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 4351 to 4375 of 4972 results

4351. Nothing but the Blood

1 John 1:7

Sermon

James Merritt

... thought, without any question, they would simply hold and all these men would be saved by the rope they were connected to. But when the rope ran its length, the cord snapped into. The climbers watched in horror as their friends scrambled hopelessly to stop their slide over the slick precipice. Within seconds the three men fell screaming to their deaths 4000 feet below. For a half hour the other three climbers were frozen in silence and fear, unable to move. Finally, they began that slow painstaking descent ...

4352. The Secret of Self-Esteem

Ephesians 1:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... would you like to be?" Well, one of his daughters said, "I would like to be the bionic woman." The other children followed suit and thought of someone famous they would like to be. But his youngest child, Chuck, Jr., never said a word. As they pulled up to a stop sign, Chuck, Sr. looked at his son and said, "Chucky?" He said, "Yes, sir?" He said, "Who would you like to be?" His son said, "I'd like to be me." He said, "Why do you want to be you?" He said, "Because I like me better than anybody I ...

4353. Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... for the war. In fact, I believe there are a lot of Christians who do not even realize there's a war going on. I read about a fellow who had had too much to drink, and he was driving the wrong way on a one-way street. A policeman stopped him and said, "Hey buddy! Didn't you see the arrows?" He said, "Arrows? Man, I didn't even see the Indians!" I'm afraid there are a lot of Christians who don't realize who their enemy is; they don't realize there is a war going on; they ...

4354. Bitterness: How to Overcome What You Undergo

Hebrews 12:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

... but wide river, and waded through it to the other side. But when the traveler came out of the river, many leeches had attached themselves to his stomach and his legs. His first instinct was to grab them and pull them off. The guide quickly stepped in and stopped him and warned him that pulling the leeches off would only leave tiny pieces of them under the skin, and eventually infection would set in. He said, "What do I do?" The guide said, "The best way to rid your body of leeches is to bathe in a warm ...

4355. Just a Closer Walk With Thee

James 4:8

Sermon

James Merritt

... in spiritual poverty all the days of my life. Now I am not trying to imply that television is always evil, or it is always evil to watch television. But if you are going to have a quiet time, you must set a time to be quiet. Now let me stop here and give you a caution. The great danger people face when they make a fresh determination to spend time with God, is they set aside at the beginning too much time. Some of you with good intentions may say after this message, I'm going to begin everyday spending ...

4356. Star Witness

John 1:35-51

Sermon

James Merritt

... turn until Ness discovers the one person who can put him away—his bookkeeper. The climatic scene in the train station is one of the most exciting I have ever seen, as the mob is trying to get the bookkeeper out of town while Ness is trying to stop them; and he succeeds only after a blazing gun battle ensues over one lowly bookkeeper. You ask—what was so important about the bookkeeper? He is the star witness—the one person whose testimony can send Al Capone to prison and change his life forever. A star ...

4357. The Only Guide You Need

John 16:12-15

Sermon

James Merritt

... are two basic forms of communication this guide will use: the tapping together of ski poles to assure the blind person that the guide was there; and the speaking of simple instructions about what to do next. The guide may say, "Go right, turn left, stop, slow, skier coming up on your right." The only responsibility of the blind skier is to exhibit complete trust and immediate obedience to the instructions of the guide.1 Life is much like skiing downhill totally blind. We can't see even five seconds into ...

4358. Murder in the First Degree

Matthew 5: 21-26

Sermon

James Merritt

... , suppose you want to kill someone and you even have the murder all planned out but at the last moment you change your mind. Jesus said you are guilty of murder. Just because you didn't follow through, because you couldn't pull the trigger or because something stopped you does not mitigate the fact that you had the attitude of a murderer. Suppose someone decides they want to murder you. At the last minute, it is not that they are afraid of having your blood on their hands. It is not because of a guilty ...

