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 4276 to 4300 of 4936 results

4276. The Old, Old Story

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How many words can you use to describe great? Throughout history, the words we use change, according to our values, generations, and interpretations. What was once cool became hot. What was once nifty became neat. What was groovy became excellent. Whether cool, hot, fabulous, far out, boss, chic, deep, or copacetic, we understand what those words mean in the context of their cultural milieu. We express similar feelings as our ancestors or our grandchildren. We just use different words to do it. The ...

4277. Call It Like You See It

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

In Tobit, one of the books of the Apocrypha, the hero Tobias sets out on a journey to call in a loan owed to his father, who has gone blind. He will return with a bride and a cure for his father’s blindness. But he sets out on the journey with a young man — who he does not recognize as an angel — and a faithful dog. Well, sort of. There are several versions of this apocryphal book. In the version that was current among Greek-speaking Jews, there is a dog. In the versions that circulated among Jews closer ...

4278. It's A Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever said something really dumb? Have you ever opened your mouth and stood there one legged like a flamingo, with all the grace of an elephant on roller skates with your other foot stuck firmly in your mouth? I remember one time when I did. About ten years ago I was serving the little United Methodist Church in Eureka, Texas. We were in the middle of building a new Sanctuary. The pews from the old Sanctuary were solid oak and over a hundred years old. Money was tight and we couldn't afford new ...

4279. It's a Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

4280. Yes, You Can Work Yourself to Death

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

A study came out last year that was disturbing but not necessarily surprising. The World Health Organization did a study of people around the world who worked 55 or more hours per week compared to those who worked 35-40 hours per week. The study covered health and workplace data from the 1970s to 2018 and included workers in 154 countries. They concluded that, “People working 55 or more hours each week face an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared ...

4281. Welcome, Joe!

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome to worship this morning. I’m glad to see you here. And I’d like to offer a special welcome to all our Joes in the congregation this morning, since March 27 is officially “National Joe Day.” I’m not kidding. I don’t know who decides these things, like National Goof Off Day (March 22) or National Waffle Day (March 25), but March 27 is designated as National Joe Day. It’s a day for celebrating anyone with the name Joe. In fact, the founder of National Joe Day invites all people to change their name to ...

4282. Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley

Luke 19:28-40 · Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s been a while since I started off a sermon with a really bad joke. I know what some of you are thinking: The only kind of joke you’ve ever heard me tell is a really bad joke. Well, here goes again. A dog walked into a Dodge City saloon and ordered a root beer. The barkeep snickered, “We don’t serve dogs and we don’t sell root beer in this saloon.” The dog said, “I’ve got money and my money is as good as any man’s. Give me a root beer!” The bartender was tired of talking so he reached under the bar, ...

4283. God's Bouncer or God's Ambassador?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

If I were to start a sentence with the words, “There are two types of people in the world . . .,” how would you finish that sentence? “There are two types of people in the world . . .,” Somebody once said, “There are two types of people in the world—those who divide the world into two types of people and those who do not.” What say you? I think if I were to divide people into two types, I would say, there are rule keepers and rule breakers. Some people just have an internal compulsion to follow the rules, ...

4284. The Accounting

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Repentance is an interesting thing. It sometimes requires an equally interesting or unusual catalyst. Sometimes what appears to be a terrible occasion can turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you. Ever lose a job and then an amazing door opens? Ever go through a terrible ordeal in which something you had done, whether intentional or not, has come back to bite you? And then suddenly you realize, you’ve been giving your loyalty to the wrong thing, the wrong people, the wrong goals the entire ...

4285. Small Beginnings, Great Endings

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Richard Hasler

On the day Abraham Lincoln was born his older cousin Dennis Hanks went over to see the newborn baby. Later he commented: “Folks often ask me if Abe was a good-looking baby. Well, he looked just like any other baby — like a red cherry pulp squeezed dry, and he didn’t improve none as he growed older.”[1] That may be a typical cousin’s reaction, but admittedly, Lincoln never was photogenic and he probably would not have made it in this age of television with all its glitz and style. Nonetheless, it is the ...

4286. Therefore Go

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

If you’ve ever worked as a team, then you know there are certain behaviors and attitudes that increase productivity, and just as many behaviors and attitudes that decrease it too. Good managers, good coaches, good leaders know how to correct unproductive behaviors and improve the performance of their whole team. But what if your aim is to make your team less productive? Some of you might be muttering to yourself, “I’ve worked with folks like that before.” During World War II, the U.S. Office of Strategic ...

4287. Jesus' Final Exam

Luke 20:19-40

Sermon

Will Willimon

Have any of you visiting alumni ever had a dream in which you dreamed that you were back here in school at Duke during an exam? It's a fairly typical alumni dream. The dream often involves some problem you have with the exam. You have studied all night for the final in organic chemistry. But now, on the morning of the exam, you find that the classroom door is locked by Dr. Wilder. You pound on the door, but you can't get in. Another such dream involves your sauntering into class one day and discovering to ...

4288. Can I Get a Witness?

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

Mary Austin

As you all know, one of the pleasures of being part of a group — a family, a sorority or fraternity, or a church — is the ability to share memories with each other. We get to live through our experiences again through the memories, and other people fill in details we missed at the time. You know this happens with friends, or civic groups, or church friends. “Remember when…?” someone starts, and then everyone chimes in with parts of the memory. Each memory sparks another one, adding to the pile of stories. ...

