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 51 to 75 of 302 results

51. Peter at Cornelius’ House

Acts 10:23b-48

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... knowledge of the events of Jesus’ life when he addressed the whole group. Moreover, what Cornelius had to tell him, coupled with his own recent experience, must have helped Peter to see what was the last step required by his dream, namely, that he should cast aside his scruples concerning the Gentiles. His opening words, therefore, when he spoke to them all were to announce that God had shown him not to think of any person as impure or unclean (v. 28). How well Peter had learned this lesson is seen in ...

52. Psalm 89

Psalm 89:1-52

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... a liar who promises wonderful things but reneges on his promises. Were this psalm not the final psalm of book 3, the reader might assume that the author intended for the final verse of blessing (editorially added, see the introduction) to be read sarcastically: Blessed be the Lord forever . . . who casts aside his anointed one, exalts his enemies, and allows them to revile him (89:38–45, 50–51).

53. The Last Words of David

2 Samuel 23:1-7

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... as it glistens on the moisture left by a refreshing shower of rain? The Davidic covenant could bring and should bring this kind of blessing to Israel. However, evil men, those who ignore God’s pattern, bring no more benefit than a thorn bush and will be cast aside for burning in much the same way (vv. 6–7). Verse 5, although it is phrased in questions that appear to expect a positive answer, is an expression of hope rather than of certainty. David longs that his desire for a posterity that lives in the ...

54. No Fair!

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... spent a lot of time in his last weeks of life telling parables. From the prodigal, to the lost coin, lost sheep, to those seated at the feast, to those working in God’s vineyard, the message is the same. God welcomes those who we have cast aside. It’s almost as if Jesus wanted to make sure we got this message. Who are those people in our midst whom we might think unworthy, inexperienced, not faithful long enough, not “churched” enough? Who are the people in this community whom we feel might not ...

55. The Healer

Matthew 4:23-25, Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... try to kill him by throwing him off of a cliff. From here on, he would avoid the place where he grew up, building his home instead in Capernaum, and traveling the countryside. Jesus was not interested in fame, but healing those whom were cast aside or lost. The lost tribes of the north included the House of Joseph, Ephraim, and Samaria. The tribes were those of Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Gad. The former capital of Samaria (Shechem/Tirzah) lay in “Galilee of the ...

56. And a Child Will Lead Them

Exodus 2:1-10, Matthew 18:1-9, Matthew 18:10-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... we teach our children is not even close to what we learn from our children and their fresh outlook on life. Children are not property says Jesus. They are not mere undeveloped disciples, but the best disciples we have. They are not to be tolerated but celebrated, not cast aside but lifted up. For in their faith and their ability to love the way they do, they are the best humans among us. Today, I invite you to celebrate your children, to listen to them, to learn from them. For the moment, we can sit at the ...

How thoroughly it is ingrained in mathematical science that every real advance goes hand in hand with the invention of sharper tools and simpler methods which, at the same time, assist in understanding earlier theories and in casting aside some more complicated developments.

David Hilbert

58. Hope Rises

Mark 9:30-37, 42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... beginnings, new life, new innocence, and always new resurrections. For Jesus is Lord of Resurrection. Today, let’s take a moment to pray that God might come into your life and re-remind you what it feels like to be child-like –to trust, to believe, to love unconditionally, to cast aside our need for management and control, and to put our lives into Jesus’ hands. And allow him to resurrect our hearts, our bodies, and our spirits. For the world weighs down, but hope rises.

59. Provoked

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ! Did he just diss us? His own people? His own family? So God isn’t blessing us, his chosen ones, but blessing gentiles?He’s not going to spend his time healing us? Blessing us? Ministering to us? Taking care of us? We’re to be cast aside, so he can spend his time with Syrians, and Phoenicians, and Romans, and foreigners? Sinners and oppressors and outsiders and non-Jews? How could he do this to us! He’s betrayed us! He’s dishonored, disrespected, and downright just insulted us! Did he just say ...

60. The Great Debates

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... he has told us, in him we are saved, healed, freed, and resurrected. In the power of the Holy Spirit we are blessed, energized, empowered, and sent. In the Holy Spirit we find truth, just as he was the Way, Truth, Life. Today, many Christians have cast aside the “divinity” of Jesus, relegating him to an astute teacher at best. To do this is to ignore Jesus’ entire mission, his message, his resurrection, and his fulfillment of God’s promises. To do this is to take a Pharisaic view. We know how that ...

61. The Legacy

Mark 9:30-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... It was all about rules and not about people. All about order and not about compassion. All about status and elevating one’s self, and not about leveling the playing field and elevating others. With his elevation of children, women, foreigners, and those rejected and cast aside, Jesus was making a radical statement about the meaning of leadership. To be a leader is not to seek elevation. To be a true leader is to seek to sacrifice yourself in the elevation of others. This is who Jesus was, because this is ...

62. Good News / Bad News

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... as personal options that we can accept or reject at our convenience. “Honesty and commitment are all well and good,” the culture tells us, “Unless they get in the way of our personal goals and desires, at which point they can be cast aside as unrealistic and unbearable burdens.” (US News, August 12, 2001.) In a culture such as this, those who stand for any absolute will inevitably be seen as freaks. Those who stand for unconditional love of family, total commitment in marriage, undiluted honesty ...

63. Who Will Cast the First Stone?

John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is a down home story about a small town veterinarian who had invented an instrument with which, he boasted, even a child could administer a capsule to a horse, no matter how unruly or reluctant the horse might be. One summer the vet went to county fair to demonstrate his new invention. They couldn’t find anyone who would permit his horse to be a part of the experiment, but they did find a mule, and soon a crowd had gathered to watch. Undaunted, the veterinarian inserted a long glass tube into the ...

