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 2451 to 2475 of 4937 results

2451. Setting Up the Lamps

Num 8:1-26

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

Lamps and Levites: Emphasis on the tabernacle continues in this narrative flashback section (7:1–10:10). The community prepares to depart in a kind of promise and fulfillment motif. The concluding note of chapter 7 on the Most Holy Place leads to a comment on the lamps in the sanctuary. 8:1–4 Further revelation comes through Moses to Aaron concerning the lamps and lampstand. These verses refer to the instructions in Exodus 25:31–40 and 37:17–24. The seven lamps are to be set up so they will light the area ...

2452. Our Three Deepest Needs

Luke 11:1-13

Illustration

Richard Patt

A few years ago on television, a public speaker was giving a talk about the three deepest needs we have as persons. What would you imagine those to be? The first need we have, the speaker said, is to know someone who will listen to us. We all have a story to tell, a need to verbalize our feelings. We want someone who will listen to that. Secondly, he claimed, we want the person listening to believe what we are saying. We want someone who will trust our story. Finally, the television speaker said that when ...

2453. Life-Giving Water

Revelation 21:1-27

Children's Sermon

Shirley Jennings

Object: Two opaque water glasses, one with water in it. Water is an important gift from God that we use every day in many ways. What do you think I have in this glass? Water? Milk? Kool-Aid? I have water in this glass. Now watch the color as I pour it out of this glass into the other glass. What color is the water? It isn’t any color, is it? What do we use water for? (Let the children answer.) We drink it, take baths and showers in it; we wash our dirty hands with it; we play in it at the swimming pool. ...

2454. Cut Down Lifted Up

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Once upon a time in the heart of a certain kingdom, lay a beautiful garden. Of all the dwellers of the garden, the most beautiful and beloved to the master of the garden was a splendid and noble Bamboo. Year after year, Bamboo grew yet more beautiful and gracious. He was conscious of his master's love, yet he was modest and in all things gentle. Often when Wind came to revel in the garden, Bamboo would throw aside his dignity. He would dance and sway merrily, tossing and leaping and bowing in joyous ...

2455. Jesus Startles Us

Matthew 18:21-35

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

As in so many of Jesus' parables and teachings, we find the message of this parable shocking. As Donald Kraybill writes in The Upside Down Kingdom: Again and again in parables, sermons, and acts Jesus startles us. Things are not like they are supposed to be. The stories don't end as we expected. The Good Guys turn out to be the Bad Guys. The ones we expected to receive a reward get chastised . . . The least are the greatest. The immoral receive forgiveness and blessing. Adults become like children. The ...

2456. A Spiritual Geography

Luke 12:32-40

Illustration

Richard Patt

In her book called Dakota, Kathleen Norris, a best-selling writer and poet, tells how she and her husband, also a writer, moved away from the heady literary atmosphere and advantages of New York City to one of the most remote towns in America, Lemmon, South Dakota. She relates how most of her friends were shocked by their contemplated move. The prospects for even reasonable survival as thinking persons seemed as remote as the little town they chose to live in. But Kathleen Norris subtitled her book "A ...

2457. Looking Up: Looking Out

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

This passage serves as a gift to the church as we prepare to enter into the season of Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday this coming week. At the outset, it is important to realize that this fantastic vision of the transfigured Jesus follows upon the hard prediction Jesus made concerning his own death: Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. — Mark 8:31 Any ...

2458. Giving: A Pain in the Wallet

Illustration

Ben Rogers

When you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, "Does this hurt? How about this?" If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity. Or, more likely, there's something wrong, and the doctor will say, "We'd better do some more tests. It's not supposed to hurt there!" So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility, and certain members ...

2459. Give Yourself Some Slack

Genesis 2:3

Illustration

According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens, a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity. Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. Then he said to the critical Athenian, "Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bows implies." The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop ...

2460. Keep Up the Pace

Illustration

Grant Lovejoy

A recent television documentary pointed out that the cheetah survives on the African plains by running down its prey. The big cat can sprint seventy miles per hour. But the cheetah cannot sustain that pace for long. Within its long, sleek body is a disproportionately small heart, which causes the cheetah to tire quickly. Unless the cheetah catches its prey in the first flurry, it must abandon the chase. Sometimes Christians seem to have the cheetah's approach to ministry. We speed into projects with great ...

2461. Cut Down--Lifted Up

John 12:12-19, Philippians 2:1-11

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: A Palm Branch Boys and girls, The children welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with palm branches and songs as if he were a visiting king, didn't they? And of course, he was in a way, wasn't he? The king of kings. I read recently about an ancient tribe of primitive people who had a very strange custom. Every seven years they would select a member of their tribe to be the king. This man was treated royally for seven years. He had absolute power. He could have anything he wanted. But, at the end of those ...

2462. Simon Gives His Strengths

Mark 15:21-32

Children's Sermon

Donald Neidigk

Object: rough-sawn beam, approximately 4" x 4" x 2' Good evening, boys and girls. It makes me so happy to see you in church! Look what I have here. It's a piece of scrap lumber I have left over from a building project. Would you like to hold it? (As many as want to may hold the beam.) What do you notice about it? Yes, it's very heavy and rough. Your hands could get splinters from it if you aren't careful. This beam is not very long, but it's still very heavy. Imagine what it would weigh if it were this ...

2463. Playing to the Right Audience

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

It was an incredible military breakthrough. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Joe Rochefort broke the Japanese codes. From an intelligence base on Oahu, he predicted an attack on Midway Island for June 3, 1942. Because of Rochefort's skill, the United States surprised the Japanese Navy with its first defeat in 350 years. Four carriers were lost, one cruiser, 2500 men, 322 aircraft, and the best of their pilots. The tide turned in the Pacific; Japan never recovered momentum. Commander ...

