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 1251 to 1275 of 4935 results

1251. The Word According to Superman

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

(Growing Strong in the Season of Lent, Lent 2) There is an absurd story that comes out of World War II. An American soldier in Tunisia lost his bayonet. Rather than face the consequences of admitting he had lost this important weapon, he carved an excellent facsimile out of wood and placed it in the scabbard at his side. For weeks he went about his duties carrying this fake bayonet. He was safe from getting into trouble as long as his deception went undetected. However, one day the much dreaded order came ...

1252. The Shepherd and His Flock

John 10:1-21

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The brief exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees in 9:39–41 is only the beginning of a discourse extending (with one interruption) through most of chapter 10. The pattern found in chapters 5 and 6, a miracle followed by a discourse interpreting it, is maintained here as well. What chapter 10 interprets, however, is not the healing of the blind man as such but the events that followed the healing, that is, the former blind man’s expulsion from the synagogue and his confession of faith in Jesus. Two ...

1253. Led By The Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Decisions, decisions. Life is full of decisions. In fact, a number of philosophers and psychologists tell us that the decisions we make (or our behavior) largely make us who we are. Life is nothing but decisions. How do we make them in a Christian manner? We Christians believe that by his resurrection on Easter, Christ has given us new life (1 Peter 1:3). You have been given a new life! Now that we have that new life, how does it affect the way in which we make decisions? At least two of our Bible lessons ...

1254. Remembering Who We Are

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

Recently, a college basketball player got hurt in a game. It was her third or fourth concussion in recent play. Officials and medical personnel were alarmed when they discovered that the young woman had a selective amnesia as a result of the injury. She knew her name and her family, but she could not recall ever playing basketball. They took her back home and showed her the high school she played for, and she laughed. She didn't believe them when they insisted she played basketball. She forgot who she was ...

1255. Thanksgiving Day

Deuteronomy 8:1-20, Philippians 4:2-9, Philippians 4:10-20, 1 Timothy 2:1-15, Luke 17:11-19

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The liturgical clue comes from the secular calendar rather than the church year - with an assist from the liturgy itself, which celebrates the death and resurrection of our Lord as Eucharist, or thanksgiving. The occasion often falls between the last two Sundays of the Pentecost cycle/season, since it comes on the fourth Thursday of November annually. The Eucharist celebrates the gift of redemption and eternal life through Jesus Christ; thanksgiving celebrates God's gifts in the goodness ...

1256. Such As I Have

Acts 3:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Will you hear the word of the Lord as found in the third chapter of the Book of Acts, the first ten verses? “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer. The 9th hour, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of those who entered the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms, and Peter directed his gaze at him with John and said, ‘look at us,’ and he fixed ...

1257. The Golden Gate

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Mike Ripski

Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” I. What is this life that Jesus gives abundantly? Have you received it? What difference has it made in you and is making in you? A. The Psalmist calls the Lord “my Shepherd, who gives me all I need.” This is what he does: “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” In that day and culture, to eat with someone was to enter into a covenant with them. It was to promise to stand with them “come hell or high water.” It was ...

1258. The Bread We Daily Need

Luke 11:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

At a small dinner party in the home of a member, a pastor was invited to ask the blessing for the meal. Turning to the talkative six year old in the house, the pastor suggested she might like to do the blessing instead. The outgoing youngster now suddenly shy replied, “I wouldn’t know what to say!” “Just say what you hear your Mommy say,” said the pastor assuredly. With that the little girl folded her hands, bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?” Give us this ...

1259. Apples, Onions, and Cheese

Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The word of the Lord Almighty came to me. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ And many peoples and ...

1260. Anointed Ministry

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Isaiah 61 is a dangerous text! Jesus used this text to launch his ministry in his home town of Nazareth and it caused him to be thrown out of the synagogue and taken to the edge of a cliff. Jesus' life was threatened as a result of his reading, interpretation and application of this text. "Today, this Scripture is being fulfilled in your hearing," Jesus said. But we are getting ahead of our story. Let's go back to the original context of Isaiah 61 before we return to Jesus' use of the text. Isaiah's ...

1261. You Figure It Out

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Several of the recent texts in this series of gospels from Matthew (the lectionary "A" cycle) have focused on collisions between Jesus and the Jewish church power structure, focused in the Pharisees. Today’s text is another in the series. As the movement in Matthew races inevitably to the final showdown and the crucifixion, the confrontations become more pointed, the accusations more shrill. In this text the Pharisees are actually described as plotting to entangle Jesus. The short-term goal was to ...

1262. If You Had Been Here

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Have you ever felt as if God had let you down, had withdrawn His protecting arm from you? Even the question seems foolish, because we know the answer before we ask it. We pastors who have walked hospital corridors with loved ones have seen the prayers of so many people seemingly go unanswered. We have seen parents pray earnestly for a sick baby, and then have gone to the cemetery to bury the much-prayed-for child. We have sought to comfort men whose wives have slipped from them just when their families ...

1263. The Word To The Wise

Proverbs 2:1-22

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! Life seems to be one long succession of decisions - • some of them of small significance that could go either way without upsetting anything; • others of a knotty nature that defy a simple choice and may well be life-changing in their consequence; • some of no more hurt than being left outside the candy store, looking in; • others that can mean the difference between poverty or wealth, disease or health, death or life, years of disillusionment and despair, or years of joy ...

1264. "Why Don't We Just Tell Them Our Names?"

