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 2151 to 2175 of 4977 results

2151. Prepare The Way Of The Lord

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

James Garrett

... persuasion, he said, ‘Let’s see what we can do to help.’ “The two of them decided that Frances, who is of small stature, would grab the lower part of the tree and work it down until the topmost branches reached Jesse. Then Jesse, who is quite tall, would scoop the frightened cat from the top of the tree to safety. Their plan worked well at first. Frances grabbed the part of the tree within her reach and pulled it toward her. The tree tipped down like a thirsty giraffe, bearing a tiny passenger ...

2152. Jesus Is Rejected

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

James Garrett

... by non-Jews. Israel had been full of widows in Elijah’s day, yet Elijah went to the house of a widow in Sidon. Also, Israel had many lepers in Elisha’s time, yet Elisha had given the blessing of God to a man from Syria. These stories were quite familiar and part of their tradition. But grace for all was not what they expected to hear from one who was one of them. Most prophets do not get a good hearing in their own country, or popular acceptance during their own lifetime. Dr. James Sutherland Bonnell, a ...

2153. The First Christmas Message

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James Garrett

... minute! I know who you are.” He leaned down and looked closely into the boy’s face and said, “I can see a family resemblance. You are a child of God.” Then he put his hands on the boy’s shoulders and straightened up and said, “Boy, you’ve got quite an inheritance. Go out and claim it.” God made Christmas for us. But there is a sense in which all of us have to make our Christmas. All the salvation of God is finished and complete, but it is not mine until I claim it. No ear may hear his ...

2154. The Pitfalls Of Practicing Piety

Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... in it. So they are moved to invest, not only their gifts, but also their lives. Jesus says there are real rewards in life, although Christians who focus on grace as God's undeserved gift, tend to be a little embarrassed about such talk. But Jesus was quite clear on the matter. He said there is such a thing as rewards, or consequences. Not rewards in the sense that one earns them. But outcomes. Results which follow every choice we take, every decision we make, every road we embark on. Some seem to feel that ...

2155. Act III, Scene 2

John 21:1-14

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... died. Can you come over?" So the pastor went to see her. The daughter said, "You know, I was in the room and dad seemed okay, he wasn't struggling or anything. I left for just a minute. When I came back, he had peacefully died. But there was something quite strange. Somehow, he had managed to turn over on his side and stretch out his arm and place his hand on the chair." That's living in the presence of Christ. And it happens. It can happen for you, as it can happen for me, at any time. Oh, not ...

2156. Portrait Of A Powerful Servant

John 13:1-17

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... way the disciples are to operate in the world. But to insure that they understood, Jesus says, "Gentiles lord it over others; it shall not be so with you." Some would see in this statement an admonition against the use of power and authority. Quite the contrary! For if no one is empowered there is little progress, if no one is given authority there is no accountability. Even the most egalitarian societies, if they are to remain viable must have dynamic leadership incarnated in individuals. The Hebrew nation ...

2157. A Conquered Enemy

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Eulogy

W. George Easson

... is to come." Thus he points to the impermanence of our life, and emphasizes the hope of the Christian. Sometimes, in periods when things are going fairly smoothly for us we succumb to the illusion, even though we know better, that the situations of life are quite permanent. Changes which we know must some day cease seem so remote as to be unreal. But we all know that at any moment something can happen to totally alter the pattern of life for us. In actual fact, nothing is permanent in this imperfect world ...

2158. Marked By The Cross

Romans 6:2-4

Sermon

George Bass

... large number 25 which was highly visible from the air, as they watched the animal regain its feet and run away. In contrast, the mark of the cross, God’s covenant with us, is invisible and can never be seen with the naked eye. It is quite possible that, in a relatively short time, depending on the type of paint used to “brand” the polar bear, that mark would become invisible; it might simply be worn off. In college, I joined a fraternity in the days when hazing was still in vogue; initiation involved ...

2159. Marked In God’s Book

Sermon

George Bass

... child before the mother gives birth. That means that the parents don’t need to have two different sets of names, one male and the other female, selected before the baby is born; only one name, or names, is necessary now. A young couple, whom my wife and I know quite well, will have a baby in a couple of months; they know that it will probably be a girl, so they have been attempting to decide upon a name for the child. A couple of weeks ago, we heard that they were going to name the baby Jennifer Marie ...

2160. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... hardship, where dictators, spectators, and agitators have heaped untold scorn on the people of God, the Christian faith is still alive and well. Anything which seems out of character or pattern with the usual flow of things is a paradox. It is quite paradoxical that women, who were the mainstays of Jesus' movement, are often spiritually taken for granted and rejected, but today there are more women in our seminaries than men! The Christian faith seems paradoxical because God called a lowly carpenter to rule ...

2161. African-American Spirituality: The African's Gift To America

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... problem rather than as a problem solver. But the negative images disseminated in the media all help to define us from a deficit perspective: as always being a people in need rather than a people of great resources. We are defined as always not quite having it together, as never fully hitting the mark, and this is because of the negative labels used to limit and define us. Once we buy into the negative mythology, we reinforce the belief with negative behavior. Our positive spirituality has always encouraged ...

2162. Shake It Off!

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... . A brilliant season ended with a few costly mistakes. We choked. Plain and simple. We choked! For days and weeks I was depressed, but the words of my coach kept coming back to me after the error. "Shake it off. Shake it off, son. Winners never quit and quitters never win." I'll never forget those words, and while I had been lost in a blue funk, purple haze of sadness for weeks thereafter, his consoling words kept coming back to me. "You have to shake this off, Stewart, not only physically, but emotionally ...

