child ...

407. Looking Ahead with Hope

John 1:43-51

Sermon

... blundering prejudice which makes us look down on other people. Sometimes we recognize that we aren’t what we ought to be, yet we do not know what to do about it. Alfred Lord Tennyson writes: "Oh for a man to arise in me That the man I am might cease to be." Many of us have felt degraded in heart and mind by the consciousness of what we are and how we have failed. But the glory of the Christian faith is the glory of the unforeseen. Anything can happen to a man when God’s spirit takes hold of ...

408. God of the Weekday

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... and profit is placed above that, then it can only end - the only logical place for it to end - is in filth and corruption and the appeal to the LOWEST and the VILEST in man, because that will produce the greatest profit. When a hospital, for instance, ceases to be a nonprofit organization, right at that moment, it is no longer a hospital, and human beings stop being human beings in it. From that time forward, it’s just a repair shop for human carcasses. And yet, we make the division in the name of ...

409. Broken Bread, Shared Cup

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... serves. "I would eat this meal with you," he said, "Perhaps this is the last - perhaps we will no longer lounge together picking apart the luscious grapes of the vineyards. Perhaps, the goodness of these moments together - as the goodness of the cheese and bread - will cease. God and man are meeting in these hours - and man would seek to have his way. You bicker over who is best. Why, even one of you can betray the trust, the message, the intentions of God." Peter shouted, "No." We joined in, feeling the ...

410. OUR LORD DENIED

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

... what it was, so intently that he did not realize at first that the serving maid was speaking to him. "You also were with Jesus the Galilean," she said. When he turned to her and her words registered in his mind, he realized that talk around the fire had ceased. In the deathly silence, every eye was turned on him. His bones seemed to quiver, turn to limp rope. Caught unaware, he denied it, protesting, "I do not know what you mean." The others continued to stare, and he felt he was at the center of a hostile ...

411. THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, YOUR SANCTIFICATION

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

... infant dropping the toy in hand for the pretty bauble beyond his reach; today the adolescent wanting this and that; tomorrow the man reaching for the unattainable moon - or since it has been attained by a few, something beyond that. A man does not cease to have wants when he becomes a Christian. Indeed God has some unfulfilled wants of his own for his children - their growth and development in lives of holiness. "This is the will of God, your sanctification." 1. THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD: THE SANCTIFICATION ...

412. Do Not Let Him Find You Sleeping

Luke 12:32-40; Mark 13:1-37

Illustration

Brett Blair

... girl--he says he does not know which it was--singing a song. The sound was coming from a neighboring house. The child was chanting over and over: "Pick it up, read it; pick it up; read it." Here is what happened next in Augustine's own words: "Immediately I ceased weeping and began most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children in some kind of game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard the like. So, damming the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but ...

413. When Ten Equals Two

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Larry Powell

... . It is against this background that Sinai looms, not just as a mountain, but as something of a massive divine Rosetta Stone: "And God spoke all these words saying ..." And when the thunder and lightning had subsided and the mountain had ceased smoking, the people of Israel had come into possession of a prescription emblazoned upon stone tablets: the Asereth Haddebarim (Ten Words); Eth Berithi (My Covenant); the Hattorah (Law). The Ten Commandments appear in the Old Testament as conditions of a covenant ...

414. On His Way

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Larry Powell

... , keeping a low profile. He could disguise himself and move about the city incognito. Or, on the other hand, he could boldly exercise his right to attend the high feast of his people and take the authorities on a dare. At his appearance, the contagious speculation ceased. Those who had wondered if he would come to the feast were not disappointed. Not only did he come, but he came in prophetic form at the front of a procession. And yet, somehow, it was as if the triumph of the moment was considerably more ...

415. Whom Do You Sit East Of?

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... copy of Yachting Times. But it doesn’t work! It is to no avail! All is for naught! So the sailors open the Book of Common Prayer to the collect for such an occasion, quickly pray the prayer, and throw Jonah into the sea. The sea then ceases from raging and takes a striking likeness to the swan-boat pond in the Boston Commons. And there they are, these now-devout sailors, all fearing the Lord exceedingly, sacrificing to the Lord and making vows. What an ending! What a great sermon illustration this will be ...

