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 26 to 50 of 2404 results

26. The Secret Of A Great New Year

Luke 3:1-20, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... have a dream in your heart that God is calling you to pursue, that you begin as Jesus began--with humility. It's a standing joke, of course, that men won't ask for directions. I wonder how many men not only get lost, but also fail to achieve their dreams, because they will not turn to someone wiser, someone who has been down that road before and ask for help. There is a story about a mountain whose stone face seemed to stretch upward forever. The mountain had an almost magnetic effect on the boys who came ...

27. What Really Matters The Price Of The High Calling

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... mouth shut when he’s right. Now get the formula solidly in your mind. In the race of life, we concentrate on the present, and we forget as we run. Now what does that mean? Not only do we forget our past sins and failures, we forget out achievements. We may store up our achievements in our memory, but we do not allow them to slow us in our present running. We may take them out of our memory storehouse only on occasion, but we do so not to rest on our laurels, but to be energized for the race ahead. Jeri ...

28. Night Moves

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... children, "You be whoever you want to be. You climb as high as you can." That's what it means to be a fully realized human being. To know that you have within you unlimited possibility. To be successful in life is to be a person who has striven to achieve all that is possible for them to be. That is what Jacob did all his life. Then he came up against the limitation at the River Jabbok, and he wrestled with God. Like Prometheus, he was defying the gods. Like Adam and Eve, he was disobeying God. He tried to ...

29. What Is a Good Samaritan?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , if you want to make a difference, you have to be different. This was the error of the lawyer Jesus spoke with in today's gospel text. The lawyer wanted to reach his goal, his desired finish line of "eternal life" by doing something, by achieving something. The Good Samaritan parable demonstrates that we cannot do discipleship. We must be disciples. We must be the neighbor to each person we encounter. Only when we become Christ's messengers of faith, love and hope in this world do we become truly alive ...

30. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... other in the conflict between Assyria and its underlings. Isaiah says that is just what they must do. The keys to strength and achievement are rest and quietness. Quietness is what Isaiah had urged on Ahaz (see 7:4). “Take it easy, relax,” was his message ... nowhere (4:6; NIV “tranquillity”). Ecclesiastes does not believe in doing nothing, but in being realistic about what “doing” can achieve, even when you do not think you have grounds for a robust expectation that God will act. Isaiah misses such ...

31. Job's Third Reply to Bildad

Job 26:1--31:40

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... the stance the three friends take in their dialogue with Job (and it is a view that Job probably espoused himself before his experience of devastating loss!). The world works according to discoverable principles, and Job needs to submit to those principles in order to achieve and maintain a life of wisdom and blessing. The wise prosper while the wicked perish—it is as simple as that—and since Job is suffering, he must have departed somehow from the way of life to which he needs to return. In Job’s ...

32. Worthless Slaves

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

George Reed

... . Most of us are pretty clear that we have not attained this kind of holiness even before Jesus reminds us that he isn’t talking about just our family and friends but about strangers and those we would consider our enemies. And if we should somehow manage to achieve such a goal, the angels of heaven may be surprised but they won’t be falling down in awe and wonder of us. We have only done what has been asked of us and nothing more. We are just worthless slaves. Some may conclude that God is a heartless ...

33. Oh That Cookie Jar Goodness!

Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and entry into the kingdom, must be paramount. Only God is good. Humans by their own designs or devices can never achieve “perfection.” But only God is perfect. And as Jesus’ disciples then ask, “then how can anyone be saved?” And he ... has the power to save. Somehow, we always end up thinking it is we who have the power. We who should be deciding. We who should be achieving. We who should be in charge. And that’s the human way of course –in a life without Jesus at the head of it. One of the ...

