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 876 to 900 of 4944 results

876. Trust

John 4:43-54

Sermon

James Merritt

If you have ever been to a circus you have seen elephants tethered to a chain that is connected to a stake in the ground. You may not realize that that stake is only eighteen inches long and that elephant can easily pull that stake up, because a grown man has to pull the stake up to free the elephant. Now if a grown man can pull up the stake, why doesn’t the elephant pull that stake out of the ground and free himself? Well, when that elephant was a baby, he did not have the strength to pull that stake out ...

877. The Trial Before Felix

Acts 24:1-27

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Paul’s removal to Caesarea began a two-year imprisonment in that city. During these years he stated his case (and therefore the case for the gospel) before two governors and a king, thus further fulfilling the ministry to which he had been called (9:15). These were days of high drama as well as of tedious confinement, but through it all Paul maintained his unswerving purpose to serve Christ and the gospel. 24:1 The first of the two governors to hear Paul’s case was Antonius Felix, the brother of Pallas, ...

878. The Sin and Doom of Godless Men

Jude 1:1-16

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

Writer and Readers 1 By custom, Hellenistic letters began with a threefold formula: (a) the name of the sender; (b) the name of the recipient; and (c) an opening salutation. Greek writers followed the pattern “(a) to (b): greetings.” A NT example is the letter of Claudius Lysias to Felix (Acts 23:26). Jewish letters were introduced slightly differently. The opening sentence gave the names of writer and recipient. A second sentence invoked a blessing upon the reader. The three elements of (a) author, (b) ...

879. Good to Great

Ezekiel 45:3-5

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Many of you have heard me mention Bill Self several times. He preached here at Pasadena a few years go. He was one of my heroes in ministry – an incredible man and preacher. He died last year and I had the honor of speaking at his funeral. I remember a story Bill would often tell about going fishing in Florida. Bill really was not much of a fisherman, but a member of his church invited him to go tarpon fishing. His friend said they would take his private jet. Bill had never been in a private jet before so ...

880. The Catch

John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25, Acts 10:1-8, Acts 10:9-23a, Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Props and visuals: fishing boat / fishing net / tablecloth and stick / backpack / diaper bag / purse or satchel You know how some dreams won’t let go of you? Sometimes God has a message for you, and speaks in this “forgotten language” of dreams. Sometimes God needs to prepare you for something that’s hard for you to hear. In our scripture story today as told in the Acts of the Apostles, God was preparing Peter for his visit with Cornelius. And for something even greater! But as everything goes with Peter, ...

881. Easter 7

John 17:6-19, Acts 1:12-26, 1 John 5:1-12

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: The church organizes for mission and Christ prays that the ways of the world will not subvert that mission but that the Father would keep them in his grace. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 1:15-26 The post-resurrection church begins very small, some 120 souls. Once again, Peter takes the lead in filling the slot left by the bloody death of Judas. They selected two men who met the criteria: (1) They had witnessed the resurrected Jesus and they were in the company of Jesus' disciples since the baptism of ...

882. Epiphany 6

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE By the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, as happens rather quickly in the Pentecost season, the season has pretty much lost its theological "shape" and impact; the lectionary and the lessons take over and seem to indicate that there has been a movement away from the several theological implications (the incarnation and manifestation of Jesus in the Epiphany season) to a concentration of the ethics of those who belong to the kingdom of heaven. Liturgically, the Epiphany theological frame ...

883. For Freedom!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Picture this: The radio alarm awakens you at 6:00 a.m. A friendly voice says, "Good morning! Another lovely day is being brought to you by your Great Uncle Max. Enjoy it!" Climbing out of bed, you get into the shower. As you finish waking up, you remember that your Great Uncle Max provides the water that flows through the pipes and the electricity that lights the bathroom and the bedroom and drives all the appliances you’ll use when you get to the kitchen. Great Uncle Max’s name appears on all the labels ...

