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 2026 to 2050 of 4957 results

2026. Identity Crisis

Genesis 32:1-21, Genesis 32:22-32, Genesis 33:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... with God. This is the story of God’s amazing grace. It’s Jacob’s story. And it’s our story. [Optional ending: John Newton, the author of the hymn we know and love so well, was the “ultimate blasphemer.” A slave trader, John claimed to have been converted to Christianity after his ship was saved from a storm, and yet he continued in his unsavory profession until confronted with his hypocrisy in his relationship with his fiancé Mary Catlett. His desire truly to be honest in his relationship both ...

2027. House of Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... more and more as we delve into the cultural and ideological differences we face today in our world, and our seeming inability to enter into dialogue with each other in our world. In 2009, the American Psychological Society put out a bulletin that claimed, many people only “hear” a quarter (at most) of what they actually have heard in any given situation, because people are naturally inclined to filter what they hear through what they already believe or accept as truth. Three quarters of the time, people ...

2028. Trust Your Intuition

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... from Hosea, and from Isaiah, Ezra, and Baruch. Proven, scientific-style fact? No. Intuitive knowledge that came from the personal divining of the Divine? Yes! From signs. Oracles. Prophecies. Predictions. Angels. Inspired Writings. Scriptures. Revelations. Intuition. “After three days he will rise,” claims the Hazon Gabriel in 1 CBE. “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence,” says Hosea (6:1-2). Is it true? Paul says, yes. In fact, Paul ...

2029. By Invitation Only

Luke 14:1-14, Luke 14:15-24, Proverbs 25:1-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... what you want? Or do you wait to be invited? Jesus addresses this dynamic in our scriptures for today in Proverbs 25:6-7: “Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.” Drawing upon proverbs, Jesus turns this advice on hospitality into an entire set of parables, designed to address what it means to be ...

2030. The Secret to Happiness

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... always possible, but for those of us who have been so fortunate, we can say that it is one of the great blessings of life. And so today we salute those women who have loved us and poured their lives into ours. In 1816, a small group of miners claimed to have mined a large amount of gold and silver from the Rocky Mountains. They hid their wealth and swore each other to secrecy. And, for the most part they kept their secret. But one of the miners, a man named Thomas Beale, wrote a letter pinpointing the exact ...

The words "I am . . ." are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you're claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you.

A. L. Kitselman

Experience which was once claimed by the aged is now claimed exclusively by the young.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

2033. A Working God

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

... blamed on Islamic extremists. No! This time the perpetrator in custody had the blasphemous audacity to pretend to be one of us and claim the name of Christ as his Lord, and, in fact, was a member of a congregation of my own church denomination! How do ... that God’s love burst on the scene of the human predicament in all of its freeing power. It is that love which makes God’s claim on our lives for his kingdom. The kingdom of God’s love is at work in our messed up lives and world. God at work: this ...

2034. Caesar or God?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... get in hot water with the Roman authorities. We understand that lots of people despise paying taxes—even today in this country. Here in the U.S., plenty of people have tried to escape paying taxes. Every year, creative people go to court to make the claim that paying taxes is unconstitutional and even illegal. One of the most creative arguments I’ve heard of against paying taxes is that taxation is a form of slavery, so it violates the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. (2) Yes, the IRS has been taken ...

2035. Rule of Love

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

... believe and do can be correct that ignores the central and primary revelation of God’s will through Jesus Christ.4 Another guideline affirms The Interpretation of Scripture by Scripture. In other words, you can’t cherry pick one verse here and another there and claim that those verses, isolated from the message of the Bible as a whole, constitute God’s will and God’s truth. Yet another guideline is called The Rule of Love, and as you can see, I have borrowed this phrase for the title of this sermon ...

2036. First Flight

Humor

I chuckled when I read about a lady who was flying with her infant daughter. When they landed, they were met in the waiting area by her father, who took the baby while she proceeded to the baggage claim area. Standing there alone waiting to claim her baggage, she was absent-mindedly holding the baby's pacifier. She noticed a flight attendant staring at her, then at the pacifier, then back at her. Finally, the flight attendant spoke: "Excuse me, Miss. Is this your first flight?"

2037. To Whom Do You Belong?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... be considered a sacrament of the church. Some believers have even found ways to celebrate it without actually using water. One thing is constant, however. To be baptized in the Christian community means to open one’s self to the claim and the promise of a gracious God. It is to say, “I know to whom I belong. I want that claim on me to shape who I am and who I become.” If and when we baptize an infant, we are saying the same thing, on behalf of the small child. We are saying, “I (or we) want for this ...

2038. Enduring the Trials of Faith

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... later Jean Marie is present with his newfound friends, the clowns of God. They have gone to a remote mountain villa to celebrate the Christmas feast. To this isolated place, Mr. Atha comes quite unexpectedly. Jesus, the Christ, has returned as was predicted to claim his own. Jean Marie has endured the great trial of faith and discovered God in the process. Morris West’s epic novel demonstrates that we must persevere through the great trials of faith that come our way. In a similar way, Saint Paul writes ...

2039. Imagination

Luke 1:39-45, 46-55

Sermon

Will Willimon

... willingness to take risks that the world may not be as it seems. In imagination thought takes wings and rises above mere storing of facts and becomes adventure. We shouldn't be surprised at this time of year, that children seem ore attune to the claims of Christmas. It isn't because children are ignorant or haven't yet got clear in their young brains what is "real" and what is not. It's because children are not yet confined within the narrow restraints of officially sanctioned "reality." For them, the world ...