34. Proper 17

Psalm 81:1-16, Hebrews 13:1-25, Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, Luke 14:1-14

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... service. How does the church address worship etiquette? 2. Self-Exalting or Exalting by Grace. A distinction can be made between exalting self and the exaltation over the work of grace granted. Self-exalting is a form of boasting or bragging about one's achievements. That is an expression of pride. It may have its own reward in the approval received from others. It does run the risk of alienating others. It also gives payment in full and does not give the fullest blessing of anonymous actions. Exalting over ...

35. Mirror, Mirror ON The Wall . . .!

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... by God to fill a job here on earth. And the Lord, seeing how he wants us to fit in, designed us with all we need to achieve his goals. We are unique! Oh, we may feel like we're that small, grease-covered cog, but let us stop doing our job and things ... the Lord's work (Acts 9:15). Right here is where we are faced with a choice. We can either accept ourselves and cooperate with God in achieving his goals, or we can hate what he made us and put our hands to some other task. The Bible warns us to take the former ...

36. Praying With Bloody Knuckles

Isaiah 62:1-12, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

... not a theory but a fact empirically demonstrable that if in any community a large number of people, earnest Christians, unite in unselfish praying for a revival of religious interest, that revival is sure to come.5 What are you trying to accomplish that cannot be achieved without a direct intervention from God? "You shall be a crown of beauty ... and a royal diadem. Zion is very precious to the Lord. He awaits to bless his people. They are his glory" (Isaiah 62:3). I am convinced that the Lord loves us and ...

37. Week Two Of Lent

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... as his wayward son realized that he needed to be forgiven, by himself and others. Jesus' arms are outstretched on the cross as a sign of his welcome of us when we have strayed off the path that leads to life. All that is necessary to achieve this reconciliation is for us to ask. Lent is certainly a time to think about our need for reconciliation. We are given this holy season to prepare ourselves for the Easter Triduum. If we are not reconciled within ourselves, with others and ultimately with God, then ...

38. Life's Loose Threads and The Tie That Binds

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... Yahweh's children, not his. And their future lies in Yahweh's hands -- just as it has all along. Ultimately, I suppose, that's the point of unfinished business: to make us realize anew how truly dependent we actually are upon the Lord. I mean, if we could achieve all that we set out to accomplish, if we could realize every aspiration and obtain each goal, what need would there be of a Sustainer, or for that matter, a Redeemer? Indeed, it may well be that we are destined to dream of the unattainable from the ...

39. Prayers for Epiphany

Bulletin Aid

Rolland R. Reece

... help us understand you. We pray that the dividing walls of prejudice, pride, hatred, and fear be broken down so we can be set free to find our joy in you. Our everyday lives can become petty and narrow. Knowing nothing else we allow them to achieve the status of greatness. Then the day of monstrous need comes and we are caught by the smallness of our understanding. May the greatness of your love come flooding in, drowning all our pettiness, carrying us in to such service that causes your name to be further ...

40. The Divine Advocacy

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... . It penetrates to the innermost reaches of our own hearts to expose the evil and to bring the self to the divine light. It is by the gentle nudging of Christ's Spirit that we are saved from the suffocation of obsessive materialism and the exhaustion of compulsive achieving. Many Americans are so caught up in the obsession with success at any cost that they want to make their mark, even if it is only as brief as a Roman candle on the Fourth of July. Many Americans are typified by drama critic Walter Kerr's ...

41. Up And Down The Mountain

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

... river to challenge; a hospital to build; a peaceful mountain valley with an unknown path to cross; an untouched Himalayan summit and a shattered Southern glacier - yes, there is plenty left to do.2 That is it, isn't it? After one scales the mountain, after one achieves that which one has perhaps dreamed of and worked for all of his or her life, the time comes when one must come back down from the mountaintop. A man or woman must go on with everyday living. There is always another challenge ahead of us. Our ...

42. What On Earth Is God Doing? - 1940

Psalm 76:1-12

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... and write the scores and play the instruments which alone produce an opera or an oratorio. He supplies the resources, the materials, the wherewithal to make of this earth a paradise, but his will must be done, not merely accepted, if ever a modern Eden is achieved. All that is necessary for the manufacture of our innumerable modern miracles he has hidden away in the earth to await the discovery of man. And though he stores the sea, the soil, and the sky with vast reservoirs of energy and power, he waits on ...

