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 1176 to 1200 of 4977 results

1176. The Right Connection

John 15:1-17

Sermon

James Merritt

... the most sunlight. That is why if you go to a vineyard you will see vines stretched out from pole to pole. They are trying to keep the branches in a maximum position so they can bear the most fruit. So many times things happen to us where God is simply trying to ... ’t realize it He is trying to cut away those sucker-shoots from our lives that are sucking the sap out of the vine keeping us from bearing fruit. If you will listen you will hear those sheers clipping away when you are lying flat on a sick bed or ...

1177. The Loser

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

James Merritt

... step 2 – II. Determine the Cost of Eternal Life Some of you may be thinking that Jesus is contradicting the principle that we are saved by grace through faith, because He just basically told this man you can have eternal life by keeping the commandments. That is true. If anybody could keep all of the commandments perfectly all of their life and never commit one single sin, they would be sinless, they would be perfect and they would have eternal life. Except for Jesus no one ever has done that and no one ...

1178. Is the Doctor in Today?

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... ’s wedding and my son’s college at the same time.” The patient became rather still and quiet. He then broke the silence by asking, “Am I paying for the wedding or the college?” (1) Maybe these jokes fall under the category of “we laugh to keep from crying.” One statistic that may make us cry is this one: The average American spends 49 hours in a lifetime seeing doctors. But even worse, he spends 64 hours WAITING to see doctors. The first person in our lesson today to come to Jesus for medical ...

1179. No Turning Back

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

... family ended up staying in the church, but their stranglehold over the church was broken. And sometimes that has to happen for a church to move forward. We don’t like to see anyone leave the church. Every believer is precious to God. But even Jesus couldn’t keep everyone happy. He didn’t try to. He wanted only those who were committed to the cause for which he was sent. When he started talking about the cost involved, his broken body and shed blood, and calling them to take up a cross, his words fell ...

1180. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

... wretch! and know thyself and him aright. Clasp with thy panting soul the pendulous Earth; As from a centre, dart thy spirit’s light Beyond all worlds, until its spacious might Satiate the void circumference: then shrink Even to a point within our day and night; And keep thy heart light lest it make thee sink When hope has kindled hope, and lured thee to the brink. XLVIII. Or go to Rome, which is the sepulchre, Oh, not of him, but of our joy: ’tis nought That ages, empires, and religions there Lie buried ...

1181. Shall We Take the Escalator?

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... essence of comedy, isn’t it? It’s funny . . . as long as it is happening to someone else. Some of you may feel that you are in that kind of situation--at work or at home or school. Life is coming at you way too fast and you can’t keep up. You need to get away at least for a little while for a rest. Richard Fairchild tells us that when the machine gun was first invented a problem developed with it. It seems that if it was fired continuously for a period of time, the barrel would heat up ...

1182. When Is Enough...Enough?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... this man to do, will that do it? Well, that depends. Is money what’s most important in your life? Is it your money that’s keeping you from giving your all to God? When Jesus told this man to sell everything he had and give to the poor, he went away sad ... life--and that was his money. What is it that comes first in your life? Let me phrase it another way, what is it that keeps you from doing something great for God? Is it your job? Is it your family? Is it time playing computer games, or watching sports on ...

1183. When the Unthinkable Happens

Mark 13:1-8, 24-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... he didn’t know. We read in verse 32 of Mark, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” It might be tomorrow. It might be 10,000 years from now. Nobody knows! Foolish people keep setting dates, but so far they’ve been totally wrong. If you run into somebody determined to announce how soon the end will come, ask him if he thinks he is smarter than Jesus, for Jesus said even he didn’t know when it would be. How much more definitive ...

1184. The Joy of a Thankful Heart

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... happen to us. We have only the choice of how to respond. If we strive to give thanks for the good in the midst of the miserable instead of focusing on the problems, we have a joy that we would not otherwise experience. Giving thanks helps keep life in perspective. It keeps us reminded of who we are and whose we are. It lessens the pain of a difficult yesterday. Responding in thanks also helps lift the burden of a present cloudy day. The joy that comes with a thankful heart provides the strength you need to ...

1185. In Praise of Perseverance

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... arrives, the front door is locked. He uses the huge iron knocker on the door to notify those inside of his presence. There is no answer when he drops the heavy iron on the door, so he drops it again and again. He is certain people are inside. He keeps banging on the door. Finally after lifting and dropping the heavy door knocker more than fifty times, a monk comes to the door and lets him in. Somewhat perturbed, the visitor asked why it took so long to have the door answered. He was informed, "We heard you ...

1186. When Walls Shift and the Ceiling Collapses

John 8:31-36

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... years that in the face of grief, turmoil, and controversy he fell into a deep depression. Yet this is the very time when it is believed Martin Luther wrote that favorite Reformation Day hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." What a great testimony on how to keep on keeping on during a difficult time. To paraphrase the idea of Psalm 46, the source of Luther's hymn: Trust in God as the source of strength to get you through any and every time the earth moves, the walls shift and the ceiling collapses. By God's ...

1187. Eyes Fixed Upon the Goal

Philippians 3:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University, from which he graduated with a degree in Latin. “Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at a St. Louis junior college or from venturing overseas on five missions trips. “And Robert’s disease didn’t keep him from becoming a missionary to Portugal. He moved to Lisbon, alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour ...

1188. In Pisidian Antioch

Acts 13:13-52

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... to that found in Paul’s epistles (cf., e.g., 2 Cor. 3:9; Gal. 2:16, 20). But the difference between this passage and the epistles is more apparent than real. The “everyone” of verse 39 includes the Gentiles (or so it seems) without any reference to their keeping the law, and so, we conclude, this verse does affirm, with the epistles, the all-sufficiency of Christ’s work. Another difficulty, again in view of Paul’s later writing (cf. Rom. 3:23–26; 5:5ff.; but cf. also Rom. 4:25; 8:34; 2 Cor. 5:15 ...