2040. Overwhelmed

Revelation 1:4b-8

Sermon

Will Willimon

... epidemic anymore, we call it a "pandemic" because the results are so massive. Little wonder that we are overwhelmed. Some of us attempt to defend ourselves from being swept over by the pain. We tum off the evening news when it begins. I read that someone claims that you can add a couple of years to your life just by not listening to the evening news. We lose ourselves in engagement with the sports section of the daily newspaper rather than the current events section. We are so overwhelmed. And yet, in our ...

2041. Bringing Life to a Party

Luke 24:36b-48

Sermon

King Duncan

... and injustice and persecution and torture and death to save us. As Dávila writes, “Victory didn’t erase the scars. He continued to carry on his very skin the evidence of a life lived in radical commitment to God’s love and justice.” (3) How outrageous are the claims of the Gospel? The divine Creator of all that lives and moves and has its being came down to earth and suffered and died to say to us that no one on this earth is beyond God’s love and concern. In trying to deal with the meaning of ...

2042. The Power to Witness

Luke 24:44-53 · Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to relay that truth to others, to verify the truth of the gospel in real time through continued acts of healing, miracles of transformation, and continued proclamation. This requires true trust in the witnesses that came before, true belief in the veracity of the disciples’ claims, and true faith in the still energizing power of the Holy Spirit, which dwells not just in the past, but in the present, and in your future. Today, I challenge you to faith. True faith. And to witness. For this is who you are ...

2043. Giving Our Best

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... were inspired by him. They saw in him a power and a purpose and compassion far beyond anything the average person possessed. “He has done everything well,” And I have to ask myself, “Can others say that about me?” I claim to be a follower of Christ. And not just a follower—I claim to have the spirit of Jesus Christ living in me. So, when people look at my life, or your life, are they inspired to say, “He (or she) has done everything well?” What is the recipe for excellence? Does it require ...

2044. Promises to Keep

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... the Baptist or Elijah or one of the other Old Testament prophets. He was a unique individual as was his cousin, John the Baptist. Second, it shows that John the Baptist was not raised from the dead as some were, no doubt, claiming was the case. Here, in the story, Mark puts that claim right out on the table. Herod says, along with some unnamed others, that they think Jesus may be John the Baptist raised from the dead. With this story, Mark laid that notion to rest. Here, Mark made it clear that John was ...

2045. By D Grace of God

Luke 6:27-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... an “advance-fee scam.” He was trying to convince Ben Taylor, this stranger from Utah, that he was in line to collect a large sum of money, like an inheritance or a court settlement, but first he needed to pay a few small fees up-front in order to claim the money. If Ben Taylor would help him pay the up-front fees, Joel Willie vowed he would split the large sum of money with him. Ben recognized this as a scam right away, but he decided to play along just for fun. Ben has his own YouTube channel, and ...

2046. The Favorite

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... by those around him, by his contemporaries, and by his colleagues. He was so well-respected that fellow rabbis would come to listen to him teach. He taught frequently in the Temple and in synagogues around the entire region. Until he “lost it,” as many would claim, Jesus was probably the most highly respected teacher and rabbi of his time in those early years. This week’s scripture reminds us how precocious and engaged Jesus was already at the age of 12. He was the star child, the golden boy, the one ...

2047. Treasure Hunters

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... together to intention and purpose. Perhaps you would want to add something to the list? By all means do so. Yet let us as we prepare to receive the ashes, agree with penitential hearts to commit our Lenten Journey to a more intentional living out of our faith. Let us claim this journey, not for the prize at the end but for its own sake. Let us revel in the gifts we have and ...

2048. What Is Truth?

John 18:1--19:42

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... tonight because, even in the face of suffering we have an answer to Pilate. We know truth. We are not arrogant enough to claim possession of absolute truth, but we do know this. We know that truth lives, breathes, and grows in the building of life-giving, ... -giving love. We are here tonight to feel the pain of loss, it’s true. But in that pain we reach for one another and claim the truth that is love, the truth that is hope, the truth that is the new life we know will come among us. So let us on this ...

2049. Jesus In Ministry — Us In Ministry

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... loved. We still have the poor with us. The immigration from world areas continues to grow whether in France, Britain, the United States, or Germany. Poor people who are less fortunate, struggling financially, needing a hand up will continue to pour into our lands and we who claim to be Christians must not turn a deaf ear or a helping hand away. What can we do? We cannot feed the entire world, give everyone a job, make poverty go away, but we can offer some positive help! Ask what can be done to help the ...

2050. A New Heaven And A New Earth: Our Problems Are Fading Away!

Revelation 21:1-6

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... that “crises are something you don’t want to waste” (a point made while he was President Obama’s Chief of Staff), Barth contended that crises are good for faith. Crises are good for faith, he claimed, because if you are not fully engaged in something it does not matter, and then we begin to take it for granted.[3] Barth helps us better understand this crisis too. The real crisis is not the persecution of first-century Christians. It is not global warming, the Trump presidency, ...

Showing results

Showing 2026 to 2050 of 4957 results

2026. Identity Crisis

Genesis 32:1-21, Genesis 32:22-32, Genesis 33:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

2027. House of Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

2028. Trust Your Intuition

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

2029. By Invitation Only

Luke 14:1-14, Luke 14:15-24, Proverbs 25:1-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

2030. The Secret to Happiness

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Sermon

King Duncan

The words "I am . . ." are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you're claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you.

A. L. Kitselman

Experience which was once claimed by the aged is now claimed exclusively by the young.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

2033. A Working God

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

2034. Caesar or God?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

2035. Rule of Love