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 1276 to 1300 of 5000 results

1276. Disintegration and Reintegration

Mark 14:1-15:47

Sermon

John Smylie

Today's reading is the longest assigned reading that we have the entire year. Many churches break the reading up into several parts, assigning individuals and groups to particular lines and sections. Perhaps we do this so we can keep the interest of the listener. Perhaps we do this so we can engage the drama of the reading. It seems to me the reason we have such a long reading today is because we have come to the heart and center of our faith. We need to hear the whole story. We need to be reminded not in ...

1277. When the Impossible Becomes Imminently Possible!

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Apart from the resurrection, this miracle of the feeding of the multitude alone excites all the gospel writers so that none of them feels the gospel story is complete without it. An exciting missionary adventure is crushed by John the Baptist's death, and Jesus and his disciples retired across Galilee. It was the backdrop for an incredibly timeless human story. Of all the gospel writers, only John writes, "He [Jesus] himself knew what he was going to do" (John 6:6 NRSV). The New International Version ...

1278. A Caddie Worth Having

Illustration

Two golfers stepped up to the first tee on the St. Andrews course at Ardsley, New York, one of America's oldest courses. The elder one was a kindly man who played a thoughtful, deliberate game. The younger man was full of pride and impatience. On the first hole he sliced, lost his ball in the tall grass, shot another one, and had a score of eight instead of four or five. On the second tee he began to lecture the caddie: "Keep your eye peeled. I'm not here to do your job for you!" Thereafter, every bad shot ...

1279. Dealing with Heavy Questions

Parenting:

Illustration

Corrie Ten Boom

"Father, what is sex sin?" My father turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor. "Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. "It's too heavy," I said. "Yes," he said. "And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl ...

1280. The Love of the Shepherd

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Sheep sometimes have a reputation for being passive and helpless. “Gentle as a lamb,” we say. Well, maybe . . . maybe not. Reuters News Service told of an Egyptian man who had been pushed to his death from a three‑story building by a sheep that he was preparing for slaughter. The report noted that many Egyptian city dwellers keep livestock on their rooftops. This particular city dweller had been fattening the sheep in question for months getting it ready for a ritual sacrifice. Before that could happen, ...

1281. Victorious, but Not Unscarred

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

I’m sure someone looked at the title of today’s message, “Victorious, But Not Unscarred” and thought, “Evidently the pastor just finished filling out [his] income tax form.” April 15th it’s not only income tax day as you may remember. It’s also the day the Titanic sunk and the day Lincoln was shot. Sometime back in California, a seventy-one year old grandmother pleaded not guilty to armed robbery, saying she had been driven insane by the Internal Revenue Service. That seems perfectly understandable to me. ...

1282. Love Each Other (Mother's Day)

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

A little boy watched, fascinated, as his mother gently rubbed cold cream on her face. “Why are you rubbing cold cream on your face, mommy?” he asked. “To make myself beautiful,” said his mother. A few minutes later, she began removing the cream with a tissue. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Are you giving up?” Welcome on this Mother’s Day. It’s not easy being a Mom. Those of you who have children know it’s not easy, regardless of their age. One Mom says that she’s going to try something different next ...

1283. Quitters

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a time-honored story about a football game featuring two mismatched teams. One team was much larger than the other. The larger team was dominating the game, severely intimidating the smaller team in the process. The hitting was fierce. The smaller team had one player, however, who might make a difference. His name was Calhoun and he was the fastest running back in the league. His coach felt that if Calhoun could get any blocking at all, he could easily break free and outrun the larger players. The ...

1284. A Rock Thrown, A Lesson Learned

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Author Ron Dykstra tells about a young and successful executive who was traveling through a neighborhood, driving a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. Suddenly a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! The young executive slammed on the brakes and backed up to the spot where the brick had been thrown. He then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, “What was all that about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That’s a new car and that ...

