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 2326 to 2350 of 4943 results

2326. The Benefit of the Doubt

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Well, I guess Easter is over for another year. The lilies are gone, attendance is down from last week, the new has worn off the Easter dresses and suits, and the candy has long since been devoured. Things are pretty much back to whatever passes for normal these days, back to the old, pre-Easter routine. And in churches all across America today, pulpits are being filled by substitute preachers. Our denominational leaders advise us that it is wise for preachers to take some time off the week after Easter. ...

2327. Peacemaking - Active, Not Passive

Sermon

Alan Bacon Bond

Scripture Psalm 34:1-3, 11-14Romans 14:13-23Jeremiah 8:8-15Matthew 5:9; 10:34-39 Prokofiev's Symphonic Tale for Children, Peter and the Wolf, tells of Peter's escapade into the meadow, mistakenly leaving the gate open behind him. While he carries on a chat with his friend, the bird, the duck, unnoticed, escapes through the open gate and goes for a swim in the pond. The little bird and duck get to arguing, "What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?" And all the while the cat is stealthily sneaking up on ...

2328. Peter. Rock. Follower of Jesus.

Matthew 16:13-20

Drama

Thomas Blowers

Dramatic Monologue My name is Simon Bar-Jona. And for years I carried that name with pride. Simon-- a strong name, said my mother-- a dependable name, said my father-- a name you can be proud of, said friends and neighbors. "Your great-grandfather's name," everyone reminded me. And I was proud to carry his name as my own. Then one day Jesus began calling me "Peter" and the name stuck. Soon that's what everyone was calling me: Peter. Funny how nicknames get started. We called the old man down on the corner ...

2329. Proper 4

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

What Abram was told, literally, was to "Go from your land and your birthplace to a land that I will show you." At this time, Abram was seventy-five years old, a successful man, established, respected, with a wife, many kinspeople, and much wealth. Yet, according to Scripture, he was asked to turn his back on all of his affluence and influence, and to plunge into what was, essentially, an unexplored, unknown wilderness land. The modern person reads this and shakes his head. It is hard for us to identify ...

2330. Wellspring for the Soul

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Dean Lueking

When Water is Scarce Some time ago I had an experience unique in my life - living in a place for several weeks where no drinking water was piped in. On the western edge of Kenya I learned what it is to go to the village well, draw water for two buckets, and carry them back to the small house where our family was living. The African women at the well always wanted me to do it their way - carry the bucket on my head. I have neither the balance that takes, nor enough hair to give a water bucket much support. ...

2331. Authority Through Servanthood

Matthew 20:20-28, Matthew 20:17-19

Sermon

Dean Lueking

The Question Of Our Time Today’s sermon is on the subject of authority, based on the text above. It is no overstatement to say that authority is the question of our time. Wherever one looks in our world today, in family, government, business life, and the church, the conclusion seems unanimous. Authority is in a bad state of erosion. Why is this so? What can be done about a matter so vital to people in every aspect of life? The story St. Matthew tells us in today’s text speaks directly to the problem of ...

2332. An Intimate Conversation and an Exclusive Covenant

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

It was on the Richard Roberts television program, Expect a Miracle, that I learned about the vision which Oral Roberts had a few years ago. Richard Roberts told how his father’s vision had to do with evangelism and mission, that it involved sending missionaries to the ends of the earth - doctors, first, to treat and care for the sick, and then evangelists to preach the gospel to people in countries where Christ is not known at all. Oral Roberts also spoke of the revelation: "God told me I am on the last ...

2333. The Master Has Come - To Face Jerusalem

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

During the last part of the nineteenth century there was a well-known preacher in England named Thomas Cook. He was going to preach in a certain town over a weekend. The people who were to keep him in their home talked about him so much their maid got sick of hearing about him. She went to the butcher shop on Saturday and mentioned all the fuss to the butcher. She said, "You would think Jesus Christ was coming." But, the preacher captivated her too with his messages about the Master, and on Sunday night ...

