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 726 to 750 of 4943 results

726. The Cure

Luke 4:31-37, Luke 4:38-44

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the skull, the curse of sin was broken and the serpent’s skull was crushed. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (in John’s witness), he says: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.” We might continue, so that all those who look upon him and repent of their sins will be healed and restored. Salvation will be theirs, who lift up their eyes to the One Lifted Up for healing. To look Jesus in the face is to come out of hiding and stand before ...

727. Dorcas, Dinah, or Delilah (Who are You?)

Genesis 34:1-31, Judges 16:1-22, Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... servant’s heart. We get a sense too of her giving, life-giving spirit in the way the people of the community mourn her at the time of her death. Because of this mourning (think Lazarus’ sisters), Peter resuscitates her back to life and we can assume, she then continues with her mission and ministry. But more important to the story are the metaphors, and much of the depth of the story can be found in her name. The name Dorcas is a Greek name. Like many in the first century, she had a Greek name and an ...

728. A Spooky Kind of Love

1 Samuel 28:1-25, Matthew 28:11-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... I don’t know about you, but that seems like a pretty flimsy description to me. But for whatever reason, Saul accepts her vision. It seems like Saul has more trust in the medium’s answers than faith in God’s provision, doesn’t it? But Saul continues on and lo and behold, Samuel speaks: “Why have you disturbed my rest by bringing me up?” he cries! Saul reveals, he wants his advice on how to deal with the Philistines. Saul tells Samuel: “God won’t answer me . . . God won’t help me!” Here is ...

729. Immersed

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in Him. The mark of the Messiah is the mark of our mission too, as His disciples and apostles, His loyal followers and proclaimers of His message and identity as Lamb of God, Gateway to God. We just celebrated the day of Pentecost. But Pentecost now continues as we revel and cleanse ourselves in our Holy Spirit baptism, as we wash ourselves in the blood of Jesus, as we not only take on the sign of the Messiah but fully immerse ourselves in His body and blood, communing with Him relationally and spiritually ...

730. The Redemptive Side of Suffering

Hebrews 5:5-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... presented by the author of the letter to the Hebrews in our second lesson today. In some ways the latter years of Bonhoeffer’s life, when he stood in opposition to Hitler and his regime, were one long period of Lent, the time when he was continually tested to see how committed he was to Christ. The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus’ suffering, which we know was grave and prolonged in many ways, helped him to learn obedience. Certainly since he is God, Jesus did not need to be taught or learn ...

731. Faith Power

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . In truth, there is little we can be sure of. Think about a typical day. How much of that day can you be sure of? How sure are you that everything will go the way you imagine? Chances are, surprisingly little will go the way you planned. We continuously adapt in our lives based partly on what we know and partly on faith. When we as Christians choose to believe in the power of Jesus, when we put our trust and faith in Jesus to direct our lives or heal our brokenness, we are simply consciously acknowledging ...

732. No Turning Back

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... . Both nations then began to work on putting a human into space. The American Project Mercury was projected to put a man in orbit by late 1960, but delay after delay — sometimes out of caution and sometimes out of concerns for safety because the rockets continued to blow up, allowed the Soviets to put a man into orbit in April of 1961. The best the Americans could do, a month later, was to send astronaut Alan Shepherd on a fifteen-minute suborbital flight. Yet on the basis of that suborbital flight, while ...

733. Sword of the Spirit

John 6:56-69 · Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , and shoes that proclaim a gospel of peace –one who holds a shield of faith, wears a helmet of salvation, and wields the sword of the Spirit (the word of God). Christians are spiritual knights to the worthy and true spiritual king, Jesus the Christ. This imagery is continued in a sense in the gospel of John, in which Jesus describes himself as the Son of Man, and again the Bread of life. And no one can come to him unless it is granted by the Father. While most refuse to recognize him as the rightful ...

734. The Holy Spirit Brings Everyone To The Party

Acts 8:14-17

Sermon

Mary Austin

... the work God has for us to do. May we be watching for signs of the Spirit, and go where it leads us, following Jesus. In his name, Amen. Prayer: God of mysterious grace, we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. We praise you that you continue to touch us with your Spirit, knocking down our walls, giving energy to our faith, leading us toward you. We pray that you would nurture the gift of the Spirit within us and within all people, breaking down all that divides us. Make our faith greater than all of ...

735. Leaving an Empty Chair

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... about it. But no one has discovered the magic formula that causes a diverse group of strangers to become a cohesive, productive team. Except for, of course, God. God has this one figured out. Our Bible passage for today is from Acts 2. It’s a continuation of the same passage we’ve been studying for the past two weeks. In today’s reading from Acts 2: 42-47, we see the beginnings of the Christian church. An incredibly diverse group of people--men, women, enslaved people and free people, rich and poor ...

736. The Debt of Love

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... swarmed. People wanted to touch him and be close to him . . . However, I’m sad to say that nobody jumped up to run and sit next to the homeless man. After two or three awkward minutes during which I was trying to act like nothing was happening,” Lucado continues, “one of our elders got up from his seat and sat by the man and touched him. I was struck. Wouldn’t you have been as well? “The message that I received in my heart that morning was: Which of these men do you think touched Jesus? If you ...

737. The Fork in the Path

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... lives, to answer the call that is uniquely ours. Sometimes that call and our choices may be clear. Other times, we may face confusing forks in our path and ponder what we are to do. In the end, we must choose our way. But in all of this, Jesus continues to assure us that we will arrive at our destination. That no matter whether it appears that our mission has failed or that we have won, we all will arrive safely at the golden gates of heaven. We will have completed our life’s mission. We will have secured ...

