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 451 to 475 of 4944 results

451. Messiah’s Community

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

In his widely-read testimony, Man’s Search for Meaning, famed psychiatrist Viktor Frankl remembered a terrible day during World War II. He was on a work gang, just outside the fences that hid the horrors of Hitler’s infamous Dachau death camp. “We were at work in a trench,” wrote Frankl. “The dawn was gray around us; gray was the sky above; gray the snow in the pale light of dawn; gray rags in which my fellow prisoners were clad, and gray their faces.” Frankl told how he was ready to die. It was as if the ...

452. Keep Your Mind On The Spirit

Romans 8:5

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A basketball Lesson: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Good morning, boys and girls. Today I want to tell you a story about a young man who became a great athlete. His name was Ervin. He was a little black boy who lived in a poor neighborhood with his family. Most of the time Ervin and his brothers and sisters didn't get lots of presents for Christmas or ...

453. The Gift That Keeps On Giving

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Keith Hammer

It is a hectic Sunday morning after worship. People are streaming in and out of the pastor’s office as he tries to put away all of the things that seem to have accumulated on his desk since he arrived earlier that morning. Suddenly Neta appears at the door. “Pastor, I’d like you to meet Emily Johnson. She’s worshiping with us for the first time today and wants to join our church.” The pastor puts aside what he is doing and greets Emily warmly. He invites her to sit down for a minute so that he can get to ...

454. Keep Your Eyes Open

Luke 2:26

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A curtain or a window blind. Good morning, boys and girls. Today is New Year's Eve and that is a special time of celebration. What are you going to do tonight to celebrate the New Year? (Let them answer.) What are you going to do different next year that you did not do this year? (Let them answer.) Are you going to make any promises to yourself that we call New Year's Resolutions? (Let them answer.) I am going to promise that I will not gain any weight this year and that I hope to lose twenty ...

455. Open Up To Life

Mark 7:24-37

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call to Worship Leader: Open us to hear, O God. People: Open us to see. Leader: Open us to feel. People: Open us to live. All: Open us to do your work. Collect Even when we are in strange surroundings, among people different from ourselves, or in uncomfortable situations, we are still yours, O God. We still want to do what is fair and what is right. In the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen. Prayer of Confession Even when we yearn to go about unrecognized or without social responsibility, you, God, are there ...

456. Keep Running

Humor Illustration

A middle-aged man was puffing around the track that circled the high school football field while the team was practicing. When the players started running their sprints up and down the field, he told himself, "I'll just keep running until they quit." So they ran. And he ran. And they kept running. And he kept running. Finally, in exhaustion he stopped. An equally exhausted football player walked past the jogger and said, "Boy, I'm glad you finally stopped, mister. Coach told us we had to keep running wind ...

457. Holy Arithmetic

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Donald Macleod

First Series Up-Dating Out-Dated "Holy" After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" ...

458. Christmas Questions

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

John Jamison

This passage has puzzled me. The story is pretty simple; John the Baptist sends some of his followers to talk to Jesus, to ask him if he is really the Messiah they have been waiting for, or if they should keep looking. Rather than getting into a bunch of theological jargon, which God's Son could probably do even better than most preachers, Jesus simply tells them to look around at what they see going on and decide for themselves. What they see is amazing; the blind are receiving sight, people who haven't ...

459. Stand Up Straight

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One weekend in one of our contemporary services, we invited the worshippers in a time of prayer to say out loud what they were grateful for. There happened to be two young mothers sitting on the front row. One said, "For my healthy children." The other mother said, "For God's provision." I happened to know that that second mother has a child who has suffered recurring seizures throughout his young life. Both of these mothers offered legitimate praise to God. But somehow I feel the second mother had seen a ...

460. Lift Up Your Heads!

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

A.J. Gordon was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston, Massachusetts. One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, " ...

461. Polished Up For Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: four children's outfits -- a casual play outfit, one fancy girl's dress, one fancy boy's jacket, and a pair of children's pajamas (the rattier the better). Might want to put the clothes in a box to keep them out of view until the appropriate time. Good morning, boys and girls. What if I told you that someone very important was coming for Sunday lunch today? I'm talking somebody superimportant, like Michael Jordan or the President of the United States. Would you do anything special to get ready for ...

462. All Wrapped Up

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

He is risen! [He is risen indeed!] This must have been the exclamation that followed Simon Peter and John’s visit to the tomb after hearing from Mary Magdalene that early, dark morning that we call resurrection day. Sometime in the night, something miraculous had occurred. Something had changed. When Mary came to the tomb and found the stone removed, she also found that Jesus was missing. And yet, there was evidence left behind. And that evidence is extremely important to the telling of the resurrection ...

463. Mountaintop Experience

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

Some years ago, the History Network created a strange new hit series. It began as “Ice Road Truckers,” monitoring the dangerous winter haulage north of Yellowknife on the frozen Canadian tundra. Then, after several seasons of gaining familiarity with the top tonnage truckers, the network displaced them to northern Alaska and introduced new challenges and new road masters. Finally, in a thrilling new twist, three of these rig lords and ladies were transported to the Himalayan heights of upper India. There ...

