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 4626 to 4650 of 4943 results

4626. Allegiance to Nation and to God

Matthew 22:15-22

Bulletin Aid

... nation, Father, and commit ourselves to its support and defense. But we would not want that allegiance to interfere with our devotion to you. Nevertheless, we interfere with it ourselves through apathy. Forgive us when we are so careless in giving you what is yours, but continue to expect you to bless our land and our lives. Make us a strong nation to people who are sincere in our devotion to you, and in our support of one another. In our Savior's name we pray. Amen. Hymns "God of Our Fathers" "My Country ...

4627. The Gospel is God's Message, Not Man's

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Bulletin Aid

... We need your word, O God, but much of what we hear, we give little thought to, because it comes with human voice. Forgive us when you have used your servants to speak to us, and we have turned a deaf ear, dismissing it as thoughts of the human mind. Continue to use your servants, that we may know your word. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. Hymns "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" "Pour Out Thy Spirit from on High" "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus" "Ye Servants of God"

4628. Thanksgiving

2 Corinthians 9:6-15, Luke 17:11-19, Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Bulletin Aid

... our expectations. God is so good! Pastor: God is faithful with his goodness. We should be just as faithful with our gratitude. People: May the way we live be a daily prayer of thanksgiving to God for his goodness. Collect Loving God, you deserve a continual prayer of thanksgiving for all your goodness to us! Keep our hearts and minds sensitive to your generosity; that we may always be in communion with you to express our gratitude. In our Savior's name we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession We praise you ...

4629. Epiphany 1 - Baptism of Our Lord

Isaiah 42:1-9, Acts 10:23b-48, Matthew 3:13-17

Bulletin Aid

... 's Spirit is present in Christ Call to Worship Pastor: Our Lord's ministry was blessed with God's saving presence to bring healing and wholeness. People: Wherever Jesus went, God's power went with him ministering to those in need. Pastor: Jesus' ministry continues today as he visits us with his saving presence. People: We are people who need Jesus. We thank God he has ordained his Son to meet our needs, too. Collect Most merciful Father, who baptized your Son into a healing ministry which brings wholeness ...

4630. A Claim to a Crown

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

George Bass

... on? Does faith in Christ sustain us in the face of a sure and certain death? If God has given us a gift of grace by postponing Jesus’ return until some later time, we had better not spend that time quaking in fear of death or worrying continually about the possible end of humanity and all other life. Jim Klobuchar wrote about the illness and death of a man, Russ Skoe, who lived a rather remarkable kind of life as a pharmacist in northern Minnesota. Despite all the good things he had done, and the whole ...

4631. Joseph’s Dream

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

... Mary’s experience with Gabriel in an kind of "So be it. Let God do his miracle. We will abide by it." They were probably more aware than we are that every birth is a miracle wrought by God. God, in a sense, is the ultimate magician, continuing to work his miracles of creation in our world. Human magicians are best at making things disappear and, sometimes, reappear. But they cannot do what God has done and is doing in his creation. Doug Henning, for example, began by making his pet turtle disappear, "then ...

4632. A Manger is Christ’s Cradle

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

... , but we didn’t want to go back and tell the children that we had to drive on in approaching darkness until we found a place to spend the night. Besides, we wanted to spend part of a day in this lovely resort city, so we continued to look. The twenty-second place where we stopped just happened to have space for us - on the ground floor. Gratefully, we took it, and we weren’t even perturbed when we discovered, upon awakening the next morning, that people were eating breakfast in the courtyard right ...

4633. Deliverance by a Dream

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

... Christmas celebrations. As we give God thanks for the Christ child and for protecting him when his life might have been snuffed out, we need to remember we can and must do something to protect and help all of the children of the world. We must continually pray and work for peace throughout the world, so what we sing at Christmas time will become reality: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased. Israel, Egypt and all nations must become friends who honestly respect ...

