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 1001 to 1025 of 4939 results

1001. Would You Please Listen To Me?

John 1:19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... washing away the old life. To receive Jesus into your life is not the same thing as adding on a new room to a house. It requires instead that we demolish the old house, every part of it, and build a brand-new one on a new foundation. We must give up our old way of life before we can receive the abundant life that Jesus came to give. We cannot receive the Messiah, His presence or message or mission, unless we are ready for it. How will you prepare for this Advent season? How will you "make straight the way ...

1002. To Whom Shall We Go?

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

... spiritual vandals whose main contribution is ridicule. In the face of this kind of person, you must ask the practical question found in the today's reading: "If we go away from Christ, to whom shall we go?" What do you do when you give up religion? What can you do when you give up on God? Let's examine the alternatives. Sometimes a course may appear to be ready-made to our hands, to be simple and self-justifying. Yet when we ask about the results of that course of action, or the alternatives, we may get a ...

1003. To Hell and Back

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... ultimately win everybody to Himself. (That’s universalism.) I don’t know versalist. I hope that He does. Perhaps God never gives up. Perhaps God’s search for us is eternal. But perhaps our freedom to say No to God is also eternal. ... want to affirm today in my sermon on this difficult clause of the Creed, is the faith that God never gives up on anybody. Whether or not all of us will ultimately give up and surrender ourselves to God still remains to be seen. We still have the freedom to say to God, Thanks ...

1004. Is Suffering Punishment for Sin?

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... that ancient parable which tries to grapple with the problem of human suffering? Job was the man of many troubles. He lost houses, lands, children, and through some perverse irony of fate still had his wife left to nag him. “Job, why don’t you give up this silly business about God?” she said. “Throw away your stupid faith; curse God and die.” But still Job maintained his faith in God and in the integrity of his own morally upright character. How to reconcile these two things was his problem. Then ...

1005. When Compassion Overcomes Irritation

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... the slaughterhouse. (Any similarity between such stupidity and what passes for conventional wisdom in our world today is purely intentional!) But Jesus had compassion on them. He cared. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,” Sidney cannot give up caring. In response to one of his wife Iris’ outbursts of “Who cares!” Sidney shouts: “Is that all you can ever say? Who cares, who cares? Let the bomb fall, if someone wants to drop it, ‘tis the last days of Rome ...

1006. Vital Vulnerability

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... you open your eyes, as you come back to this warm womb of worship, let us think for a minute about the utter absurdity of it all. God — as a baby. Mighty, majestic God, powerful, passionate God, omnipotent, omniscient God — as a baby. God — giving up all the grandeur — coming down — here — crawling inside our skin — vital but vulnerable — resting in our arms. How can this be? It is a mystery. But it is God’s mystery, and it is God’s startling choice. I was fortunate enough to give birth ...

1007. Pay It Forward!

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a "sick day," buy an airplane ticket, lose pay and travel for hours just to see the big game? No problem! Now what if Christ needed you to do something even moderately off-center for him? Could you do it? · Instead of painting yourself blue, how about giving up your new down parka to that guy down on the street corner. · Instead of wearing floppy ears, wear the peace and love of Christ boldly on your sleeve. · Instead of spending hours waiting in a line, spend hours serving in a line at a soup kitchen ...

1008. Changed Lives: Judas

Matthew 26:14-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... the Jews. They believed the Messiah would lead them to freedom by force. The triumphal entry on Palm Sunday kindled their hopes. The crowd was eating out of Jesus’ hand. He could easily have seized power. His refusal to act may have embittered them. Judas didn’t give up hope, however. When he betrayed Christ, he may have hoped to place him into a corner from which the only way out was to fight and so begin the battle the Sicarri longed for. (5) The truth is that we simply cannot know what moved Judas to ...

1009. Why Me?

Proverbs 16:4, Colossians 1:16

Sermon

James Merritt

... sticker that said, "He who dies with the most toys wins." The only problem with that is, the person who dies with the most toys still dies! Basically, they all say the same thing. Go after your goals, dream big, aim high, believe you can achieve, have faith, or never give up. Let me be fair here. These books have a lot of good advice. If you will do a lot of the things these books tell you, you will be by the world's definition a success in life. Being a success and knowing your purpose in life are not the ...

1010. Good News about Ambition

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... one is not easily deciphered. Jesus seems to be telling them that they will experience what he experiences, but it might not be what they expect. He will suffer; they will suffer. He will be betrayed; they will be betrayed. He will give up his life in service to the Father; they will give up their lives in service to the Father. “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with . . .” They, of course, have no idea what this means until much later in their lives. In fact ...

1011. Exodus and Easter

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the land and serve the Lord as he would. But when they had gone, Pharaoh and his servants changed their mind. “What is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us?” It’s hard to give up a place of privilege and position. It was impossible for them to give up having all those servants and slaves around to attend to their every need. So, the Army of Pharaoh made itself ready, with all its leading officers, and with their mighty chariots, and they went in hot pursuit of the Israelites ...

1012. The Fellowship of Kindred Minds

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... trying to help. Every Sunday she would make a list on the bulletin of all the grammatical errors I made in my sermon and give them to me on her way out of church. There was a little church who just would not let me quit when I wanted to give up, having grown weary in well-doing. They kept me in the pulpit. You have names for those people. Even now, you can remember their words. In fellowship we are blessed with people who share the journey of faith. “I thank my God every time I remember you.” II. IN THE ...

1013. Personal Politics

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... submission to at least some form of group identity. This is not easy. Our consumerist way of life constantly tells us that all of reality revolves around us and our tastes and schedules and desires. In stark contrast, to enter a community means that I give up some of my personal agenda for the sake of the greater good. We must be absolutely clear here. The Bible never suggests that our individual lives and personalities and desires and actions are of no value. Nor is a complete commitment to communal living ...

