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 4451 to 4475 of 4977 results

4451. Remember: Live Worthy of the Calling

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... other Tools in our Tool box will be. Because the tool of Giving empowers all the other Tools. And never think that your little bit is not enough. Or your little bit won't be missed. If you stopped putting your change in the Van Fund bucket. Or if you quite taking your load of papers to the recycling dumpsters it probably wouldn't make that much difference. But when you add what you do to what I do and what everyone else does, there is enough to make the payments on the Van. It's already paid one off and ...

4452. Connected

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... The vacuum purred quietly. She was so pleased. You could actually see the difference in the carpet even though the carpet had been vacuumed the day before with the old vacuum cleaner. She was very pleased. But then, all of a sudden, that pleasure ended. The vacuum just quit. One minute it was working the next minute it was off. She flipped the switch two or three times and then all of a sudden it was on again. She kind of shook herself, thinking that was weird, and went on. But then it vacuum went off again ...

4453. The Dawn of Forever

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , happy. He hadn't smiled much as a kid and rarely joked. Now he was witty and ebullient all the time. A quiet kid had become an outgoing adult man. And he didn't fit into the patterns of relationships he had left behind. Quite the contrary, his happiness and maturity were unsettling. He congratulated his former girl friend on her upcoming marriage and he shook hands cordially with the fiancé. There's something wrong with him, everybody said. His family went to the priest. And the priest concurred ...

4454. At Cross Purposes

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... from Mark 8:31-38 (NRSV) [31] Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32] He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33] But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." [34] He called the crowd with ...

4455. People of the Book

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... is a light for our path. The Bible gives us guidance in our daily lives. I said that the Bible is not to be used to settle arguments. Actually there is one historical event of the Bible being used for that purpose and it had a quite positive result. Imagine surgery before the day of anesthesia. Patients were strapped down while scalpel and saw cut through tissue and bone, every slice and turn of the knife causing unimaginable pain. One Christian physician determined to do something about it. Sir James Young ...

4456. God Knows What I Need

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

... words tonight. So, I'm just saying all the letters. God knows what I need, and he'll put all the words together for me." Now, that is not far from a proper way to pray! In seeking prayer we are looking for Christ's mind. We are not sure quite how to word our prayer. So we ask God to take our words and fit them into the correct prayer. We ask him to edit our prayers by cutting out the unnecessary, making corrections, and adding the necessities. We ask God to take our minds and make them his. We ...

4457. An English Grammar Reminder

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Brett Blair

I want you to reach back into your Junior High school experience and remember something your English teacher taught you. For some of you that's going to be quite a stretch. For others not so much. You know who you are. The concept I want you to pull up into your memory banks is the concept of a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in the English language where you use something totally unrelated to a particular ...

4458. Preparation G

Humor Illustration

Staff

Milton Berle understood persistence. "Mr. Television" during the 1950's was one of the great entertainers of the 20th century on stage, in film, radio and finally as a pioneer of television. Here are a couple of his one-liners about persistence: How would the guy have felt if he quit after 6 UP? Or the guy that stopped at Preparation G?

4459. God Will Be With Us

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... dressing room next to theirs and put her ear against the wall so she could listen to what they said. After a while, she heard the homeless woman say, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to buy a dress today.” The saleswoman answered, “That’s quite all right, Madam, but I’d like you to take my card. Should you come back to Nordstrom, I would consider it both a privilege and a pleasure to wait on you again.” Campolo’s friend was more than surprised by the kind and respectful way in which ...

4460. Christ Sets Us Free of All Chains

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

King Duncan

There is a story about an ancient Persian king who had injured his ankle quite severely. None of his court physicians knew how to help him. A member of his court told him about a certain slave who was said to have a great insight into matters of the body. The Persian king sent for the slave who was brought to him weighted down with ...

4461. Looking for a Savior

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Bruce Thielemann

Quite frankly, I'm sick to death of ideals. I have so many ideals and I've been so frustrated by them, I really don't care for them any more. What I'm looking for is a savior, not someone who will just tell me what I ought to be, but someone who will forgive me for what I am, and then with his very love will enable me to be more than I ever believed I could be. It's exactly that that Jesus does.

4462. Whose Wife Will She Be?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... small town of Maryville, TN. Duncan had just finished speaking to a group on the healing power of humor. This young man came up to him to tell him about the death of his brother. There were three brothers in their family. The family was quite involved in this small community and so, as youngsters, these three brothers were forced to accompany their parents to the funeral home for the receiving of friends whenever someone in the community died. As the boys grew into their teen years, they began to develop ...

4463. Looking Ahead to the Transition

Luke 20:27-38

Illustration

King Duncan

4464. Counting Our Spiritual Blessings

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... ever experienced a Christmas where a child has just received ten Christmas presents and then asks: ‘Is that all? Isn’t there more?’ “And then next Christmas, when the child is older and they receive only five gifts, they say: ‘Well, it wasn’t quite as good a Christmas as last year?’ When a person receives so many presents, one no longer has that deep inner gratitude but rather the expectation of more abundance. By contrast, if a person has never received a Christmas present and receives one ...

4465. Where Do We Get Our Brilliance?

Illustration

Michael Battle

... an environment of vulnerability; that is, to understand that when we are in relationships with others our humanity is bound up in the other's humanity. Desmond Tutu illustrates this by describing a light bulb that shone brightly and proudly. "[It] began to strut about arrogantly, quite unmindful of how . . . it could shine so brilliantly, thinking that it was all due to its own merit and skill." One day the light bulb is taken out of the socket and placed on a table. "Try as hard as it could, the light bulb ...

