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 4914 results

1276. Christ the King

Psalm 100:1-5, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Actions Determine Judgment The parable brings us to the end of the parables in Cycle A of the lectionary. It is also the end of the last block of teaching material in the Gospel according to Matthew. It is appropriate that the parable points to the final judgment, the outcome of all that Jesus was trying to teach and demonstrate about the meaning of the kingdom of heaven. The parable contains some rich contrasts in the imagery it uses. On the one hand is the image of the king and the hosts of heaven. It is ...

1277. The Greatest Wonder Of All!

John 14:5-14

Sermon

John M. Braaten

The celebration of Pentecost, with its mighty demonstration of power by the Holy Spirit, is a good time to reflect on some of the mighty deeds of God, because God’s awe-inspiring acts aren’t all locked back there in the memory banks of Bible history buffs; they are still happening all around us. Discovering them is a real adventure because we all, young and old, tend to be impressed by that which is uncommon, unusual or extraordinary. I recall seeing a youngster holding a popcorn kernel in his fingers; he ...

1278. The Time Is Coming

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Paul W. F. Harms

This prophecy does not have the sound and fury of many another. Here is a sweet, gentle breeze, refreshing, invigorating. Jeremiah in his own person is much like the tone of this prophecy. If you've read much of Jeremiah, it may surprise you to learn that he was of a shy, gentle disposition. He wanted people about him. He was affectionate. In this prophecy he is talking about a new law God will write in the heart. Spontaneity of obedience will come from deep inside rather than being imposed from the ...

1279. Mary Of Nazareth

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ephesians 1:15-23

Drama

Lynda Pujad

A Monologue For Easter Part One I had always lived in the village of Nazareth. I am Mary. (bows slightly) It was a common place. Certainly, there has never been anything special about Nazareth but it was my home and I loved it. My parents lived there and also my fiancé, Joseph, who was a reputable carpenter. He was a righteous man and came from the lineage of the family of King David. I knew he was a good man and one that would be a fine husband. Our families had arranged the marriage and soon I would be ...

1280. The Devil Quotes Scriputure, Too

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

I will always remember the immortal words of Flip Wilson’s "Geraldine:" "The devil made me do it!" She said those words with a gleam in her eye which let you know just how enjoyable yielding to temptation really was. Temptation has come on hard times in our day. It has come to mean little more than resistance to a hot-fudge sundae when you are on a diet, or turning down a piece of chocolate cake. At most, resisting temptation seems to mean no more than the self-discipline it takes to stay away from ...

1281. The Stiller of Storms

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

Then he (Jesus) made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, ...

1282. Well, What Did You Expect?

Acts 12:1-19a

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

I heard it just this past week from a lady in our congregation, and she said it with absolute and unshakable conviction. Her husband has just recovered from an illness which, very often, can be incurable. So she put it this way: "My husband was cured by the power of prayer. There’s no other way of explaining it. Hundreds of people I know were praying for him, and their prayers were answered. No one will ever change my mind about that." All right. That is one point of view. Let’s look at another. This week ...

1283. Dare To Dream

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

The past several years a lot of books have been written on what it is that makes churches grow. The key seems to be that growing churches have congregations with great dreams. Their philosophy is that it is better to attempt something great and fail than to seek to achieve nothing and succeed. On this Pentecost Sunday, as we remember how God's Spirit swept into the lives of those earlier disciples and transformed them into dynamic ambassadors of the Good News of Jesus Christ, let us ask ourselves whether ...

1284. A Glimpse of Eternity

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Eric Ritz

I have often shared with congregations that the key sometimes to unlocking the meaning of a certain Biblical passage is to read what has happened in the book before the particular passage we are reading, and what is going to take place after the passage we are studying. No where is this principle more apparent than in our reading about the mysterious but marvelous story of the TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD. Another key to understanding this passage and other sacred writings is to look not only at the story, ...

1285. Grace in the Midst of Exasperation

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

Spiritual storytelling (a.k.a. "my testimony") is often an inspiring experience for a gathered group of Christians. It is also inherently risky. The risk is that the story will sound wonderful. Whenever the overwhelming number of details of someone's garden-variety life are squeezed down to a significant few, it can seem that that four-minute abridged version of existence is fabulously more exciting or meaningful than anything the rest of us have experienced in the previous forty years. We may say to each ...

1286. Different

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Sermon

James L. Killen

The Christian faith is supposed to make a difference in our lives. If it doesn't, why should we bother with it? If the Christian faith is supposed to make a difference in our lives, then we should expect that Christians will be different. And, Christians are supposed to make a difference in the world. We know these things - and yet, we tend to want to minimize the difference. We want to be like everyone else - not to offend anyone - to make our faith more attractive to others. But it is the difference that ...

1287. Proper 23

Psalm 106:1-48, Philippians 4:2-9, Matthew 22:1-14, Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 32:1-14 is the story of the golden calf. Psalm 106:6-8, 19-23 is a historical summary that recounts this event in poetic terms. Exodus 32:1-14 - "The Power of Petition: Part 1" Setting. Last week we noted how the account of Israel at Mount Sinai actually lasted for 72 chapters in the Pentateuch (Exodus 19; Numbers 10) . Exodus 19-34 is frequently separated out as a distinct unit within the account of revelation at Mount Sinai, because it presents a self-contained story in three ...

1288. An Emmaus Experience

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Mark R. Smith

There's a story about a young boy named Walter Elias. He was born in the city, but his parents moved out to the country to become farmers. Walter had a vivid imagination and the farm was the perfect place for a young boy and a wondering mind. One day in the apple orchard he was amazed when he saw sitting on a branch of one of the apple trees an owl. He just stood there and stared at the owl. He thought about what his father had told him about owls: owls always rested during the day because they hunted ...

