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 1076 to 1100 of 4957 results

1076. Proper 26

Hebrews 9:11-28, Ruth 1:1-22, Mark 12:28-34

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... and priest of the good things in both the past and the future. He is our eternal high priest. The new and improved high priest (vv. 13-14). Manufacturers are always touting their products as being new and improved. The writer of Hebrews makes the same claim for Christ. The old priestly system could cleanse a person ceremonially, so that he could join in the community worship, but the sacrifice of Christ cleanses us in every way, so that we can stand eternally in God's presence. Gospel: Mark 12:28-34 A ...

1077. The Resurrection Of Our Lord

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18, Acts 10:23b-48, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Mark 16:1-20

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... some ways of holding tight -- worship, prayer, bible study and so forth.) Sermon Title: Priority Preaching. Sermon Angle: We have priority mail, which means that it is supposed to receive special handling so that it reaches its destination before the other mail. Paul claims that the news of Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection is a priority in preaching (v. 3). Gospel: John 20:1-18 Sermon Title: The Resurrection Run. Sermon Angle: When Mary observed the open tomb on the first Easter, she was so ...

1078. Adoption Into God's Family

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Mark J. Molldrem

... his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children." The anxious moments of sin, the fear of our own guilt and death are all drowned, as it were. For the claim has been made by God, the Father himself, judge of the universe, that we shall be his, children of his loving heart and family. This is done in baptism. It is our adoption as sons and daughters. Paul writes, "We were buried with him by baptism into death." The ...

1079. The Mark Upon Us

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Lee Griess

... the mark of baptism. In the Sacrament of Baptism we receive God's washing of forgiveness. The black mark of death is washed from our foreheads, the "X" of our sinfulness removed. Sin and the power of Satan, the shackles of evil and death, no longer have claim on our lives. We are set free and another mark is laid upon us. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this very mark when he says, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten and afflicted. But he ...

1080. Show Us The Father

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

... were just as overcome by God's goodness and light. They were just as giddy as I was. "There was power everywhere. People were being healed. People were proclaiming God's goodness, offering God praise. It was as though we were all drunk. I know that's what other people claimed, but it was true. We were filled to overflowing with God's spirit. It was magnificent. "I'm only sorry that I didn't see the Father sooner. There I was in the presence of God all that time, and I was blind. If I had just looked, I ...

1081. Number One Mother

Genesis 2:4-25

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

... the very first mother on this "Mother's Day. " About a century ago, Mark Twain, I'm sure with his tongue in his cheek, claimed he found, and translated from hieroglyphics, our diaries. You may find his version in books of Twain's short stories, very simply called ... named it "Caingaroo" -- Cain for short. Eve loved it. I hadn't seen her so happy since we'd been evicted from the garden. She claimed it was a human. She even said it looked like me. I wouldn't know. I couldn't see myself. As it grew, however, I ...

1082. Resurrection And Life

John 11:17-37

Eulogy

Jonathan W. Schriber

... to be saved, he came. You know, the president belongs to all Americans, the queen to all the British, yet no one can really claim them in a personal or intimate way. But Jesus is ours, he comes to us in a very real, very personal very powerful way. ... death. But in Christ, there was no fear. There was life -- life now committed to Christ -- life eternal. Even though death would still claim the flesh, life would continue, and even the body will be raised. As we gather this day to remember, to give thanks to ...

1083. "The Loneliness Of Injustice"

Psalm 26:1-12, Mark 14:53-65

Sermon

R. Sheldon MacKenzie

... for the first time. They had chanted the same thing against him, at the beginning of his ministry, when he had pardoned the sins of a paralyzed man. He had done then, according to them, what otherwise only God can do. He was claiming now what no person had the right to claim,-- a special place in relation to God. Jesus was not yet condemned to death,-- the court seems not to have had that authority. And so it condemned him as deserving death. They needed only the means of inflicting the death penalty. In ...