1285. Leading Others to Jesus

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

Richard Gribble

It was the Christmas season and thus the time for the local elementary school to present its annual Christmas play. One little girl named Caitlin invited her parents to come to the performance. She told them, “Mom and Dad, please come to the play for I have the most important role in the entire production.” Of course, Caitlin’s parents were more than happy to accept their daughter’s invitation to attend the event. On the night of the performance the school auditorium was filled with family, friends, and ...

1286. Leading Others to Jesus

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Richard Gribble

It was the Christmas season and thus the time for the local elementary school to present its annual Christmas play. One little girl named Caitlin invited her parents to come to the performance. She told them, "Mom and Dad, please come to the play for I have the most important role in the entire production." Of course, Caitlin's parents were more than happy to accept their daughter's invitation to attend the event. On the night of the performance the school auditorium was filled with family, friends, and ...

1287. Just-Say-The-Word Disciples

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of you here this morning came from “the wrong side of the tracks?” [Draw out some stories about being from “the wrong side”] Did the “wrong side of town” have a name? [I was born on a street known as “Hungry Hill”] Guess what? Every one of us here has come from the “wrong side of the tracks” at one time or other. Whether you grew up on a swanky estate, a ritzy mansion, a standard suburban “splanch” (split level ranch), a shanty in the woods or a slum in the city, you were on the “wrong side of the ...

1288. Praise and Blame

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

“Where there is no vision, the people perish,” the writer of the Old Testament book of Proverbs declares (Proverbs 29:18). Without a vision and an understanding of their mission, churches will continue to struggle and falter. Without a clear sense of identity people begin blaming each other over the plight of the church. People will blame their pastor or church leaders for the problems the church is experiencing. The church might even lose members; no one wants to be part of a church where members are in ...

1289. You Never Noticed

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

“I used to think I was poor,” says one comedian. “Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self‑defeating to think of myself as needy. I was deprived. (Oh, not deprived but rather underprivileged.) Then they told me that underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. “I still don’t have a dime,” this comedian concludes, “But I have a great vocabulary.” Maybe that comedian was laughing to keep from crying, because whatever you may call it, being poor isn’t any fun. “There ...

1290. Cleaned and Claimed

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever been around someone who is not particularly concerned with personal hygiene say, in a crowded elevator? If so you can be grateful that you didn’t live 100 years ago or 200 years ago. One of the changes that has taken place over the centuries that we can be thankful for is the concern for personal hygiene. For example, what if we lived in the 1500s? This is interesting. One writer tells us that in the 1500s most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still ...

1291. Be Reconciled With God

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a 1973 motion picture titled Ash Wednesday. It stars Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor plays an aging woman who wants to return to the heights of her beauty. In pursuit of this obsession, she boards a plane to Switzerland, where she undergoes extensive plastic surgery. The doctors promise her that afterwards she will look twenty years younger. Following the surgery, with her bruised face wrapped in bandages, Taylor dons dark sun glasses and decides to go for a walk. Slowly, in great pain, she strolls the ...

1292. A Global Celebration

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is the home of the Great Passion Play in the Ozarks. There is a humorous story going around about the actor who at one time played the part of Christ in this passion play. As the actor carried the cross up the hill of Golgotha a tourist began heckling him, making fun of him and shouting insults at him. Finally, the actor had taken as much as he could take. So he threw down his cross, walked over to the tourist . . . and punched him out. After the play was over, the director told ...

1293. You Have a Friend (Memorial Day)

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

An anonymous e-mail tells a story we need to hear on this Memorial Day weekend. It’s about an old man and his wife sitting in the parking lot of a supermarket. The hood is up on their car. Evidently they are having engine problems. A young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm walks in the direction of the elderly couple. The old gentleman emerges from the car and takes a few steps in the young man’s direction. He points to the open hood and asks the young man for assistance. The young ...

1294. Ignite: Set On Fire!

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

Without question, perhaps the most famous well-known name outside of politics and entertainment would be Billy Graham. Of all the stories I’ve ever heard about Dr. Graham, probably my favorite is the time when he was going to a certain city to do one of his crusades. There were some critics who didn’t particularly care for either his style or his methods. They didn’t want him to come. They called a press conference and said, “If we let that man come to our city and preach his message he will set the church ...

