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 3926 results

1276. In The Flesh

John 1:1-18

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

... decline that so many churches are experiencing is baffling since we live in a time when there is a desperate need for community. People are less and less concerned about what church name a congregation has, and more and more concerned with finding a supportive, receptive, loving congregation that will welcome and take care of them. There is a lot of debate about various issues, but people who are hurting aren't looking for position statements. They are looking for the Word that gives life and comfort and ...

1277. Prayer And Compassion Fatigue

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... of speculation about what really happened next. Some say the bread and the fish just kept miraculously multiplying. The daughter of a missionary once told me about a barrel of flour that the mission board sent every three months to her family as part of their support. Transportation was so uncertain and the mission board's finances were so shaky that sometimes it took four months or more for the next flour barrel to come. Every day her mother would go to the barrel and scoop out flour but never look in to ...

1278. The Honor Of A Limp

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Richard Sears was a young man when his father died, and so he had to go to work to support the family. He took a job on the railroad and worked his way up to station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota. To earn extra money he sold coal and lumber. One day a box full of watches was delivered to his station by mistake. The local jeweler decided he didn' ...

1279. Going Through The Waters

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

... . We have been claimed by God. We cannot take the glory for our inheritance. Normally, our lives are not nearly so dramatic as crossing the Reed Sea. For the most part we come to church to learn about God, to speak to God, to get spiritual support to make it through a typical week, to receive insights on how to live in the image and grace of Jesus Christ. As the bumper sticker says, "Rough week at work? See me in church." Indeed, I agree wholeheartedly. But what about those big, earth-shaking, fundamental ...

1280. Epiphany 5

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20, Isaiah 58:1-14, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... the subject of alternative means of healing, there was a feature on a community in northern California, called Stonecroft. The tiny community is composed of several Roman Catholic priests and nuns who are providing a family for orphaned children with AIDS. To support their endeavor, they raise Christmas trees. Here is a community dedicated to the proposition that their purpose is to provide life and light in the midst of certain death. They are willing to love even though they will surely lose the objects ...

1281. Lent 1

Mt 4:1-11 · Rom 5:12-21 · Gen 2:7 - 3:7 · Ps 32

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... the temptations, scripture is employed. Satan took certain passages out of context and made them pretexts to deceive Jesus into accepting his point of view. In rejecting the temptations, Jesus also used scripture but in its proper context. Do we use the Bible to support our preconceived ideas and our established behavior patterns or do we permit God's Word to shape and inform us? PREACHING POSSIBILITIES Lesson 1: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-18, 25--3:1-7 Sermon Title: The High Cost Of Forbidden Fruit. Sermon Angle ...

1282. Lent 5

John 11:1-16, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Romans 8:1-17, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... a healthy body with a dead brain. Remember the case of Karen Anne Quinlan, who existed for years in a vegetative state. She was apparently kept alive by medical technology and her parents had to go to court to obtain an order to free her from the life-support machines. The person who is separated from God, hostile to the claims of her Maker, is indeed brain-dead. Paul says that the mind of sinful man is death (v. 6). Good news for the brain-dead; Christ will give us a new mind through faith. Epistle: Romans ...

1283. Proper 18

Romans 13:8-14, Romans 13:1-7, Ezekiel 33:1-20, Exodus 12:1-30, Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... denote power that is taken coercively from the people, while the latter is used to describe the power which the people give their leaders. A pastor whom I respect revealed to me the greatest compliment of his pastoral career. A person, who at first was not supportive of a building proposal backed by the pastor, came up to him after the meeting in which the proposal was approved and told him: "Pastor, I want to thank you for giving us our church back." That pastor had wisely empowered the people to make the ...