4289. Steadfast Change

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

When I first looked at the texts for today, I immediately thought of the difference between change and transformation. I realized that I’m probably looking too closely at words again, looking more deeply at them than anyone cares about. But in the context of this congregation, it seems to me that change is inevitable and transformation is coming. I’ve felt it for a while. People fear change and even resist it, but the fact is that as long as we are alive, we are changing. That means that when we proclaim ...

4290. Prayer Power

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

We hear a lot in our culture today about “power.” We lament and condemn unsavory power. And we vie and vote for power in a world in which power seems to be the way to guarantee the results we want to see in our world. Still we always seem to feel utterly powerless. We also talk a lot about our own power. We see books that teach us how to regain our power, use our power, stand in our power, recognize our power, use our power instead of giving it away to someone else! In a world in which we tend to feel ...

4291. Take Some Lessons

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful....-- 2 Timothy 3:16 My handicap was heading to single digits and those absurd late fortyish daydreams about the senior tour were making denomi-national meetings more tolerable when disaster struck. Playing with my dad in one of those little friendly-while-you're-winning matches, I was even through fifteen holes. I had been slow, steady, and solid throughout the round. So I strutted to the sixteenth tee, undoubtedly more personally impressed than impressive. ...

4292. Moving Words

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

On the surface, this reading from Matthew’s gospel is a strange sounding, and somewhat puzzling passage. It is one we could easily dismiss since it is specifically addressed to the original 12 disciples. The text is part of a lengthy chapter detailing the instructions Jesus gives to those 12 prior to that first “missionary” effort. Since this appears to be a private tutoring lesson for Jesus’ small class of first century followers, we excuse ourselves from paying attention to the words. What could they ...

4293. What Christmas Is About

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

Charlie Brown isn't the only one who asks, "What's Christmas all about?" Real people also ask that same question. Several years ago there was an exchange student from Indonesia, spending his first December in America. The crowds of shoppers in the stores, the Santa Clauses, the bright lights, the trees, the manger scenes, the parties, and the growing sense of excitement and revelry - it was all more than a little confusing to him. Then one night as he satwatching television with his host family, the ...

4294. God’s Hand on You

Luke 1:57-66

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Shake hands with several children. Then take one child and show special attention by putting your arm around his shoulder. Good morning, boys and girls. I want to try a little experiment with you to see if you can help me solve a problem. I want to try out a little greeting with a number of you and then I want you to tell me which one you think is the most special kind of greeting. If you think that one way shows that I am a little closer and care a little more, then I want you to tell me. First of ...

4295. A Gospel for Losers

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A fellow is standing at a bar, just looking at his drink.(1) For a solid half-hour, he just stares at it. Suddenly, a big trouble-making truck driver steps up next to him, takes the drink and chugs it down. The poor schlemiel starts crying. The truck driver says, "Come on man, I was just joking. Here, I'll buy you another drink. I can't stand to see a man cry." "You don't understand," says the first fellow. "This day is the worst day of my life. First, I sleep through the alarm this morning and get into ...

4296. Grumblers Among God's People

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

At a certain popular resort there are hot springs and cold springs side by side. Local people washed clothes in the hot spring and then rinsed them in the cold. A tourist, watching the procedure, said to one of the natives, "How bountiful of nature to supply these springs." "Not so bountiful," said the native. "You'll notice there's no soap." A new pastor was full of enthusiasm on his first Sunday. He mentioned the thrill of accepting the call of the congregation, particularly since it had been a unanimous ...

4297. Good Old What’s-His-Name

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In the fifth century, St. Jerome called the apostle we are considering in this sermon “Trinomius,” which means “the man with three names.” In Mark he is called Thaddeus (3:18), in Matthew he is called Thaddeus or Lebbaeus (10:3), and in Luke he is called Judas, the son of James (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13). If the Gospels cannot agree on this man’s name, how can we ever hope to get it straight? Well, I have recently read an advertisement from one of those sheets which fall out of the Sunday newspaper, an ...

4298. Dealing with Our Doubts

Mark 9:14-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

David Heller is a young Boston psychologist who, as part of a continuing research interest, collects letters children have written to God. “Dear God: Children’s Letters to God” (New York: Doubleday, 1987) is Heller’s second publication on this subject. In it he reports the following letter: “Dear God, I have doubts about you sometimes. Sometimes I really believe. Like when I was four and I hurt my arm and you healed it up fast. But my question is, if you could do this why don’t you stop all the bad in the ...

4299. Grace in the Midst of Guilt and Shame

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

At the beginning of his ministry Jesus had a chance to impress the people he grew up with. According to Luke, chapter 4, Jesus was invited to stand up and read the Bible in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth. And why not? He was the latest sensation. His reputation as a teacher was starting to get around. He was the local kid who had made good. There must have been smiles and gentle ribbing as Jesus got up to read the Scriptures on that Saturday morning a long time ago. "Remember when he was just a child, ...

4300. Uncle Abraham

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

William G. Carter

I have good news for you this morning. None of you are good enough to be here. Sorry about that. I thought I saw a few of you flinch. Maybe I need to be a bit more sensitive in how I begin. Let me try again. I have good news for you this morning: God is not impressed with a person in this room. By the look on some of your faces, I'm not sure that was any better way to start a sermon. Give me one more opportunity to get this sermon started. Here it goes. I have good news for you this morning: Every single ...

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