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 4326 to 4350 of 4963 results

4326. She Looked Great, But...

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

... responding to radio calls. The plane followed a straight, high-altitude path across several states and finally out over the ocean. It was tracked by radar until it spent its fuel and fell into the sea. Though the exact cause of the crash remains a mystery to this day, air safety investigators concluded that the plane must have lost cabin pressure during the flight. Deprived of oxygen, both pilot and passenger either died or fell unconscious. Meanwhile, the plane’s autopilot kept the plane on a straight ...

4327. It Was a Dark and Stormy Evening! Father's Day

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... other side of the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. Though not stated, it may be assumed that Jesus desired to rest, away from the crowd and from teaching. This was not an easy undertaking. Verse 36 tells us there were people in other boats who wanted to remain with Jesus. When he shoved off, they tagged along. No rest for the weary. The voyage was interrupted by a sudden storm. We read, “A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.” A storm such as this ...

4328. Poem: Parting

Eulogy

Emily Dickinson

My life closed twice before its close- It yet remains to see If Immortality unveil A third event to me So huge, so hopeless to conceive As these that twice befell. Parting is all we know of heaven, And all we need of hell.

4329. Poem: Ozymandias

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

... its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things, The hand that mock’d them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.

4330. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

... , Break it not thou! too surely shalt thou find Thine own well full, if thou returnest home, Of tears and gall. From the world’s bitter wind Seek shelter in the shadow of the tomb. What Adonais is, why fear we to become? LII. The One remains, the many change and pass; Heaven’s light forever shines, Earth’s shadows fly; Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity, Until Death tramples it to fragments. – Die, If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek! Follow ...

4331. She Looked Great, But...

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

4332. Moving On Up

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... Teresa’s honor all over that vast sea of poverty the world calls Calcutta. “Her sermons,” says Miller, “. . . were not reputed to be great. It was her life that called for transformation and conversion.” (8) I hope, as you look ahead to what remains of your life, that you will determine to make this your legacy: whatever else you leave behind, you will seek to leave this world a better place because you have been here. In his play Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare wrote these lines: “The evil ...

4333. When Is Enough...Enough?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... ?” Jesus answered. “No one is good--except God alone.” Jesus was probably cautioning this man not to put his ultimate confidence in teachers or powerful people, but only in God. The arm of flesh is frail and will fail, but God remains true. “You know the commandments,” said Jesus. “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I ...

4334. Michael Corleone and the Widow

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... were enduring as a part of their existence, and they survived. (4) This poor widow who caught Jesus’ attention was evidently in that latter group. She was able to incorporate her present condition into her faith and find meaning in it. And so her faith in God remained strong. She knew when she threw her last two cents in the offering plate that God would provide for her. She would survive. She was a woman of courage, of maturity and of a strong faith. Jesus praised her because she gave out of her poverty ...

4335. Brushing Your Teeth with Oreos

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... and Joseph were careless or neglectful of their responsibilities as parents. But it does prove that they weren’t the kind of parents who hovered over their son. But here’s something you may not have thought of. It appears that Jesus’ remaining behind was deliberate. Luke says that “Jesus stayed behind”--not that he was left behind or forgotten. As traumatic as this experience might have been for Mary and Joseph, Jesus undoubtedly had a purpose for staying in Jerusalem. Mary was worried, perhaps ...

4336. In Praise of Perseverance

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... for vice-president and received fewer than 100 votes. Eventually, of course, Lincoln succeeded by being elected president. Lincoln persevered and what a difference it made to American history! Many things are different in this present age, but perseverance remains a key ingredient to developing and using one's gifts. In the late seventh century, the Pope dispatched an Irish monk named Boniface to minister to the barbarian Germanic tribes of northern Europe. In addition to preaching Christ, Boniface ...

4337. When the Dragon Wins

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... after a good meal. This fire-breathing monster is leaning against a tree, belly distended from lunch, contented look on his face, and a little puff of smoke rising from the corner of his lips. Scattered on the ground around the dragon are all that remains of the brave knight who battled the monster — a metal helmet, the crusader's sword, his shield, bits and pieces of his now-empty armor. That knight in shining armor was the main course at lunch. The caption on the picture reads: "Sometimes the dragon ...

4338. When the New Comes, the Old Passes

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... a conversation Jesus had with two convicted criminals as all three were hanging on crosses. The conversation is rich in nuance and meaning. The Lord asks that his tormentors be forgiven. One of the criminals repents and seeks forgiveness. The other remains unrepentant, even recalcitrant. Appropriate to Christ the King Sunday, there is an element of gazing toward the future when the repentant criminal says, "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will ...

4339. Uncovering Cover-Ups

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... my witnesses to call right right and wrong wrong. And that is precisely what is happening through courageous, committed spokesmen like Charles Colson. That is precisely what is happening in thousands of religious communities all across this land and the world. We remain convinced there is a right in the world and a wrong. Everything is not dissolved into amoral relativism. II. If the divine Spirit convicts the world of sin, it also convicts of righteousness and justice. The pastoral letters of the New ...