1084. The Set Face And The Turned Head

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Larry Powell

... glory of God; all of these are noble and highly commendable. However, if all we are committed to is the formality of making the commitment, we are, as someone expressed it, "a bluster, a bluff, an empty show." A good case could be made for the claim that our generation is the perfect example of what happens when commitments are neutralized or largely ignored. Can you think of another time in history when the "everyone for himself, grab-what-you-can-now, get out of my way" attitude has been more prevalent ...

1085. A Continuing Presence

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Larry Powell

... the axe was soon to be laid to the root. Only a short time before, Jesus had said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified," but the Pharisees and scribes had insisted all along that the carpenter was attempting to glorify himself. Government officials claimed that he glorified no one, and circumstances were gathering more and more on the side of condemnation instead of glorification. Jesus had said, "Let not your hearts be troubled," but the disciples clearly discerned that his heart was troubled. The light would ...

1086. The Politics Of Love

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18, 19)." His speech sounds strangely like that of a political candidate running for office, especially since he claimed that the promise was as good as fulfilled by his presence among them. But by doing so, Jesus nailed down one of the central planks to God's political platform. In both the Old and New Testaments God is portrayed as the champion of orphans and ...

1087. Know What Time It Is!

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... with the reality of sin and death encoded within us, yet we are to live with joy here and now, sinners and scoundrels, because the kingdom is at hand. We are not to demand evidence of its presence. Rather we are to believe it and act accordingly. The claim that we are invited to entertain is that our Savior has overcome the guilt of living and the embarrassment of dying. No longer do we need to apologize for the bumps and warts which inevitably result from living the risk that we call "life." We are not as ...

1088. Living The Alternatives

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... . Jesus said, "There's another option, (d), 'None of the above.' We will bless what we have and feed them now. We will work with what we have and multiply it." Christ gives us permission to look at the world differently and, thereby, frees us from the claims and definitions of the reigning authorities. Life is not settled. The way we have been told it is not the way it is at all. Faith invites us to live with a God who consistently offers other options than those seen by the authorities and power brokers ...

1089. Mary Has Chosen The Good Portion

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... time to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air is called Savior. He who enjoyed living and spoke of its abundance is called Savior. Why? Because he forgives our sins? Yes! But more important for our thinking here, he saves us from the authoritative claims of the system that says sacrificing our humanity for the sake of the system is the normal way of life. The system that expects us to fit in and go with the flow because that's the way it is. Jesus is our Savior because he offers us an ...

1090. A Faith That Burns

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... . That covers a lot of uncomfortable ground. But the New Testament writers are adamant. If we cannot love our neighbor, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, Whom we have not seen. The logic is devastating. John pulls no punches when he says that anyone who claims to love God while hating his brother is a liar (1 John 4:20). Not uninformed, not short-sighted, not ignorant. A bald-faced liar! In most circles, "them's fightin' words." So, tell me! How do we say to the Bethlehem babe, "Well, concern for the ...

1091. The Conversion of Saul

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... . Far too seldom do we hear it said, "Now that person is a Christian!" So how did Saul become a true follower of the Way? How did his conversion come about? We need to know how his decisive encounter with the Way himself (for our Lord's own claim was "I am the Way") came about. The Conversion When first we meet Saul of Tarsus we know him to be an almost fanatical persecutor of those of the Way. We know he had witnessed the martyrdom of Stephen and then had gone on a personal crusade against Christians ...

1092. The Ascension Announces a Triumph

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... about our Lord? God wants us to name his name in conversations (and not as a swear-word). We may stammer, we may stutter, we may blush, but for Jesus' sake, let us dare speak! Of course, often our attitude and our spirit is just as important as words. I claim a dear, young couple as friends. Awhile back they told me of an incident in their lives. Jon is the editor and owner of one of the county newspapers. He'd been working hard all week, and wanted to go golfing. Lynn, his wife, wanted him to work in the ...