416. Should Christians Always Oppose War?

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... of all disputes among nations." (2) Isaiah the prophet revealed God's plan for a world in which "nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4b) The Psalmist saw God working toward the same goal. "He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire." (Ps. 46:9) About twenty years ago I had a layman in my church who was dying of cancer. Shortly before his death, during a pastoral visit, he ...

417. The Whip of War

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Brett Blair

... from our souls. War is not a solution. It is a devouring fire, which even consumes the innocent parties who defend themselves and justly enter into war. Because war destroys all parties involved God envisioned a time, even beyond Solomon, when war would cease. The prophets spoke of the coming Messiah, they said, “He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take ...

418. All I Need Is A Little Rest!

Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

... to pray prayers that open up our lives to God as we give everything to him. Before choosing his disciples, Jesus prayed all night for guidance. Before he asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" he prayed all night. We have been invited by him to pray without ceasing. Jesus said, "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Just as he went to his Father for rest, we will find our rest in him also, in the Father and in our Savior. When we pour out ...

419. Lifting the Burden of Guilt

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... our destructive practices. How stupid can we get? Someone in the fourth century knew the meaning of guilt and wrote a hymn to it: O Felix Culpa (O Happy Guilt) Praise to thee, dear brother Guilt! Strong Son of God’s law and love Who dost not cease thy pricks When we would stop to play with dangerous toys Who goads us from the quicksands of anger and (unconcern,) Who makes our hearts to hunger Beyond new clothes, new chariots, new kitchens, New houses, new spouses, or even a new Nation. I have quarreled ...

420. Overcoming Loneliness

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... to move or touch or make laugh or weep. He was there because he would kill if any chance were given him, because he was possessed, day in and day out, during every hour of working and sleeping too perhaps, by a hatred that consumed him without ceasing ... was his soul unconquerable?" Was it? Marlene Patterson in "Alive Now" writes: Today, I have had another lonely day, Lord. The one phone call I received was a wrong number. Was there someone that needed a call from me? ... My neighbors wave as they go about ...

421. Enduring

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... become symbol of the faith of ultraconservative, fanatically orthodox Judaism. Here was the conclusion, the culmination of faith: Religion was denoted by a building. It was neatly packaged, frozen in stone. It is the natural end of legalism. When faith ceases to be fluid or flowering, it turns to dust - dry and lifeless. Intransigent Jewish legalists had turned the free, exuberant faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob into an unbending lifestyle. Moses’ Commandments had been made inflexible. Prophets were no ...

422. Jesus Is Lord of All

Mark 4:35-41

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... there. Leader: Let us proclaim for all the world to hear God's love in Christ! All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect Almighty and merciful God, You have shown us You are indeed the Creator of all the Universe and Your Lordship commands even the storms to cease. Lord, help our faith to grow for all to see. In Christ we pray. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord, we often tend to forget that You made it possible for us to be in Your family, a gift we did not merit. It was You who came to us first ...

423. Sheep Know Their Shepherd

John 10:11-18

Illustration

... you lead sheep, and they will not go anywhere that someone else does not go first. Their shepherd-who goes ahead of them to show them that everything is all right." Sheep know their shepherd and their shepherd knows them. He went on to say that "it never ceased to amaze him, growing up, that he could walk right through a sleeping flock without disturbing a single one of them, while a stranger could not step foot in the fold without causing pandemonium." Sheep & shepherds develop a language of their own.

424. A Reason

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... you teach us to come to new understandings about our gifts of talent, personality, and inadequacy. Thank you for the capacity to grow. Through your Holy Spirit. Amen. Prayer of Confession We know, God, that when we stop complaining about our weaknesses and cease mourning what we can no longer do, something tender begins to happen within us. We let our frailties awaken alternative ways of doing things. We find other ways to use our talents. We learn patience and hope because we become "can do" people again ...

425. The Advent Hope

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... nothing to look forward to. The present is unbearable because there is no future, and they have only memories of the past to sustain them. Such a state of mind is nothing less than hell. "Hell," says A. J. Cronin, "is the place where one has ceased to hope." He is echoing the words which Dante saw inscribed over the portals of Inferno: "Abandon all hope you that enter here." It is a scientific fact that hopelessness shortens life, for a man without hope feels himself cornered and trapped and loses the will ...

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