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 2561 results

26. Winners, Losers and the Gospel

Mt 16:25

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... the nearby trees. On this day, given the temperature, the water on the trees froze and gave the trees a bejeweled appearance. That scene of beauty is somewhat deceiving, though, because the weight of the tree limbs can become so burdensome that limbs break off. It is a blessing of nature, then, when the sun again casts its light and warmth on those ice-laden trees and returns them to erectness. People go through a similar process when they allow themselves to part company with those destructive patterns ...

27. Stay in the Boat!

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... ready to crown him king while others were equally ready to simply "crown" him. The political situation was becoming volatile. The Twelve were no special help because they too still thought of Jesus in terms of earthly power. This was a wonderful time for Jesus to break off from them for a bit and seek the solace of a mountaintop retreat. "Go fishing, guys. I'll join you later." The night wore on into the hours before dawn. Jesus had spent the time in prayer while the disciples had spent their time trying to ...

28. Proper 14

Genesis 37:1-11, Matthew 14:22-36, Romans 9:30--10:21, Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... focus or purpose of the psalm is not to recount history or a story, but to praise God for the gift of salvation in the setting of worship. Because of this focus, Psalm 105 is best characterized as song of praise. Structure. The lectionary reading breaks off after the summary of the Joseph story and provides an option on whether to include the account of the ancestors. The following outline will include all of vv. 1-22. I. Introductory Call to Give Thanks (vv. 1-6) II. Hymnic Recounting of Salvation History ...

29. The Season Of The Holy Spirit

John 6:25-59

Sermon Aid

Wayne H. Keller

... political enemies, whom Christ also loves; Jewish bread, not ceremonial, but the kind used in homes at mealtime, symbolizing our Old Testament roots. Dark brown, symbolizing Christ's presence in the nonwhite culture, the poor and oppressed everywhere. Not pre-cut; each will break off a piece, symbolizing our active partaking of the body of Christ, and our participating in the whole community of faith of which the loaf is a symbol. No nibbling allowed! 3. The wine. Not the sweet juice of the grape, which is ...

30. Remain On The Vine

John 15:1-17

Children's Sermon

... we can be friendly to everyone and tell others about Jesus. But look at the dried up old raisin. It can't be friendly and loving. That's what happens to us when we don't come to church and church school to hear stories about Jesus. That's like breaking off from the vine and then we get unhappy and dried up like this old raisin. We don't have much love for ourselves and we certainly don't have any love for others. So what do we need to do so we don't end up like this dried up ...

31. God Works From the Inside Out

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

James W. Moore

... ’s flower garden. As grandmother was inspecting the progress of her flowers the little girl decided to try to open a rosebud with her own two hands. But no luck! As she would pull the petals open, they would tear or bruise or wilt or break off completely. Finally, in frustration, she said, “Gramma, I just don’t understand it at all. When God opens a flower, it looks so beautiful but when I try, it just comes apart.” “Well, honey,” Grandmother answered, “There’s a good reason for that. God is ...

32. Yearning For Rejection; Thriving On Insults

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... had a great deal of trouble approaching members of the opposite sex. As he lay on his deathbed, suffering from cancer and bronchitis, he clutched a letter from a woman he had loved dearly. Forty-five years before, she had written this letter, breaking off her relationship with Andersen. Evidently, he had never let go of his feelings for her. When he died, his attendants respectfully disposed of the letter without ever reading its heartbreaking contents. (1) It hurts to be turned down, to be rejected, doesn ...

33. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... bread at every meal. Those strict people would not think of taking forks and putting them in their mouths. To put an object in your mouth defiles it. You certainly would not take a fork out and put it in again and go on defiling yourself like that. Instead, you break off a piece of the bread, pick up your food with it and eat it. Indeed, the only way you can get to the main dish, he said, is with the bread. Jesus was saying that the only way you can come to life is through him. (2) Jesus used many ...