4634. Jesus - the Holiest Name

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

... for baseball and became the best hitter on the team and, after that, he says, "nobody bothered me any more." But there was another boy whom they’d call ‘Kike’ and things like that, as they had Neil Simon; he couldn’t play baseball and the insults continued. "Biloxi Blues" was written partly on his behalf. At the time those things were happening, Simon did nothing because he didn’t know what to do. He does now.23 And Jesus? He simply let them put him to death, crucify him on Golgotha and in that ...

4635. The Lamb of God

John 1:29-34

Sermon

... . The first one followed this headline: "Claims of Mengele death don’t end search." Despite the report that Joseph Mengele’s body had been found and exhumed from a grave in Brazil, the "Nazi hunters" were not convinced by the evidence. They would continue their search for the "Angel of Death" of Nazi concentration camp infamy until they had absolute proof that the corpse was Mengele’s. The second article’s headline read: Behind the scenes/Bavarian town tries to shake stigma of the "Angel of Death ...

4636. Training Session

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

... of us his own, given us the very blessings of the kingdom - the knowledge that he has saved us, set us free from sin and self, and incorporated us, through baptism, into that kingdom which will have no end. Therefore, we have reason indeed for being continually joyful, because the blessings of the kingdom are ours. As I write this, two young men are canoeing from the headwaters of the Mississipi River, in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to New Orleans, a 2,200-mile journey, in the hope they can raise a minimum of ...

4637. Second Lesson

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

... pastor had planned. Someone asked the assistant to the bishop of his denomination, "What will happen when he runs out of ideas and gimmicks?" "Oh," came the reply, "I’m sure he will recharge his batteries and come up with some new ideas and programs that will continue to work." He didn’t. He couldn’t, because he was operating on a superficial level and was not wired into the power source existing in the Word and the Holy Spirit. Before long, he moved on and soon was forgotten. To be "the light of the ...

4638. Cross Work

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

George Bass

... the walls of Rome, there is a spot called Tre Fontana (Three Fountains); three chapels dedicated to St. Paul stand there, because this is the spot where he was beheaded. Legend has it that when his head struck the ground, three springs of water gushed forth and have continued to flow to this day.46 That’s why they named the place Three Fountains, but it is a viable symbol of Paul’s love of Christ and the Gospel that compelled him to go into all of the known world preaching the Gospel to all people and ...

4639. Walk in Light

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

... of the Lord from Jerusalem." In Isaiah’s vision, God’s Word went forth from Jerusalem like a blazing torch to give truth to our naturally dark minds. God’s Law sparked from Mount Zion to light a pillar of fire to guide us. Without that Law, we would continue only to beat our plowshares into swords and our pruning hooks into spears. Isaiah knew, as later Jesus proclaimed, that what defiles us comes out of the heart. We all need the light of God’s Word and the spark of God’s Law if we are to walk ...

4640. God as Woodcutter

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

... is not your descendancy from Abraham ..." John the Baptizer later repeated the same thing when he said, "God can raise up children to Abraham from the very stones of the street." (Matthew 3:9) "Nor is your identity anchored in the Law given you by Moses," Isaiah continued, "there is more. Do not pretend, either, that you need a king like David or Solomon to be God’s people. No, your religious identity is not based on blood lines, Laws, or Kings - it is based on the Word of God." That Word of God, heralded ...

4641. Given as Light

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

... . I have taken you by the hand and kept you. I have given you as a covenant to the people and as a light to the nations." God would work through this man. Later when his kinsfolk said he was crazy and his townsfolk tried to kill him, Jesus continued his work, trusting God. When they nailed him to the Cross, he believed that Cross could light up the nations. Even though this prophecy refers first and foremost to Jesus of Nazareth, it also applies to each of us through him as well. We are all a little like ...

4642. Hid in God

Isaiah 49:1-7

Sermon

... . And the people liked me. I began to wonder, "Has God been hiding me at St. Paul’s College until Gaithersburg needed me?" Later on I asked, "Has he been hiding me here in the Paulist Fathers so he could find me as a Lutheran?" The prophet Isaiah continued to speak about his "hidden away" feelings: "He made me a polished arrow and then in his quiver he hid me away." When God is preparing us for work, polishing us, sharpening our points, and putting nice feathers on us, we think, "He’s about to shoot me ...

