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 151 to 175 of 1185 results

151. The Road of Joy

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , but is come. Let every heart prepare him room as “heaven and nature sings." In every other religion of the world, human kind is searching for God. They climb mountains, observe rituals, pursue meditations, in hope they will somehow be able to connect to the Divine and satisfy their spiritual hunger. Christianity is different. In Christianity God pursues us. He is the good Shepherd in search of the one lost sheep. He is the loving Father waiting with open arms for the prodigal to come home. He is the God ...

152. What Can Christians Learn From Jews?

Genesis 12:1-3

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... olive shoot have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you (Romans 11:17-19). C. We pursue the same path of righteousness. Amos, that troubler from Tekoa, marched down to the city hall of his day and dared to say, “Let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like a never failing stream." One reason we crowd around a hero like Dr. Martin ...

153. The Power to Do Good

Acts 10:34-38, 44-48

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , but Erin Brokovich brings a small town to its feet and a California power company to its knees when she decides to passionately pursue the polluting of a city's water supply. Do you have any passion anymore? What's happened to your dreams of a better ... important. A calling is a need that is not being filled. A calling is a something that lies before you now. It is one thing to pursue a career, it is quite another to answer a call. We are called to belong to Jesus Christ. We are called to become what He made ...

154. Dress For Faithfulness

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... to live a life that is pleasing to God in all that we do. Jesus didn't die on the cross so you could be successful by worldly standards. Jesus died on the cross because of our sin, because we couldn't be faithful. God doesn't want us to pursue worldly success. God wants us to pursue faithfulness, even in the midst of the confusion of life.

155. Our Misguided Goals

John 1:19-34

Illustration

William J. Kemp

... its bent toward independence and self-fulfillment. Darrell writes: "Many pews on Sunday morning are filled with people seeking God, praying like mad, studying the Word, but who still wonder why God seems so distant. Maybe it is because our culture has taught us to pursue goals that do not bring us closer to him. Perhaps those goals undermine the relationships we are to have with him and with others. What are some of our misguided goals? "Where our culture says, 'Seek your place in the world!' our God says ...

156. Where Would We Be Without...?

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to the bishop, not doctrinal convictions. Farel knew the city needed a manager. During Calvin's stopover, Farel made a point of calling on the young scholar. He urged Calvin to stay and help establish the work there. Calvin protested that he had studies to pursue. "You are only following your own wishes!" Farel responded. "If you do not help us in this work of the Lord, the Lord will punish you for seeing to your own interest rather than his." Whoops! Farel had succeeded in getting Calvin's attention. The ...

157. A Whole City at The Door

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... In the process of his proclamation, healings were signs of the message. Signs meant to serve the message, not the other way around. Jesus fed his own ministry by retreating to quiet places to pray and reflect. He did not become a hyperventilating television preacher pursuing a non-stop popular ministry. His own disciples seemed eager enough for him to do this, but Jesus knew the focus of his ministry. It included healing and doing good, but healing and doing good did not exhaust the purpose of his ministry ...

158. Mark 1:29-39

Mark 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... life, the boundaries are stretched. Jesus’ first called disciples are the ones to first intrude upon his sacred, solitary time. With Simon Peter in the lead, his disciples “hunted for him” (“katedioxen”), or “pursued him,” a verb with roots that suggest an innocent being pursued by an enemy. Simon’s zealous pursuit is successful, and this neophyte disciple’s declaration to Jesus is revealing: “Everyone is searching for you” (v.37). The “everyone” Simon is concerned with is the ...

159. Sandbox First, Soapbox Second

Mark 1:29-34, Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

160. The Great Sacrifice of Love

Luke 9:18-27, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... to the art academy. After four years, the young artist returned triumphantly to a homecoming dinner. The artist rose from the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for his years of sacrifice. He said, "Now Albert, it is your turn to go to the academy and pursue your dream; I will support you." Albert sat at the table and tears began to flow down his cheeks. He began to repeat, "No, no, no." Finally Albert rose, wiped the tears from his face and holding his hands out in front of him said softly, "No ...

161. God Writes Straight with Crooked Lines

Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you are and what you were intending to do. “Senior moments” are reset moments. And busy, bustling lives require reset, reassessment moments. We need to take the time to reconfigure and reconsider just exactly what it is we are pursuing and why we are pursuing it. This sermon this morning is a “senior moment.” In this week’s gospel text there are definitely two very different “things” being sought after. As soon as Jesus started his Galilean ministry he had marvelous, amazing experiences. He ...

162. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

... was then Wisdom the mirrored shield, or scorn the spear? Or hadst thou waited the full cycle, when Thy spirit should have filled its crescent sphere, The monsters of life’s waste had fled from thee like deer. XXVIII. “The herded wolves, bold only to pursue; The obscene ravens, clamorous o’er the dead; The vultures to the conqueror’s banner true Who feed where Desolation first has fed, And whose wings rain contagion; – how they fled, When, like Apollo, from his golden bow The Pythian of the age one ...

163. Godlessness in the Last Days

2 Timothy 3:1-9

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... of evil desires. It is just possible that there was some sexual involvement between the false teachers and these women, which would throw light on several texts in 1 Timothy (see note). But that is not a necessary inference, and Paul does not pursue such a point. He pursues the point that the guilt of their sins and their having all kinds of evil desires has made them religious dilettantes, women who are always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Thus the false teachers and these women feed on ...