1189. The Trial Before Felix

Acts 24:1-27

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... to speak of the judgment to come (see disc. on 1:10f.; cf. Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:3), Felix became afraid and brought the interview to a close. 24:26 One reason for these repeated meetings was Felix’s hope of receiving a bribe. He could either keep Paul in prison indefinitely or, if he chose, could speed up the process of justice and have him acquitted (there was no way that Paul could justly be condemned). But before he would set him free, he wanted it made worth his while. The taking of bribes was forbidden ...

1190. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... a standard member of a well-to-do household. Pedagogues were the guardians in charge of educating and directing the ethical conduct of the sons of the household. Paul equates the law’s function with that of guardianship. The metaphor suggests that as a guardian keeps watch over a child until the child reaches maturity, so the law guarded humanity until the coming of Christ. In the following verses Paul will appeal to the idea of inheritance (3:29–4:7), which is the flipside of the idea of guardianship ...

1191. Overseers and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... is in view (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16–17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21). Just as the living God dwelt in the sanctuary of Israel, so now by the Spirit, God indwells his new temple, the church, and as such they are to “uphold the truth and keep it safe” (JB). With these two images, family and temple, Paul expresses the two urgencies of this letter: his concern over proper behavior among believers vis-à-vis the false teachers, and the church as the people entrusted to uphold and proclaim the truth of the gospel. 3:16 ...

1192. Doing What is Good

Titus 3:1-11

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... not repeat “the” before renewal); in any case, it seems most likely to be Paul’s own intent. It is fully in keeping with Pauline theology that the Holy Spirit is the absolute prerequisite of Christian existence (e.g., 1 Cor. 2:6–16; Rom. ... . Acts 2:17–18). That God poured out his Spirit … through Jesus Christ our Savior is not expressly said elsewhere in Paul, but it is in keeping with the expressions in 1 Corinthians 6:11 and with the rest of the NT (cf. Acts 2:33, John 14:26; 16:7). One should ...

1193. God Disciplines His Sons

Hebrews 12:1-13, Hebrews 12:14-29

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... think, is actually a mark of his or her true status. Suffering is necessarily involved in being a child of God and is not a contradiction of God’s love. 12:4 Struggle against sin here signifies, as the context indicates, not the battle of the Christian to keep from sinning (cf. v. 1), but the struggle to avoid apostatizing. It may refer as much to the sin of the enemies of God who persecute his people as to the potential sin of apostasy in the readers themselves. It is this that they are to resist. There ...

1194. Warning Against Refusing God

Hebrews 12:14-29, Hebrews 12:1-13

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

1195. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... lit., “sleepless nights” in 2 Cor. 11:27; 6:5). The perspective here, indeed, is very similar to that of Paul in 2 Cor. 11:28: “I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches” (cf. 1 Thess. 2:19f.). NIV’s translation they keep watch over you (lit., “your souls,” psychē) appropriately brings out the broader sense of whole persons or beings, as the word is used in 6:19 and 10:39 (see note on the latter passage). The responsibility of stewardship held by the leaders is a familiar ...

1196. Trials and Temptations

James 1:1-18, James 1:19-27

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... , one can hardly have confidence in such a person. Such a one is not just undecided but, in fact, unstable. Now, indeed, he or she may “trust” in God and be part of the church, but with a heart filled with doubt, this person is emotionally keeping options open and other lines of support clear. There is a basic instability within that will eventually become evident in behavior. You cannot trust such a person, for he or she is like Aesop’s crow, trying to walk down two paths at once. The implied call ...

1197. The Christian and the World

James 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... , it did not forsake the worship of God but tried to combine the two: God in the temple, the Queen of Heaven at home; or God in the main temple, Baal in the court of the temple. Thus it is repeatedly compared to an adulterous wife, who wants to keep the security and respectability of her home and husband but also wants to enjoy her lover (Isa. 1:21; Jer. 3; Hos. 1–3). James, in applying this image to the church, accuses it of serving some “idol” as well as the Lord. The “idol” is easily found: It ...

1198. False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 Peter 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... ). There may be an echo here of the last two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:13). The words tērein (hold, keep) and hēmera kriseōs (day of judgment) recur together in 3:7, one of several little links between the two chapters. In 2 Peter ... left the straight, divinely appointed path of life, and have taken to the way of Balaam—and they are determined to keep on it. Balaam was a hireling prophet who commercialized his gift (Num. 22–24). So, too, these false prophets practice their profession ...

1199. The Sin and Doom of Godless Men

Jude 1:1-16

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... powers, as once they were, are now shackled and impotent. Shining ones, once enjoying the marvelous light of God’s glorious presence, are now plunged in profound darkness. There is grim irony in Jude’s repetition of the same verb. The wicked angels proved too proud to keep (tērein) their exalted positions, so God has kept (tērein) them in deepest detention—a hint that the punishment fits the crime (1 Cor. 3:17; Rev. 16:6). A note in 2 Peter 2:4 adds that they have been sent to Tartarus (NIV, “hell ...

1200. Disobedience and Defeat

Judges 2:6-3:6

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... Source of all good. Punishment did not lead Israel back to restored relationship with the Lord; rather, the people continued to harden their hearts against the Lord. But the story is not finished. The Lord is not finished. The compassionate grace of the Lord causes him to keep reaching out to his beloved people, as we shall see in the stories of the judges, to which the author now turns. Additional Notes 2:7 Who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel: The text says that the elders had ...

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