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 4726 to 4750 of 4943 results

4726. An Our Good Works And Generosity

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Jesus was giving his famous Sermon on the Mount. In the middle of it he looked at the disciples from his sitting position (as was customary for Jewish rabbis of the first century when they were teaching). And Jesus said: "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 6:1)." To whom was Jesus referring with these words? He was probably talking here and at other points in the sermon about the Pharisees. ...

4727. For a Cancer Victim

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Eulogy

James W. Robinson

Mary at the Party Mary, for thirty years a recovering alcoholic, and afflicted with cancer, "kept on keeping on" with faith, hope, love, and unquenchable cheer, until she crossed life's final finish line. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." So said Paul in his letter to his young friend, Timothy. In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul also referred to a race. He wrote, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." ( ...

4728. Stairways Of Heaven

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Justin Tull

Our narrative begins with Jacob’s sending his family across the Jabbok stream while staying behind to spend the night alone. Tomorrow he must face his brother, Esau, whom he has not seen since he escaped after stealing Esau’s blessing and having fleeced him out of his birthright. Jacob does not know how his brother will receive him… but several possibilities have occurred to him -- none of them positive. It should come as no surprise that Jacob got little sleep that night. Who could sleep well, knowing ...

4729. Why Did Jesus Do That?

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Johnny Dean

If there’s one thing we Americans value above everything else, it’s freedom. We cherish, guard and exercise our freedom, and woe be unto those who threaten it in any way. We’re even willing to go to war to defend freedom, whether it’s ours or someone else’s. We are the world’s self-appointed watchdogs of freedom. But Jesus says there’s a higher value than freedom. The first words the writer of the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus speak are not about freedom, but about obedience to the will of God. That’s what ...

4730. Gentiles 'R Us

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

(Note: perhaps I should preface this sermon with a brief explanation for Web page readers of the events which occurred in the week preceding the writing – specifically, on one particular day of that week. A long-time church member – a dear, sweet lady in her late 70’s – had been hospitalized with a severe infection. While in the intensive care ward of the local hospital, she suffered cardiac arrest. The attending physician was able to get her heart restarted, but only after a delay of several minutes. ...

4731. God's Bag of Cookies

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Bertrand Russell once said, "It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly." Since Russell was an atheist, I’m very careful how and when to express agreement with his philosophy of life. But this is one area where I’m tempted to say the same thing when it comes to people’s possession of religion and politics (and I know I’m not supposed to use those two words in the same sentence from the pulpit, but its done now and I can’t take it back). We ...

4732. What God Joins Together

Mark 10:1-12

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: The inseparable nature of marriage. Props: Four cans of fresh Play-Doh. Make one of them blue and one pink to represent the man and the woman. The other two will represent two children. Place the four canisters in a tray large enough for the kids to work in. Lesson: Good Morning. (response) I have a question for you this morning. Does any know what happens when two people get married? (response) Jesus said that God joins them together. What do you think he meant by that? (response) Let's ...

4733. Emancipation Proclamation

John 8:31-41

Sermon

These are slippery words that Jesus used when, fifteen centuries ahead of Martin Luther, nineteen centuries ahead of Abraham Lincoln, he issued the emancipation proclamation: "If you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Slippery words, I said, for when we think we have these concepts, truth and freedom, neatly boxed and wrapped with pretty ribbons, they begin to slip away. The usual baggage we have stuffed inside of them is ...

4734. ... and Justice for All

Ezekiel 18:1-32

Sermon

"Is my way not just?" (v. 25) Prayer: O Lord, keep us from making hasty judgments until all the facts are in. Then let us temper our judgments with mercy, as you do to us. Amen Husbands and wives were invited to a Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club. After the opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, one woman remarked, "I don’t think I’ve said the Pledge of Allegiance since I was in grade school." Many of us have learned the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag in elementary school. ...

4735. The Resurrection of Our Lord

Acts 10:23b-48, Exodus 10:1-20, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18, Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon Aid

COMMENTARY Acts 10:34-43 (C); Acts 10:34, 37-43 (RC) Peter tells Cornelius and his friends that God raised Jesus from the dead. A very devout Roman centurion, Cornelius, sends for Peter to preach to him and his friends. In his sermon, Peter reviews the ministry of Jesus including the crucifixion and resurrection. It is to be noted that Peter says that God raised Jesus; he did not raise himself. Note also that Peter explains that the risen Christ did not appear to people in general but to a few chosen ones ...

4736. Kindness That Makes You Sorry!

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"... Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil." (NAS) A gentle Christian of the Society of Friends, a lady by the name of May Haviland, lived alone. One night as she entered her bedroom, she found a burglar rifling through her bureau drawers. When she turned on the light, he pointed a gun at her heart. She gently said to him: "Put that thing away. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s guns. Besides, if your ...

4737. Which Jesus? This Jesus!

Acts 17:1-9

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"... This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." A conductor said to the Lt. Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, as he was boarding a train, "Go right up the steps, sir, turn left, and take a seat." But the Lt. Governor turned right instead of left and found himself in an empty car. He had just settled himself down when some twenty people, all dressed exactly alike, came in the car. The conductor said, "Sir, I think you’ll want to move into the other car. You see, these people are all from the ...