164. Titus' Task on Crete

Titus 1:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... self-willed, since it is God’s household, not his own (cf. Mark 10:41–45; 1 Cor. 3:5–9; 4:1–2). On the next two, not given to drunkenness, not violent, which also form a pair, see discussion on 1 Timothy 3:3. The fifth vice, pursuing dishonest gain, is the same word used in the deacon’s list (1 Tim. 3:8) and recurs in verse 11 about the false teachers. Barrett is probably correct in noting, “It is the sordidness of making profit out of Christian service, rather than dishonest gain, that is here ...

165. The Golden Calf

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... , Exodus, p. 424). Moses . . . saw the calf and the dancing. Again this contrasts with the celebration of the people at the sea. After their deliverance, there had been singing and dancing to celebrate their deliverance through the Lord’s victory over the pursuing Egyptians (15:20). The singing and dancing were not the issue. The emptiness of the singing and dancing, and its false object, the self-made calf, were the problem. They had tossed away meaningful life and hope for the future. Like the Lord ...

166. The Sun Stands Still

Joshua 10:1-15

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

... rocks at the entrance of the cave remain to this day (10:27). The narrator divides the event into three parts (10:16–27). First the tribes roll rocks to block the mouth of the cave to contain the enemy kings while the troops pursue and inflict casualties on the fleeing enemy. Second, the tribes make the conquered kings indicate the superiority of the tribal forces through a ritual. Third, the tribal forces feel encouraged by the victory, including the execution of kings and exposure of their bodies, as ...

167. A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... of duration” (Murphy, Ecclesiastes); “the unknown” (Crenshaw, Ecclesiastes), and “the world” (Gordis, Koheleth). 3:15 God will call the past to account: The sense is difficult; a more literal translation is “God seeks what is pursued.” Is the sense that God seeks out (and finds) that which humans pursue (vainly)? Or is it (as the NIV footnote suggests) that God seeks out (and re-calls into being) the existence of that of which humans have no remembrance (i.e., the past)? The first part of ...

168. How Deserted Lies the City

Lamentations 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... of the exile, Judah no longer enjoys a separate existence, but rather dwells among the nations. The promised land had been a resting place for them but now their leaders live in a land not their own. She has become vulnerable to her enemies (all who pursue her have overtaken her). The desolation of Judah continues to be the theme of verse 4, where the initial focus is on the roads at the time of the appointed feasts. The three feasts are Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. At these times, all God’s ...

169. Remember, O Lord, What Has Happened to Us

Lamentations 5:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... provide warmth in the cold. Once the siege began there was limited water, only that which was stored within the riverless city of Jerusalem. Wood was on the hills surrounding the city, but not much could be found in the city walls. Those who pursue them are the Babylonians and others like the Edomites who take advantage of their weakened condition, making the weary even more tired and discouraged. 5:6 In their dire straights, the Judeans submitted to foreign powers like Egypt and Assyria. They had hoped to ...

170. Jesus Walks on the Water

John 6:16-24

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... side of the lake, but how he got there remained a mystery to them. If his comings and goings are beyond the understanding even of his true disciples (vv. 16–21), how much more are they beyond the reach of those who seek him for their own purposes? Those who pursue him in unbelief will never find him (cf. 7:34; 8:21). There is a right way and a wrong way to come to Jesus or to follow him, and the purpose of the ensuing discourse will be to set forth the right way. Verse 25 is more appropriately included ...

171. Jesus the Bread of Life

John 6:25-59

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... had begun following him because of the miracles he had done (cf. 6:2), but since the multiplication of the loaves, they have been pursuing him as one who can satisfy their physical hunger and (they hope) their political ambitions as well (cf. 6:15). They think they ... of God is to believe in the one he has sent (v. 29). The mention of “believing” (rather than merely seeking or pursuing) draws from the crowd a demand for another miracle or sign comparable to that of the manna that Moses provided for the ...

172. No Confidence in the Flesh

Philippians 3:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... (like the Roman emperor). Paul’s Present Code of Values What Paul formerly regarded as achievement he now acknowledges to have been failure. What he would formerly have regarded as worthless and indeed pernicious he now recognizes to be the only achievement worth pursuing—the personal knowledge of Jesus as Lord, sharing the experience of his death and resurrection. 3:7 It was but reasonable to take pride, as Paul once did, in such a catalogue of merit. If a reader suspects that Paul still feels some ...

173. Solomon's Throne Established

1 Kings 2:13-46

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... when it suits him to do so, and “interprets” them in ungenerous fashion otherwise (2:23, 36–46). He, too, has a selective memory, as both his treatment of Abiathar and Joab and his speech in 2:31–33 reveal. He too is a man of ruthless action, pursuing power by all means at his disposal. What we have here, in fact, is a fairly sordid story of power-politics thinly disguised as a morality tale. So tortured are the attempts to convince us that the men who died did so because they deserved it, however ...

174. Signs and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 4:1-5:17, Ezekiel 6:1-14, Ezekiel 7:1-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... and prophetic heritage. The consequences for covenant violation in Leviticus 26:31–33 sound very like the fate Ezekiel 5 describes for Jerusalem (note esp. the terrifying picture of the Lord pursuing Israel with the sword in both texts). Once again, particular connections appear with the message of judgment in Jeremiah: “I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among ...

175. Miscellaneous Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 21:1-32, Ezekiel 22:1-31

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... , 1990], p. 19). However, as Greenberg notes, “This would seem to be creating a text rather than interpreting it” (M. Greenberg, Ezekiel 21–37: A New Translation [AB; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1997], p. 423). Among the options, the course the NJPS pursues seems to involve the least speculation and to yield the best reading: “my son, it [that is, the sword] scorns the rod and every stick.” However, the best course may be to acknowledge that we simply do not understand this obscure poetic line ...

Showing results