1295. One Thing

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

James Merritt

I believe that every year that God gives us on this earth is to be a year where we are as productive as we can be for His work and as pleasing as we can be for His glory. The longer you live the more you realize just how fleeting these years are and just how important it is to maximize the potential of each year for being what we ought to be and doing what we ought to do. Every year at least half of us in this will do something that in the beginning will be very exhilarating, but in the end very ...

1296. Lost Baggage: Losing Your Baggage

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

James Merritt

If you travel by air with any frequence, it has likely happened to you. A bar-coded tag is placed on your checked bag at their airport counter and you watch it wisk away down a conveyor belt, presumably to be loaded onto the same plane on which you are about to fly. Some hours later, you arrive at your destination, and make your way to baggage claim. There, you stand with 200 other passengers, waiting as the carousel went round and round almost magically spitting out piece after piece of luggage. One by ...

1297. The God of Second Chances

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

King Duncan

A national magazine for pastors once carried a rating system for sermons similar to the rating system we’re all familiar with for movies. It went something like this. The person who designed it was a little bit cynical. Here is the rating he gave to various kinds of sermons: “G” - Generally acceptable to everyone. Full of inoffensive, childlike platitudes; usually described as “wonderful” or “marvelous” by those who leave church to shake the hands of the pastor. “MC” - For more mature congregations. At ...

1298. Let's Take This from the Beginning

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

James Merritt

The world of information is now connected through the Internet, but in 1860 the fastest way to send a message was by a newly developed innovation called “The Pony Express.” Young men who loved adventure were hired to ride 8 hours and 80 miles a day on horseback. The 1,946 miles between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California were linked together by 190 stations so that mail delivery could be reduced from 25 days to just 10. These riders rode 6 days a week, for that time, at a very high salary of $ ...

1299. To the Rescue

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

James Merritt

Some of you may remember the most famous advice communist of all time. Her name was Ann Landers. For decades, her answers to every question you could imagine from all over the country was read in hundreds of newspapers. Her byline “Dear Ann”, became famous all over the world. Towards the end of her career, she sat down for an interview with NBC and she was asked this question, “Of all the questions you have received over all of your years what is the most frequent question you have been asked?” Her answer ...

1300. Surviving the Big One

Matthew 18:10-14

Sermon

James Merritt

Men, when it comes to women, there is one thing that is absolutely true. Women, when it comes to men, there is one thing that is absolutely true. You’ve heard it before, “You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.” There is some truth in that old saying and here is why. Relationships are messy. Relationships are just like newborn babies. Every once in a while they mess on themselves and you have to clean them up. You would think that families would have it together. The people who are ...

Showing results

Showing 1276 to 1300 of 5000 results

1276. Disintegration and Reintegration

Mark 14:1-15:47

Sermon

John Smylie

1277. When the Impossible Becomes Imminently Possible!

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

1278. A Caddie Worth Having

Illustration

1279. Dealing with Heavy Questions

Parenting:

Illustration

Corrie Ten Boom

1280. The Love of the Shepherd

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

1281. Victorious, but Not Unscarred

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

1282. Love Each Other (Mother's Day)

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

1283. Quitters

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

1284. A Rock Thrown, A Lesson Learned

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

King Duncan

1285. Leading Others to Jesus

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

Richard Gribble

1286. Leading Others to Jesus

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Richard Gribble

It was the Christmas season and thus the time for the local elementary school to present its annual Christmas play. One little girl named Caitlin invited her parents to come to the performance. She told them, "Mom and Dad, please come to the play for I have the most important role in the entire production." Of course, Caitlin's parents were more than happy to accept their daughter's invitation to attend the event. On the night of the performance the school auditorium was filled with family, friends, and ...

1287. Just-Say-The-Word Disciples

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

1288. Praise and Blame

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

1289. You Never Noticed

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan