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 2001 to 2025 of 2844 results

2001. The Discipline of Witnessing

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Today we talk about witnessing, or "TELLING OTHERS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST." This is even more difficult for most of us. For, quite frankly, we Presbyterians don’t like to think about witnessing. We leave it to the Mormons, or the Jehovah Witnesses, or some of the fringe groups; we much prefer to do things "decently and in order." Somehow witnessing sounds too fanatic! Someone has characterized us as being parallel to those men who belong to the military reserve. We go to drills once a week but we are not on ...

2002. Sharing Brings Us Together

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Objects: Some paper, envelopes, stamps, and pencils. Different children should possess all of one article We are continuing the story of hunger today with the hope that we can do something about it. We think everyone can help stop people from being hungry. We think you can help another boy or girl in this world from being hungry if someone teaches you how. I want to help teach you this morning. I am going to pass out to some of you a few things I brought with me this morning. I have some paper and I want ...

2003. Everyone Has a Somebody

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." How many times have we heard in our lifetime our Lord’s Eleventh Commandment repeated? How many sermons have I preached on love, and have you heard? Yet, in spite of words and commandment, everyone has a somebody whom they cannot love. Somebody is not always the same person, at the same time, in the same place. True as well for the comedian who jested, "There are people in this world who do not love one another, and I hate people like ...

2004. John the Baptist

Drama

Charles L. Koester

INTRODUCTION: [This portion is read from the lectern by the introducer or narrator.] Preaching can be dull. When that is true, it is normally the preacher who is dull. Preaching ought to be exciting. The ministry of John the Baptist offers proof that it can be. John the Baptizer burst into human history as God’s unconventional man; wild, rugged, fearless, and austere. Surviving in the wilderness on locusts and honey, his unconventional message was one of repentence, for the Kingdom of God was at hand; the ...

2005. The Miracle

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

It had been a long difficult trip, one that they really hadn’t wanted to make, but when the government insists, and there are no loop holes, one has little choice. After days on the road, they were both dead tired. Their bodies ached from the strain of the road and the grime of travel ground away at them. A bone-chilling weariness crept over them till all they wanted to do was find some place to rest and spend the night. But now, even that did not look very promising, for every place where they sought ...

2006. In The Shade Of An Awning

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

I am a hard-working innkeeper. It has taken many years to gain my stature in this community. So often, just as success was close, some unforseen event would snatch it from me. The great sickness that took our savings and first-born, and forced our selling everything. The journey to the healing waters. Then came the winds, cursedly cutting apart the town, tearing down everything as it blew for days out of the desert. Then the Roman legions forged a march through our town, and in their superior ways stole ...

2007. OUR LORD DELIVERED UP

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

He walked rapidly, his long robes flowing behind him to be whipped by the brisk, dry east wind. His two servants occasionally quick-stepped to keep pace, their sandals padding softly on the dust of the deserted streets. As they turned eastward from the upper city, the declining, full moon flung their shadows ahead like long moving fingers pointing toward the white limestone buildings of the temple compound. Nicodemus’ mind was thoughtless, yet filled with many thoughts. He had no plan, no course of action ...

2008. Astonishing!

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

For centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely he would not be wrong. Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one light, and dropped them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did until nearly 2,000 years after Aristotle's death. Legend has it that in 1589 Galileo summoned learned ...

2009. Report of a Secret Meeting

John 3:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

Nicodemus should have stayed home and gone to bed early that night long ago, but instead he secretly made his way to where Jesus was staying in Jerusalem and became a part of whatever was happening there. Something prompted him to address Jesus as "Teacher" a divinely appointed teacher who worked miracles in the name of God. Only one sent by God could do the things that Jesus did, according to Nicodemus. And he was right, of course. But what he said immediately prompted a retort from Jesus: "Unless a man ...

2010. On His Way

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Larry Powell

See in your mind’s eye a city that has doubled in population almost overnight. The city is Jerusalem and faithful Jews have converged upon the holy city from great distances to celebrate the Passover. They have come from every country district and all the lands of the Diaspora. The Jewish historian, Josephus, recorded that as many as 1,000,000 pilgrims came annually to the feast. Families were reunited, friends renewed acquaintances, spirits were high, and from the Temple priests down to the simplest ...

2011. We May Have to Change Our Name

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

You can find them in almost every big, old downtown church: the pictures of the pastors of that congregation. They are lined up in a rogues’ gallery of clerics. And they look down at us over their names and dates. As you walk down the hall and move back through the decades, some things are easy to notice. The collars get out of date, and then simply strange-looking. Sideburns march up and down as if matched to the stock market cycles. Above all, the farther back you get, the sterner they look in those ...

2012. When God Almighty Speaks ... Listen!

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

Hannah was among the barren women of Israel. She had no children. But Hannah was also among the faithful women of Israel. So one year, at the time of sacrifice, she made a vow to the Lord. In the midst of her distress, she uttered a tearful prayer: O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt look on the affliction of thy maidservant ... but wilt give to thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. Later, after the worship and the sacrifice, the family returned home, "and in due time ...

2013. Will the Real Prophets Please Speak Up?

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

There was a time in Israel when no prophets spoke for God. During those long years after the Exile, prophecy seemed dead. There were no prophets and none were expected. All the people could do was to look back for comfort to the times when God had sent an Amos, an Hosea, an Ezekiel. Those were the good old days, when the word of the Lord was heard in the land. But now they were gone ... and the long wait for the messenger of the Lord had begun. Our problem is quite different, it seems. We may be living in ...