4340. The Challenge to Forgive

Luke 7:36--8:3

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... defiantly replies, "I'll see you in hell, William Munny." "Yes," Munny agrees, as he kills him. All the work of Munny's late wife toward his reformation and forgiveness was undone. Tragically, at the movie's end, violent and murderous as ever, he remains unforgiven. Our text for today from Luke's gospel also involves a prostitute — a prostitute some 1,800 years previous to those in the movie. And unlike the prostitutes in the movie who are seeking revenge, the prostitute in the biblical story is seeking ...

4341. The Wrong Gift

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... a baby! A helpless baby! It doesn't make sense! That's where we need to take another look at what is going on here. Although the gospels of the New Testament are among the most widely recognized and read literary documents in the world, it remains difficult to explain their exact genre. They have no parallel in any other religious or literary tradition. Certainly the gospels are not mere biographies. They do not offer enough data about the life of Jesus to construct a full story of his existence or to offer ...

4342. Discipleship: Backward or Forward to God

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... piece of the past rather than a living force of the present. They are not, as Blase Pascal observed, gambling on the supreme advantage of faith. They are at home in the old order and are unwilling to take risks for the new order. They remain mildly content with their parents' definition of reality rather than shaping new realities. Unlike Jesus, who had the courage to leave the repressive atmosphere of Nazareth, this disciple went home again and stayed home, devoted to the old order until at last he was ...

4343. The Good Samaritan (Revised Edition)

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... commuters from the suburb of Jericho, they frequently traveled the desolate road from Jerusalem to their ancient city. The road rose 3,400 feet in seventeen miles. Its rough terrain and large rocks made it a likely place for thieves and bandits. It has remained so even into the twenty-first century. In all likelihood, the priest and Levite were on their way to the temple for their religious duty. Their religious law stated that if they touched blood or a corpse, they would be religiously unclean for seven ...

4344. Our Father Who Art in Heaven

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... to ask directions. However, in the Bible the prototypical wanderer, Abraham, got his directions from God. God appeared to him, urged him to leave his country, his homeland, and relatives to go to a new land, a promised land where God would bless him. Rather than remain in the womb of the past, Abraham is summoned to leave the matriarchal nest to follow his adventuring God into a foreign land of promise. Woman: Of course it is fair to recall that later in Israelite history, Moses is summoned by God to be an ...

4345. An Unforgettable Baptism

Luke 3:21-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... approval for Jesus, His Son. This may seem boring, but it is vitally important. The doctrine of the Trinity cemented the idea in the mind of Christians that when we look at Jesus we are looking at an accurate picture of the character of God. Jesus, while remaining a human being, in all ways is a mirror image of God. It reminds me of a story that the Rev. George Thompson published on the Internet sometime back. He said that when he was a teen growing up in the Appalachian Mountains, he gained great respect ...

4346. An Extraordinary Wedding Gift

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... final farewells at his funeral, his mother, who had been married to his father for 50-plus years, removed his father’s wedding band and handed it to Patrick. Surprised, he placed the gold band on his left middle finger, next to his wedding band. There it has remained. He told the stranger that he wears his father’s wedding band to honor his father and his parents’ marriage. He also wears it to remind himself to be the son, brother, husband, and dad that his father wanted him to be. He is now 60 years ...

4347. Eyes Fixed Upon the Goal

Philippians 3:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... Without priorities . . . The athlete fails to win the prize . . . Couples fail to achieve marital happiness . . . Financial goals go unmet . . . Businesses go bankrupt . . . Churches become stagnant in their ministries . . . Students fail to make the grade . . . Dreams remain unfulfilled . . . Parents falter in raising their children properly. E. Stanley Jones in his book, Conversions, tells us that when people first started voting in India, the world’s largest democracy with two hundred million potential ...

4348. Christ, Incarnation of

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... spoke, “You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat of my coarse food, to care whether my heart is glad or sorry. On others you may bestow rich presents, but to me you have given yourself, and it only remains for me to pray that you never withdraw the gift of your friendship.” This beautiful story reminds us that Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, left the glories of heaven in order to share himself with us. That gift of his love and friendship will never be ...

4349. Caged By The Cross

Illustration

Michael P. Green

On a trip to the zoo, a boy and his father saw a huge lion. The lion prowled around his enclosure letting out chilling roars. The boy became very frightened and screamed grabbing his father's leg, but the father remained calm and unafraid. The boy saw only the lion; the father saw the lion but he also saw the cage. Christian’s view Satan as a fierce enemy caged by the cross.

4350. Vines of Habit

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... sometimes it won’t come off unless we are willing to also remove part of the fence itself. Bad habits are like a vine on a chain-link fence. The sooner we get after them, the easier they are to remove. But the old ones, the ones we’ve let remain in our life for years, are hard to get rid of. And sometimes they can’t be removed unless we also remove other parts of our life.

Showing results