34. I Am Doing A New Thing

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... survive ” it might even take over every water channel in the South! Soon rivers and canals were solid water hyacinths from bank to bank. A little too late, horticulturists found that each plant produces a thousand little water hyacinths every two months! Because pieces break off and float down the river, they can even transplant themselves with no help at all. (2) What a profound parallel to the way sin comes into our lives. A simple phone call. A drink at a party. Growing resentment over a tiny slight. A ...

35. Family Reunion

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... are preachers in the family they are the ones who are usually called upon to bless the gathering and the grub. Family reunions are not among many people’s favorite things to do. There is usually an awkwardness about them. People tend to break off into little separate groups, sitting and balancing plates on laps with people with whom they feel most comfortable. They look at one another to see whether there are any family resemblances. Mothers go around showing off children, and third and fourth cousins ...

36. Noah: The Bearer Of An Alternative Possibility

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... she held the lifeless body of Jesus in her arms. He remembered the emotion that welled up within him as he gazed at that masterpiece. And then he also remembered the emotion he felt on the day a crazed fanatic attacked the Pieta with a sledge hammer, breaking off the point of Mary's nose and shattering her delicate marble hand that had reached out in disbelieving grief. Jim concluded, "But I can only begin to imagine what Michael Angelo would have felt if he had seen those scars of his creation on the floor ...

37. Soul Deep Not Skin Deep

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... barbs surround the berries completely, no matter how slender the stem upon which they hang. Even the underside of the leaves, tracing down each vein, are covered with needle-sharp prickles. For extra discomfort, the smaller thorns are especially good at breaking off into the skin they encounter. But the reward! The sweetest, juiciest, most delectable fruit in the world: the blackberry. Only pick the ones with the slightly dulled sheen, the ones whose individual kernels appear heavy and plum, for they're the ...

38. Putting the World Back Together

John 20:1-9

Sermon

David O. Bales

It’s too soon after the murder to mention the names of the people involved; so, the following names are changed. In a small town, Janice, a young grade school teacher, had tried to break off a dating relationship with a young man. The young man had serious mental illness. He shot and killed Janice; then committed suicide. Her parents, Jack and Maxine, were friends with the young man’s parents. In the midst of their grief Jack and Maxine got in their car and drove ...

39. The Thorny Price of Perfidy

Esther 3:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... curve downward, so that any animal (or human!) who comes in contact with the plant will quickly be impaled with its long spikes, which can not only be painful but can cause infection, particularly if one of the tips breaks off underneath the skin. Appearances can be deceiving, can’t they? Today, we are looking at scriptures dealing with betrayal, sedition, unfaithfulness, perfidy, deceit, duplicity, untrustworthiness, subversion –thorny issues in our society today that cause not only obstacles to our ...

40. Proper 12

John 6:16-24, John 6:1-15, 2 Samuel 11:1-27, Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... not ordered her up to his palace. Few things just happen; there are causes and choices. Fatal attraction. The movie Fatal Attraction tells the story of a man who is attracted to a woman who is not his wife and has an affair with her. When he breaks off the relationship, she will not let go. She attempts to destroy both her lover and his family. David's fixation with Bathsheba was a fatal attraction; no, David did not die, but Bathsheba's husband did. This sin would plague David and his household for years ...

41. Proper 8

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

... that, years before, had rolled the stone from the well to allow Rachel's sheep to drink was still there, and the stranger apparently could not prevail against him. Finally, the day began to dawn and, at this point, the Mysterious One wanted to break off the struggle. It would seem this was some kind of spiritual encounter which vanishes with light. John Sanford says, "It is a fact that our minds are different at night, closer to the primitive level, and there are psychological experiences which occur in the ...

42. Punishment for Israel

Hosea 9:1--10:15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... —. Such intercessions formed part of the prophetic function (cf. Ezek. 13:5) and are frequently found in the prophetic writings (Amos 7:2, 5; Jer. 7:16; 11: 14) and in the Deuteronomic traditions (Num. 14:13–19; Deut. 9:19–20, 25–29). The prayer breaks off, however, and the prophet bows to the will of his God. “Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.” God’s judgment is affirmed. “Not my will, but thine be done” (Mark 14:36) is Hosea’s assent. Israel, in order to be raised to new ...

