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 4945 results

2376. Handling Freedom

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Have you seen those billboards that have popped up next to major thoroughfares that say things like, "If you keep taking my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer," or "What part of ‘Thou shalt not' don't you understand?" and signed simply, "God"? It is interesting stuff. No doubt you are familiar with the political controversies concerning public displays of the Decalogue on government property. Most folks just shake their heads at the hoopla — they say that the commandments are certainly still valid ...

2377. Doing Your Own Thing

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever had the urge to simply do your own thing without any regard to how the world may view your actions? If you have ever had that urge, you would not be the first to feel that longing . . . or to act on it. In the late 1960s, a group of hippies remember them? living in the Haight Ashbury District of San Francisco decided that personal hygiene taking baths and showers and washing your hair, etc. was a middle class hang up they could do without. So, they quit indulging in these bourgeois activities ...

2378. Mary's Song

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to make my annual public service announcement to the men in our congregation. Guys, it’s time to do your Christmas shopping. I hope our men have this task already out of the way. But just in case, please heed my announcement. I understand that a [certain couple in our church] slipped off to [a nearby city] to do their Christmas shopping and somehow they got separated for several hours. Fortunately they had their cell phones with them. “Honey, where are you!?” [the woman] asked. “Darling,” [he] says ...

2379. Live the Lullaby

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Every baby will keep every parent up all night, at least once. It’s a rule. Whether because they are teething or colicky, anxious or tummy-troubled, or just plain fussy, it’s part of a baby’s mission in life to keep its parents awake weeping and wailing. We parents are “hard-wired” to respond to an infant’s cries. What has kept us grieving all week, a grief that can’t be spoken? What has kept our hearts hurting all week, a pain that won’t go away? When an infant or child is in trouble, or hurt, or killed, ...

2380. The Lifesaver App

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

As children we all had to study for and take “vocabulary tests” — learning a new list of words, their spelling and definitions, every week. As we continued on in school, read more books and studied more subjects, our vocabulary naturally expanded. Then to get into college, we took SATs (Scholastic Aptitude Tests), some of the most important of which are called “Vocab Tests.” Building up our word bank is a never completed project. Best-selling author Bill O’Reilly even has a vocab test every night on his #1 ...

2381. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I. I weep for Adonais – he is dead! O, weep for Adonais! though our tears Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head! And thou, sad Hour, selected from all years To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers, And teach them thine own sorrow, say: “With me Died Adonais; till the Future dares Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be An echo and a light unto eternity!” II. Where wert thou, mighty Mother, when he lay, When thy Son lay, pierced by the shaft which flies In darkness? where was lorn Urania ...

2382. The Trial Before Felix

Acts 24:1-27

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Paul’s removal to Caesarea began a two-year imprisonment in that city. During these years he stated his case (and therefore the case for the gospel) before two governors and a king, thus further fulfilling the ministry to which he had been called (9:15). These were days of high drama as well as of tedious confinement, but through it all Paul maintained his unswerving purpose to serve Christ and the gospel. 24:1 The first of the two governors to hear Paul’s case was Antonius Felix, the brother of Pallas, ...

2383. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

A Call to Ethical Living The author has concluded the main part of his epistle, having argued his points with convincing forcefulness, and now turns to various matters he desires to mention before concluding. chapter 13, therefore, is like an appendix. This is not to say, however, that the material in this chapter is unrelated to the main part of the epistle. Indeed, some of the author’s main concerns are again touched upon here, but in a somewhat different way, fleetingly, in order to bring out the ...

2384. Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

Paul's Ambition Whatever others may claim for themselves, Paul knows that he has not attained perfection yet. So long as mortal life lasts, there is further progress to be made. Not until the end of the race is the prize awarded. 3:12 Paul now passes from the language of accountancy to that of athletic endeavor (cf. 2:16). He is running a race; he has not yet breasted the tape or won the prize, and he must keep on running until he does so. Some of his converts elsewhere imagined that they had attained ...

