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 4251 to 4275 of 4977 results

4251. Heisman In The Hudson

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... only the Edomites had not been so duplicitous. Long gone were the conquering days of Joshua, the heroism of Samson, the strong reign of David, and the golden age of Solomon. Now their kings were not collecting tribute from others put paying ransom to keep their thrones. Little by little the palace and the temple were stripped of their treasures, and little by little the people were stripped of their dignity. Finally, during the Babylonian period, the people saw their king blinded and hauled off in chains ...

4252. Mugwumpers

1 Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... worshiped. "How long will you go limping between two different opinions?" (v. 21) or as one translation has it, "How long will you continue to sit on the fence?" To use an 1884 political term: How long will you be mugwumpers — that is people who like to keep their mug on one side of the fence and their wump on the other side? Remember that to worship something means to give high worth to it. In our society, one of the dynamic forces that requires our worship is the force of economics. Like the fertility ...

4253. On Loan From God

1 Kings 21:1-10 (11-14) 15-21a

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... work we do to enable us to have more things often so exhausts us that we choose to sacrifice time with God to get away and get rested so that we can get back to work. It is not easy to keep the right perspective between relationships and possessions in a world that keeps pushing things. God cares and has provided us the resources by which we might realize the fullness of life. Realizing that fullness requires time with God and each other, we dare not lose sight of that necessary balance between things and ...

4254. Parenting — Not For The Faint Of Heart

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

... sons and daughters. They, like Israel, have gone their own way. You can see that the direction they are heading will land them in misery and despair. When your children are very young, you can corral them with baby gates and fences around your yard. You can keep your eye on them nearly every moment of the day. But as they grow and head to school, you know that you will not be able to decide with whom they will play. You will not be able to single-handedly determine who will influence their decisions. As ...

4255. When There’s Nothing Left To Do But Mourn

Jeremiah 8:18—9:1

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

... the sake of the line of Abraham who may have been snuffed out by famine, had Joseph not attained a position of authority in Egypt and resettled them there. When there is nothing left but to grieve, what do we do? We love those who are suffering; we keep vigil with them. And we pray for their complete healing. It is a healing that comes from beyond exile, from beyond the grave. It is a healing that is born in the very heart of God. A beloved African-American spiritual sings of this healing: Refrain There is ...

4256. Extreme Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... , St. Paul is only expounding on the teachings of Jesus. It was Jesus who first said that the great commandment was to love . . . to love God and to love one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). The religious Jew in the first century was committed to the keeping of more than 600 commandments. Jesus summarized all these duties in one teaching: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one ...

4257. When We Are Uncertain about The Future

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... few years. And the Stock Market has been wildly erratic. The value of your home equity took a tremendous hit a few years back and it still has not made it back to the plus side of the ledger. And so you are becoming fearful. How will you ever keep up with the pace of inflation? Does anybody know what I’m talking about? One reason Abram was uncertain was because he and his wife were childless. Some of you know that heartache. It is a very difficult human condition to go through at any time in history. But ...

4258. When We Feel Unwanted

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... unwanted. There was a heartbreaking story in the Associated Press a couple of years back. It was about the plight of unwanted girls in India. You already know about China, where the government enforces a one child policy. Every family is supposed to have only one child to keep the population under control. Let me ask you a question: If you could have only one child, which would you prefer? You and I say, well, it wouldn’t matter. We would love a little girl or a little boy just the same. That’s easy for ...

4259. Prayer-Conditioning Your Life

Luke 2:29-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... not. Sorry. Coin tosses and football games are not the testing grounds for our prayer life. “Hail Mary’s” aren’t the only way to connect with the divine. “Arrow prayers — “Dear God, please let me pass this math test,” “Dear Lord, Please keep the car on the road,” “Dear Jesus, please find me a job,” aren’t really “prayers” at all. They are heart- and soul-felt pleas. Prayer is something different. Prayer is paying attention to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. Praying ...

4260. John 12:1-8

John 12:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the topic of death. The nard money that had anointed him had been “kept for the day of my burial.” There are several grammatical problems with the translation of Jesus’ description here. Literally the text reads that Mary kept the nard “so that she might keep it for the preparation of my burial.” Of course, Mary had not “kept” the nard. She had just now opened it and spilled it out upon Jesus. But Mary had clearly “kept” this costly perfume for some great occasion. And it is probably this ...

4261. Be a Bethany

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

4262. See Something, Say Something, Do Something, Be Something

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . After a woman lost her husband, she disappeared in a cloud of grief. She didn’t answer calls from her friends and family. She stopped going to church and her other organizations. Her life now revolved around taking flowers to the cemetery every week, and keeping her deceased husband’s grave site beautiful. Her physician became concerned. Symptoms of physical illness began to appear. So one day he asked her to do him a favor. He told her about two of his patients in a nearby hospital. They did not have ...

4263. Jailhouse Rock

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust me, you will be all right.’” (3) That’s the faith that Paul and Silas had. They didn’t panic. They didn’t run. And out of their concern for the jailer who had the responsibility of keeping his eye on them, they stayed where they were, though where they were was not where they would have chosen to be. We’ve seen in this adverse situation the disciples’ attitude, singing in jail. We’ve seen their actions. Trusting God, they stayed where they were ...