464. Terms Of Endearment

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

In his short story, “The Capital of the World,” Ernest Heming- way reported an event they talk about in Madrid. A young man named Francisco, lovingly called Paco by his parents, grew to be a teen at odds with his father. No matter how a day began, it was sure to end with angry words and heated arguments. Paco and his father became enemies living under the same roof. Finally the young man ran away, drifting eventually to the large metropolis of Madrid, where anyone could get lost and create a new identity. ...

465. Rich In God's Sight

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Richard Patt

The key verse of the parable Jesus tells here has a way of sending a chill down the spine. In that verse God exclaims, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you ..." (v. 20). Hearing that dramatic warning, maybe you have surmised, "Will I ever get caught in a situation where those stern words are addressed to me?" Generally we tend to feel we have our lives on the right track. We try to keep a pleasing balance between material things and the things of the spirit. But when we look objectively, we are ...

466. Watching The Eyes

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

John Jamison

The way it happened in my mind is that he walked into this little restaurant in downtown Jericho, took a deep breath and hollered, "Repent!" Folks stopped eating mid-bite. It got so quiet you could hear the motor running in that tall machine over in the corner that kept slices of pie turning around behind the glass all day. Every eye in the place was on him, and that was what he was waiting for. He started talking, and shouting, and waving his arms, and every time someone would try to laugh at him and go ...

467. Filled Up!

Acts 2:4

Children's Sermon

Object: A pitcher of water, a glass. Good morning, boys and girls. Today I want to tell you about a fantastic day that we call the birthday of the Church. Did you know that the Church had a birthday? (Let them answer.) How old do you think the Church is? (Let them answer.) It might be a little hard to get the exact year, but I think that it is almost 1,960 years old. That is pretty old isn't it? It was a day like this long ago when the Holy Spirit came to people like you and me, and made them Christians by ...

468. Swept Up Together

Luke 11:14-28

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A vacuum sweeper and some objects that can be picked up and some that cannot be picked up. Good morning, boys and girls. Isn’t it great to be together? There is something about all being together with Jesus here on Sunday morning that we think is absolutely great. Jesus likes for us to stick together and he said so a lot of times. He knew that it was better for us to be together than separated because for some reason it seems that we are stronger when we have each other. We act better, think better ...

469. Going Down to Look Up

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Curtis Lewis

Our story opens with Naaman, the military Chief of Staff of the Aramean army. Naaman is a very great man who has received the favor of the King of Aram, Syria, because of his victory over Israel. Anytime Israel lost a battle or a war, the disaster was felt to be the hand of God at work. In the theology of ancient Israel, no foreign army could be victorious over Israel unless it was God's will. As we read this story in 2 Kings 5, we come to the conclusion that Israel's defeat is in accordance with the will ...

470. Some Healing Is Up To You

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is a famous legend in Buddhist folklore in which the Buddha compared philosophical preoccupation with settling the matter of God’s existence to a man shot with a poisoned arrow. Before the man can allow the arrow to be withdrawn and the wound treated, he insisted upon knowing who shot him, what sort of poison was in the arrow, and what kind of medicine would be administered.. The man died before the questions were answered. Buddha concluded that in the same way, people need to be rescued from the ...

471. Speak Up for Forgiveness

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The Christian faith boasts a "Six Step" Recovery Program to repair and restore broken relationships. If, as we discussed in last week's sermon ideas, the marriage covenant is sealed in freshness and finality through the culturally dubious virtue of faithfulness, that is still only half the story. In order for one weak, struggling, stumbling, sinful human being to remain faithful to another similarly hamstrung human being, there needs to be an enormous flow of forgiveness between the two. Faithfulness ...

472. The Crux Of Being A Christian

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Richard Patt

For a moment, call to mind Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. Green pastures. Still waters. A cup overflowing. Oh, yes! There is a serene side of being a Christian. But this Gospel reading in Luke crashes in on our spiritual serenity. The spell of a peaceful religion is shattered. We become startled as we hear Jesus speak these uprooting words. Some believers have admitted to being shocked and puzzled by what Jesus says here. How about you? How do these words strike you? If anyone comes to me and does not ...

473. God's Passionate Concern

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Richard Patt

474. Take Up Your Ministry

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Several years ago at my previous congregation I remember a discussion I had with the church council. It was very revealing of the kind of distorted vision of ministry that is very much afoot in the church these days. I had a sudden change in my vacation plans and was going to have to be out of town for a Sunday that I had not planned on. I was having great difficulty finding another pastor to fill the pulpit. It was the summer. Many pastors are already on vacation and those who are available for pulpit ...

475. Get Up and Go

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A primary Sunday school class invited their pastor to view their Christmas art work. On the bulletin board were posted pictures of the Holy Family at the manger, angels singing to shepherds in the field, and wise men bringing their gifts to the Christ child. One drawing, however, puzzled the pastor. It was a picture of the Holy Family boarding a jet plane with the pilot already in the cockpit. “Tell me about this picture," said the pastor. The little boy who drew it spoke up and said, “That is Mary and ...

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