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 4901 to 4925 of 4977 results

4901. A Tale Of Two Cities

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... an absolute monarchy, the people were dependent on the king just as sheep are dependent on the shepherd. Just as the shepherd must feed, lead, and protect the flock, so the king must do the same. The king must fortify the city, establish a mighty army, keep the peace so that agriculture and the economy can flourish, administer justice so the people live in harmony, and, above all, attend to the religious rites so that God blesses the people. That is the promise that comes with a new king: And he shall stand ...

4902. The Call Of The Tradition: Remember And Return

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... sights and sounds, the fears and triumphs, the faith and love which make us who we are -- the people of God. We hear the good news for the afflicted: your sins are forgiven; this is my body, this is my blood, for you; the Lord bless you and keep you, from this time forth and forevermore. As Jesus says, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). Let us take no offense at this. Jesus comes to the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed. He has a preferential option for such ...

4903. Flatliners

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... I read of Psalm 1: Blessed are the man and the woman, the young person, the child.Blessed are they who have grown beyond their greed and put an end to their hatred and no longer nourish illusions.But they delight in the way things are and keep their hearts open, day and night.They are like trees planted near flowing rivers, which bear fruit when they are ready.Their leaves will not fall or wither.Everything they do, everything these people do will succeed, finally, if not immediately! And Jesus came down to ...

4904. Why Did Pastor Hypnotize Jenny?

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Tony Everett

... mouth-to-mouth recessitation," her oldest son replied. "Yeah," said the younger boy, "but she kept getting up and running away!" This is precisely what happens when we try to be in complete charge of our own lives. Our anticipations and expectations "keep getting up and running away" from us, no matter how much we try to control them. Our desperate plans for the "ideal holiday season" rarely bring the happiness and satisfaction we had intended. Instead, the results inevitably feel more like emptiness and ...

4905. Advent Of Angels

Malachi 1:6-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

... rescue me," he steadfastly replied. By this time the man was at his second story window, greeting police officers who had come by in a motorboat to rescue him. "God will send an angel to rescue me," he said. Finally, clinging to the top of his chimney to keep from being swept away by the raging waters, the man gave the same response to a National Guard officer in a helicopter. Soon the man found himself face-to-face with the Lord, and complained, "Why didn't you send your messenger to rescue me?" The Lord ...

4906. Reach For The Light

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Tony Everett

... kept her going until reconciliation and renewal finally resulted. She replied, "The Five P's of ministry: Prayer, Persistence, Prayer, Play, and Prayer." Notice that prayer was at the beginning, middle, and end of her list. Prayer connects us to the true Light. Prayer keeps the vision of the true Light in view as darkness threatens to overcome it. Prayer enables us to place one foot in front of the other in the long and difficult journey through unknown darkness. Reach for the true Light in prayer. Lift up ...

4907. Named And Claimed

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Tony Everett

... likes me, so why should I care about them?" or, "I'm not going to get close to anybody; I will just be rejected anyway." We have all heard phrases like this echoing deep within our psyches. You know, it's just this kind of self-protection that often keeps us on the fringes of life, sadly watching others risking and enjoying. It's kind of like being a backseat driver in the tunnel of love. Of course, being last chosen for a game of kickball in the third grade is not at the core of every negative feeling ...

4908. New Name, New Status

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Tony Everett

... , see especially chapters 42 and 43). "Well, now what, prophet? We are nothing but a forsaken people living in a desolate land. Where is God in all this now?" Most of the people may have given up. But Isaiah did not. "For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest," he proclaims (v. 1). Isaiah promises that he will continue to declare the renewal of the Lord until the people perceive it for themselves. Here is the central focus of today's text. To demonstrate the reality of ...

4909. Dabar Adonai

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Tony Everett

... scared, too. I might not make it. I'll miss you." Her parents, who were also in tears by this time, presented their daughter with a plaque on which these words were engraved: "The word of God will never lead you where the love of God cannot keep you." That plaque remains prominently displayed in her law office today. "Do not be afraid ... I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord" (v. 8). God has delivered us from confusion and hopelessness. In Jesus Christ, the word of the Lord has entered our lives. In ...

4910. Looking Back; Moving Forward

Exodus 34:29-35

Sermon

Tony Everett

... down my supplies and began exactly where you told me. The first day did go smoothly. But, each day, I kept getting farther and farther from my paint bucket." Here is a problem for most Christians. If we are not careful, each day we also keep putting more distance between ourselves and our crucial resource on the journey of life; our perception of the continuing power and presence of Jesus Christ. If we are not careful, we limit our awareness of Christ's presence to spiritual mountaintop experiences in our ...

4911. They Didn't Have To Do It, But They Did

Genesis 14:1-24

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... had wandered away from her mother at the Michigan State Fair grounds. The man stayed with the hysterical girl for two hours until her mother could be located. The man was deeply hurt because the mother didn't even say "thank you" for finding her child and keeping her safe. For countless blessings received we should learn to give thanks. One man, when writing his bills, always wrote "Thank you" in the memo line on his checks. When asked why he did this, he said, "It's just a blessing to have money for which ...

4912. Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide

1 Kings 9:1-9

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... 's experience in the darkened cave should be an ever present reminder of the goodness of God despite our pain, peril, and human predicament. "Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong forever on the throne, Yet, that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." Amen! "

4913. A Hunger That Cannot Be Satisfied

Amos 8:1-14

Sermon

James McLemore

... the creator" (Matthew 4:4). If you are hungry, food won't fill you up, but God's word will. If you are lonely, people won't help you up, but God's word will. It took God's word to make you, and it takes God's word to keep you, and without God's word you will have this hunger in your life that cannot be satisfied. Second, you must recognize that the famine is not on God's part. It is on our part. It is not a famine of receiving the word of God, but a famine ...