43. The Forgotten Virtue

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... , membership in the church, and he said, "Well, Pastor, I can see why the church needs me, but tell me one reason why I need the church?" The pride of self-sufficiency. And yet, that same man, so-called self-made man, did not have one thing, nor did he achieve one iota of anything on his own. Self-centered persons see only what affects them. The only music that they can hear is the blowing of their own horn. The story is told of a writer who was telling a social group at a party all about his activities and ...

44. Cut Your Losses!

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... . (3) Did Ed Koch have confidence? Yes, but he also had a plan, a vision. He could see where his life' path could lead him. Since many of us have no fixed direction for life ” no challenging goals, no lofty purpose ” we do not achieve all that we might achieve. Evaluate your life's path. Step two: LOOK TO THE LITTLE THINGS. Jesus emphasizes that it is the little things ” a hand, a foot, an eye ” that often defeat us. There is a Hindustani Proverb that says, "Men trip not on mountains; they stumble ...

45. The Ultimate Success Formula

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... . He's not talking about stocks and bonds, but soup kitchens and bread lines. He's not talking about winning the rat race, but serving the human race in his name. That's the kind of selfdenial and cross bearing about which he is concerned. Grandma Moses achieved worldly success late in life. By the time she died, her name was a household word. And yet when Grandma Moses was asked at ninety-three what she was proudest of, she replied, "I've helped some people." The gentle actress, Audrey Hepburn, has been a ...

46. Barking Pigs and Determined Disciples

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... was profiled in the book Ripley's--Believe It or Not! Encyclopedia of the Bizarre. This book lists some of the strangest achievements, hobbies, stunts, and customs from around the world. If you want to know who has traveled the farthest distance around the world ... the listing for a man named Roy Robert Smith of Denver, Colorado, and it is a list of all the things Mr. Smith has never achieved, at least at the writing of this book. Here is just a small sampling of the things that thirty-six-year-old Roy Robert ...

47. Drinking From His Cup

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... how many people adopt the Christian faith as their own with the thought that it really won't cost them anything. Friends, the cup Jesus drank was the cup of the cross. The sacrifice he made was ultimate, complete, and final. If we think that we can achieve greatness in the Kingdom of God with a token commitment, we are sadly mistaken. In Medieval Europe it was common for devout Christians to pray for the marks of Jesus to appear on their hands and feet. This was seen as a sign of deep spirituality. One ...

48. First Things First

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... with this theory. In his book The One-Minute Sales Person, Johnson claims that true success and fulfillment come from fulfilling your purpose in life. Once you’ve discovered and stated your purpose, then you can choose goals that will achieve that purpose. As Johnson writes, “The fastest way to achieve your goals is to stay on purpose.” (4) He’s right. Do you have a purpose for your life? The purpose-driven life is a life of meaning and vitality. When you find something magnificent to live for, it ...

49. From Empty Nets to Full Lives

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... the Master had work for him to do. Far from being rejected for his sins, as he felt he ought to be, he was being called to a grand assignment. Jesus wanted him to become a fisher of human souls. How often do you and I settle for an achievement or a dream with boundaries no larger than the Sea of Galilee? I am thinking particularly of our capacity for goodness and Christian quality. We think little of Jesus's command that we should be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). We discount the ...

50. A Radical Faith

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... system is that the more merit you accumulate, the closer you come to God. So if you were serious about your salvation, then you went into a monastery or a nunnery where you could spend full time apart from the temptations of the world to concentrate on achieving your salvation. It was said that in the church in Mansfeld there was a picture of a ship, which represents the Church. Inside the ship you could see monks and nuns, dressed in the habit of the religious. In the ocean, drowning, were the laity. The ...

Showing results