884. When The Going Gets Tough

Romans 8:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

The theologian of the comic strips, Charlie Brown, was once talking with his friend Lucy about the meaning of life. Lucy asks Charlie Brown, "Do you think life has any meaning?" Charlie Brown starts to answer her, but she interrupts with, "I mean, do you think life has any meaning after you've failed nine spelling tests in a row and your teacher hates you?" To which Charlie Brown calmly says, "That's a different question." I was reading recently about the origin of the word "sabotage." It comes from French ...

885. Such A Babe In Such A Place

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Have you ever noticed, have you ever really contemplated our infinite capacity to complicate things? It’s like we have a built-in aversion to the simple. We take the simplest situation and we make it a complicated affair. We build molehills into mountains. Before we examine a question, we wrap it in confusion. Really though, when you get the heart of it, the great experiences of life, even the great insights, have a way of turning out to be very simple. At the heart of it, Christmas is a very simple thing ...

886. Saying Yes To Forgiveness

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Joe E. Trull tells of a primitive tribe located deep in the South American jungles. Anthropologists learned the most important role within the tribe was the "keeper" of the flame. Since fire is so precious -- and takes such effort to recreate -- one member is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the flame alive. During the night the flame keeper adds wood to the fire. He keeps the fire alive whenever the tribe moves to another location -- carrying it in some vessel in order that the very difficult ...

887. Close the Loopholes

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It is through life's cracks and loopholes that evil dynamics gain entrance. The church must close these loopholes. Today's epistle reading warns the Ephesian Christians against allowing "room for the devil." A more accessible translation of this text warns against allowing a "loophole for the Devil" (NEB). After all: To worm his way into our lives and minds, the Devil doesn't need much "room" at all a little slit of a loophole will work just fine. Washingtonstate's Puget Sound is a wet, rain-drenched area ...

888. In the Lions' Den (Dealing with Stress)

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I don’t know when it began, but the symbol has been a pervasive one for a long time “The Lions’ Den”. It is a symbol for the conflicts in life. “They threw him to the lions,” we say of those who cruelly thrust an innocent, unsuspecting person into the most difficult of all situations. “The Lions’ Den” is the place where our testing comes, where we struggle to keep our integrity; where we wage the fiery battle with ourselves as well as with others and/or forces outside ourselves. It may be the arena where ...

889. The Prayer Life of Highly Effective Christians

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A mother had been teaching her three-year-old daughter the Lord’s Prayer. For several evenings at bedtime, the little girl would repeat the lines from the prayer after her mother. Finally, the little girl decided to go solo. Her Mom listened with pride as the child carefully enunciated each word right up to the end of the prayer: “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed, “but deliver us some E-mail.” Well, she nearly got it right. It reminds me of another child, a boy, who was also into computers. His ...

890. A Reminder to God...and to Us

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Last April a 9-year-old African-American lad named Willie was kidnapped from his driveway in Atlanta, Georgia. After the man grabbed him, Willie explained later, and threw him in the back of his car, Willie just kept “praising God” with a song he learned in Sunday school. It was a song by Hezekiah Walker titled “Every Praise.” While he was singing, Willie said, his kidnapper yelled expletives at him. “He told me, shut up you [blankety-blank] boy,” said Willie. Willie, however, kept singing until his ...

891. Freedom In Christ

Galatians 5:1-15, Galatians 5:16-26

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

Paul’s Direct Warning: To Become Circumcised Is to Be Divorced from Christ 5:2 Now Paul turns up the heat with a direct address—Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you. No longer using Scripture, Paul states forthrightly: if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. The options are clearly laid out: either circumcision without Christ or Christ without circumcision. While Paul has referred to the “circumcision group” (2:12) as those who are opposed to the “truth of the gospel” ...

892. The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

The Handwriting on the Wall (5:1-9): Big Idea: Sacrilege against God can lead to a divine confrontation that worldly wealth, power, and wisdom cannot adequately address. Understanding the Text Daniel 5:1–31 is woven into the book’s overall literary structure in two ways. First, it advances the narrative of chapters 1–6, in which the first four focus on Nebuchadnezzar (chaps. 1–2 with historical markers and 3–4 without) and the last two show the transition from Belshazzar of Babylon to Darius the Mede ( ...