2334. Misunderstanding Jesus

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Once a minister was speaking of the difference between fact and fantasy. "That you are sitting here before me in this church is fact! That I am standing here in this pulpit speaking is fact!" Then he paused, and continued, "However to believe that anyone is really listening to me may be fantasy." You know, sometimes it is fun to be a preacher. After his return from church one Sunday a small boy said, "You know what, Mommie? I’m going to be a preacher when I grow up." "That’s fine," said his mother, "but ...

2335. Faithful People in a Fiery Furnace

Daniel 3:1-30

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Can you remember where you were and what was going on ten years ago? America was at war in the Persian Gulf. One of the young men in my congregation was an F-16 pilot in the first squadron to strike Baghdad on the opening night of that war. I remember so well the prayers we offered in his home. Millions of people across America were praying desperately for the men and women in harm’s way. Saddam Hussein of Iraq was convinced that he was so powerful that he could snatch up tiny Kuwait and no one would dare ...

2336. Name Above Every Name

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Leonard Mann

The first thing about anyone is his name. A human person is born into the world, and almost immediately a word is chosen to denote him. Not a number, not a sign, not a shape - but a word. And that word becomes everyone’s way of saying who he is. For all of his lifetime that word is used to indicate him. By means of it, he says, "This is I." By means of it, others say, "That is he." In a very real sense the word equals the person, stands for him as his equivalent. This is so very true that I can say, "I am ...

2337. Those Bothersome Do’s and Don’ts

Drama

Sarah Walton Miller

This skit may easily be read instead of memorized. In that case, rehearse it well so the lines will sound natural and spontaneous instead of stilted and draggy. The subject is God’s commandments: those given to Moses on Sinai and the two Jesus left for us. Cast: four boys, four girls and a man with a good deep voice offstage unseen. In the beginning the eight are scattered around the playing area, using whatever levels and other physical things you wish. They may move freely as they speak. Props: statuette ...

2338. The Burden Bearing Christ

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Brett Blair

There is a wonderful legend concerning the quiet years of Jesus, the years prior to his visible ministry. The legend claims 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. When customers arrived with their team of oxen Jesus would spend considerable time measuring the team, their height, the width, the space between them, and the size of their shoulders. Within a week, the team would ...

2339. I Believe In Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Robert Allen

I don’t suppose that it comes as any surprise to you that a minister would stand in a pulpit and affirm, "I believe in prayer." You would expect this affirmation. But, belief in prayer came normally and naturally for me as a child. Even before I can remember, I was taught to pray. The first prayer I was taught was the bedtime payer that almost all children learn. It is a simple little prayer which says: Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake; I pray the ...

2340. It’s as Simple as That

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

Elijah was the leader of the Sons of the prophets, bands of prophets located throughout Israel. Elisha was his protege. Naturally the other prophets were jealous of him. Our scripture opens when there is general knowledge among the prophets that the Lord was soon to take Elijah. Elijah was told by God to go on a journey from Gilgal to Bethel. He told Elisha to remain behind. Elisha refused, saying that as long as the Lord and Elijah live he will not leave his master. Together they arrive at Bethel where ...

2341. The Shadow Ascending

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

I. Denial by Any Other Name John 21:15ff GREG JOHANSON is a United Methodist minister who has brought to ten years of parish experience a special training and interest in Clinical Pastoral Education and Pastoral Counseling. He has worked in a variety of clinical settings, taught in a number of colleges, served recently as Chaplain and Director of Counseling Services at the Plaza Santa Maria Hospital, Ltd. in Baja, California, and led workshops as a certified trainer in Hakomi Therapy. He presently lives ...

