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 2426 to 2450 of 4934 results

2426. Is He Really Coming?

Sermon

Rolf E. Aaseng

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:2-3). In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!" (2 Peter ...

2427. Tears on Easter?

John 20:10-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek ...

2428. T.G.I.F

John 1:43-51

Sermon

William Luoma

[A Message for Good Friday. Bulletin outline found below.] Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see. Early in his Galilean ministry, Jesus invited Philip to follow him. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth." Nathanael responded somewhat sarcastically, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip's simple answer was the challenge that is still given to ...

2429. Let God Be God

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

The concern of the prophet Zephaniah, from whom one of the lessons was read this morning, was with a society of people who had drifted into a condition of moral and religious chaos. On the one hand, they were pretending to worship both Baal and the Lord. On the other hand, they were in reality a rebellious, defiled, and oppressive people who listened to no voice and accepted no correction from any source. What Zephaniah saw as essential for them to do was to get their act together by learning to "call on ...

2430. Cross Purposes

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"In the cross of Christ I glory towering o'er ..." Is the cross today towering over the world? Atlanta is presently boasting of its newest hotel, seventy stories high, the highest hotel in the entire world. Just a couple of blocks from this hotel are a Methodist church and a Catholic church, each with a tower and a cross on top. There was a time when the highest point in a town was the church spire with a cross on its pinnacle. Now city skyscrapers dwarf the church with its cross. The cross is over-towered ...

2431. The Bells Of Christmas Eve

Drama

The Cast (in order of speaking) Sebastiano Franco Sister Sophia Bruder Hans Antonio Francesca Mario Marchesi Pietro Vermelli Giuseppe Synopsis Scene The First in which Father Sebastiano Franco is bemoaning the non-ringing of the church bells on Christmas Eve and is visited by a panic-stricken nun and a strange monk from Germany. Scene The Second in which a girl and her brother stumble upon a man dying in the cold. Scene The Third in which a rich man and a poor man commit insufficient acts of love. Scene ...

2432. My dear friends, let us play.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

Yes, you heard me correctly. Now is a time for play. In fact, today the church begins that time of the year when we do our most serious playing. And playing is a serious business, you know. Ask any teacher of children. Better still, watch children at play. No wonder they are tired at the end of the day. They work hard at playing. They take it seriously. Play is the child's laboratory for learning about life. Children who have never played at being grown-up tend to be handicapped in some way when they have ...

2433. Ordinary 32

Lk 20:27-38 · Zech 7:1-10 · 2 Thess 2:13--3:5 · 1 Chron 29:10-13

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Zechariah 7:1-10 Not fasting but justice and compassion Yahweh desires. Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai. He supported Haggai in his call for re-building the temple. Zechariah preached in Judah to the returned exiles between 520 and 518 B.C. He probably saw the temple completed in 516. While Haggai was primarily concerned with the re-building of the temple, Zechariah called for repentance and social righteousness. In today's passage the question is raised whether weeping and fasting should ...

2434. Epiphany 8

1 Corinthians 4:1-21, Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42, Leviticus 19:1-37

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Theme: Love your neighbor as yourself Call to Worship Pastor: We are the children of God; and as his children we are to love one another. People: We deny God as our Father when we are unkind or unfair to each other. Pastor: Therefore we are commanded by God to love our neighbors as ourselves. People: May our attitude in society prove we are children of God. Collect Gracious Father, whose nature to love is a basic requirement for those who would be your children: Empty ...

2435. Harnessed Power

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Richard L. Thulin

John's story of Pentecost seems better suited for a time other than our own. It is so quiet in the telling that it hardly slows us up. No need for camera crews here, nor even a newspaper reporter. No need for police to hold the crowds back, nor attendants to help us find parking spaces. There is no massive display of unleashed energy. There are no sounds as of rushing wind and no tongues as of fire. No sermon, no baptisms, no "wonders and signs." It is like the slightest ripple of water rather than a tidal ...

2436. So Soon We Forget!

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

So soon we forget! The next time you complain of having to do the laundry - at home or at the local laundromat - where you have plenty of hot and cold water, a spin-dry machine, and a dryer to do the whole job remarkably easily, before you complain about how tough it is (like breaking a fingernail opening the package of new, blue, all-temperature Cheer or having to fold the clothes as they come out of the dryer), stop and remember it was not always so simple. Here is a "receipt" of an old grandmother in ...

2437. Communion Is Remembering

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it ...

2438. Proper 27 & Pentecost 25

Psalm 50:1-23, Psalm 43:1-5, Psalm 63:1-11, Amos 5:18-27, Hosea 11:1-11, 1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE It is in the gospels and the other readings assigned to this Sunday that one hears the message that the "end times" are coming and the Lord will return to usher in the fullness of the kingdom of God. This note culminates in Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of Pentecost and of the Church year, too; it spills over into the first Sundays of Advent and the new church year. There is a kind of call to spiritual perception and understanding at the end of Pentecost that becomes a call to ...