1284. Proper 4

Genesis 6:1-8:22, Deuteronomy 11:1-32, Matthew 7:21-29, Romans 1:1-17, Romans 3:21-31

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... the fear that the ministry of the laity was being increasingly oriented toward the area of daily work rather than "churchcraft." Such responses are unfortunate because those who catch the vision of ministry in daily life are among the strongest supporters of the institutional church. Lesson 2: Romans 3:21-28 Sermon Title: The Righteousness Of God. Sermon Angle: Our lesson starts out: "Now the righteousness of God has been revealed." The biblical religions take great pains to establish the righteousness ...

1285. Reformation Sunday

Jn 8:31-36 · Rom 3:19-28 · Jer 31:31-34 · Ps 46

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... us from God. The way that God looks at sin is radically different from the way that the world views the infractions of its laws. Sole Gratia! Sola Fide! This was the war cry of the Protestant reformers. Grace alone! Faith alone! They passionately supported Paul's position: "For we hold that no man is justified by faith, apart from the works prescribed by the law" (v. 28). Christ alone saves us. Critics of the doctrine of justification point out that it removes any incentive for righteous living. If ...

1286. Christmas 1

Galatians 3:26--4:7, Galatians 3:15-25, Colossians 3:1-17, Hebrews 2:5-18, Isaiah 61:1-11, Isaiah 63:7--64:12, Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... bombarded in economic, social, ideological, and even religious forces. To illustrate, a scout troop of 23 boys meets in a church located in a small city in Nebraska. Twenty of the 23 are the products of broken homes. In the same church a support group for such youngsters draws over 60 kids. It's called "Rainbows" and it has already spread to 27 states with a waiting list anxious to enter, that they might share their anguish and anger. Could this disastrous disintegration of our family and community ...

1287. Seder Service: The Passover Haggadah

Bulletin Aid

Robert L. Linder and Rabbi Sol Ester

... the south 'Do not withhold them!' " R: "Thou didst bring Thy sons from afar, and Thy daughters from the ends of the earth!" May we who live in this land of freedom help our brothers to rebuild the State of Israel, that it may become secure and self-supporting, a stronghold of democracy, a bridge which unites the peoples of the East and of the West. R: "For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem." 14. HALLEL Hallel (Psalms of Praise) precedes and follows the festive meal to ...

1288. The Babel Disaster -- You Are There

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... best to buttress the walls, howto let light in, what themes were most appropriate todecorate each temple level (there were seven!). I could notbelieve the confusion. Each specialist was using his ownjargon. Each church leader seemed to get his ego so involvedin supporting his own ideas that he didn't listen to whatanyone else was saying. It was awful. I still don't know howthe temple was ever completed. Wonder of wonders, it was finished. Late, butnonetheless finished. And it did dominate the plain. Iwaited ...

1289. Children

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... home to Jericho where Dad worked. Living off our savings, we kept our home and his job so that his income could help the Jesus-followers. Things went well for several years that way. As the Church developed and spread, my dad's income supported about two dozen people to be full-time preachers, teachers, and missionaries. Occasionally, one of the emperors or governors would blame Christians for all the world's problems. Things would get rough. People would disappear and not be seen again. Or their bodies ...

1290. The Babel Disaster - You Are There

Genesis 11:1-9

Drama

Jerry Eckert

... to buttress the walls, how to let light in, what themes were most appropriate to decorate each temple level (there were seven!). I could not believe the confusion. Each specialist was using his own jargon. Each church leader seemed to get his ego so involved in supporting his own ideas that he didn't listen to what anyone else was saying. It was awful. I still don't know how the temple was ever completed. Wonder of wonders, it was finished. Late, but nonetheless finished. And it did dominate the plain. I ...

1291. When Imagination Replaces Memory

Isaiah 42:18-25

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... Revolution. Our national consciousness remembers the determined colonial settler being pitted against the foreign forces of the King of England. Actually Americans fought Americans. Benjamin Franklin stopped speaking to his Tory son. Only a third of the colonists actively supported the war, and we are told by the historians that nearly as many Americans fought for Britain as fought against Britain.1 And consider our wonderful memories of Christopher Columbus. When he arrived in the New World he frequently ...