1093. The Problem With A Promise

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... still just a promise, just a Word. He has nothing in writing (AT&T dares you to ask their competitor to put their claims in writing), no proof, no guarantee. Now the test of faith really begins. Now Abraham must decide if God is God, if his ... have ever relied upon has proven true and faithful. But there are still other promises God has made that are worth waiting for. I still claim them, though they haven't come to pass yet, but God's past record absolutely convinces me that he can be trusted for the future ...

1094. Healing For The Past

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... she actually talked to Jesus. The people of her village got all excited about it, and the word even spread to other villages, finally reaching even the Cardinal's palace in Manila and a monsignor was appointed to investigate the phenomenon, to see if the claims of the child were valid. The girl was summoned to the palace for a series of interviews. At the end of the third inverview the monsignor felt ready to throw up his hands. In frustration he exclaimed, "I don't know whether you're for real or not ...

1095. Liking the New and Improving the Old

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... which purport to have something that is "new and improved" - better than Jesus. The Mormons would tell you that Jesus Christ is not to be worshiped, and that his death on the cross was only partially effective in saving the sinner. Sun Yung Moon would claim that Jesus was a failure and that he, Moon, is the new Messiah. New age would have you believe that they have really good news, "God is within you; inside you and outside you - or wherever you want him to be." Unitarians would boast that theirchief ...

1096. What About The Holy Spirit?

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

Erskine White

... Spirit came with the power of healing or the gift of speaking in tongues. But, some Christians read those few passages of the New Testament and decide that this is all the Holy Spirit is! They want to draw lines around God's Spirit as if to claim Her for themselves. They're not reading the rest of the Scriptures. There are other places in the New Testament where the Holy Spirit comes with the gift of teaching. Peter and Apollos and Phillip and many others receive the Spirit and begin to teach - they speak ...

1097. The Prodigal Nation

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Erskine White

... . Your far country might be selfishness and materialism. You might lose yourself in the land of instant gratification and status symbols. There's a lot of that going around these days. Your far country might be nationalism and pseudo-patriotism, where the claims of the state matter more than the claims of Christ. There's a lot of that going around today, too. Maybe you've gone to the far country of spiritual pride, where once you walked humbly with your God. Or maybe you have slipped into the far country of ...

1098. A Perfect Prayer

Sermon

Erskine White

... because God hears so many of the other kinds of prayers. God hears so many prayers by people who put prosperity above discipleship and consumption above commitment. He hears prayers by Christians who have bought the "name it and claim it" gospel which is always so popular: name the blessing you want and claim it in the name of Jesus. Their religion is self-esteem; their god is found in the shopping malls of mammon and not in the churches of Jesus Christ. This popular religion which God hears too much of ...

1099. Epiphany 2

John 2:1-11, Isaiah 62:1-12, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Psalm 96:1-13, Psalm 36:1-12

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... up and do its work in the world. 3. God gives his gifts of the Spirit to those he selects to receive them; they become gifts of humility and grace, not signs of personal power and pride. Even the most pious believers cannot produce them, and the most devout cannot claim them as their own. 4. Ours is to thank God for the Holy Spirit and the gifts the Spirit bestows upon us, and to develop and use them to the glory of the Father and the Son. He doesn't intend that they should be wasted, but that they should ...

1100. Lent 5

John 7:45--8:11, Psalm 126:1-6, Isaiah 43:14-28, Philippians 3:1-11, Luke 20:9-19, John 12:1-11

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... Neither do I condemn you." 3. That sounds as if Jesus were "soft" on sin, that he condoned sin and glosses lightly over it. He wasn't, because he quickly added, "Go and sin no more." That's what he wants of all people, who call him Lord and claim to love him. 4. But the whole incident reveals that the scribes and the Pharisees were the ones who were "caught in the act." At least, they admitted they were sinners by walking away; they were "caught in their own trap." Then and there, they wanted to kill Jesus ...

Showing results