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 926 to 950 of 1858 results

926. No Barriers, No Distinction

Acts 10:34-43

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... waters. Men: The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. Younger: The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. Older: He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. Left Side: The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. Right Side: The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. Downstairs: The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and ...

927. Fire and Hail, Snow and Frost

Psalm 148:1-14, Isaiah 63:7-9

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed. Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and women alike, old and young together! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is ...

928. The Gifted

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

Sermon

William G. Carter

... . Paul addresses all of these problems in his letter. One of the final items on his list is the business of spiritual one-upmanship. That is what he begins to address in chapter 12. The Corinthians had no doubt that all kinds of wild, spiritual experiences were breaking out in their church. What they wanted to know is whether or not these experiences came from God. That's worth noting. For instance, throughout history many cultures and religions have reported the experience of "speaking in tongues," or ...

929. A Tale of Two Dancers

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , who views the spectacle from the window of the king's palace. The text says that Michal observed her husband, David, dancing in the street, and "despised him in her heart." Some interpret that to mean that she is embarrassed by her husband's behavior, for dancing wildly in the streets is hardly the kind of behavior that is appropriate for a king. But there is more here. Michal is not only David's wife, she is also King Saul's daughter. David has just succeeded Saul as King of Israel. Michal has just been ...

930. Can't Help Dreaming

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... "Peaceable Kingdom." Edward Hicks, the folk painter, painted them. They were beautiful paintings. You can see in the background the Indians welcoming the Pilgrims to these shores. In the foreground is the menagerie of animals. Staring out of the picture you can see the wildness in their eyes. They are standing there uncomfortably in this group photo, as if they aren't sure what you do in a peaceable kingdom. "Where the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox...and they ...

931. He's Back

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... of the Lord." Jesus is the Lord John was preparing us to receive. John even looks the part. He came from the wilderness. He was a desert ascetic, like a hermit or a monk. He had long hair. He wore animal skins for clothing. He ate locusts and wild honey. John, they said, is obviously the voice crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." They were sure of that. John is the voice preparing us for the Messiah. Except John's message was not "comfort my people." John did not speak "tenderly" to ...

932. Poor Mary

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , "No Vacancy." Then he has shepherds come to visit the stable, not kings, or wise men. Matthew has kings and wise men come and visit Jesus, because Jesus is royalty. But Luke says shepherds came to visit him. Shepherds are poor and humble. They're teenagers, wild boys who live on the periphery of society. What does this mean? Well, it means that at Christmas, God declared every single one of us as precious, every one of us. And we should be treated that way. Everybody is precious, no matter what our status ...

933. Uses of the Past

Philippians 3:4b-16

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... move with him, to where God is leading us. It is not meeting certain requirements or laws. That's not what Christianity is about. It's not about believing this, or obeying this. That's not what it is about. For Paul, Christianity is this wild and unpredictable adventure, which for him began in Damascus when he experienced the grace of Christ through the love of a Christian, named Anasias, who forgave Paul for his persecuting the Christians. Paul couldn't get over that. Paul said, "I now cast aside all ...

934. Advent 2

Isaiah 11:1-16, Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 14:1--15:13

Bulletin Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... the Israelites were in a wilderness before entering the Promised Land. John the Baptist lived and preached in the wilderness. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. A highway for God was to be prepared in the wilderness. It is the wilderness of this world of sin and wild beasts. In this world of wilderness we are to prepare a way for Christ to come. Yet, it is in the wilderness that people experience God, and at Sinai a covenant is made. God is heard and known in the wilderness rather than in the prosperous ...

935. Advent 3

Romans 14:1--15:13, Matthew 11:1-19, James 5:7-12, Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

936. Disappointed in Jesus

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... in God who didn't seem to be making the world turn out right. This morning we meet John the Baptist in very odd circumstances. And what we discover is his deep disappointment with Jesus. If you remember back to last week, we first met John in the wilderness - a wild man with a hairy shirt and a locust diet - a passionate prophet who was ranting and raving about the wrath of God. Calling those of us in the crowd and in these pews a brood of vipers, he made it clear that the wrath of God Almighty will devour ...

937. The Power of Positive Dreaming

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... to believe that beneath the predictable patterns of practical living there is the imagination of God's love - an imagination that can make all things new. Frederick Buechner has written: "If the Christmas tale is true, it is the chief of all truths. What keeps the wild hope of Christmas alive in a world notorious for dashing all hopes is the haunting dream that the Child may be born again in us - in our needing, in our longing for him."[1] My friends, my prayer this holy season is that this may be ...

938. Worry and Wonder

Matthew 6:24-34

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... over us, seems like a preposterous suggestion. But again, word study is important. Jesus is not describing some kind of Buddhist bliss. The word is "look, study, scrutinize" the patterns of nature around you. Look and learn. The lilies he refers to are generic wild flowers, bright poppies that flourish and dazzle for just one day and then are thrown into the oven as fuel for the fire. These flowers have one spectacular shot at living their lives, and in that fleeting flash there is beauty and meaning and ...

939. Transformed in Christ

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... illustration of a reality for all - transformation takes time and shortcuts to its end product only lead to problems and disappointments. The need to stay the course in our transformation can be illustrated in the world of science. One day, a student found a cocoon in the wild and brought it to the biology lab at school. The teacher placed the cocoon in an unused aquarium with a lamp shining on it to keep it warm. After one week a small opening was seen on the underside of the cocoon. The students in the ...