2014. "Job" Is Our Name Too

Job 6:1-7:21

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

"Have you considered my servant Job?" God asked Satan in the heavenly court. This "blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" Well, Satan considered Job all right. But he only considered him a God-fearing man because he was being blessed. Remove all that blessing, Satan argued, and Job’s piety will crumble and he will curse you. So the agreement is made between God and Satan; only Job’s life must not be taken away. But everything else is of Job’s is negotiable - family, servants, ...

2015. God Dwells With People

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Roger Prescott

Introduction God had brought the people of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. Now the Kingdom was being consolidated, even though this God was still dwelling in a tent. The covenant at Sinai (Exodus 19:3-6) molded Israel God’s people and their welfare was promised. Long before David there was this promise. Second Samuel 7 relates a new divine promise, one which would make Israel even stronger. The Davidic covenant was God’s further promise to provide his people with the leadership they needed. David was ...

2016. Bonhoeffer of Berlin

Acts 5:17-42

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

"We must obey God, not men ..." Acts 5:27-32 Characters: Lector Announcer Antagonist Protagonist (Participants enter and take their places in the chancel. As they come forward, the congregation sings the hymn "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus." When the hymn is completed, the drama begins.) LECTOR: The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death, after you had killed him by nailing him to a cross. God raised him to his right side as Leader and Savior, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and ...

2017. The Kingdom And The Seed

Mark 4:4-20; 30-32

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Most of us have planted a garden or lived on or near a farm. In my case, I grew up in Chicago where they have to put cows in zoos because so many city people are shielded from agricultural life and would never otherwise get to see one. But for eleven years I served as the pastor of a church in the agriculturally-oriented community of Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is located in Scott County which is Mississippi River land. It is reported to be some of the richest soil in the world. I learned a lot about ...

2018. It’s not what you know, but who you know!

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

In a dark room, pitch black except for the glaring light from the naked bulb of a small lamp set on a table, there are three men. One, bedraggled and covered with sweat, sits at the table, his face exposed to the light. Standing next to him are the two other men who move in and out of the light, sometimes shoving their faces right into the face of the man who is seated. No doubt you have watched enough television dramas to know what’s happening in that room. The man seated is being interrogated. "Where ...

2019. Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

If I were to mention the names of certain disciples to you and ask you to write down the first word that comes into your mind, it is unlikely you would come up with the same words. If I were to mention the name of Judas many of you would write down the word betray but not all of you. If I were to mention Simon Peter, some of you would write down the word faith, but not all of you. If I were to mention the names of James and John, some of you would write down the phrase Sons of Thunder, but not all of you. ...

2020. The Reality of the Resurrection - Sermon Starter

Luke 24:36-49

Illustration

Brett Blair

100 years ago few people thought it possible that man could fly. No one except the two sons of Rev. Milton Wright who at 10:35 on the morning of Dec. 17 1903 made their first successful flight of 175 feet in a airplane driven by a four cylinder combustion engine. Today we fly much more sophisticated crafts around the moons of Jupiter. It was very hard to believe 100 years ago today but the evidence of that first flight is all around us today. 200 years ago the borders of the United States stretched from ...

2021. Hell!

Mark 9:42-50, Mark 9:38-41

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: Hell is real. Jesus taught about it. Stay away from it and tell your friends, too. Summary: During a talk show the host is asking the question: "What is your view of hell?" He gets some good information from the Bible and then experiences it himself. Playing Time: 6 minutes Setting: A television talk show Props: Microphone Costumes: Contemporary Time: The Time of truth Cast: Host Bill John Pam Willow Angel I Angel II (TWO ANGELS ENTER AND STAND ON EITHER SIDE OF THE PLATFORM) HOST: (ENTERS AND MOVES ...

2022. Christ and Time

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

At the beginning of a new year we are confronted with the mystery of time. The familiar old year has passed away, and an unknown segment of the future, which we call the new year, has taken its place. "Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away." Where did this stream originate and where does it finally end? What is this invisible something that we call time? What is this mysterious series of hours and days and years and centuries that moves steadily on and carries us to the end of our ...

2023. On the Night when He Was Betrayed

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

There is a unique beauty and tenderness about the hour of sunset. The sun impresses its memory upon a darkening world by tinting the western sky with its most original and harmonious colors. The last hour of the day is its most beautiful and memorable. So it is in human relations. The tender beauty of sunset glows from the hour of farewell. We say goodbye to those who are not so intimate but reserve the last precious moments to those nearest our hearts. And after all else is forgotten we remember the ...

2024. The Exalted Christ

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

When a Russian cosmonaut became the first man to walk in space, a conservative religious publication in our country published an editorial saying, "This Russian was not the first one to walk through space. This occurred two thousand years ago when Christ ascended to heaven." Such an interpretation of the Ascension leaves thinking modern men cold. Science has given us a view of the world quite different from the cozy little three-story universe of ancient times, according to which beneath our earth is an ...

2025. The Big Snow

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

At the time he delivered The Big Snow, BRUCE M. HARTUNG was accepting invitations to preach from various Lutheran churches in the Northern Illinois area while he was Director of the Community Pastoral Counseling and Consultation Center and Senior Pastor of Parkside Human Services Corporation, both in Park Ridge. As of September 1983, he became the new Executive Director of the Onondaga Pastoral Counseling Center, Syracuse, New York. In his sermon The Big Snow, Hartung takes the contemporary event of a ...

Showing results