1289. When Satan Comes Out of the Closet

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

What does 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1984 have in common? Well, these are the years that a certain religious group have prophesied as the year that the world would come to an end.[1] Let me ask another question. What do Napoleon, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, and Ronald Reagan have in common? They have all been identified by some religious group as the Antichrist.[2] (In case you are wondering how Ronald Reagan got in there, his full name is Ronald Wilson Reagan; ...

1290. Jeremiah 1:4-10

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Jeremiah has always held a special appeal. He is a vision of strength and commitment yet is a somewhat sorrowful character with whom it is easy to sympathize. Perhaps the reason Jeremiah has always found favor is that two basic factors have always defined life _ things always change and people don't like change. Nearly all people can look at their own age, their own times, and deplore the fact that they have been born into a period of tremendous upheaval and change. It always appears that past generations ...

1291. Led by the Spirit, Tempted by the Devil

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A woman had a weakness for beautiful clothes. She was unable to resist the temptation…to the point of outrageous, extravagant spending. She and her husband had worked on it, and he thought she was doing better. Every time she was drawn to a clothing boutique or a display in a department store window, she would talk to herself, “Don’t do it…don’t do it…remember how much you owe…you don’t need it…you’ve worn the last dress only once…you owe a fortune still…remember how John feels about it…don’t do it…get the ...

1292. David: The Problem of Family

2 Samuel 18:28-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

For nearly a hundred years now Americans have paused on the third Sunday in June to honor their fathers. There are about 66 million of us fathers in the United States. Either out of love or obligation, people will spend one billion dollars buying us 100 million neckties. It's Father's Day. There is a father whose name appears in the Bible more than any other name. That man is David. Jerusalem is called the City of David. Jesus is called the Son of David. He was a man of great accomplishment although ...

1293. Flesh and Spirit

Romans 8:12-17

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

Chapters 7-8 of Romans are among the most important words in the Bible for us in the twenty-first century. In these chapters, Paul wrestles with the issues of human consciousness, human will, and the Trinity. In chapter 7, he reflects a profound understanding of our struggles as human beings, whether we are a first-century Jew in Palestine or a twenty-first-century American Christian. He writes these words in chapter seven to the church at Rome and to churches everywhere in every age: I do not understand ...

1294. The Mighty Wind of God

Acts 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

There is nothing like a major hurricane or a flurry of tornadoes to remind us how powerful wind can sometimes be. Ask survivors of Hurricane Harvey or Hurricane Irma last summer. Ask survivors of recent tornadoes in the South and Midwest. Wind is capable of an amazing amount of damage. A book titled Blame It on the Weather tells about some extraordinary events that occurred in tornadoes, especially with regard to animals. It tells about a tornado that churned through a dog boarding kennel in Michigan. ...

1295. Next Man Up

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

In May 2001 journalist Giles Brandeth interviewed South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu. As you know, Desmond Tutu has dedicated his life to bringing justice, peace and equality to the people of South Africa. There were a million questions Brandeth wanted to ask Tutu. But the Archbishop had been diagnosed recently with prostate cancer, and Brandeth realized that this interview might be the last one Desmond Tutu would ever give. So he asked the Archbishop to choose the topic of conversation. What ...

1296. Saved By the Light

Isaiah 60:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

Series: Seeing God More Clearly in 2020 Rev. Richard Fairchild tells the harrowing story of an event that occurred on Sunday afternoon, June 1st, 1975. A man named Darrel Dore was on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Suddenly the rig wobbled, tipped to one side, and crashed into the sea. Darrel was trapped inside a room on the rig. As the rig sank deeper and deeper into the sea, the lights went out and the room began to fill with water. Thrashing about in the darkness, Darrel accidentally found a huge air ...

1297. We Will Be Changed

Ezekiel 37:1-14, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

What is in a name? Nothing defines us in our lives more than what we are named. We are given a name, but through our lives, we also take on other names. We know Jesus by many names: wonderful, counselor, almighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace, as Handel’s oratorio tells us. But we too have names that define us. In the scriptures, often the name that one is born with is not the name God bestows upon them. Jacob becomes Israel. Sarai becomes Sarah. Abram becomes Abraham. Simon becomes Peter. Adamh ...

1298. That Mountaintop Moment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

We as human beings since the beginning of our time on earth have loved looking up at the stars and imagining what it must be like to reach those distant heavens. Those who have traveled outside of the earth’s orbit have had the opportunity to star gaze in a very different fashion. Unlike the fascinating, familiar feeling we all get when viewing the heavenly constellations that we see from our earthly habitat, astronauts have unanimously experienced a stunning, somewhat eerie phenomenon as they viewed ...

1299. Outlook Determines Outcome

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Rodney Thomas Smothe

The book of Acts, commonly thought to be a sequel to the Gospel of Luke, is a book of many blessings. It's a book that illustrates for us how the church began after the ascension of Jesus. It's a book about the role and ministry of the Holy Spirit. It's a book about church growth. It's a book about witnessing. It's a historical book; it's a theological book; it's a book about attitudes, outlooks, and outcomes. The book of Acts begins with the outpouring of God's promised Holy Spirit and how that spirit ...

1300. The Temptation Of His Life

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

Robert Penn Warren wrote a novel called All The King's Men. It was the story of a governor of Louisiana and his rise to power. His name was Willie Stark. At the end of his story he is shot down dead.1 Here was a man who gained a kingdom and lost all he ever had. Two thousand years earlier a man from Galilee said, "What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his soul?" Perhaps when He made that statement He was not only addressing it to those who heard Him, but also was looking back to ...

Showing results