2385. Spiritual Hypocrisy—Living by the Rules, Not by the Heart

Mark 7:1-23

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: In this passage about spiritual hypocrisy Jesus teaches that God’s people must live their lives not by how they appear externally to others but how they really are within. It is not external codes of conduct but the inner life of the heart that really matters. Understanding the Text The theme of failure continues from 6:45–53, as the disciples’ hardened hearts (6:52) link them to the Pharisees (3:5; 10:5) in their inability to comprehend the reality of Jesus and the kingdom (see “The Text in ...

2386. The Story of Israel Now and Later

Romans 2:1-16

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul makes explicit the story of Israel. Obedience to God’s law was required for Israel to remain in covenantal relationship with God. But Israel repeatedly broke the law, and consequently divine judgment fell on Jews. Moreover, God’s judgment will fall on individual Jews on the final day of reckoning if they do not repent by accepting Jesus as the Messiah. Understanding the Text In placing Romans 2:1–11 in its literary context, we focus in from the big picture of 1:18–3:20, which condemns all of ...

2387. The Reversal of the Deuteronomic Curses and Blessings: Replacing Law with Faith

Romans 9:30--10:21

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: The key issue in this controversial text is the role of the law in light of the work of Christ. Paul reverses the Deuteronomic curses and blessings: non-Christian Jews experience the Deuteronomic curses because they attempt to be justified by the law, while believing Gentiles are justified because their faith is in Christ, so to them belong the Deuteronomic blessings. Understanding the Text Romans 9:30–10:21 forms the second unit in Romans 9–11 (9:1–29 is the first, and 11:1–32 is the third). The ...

2388. Living by God’s Sexual Standards

Leviticus 18:1-30

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God’s moral and sexual standards bring life. Understanding the Text Leviticus 18 within the laws of holiness (Lev. 17–27) teaches holiness to laypersons in the areas of incest and sexuality. It exhorts the Israelites to live differently than do the Egyptians or the Canaanites (vv. 1–5) in those areas (vv. 6–23) or else be expelled from the land (vv. 24–30). The present chapter overlaps in content with Leviticus 20. In terms of sacred space, Leviticus 18–20 arguably describes things that ...

2389. Israel Celebrates the Passover

Numbers 9:1-14

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: We need to recall how God saved us. Understanding the Text The book of Numbers begins with the census initiated twelve and a half months after the exodus (Num. 1:1, 18). But in Numbers 9 (and probably Num. 7–8 as well; see comments as Num. 7:1), the book flashes back to the previous month (Num. 9:1)—that is, to the very month when the tabernacle had been completed (Exod. 40:17). Precisely one year after the initial Passover, the Israelites begin the first annual Passover commemoration around ...

2390. “In the Lord I Take Refuge”

Psalm 11:1-7

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: When our theological foundations are threatened, our fears are disabled by remembering God’s just and majestic character. Understanding the Text Psalm 11 is an individual lament. The lament is quite brief (11:1b) and obviously grows out of the immediate threat of danger that David faced (11:2), which itself grows out of the nature of the wicked “who love violence” (11:5). It is that bigger problem that shakes the foundations of faith and life (11:3), until Yahweh’s vision from his heavenly throne ...

2391. Nabuchadnezzar’s Dream and Daniel's Interpretation

Daniel 2:1-23, Daniel 2:24-49

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

Nebuchadnezzar Is Troubled by a Dream (2:1-16): Big Idea: God sometimes allows mere mortals, however powerful, to discover the bankruptcy of their belief systems before revealing himself through his messenger. Understanding the Text Daniel 2:1–49 is woven into the book’s overall literary structure in two ways. First, it advances the narrative of chapters 1–6, in which the first four focus on Nebuchadnezzar (chaps. 1–2 with historical markers and 3–4 without) and the last two show the transition from ...