64. Job's Third Reply to Bildad

Job 26:1--31:40

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

Sarcastic Introduction Job’s response to Bildad’s third speech is extended (six chapters long)—even for the usually loquacious Job! Many commentators divide up the chapters attributed to Job to supply an extension to Bildad’s brief speech, as well as to wholly reconstruct a missing third speech for Zophar. Such reconstruction, however, can only proceed on a presumptive assumption of what each speaker would have said—and is thus controlled ultimately by the reconstructor’s theory rather than challenged and ...

65. Wherever The Messiah Is

Matthew 16:13-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

When you were a little kid, did you have a favorite super hero? The kind of super hero that you could read about in the comic books? Batman was pretty cool, sticking to the shadows of night but full of ingenuity and agility. He had all those nifty gadgets in his utility belt! Or there was The Flash, who could run faster than the speed of light. Or the Incredible Hulk with his radioactive strength. Of course, the favorite for a lot of us was Superman. Faster than a speeding locomotive, he could leap tall ...

66. Eliphaz's Third Speech to Job

Job 22:1-30

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

No Gain for God The “third dialogue cycle” begins again with Eliphaz and his response to Job. He begins with a series of rhetorical questions that recall the tactics of his earlier two speeches (4:1–5:27; 15:1–35). In those utterances Eliphaz sought to undermine Job’s claims of innocence by arguing that no human can be declared innocent before God (4:7–9, 17–19; 15:14–16). Since even the angels—who stand above humans in Eliphaz’s understanding of creation order—are charged “with error” by God (4:18–19; 15: ...

67. Elihu

Job 32:1--37:24

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

The Friends Conclude and Elihu Begins Excurses: Had the third cycle of dialogue between Job and his three friends been complete, we would expect to find Zophar’s concluding speech in response to Job at this point. However, at least in the canonical form of the book, Bildad’s truncated final speech (25:1–6), Job’s expanded concluding speech (chs. 26–31), the complete absence of any final speech by Zophar, and the opening comments in the following Elihu section, press the reader to understand this collapse ...

68. Bear the Light

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The five year old nephew of the bride was chosen to be in charge of carrying the rings down the aisle. At the wedding rehearsal he was unusually unruly. He kept leaping out at people, baring his teeth at and then chasing the flower girls. He growled and snarled as he practiced going down the aisle. He brandished the pillow like a pistol. Finally his mother pulled him aside and demanded to know why he was behaving so badly. “But Mom,” he explained, “I have to act fierce — I’m the ‘Ring Bear.’” Like so many ...

69. Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Obedience

Num 15:1-41

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Fellowship with God and defiant sinning are incompatible. Understanding the Text Numbers goes from a narrative about scouts (Num. 13–14) to a seemingly unrelated chapter of laws concerning sacrifices, unintentional sins, Sabbath breaking, and tassels. Why this material is placed here rather than with similar material in Leviticus has mystified interpreters. Numbers 15 does contribute one thing to the previous story. In Numbers 14 Israel is told that the adults will not enter the land (Num. 14:20– ...

70. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Preface Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove; Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou madest Life in man and brute; Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot Is on the skull which thou hast made. Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, he knows not why, He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just. Thou seemest human and divine, The highest, holiest manhood, thou. ...

71. God Gives the Pharisees the Finger!

John 7:25-44, John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop (Animation): Scale or coins (three types) and blackboard with the words: mene, mene, tekel, upharsin; clay pot Judging. It’s something we do almost without thinking. Judging. And justifying. And we’re so GOOD at it! We love to sit on our holy thrones (or in the case of football, cause it’s the season now –lounge in our armchairs) and cast judgments upon those people who are on tv, in the spotlight, on trial, or in any way aren’t in our circle of friends. Many of us judge our friends too! All you have ...

72. Running For Joy

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

[Pastor, this self-deprecating introduction is for a non-runner. If you are a runner, you will want to introduce the sermon in a different way.] This morning our theme is "Running for Joy." Most of you don't know that I'm a runner. [Pause.] Of course I don't run five miles any more. [Pause.] Not that I ever ran five miles at any one time. [Pause.] Actually, five miles is the aggregate of a life time of running. [Pause.] Running looks like hard work to me---especially marathons. I read recently a statement ...

73. Make Scriptural Hope Your Own

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

Richard Hasler

Snoopy of Charlie Brown comic strip fame is typing a novel. He begins his story, "It was a dark and stormy night ..." Snoopy always starts his stories in this manner. Lucy looks at what Snoopy has written. She goes into a tirade, putting down Snoopy for such a silly beginning. Doesn't Snoopy know that any good story starts with the words, "Once upon a time ..." The last frame of the comic strip has Snoopy starting his story again. Now he is ready. He types, "Once upon a time, it was a dark and stormy night ...

74. JEWELER

Exodus 28:11

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Exodus 28:11 - "As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; you shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree." In Palestine, the use of jewelry seems to have been common as long as 10,000 years ago. These ancient peoples wore ornaments of shell, bone, and fish vertebrae. In all times, both men and women wore jewelry, although in later times, aside from the very wealthy and the royalty, the men became more subdued in their ornamentation. Men ...

75. Curiosity Or Consecration

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Our reading this morning is the first eight verses of the 12th chapter of Romans. This is that marvelous beginning section of Romans, when Paul, having made his theological statement, having spelled out in a very clear and beautiful way his whole understanding of justification by faith, comes now to offer those practical instructions that we are to receive if we’re going to live the Christian life. This is the word of the Lord. “I appeal to you therefore brothers and sisters by the mercies of God, that you ...

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