4643. Pentecost’s Promises Judith Ann Cobb

Isaiah 44:1-5

Sermon

... grades, earn the money. They wear designer clothes to feel secure. They are freely offered the options of fast driving, free hours, and fantasy escapes into alcohol and other drugs. They say to me, "How can we make a public profession of our faith promising to continue in the Covenant God made with us in baptism?" I respond that they can make promises because they can always seek the guidance and help of God. I remind them that this is the God who says that since their baptisms they are important no matter ...

4644. A Faith To Live By John D. Mauney, Jr.

Deuteronomy 4:32-40

Sermon

... truths that God’s people of every age must embrace. God requires us to believe what he has done for us, and through our faith, to live as his people. He has led us also through many difficult problem areas of our existence, and he continues to require the same commitment of faith that Moses outlined so long ago. A young Army wife at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, watched a former Liberian missionary give endless hours assisting military families with their problems. Soon the Army wife was coming regularly to ...

4645. But Where is the Lamb? John W. Cobb

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

... and will guide them to springs of living water." (Revelation 7:17) He also sings "Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and power and glory and blessing." (Revelation 5:12) Yes, God did provide and continues to provide for us the lamb! Now, the question is: "Can it be said of us that our faith is a faith like Abraham’s or like the faith of Christ, that sees beyond the contradictions of obedience over against trust to the faithfulness of the God ...

4646. Where Does One Go When Darkness Floods One’s Life?

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

James Cobb

... For I have seen God face-to-face, and yet my life is preserved.’ " Look first at the background of our text. Abraham had been called by God to be the father of Israel, the chosen nation. Abraham was faithful to his call and his son Isaac continued the heritage with courage and faith. A family was born to Rebekah and Isaac among whom were the twins Jacob and Esau. Esau the first born inherited the birthright according to the law of the tribe; but Jacob tricked his brother out of the inheritance. Naturally ...

4647. Expectations of a Vital Faith James K. Cobb

Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon

... Father? The Christian creed is like a feeble lamp; it only makes the darkness darker. It does not seem to make sense. "If the Lord be with us why then does all this happen to us?" It is useless to suggest that we have easy answers to the continuing riddle of life. But there are some things we do know, and those glorious promises and assurances of God’s presence are replete in sacred Scripture. "In the beginning God"; and with that word to begin our scripture, we believe, we are assured, we expect that God ...

4648. When God Provides, It’s a Manna Miracle James G. Cobb

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

... promises about church or anything else and so, to this day, she remains an anonymous visitor. I believe she was directing her thanks to God for a life-line, for a blessing, for a rescue and for saving of her life! In light of the Exodus text, real life continues to produce God’s gracious provisions for our salvation. To this day I wonder if the woman ever had occasion to read or hear this story of the Israelites and whether she would ever consider her son’s popcorn to be God’s gift of manna for her? I ...

4649. Treasure's Tug

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

... , and lotteries. I have read also how they say, "If I win, I'm not going to change a bit." Who are they kidding! If they don't want their lives to be different, why are they entering in the first place? I suppose they really mean that they will continue to be the "same wonderful, lovable human being" that they are right now. Something in us is not so content and God knows it. We feel the treasure's tug and we know it holds out the promise of more, or better, or different. We sense the drawing power of ...

4650. Prayer in a Pinch

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

... who did not desert him. Let us remember that when we feel the winds which blow icy disappointment. Let us remember we are not spiritual weather forecasters but people of faith who will ride out of storms in the power of Christ. So, yes, I suppose we will continue to offer "prayer in a pinch," but when this is real prayer focused on Jesus Christ, we may grow to learn that all of life is a prayer lived from the mercies of God. Our dependence in crisis moments can blossom into a faith which depends on Christ ...

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