893. Crisis Management

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

It is a newspaper image I will never forget. And for me it is an image of Advent. The time was the early 1990s. The place was Sarajevo — the gutted, bombed out epicenter of the Balkan War — when ethnic violence had destroyed beauty and buildings and any sense of human community. One day, a man put on his tuxedo, picked up his cello and a chair, and went and sat at the central intersection of town — in the cross fire of hatred and brokenness and devastation — and there he played his cello for hours — ...

894. The Sound of Joy

Genesis 17:1-27, Genesis 18:1-15, Genesis 18:16-33, Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Rejoice in the Lord always….again I say rejoice!” (Phil 4:4) “I grieve if my brother dies because I no longer have personal communion with him. But I can have a deep, abiding joy, for I know that death does not have the final word. It has been conquered in Christ’s death and resurrection.” (2 Tim. 1:10) We are a people born of laughter! Literally, we are all as Christians part of God’s holy people, in a covenant begun with Abraham and Sarah many years ago, when this elderly couple was granted an ...

895. God's GPS

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

When was the last time you got lost? Was this the result of human error or technological error? Or both? Last year, a news station in Indonesia broadcast a story about an Indonesian groom who went to the wrong wedding and almost married the wrong woman because of an error by Google Maps. It appears that this was an arranged marriage, so the prospective bride and groom did not realize the mistake. Family members from the two families discovered the mistake as they chatted before the wedding. Fortunately, ...

896. Easter 6

Acts 8:9-25, 1 Peter 3:8-22, Acts 17:16-34, John 14:15-31

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Making God known. In the First Lesson, Acts 17:22-31, Paul witnesses to the cultured pagans on the Areopagus. Referring to a statue to an unknown god, he declares that unknown God is revealed in Christ. In the Second Lesson, 1 Peter 3:15-22, Peter encourages the beleaguered Christians to make Christ known through their words and actions. In the Gospel, Christ promises that he will make himself known to the disciples through the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 17:22-31 Peter alters his approach ...

897. I Don’t Like My Options

2 Kings 5:1-17

Sermon

James Merritt

Think about two words: options and decisions. One gives rise to the other. Options are diverse, decisions are difficult. An option only has power when it becomes a decision. The reason why I want you to understand these two words is because basically that is what life is all about. It is amazing to see how one decision can change a life, a family, a nation, and a world. Some unknown people through the years made a decision choosing among options that have radically changed your life to this very present ...

898. Dinner Guests

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The lectionary uses verse 1 of Luke chapter 14 to set the scene: "When Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched" (Luke 14:1). Jesus and dinner is an important tableaux in Luke's gospel — some rainy afternoon, take some time and read through Luke and see how often you find scenes just like this one. Now, notice four important details in this one little verse. First, Jesus is a guest at a dinner party. In the ancient Middle East, the importance of the table was ...

899. The Daughters of Zelophehad (Part 2)

Numbers 36:1-13

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God’s inheritance is assured. Understanding the Text The book of Numbers concludes by returning to the story of the daughters of Zelophehad, which begins in Numbers 27. Why does the narrator divide this story into two episodes, one in Numbers 27 and another in Numbers 36? As noted earlier, Alan Kam-Yau Chan argues persuasively that the reason is structural: the first part of Numbers is bracketed by the two censuses (Num. 1–4; 26), whereas the second half (Num. 27–36) is bracketed by the two ...

900. Thanksgiving

Lk 17:11-19 · 1 Tim 2:1-4 · Phil 4:6-20 · 2 Cor 9:6-15 · Deut 8:1-18 · Ps 65

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Deuteronomy 8:1-18 The people of Israel must remember God's goodness in leading them through the wilderness into the promised land. Since God has blessed them by bringing them into a rich and fruitful land, thankful lives are called for. When the people enjoy prosperity, the children of God must resist the temptation to pat themselves on the back and take credit for all their good fortune.They must render thanksgiving to the Lord, for he is the source of all blessing. The Lord is the ...

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