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 2376 to 2400 of 4976 results

2376. Learning to Walk in the Dark

Matthew 26:14-16

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... came, he took down their names and treated them with respect, explaining what would come next.” Asked how many had landed so far on their little beach, the cousin said, “Well about fifty came on each boat, and there were fifteen boats tied here so far. We’ll keep doing whatever we can.”[3] This is learning to walk in the dark. Learning to walk in the dark means we stop being frozen just because all we can see is what has been and what is, but not what can be. Learning to walk in the dark means ...

2377. Cloak of Power

Psalm 5:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... you hope and love and laughter in the midst of massive problems and difficulties? You have a story to tell. Now Jesus is passing his cloak to you…blessing you…sending you out to tell his story. It’s not enough to sing “Love Lifted Me!” If you keep love’s liftings to yourself, it’s like letting your friend drown in the water when her scuba gear goes bad! To be a follower of Jesus means you take the yoke upon you. You take the apparatus and the apps upon YOU. You become those prophetic voices ...

2378. The Cure

Luke 4:31-37, Luke 4:38-44

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... thing you’ll want to do is to get up, praise God, and serve up a storm! We are healed to serve. We are mended for ministry and mission. We are cured to keep a charge (“A Charge to Keep I Have” is the title of Charles Wesley’s famous hymn). When Jesus heals you mind, body, and soul, all those inhibitions that keep you from joy and worshiping God disappear! No more demons of insecurity, pain, selfishness, doubt. Jesus removes the inhibitors to seeing God face to face that inhabit each one of our lives ...

2379. The House on The Rock

Lk 6:12-49 · Mt 5:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... your soul is stable when you can sing this and mean it: “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Now hold up your rocks. Clench them in your hand. YOU are part of God’s glorious kingdom. Keep your life built upon The Rock. When I’m growing old and feeble, Stand by me (stand by me); When I’m growing old and feeble, Stand by me (stand by me); When my life becomes a burden, And I’m nearing chilly Jordan, O Thou “Lily of the Valley ...

2380. Grounds for Blessing

Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:1-15, Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... fruit bear seed to every generation. May God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Are you ready to receive Jesus within your heart? Are you ready to live the joy-filled life God has in store for you? Are you ready to remove the impediments that keep you from an everlasting life with Jesus? If your heart is ready, Jesus is ready for you. I invite you now to come forward –whether you are stuck living on the path, or on the rocks, on whether you feel your life is being choked by worry and pain ...

2381. Seat of Power

Mark 10:35-45, Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... following Jesus, we all put our mortal lives in peril and our souls to the test. Throughout the scriptures, in Deuteronomy, in Joshua, in 2 Kings, in 2 Chronicles, we are told to walk in the way of the Lord, to “turn neither to the right nor left,” but to keep our eyes on God. “This is the way, walk ye in it; when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21) As the good witch told Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, “follow the yellow brick road,” and don’t deviate from ...

2382. Lazarus

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... conditions. While all three were given food and water, they were deprived of human love and kindness, of living a life among others, of medical care and proper living conditions. Abused by their kidnapper for over 20 years, the women were given no care except the basics to keep them alive. We treat our dogs better than that. Now let me tell you a story that Jesus told. There was a man who through no fault of his own was struck with leprosy, a severe form of skin disease that eats away at the flesh leaving ...

2383. The Gardener

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... –eat freely, drink freely. He is the body and the blood. He is the living water and the table. It is very important that Mary believes Jesus to be the gardener. Just as with his disciples at the last supper, Jesus is revealed in a humble servant position –a gardener, keeping the estate of God in every heart. He is the one who can restore God’s garden with all lives. And he calls us all by name. Jesus is the Master of the House, the second Adam, the Son who cannot be killed, but who will dwell in the ...

2384. Sparkle

Luke 4:31-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... not the spirit of doubt…but the spirit of mutiny that signals the presence of a spirit other than God! And the whispers of mutiny lead to death. [Gesture to the talismans in the front.] It’s not bells, or signs, or incense, or even the rosary that keep the spirit of sin and deceit away from our hearts and minds. It’s the Holy Spirit of Jesus Himself, present and powerful in our lives and in our churches, that is not only acknowledged but trusted and worshipped every hour of every day. So in the spirit ...

2385. Dry As Toast

Matthew 12:15-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... It’s been left in the pot on the windowsill without proper water and care. This is your soul without God. [Show the unhealthy plant.] This is your soul in relationship with God. [Show the healthy plant.] Now, we know that if we want a healthy plant, we must keep it in good soil. We must water it. We must care for it. If it begins to wither, we need to nurture it carefully back to health. The plant needs our assistance. We must enter into relationship with the plant in order to nurse it back to life again ...

2386. Apples, Onions, and Cheese

Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... or how you dress, or even your habits and traditions that make you a “good person” in God’s eyes. But it’s the condition of your heart. Your mind. Your soul. Whether you wash your hands before you eat, whether you wash your dishes properly, whether you keep the sanctuary rug clean, whether you have the American flag inside or outside of your altar, or whether you have it there at all. Whether you dress up to go to church, or whether you grew up knowing how to read the Bible. Whether you know how to ...

2387. The Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... your eyes closed. You can tell your friends that you went to church this Sunday and the preacher told you to shut your eyes and keep them shut for a long time. Where else can you go to church and be encouraged to shut your eyes? Are you ready? Let’s ... should be legally, in a world where bias and fear dictate who our preferred neighbor is, in a world in which hate and violence keep us in each of our own corners, …and for very good reasons, we think! Yet Jesus asks also of us, “Who is your neighbor?” ...