940. Predictable Surprises

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"Be Prepared." It's the Boy Scout motto. It's also what we tell ourselves as wild winter weather approaches. Local television stations compete with one another to be known as the storm center for their region: the greatest, most up-to-the-minute source of information, weather watches, emergency reports, and eye-in-the-sky overviews. The only problem with all this preparedness, with all this ...

941. Christmasize Your Life

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of growth and development to add depth to its existence. In spring and summer it was green and lush. In fall and winter it was brown and bare. Would that life were so neat and tidy. Would that life weren't so unorganized. What makes a wild, unmanaged forest so vital - even when the forest floor looks more like the closet floor of your teenager's room? Scattered among all those messy sub-strata in mossy, decaying evergreen forests are especially nurturing sites know as nurse logs. Nurse logs are simply great ...

942. The Curse of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It's one of our more questionable rites of passage as we grow into adolescence and early adulthood. Suddenly it's cool to curse. I know I'm the only one who went through this rite of passage as a teenager. I admit it. I didn't just sow wild oats. I planted a prairie. And that prairie was planted partly by words that my Appalachian gramma would wash my mouth out with soap for saying. Those same swear words that as a child caused me to gasp - and when my brothers would use them, I'd get the culprit ...

943. But Wait! There's More!

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... Force. One of his friends suggested that the family play the Air Force theme song at his funeral. His wife vetoed that idea. With a laugh, she said, “At your father’s funeral, we are not going to play a song that begins, ‘Off we go into the wild blue yonder!’” Arthur Schiff died last year at the age of 66. You may not recognize the name, but I guarantee you’ve heard his voice. Arthur was a TV pitchman extraordinaire. He sold everything you can think of. He accomplished this in some 2,000 late ...

944. A Sourdough Sprirituality

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to keep a live yeast population going all the time. Sourdough yeast has bacteria in it that can survive for decades, even centuries. In fact theoretically these cultures could live forever. Sourdough starters are live cultures of naturally-occurring wild yeasts, lactobacteria and fungi. Literally millions of lactobacilli live in one little starter. Carbon dioxide is what causes dough to rise. These bacteria produce the gasses that give baked goods their lightness. It feeds on carbohydrates (such as flour ...

945. Crack Open Some Easter Eggs and Be Cracked Open

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Robbie Stadium before a spring training game. "King said manager Tommy Lasorda was introducing him to players and having a good time. They walked past Eddie Murray at first base and Lasorda said, `Hey, Eddie, how you doing?' Murray replied simply, `Okay.' At that, Lasorda went wild. `Okay? Okay? Two million dollars a year. It's March. There ain't a cloud in the sky. You're standing there wearing a major-league uniform. You're thirty-three years old, you're going to the Hall of Fame, and you're saying okay ...

946. Conversion to Christ

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Giant. The child only responded, "Years ago you allowed me to play in your garden. Today I will take you to my garden in paradise." That afternoon when the children came to play in the garden they found the Giant lying dead all covered with white blossoms. Oscar Wilde's classic tale, "The Selfish Giant," shows how Christ can convert the hearts of all, even those who appear to be oriented away from God and the betterment of God's people. As the Church year draws to a close and we look forward to a new season ...

947. Get a Peace of the Rock

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you: You're about to enter a no-spin zone. We're talking about sin this morning. When our kids are rampaging through the house, fighting, yelling, name-calling, crying...what words do we shout them down with? "You're behaving like a pack of wild animals." When someone treats you badly--what words do you accuse them with? "You are brutish! How beastly can you get?" When we brand behavior as exceptionally cruel and vicious, we say... "They are inhumane." We moan and decry... "Man's inhumanity to man." Among ...

948. No Self-Respecting Christian

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . · No self-respecting Christian would make their "home" in an old packing box. · No self-respecting Christian would hang out on the street with druggies, gang-members, prostitutes, and drunks. · No self-respecting Christian would frequent sleazy bars, wild raves, heavy-metal concerts, race tracks, or casinos. · No self-respecting Christian would . . . This week's gospel text introduces us to history's first self-respecting Christian: Peter. He'd just made a profound confession, identifying Jesus to his ...

949. That Is SO God!

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... comic shtick. Let's see how well you do. Jack Benny was always what? The cheapskate. Larry, Moe, and Curly mean an eye poke, a nose honk, a head swat. Rodney Dangerfield just can't get no respect. Steve Martin is eternally a wild and crazy guy. No matter how widely their routines may have vary, or how hilarious their material, audiences always look and listen for those signature phrases, actions, attitudes. Without them comedians' acts just wouldn't be complete. As you read through the Bible, from ...

950. The CatWalk Church and the CrossLove Church

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to all his disciples frees us from the dreary, duck-like sameness we can so easily acquiesce in. I think my soul is a tame, old duck, Dabbling about in the barnyard muck, Fat and lazy, with useless wings; But sometimes when the north wind sings And the wild ones hurtle overhead, It remembers something lost and dead, And cocks a wary, bewildered eye And make a feeble attempt to fly. It's fairly content with the state it's in, But it isn't the duck it might have been. – Kenneth Kaufman, Level Land. You and ...

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