1292. Death Shall Be No More

Isaiah 25:1-12

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... , free of pain, reunited with loved ones, but let's not talk about such a depressing subject." He was revealing the ambivalence nearly all of us feel. Our faith holds out a glowing promise of that which lies beyond, and yet there is little or no evidence to support this promise. It comes to us on trust alone. Yet many of us are willing to stake our lives on the promise. C. S. Lewis once observed that Jesus was either the Son of God or loony as a fruitcake. There's no middle ground. His teachings and ...

1293. Kindness In Action: Evangelism

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... time respecting the individuals we serve and their right to worship where and as they decide is right. One very effective local church has a myriad of programs designed to meet human needs characteristic of today. They have divorce recovery programs, Altzheimer support groups, grief recovery programs, blended family programs, strong ministry to children and youth, and a strong program for seniors and shut-ins, while at the same time reaching out to other parts of a large city with ministry to the homeless ...

1294. Wind -- Word -- Spirit -- Community

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Arthur H. Kolsti

... book, The Nature of Prejudice, described the context of genocide in terms of a pyramid. The word for genocide current today is ethnic cleansing. Think of a pyramid with different layers. At the apex of the pyramid is genocide. The supporting layer is persecution. Persecution emerges out of discrimination, which is the next layer down. The bottom layer, which provides the base for the whole pyramid, Alport called circumlocution. By that he meant all the words of prejudice, stereotype, and dehumanization ...

1295. The Strange Tactics Of God

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Sermon

Arthur H. Kolsti

... In a larger dimension, we could list an automobile, possessions, a house. A community can feed its morale through certain buildings or monuments that gather a symbolic value about them: the White House, the Capitol dome, a church steeple. There are some things that have supportive meaning for us. The arrival of the ark had an immediate effect upon the Israelite soldiers. The sight of the ark in the camp also struck fear in the hearts of the Philistines. "When they learned the ark of the Lord had come to the ...

1296. A Habitat For Humanity

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Arthur H. Kolsti

... social fabric of the world. If the great question of the sixteenth century was "Where can I find a gracious God?" the burning question at the end of this turbulent twentieth century is "Where can I find a gracious neighbor?" The desire for supportive community exists in all of us. Several years ago an interesting experiment involving children was conducted at the University of Louvain in Belgium. A group was shown three pictures of a birthday celebration. The first showed a child all alone with cake, ice ...

1297. When Saints Go Marching Forth

1 Samuel 15:1-35

Sermon

Arthur H. Kolsti

... ? Here out of our book of worship are some beautiful words of commissioning. Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Here are guidelines for our going forth. 1. A statement by the executive director of the Christian Coalition, Ralph Reed, reported by David Broder ...

1298. Lasting Impressions

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... There was no pressure on them to return the money. "I thank God for the chance to show my gratitude for all God has provided for me," Sudha says of the experience. "Each of us has the opportunity to show our gratitude by giving our time, talents, and support to help others." What an example and witness for others! She was someone who learned that a good name and reputation was of greater worth than silver or gold. Since both the rich and poor have something in common, "the Lord is the maker of them all," it ...

1299. Clear Channel Voice

Proverbs 1:20-33

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... is not as important as our final destination. Alcoholics Anonymous has been called the underground spiritual movement of our time. The first step in recovery is acknowledging that you have a problem that you cannot solve yourself. Persons in AA are supported and encouraged by each other. It is not an uncommon experience for persons to come to faith while attending AA meetings. Several years ago a group of Russian drug addiction experts visited the United States and attended several AA meetings. They ...

1300. When All Is Said And Done

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... on tiptoe, always watching for the imminent return of Jesus Christ. As time passed, the urgency cooled. As one generation after another passed away, the church found it difficult to maintain much enthusiasm for the end of the world. This lack of fervor is not supported by a silence within the Bible. The Jewish and Christian scriptures frequently speak of a final consummation of human history. Life had a beginning. Life will have an end. The prophets spoke of the "day of the Lord," a final day when God will ...

Showing results