4359. Fatal Attraction

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... ordered his crew to fill their ears with wax so they could not hear the songs. He then commanded them to bind him to the mast as they passed the island so that he could not change his orders. The song of adultery can be overcome, but it never stops playing. Remember, sexual sin of any sort is a fatal attraction, but it can be overcome through Jesus Christ and His Word. 1 The Atlanta Journal, 9-10-95. 2 John Armstrong, Can Fallen Pastors Be Restored?, pp. 29-30. 3 "A Bad Start?", Newsweek, January, 1999. 4 ...

4360. Your Word is Your Bond

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... good personalities, if they worked well with the public, but you could not believe anything that they said? Of course you wouldn't for that type of person causes trouble and stays in trouble. I heard about a man who was driving a car down the road and he was stopped by a police officer. The police officer came up to the car and the man said, "What's the problem officer?" The officer said, "Sir, you were going 75 miles an hour in a 55 mile per hour zone." The man said, "No sir, I was going 65." His wife ...

4361. When God Speaks You Better Listen

Jonah 1:1-17

Sermon

James Merritt

... love the story of a little boy who kept riding his bicycle around the block, and a police officer was sitting by the side of the road and he watched this little boy ride around the block about ten times. Finally, he got out of his squad car and stopped him and said, "Son, you keep riding around this same block over and over, what are you doing?" The little boy said, "I'm running away from home." The officer said, "Running away from home? How can you be running away and keep going around the same block?" The ...

4362. Why You Should Be Afraid of Sin

Numbers 32:23

Sermon

James Merritt

... you until it finds you, unless you deal with it at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. The context of this verse is very illuminating. Israel was at the threshold of entering into the promised land, but two of the twelve tribes, Reuben and Gad, wanted to stop short of crossing over. They liked the land east of the Jordan River, and they wanted to stay right there. But the Lord had told the entire nation that they must, as one, enter the promised land, fight the battle, win the war, and take the land that ...

4363. Why You Should Trust In God

Proverbs 3:5-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... entire time this little girl has a smiling happy face and doesn't seem bothered at all. As the rhinoceros gets closer these words appear on the screen: "Trust is not being afraid." A split second before the rhinoceros tramples that little helpless child, it stops, and the little girl still smiling, reaches up and pets the animal on that massive horn. The final words then appear, "Even when you're vulnerable." That commercial was designed to show why we ought to trust an insurance company. But I'm here to ...

4364. Slaying the Green-Eyed Monster

Proverbs 27:4

Sermon

James Merritt

... his hands groping for the button that would bring the night nurse running, but he couldn't find it. The other man could have helped him, but he didn't make a move, he just watched. The coughing racked the darkness—on and on—choked the man off and then stopped. The man quit breathing and died while the other man just continued to stare at the ceiling. The next morning the day nurse came in with water for their baths and found the other man dead. They took away his body and as soon as they came back, the ...

4365. His Way is the Right Way

Psalm 23:3

Sermon

James Merritt

... in California told about the day her little three-year-old son was literally on her heels wherever she went throughout the house. She was having trouble doing her routine chores because her little son would walk right behind her. She said that whenever she stopped to do something and turned around, she would trip over her little boy. Several times she suggested fun activities to keep him occupied, but he would just smile and say, “That’s all right Mommy, I’d rather be in here with you.” She said ...

4366. Me, Myself and God

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... against a rock because he’s going crazy from the flies. He will run, he will bleat, but nothing works. Now if the sheep gets no relief, he becomes so bothered and irritated by the flies, that he will quit eating. He then begins to lose weight, he then stops growing, and eventually he will die. So what does the shepherd do? The shepherd anoints the head of that sheep with a mixture of olive oil and sulfur. Now that oil does two things. First of all, it kills the larva and the eggs that are inside the nose ...