4264. Just-Say-The-Word Disciples

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jewish faith alive and Hebrew identity strong in such an environment, strict laws separated the people of Israel from all the other tribes and travelers who lived among them. The laws of “kashrut,” or “keeping kosher,” meant an observant Jew could never sit down to eat a meal with a Gentile. Simply to enter the home of someone who was not “observant” or in other words, observing all the laws of ritual purity and cleanliness provided for in the holiness code, meant instantaneous defilement. One ...

4265. What Really Matters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... . We’ve all known Marthas, and we give God thanks for them. Some of them make all kinds of good things happen in our homes and in our church. But there is another dimension to life besides doing. There is more to life than simply keeping busy even keeping busy doing good, looking after others. Many scholars have suggested that it may not be accidental that Luke placed the story of Mary and Martha immediately after the story of the Good Samaritan. Think about that for a moment. What is the significance of ...

4266. The Keys to Effective Praying

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... the week in many communities. We remember when civil authority was hallowed. Now we have to gag and handcuff ruffians to keep them quiet in the courtroom. Such hallowedness is gone forever. Of course, not all of it is to be mourned. The ... Jesus was that he broke the Sabbath. Still, there is something wrong in a society where nothing is hallowed. If for no other reason, it keeps us from appreciating the wondrous awe that Bible characters felt in the presence of God. Isaiah fell down in the presence of God and ...

4267. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... up bigger and better barns, this rich man is all too happy to pat himself on the back for such a clever solution to his quandary. He congratulates himself, that is his “soul” (“psyche”), for successfully gathering and keeping well stored such an ample supply of goods — enough to keep him without need for “many years. The rich man’s advice to his “soul,” his life force? Time now to “relax, eat, drink, and be merry.” This rich man had a “golden parachute” and was eager to take ...

4268. Your Home Page

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... only minutes later there is a version “6.” Almost as soon as you can get out your credit card, you are the proud owner of a dodo or a dinosaur. Cell phone companies try to tie their customers to a strict “upgrade” schedule to keep them using their older model phones for two to three years. But lately the competition between all the big name “smart phone” providers has become so intense that the “upgrade” limits have been tumbling down or trashed altogether. All the major competitors seem to ...

4269. Going Home

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Argile Smith

... the conclusion that God made a sovereign decision to take Moses home. Otherwise he would have still been alive. Although he was 120 years old, they said to each other, he had the vigor and stamina of a much younger man. Apparently God pulled him out of the picture in keeping with what was best for Moses and God’s people. Maybe that’s why God wouldn’t give anyone a clue as to where he buried Moses. Who knows what they may have done. If they knew where his body was laid to rest, they may have gone to ...

4270. When God Does Something New

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Argile Smith

... into eternity. He is willing to do something about the sin in our hearts. Through Jeremiah’s prophecy, God told the people of Israel that he would forgive their sin and blot out any memory of their sin (v. 34). He made this promise to them in keeping with his pledge to do something new in their hearts. By connecting the removal of sin with the renewal of their hearts, God demonstrated that he considered sin to be a serious problem. Also, he validated his desire to do something about it. One of the primary ...

4271. Luke 17:5-10

Luke 17:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... looking ahead, and set goals, we will be rewarded. Good grades in high school will get us into a good college. Graduate at the top of the class and we will get a good job. Work hard, keep our noses to the grindstone and a better position and a bigger paycheck will come our way. Politically we may live in a democracy, but personally and professionally, we want to live in a meritocracy. In this week’s gospel text Jesus continues with the series of stories and sayings ...

4272. Broadband Discipleship

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the slightest provocation COMMENTARY From the moment we enter kindergarten we are told that if we work hard, follow the rules, keep looking ahead, and set goals, we will be rewarded. Good grades in high school will get us into a good college. Graduate at the top of the ... class and we will get a good job. Work hard, keep our noses to the grindstone and a better position and a bigger paycheck will come our way. Politically we may live in a democracy ...

4273. 2 Timothy 2:8-15

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... had literal “chained books” — a more metallurgic remedy to unwanted book borrowing. After the Reformation the most commonly chained volumes were the Bible, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, and the Book of Common Prayer. Not only was this chaining done to keep valuable volumes from being permanently purloined; but the practice also kept Jesus’ more radical words about the power of the poor and God’s tenderness toward bad characters out of the hands of the poor and bad characters. But Paul’s proclamation ...

4274. The Widow and the Unjust Judge

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... among those of faith, living in that kingdom, this coming week? COMMENTARY One of the classic descriptions of insanity is when someone continues to practice the same behavior, over and over, but expects to get different results. If you turn on the cold-water tap you cannot keep waiting for it to turn warm. If you kick the neighbor’s dog you cannot expect the pooch to suddenly wag its tail when it sees you instead of biting. If you cut classes and do not turn in your assignments, then you cannot expect to ...

4275. Putting the World Back Together

John 20:1-9

Sermon

David O. Bales

... friends with the young man’s parents. In the midst of their grief Jack and Maxine got in their car and drove to call on his parents. No matter the tragedies, they set out soon, much quicker than I’d be able to do, to try keeping the relationship intact between them and the young man’s parents. Consider the effort of those grieving parents as trying to put part of a broken world back together. And, reflecting upon Jesus’ crucifixion, consider God’s raising Jesus from the dead as God’s setting ...

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