43. Jesus as the Isaianic Servant of the Lord

Matthew 12:15-21

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... and plot his demise (12:14, 24). 12:20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. These two images from Isaiah are compelling visions of compassion. The Lord’s servant, now identified as Jesus by Matthew, will not even break off a reed bruised at its bending point, though this seems a natural enough thing to do. And while it is commonplace to snuff out a wick that no longer has a flame but only a bit of smoke remaining, the Lord’s servant will not even do this ...

44. Our Light

Genesis 1:1-5 · Mark 1:9-11

Sermon

Will Willimon

... ? Suppose God took the Milky Way, rearranged this or that galaxy, to make a great, neon billboard across the sky? Imagine the reaction. That evening, leaving student commons after dinner, a Sophomore, depressed because she had just received a letter from her fiancé breaking off their engagement, was the first to see it. "Look," she shouts. "There! In the stars!" Written in stars: I REALLY EXIST. The excited shouts of the gathering crowd turn to an eerie hush. "They never told us about this in Astronomy 101 ...

45. Altered Expectations

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

... for the woman. Option one said that the man could publicly expose his fiancee, destroying her reputation in the eyes of the community and, in all likelihood, ruining any chance she had for future happiness. Option two allowed the man to quietly and simply break off the engage-met, without a lot of fanfare and public involvement, but still leaving the woman with the burden of bearing and raising the child alone. Matthew tells us that this latter option was the one Joseph was planning to exercise. This tells ...

46. Forgive To Be Forgiven

Genesis 50:15-21

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... for you and your little ones." Thus he reassured them and comforted them. The other day I saw a sign in a bank saying, "To err is human; to forgive is not our policy." For many, to forgive is not "our policy." Our policy is to hold a grudge or break off relations with the offender or seek revenge. Probably, it is not our policy to forgive because it is one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult thing to do. One woman wrote Ann Landers: "I haven’t spoken to my brother’s wife in seven years. It ...

47. Dessert in the Desert

Deut 32:10-12 · Ez 37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... for any wind from any direction to carry one along until the minister mercifully declares, "Let us pray." The singing of hymns becomes a time to listen to how badly your neighbor warbles. And the gathering of the offering becomes a time to begrudgingly break off for God what you would rather keep for yourself. Feeling religiously insipid, we take on the deportment of Calvin Coolidge as it once was evaluated by Alice Roosevelt Longworth. On one occasion Longworth said of Coolidge that he "looked as if he had ...

48. Which Self Are You?

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... me against myself, This coward with pathetic voice, Who craves for ease and rest and joys. Myself, arch-traitor to myself; My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe, My clog, whatever road I go. Yet one there is can curb myself, Can roll the strangling load from me, Break off the yoke and set me free." Yes, that’s the glorious fact, beloved, that the imago Dei is INDESTRUCTIBLE! I don’t care what you or any other human being does to himself or is like, what sins you commit, how low you sink, how dastardly ...

49. A Christmas To Remember

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... other. With the blessing of their families the marriage had been arranged. They formally were engaged or betrothed to each other. There was a legal bond between them even though they did not live together. If for some reason either one wanted to break off the engagement a legal divorce was required. Traditionally the couple would be engaged for one year, and then they would be married. The whole town would celebrate the marriage of two of its own. The wedding celebration and feast could last anywhere from ...

50. Mark 5:21-43

Mark 5:21-43

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 4:1-20; 5:21-43; 6:7-29; 11:12-19; 14:1-11; 14:17-31; 14:53-72; 15:40-16:8. Scholars do not fully agree on Mark's motive behind his method. The Markan practice of beginning one story, breaking off from it to introduce a second complete and apparently unrelated story, then returning to the initial story, has been judged as everything from poor organizational ability and a failure to deftly integrate various traditions, to intentional tension building and subtle, ingenious highlighting of theological motives ...

Showing results