4367. Why You Should Spend Time with God

Psalm 37:4-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... Daylight Doughnut Shop. They make some world class doughnuts. Well, driving alone I thought “a cup of coffee and a doughnut would really hit the spot.” But then I remembered my diet so I just simply said this prayer: “God, if you want me to stop for a doughnut, let there be a parking place right in front.” Sure enough the seventh time around the block there was that parking place. Now sometimes our desires are just that, they’re selfish. Other times our desires are satanic. There are times when ...

4368. The Great Depression

Psalm 42:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... recreation; God also knows we need refreshment. That’s why David said in v.6, “Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, from the Hill Mizar.” What David was saying, “I’m going to just stop, lay down all of my worries and concerns, take a break and just meditate, and just think, just chill out and rest.” Not even Superman can always be running around wearing himself thin, breaking his health down, and never getting any rest. Even Superman slept ...

4369. Why You Should Manage Your Time

Psalm 118:24

Sermon

James Merritt

... from God who gave it to you, and then you’re killing yourself because you don’t really kill time—time kills you. It is vitally important if we are going to manage time that we understand just how valuable it is. The clock is running, and it does not stop. To realize the value of one year ask a student who failed a grade. To realize the value of one month ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. To realize the value of one week ask the editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of ...

4370. Why You Should Study the Bible

Psalm 119:105

Sermon

James Merritt

... weed. They cleaned off all of the grass, but they discovered nothing. But that Fall that vineyard produced the finest crop of grapes in the history of that family. Then they realized what that wise old father had done. He had forced them to stop loping around and waiting for money to come, and instead tricked them into cultivating the vineyard. The secret of his wealth was the vines, which properly cared for, would make them very rich. We, too, have a vineyard that will produce unbelievable spiritual wealth ...

4371. The Near Edge of God

Jn 1:1-3, 14

Sermon

... restaurant at the base of Diamond Head, where we ate our fill, spent our wad, foreswore the taxi and walked home along the shore. Taking off our shoes, we danced the line where the water quietly kissed the sand (except for those moments, of course, when we stopped to quietly kiss each other). And we were thankful that the sea ... also true to its nature ... was making itself known to us in this way. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning ...

4372. The Tincture of Time

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to form on the wheat blades, and it became all too apparent that the darnel weed was sown throughout the crop, the root systems of the two plants were hopelessly intermingled. Pulling out the darnel would also uproot and destroy the wheat. The land owner stops his servants from ripping out the weeds and instead prescribes "the tincture of time:” Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but ...

4373. Which Weed to Pull Out?

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Illustration

Johnny Dean

... mother of two beautiful children. Her father called me and gave me the news. "We've had to have her committed to the mental ward at Baptist Hospital. She was okay as long as she was taking her medicine. But she didn't think she needed it anymore, so she stopped taking it last week. Please go up and see her. We told them it was okay to let you in." I was just a seminary student, a minister in training, not a psychiatrist. I didn't want to go. I didn't know what I could say that would make ...

4374. What Is Heaven Like? - Sermon Starter

Mt 13:31-43

Illustration

Brett Blair

... asked the lone attendant to fill the tank and check the oil; then went for a little walk around the station to stretch his legs. As he was returning to the car, he noticed that the attendant and his wife were engaged in an animated conversation. The conversation stopped as he paid the attendant. But as he was getting back into the car, he saw the attendant wave and heard him say, "It was great talking to you." As they drove out of the station, Wheeler asked his wife if she knew the man. She readily admitted ...

4375. Sowing Tiny Seeds

Matthew 13:31-35

Illustration

King Duncan

... -tap of a cane on the sidewalk. It was an old man "bent from the years" his rough, knotted hand purposefully clutching a cane." But this old man had a peculiar custom as he roamed the streets of this small town. When this gentleman saw a child he would stop, reach into his pocket and give the child a picture of Christ. "He would thrust it into the child's hand and continue on his way, never speaking a word." What this gentleman did certainly doesn't seem like a big deal. However, this small act of kindness ...

Showing results