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 4501 to 4525 of 4972 results

4501. Easter Dreams

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... all other dreams possible lives on. Why did the Berlin Wall come crashing down? Because one church in Leipzig, East Germany, the KikolaiProtestantChurch, began dreaming the Easter Dream. Its pastor, Kristian Fuehrer, believed that it was time the Christian church stopped "diluting the message" of the gospel. So his church started some prayer meetings on Monday evenings, prayer meetings that began with the Easter Dream that "all things are possible." Within a short time, in his words, the people praying ...

4502. One Breathwork, Many Bodyworks

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... time when our horizons are both expanding and contracting. Never before has it been so easy to be in direct contact with people from all over the globe. Uplinks, downlinks, e-mail, tele-conferences, Internet, bulletin boards all these various electronic pit stops (and sometimes potholes) on the information highway offer people the chance to interact and interconnect in a nanosecond. In ways we have yet to comprehend, the "global village" has become a reality right under our noses and right at our fingertips ...

4503. What Is a Good Samaritan?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... -to-Cheek rather than Eye-for-Eye responses to injury; live-it-up people, who aren't afraid of the abundant life, but where abundance is not a treasure trove for us to squander on ourselves, but a trust for us to invest in others. It was love that stopped the Samaritan in his tracks along the Jericho road; love that reached out and tended the wounds of the hurt traveler, love that loaded the man on his own mount and took him to the inn for more care. 3. A Good Samaritan Disciple is ... Alive with Hope We ...

4504. Treasure Hunters

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , the outlaws, the poor and needy, he has challenged his whole congregation to pray, "Lord, send us the people no one else wants. Lord, send us your treasures, that we may treasure them as you would." When did ChristChurch begin to turn the corner? Wills says it was when he stopped praying, "Lord, bless our creative ideas" and started praying, "Lord, help us to be a part of what you are blessing."

4505. Call the Tribe of Issachar Together

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 1994, 61). The church as an organized institution has become too comfortable, too at home with the standards and values of the world. Our silence in the face of such signs of the times suggests that moral failure is really no more serious than rolling through a stop sign at a deserted intersection. The truth is, moral muck-ups are a symptom of a very serious condition heart failure. It is a sign that the central pump of our being is sick and faltering a sign of despair. Sign 3: Apathetic Attitude In 1993 ...

4506. Seeker-Friendly

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... crashed confidently into the opening chords of the song, putting the "pedal to the metal" in order to make a really good show. Immediately, the little boy cringed in terror and threw his arms around his father's neck pleading, "Daddy, make them stop the spooky music!" (Note: This story speaks volumes about busters and their reactions to Big Organ music.) How many of you have ever been "spooked" in church? To those not familiar with the weird and wonderful ways of the church, its traditions and forms ...

4507. Fan the Flames

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... continue to burn without the input of a careful prod here, a push there. We must be willing to work our fires if we would keep them burning brightly. California twins Robert and Anthony Duran started skipping school, and then they couldn't stop. Before their parents found out, they had skipped their entire freshman and sophomore years at CoronaHigh School. "Every day, we were always planning to tell our dad and every day, we just didn't," one of them told The Press-Enterprise of RiversideCounty (Ventura ...

4508. Home Improvement

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... our homes, there must be the highest level of commitment. Not a commitment to excellence or superiority or perfection - but a commitment to each other. One day, a little boy was trying to lift a heavy stone, but he couldn't budge it. His father, passing by, stopped to watch his efforts, and finally, he said to his son, "Are you using all your strength?" "Yes, I am!" the boy cried in exasperation. "No," the father said calmly, "you're not. You have not asked me to help you." 3. A need for forgiveness. Every ...

4509. No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets

Romans 1:16; 2 Cor 11:21-33

Illustration

Adrian Dieleman

... graduated from Yale University. Turning down high-paying job offers, he enrolled at Princeton Seminary. At this time, he entered two more words in his Bible: No Retreats. Completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first in Egypt for some preparation. While there he was stricken with cerebral meningitis and died within a month. Most people said, "What a waste." Even Borden's parents thought this until they paged through his Bible. In his Bible, underneath ...

4510. An Extraordinary Gift

Lk 1:26-38

Illustration

King Duncan

Wade Burton tells about a man who was riding a bus from Chicago to Miami. He had a stop-over in Atlanta. While he was sitting at a lunch counter, a woman came out of the ladies' rest room carrying a tiny baby. She asked the man, "Will you hold my baby for me, I left my purse in the rest room." He did. But as the woman neared ...

4511. Invitations from the Christ Child

Luke 1:26-38

Illustration

King Duncan

A woman visited a tourist town and stopped to see a cathedral. As she stared at the beautiful stained-glass windows, a feeling of peace washed over her. She hadn't felt that way since childhood, and she had a deep yearning to attend church again. Kneeling before the Christmas scene, she studied the figure of the Christ ...

4512. Living without Hope

Luke 2:21-40

Illustration

Tom Marcum

... them that he, nonetheless, believed his generation faced an even greater hardship. Limbaugh asked, “And what exactly would that be?” The caller said, “The loss of hope.” He said that his experience indicated that many of today’s young adults had simply stopped believing that things were going to get better. They didn’t expect to live as well as their parents had lived. They weren’t expecting a brighter future. They have simply given up hope. He said, The Great Depression, as terrible as it ...

4513. We Need a Revolution!

Illustration

King Duncan

... for this year is to be in worship every week. Good for you. That's one resolution you've kept for at least one week. I heard about one poor fellow who decided to make only resolutions this year he could keep. He resolved to gain weight, to stop exercising, to read less and watch more TV, to procrastinate more, to quit giving money and time to charity, to not date any member of the cast of Baywatch, and to never make New Year's resolutions again. Maybe he's onto something. Why torture ourselves when we ...