4466. The Post-it Note

Matthew 24:36-44

Illustration

I heard about a poor woman who had to patch up a friendship with a co-worker at the office. It seems that Mary was planning her Thanksgiving Day meal. Her in-laws were all going to be there, and she was in quite a tizzy trying to make sure everything turned out perfectly. She had post-it notes everywhere, reminding her of things she needed to pick up and things she needed to do. Her friend Sharon stopped by her desk at lunchtime on Wednesday. “Are you ready for lunch? This is the ...

4467. Possibilities of Grace

Matthew 3:1-12

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

... her son seated at the keyboard of the impressive Steinway. Oblivious to the crowd, he began to pick out the notes to "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." Just then Paderewski came on stage, quickly moved to the piano and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Leaning over the boy, the concert pianist reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side of the boy and added another part. Together the old master and the young novice ...

4468. Fear for the Future

Illustration

Leonard Mann

A story is told about a man who was a successful bill collector. He could collect old debts from people upon whom all the other collectors had given up years before. Someone asked him how he did it. He replied, "O, it's quite simple really. I just write them one letter, and in that letter I tell them just one thing, and that one thing is this: if you don't pay this bill immediately, that thing which you are afraid will happen will happen." He was, of course, gambling on the rather ...

4469. Adopted! Thank God!

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... to spiritual plenty. In a sense, he had been blind, but now he could see. Some of us, on the other hand, just don’t get it. We’ve been in church all our lives. The Christian life is just a synonym for respectability, decency, fitting in. We don’t quite get it when British evangelist, Michael Green says, “Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but to make dead men live.” We don’t think of ourselves as dead in our sins. And yet, if Christ does not live in our hearts, that is exactly what we are ...

4470. Aha! An Epiphany!

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... the dynamite King,” the great industrialist who had made an immense fortune from explosives. This as far as the general public was concerned was the entire purpose of his life. None of his true ideals were recognized or given serious consideration. He was quite simply a merchant of death, and for that alone would he be remembered . . . As he read his obituary with horror, Nobel resolved to make clear to the world the true meaning and purpose of his life. This could be done through the final disposition ...

4471. You Bring Me Great Pleasure

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a sacrificial commitment. It is not enough just to turn away from bad-news dead-ends. It is not enough to stop bending over backwards to please people, instead of bending at our knees to please God. Sometimes we are required to make actual sacrifices. To quit jobs which exist to exploit others. To end relationships that hurt ourselves, our families and our friends. To forgive others who speak the truth — even when we fear them and the truth they speak. To welcome those we least desire. To give to those we ...

4472. BAPTIZED IN SOLIDARITY WITH US

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Johnny Dean

... of my professors (although I didn't consider it a blessing at the time) to read and report on a little book by a German theologian named Oscar Cullmann. The book was entitled Baptism in the New Testament. Now, the writings of German theologians quite often are difficult for me to understand, sometimes because of linguistic problems in the translation, and sometimes just because their logic escapes me. Not so in this circumstance. This little book was a God send. In it, Dr. Cullmann not only acknowledges the ...

4473. John 1:29-42

John 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... his sandal” (1:27). Auspiciously these first followers do not first question Jesus. Rather, they are quizzed by Jesus — “What are you looking for?” (v.38). John’s disciples are trying to do the right thing. But they still are not quite on key. John’s loud testimony notwithstanding, they address Jesus, the one they are shadowing, as “Rabbi,” or “Teacher.” They only inquire of him “Where are you staying?” By using the title “Rabbi” John’s disciples demonstrate that they may have ...

4474. Who You Are

John 1:29-34

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... , Sluggo passes by and she doesn't even know it. When she overcomes her delight with herself she looks out from behind the tree, but Sluggo is nowhere to be found. She concludes her reverie in a dismal mood saying, "The trouble with my life is that the realities never quite live up to the expectations."

4475. Miss Donna

John 1:29-42

Illustration

James W. Moore

... our Kids Hope USA program. Every week she goes to a nearby elementary school to be a friend, encourager, and mentor to a little boy named John. John looks to be 6 or 7 years old. Donna and John have bonded in a beautiful way. Though there is quite a difference in their ages, Miss Donna – as John calls her – has become John's best friend. Once each week, she visits him at school, helps him with his school work… and then "going the second mile" every Saturday, Donna takes John to do exciting things that ...

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Showing 4451 to 4475 of 4977 results

4451. Remember: Live Worthy of the Calling

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

4452. Connected

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

4453. The Dawn of Forever

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

4454. At Cross Purposes

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

4455. People of the Book

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

4456. God Knows What I Need

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

4457. An English Grammar Reminder

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Brett Blair

4458. Preparation G

Humor Illustration

Staff

4459. God Will Be With Us

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

4460. Christ Sets Us Free of All Chains

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

King Duncan

4461. Looking for a Savior

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Bruce Thielemann

4462. Whose Wife Will She Be?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

4463. Looking Ahead to the Transition

Luke 20:27-38

Illustration

King Duncan

4464. Counting Our Spiritual Blessings

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

4465. Where Do We Get Our Brilliance?

Illustration

Michael Battle

4466. The Post-it Note

Matthew 24:36-44

Illustration

4467. Possibilities of Grace

Matthew 3:1-12

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

4468. Fear for the Future

Illustration

Leonard Mann

4469. Adopted! Thank God!

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

4470. Aha! An Epiphany!

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

4471. You Bring Me Great Pleasure

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

4472. BAPTIZED IN SOLIDARITY WITH US

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Johnny Dean

4473. John 1:29-42

John 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

4474. Who You Are

John 1:29-34

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

4475. Miss Donna

John 1:29-42

Illustration

James W. Moore

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