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz, had finished the outline to his famous book, but he hadn't come up with the name of the enchanted land where Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion sought the help of the Wizard. As he gathered up his files, Baum's eyes fell upon a drawer in his filing cabinet marked, "O-Z." And thus he came up with a land called "Oz." There's nothing peculiar about Peculiar, Missouri, Frank Gallant learned in researching a book about unusual American place-names. ...

1265. Did He Dance?

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Mary Hollingsworth in her book, Fireside Stories, tells a wonderful story about a devoted follower of Christ in Romania named Richard Rumbren. Rumbren was arrested by the Communists many years ago for believing in Jesus. For fourteen years, he and some other Christians were kept in one little room some thirty feet below the ground. And in all those years all they had was one little light bulb. It was a horrible life. When he was finally released, Richard wrote a book titled Tortured for Christ to relate ...

1266. Radical Surgery

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I wish that Ted Koppel would run for president. Sometimes he seems to make more sense than all of the politicians put together. You know him as the popular moderator of ABC’s “Nightline” program. In a speech at Duke University a year ago he said this: “We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us. Shoot up if you must, but use a clean needle. Enjoy sex whenever and with whomever you wish, but wear a condom. No! The answer is no. Not because it isn’t cool or smart or because you might end ...

1267. The Heart of an Intimate Matter

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Convictions and opinions are not the same, are they? Someone has said, “Opinions are many, convictions are few; opinions change often, convictions rarely do.” Opinions live on the surface; convictions go deep. Opinions thrive around the gossipy edges; convictions live near the center of life. One way to tell the difference is to ask, What would you make a sacrifice for- of real money, of significant time, of patient suffering, even of life if necessary? The more you would pay, the closer you move to the ...

1268. Getting Your Politics Right

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

I grew up with the myth, universally absorbed but rarely argued for except by extremists with bad manners, that whites were superior. Exceptions were acknowledged, but only as exceptions that did not change the rule. Racism was one of the unspoken beliefs of my childhood culture before the Civil Rights movement rose up to challenge the great lie with the potent rhetoric of our founding documents, as in The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal ...

1269. Eleven Plus One

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Say "March Madness" and everyone knows what you're talking about. The NCAA Basketball Championship fills the minds of fans and the sports channels on TV. Say "Super Bowl" or "World Series" and a whole host of images come to mind. Whether college or pro ball, every tournament singles out one or two teams that are dubbed a Cinderella team. Some have unexpected, unlooked-for strings of victories; some go beyond their individual abilities to teamwork; and suddenly, a team destined for the dumpster is sitting ...

1270. Proper 12

Genesis 29:15-30, Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52, Romans 8:28-39, Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT Genesis 29:15-30 is a story of reversals, of how the trickster Jacob is tricked by Laban, while Psalm 105 is a song of praise that celebrates God's deeds as evidence of the fulfilled promises that are made in the covenant with Jacob's children. Genesis 29:15-30 - "Whom Is God Watching?" Setting. The third reading from the Jacob cycle locates Jacob in Haran with Rebekah's kinsman Laban. God, however, is absent in this story. There are neither divine speeches as in the first story in Genesis 25 ...

1271. Proper 26

Joshua 3:1-4:24, Matthew 23:1-39, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Joshua 3:7-17 is the story of how Israel entered the promised land of Canaan by crossing the Jordan River on dry ground. Psalm 107:33-43 is both praise and reflection on the salvific power of God. Joshua 3:7-17 - "Crossing Over the Jordan" Setting. The primary story of the salvation history of Israel separates into three parts. It begins with the liberating experience of escape from Egypt, then it moves to the wilderness stories where Israel is presented as following God on a journey, ...

1272. Sleep With the Lions Without Being Eaten

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

James Merritt

I read something recently that blessed me and inspired me, and I hope it will you too. It is entitled: THE WORLD NEEDS MEN...[AND I MIGHT ADD WOMEN] Who cannot be bought; whose word is their bond; who put character above wealth; who possess opinions and a will; who are larger than their vocation; who do not hesitate to take chances; who will not lose their individuality in a crowd; who will be as honest in small things as in great things; who will make no compromise with wrong; whose ambitions are not ...

1273. When You Are Up And Out

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It’s been said of Jesus that whenever he met a person, it was as if that person were an island around which Jesus sailed, until he found where the real problem was and there he landed. He did that with the woman at the well and landed on the question of marriage. “Go call your husband,” Jesus said to her. He did that with the rich young ruler and landed on the question of money. “Go sell all of your possessions and give them to the poor,” He said to that man. He did that with Zacchaeus and landed on the ...

1274. What Does the Bible Really Say about Divorce?

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

I enjoy humor about married couples. Comedian Brian Kiley said recently, “I love being married. When I was single, I got so sick of finishing my own sentences.” A pastor was teaching on Proverbs 16:24 which reads like this: “Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” The minister then added, “In other words, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” One woman in the congregation put this advice to work immediately. She leaned over, put her head on husband’ ...

1275. The Path of Joy

Psalm 118:1-29

Sermon

King Duncan

Psalm 118 lies quite literally in the very center of the Bible. And it begins with these words: 1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.” We have often been guilty of oversimplifying the relationship between the Old Testament and the New. We say quite glibly, the Old Testament God is a God of wrath, the New Testament God is a God of Love. And, in some instances, that appears to be true. But there are many acclamations in the Hebrew ...

Showing results