4514. Living for Balance

Illustration

Richard A. Wing

... I have observed many people who have paid attention to the body and diet and have neglected the spirit and are dying inside. Dr. Friedman gives suggestions for people to live less frantic lives by living more by the calendar than the clock: 1. Stop thinking about several things at one time. 2. Listen without interrupting. 3. Read books that demand concentration (games, too). 4. Avoid irritating people. 5. Plan for some personal quiet time each day. 6. Finally, things worth being are better than things worth ...

4515. Mark 9:38-50

Mark 9:38-50

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , so now the "chosen" community of the twelve try to distinguish themselves collectively as better than the rest of those who invoke Jesus' name. Aghast that a man outside their group would dare to cast out demons in the name of Jesus, they resolve to stop him. The disciples want the lines of Christian community to be sharply drawn, with cut-glass clarity about those who are in versus those who are out. Jesus smashes this sharp, self-defined smugness with his reprimand to John. The inclusive nature of the ...

4516. Mark 10:46-52

Mark 10:46-52

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... as a healing encounter, this story is filled with Bartimaeus' energy and action. His cries to Jesus are pointed and poignant. He will not be silenced by the embarrassed "shushing" of those around him, but repeats his frantic calling until Jesus is stopped in his tracks and orders the owner of this disembodied voice brought before him (vs. 49). The crowd's urging that Bartimaeus "take heart" seems fairly redundant. Bartimaeus' heart has obviously already gone out to meet the one whom he believes will heal ...

4517. Hebrews 10:5-10

Hebrews 10:5-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... text in the Psalm and the link that it makes with the new covenant language found in Jeremiah 31:33. The law written upon the believer's willing heart is a basic requisite of this new reality formed by the new covenant. But the writer of Hebrews stops short in his quotation so that he might continue to focus his reader's attention on the sacrifice made to bring this new covenant into existence. The old order required blood sacrifices (as noted in 10:4) of uncomprehending beasts such as bulls and goats. The ...

4518. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... a gift with numbers" (making him the perfect person to act as church accountant). Conversely, those churches traditionally scooted to the furthest folds of the faithful - the charismatic-pentecostal - have claimed for themselves the most dramatic, show-stopping gifts like speaking in tongues, prophesying and healing. Not surprisingly, the advocates of these two very different-looking kinds of gifts glare suspiciously at one another from across a theological chasm. While the oldliners accuse the pentecostals ...

4519. John 20:1-18

John 20:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to touch him at this point when he then invites Thomas the doubter to poke and prod away a few verses later? What does Jesus' command to Mary in v. 17 then really mean? Newer translations assert that Jesus' caution is in the present imperative, "Stop holding on to me," indicating that Mary was already touching him when he spoke. Obviously then, Jesus' admonition is not because something dire will happen to either of them if she touches him. The focus of Jesus' words shift to his next directive. Indeed some ...

4520. 1 Kings 19:9-14

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as God orders in v.11a, creeping out of his protective cave sanctuary and into God's presence. This week's portion concludes with the repetition of Elijah's complaints to God about Israel's treacherous behavior. It is strange, however, that the lectionary portion stops here. For, after twice hearing Elijah's lament, we do not get to hear God's reply. No more dramatics interrupt the dialogue between prophet and God. In vv.15-18 God explains to Elijah how judgment will be visited upon those threatening Israel ...

4521. 2 Kings 4:8-17

2 Kings 4:8-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... is painful to her. Verse 17 tells of the fulfillment of this proclamation. Note that Elisha's name is now carefully inserted into this narrative so that he gets proper credit for such a miracle. Obviously this story does not end here, even though our lectionary reading does. However, by stopping midway we are able to concentrate on how this Shunammite woman's actions of hospitality brought the miracle of God's grace directly into her life - in the miraculous tangibility of a child.

4522. Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the new age that has now begun, all are eligible to "prophesy" to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The gift at Pentecost is the stunning message of true equality and reciprocity among all people in the Spirit. Ironically, this week's lectionary reading stops at verse 21 before Peter reveals the capstone to his message, indeed the real reason for a Pentecost event. Peter and the rest of the disciples who we may now call "the church" have been invested with the power of this Holy Spirit so that they ...

4523. Matthew 14:22-33

Matthew 14:22-33

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... gospel readings in Matthew continue this week, the text moves us from one astounding miracle story to the next. Having healed all the sick and fed all the crowd, Jesus now leaves this deserted place by walking on water. According to Matthew, this one stop on Jesus' itinerary accounted for two of the most well-known messianic miracles. Although Jesus makes the disciples feed the crowd of hungry people who have followed him out to this isolated area (v. 13), when it is time for them to disperse, Jesus once ...

4524. Matthew 16:21-28

Matthew 16:21-28

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... time to digest this stunning revelation. Actually, there is no specific time frame given here by Matthew, who suddenly becomes rather indefinite about the rush of events at verse 21. Matthew's language, in fact, subtly suggests that the readers should stop thinking chronologically at this point and should instead shift their internal clocks over to apocalyptic time. Of the three passion predictions Jesus makes on his way to Jerusalem, only this very first discussion insists that Jesus "must" go to Jerusalem ...

4525. Joshua 3:7-17

Joshua 3:7-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , Joshua himself does not actually participate in performing the miracle. He describes what the result will be when the feet of the ark-bearing priests step into the river. But Joshua either does not know or does not reveal exactly how God intends to go about stopping the Jordan's flow. Joshua is content to focus on the end result the depths of the Jordan, like the depths of the Red Sea, shall "stand in a single heap" (v.13). Predications and preparations now begin to unfold in verses 14-16a. The Hebrew ...

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