2388. It's Okay to Cry

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... The prophets knew it. David knew it. The Saints knew it. Jesus knew it. And you know it too. Jesus may not have saved every person in “real” time. But God’s time transcends all time. This is what kept Jesus going, even to the cross. This too is what keeps us going. This is what gives us hope—this is our trust in the midst of grief. God will not be without a witness. So we cry our own tears of lament, tears for the violence, the apathy, the poverty, the degradations of our world. We cry for those we ...

2389. Turmoil Brewing, Herod Stewing, Prophecy, and Porridge

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had ...

2390. The Funeral Crasher

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14, John 14:15-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a confederate POW camp in Georgia....” Not sure if his beloved wanted him back after so long without contact, the young soldier asked that she tie a ribbon to a tree. When he approached the house, if he saw the ribbon, he would come home. If not, he would keep passing by. Fear rose in his heart as he approached home. But then tears began to flow, tears of joy, as the young man saw not one but a hundred ribbons tied to the tree, a sign that he was not just welcomed home, but dearly wanted and loved. Jesus ...

2391. The Thorn of Discontent

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ’ Church. It may be the way to run a shipping industry, or to excel in trade, or to advance in politics, or to keep order in the city. But it’s not the way to “run” God’s church. It’s not human power that God desires, ... one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord ...

2392. God's GPS

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Moses to use his Shepherd’s staff (with a snake on top), not only to lead the people forward through the wilderness terrain, but to lead them out of the lost and wandering places of their souls, and to guide them back to God. The Shepherd’s staff helped keep people’s eyes and hearts positioned on God and moving forward on the right path. That path was the Lord’s “highway of holiness,” as Isaiah would later put it (35:4-35:8): “it shall be for His people as they walk in His way.” In fact, one ...

2393. Faith is a River That Flows

Genesis 19:1-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of our sympathy. Let’s think about her for a moment. Abraham and Lot are pals. But there’s not enough room for them to keep shepherding the same land, so they split up. Abraham goes one direction; Lot goes another and sets up household in a place we learn ... your life. No matter where your life’s journey may take you, you need to trust the river. Your faith in Jesus can keep you holding on and going forward, even when your heart most wants to falter. The river will always bring you through. Just take ...

2394. Unfettered Faith

Mark 1:35-39, Mark 1:40-45, Exodus 15:22-27

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... true ailings of the soul. Only Jesus can clear your soul of the guilt and shame that are eating at you from inside. Sin is a sepsis of the soul. The sin that gets in. The sin under your skin that binds up your heart and debilitates your spirit and keeps you from being the beautiful and free person you were created by God to be. Turn to Jesus. He will heal. When Jesus met the leprous man that day in our scriptures as told in the gospel stories, He didn’t just give him advice, didn’t just grant him ...

2395. Jubilaeum

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Genesis 2:4-25, Leviticus 25:8-55, Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and harmed your spirit. Today, Jesus invites you to let that go. The Holy Spirit invites you to call out that name in your heart and mind, and to allow the breath of God to loose the chains of that anger and fear that are binding you down today and keeping you from being the free and authentic person that God gifts you to be. Choose that person who is truly hard for you to forgive. Cause listen, Jesus told us, it’s easy to forgive our friends! It’s not hard to forgive our families and our children and ...

2396. The Lame Truth

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... happened, people believed that the first one into the bath to be immersed would be healed of their ailments. So you had to keep watch for the waters to be stirred up. Because of this belief, the ill and infirm would gather each day at the pool of ... t it? In fact, it’s SO much easier to doubt than to have faith. Because as long as you don’t challenge your faith, you can keep on doubting in your safe little zone. Sometimes it’s easier to stay paralyzed than to stir up the waters and take a risk. What if ...

2397. The Thorny Price of Perfidy

Esther 3:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... you today. I’m going to give you the few-minute snap shot. But I would encourage you to take the time this week and read it in full. It’s am amazing story and testimony of what it means to be truly beautiful, and what it means to keep faith in God and in humankind, even when in the midst of a thorny thicket of hate, not unlike the world some Christians find themselves in today. The story takes place in Persia, when King Ahersuerus was ruling (some believe this is the reign of Xerxes). Its thorny main ...

2398. Dark Waters

Exodus 13:17--14:31, Joshua 3:1-4:24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... waters in the song were not just a way to safety but a challenge of faith to those who would dare to escape and put their trust in God for their just redemption. What challenges in your life feel frightening and dark? Do you have fears that are keeping you from moving forward and wading into the unknown, into a future that may feel unsteady or uncertain? Today, ask Jesus to be your guide and your light, your assurance and your hope, as you stand up, and wade into the waters, where your own future awaits ...

2399. Immersed

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , the Word/the Torah and the Servant of all (note the disciples’ foot washing) identifies Him as the same God, who “watches over the gates/doorways” of Israel. His bloodshed will be the ultimate in sacrificial servanthood and fierce covenant love, that which keeps out death, destruction, and evil from those committed to God, and that offers the insurance of “life”! The word “mezuzah” appears for the first time in Exodus: “And they shall take of the blood and they shall put it on the two ...

2400. The Crack in the Wall

Joshua 2:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon you. May your life be changed and may your future be rich! Based on the Story Lectionary Major Text The Story of Rahab (Joshua 1-6) Minor Text The Story of Tamar (Genesis 38) The Story of Ruth All Shall Keep the Passover, one Passover for Resident and Native (Numbers 9) The Story of Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah) and King David (2 Samuel 11-12) Psalm 47: God Reigns Over the Nations Psalm 51: My Sacrifice, O Lord, is a Broken Spirit Psalm 67: May the Peoples Praise ...

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