2439. Reformation Sunday

Jeremiah 32:1-44, Romans 3:21-31, John 8:31-41

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Virtually all Lutheran calendars and lectionaries make provision for the celebration of Reformation Day, cognizant of the fact that it is necessary to move the festival from October 3 1st to the previous Sunday, unless, of course, October 31st falls on a Sunday. Most Lutheran churches continue to observe Reformation Sunday, despite the good and growing relations with the Roman Catholic Church, which have developed with the onset of the ecumenical movement following Vatican II. But the tone ...

2440. "Hold Your Horses!"

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"... wait for the Promise of the Father." When you were a child, did your parents ever say to you, as mine said to me, "Hold your horses!" I must have heard that phrase literally hundreds of times as I was growing up: when I wanted school to be out for the summer, when I fretted because a meal was not ready, when I wanted to do something exciting "now," when I spoke too hastily, when I demanded something be done immediately, when I couldn’t stand still while mother measured a hem in a skirt - I can hear it ...

2441. Shepherding One Another in a Collapsing World

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

In the Scripture for this Sunday, Paul reveals an almost violent concern for his people. He is thinking about the Jews who have rejected Christ and the ultimate step in their history of being the people of God. Note Paul’s concern: "I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Paul was not mad at his people. He was heartbroken. He must have felt like Jesus felt when he cried out over ...

2442. "Can Do" Christianity

Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

Those who lived through the long years of World War II remember a remarkable group of men called the Seabees. "Seabees" was their nickname, based upon their official designation as the U.S. Naval Construction Battalions. These were the men who went ashore right behind the Marines during the Pacific island battles, constructing the new facilities necessary for the support and establishment of our nation's combat forces. They referred to themselves as "can do" people, and were often quoted as saying, "The ...

2443. God’s Generosity Resented

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Here is the crazy story that Jesus told: A man owned a vineyard and needed to get the grapes harvested before the rains came. He hired some men at the early morning hour and agreed to pay them a silver coin for the day’s work. At nine and noon, and then at five p.m., he hired more men to help with the harvest. When evening came, the owner called all the workers together. They were all paid the same amount. Those who worked ten hours were paid the same amount as those who worked one hour. Those who had ...

2444. The Master at Prayer

Luke 22:39-46

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Recently I dropped by one of my favorite restaurants for breakfast. I noticed that my customary waitress was not her usual bubbly self. I asked if everything was okay. She said, "No," and then proceeded to tell me about her family and financial problems. I asked if it would be okay to offer a prayer. She agreed, so I did as she stood there beside me holding a coffee pot. About a month later I was back in the restaurant. She looked absolutely overjoyed. Before I could ask why, she said to me, "Hey, your ...

2445. Making a Name for Ourselves

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Last week during a vacation trip to South Carolina, Gloria and I stood by my parents’ grave. Their horizontal gravestone offers a brief, but important testimony about these two people. Concerning my father it says, “Pastor, Chaplain, World War II.” Under mother’s name it says, “Devoted wife and teacher.” Then it says, “Loving parents of…” and their four children’ are listed. At the bottom is that great final verse of I Corinthians 13, “Now abide these three – faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these ...

2446. Decisive Battles With Temptation

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Robert Allen

It happens so often that it seems almost routine in our modern world. We read or listen to certain stories with interest and then make little jokes about how public figures shoot themselves in the foot when they yield to temptation and it becomes public knowledge. In recent years, we have become privy to the temptations which have seduced several public figures. Not long ago, Gary Hart was the leading candidate in the Democratic Party for the nomination for President of the United States. But, when he took ...

2447. Dual Citizenship II - What Do We Owe To God?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

On the first really cold day last fall in Denver, a window cleaner was working on a scaffold outside the 20th floor of a skyscraper. He was surprised to see a secretary pressing a large sheet of paper up to the window. On it, in big letters, she had written: "It's 72 degrees in here." Undaunted, the half-frozen window cleaner reached into his pocket, pulled out a pen and notebook, and scribbled a message of his own. With a big smile he held it close to the window. It said, "It's $25 an hour out here!" So ...

2448. All Dressed Up and No Place To Go

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

It was in the sixties that a dynamic music teacher came to the local Junior High School. You will remember that was the decade in which youth began dressing in the sloppiest possible way. Hundreds of young people were attracted to the charm of this man and joined his many projects. We were present at the program featuring the chorus. I was so impressed with the number of youth who filed onto the risers that I counted them - roughly two hundred. Some spark in this teacher ignited a latent sense of beauty ...

2449. Tough Love

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A little boy was sitting at the table in the kitchen looking gloomy and sour: he had just been punished. Suddenly, he asked his mother, "God can do anything He wants, can't He?" To which the mother replied, "Of course." Then the boy asked rhetorically "God doesn't have any parents, does He?" Have you ever felt that way? Probably. At some time or another, we have all felt terribly hemmed in and beaten down by our supposedly loving parents. For those of us who have had children of our own and are concerned ...

2450. Would You Like To Hold The Baby?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

A four-year-old boy was watching his mother change the baby. When she overlooked sprinkling the baby's backside with baby powder and hurriedly put him into his diaper, the four-year-old hollered, "Hey, Mom, you forgot to salt him!" Have you ever noticed how babies can turn ordinarily intelligent men and women into complete morons as they make all those googley noises and funny faces? I've often wondered what the babies think of it all. This is Christmas eve, the season of the baby, the Christ child. Babies ...

Showing results