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 1 to 25 of 2844 results

1. The Journey of Life

Luke 24:13-35

Eulogy

Tom O. Miller

... life, abundant life, eternal life. Thanks be to God for this hope. And thanks be to God for his promises and the witness of his followers, of the gift of our sister's life, for our eternal home. And thanks be to God for his love and mercy as we continue along the journey of our life, trusting in the hope of eternal life. Amen.

2. Enduring the Trials of Faith

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... was forced to endure a great trial of faith, not because he chose, but only out of necessity. Trials of faith are an everyday part of life, although some may not be as obvious as others. We must learn, as did Jean Marie Barette, to persevere and continue along the road, despite the pain and setbacks that may come our way. We will find, as did Jean Marie, that through the trials and tribulations of life, we will gain strength and be that much better prepared to follow in the footsteps of the Lord. The trials ...

3. Defeat Transformed into Victory

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Richard Gribble

4. Mark 4:26-34

Mark 4:26-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the fruit is deemed "ripe," and then it is time for the harvest. Although the sower did not ripen the grains, the harvest is in his hands. The earth brought forth the mature fruit, just as God will cause the growth of the word to continue along a path of steady, continuous development until it is deemed "ripe." Jesus, the sower, rejoices over this inevitable progression, looking forward to that future day of harvest, and urges all who hear him to share in his confidence and joy. In the second parable read ...

5. Carrying the Burdens of Others

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... a long time, Sundar, drenched with perspiration, finally got back to the path. He continued to struggle with his heavy burden through the snow which was becoming increasingly deep. It was dark now and, thus, it was hard to find his way, but he continued along the way in the direction of the monastery. Although he was faint from fatigue and overheated from exertion, he finally saw the lights from the monastery in the distance. Just then he took a step and stumbled, almost falling. He looked down and found ...

6. Peacemaker -- A Liturgy

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

... Something -- and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal. “From that moment I have known what it means ‘not to look back,’ and ‘to take no thought for the morrow.’ “As I continued along the Way, I learned, step by step, word by word, that behind every saying in the gospels stands one man and one man’s experience. Also behind the prayer that the cup might pass from him and his promise to drink it. Also behind each of ...

7. Enduring the Trials of Faith

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... pope was forced to endure a great trial of faith, not because he chose, but out of necessity. Trials of faith are an everyday part of life, although some may not be as obvious as others. We must learn, as did Jean Marie Barrette, to persevere and continue along the road, despite the pain and setbacks that may come our way. We will find, as did Jean Marie, that through the trials and tribulations of life, we will gain strength and be that much better prepared to follow in the footsteps of the Lord. The ...

8. Your Journey Of Life - A Wedding Ceremony

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Mark P. Zacher

... eternally sure and certain and that we can carry with us forever. There is faith and there is hope and there is love! The faith of both of you is what has brought you through the difficult experiences that you have had. Your faith is what has enabled you to continue along the path of life, even when the road got difficult and the way got rough. It was the hope of both of you that allowed your lives to intersect and to cross. And, it was that hope that allowed you to see a new day and a new life, together ...

9. House of Jesus

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ? Do you have that address in your pocket, so that you may never get lost or have to spend the night alone in some strange place? [You can either end your sermon here. Or if you have more time, you can expand on this "House of Jesus" theme and continue along the lines suggested below.] In the "House of Jesus," there are certain rooms. In fact, the Scriptures tell us what these rooms are. The House of Jesus is a House of Praise The House of Jesus is a House of Prayer. In fact, Jesus himself said "My house ...

10. “Weak and Strong” Should Get Along

Romans 14:1--15:13

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Romans 14:1–15:13 forms a unit unto itself containing Paul’s plea for the Roman Christians to get along—specifically, that the weak and the strong in faith would accept each other in Christ. Romans 14:1–12 begins the discussion with a twofold exhortation (vv. 1–3, 10–12) grounded in a theological explanation (vv. 4–9). Understanding the Text In the past, some scholars have contended that Romans 14:1–15:13 is parenetic material that Paul includes in his letter at this point but that has no real ...

11. Where Is Love?

Hebrews 9:1-28

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Several years ago, a fellow named Lionel Bart wrote a hit song, "Where Is Love," for the Broadway musical Oliver. Based on the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, the musical tells the story of an orphaned child struggling to survive the cruelties of the streets of England amidst the Industrial Age. No one seems to care, except those trying to use him for profit. "Where is he, whom I close my eyes to see?" Oliver sings. "Will I ever know the sweet ‘Hello,' that's meant for only me? Where is love?" Few ...

12. A Continuing Presence

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Larry Powell

Clarence Macartney tells of a certain Canadian river which flows through a forbidding chasm. Looming on either side of the river are rugged, uninviting crags which bear the names "Eternity" and "Trinity." Macartney suggests that the opposing crags invite an analogy (you understand of course, that to a preacher, most everything invites analogy). "Inseparable from any true conception of God," he says, "are always the two doctrines of God's eternity and God's trinity ... The threefold experience of God the ...

13. Practicing God’s Presence

Hebrews 10:11-25

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

In the early years of the sixteenth century, a young adventurer named Nicolas Herman left his parents' home near Loraine, France, to join the French army. Wounded in war, he returned home to recuperate and thus began a process of soul searching that led to Christian commitment. His quest for closeness to God first led him to life as a hermit. He found that unfulfilling, so he eventually joined a Carmelite monastery where he was assigned to menial duties in the kitchen. Kneading bread might truly seem an ...