2342. Why Prophets Get Under Our Skin

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

To tell you the truth, you might not like him if you met him. Chances are you would not invite him for cocktails at the club or for dinner at home with some of your prestigious friends. The likelihood is your children would think him curious and your teenagers would scorn him as not worth an autograph. The tabloids might attempt to puff him up as an oddity or curiosity piece for the sake of profit. But the respectable newspapers might think the news he had was not fit to print. I speak, of course, of John ...

2343. The Ten Commandments #5: Honoring Parents

Exodus 20:12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The family. "The basic building block of society," they call it. We are born into families, cared for by family until we can begin to take care of ourselves. We share the same roof, the same table, even the same faith. Nothing unusual there. It is expected...despite the differences of individual personalities, interests and abilities that are gathered into the family unit, it is a unit. The basic building block of society. The joy I have in living with my wife and children I would not have were it not for ...

2344. The Best Birthday Ever

Psalm 90:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

St. Paul's 40th Birthday. And some of you here in 1998 were here in 1958. Things are different now, of course. Churches change and neighborhoods change and even whole societies change. We know that WE change as we get older. I remember the days when it seemed that Christmas or a birthday would NEVER get here; and now I think, "Is it here again ALREADY?" You too? LOTS of things change with age. Not long ago, someone noted some of the more obvious adjustments.(1) It was entitled, "YOU'RE NOT A KID ANYMORE ...

2345. The Lord's Prayer: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

An old, old story has a minister going from Sunday School class to Sunday School class one morning to meet with the students to see how their studies were going. He came into one first-grade group and began to question them as to what they had been learning. They had been studying about God and eagerly, the youngsters shared their knowledge. One little boy said God created the whole world and everything in it. A little girl said that God loves us very much. Another little girl said that God had a son named ...

2346. Happy Birthday, Dear Church

Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I do it for all of you, so I guess I ought to do it for the church, right? Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, Dear Chur-urch, Happy birthday to you. Amen. OK, let's do it up right. If this is the church's birthday, there ought to be a party, true? One would think that an observance of this magnitude would be noticed around town, just like Christmas or Easter. But this week I have had occasion to shop in several stores, and amazingly, not one of them indicated that there were so ...

2347. What If The Lord Really Did Come Today?

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a piece of church humor that has been around for some time now in the form of a good news ”bad news type joke. The scene is the Vatican in Rome. A cardinal rushes in to see the Pope. "Your holiness," says the cardinal excitedly, "I have some good news and some bad news." The Pope replies, "Well, give me the good news first." The cardinal responds, "I have just received word that Christ has returned to earth." "That's wonderful," replies the Pope, "but what is the bad news?" The cardinal answers ...

2348. A Message From Above And Beyond

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

Chicago newspaper columnist Bob Greene wrote about a ten-year-old girl named Sarah Meyers whose grandfather had died. Sarah's mother said, "He hadn't been feeling well for sometime. He went to the hospital for some tests. Just to find out what was wrong." He died two weeks later. Sarah was not able to go to the hospital to see her grandfather before he died. She never got the chance to say good-bye. "Sarah saw him regularly, because we live close to where he lived," her mother said. "This was her first ...

2349. The Grateful Samaritan

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

Everyone knows about the Good Samaritan. He is one of the best-known characters in history. We know he belonged to a despised people--Samaritans--people who did not keep the laws in the prescribed way and who had intermarried with foreigners. We know he was the surprise hero in Jesus' parable that bears his name. We know he was a generous and compassionate man who paid an innkeeper out of his own pocket for the upkeep of a stranger who had been stripped, robbed, beaten and left for dead beside the road to ...

2350. Clean Hearts And Dirty Hands

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

It's a phrase we still use today: he has dirty hands. We could be referring to hands that are soiled from doing good honest labor. The mechanic who works on our car may have dirty hands but it is no discredit to him. It comes with the territory. The farmer may have dirt all over his body from working all day in the fields. And we honor him because he or she helps feed our world. There is no disgrace in having dirty hands. Unless, of course, we mean it in a metaphorical sense: his hands are soiled with ...

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