Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: take action, take steps, take measures, take the initiative, move, make a move, react, do something, proceed, go ahead, behave, function, perform, operate, work, take effect, serve, be efficacious, play, play a part, take part, be an actor, be an actress, be one of the cast, appear, pretend, play-act, sham, fake, feign, put it on, bluff, pose, posture, masquerade, dissemble, dissimulate, deed, action, gesture, feat, exploit, performance, undertaking, maneuver, stunt, operation, venture, effort, enterprise, achievement, accomplishment, law, decree, statute, bill, Act of Parliament, edict, fiat, dictum, dictate, enactment, resolution, ruling, rule, judgement, canon, ordinance, proclamation, command, commandment, mandate, measure, stipulation, direction, requirement, division, section, subsection, portion, part, segment, component, bit, turn, routine, number, item, piece, sketch, skit, playlet, dance, song, pretense, false display, show, front, facade, charade, guise, affectation, appearance

Antonyms: do nothing

Showing 1 to 25 of 298 results

1. Are You Running?

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... mind in favor of these sinful, self-serving spokesmen. A dictatorship runs on the feet and backs of swarming, faceless crowds and rent-a-crowd democracy. It's the mind of the crowd that holds up the opinions and the huge self-portrait billboards of any dictator. In today's gospel text the crowds once again got it wrong. Confronted with a man who would not just lead them, but transform them, all the crowd-mind could think to do was to celebrate Jesus as a nationalistic, military zealot, a warrior-king who ...

2. The Church’s Fear and Comfort

Acts 9:19b-31

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... , he flooded out a whole valley by building a big dam. He needed electricity for his operation, but he never bothered to consult the inhabitants of the region. Another time he destroyed one whole village that had made a raid on some of his property. He is an absolute dictator. No one tells him what to do, how to do it. or when. If you were his employee chances are you’d walk the straight and narrow. There would be no time for doing half a job. You would fear him, because he would have the power to erase ...

3. The Problem with "Fawneys"

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... fawney. This was later Americanized to the word phony. (1) Nobody likes a fawney, or a phony—someone who looks like the real thing but is, in truth simply an imitation. There is a fascinating story about the death of the former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Stalin, of course, was known as a cruel and vindictive man. He is reputed to have suffered a seizure at a meeting of the Presidium, the Communist party executive committee. Someone had made a proposal with which Stalin was in violent disagreement ...

4. The Prodigal Nation

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Erskine White

... prodigal son, we are lost in the far country of repression. We are lost in a far country where political empire and corporate profit matter more than human rights and God-given dignity. The "last, best hope of humankind" has, too often, become the first, best hope of dictators and economic elites who "grind the face of the poor" (Isaiah 3:15) and "turn aside the needy" (Amos 5:12). What has happened to us, that we so frequently end up on the wrong side of history - the wrong side of people's dreams - in so ...

5. Onesimus

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... the wall. An earthen floor was packed smooth by the treading of countless prisoners. Sunlight crept through a tiny window at the ceiling. There was a crude table and a smoking lamp where a young man was writing. An older man paced the floor, dictating - sometimes in a torrent of words, then silence. A rattling sound broke the stillness as the cell door opened. Standing in the lighted doorway was a youth, a cellmate, tall and muscular - obviously a slave. The older prisoner rushed forward, "My name is Paul ...

6. You Have Been Subpoenaed!

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... there was no other way to fix our sin- marred lives and to save our eternal souls. Alright, if we know the where and the why of witnessing, let's talk about how to do it. This is the message of our scripture lesson for the morning. This passage was dictated by the Apostle Peter to his trusted secretary Silvanus in Rome about 63 A.D. Rome was at that time a hornet's nest for Christians. In a short time, St. Paul would be executed there. The Emperor Nero was about to burn down the city of Rome and blame ...

7. Hay, Harmony, and Hallelujah

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

G. William Genszler

... ? It just wasn’t fair. Surely her parents must be mistaken about this Jesus. If he were God, why didn’t he do something to help them now? Believe you, me, if I were God I would fix those dictators but good. Jesus didn’t seem to do a thing." Nanuska didn’t know who to hate the most - the dictators who had caused all this suffering or Jesus who allowed them to get away with it. Sharp discords of confusion and hate racked her mind and almost drove her insane. Tears followed her tension as she tried to ...