14. Can't We All Just Get Along?

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon

King Duncan

Gordon Melton scours the country trying to count the number of major denominations in the United States. It has been estimated that there are more than 33,000 denominations of Christianity in the entire world. There are not nearly that many in the U.S., but some of the groups that Melton discovered are kind of interesting. For example, he discovered one group called, “The Church of the Kennedy Worshippers.” That’s a church which actually believes that it can pray to the late President John F. Kennedy, and ...

15. Dots on a Screen

Hebrews 9:24-28

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Several years have now passed since the television series Survivor first debuted to become a summer ratings sensation. The concept was simple: place a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills, and personalities into close proximity with a common purpose, namely survival on a deserted island, and let the audience watch as their relationships develop, or fall apart. This, of course, is not to be confused with a much earlier comedy series based on the "seven stranded castaways" of Gilligan's ...

16. A New Continuing

John 14:8-17, 25-27

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

That first Pentecost was a grand and glorious day. It was a new beginning. On that special day, God's people were reborn through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It was an extraordinary event. As Luke's Gospel reports it, all kinds of marvelous things took place on that day. As Jesus' disciples were all gathered in one place, there was first the sound of a mighty wind; then tongues of fire appeared and rested on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in all kinds ...

17. Can We Really Get Along?

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

In 1991 a black man named Rodney King was beaten unmercifully by white police of Los Angeles. Someone captured that crime on video-tape. The acquittal of the police set off a firestorm. On the other side, of that tragedy, Rodney King asked plaintively, "Can't we all Just get along?" That is America's greatest challenge. Can her majority and minority races accept each other as full partners in the American family? It is not only appropriate but indeed obligatory that we ask that question here in Memphis, ...

18. Coasting Along?

Matthew 14:22-33

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

In the 1970s, when the gasoline shortage was at its height, any possible proposal for increasing the miles per gallon ratio was taken up with enthusiasm. One popular but not terribly effective scheme was to tuck your own car right up behind any large truck barreling down the highway. The conventional wisdom was that the tremendous draft created by the truck would help drag your own vehicle along thereby reducing the air friction on it and thus increasing your own gas mileage. Following in the wake of the ...

19. The Jews Continue in Their Disbelief

John 12:37-50

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

Jesus’ last plea to the crowd was “put your trust in the light” (v. 36), and the first note struck in the narrator’s concluding summary (v. 37) is that they would not believe in him. Jesus’ public ministry is summarized as a series of miraculous signs intended to nourish faith, but the result instead was unbelief. The very purpose of John’s Gospel, as stated in 20:30–31, was to reverse that result, but in order to do so realistically the strength and stubbornness of unbelief had to be presented in the most ...

20. Another in the continuing adventures of AMAZING GRACE

Drama

Narrator: Today we find Grace, still captive in the castle of the Evil Prince, forced by a magic spell to do his bidding. He is now moving her from the laundry room dungeon in the subbasement to one of his more horrible torture devices - the kitchen sink. [Enter Grace and the Evil Prince] Evil Prince: Come on, Gracie Baby, move along. I’ve got a special treat in store for you today! Grace: [Being led in chains] When are you going to give up. You can’t break me, and you know it! E.P.: Now, Gracie, don’t be ...

21. Meeting Jesus Along The Way

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

There is an 80-foot tall maple tree in Milford, Connecticut that hasn ™t changed much over the years. There are new leaves every spring, of course, and the leaves fall off every autumn. And there is the spot where a limb came off when Hurricane Gloria blew through in 1985. Other than that missing branch the tree on Hawley Avenue has looked the same for as long as anyone can remember. The spot where the limb was blown off caused quite a stir in the neighborhood sometime back. One of the residents, Claudia ...

22. Power and Compassion

Hebrews 5:1-10

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Many of you may remember from your grade school days a novel by Mark Twain titled, The Prince and the Pauper. It has been adapted in various forms of Disney productions and even a few cartoon tales. The Twain story begins with two boys with identical features — one a spoiled royal heir, and the other a street urchin surviving on his wits. By chance they meet. The pauper is enamored with the fineries of the palace, while the prince envies the pauper's freedom to come and go as he chooses. Eventually, they ...

23. Grace to You, and Peace

Revelation 1:4b-8

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

The weeklong pastor's training event was about halfway through its course and the pastor coordinating the event was enjoying her break with a leisurely stroll across the grounds. But what began as a beautiful leisurely spring day soon turned somewhat anxious when she returned to her room and found a message taped to her door, "Call the bishop's assistant as soon as possible." She spent part of the afternoon playing phone tag between class sessions. "Whatever could it be?" she pondered. The week was flowing ...

24. The Jews Continue in Their Disbelief

John 12:37-50

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

John the evangelist, who has been the narrator of the story all along (2:22–25; 3:16–21, 31–36; 7:5), now sums up the meaning of Jesus’s public ministry (12:37–43). John 12:37 makes plain what all of early Christianity was forced to acknowledge: Jesus’s many signs fell on disbelief. John joins the other evangelists in drawing texts from Isaiah that must have been commonly used in the early church (Isa. 6:10; 53:1; cf. Matt. 13:14–17). Isaiah too found disbelief in Israel and attributed it to God’s ...

25. Elihu

Job 32:1--37:24

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

The Friends Conclude and Elihu Begins Excurses: Had the third cycle of dialogue between Job and his three friends been complete, we would expect to find Zophar’s concluding speech in response to Job at this point. However, at least in the canonical form of the book, Bildad’s truncated final speech (25:1–6), Job’s expanded concluding speech (chs. 26–31), the complete absence of any final speech by Zophar, and the opening comments in the following Elihu section, press the reader to understand this collapse ...

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