4914. God Needs To Save This Family

Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

James McLemore

... . It is a ministry of reconciliation and intercession. God has given us a ministry for the family. It is a ministry of repentance and forgiveness. It is a ministry that tells husbands to hold on to their wives. If God brought you together, the same God will keep you together. It is a ministry that tells wives to forgive their husbands. I know your husband has not done everything right, but God knows that he didn't do everything wrong. It is a ministry that tells parents to be reconciled with their children ...

4915. Lord, Send The Wind

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Sermon

James McLemore

... some places that used to be full. God has to take away some blessings and leave a barren land. Sometimes God has to send the Wind. Our society, like Jeremiah's society, seems to be locked into old habits. The rich get richer, and the poor keep getting poorer. Immorality is rampant. Lust, sex, and violence have become fixed in the core of our society and in the hearts of our people. Corruption is not decreasing; it is increasing. Our people, like Jeremiah's people, seem to be fixed in their ways. Everybody ...

4916. Is This The Season To Seek Salvation

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

James McLemore

... daughter began to ask questions about God. She told her mother she wanted to go to church. But her mother wasn't religious and did not see any reason why her teenage daughter should be so religious. So she kept her out of church, but she couldn't keep her from the parties. Two years later at age thirteen, her young daughter had a baby. As she looked at her teenage daughter, the mother had to ask herself this question, "Did I miss the season to seek salvation?" A young man had to ask this question concerning ...

4917. What is Love?

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Illustration

John R. Steward

... , the captives were taken to a hospital and given physical examinations. Beno says, "The doctor told me I lived for only one reason: out of love for my fellow prisoner, I traded my soup for the bread! The bread had enough nutrition in it to keep me alive. The soup had no source of nourishment." (Source: Robert Schuller, It's Possible (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company), p. 99. ) Perhaps then, the best definition of love is in learning how to forget and abandon ourselves and to serve others ...

4918. Casting the Net on the Other Side of the Boat

John 21:1-14, Matthew 4:18-22, 1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Illustration

John R. Steward

... be doing. On their own, they are not able to catch many fish, but when Jesus commands them to cast the net on the other side of the boat, they catch more fish than they can handle. How are we doing at catching fish? Perhaps the problem is that we keep doing it the same way and the Lord would like us to try a new method. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:22 says, "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." Maybe that's the same as casting your nets ...

4919. All Tied Up

Luke 7:1-10

Illustration

John R. Steward

... quickly discovered that the clothes had certainly gotten wet and were dried but they were still dirty. That is the same thing that happens to us when we fail to confess our sins. When we never admit to God our helplessness and our need for his power, we too keep the bundle all tied up. When we go to church and simply go through the routine we might get wet but we never really feel very clean. Only confession of our sins and faith in Christ can cleanse us from all our sins. Adapted from Michael Green, editor ...

4920. We Cut the Coal

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Illustration

John R. Steward

... to go almost anywhere to encourage people in the war effort. He would, of course, always visit the troops. But he also visited those who worked on the farms and in the factories. He knew that the odds against them were great and that he must continue to help keep the morale high. There was one group he had not yet seen. It was the coal miners. Someone asked him if he would be willing to see these men, who spend most of their time below the ground in such dangerous conditions. One man told Churchill that the ...

4921. Advent 1

Luke 21:5-38, 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Jeremiah 33:1-26, Psalm 25:1-22

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... -10) The psalmist offers a prayer for divine guidance. He does not want to give his enemies a chance to gloat over his failures. He looks to God's mercy and love for forgiveness. He ends with an affirmation of the goodness of God toward those who keep his covenant and decrees. Context of Related Scripture Somewhat parallel passages are found in Matthew 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27. Similar warnings about the coming of "that day" of judgment are found in the Old Testament in the following passages: Isaiah 13:9 ...

4922. Proper 22

Luke 17:1-10, 2 Timothy 1:1-2:13, Lamentations 1:1-22, Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... lay the spiritual foundation for the abolition movement. He was convinced that the slaveowners suffered as much from slavery as the slave. He tried to appeal to the conscience of the owners. Largely as a result of his ministry, in 1758 the Quakers took action not to keep slaves or deal in the slave trade. They were the first to make such a statement in the American colonies. Woolman also had a deep concern about the poor and the danger of riches. He quit using his horse and traveled by foot because he felt ...

4923. What To Do With A Self-willed Child

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... you handle a self-willed child? Take a page from Mary's book. You take him or her seriously. When you are angry and ill-used, you say so. But you remember that the child has a soul. You feed whatever curiosity about important things might be there. And you keep it all in your heart. And by the mercy and miracle of God -- the self-willed child increases day by day in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and humankind. "

4924. Mary Ponders

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... the inner conversations of every new mother. Would her child be healthy? Would he grow to be strong? Would he be safe from the terrible plagues which took so many children in those days? Could she care for him, provide enough nourishment from her body, keep him safe? We should not be surprised if Mary had experienced the post-birth depression other mothers feel. After all, she was alone in a strange city, without her own mother, without the familiar things of Nazareth. Those of you who are mothers, and only ...

4925. Bowing Before The Mystery

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... which the human race could fall taking everything with it and all by the push of a button. Nor have we learned the essential lessons of life: how to live at peace, how to care for the masses whose lives consist of hunger and misery, how to keep our marriages alive, how to love our enemies. Life has been reduced to charts and megabytes and things which interface. We are the products of input and output and reams of paper which spew from our gadgets at several hundred cps -- that's characters per second for ...

Showing results