2163. Holy Believing

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... himself to men and women as bread to eat, and what would be the situation after he had gone. To believe Jesus, however, is to accept him as a person, not this or that about him, but in his totality. After all, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, we read, simply quit their jobs and followed him. Then they went on to accept his word, observe his teachings in action, and come to grips with the truth he declared. To believe Jesus is living as if what he said about God is true, the good life in the long run spells ...

2164. On the Art Of Listening To Sermons

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... . The source of the problem may be as much in hearer as speaker. Could it be that one of the reasons we think that God no longer talks with plain voice, as God did in the Old Testament days, is not that God stopped speaking, but that we quit listening? Before us this morning is a story that is about more than poor farming techniques and uneven ground conditions. It is, at one level, about how we listen when the Word is proclaimed. The parable offers some guidelines on the art of listening for God’s Word ...

2165. Playing By A Different Set Of Rules

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... ,” they would have howled! Not even considering the potential of losing valuable harvest yield, such a field would have been ugly next to the well-groomed, well-tended crops of the others. To the church of Matthew’s day, the parable would have been quite clear. They were living in difficult times, and saw themselves as the wheat of the world; they were the fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But all around them were weeds! There were rival religions, pagan practices, people with no faith and heathen ...

2166. It's Performance That Counts

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... potential. In all phases of life, it is performance that counts. Marriages begin with a sacred covenant, embodied in a wedding ritual that includes several vows and promises. The words verbalized in that ceremony, and the oaths taken during the service are quite specific: honoring one another, comforting one another, forsaking all others and living in a loving relationship until they are parted by death. No matter what may be thrown in their paths, the couple promises to see it through together. It would ...

2167. Give Me A Break!

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... , the days when a yoke was as much a necessity as food and drink for it helped provide that food and drink that meant survival. One of the wonderful legends that was handed down concerning the mysterious quiet years of Jesus, the years prior to his quite visible ministry, is the fact that Jesus the carpenter was one of the master yoke-makers in the Nazareth area. People came from miles around for a yoke hand carved and crafted by Jesus son of Joseph. Perhaps on this occasion, Jesus recalled a friend driving ...

2168. Like A Breath Of Fresh Air

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... with boldness, their hesitation is replaced with courage, and their sense of lostness is replaced with a sense of purpose. Now, with that joy, boldness, courage and purpose, the disciples move out from behind their locked doors. From all the accounts of the gift-Spirit, it is quite apparent that this gift means action. This is not a gift to place on the mantel, or in a trophy case, or to hang on a wall with the other symbols of our specialness. This is not a gift to preserve and protect, grateful for having ...

2169. “Lucky” Is The Saddest Word

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

Keith Hammer

... a message of judgment upon the people of Israel who had taken to worshiping other gods. They were so caught up in their way of life centering around this worship that they thought everything was going just fine and that God, if he really cared, must be quite satisfied with them. Nothing could have been much further from the truth. So it was that Jeremiah brought a scathing word of judgment. It was meant to be so harsh that it might just shock the people into really taking a look at what they were doing ...

2170. Take Care Of Each Other!

Ezekiel 33:1-20

Sermon

Keith Hammer

... God appoints Ezekiel to be the watchman that God does add something that was not in the Cain and Abel story. We are finally not responsible for the actions of others if we have shown our care and responsibility faithfully. The trouble is that most of us quit far too soon. We warn our children two or three times and then we “lower the boom.” In the church, we feel some responsibility for others, but far too often we see others’ troubles as their problems alone. As I interpret what God says to Ezekiel ...

2171. McChurch

Drama

Timothy W. Ayers

... said something about loving one another. Sally: You mean you went through the drive-up window. Chuck: Sure, Julie and I had to make an early tee time, so we just hit the window. You know, a little religion is better than no religion. And the "sermonlite" was quite good. It was about respecting others and their cultural diversities. Sally: I didn't hear any mention of Jesus in any of those things. Chuck: Come to think of it, you're right. There wasn't any mention of him. But in the regular Sunday service he ...

2172. The Mask

Drama

Timothy W. Ayers

... . Is there any chance we can do lunch next week?(To audience) That'll be great. I can watch her drool her food down her chin again. Working with her on a deal is a terrible experience. But then again, I'll probably be able to rip her off for quite a bundle. I could really feel bad about it all, but then again, hasn't God forgiven all those little indiscretions? If God forgives them, then why should I worry about them? Mary: (Behind mask) Yeah, that's a great idea. I'll have my secretary call yours and set ...

2173. It's A Dog's Life

Drama

Timothy W. Ayers

... ; they both scratch) Prince: So what do you think happened? I mean you two used to be inseparable friends. He took you everywhere. I don't think I ever saw his car go down the road without your head out its window. Dutch: I don't really know. We just quit hanging out together. He hasn't thrown a ball or a stick to me in over a year. Prince: Is that dog or human years? Dutch: Human. Anyway, it bothered me at first but I'm kinda getting used to it. You know, we used to roll on the floor ...

2174. Enter God

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... the battle was lost.” It is still true. For want of a quiet, caring intimacy, a child’s primary sense of self-worth is lost. And for want of security and self-worth, the child is lost. In most churches I’ve known, members find it quite easy to pass a youth by; they are more timid to engage a child than a stranger in conversation. Frequently, when youth are on committees, little sensitivity is expressed toward making them comfortable and enabling them to contribute. How do we get to the point where we ...

2175. Where Does That Leave Us?

Mark 13:1-31, Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... I did not have to take it back; I never got it away. Certainly such workmanship gives the customer a real feeling of sand in the hair. It did me. 2. Rudeness of clerks and public figures. In one community a postal clerk was so rude that people quit going to their own post office, preferring to drive five miles down the road to another. When we are in need of service we should not have to go away feeling that there must be something very inadequate about us. Certainly, sand in the hair! 3. Rebuffing others ...

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