738. I Have Been Gifted!

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Ronald Love

... cultures. This created competition in the market place for ideas, and even physical prowess. About the year 50 AD, toward the end of Paul’s second missionary journey, he established the church in Corinth. With the absence of Paul, as he continued his missionary journey elsewhere, it did not take long for dissension and debate to break out among the Christian congregations. There were problems with Christians suing one another in court. There was a dispute over how to administer the sacraments. Sexual ...

739. Living In The “In Between” Time

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Ronald Love

... to me, in ways I just hadn’t been hearing.” But now we do hear? We have invited Jesus into our lives. We have been converted. We have been “born again.” Being born again, it is our challenge, which requires a great deal of self-discipline, to continue to hear Jesus until we can rejoice in Jesus second appearance. We keep the words of grandma, spoken to her grandson Devon back in Wilmington, “The Lord speaks to all of us, Devon, but you’re never going to hear him if you don’t open your ears ...

740. We're On the Move Now!

Sermon

Ronald Love

... our Christian witness. All of this points to a single fact for Paul the only thing that was important for a Christian was the proclamation of the salvation message in the name of Jesus. There is also something that we misunderstood that caused and continues to cause countless social ills as we apply Paul’s writings to today’s society. Most of the time in the epistles Paul spoke as one whose authoritative writings were based on his revelation received on his Damascus road experience. But there were other ...

741. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... of the one true God. Even though arrogant people may exalt their own false gods, or even themselves, the one true God rules supremely as the God of gods. It is a sad reality, but we live in a relativistic world, in which belief in false gods continues to challenge biblical faith. There are still people who exalt themselves above all gods, even the God of gods. Yet knowing that the one true God is still above all gods—as well as persons who make such blasphemous boasts—can bring an inner peace in our ...

742. Blessings for a Defiled People

Haggai 2:10-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... prophecy (the date from v. 10 will be repeated in v. 18), although Now characteristically marks a new section in a prophecy rather than a new beginning. The opening of this new section compares particularly with 1:5. Here, as there (1:2–4), the new section continues on from a question Yahweh has raised, begins with the particle “now,” and goes on to urge the people to give careful thought. The topic of the careful thought from this day on is also to be the same (cf. 1:6): how things were before the ...

743. Haunted

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... mind….breaks. We call it obsessing! Herod called it seeing “ghosts.” In a sense, they are ghosts, guilt-ridden memories of things that our minds and hearts can’t resolve and that we refuse to give over to God. And yet despite all of this, God’s voice continues to call to us: “sinner come home.” For Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save the world, and he would try to do so down to his very last breath. For the message of Jesus is clear. God forgives. God offers grace. God offers life ...

744. For the Love of Children

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that children learn more from what you do than what you say. This is true for you and for everyone. And it’s the reason that Jesus needs to break some of the “generational” assumptions that are driving his current culture. Otherwise, they will continue to pass on their cultural assumptions to the next generations of children. That is something Jesus wants to nip in the bud. It’s harder than it might seem! As Jewish men, Jesus’ inner leadership group has entered into their learning time with Jesus ...

745. Remember

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... him in our mission to love as he loves. In all that we do as disciples of Jesus, we honor his life, his death, and his promise. And in return, as we feel his presence around us, he grants us his peace, his love, and new life. Today, we continue Christ’s legacy in our gatherings called the church. We heal. We love. We learn. We grow. We plant seeds of hope in the lives of others. We celebrate the moments he bid us remember! In the coming next few weeks, we will celebrate Jesus’ ascension, the coming of ...

746. For Someone Remembered by Many

Luke 24:13-35 · Acts 20:31-35 · Matthew 16:13-20

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... at all; how what’s passed out of existence still manages to make an appearance upon the stage of life. Death may have robbed us of the person we loved, but it can’t steal our memories and as long as we have memories, so our loved one will continue to live on, or so will it seem as though they had never left that stage of life. When it comes to Joseph Hirtzel, we have many memories, memories which will warm our hearts and soothe our souls and bring smiles upon our faces. Mary will forever remember the ...

747. Don’t Fall Asleep

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... from him the same bad news as he got prior! Or think of Jonah stomping his feet about warning the Ninevites and fleeing by boat to Tarshish in a deep sleep below deck only to be wakened and followed by God wherever he goes as he continues to tantrum and mope. Another somewhat humorous story involves a young Greek man named Eutychus, who fell asleep during Paul’s lengthy sermon only to fall to his death out of a window. Luckily, he was resurrected (awakened) by Paul and given a second chance! Listen ...

748. In Pursuit Of The Promise

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father ... for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:4-5). Jesus assured his followers that he would continue to be with them through the imparting of the Holy Spirit. Up to this point, Jesus' ministry was limited to one place. As Jesus ascended into heaven and through the imparting of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' followers and his ministry could be sustained in many ...

749. Unusual, To Say The Least!

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... compound the already pitiful situation I was in, a cat came down the center aisle of the church, up to the pulpit, and rubbed against my legs. A "pillar" of the church came and took it from me and dropped it out an open window, and the floundering sermon continued. But the cat came back! I decided to let it alone and when it settled down behind me I breathed a sigh of relief. Then, I forgot about it, stepped back on it, and it yelped and scratched, in anger and fury, at being treated so shabbily in church ...

750. Easter Understanding

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... believers if they cannot recognize this crucified and Risen Christ who comes to them. That was the plight of the disciples. "In their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering." However, Jesus made believers out of them. The Continuity Jesus made believers out of the disciples by rehearsing for them the continuity of what God had been doing and saying all along. As the Risen Christ, Jesus sat there once again as the teacher of the disciples. He had to inform them that what he was telling them now was ...

Showing results