4738. No Sooner Said Than Done!

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"For the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Words! Words! Words! Today we are bombarded on every side and saturated throughout with words coming to us through press, radio, and TV. There are 490,000 ...

4739. He Bore Our Sins

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

Every year during Lent, the role of Christ bearing his cross to Calvary is re-enacted in the village of Sartene, Corsica. This has been going on ever since the Middle Ages, and it always draws a big crowd of villagers and thousands of tourists who come for the occasion. Time magazine, when reporting on one of the more recent episodes, called it "one of the world’s most brutally powerful Holy Week processions." And the report was a graphic description of what happened: A grotesque lump of a man ... barefoot ...

4740. A SUNDAY OF THE PASSION [PALM SUNDAY] SERMON-DRAMA

Drama

Tom Eberle

The Sunday of the Passion [Palm Sunday] Modern reformers of the church calendar suggest that the observance of the passion of Christ be limited to Holy Week instead of extending it through the Lenten season. Because of this emphasis, the Sunday before Easter is designated the "Sunday of the Passion" rather than "Palm Sunday." The story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem might appropriately be used as part of the processional on Passion Sunday, but the focus of the day should be on the inauguration of the week ...

4741. Invitation to a New Life-Style

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Pentecost VII "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." [Matthew 11:28-30] In his book, The Greening of America, Charles Reich claims that we are living during a transition from one age to another, from Consciousness II to Consciousness III, from the quantity of life to the quality of life, from things to values, ...

4742. Paul Today

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

The task that remains is to summarize our study of Paul’s theology and to make a specific application of it to the present day. Our point of view has been to regard Paul as the foremost theologian of the early church, the supreme interpreter of Jesus and his gospel to the world of his day. He was not, as liberals at the beginning of the present century thought, the second founder of Christianity who introduced dogma and mysticism to transform Jesus’ simple message of the fatherhood of God and the ...

4743. "Hands Off!"

Exodus 20:1-21, Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

No one ever painted Americana with more accuracy and charm than did Norman Rockwell. Some of us who are older than most of us can remember his classic paintings which adorned the covers of The Saturday Evening Post. One of them focused on the buying of the Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey is lying on the scales and the butcher is standing back of the counter, apron pulled tight over his fat stomach, a pencil tucked behind his ear. The customer, a lovely lady of about sixty, is watching the weighing-in. Each ...

4744. The Scandal Of Redeeming Love

Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

It seems that we have developed a tabloid mentality. That is to say, we seem to have developed an overzealous fascination for information about the private lives of public people. The real or supposed exploits of actors and actresses, politicians, entertainers, athletes or business moguls appear in lurid headlines on papers and magazines that are more interested in sensation than news. Photographers stalk the rich or famous to catch an image of an unguarded moment. Fact blended with fiction becomes the ...

4745. Why Christmas?

Isaiah 8:11-22

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

"... I live in a world of fools ... Merry Christmas after merry Christmas. What is Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money, a time for finding yourself a year older and now an hour richer? If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own Christmas pudding and burned with a stake of holly through his heart! ... There is only one thing in the world more ridiculous than Merry Christmas and that is the thought of a home ...

4746. Enduring

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"But he who endures to the end will be saved." (v. 13) We regard this chapter as the Little Apocalypse - a section that refers to the conclusion of history, similar to what we read in Daniel and Revelation. It is a grim piece, uncomfortable, unsettling. It may have been written as a warning of the impending fall of Jerusalem, which indeed took place in A.D. 70. Why would this passage be incorporated in Mark? Why not omit such jarring predictions? In truth, most of us do not care to be troubled about ...

4747. The Flow of Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

DICK FRAZIER is presently associate director of the Presbyterian Family Life Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, a multi-service pastoral counseling facility. Before that he was a local pastor and then a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor and Chaplain Therapist at a psychiatric center working with institutionalized patients. He also preaches in the context of invitations from local churches that value his input and perspective. The Flow of Life underscores the normality of the ebb and flow of feelings ...

4748. Smart, Wise, and Foolish

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

The current President of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors is DONALD C. HOUTS. Formerly a local pastor, a chaplain-supervisor, and professor of pastoral care and counseling at St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri, he is presently Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling for the Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church. His sermons offered here were directed to the congregation of Wesley United Methodist Church in Champaign, Illinois, where he sometimes is asked to preach for ...

4749. Be Careful How You Live

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Brett Blair

There are two birds that fly over our nation’s deserts: One is the hummingbird and the other is the vulture. The vultures find the rotting meat of the desert, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill ...

4750. The Last Laugh

Genesis 18:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

An old, old story has a fellow coming to the most famous and expensive doctor in town. From the very beginning the patient admitted that there was no way he could afford the physician's $500 fee, but he happened to catch the Doc on a generous day and the fee was reduced to $400. "But Doctor," pleaded the man, "I have a wife and six kids to feed." The fee was reduced to $250. "But Doc, that's a month's rent." Eventually, the fellow's begging and poor-mouthing got the fee down to $100 then $50 and finally to ...

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