2464. The House on The Rock

Lk 6:12-49 · Mt 5:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18) Props: river stones (rocks) passed out among the people at the beginning of the service or beginning of the sermon OR small tools (such as small hammer, nails, concrete trowel) OR bricks Setting: Consider holding your service outdoors on the lawn today. One option may be to read the entirety of Jesus’ sermon (scriptures ...

2465. I Love My Church

1 Chronicles 29:3

Sermon

James Merritt

Recently someone sent me a list entitled, "Satan's Beatitudes." They said if the devil were to write his Beatitudes they would probably go something like this: Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians—they are my best workers. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked, and expect to be thanked—I can use them. Blessed are the touchy. With a bit of luck they may stop going to church— they are my missionaries. Blessed are ...

2466. Hazardous to Your Wealth: Myths about Money

Malachi 3:7-12

Sermon

James Merritt

Americans are used to warnings. You can hardly turn anywhere that you don't read a warning label on something. There are warning labels that will alert you to inhaling fumes at the gas station, opening hot radiators, drinking diet soft drinks, smoking cigarettes, wearing seatbelts, and even letting small children play with plastic bags that cover the clothes from the dry cleaners. These warnings are all designed to make us aware of potential dangers that could bring us great harm. But when is the last time ...

2467. Parabola

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

[This is an interactive sermon. In order to preach this well, you need to allow your congregants to take part, answer questions, imagine themselves as part of the story.] Prop: ostrich egg I have here an egg. [You can pass around the egg.] This egg belongs to an ostrich. Let me tell you a story about the ostrich, who one day took her eyes off of the place in the sand where she buried her eggs. Lo and behold, when she finally remembered where she had hid them, a predator had come in the night and stolen her ...

2468. Who Wants To Be a Millionaire

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

James Merritt

When it comes to millionaires, America has a monopoly. We have more millionaires than anyone else in the world; we have more people who want to be millionaires than anyone else in the world; and we have more people who can become millionaires than anyone else in the world. Recently USA Today ran a cover story entitled, "Everyone Wants a Shot at Being a Millionaire." The story begins this way: We live in a society gone millionaire mad. Our national fable used to be: Any kid can grow up to be President. Now ...

2469. The Eureka Experience

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

A psychology professor at Yale University has listed the 12 most persuasive'' words in salesmanship. Third on his list is the word "new" as in "Buy it, it''s new." We like the word new, don't we? We like it in the cars we drive and the houses we live in and the clothes we wear. "Give me something new," may be the slogan of every American. And that is what our message is about today. What a magnificent opportunity Christ has given us—the opportunity to make new starts and fresh beginnings. The word "new" ...

2470. Ascension

Acts 1:1-11, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:50-53, Luke 24:36-49

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

It is a great day when a hero returns to his people. We Americans put on a gala reception with a ticker tape parade usually in Manhattan. Hundreds of thousands gather to see the procession of victory. They cheer. The bands play. Banners wave in the wind. Spontaneous shouts are heard blocks away. The hero may be a Charles Lindbergh, a Dwight Eisenhower, a Neil Armstrong, a Pope or a Nelson Mandela. It is a great day of welcome, festivity and victory. But, the greatest day of all occurred not on earth but in ...

2471. Pop Verses: Isaiah 40:28-31

Isaiah 40:28-31

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Today I continue our series “Pop Verses.” We are taking a closer look at some of the most popular Bible verses. We are finding out why they are so popular and how they apply to our lives. Quite often our favorite verses are just that – they’re verses. They’re not read in context. This can lead to a misunderstanding about the meaning of the verse. I believe this series is giving us a lot of food for thought about these popular verses. Today our pop verses come from the prophet Isaiah. It is a beautiful ...

2472. Good to Great

Ezekiel 45:3-5

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Many of you have heard me mention Bill Self several times. He preached here at Pasadena a few years go. He was one of my heroes in ministry – an incredible man and preacher. He died last year and I had the honor of speaking at his funeral. I remember a story Bill would often tell about going fishing in Florida. Bill really was not much of a fisherman, but a member of his church invited him to go tarpon fishing. His friend said they would take his private jet. Bill had never been in a private jet before so ...

2473. Everything Must Go: The Treasure Principle

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

James Merritt

It was something that I had been putting off for a good while, for a number of reasons, the least of which I just didn’t want to deal with it. Last year, Teresa and I finally took the plunge and we did it. I thought it would be morbid – it wasn’t. I thought it would be kind of miserable – it wasn’t. I realized after it was over it really was a ministry. It took a few weeks for the results of our efforts to be completed, but then the day came that it came in the mail. I opened up the package, looked at the ...

2474. The Rebirth

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The story of Nicodemus is fascinating and intriguing. Nicodemus came to Jesus secretly by night, probably because he didn't want anyone to see him. He came to Jesus with a compliment. He said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him" (John 3:2), thinking that Jesus, like most people, would be impressed by a compliment. He came wanting to discuss theology, assuming that Jesus would be interested in a ...

2475. Mother's Day Gifts

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

How hard it is to find a capable wife! She is worth far more than jewels! Her husband puts his confidence in her, and he will never be poor. As long as she lives, she does him good and never harm. She keeps herself busy making wool and linen cloth. She brings home food from out-of-the-way places, as merchant ships do. She gets up before daylight to prepare food for her family and to tell her servant girls what to do. She looks at land and buys it, and with money she has earned she plants a vineyard. She is ...

Showing results