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 2351 to 2375 of 4943 results

2351. The Old and the New

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Sermon

Jon L. Joyce

"CLEANSE OUT THE OLD LEAVEN THAT YOU MAYBE A NEW LUMP" I suppose that the oldest controversy in history is the struggle between the old and the new. Even our Lord got into it one day when he said to the religious leaders: "No one puts a new patch on an old garment" ... and ... "neither is new wine put into old wine skins." So the conflict goes on between the past and the future. In age after age, there are patchers and there are creators - some who try to patch up the thread-bare garment, and some who are ...

2352. Solomon and the Outline for Renewal

2 Chronicles 7:11-22

Sermon

Don Yocom

This text in Scripture is the one on which the hand of President Dwight D. Eisenhower rested when he was inaugurated as President of the United States of America. It is such a striking passage of the Bible, it deserves our consideration for renewal needed in our day also. The background story involves the time of the dedication of Solomon’s temple. Solomon had prayed all night to God in an act of personal dedication; and as the highest representative of the nation, his prayer was also an act of national ...

2353. Worn Out? Tired? Weary?

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

In both his Letter to the Galatians and his Letter to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul, without equivocation, admonishes us all NOT to be weary. And then, paradoxically almost, in 2 Corinthians, we find that he is after all, human himself, and he admits that he himself has often been weary. Perhaps it’s the most used expression in our conversation: "I’m tired! I’m beat! I’m dead! I’m weary! I’m worn out! I’ve had it!" Christian people are supposed to feel beneath them the everlasting arms. Instead, they feel ...

2354. 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 ...

2355. Questions Without Answers

Job 42:1-6

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

The Word today is the bottom line in the book of Job, the story of the man from the land of Uz who was blameless and upright and who feared God and turned away from evil. The man had prospered. He had seven sons and three daughters, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 she-asses and very many servants. We could say that he belonged to the affluent society, a rather rare type in his day because the record makes it clear that he was the greatest man of all the people in the East. We will take the ...

2356. Remembering Charlie

Job 38:1--41:34

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The story of Job is familiar to all of us - a man whose world was spinning merrily along with everything falling into place suddenly confronted with one misery after another... disaster, death, disease, despair. In some of the most moving poetry ever written, chapter after chapter attempts to deal with the age-old question of why, so often, life is so unfair. People still wrestle with the issue. Did you happen to catch the season finale of "The West Wing" last week?(1) Great show! The scene was the ...

2357. Good News for Tenant Farmers

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A true story - an incident from the 1930's when the Tennessee Valley Authority was building its many dams on the Tennessee River.(1) To do that, they had to relocate a number of people who were living in the area that would be flooded when the dams were finished. One family in particular lived in an old, ramshackle cabin. The TVA built them a beautiful split-level ranch home on the hill overlooking the location of their former home. But when the Authority came to help the family move, they refused to go. ...

2358. Preparing For A Royal Visit

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

[Note: While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Name: Preparing for a Royal Visit New Name: Getting Ready A little boy attended his first symphony concert. He was excited by the splendid hall, the beautiful people in all their formal ...

2359. The Autobiography of God

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Halford Luccock once told of a woman in a certain American city, who called a local minister on the telephone a week or so before Christmas. She was in much agitation, and explained that she was in charge of the community Christmas tree lighting ceremony. What disturbed her was the limited selection of carols to be sung. She could not, she said, find just the right songs for such an occasion. “Most of the Christmas songs,” she said, “are so distressingly theological.” “Well, replied the minister, “ ...

2360. Afraid of Sanity

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In J. D. Salinger’s famous novel, The Catcher in the Rye, 15-year old Holden Caulfield says: “I can’t always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist.” (That would put a damper on prayer, wouldn’t it?) He goes on: “I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance....They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they ...

2361. How Is It With Your Soul?

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere along the way I read a piece entitled "What is a Person" written by a little boy in West Virginia who was asked to write an essay on that subject. This is what he wrote. "When you are a person...your head is kind of round and hard and your brains are in it and your hair is on it. Your face is in the front of your head where you eat and make faces. Your neck is what keeps your head out of your collar, and it's hard to keep clean. Your shoulders are sort of shelves where you hook on your suspenders ...

2362. Loving Like God Loves

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Paul Stanley is Vice-President of the Navigators, a worldwide para-church ministry to students and the military. In 1967 he was a company commander in Vietnam; it was there that he took a risk and learned the meaning of Jesus’ words: “On one occasion after the enemy had withdrawn, Stanley came upon several soldiers surrounding a wounded Viet Cong. Shot through the lower leg, he was hostile, frightened, helpless. He threw mud and kicked with his one good leg when anyone came near. When Paul joined the ...

2363. In the Darkness of Fear, There Is the Light of Joy

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

One cold Sunday afternoon in December, the congregation of a little Baptist church went over to the nearby river where they did their baptizing. They had several persons who were to be baptized that afternoon. There was one man who had some reservations about all this, as he faced the icy-cold water. He was a new convert and all this was foreign to him. He was, therefore, last in line. He noticed that when the first person came up out of the water, she quoted a Bible verse: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” ...

2364. Being Christian in the Family

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

James McCormick

When the Empire State building was being planned, there were cynics who said that you can’t build a building out of concrete and steel 102 stories high. It is impossible. The whole thing will come crashing down! However, engineers said that there is virtually no limit to how high you can build, providing the foundation is deep enough and strong enough. Jesus was a builder. He understood the importance of foundations. That is why he painted the vivid picture contrasting sand and rock as foundation materials ...