8. Leadership Styles For A New Millennium

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Herod was an insecure man, a rigid man, an intolerant man. All Herod knew was the rule of force. He was a bully, a dictator, a man with an iron hand. There are leaders like that in the world today. Some of them lead nations, some of them lead ... OF GOD. God is not a God of whom we need to live in fear and loathing, as many people do. God is not an insecure dictator, an intolerant tyrant as many have portrayed God. God is pure, unlimited, unbounded love. We don't need to beat our chest and rend our garments ...

9. Is Conscience the Best Guide?

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... were persecuted by their own religious compatriots for claiming that Jesus was the long-expected Messiah. In each case they were persecuted by zealous folk who were obeying the dictates of their consciences - only their consciences were wrong! St. Paul is a case in point. Prior to his conversion he was a deeply religious man. He was following the dictates of his conscience when he persecuted the Christians...until Christ caught up with him on the Damascus Road and turned his life around. All of the rest of ...

10. Whatever became of Kingdomtide?

John 16:17-33

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... promise. Christ is Victor. Harvard theologian Harvey Cox would have us picture the situation in the world in this way: it is as though we were living in some small republic somewhere where a dictator has been in power for many years. Suddenly there is a popular uprising, and the dictator is overthrown. He leaves the country in a hurry, probably going to Switzerland to become reunited with his money! The new revolutionary government has taken over the presidential palace but the new and victorious leader ...

11. Who Are Christians?

James 5:13-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and had a layover in Detroit. Now, airports are not among my favorite places. But, when I have some time in them, I usually find me a quiet place, if one is available, and work. I get all sorts of stares from people who see me with my micro-dictator pressed close to my lips. Occasionally, some curious soul will take a stance nearby to see if they can hear what I'm whispering into that little gadget. I think some less sophisticated, may sometimes think I'm a C.I.A. agent, or at least an airport security ...

12. A Strange Kind of King

John 18:28-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... of that day. Mussolini had been in power for three years. Adolf Hitler had been out of jail only a year, and was finding great popular support for his fledgling Nazi party. The pope had the audacity to declare, despite dictators, that Christ was King, reminding Christians where their ultimate loyalty lay! (1) I wish more of them had listened. Christ the King. Let’s begin with a radical idea. Our first allegiance is to Christ. That shouldn’t be a radical idea, I suppose, but in today’s world it ...

13. Panic Room

John 20:19-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... by the newfangled electricity installed in the White House they didn’t dare touch the switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when the Harrisons went to bed, they slept with them on. (3) It is said that the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin so feared for his safety that his residence in Moscow contained eight bedrooms. Each night Stalin chose a bedroom at random to sleep in to ensure that no one knew exactly where he was located. Dr. Phillip McGraw, popularly known as Dr. Phil ...

14. Yes!

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and directives of the world. When we lay down our hammer of negativity toward God, we will get nailed by the world, and its demand for conformism, and its brand loyalties. Of course, some of the world's dictates and directives we can say yes to are part of our cultural context. Here's a shocker statistic I read recently: our federal regulations number more than 71,000 pages. That's 71,000 pages of laws and regulations, things telling us as citizens what not to do. How did ...

15. Afraid No More

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... makes you a slave again to fear.” I want to begin by asking you what is it that you are afraid of? Everyone is afraid of something. Saddam Hussein was one of the truly oppressive dictators of our time. Many people lived in fear of him. So, perhaps it is fitting that, according to reports from some of his aides, the dictator’s own life was ruled by fear. He moved from place to place, always in secret, for fear of assassination. He rarely enjoyed a full night’s sleep. All his food was tested for poison ...

16. The Climb

Joshua 14:6-15

Sermon

James Merritt

... wilderness for forty years. Caleb had to suffer for the disobedience and the disbelief of the other people. He could have grown very bitter and you couldn't have really blamed him if he had. He did not let his attitude be dictated by his circumstances. He let his attitude be dictated by the promises of God. You may have every right to complain, because of where you work or where you go to school. Maybe you have a mean boss. Maybe you have back-biting employees. Maybe you have short sighted executives. Maybe ...