2392. The Image of Gold and the Fiery Furnace

Daniel 3:1-30

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

Nebuchadnezzar Builds the Statue (3:1-12): Big Idea: God sometimes allows believers to face dark times of crisis in which their faith and faithfulness are challenged, even with the penalty of death. Understanding the Text Daniel 3:1–30 is woven into the book’s overall literary structure in two ways. First, it advances the narrative of chapters 1–6, in which the first four focus on Nebuchadnezzar (chaps. 1–2 with historical markers and 3–4 without) and the last two show the transition from Belshazzar of ...

2393. Humanity Reaching Out

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

There is a humanity that lives within us and among us that is always responsive to the showing forth of God whenever and wherever it happens. It is in the response of our humanity to the showing forth of God that fullness of life emerges. But there is also an inhumanity that lives among us -- and sometimes within us -- that pays no attention to God and that works to stifle real humanity wherever it lives. It also stifles life. We live our lives, and the world lives out its history, in the conflict between ...

2394. Paying What's Due

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

David G. Rogne

In Joseph Heller's book Catch-22, an Air Force bombardier is desperately seeking relief from going out on the deadly missions he must fly each day. As he gets close to the number of missions that will allow him to be rotated, the number of missions needed for rotation keeps changing. He concludes that only a crazy person would keep flying those dangerous missions. He thinks he must be crazy, and therefore he should be sent home. His superiors agree with him that a crazy person should be sent home but only ...

2395. Job's Reply to Eliphaz

Job 6:1–7:21

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

Impatience Justified: The first chapter of Job’s response to Eliphaz divides into three parts. Initially (vv. 1–13), he defends the sense of growing impatience with his circumstance that Eliphaz has attacked (4:1–6). Job then turns to a counterattack on the fickleness of some friendship (vv. 14–23). He concludes chapter 6 with a pointed demand to know where sin resides within him that is commensurate with the punishment he bears (vv. 24–30). 6:1–4 Job’s impetuous words are the consequence of unbearable ...

2396. The Lord Speaks

Job 38:1--41:34

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

God’s Appearance and Examination of Job Excursus: It should be clear from the outset that the fact God that appears in response to Job’s plea for a meeting immediately puts the lie to any claims to the contrary that Elihu and the other friends have made. God does appear in response to Job. His very appearance, therefore, proves Elihu’s earlier claim false—that God will not respond to Job because he has already spoken his final word of judgment in Job’s suffering. Deciding how to characterize this divine ...

2397. Accusations

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

For Paul, Satan is a conquered, yet still dangerous, foe. Although “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20), Satan is still “the god of this age,” who blinds the minds of unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), and he is “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Eph. 2:2). There can be no fellowship between the realm of Belial and unbelievers, on the one hand, and the realm of ...

2398. On Welcoming the Imperfect

John 10:22-30

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

Our gospel lesson for the day opens with John telling us it is time for the Festival of Dedication. Over the centuries, this festival has evolved into what we know as Hanukah. It commemorates events that occurred about a century and a half before the birth of Christ. Since Hanukah is usually in November or December some Christians mistakenly think of it as Jewish Christmas. It is not. If anything, the meaning of Hanukah comes closer to the Fourth of July than to Christmas. Both celebrate revolutions that ...

2399. Slow Burn

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. (Ephesians 1:18) “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” (Mark 9:50) Everyone will be salted with fire. (Mark 9:49) Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow? (Job 6:6) Prop: large salt ...

2400. The Road to the Passover

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

It was Samuel’s twelfth birthday and for the first time in his life, he would accompany his Father Lemuel to the Passover in Jerusalem. Every Jewish male from twelve years on was to make the pilgrimage to the Holy City and to the temple to make their Passover sacrifice. It was a long journey so Lemuel traveled it without his family - until this year. Samuel was twelve and had to accompany his father. He and his father traveled with a caravan of pilgrims for safety. The roads were rough and dusty and the ...

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