2365. Promises to Keep

Hebrews 8:1-13

Sermon

James McCormick

Do you know the name Tom Dooley? Not the folk song Tom Dooley, but Dr. Tom Dooley? You need to know his story, because Dr. Tom Dooley was a Twentieth Century saint. While serving in the Navy, he saw the physical suffering of the people of Southeast Asia - so much illness and suffering, so few doctors to deal with it. When his tour of duty was over, he resigned his commission and went to Indochina, now Laos, to serve as a medical missionary. There he poured out his life on behalf of the people. He saw ...

2366. Getting a Handle on Our Faith

John 11:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It’s time to find our pump handle, or to get a right pump handle. Let me explain. 150 years ago, 500 people died of cholera in just ten days in one London neighborhood, marking the beginning of another horrible epidemic. Victorian physician Dr. John Snow of London had already written a controversial pamphlet suggesting that cholera was not caused by “vapors,” but was instead a disease of the “gut,” spread by contaminated water. With the high number of deaths in this neighborhood, he studied the cases and ...

2367. When You're Overwhelmed

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

I heard about a man recently in Minnesota who clearly needs to choose another profession. His name is Rafiq Abdul Mortland. Mortland had committed a string of robberies, and fortunately for him, he was eventually caught. I say fortunately, because during his crime spree, Mortland received the nickname, “The Rolaids Robber.” The reason he received this nickname was that, while he was robbing their store, he repeatedly asked store clerks for antacid tablets. Mortland needed the antacid because of the stress ...

2368. Clear to the Better End - Parent Burnout

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I’ve told you this story before I think, but it’s the most appropriate story with which we can begin the sermon today. A man had an awful day at work. Everything had gone wrong. There was one interruption after another, and he was never able to complete his work. When he entered the door at home that evening, he knew that his wife must have had a similar day. You could see it on her face. So, to set the process straight he began, “I’ve had the worst day of my life; it’s been bad news, bad news, bad news. I ...

2369. Jesus the Sin Stealer

John 1:29-34

Illustration

Michael L. Cobbler

The primary emphasis of John's declaration is to say who Jesus is (the Lamb of God) and also to say what Jesus does (takes away the sin of the world). This is all well and good, but the old Adam in me gets nervous when I have an encounter with a "sin stealer." I want to be as graphic and as plain as I can be about this Jesus is the ultimate sin stealer, and that troubles me. You can certainly use language that describes this reality in different terms, like "Jesus removes our sins," or "Jesus washed my ...

2370. The 4 Spiritual Flaws

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Want to attract young, floundering, post-high school people to a life of faith, fulfillment, and commitment? Would your first thought be to offer that age group a solid set of "divine directives" aka "Four Spiritual Laws?" Probably not. Unless you were Bill Bright in 1952, when he offered that gleaming, golden nugget of insight to a new generation of spiritual seekers. But the "laws" Bill Bright proposed were far from rude and reactionary. Instead they were redeeming and revealing. And they have touched ...

2371. Tradition Can Be Changed

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

Tradition is defined as an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought or action. Take for instance a cooking method. Sarah asked her mother, "Why do you always cut the turkey in half and put it in two small roasters?" "Because my mother always did. It's a tradition handed down through our family," responded her mother. "But Mom, did you ever think they didn't have big roasters back then?" Tradition — a customary pattern or action. But who said traditions can't be changed? A family tradition ...

2372. Lean on the Cloud

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Apple had to issue a warning recently. Customers who were using a GPS national park hiking trails “app” on their iPhones were warned about some serious “glitches.” In several national parks the identified trailhead, the mileages, and the directional guides . . . all were completely off. Several hikers got seriously lost because they trusted downloaded trail information that was fatally flawed. Those hikers had faith in the electronic guidance their hiking “app” had given them. But that faith was rewarded ...

2373. Broadband Discipleship

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Urbanites and suburbanites might have very different definitions of a “neighborhood,” but both daydream about the gladed landscapes and bucolic beauty of a truly rural setting. Who wouldn’t like to “get away from it all” for a while? Who wouldn’t want to experience a refreshing dose of peace and quiet? Who wouldn’t prefer a two lane gravel road instead of an eight lane “freeway” parking lot? Who wouldn’t trade fields of green for acres of asphalt? The only problem with this rural respite is that we really ...

2374. Ignite: The Fire Burns Brightly

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

James Merritt

I am going to let you in on a little secret that very few people know about me and that is I am deathly afraid of fire. I prefer colder weather to warmer weather. If I had to choose between being in a sweater at 45° or being in a bathing suit at 95° I would choose what is called “sweater-weather.” I have an inordinate fear of fire and heat. My mother thinks it may be because when I was just a six-month-old baby she accidently spilled hot coffee all over my stomach. She says that is the only time she heard ...

2375. Learning to Live Like Jesus

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever wanted to smell like Jesus? I doubt that any of us have ever given that question much thought, but there is a perfume maker in California where else? that promises exactly that. The makers of a perfume called “Virtue” claim if you wear their perfume, you will smell exactly like Jesus. I’m not making this up. Using the Bible as a guide to what kind of plants were used as perfumes in the Holy Land when Jesus walked the Earth, scientists at a perfume company called IBI claim that Virtue is a ...

Showing results