17. The Shared Life of the People of God

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... forbid that I should glory except in the cross Of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation (Gal. 6:11—15). Ordinarily Paul dictated his letters to a scribe, then added his signature. But in the Galatians letter he does more. At least from verse 11 on were written in his own hand. How are we to picture this? Did he take the pen in hand to add a personal greeting, a ...

18. What Power Has He?

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , no money and no knowledge. It forced me down into a deeper part of myself. The result was a team of people that would walk through walls together. Through servant leadership we formed a successful team, built a thriving company." When it comes to business, are you a dictator? Around your house do you roar like a raging lion? The world has taught you to be tough; will you let Christ make you tender? The real test of power is how you let it go. Like you, I watched the news reports of the capture of Saddam ...

19. It’s God’s Will?

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... to ask, what happened to the sovereign plan of God where there are no accidents? Warren writes out of the Arminian branch of the Reformation. In many ways, Warren's book is great. But here, Luther teaches just the opposite. Not every detail of our daily lives is dictated by God or a part of his divine plan. We live in a fallen world in which planes are flown into towers, wars rage on for years, children are struck by cars, and, yes, Harold, sometimes eleven-year-old boys have to grow up without a mom. I ...

20. Get the Monkey off Your Back

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... way, the real way, the real truth and the real life. In today’s text Jesus did not pick the world’s fight. Rather, he revealed that for those who embrace their true humanity, the world is not a fight. The world is not the force that dictates our direction. There is a larger force, an all-encompassing spirit that is breathed into those who embrace the Way, instead of the humanzee way. Jesus came to show us the way of agape community, and how different agapeic community is from ape community. So, on the ...

21. Red, White and Pink

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with that awful shade of pink. What had been a sweet “pink-for-girls, blue-for-boys” baby-shower tradition has become a hide‑bound marketing mantra. Pink is a pre‑requisite for marketing success. Pink is an absolute requirement. Pink is the dictator of what is acceptable for selling to a certain segment of the economy. In short, pink is no longer a color. Pink is now a religion. Individuality and the rainbow of color possibilities are martyred to the iron law of “pink.” Unfortunately, what ...

22. The Most Dangerous Verse In the Bible

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... says it; I believe it; that settles it." After all, this is God's word we are talking about. As to why I call this verse dangerous, stay tuned. Just what did God's breathing or inspiring entail? Some folks want to say that God dictated the words themselves. The authors of the various books were nothing more than recording secretaries who faithfully reproduced what they had been instructed to put down. That is the position Muslims take regarding the Qu'ran, and that is why they insist that it be studied ...

23. No Substitutes

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... What we might call the “sociological norm” can be another. It is always interesting to read the advice columns in the newspaper. It is there that we find out what is fashionable in morality. Isn’t that how many of us set our standards nowadays? We let society dictate what is right and wrong for us. If 69% of married men confess to having extra-marital affairs then it must be all right. If everybody else’s mom is allowing their 14-year-old to see “R” rated movies, then we dare not go against the ...

24. Everything Must Go: Striking It Rich

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... us all some advice. I am going to challenge you to do the total opposite of what you’ve been doing all of your life. Choose a lifestyle that you can be comfortable with and that meets your needs. Don’t let your income dictate your lifestyle. Let your lifestyle dictate what you do with your income. If you don’t choose your lifestyle Madison Avenue will choose it for you. Why don’t you have a lifestyle that is biblically-based, eternally focused, and others oriented where enough is enough and all the ...

25. God's Most Welcome Gift

Isaiah 9:6-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... And, to tell you the truth, he did not act like a Messiah. We like our leaders to look like leaders and to talk like leaders. We want them to project strength and toughness. There was an article in Reader’s Digest years ago about a dictator that some of you will remember named Nicolae Ceausesou [chou-shes-koo]. For twenty-four years Ceausesou was the president of Romania and general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party. Things were not well in that troubled land during his reign. One reason was that ...

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