1014. Negotiate the Corners

Illustration

Dr. M. Scott Peck

I spent much of my ninth summer on a bicycle. About a mile from our house the road went down a steep hill and turned sharply at the bottom. Coasting down the hill one morning, I felt my gathering speed to be ecstatic. To give up this ecstasy by applying brakes seemed an absurd self-punishment. So I resolved to simultaneously retain my speed and negotiate the corner. My ecstasy ended seconds later when I was propelled a dozen feet off the road into the woods. I was badly scratched and bleeding, and the ...

1015. Big Men in Little Planes

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... rigors of facing the evils of this world and preparing this world for the coming of his kingdom. So he said to his disciples, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” In other words, he doesn’t ask us to give up our strong egos. Rather he wants us to discipline those egos to serve him and to serve all those for whom he died. Dr. Melvin Cheatham, a medical doctor, tells about a friend of his named Barb Peters. Barb was not a person with what most of us would call ...

1016. Rules for Holy Living

Colossians 3:1-17

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... . In the Fall, however, that image was destroyed. But the good news of the gospel is that now, in Christ, God is at work restoring that lost image. This restoration or re-creation is not mankind’s work at all; it is not a process of giving up some vices and accepting a few virtues. This new self is God’s doing! To express this process the Greek uses a present passive participle (anakainoumenon) to indicate that renewal is continuous (the present) and that it has an outside source (the passive, the new ...

1017. Holding On

Job 1:1; Job 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... heartbreaks. If we could control the future, we would eliminate all frustrations and heartbreaks. But then we’d also miss out on opportunities for growth, for faith, for compassion, for overcoming. We would miss out on the grace of God. It is in holding on, enduring, not giving up on God, that we see God’s power and God’s love most clearly. And we learn that we can trust God through every circumstance, even when we cannot see Him. Author Marion Bond West tells of a time when she felt far away from God ...

1018. Wrestling with God

Genesis 32:22-31

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... a reminder, a holy pain that testifies that sometimes God lets us limp, and that in the wrestling, we are not alone.” (7) I don’t know if you are experiencing your own Peniel right now, a time when you are wrestling with God. Maybe you’re wrestling with giving up control of some part of your life. Maybe you’re wrestling with the question of God’s goodness, God’s love for you, God’s plans for your life. I hope that you will hang on in the wrestling. I hope that you’ll keep your eyes and ears ...

1019. Sole Brother

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

... to know anything about. For now he was just hoping the balding tires and wobbly wheel would get him there. Ten miles into his thoughts and hopes, the same car came to view on the road shoulder. He spotted the flat tire and the woman who by now was giving up hope, and he pulled off as quickly as he could ... wobbly wheel and all. In a moment he had backed up to her car, had his tired bakery-oven feet back in action, and was introducing himself. He soon learned that there was really very little they had in ...

1020. That Heavenly Call

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38

Drama

Karren Boehr

... has a high executive position) ANGEL: (Enters from right with a large scroll in his hand. Wandering in, he stands before Mary's desk and tries to attract her attention by changing where he is standing, clearing his throat, and so forth. He finally gives up and speaks) Hail, Mary, thou art highly favored. Blessed art thou among women. (MARY does not notice ANGEL, continues to talk on the phone) ANGEL: (Tries again from another position) Hail, Mary, thou art highly favored. Blessed art thou among women. MARY ...

1021. A Gospel for Losers

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... and wonder if maybe this was God's intention all along. God makes wonderful use, perhaps the BEST use, of LOSERS! Paul writes to his friends at 1st Church, Corinth and recounts a long list of trials and tribulations which he has suffered. But he is not ready to give up. "It is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry," he says, and that is why "we do not lose heart." He considers the Gospel of Jesus Christ a precious treasure that needs to be shared with the world, and then he admits, "we have ...

1022. This Woman Was a Fighter

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... Every strike was against this woman. Wrong gender, wrong religion, wrong nationality--but still she spoke up and she spoke out. And Jesus loved her for it. Don’t you love it when somebody stands up for their convictions? Far too many of us give in and give up when we are confronted with some injustice. I read a wonderful story recently about a couple who stood up to an injustice during the housing crisis a few years back when so many homes were being foreclosed on. The story is set in Naples, Florida. In ...

1023. The Surrogate

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . As you approach the communion table today, may you feel the “shekinah” of glory come upon you, the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, to garment, encircle, and guard you through whatever insecurities life brings. Most of all, in a culture which idolizes security and will give up all sorts of freedoms for greater security, may you be among the chosen few who are not afraid to be in the world, knowing that you are the “church,” Holy Spirit breathed, and God-promised, the betrothed of Jesus. For it is only ...

1024. THE NEW LIFE

Drama

... he does not recognize it, that it has no other doors or windows. He searches frantically for a way out, and is almost ready to give up, when he discovers a trap door in the ceiling. He realizes, after trying, that he cannot reach or jump to get to it, but ... times, but fails. He flies into a destructive rage for a few moments, but this quickly changes to self-pity and despair. He gives up and begins to crawl into the bed. He realizes, however, that this is a different room and a different bed from the one ...

1025. The Call Of The Tradition: Remember And Return

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... nation with a veneer of religion. We give lip service to God, but deep down we are driven by market forces, national pride, and individualism. In the midst of this consumerism, materialism, and self-centeredness, we are called to live out the gospel. It is so easy to give up the heart of the tradition in order to make it more palatable, more acceptable to the masses. We are told that our mission is to reach the people where they are, or to meet their needs. We are told to give them a lot of choices and don ...

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