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 341 results

1. Something New, Something Old

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... Jesus, "(are) like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is ... old." They bring out an immature, childish (not childlike, childish) faith and find it wanting, and so they discard it rather than allow it to mature. Unfortunately, in some circles, including certain academic circles, this discarding of faith is mistaken as a sign of maturation. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the ...

2. Proper 14

Hebrews 11:1-40, Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Genesis 15:1-18, Luke 12:35-48

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... God's words. And sure enough, as Jeremiah watches the potter at work, the word of the Lord comes to him, telling him that God is working like the potter to shape his children into people who are worthy of his blessings. Just as the potter shatters and discards imperfect pieces of his work, so God will reject and destroy the people, if they are evil. But if they repent of their sins and return to him, God will have mercy, receive them, and bless them. He directs Jeremiah to speak to the people, tell them of ...

3. Invitation to a New Life-Style

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... begun to work on us. Our very affluence is turning out to be our undoing. We have built bigger and bigger machines to mass produce all kinds of articles for our comfort and luxury. Now we have so many things that we do not know what to do with the discards and left-overs. Therefore, one of the biggest headaches for us today is garbage disposal. For instance, I took a portable phonograph to the shop to have it fixed. The repairman said that it would cost as much to fix it as a new one would cost. I decided ...

4. The Remnant Year

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... up with one: "Look, this will do nicely." Then she goes to work, carefully squeezing the pattern to make a blouse or skirt. At last she comes to me, "Here, how do you like this?" She has claimed for herself a remnant that otherwise would have been discarded. From a near-nothing she moved first to a possibility and then to an actual article of clothing. That which would have lain on a counter and gathered dust not only adds to the income of the store owner, but also, out of this seemingly useless fragment ...

5. Total Commitment

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Richard Patt

... than to keep both eyes and be thrown into hell. (verses 43-47) Salt is good; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? (verse 5Oa) Obviously these appeals by Jesus are exaggerated. But they’re not meant to be entirely discarded. Their initial shock value is designed to force us to review where we stand in the matter of making and keeping the serious commitments of life. As we talk about this, remember that Jesus Christ can give us the power to do anything worthwhile and good. Today ...

6. Eyes To See, Ears To Hear

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

James McCormick

... -centered, living every moment for the self, especially in pursuit of pleasure for the self. He didn’t know how to love. Instead of loving people, he used them, especially women. He would use a woman and then discard her, use her and discard her. But then, in the movie, the tables were turned and Alfie was discarded by a woman. She rejected him in favor of a younger man. That was a new experience, and Alfie was totally unprepared for it. He was devastated! I don’t think I have ever seen a more graphic ...

7. Epiphany 5

Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... times the real salt would be so diluted in the mixture that what was left no longer seasoned food. It had the appearance of salt but had lost its saltiness. 4. "Thrown out." (v. 13) That which no longer had enough salt to season or preserve food was discarded. It no longer had the value it was intended to serve. 5. "Trampled under foot." (v. 13) What did you do with the residue that is no longer useful? You had to exercise care in disposing it. It might still have enough chemical reaction to spoil the land ...

8. Keeping God First in the Polls

John 3:1-21

Sermon

James Weekley

... other bars that had been drilled. The problem was that the other bars were drilled with a slight variation. The more he drilled the worse it became. At the end of the day his supervisor examined his work and found that over two hundred bars had to be discarded. They were not copied precisely from the original. The baton had not been passed. Through the life of Jesus, God gave us the example for living. Jesus was the unbroken mirror of God's compassion and caring. "In him was life, and the life was the light ...

9. A Sign Of Divine Protection

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... , for waste was not tolerated by God. 8. “If some is left, then burn it in the morning.” Waste is not tolerated, however, if some of the animal is left over, then the instruction to burn it in the morning is given. Incineration is being utilized to discard the remnants. No traces of the food should be left. Eat it or burn it. 9. “Eat with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand.” This directive for divine protection highlights the need to eat while ...

10. Echoes of Eternity

Matthew 10:24-32

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... make things as inexpensive, impermanent and short-lived as possible, with oftimes only a fake appearance of being attractive and usable - an appearance which all too often disappears and is gone. Now the sad thing, the eternally sad thing about this discardableness is not primarily that our highways and roadsides are littered and unsightly, that our beaches and resort areas are checkered with styrofoam cups, plasticware and tin cans, nor that our closets and garages are cluttered and disorderly, or that our ...

11. At the Door of the Church

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I once heard a young mother say that her child was using that simple little prayer now but she hoped that when he grew older he would discard it for something better, more original, more exciting. "Something more exciting!" I retorted! Then I told her the story of John Rogers, the author of that simple prayer. The prayer grew out of a life deeply dedicated to Christ. Because of his preaching of Protestant doctrine in ...

12. Leave Your Stuff Behind

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Be specific now, in identifying and visualizing all the stuff in your mind to put into that bag. Now stay with me in your imagination. Get in your mind the picture with which be began the sermon – the junk man with his cart filled with cast off clothing, discarded furniture, all sorts of abandoned useless things. Do you see it in your mind? He’s passing by. In your imagination now, throw your trash bag onto the junk wagon and let it be taken away. Have you done it? In your imagination, just cast it onto ...

13. Dirty Laundry or Angels?

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... location of what's found in the tomb two beings dressed in white. Like the laundry piles the disciples saw, these angels are placed one at the head, one at the foot, of where Jesus' body had rested. In the exact place where the disciples saw only discarded cloth, Mary sees instead heavenly messengers! But does Mary get it? The angels, with whom she seems utterly unimpressed, ask her "Woman, why are you weeping?" If Mary were tuned in to what was now before her eyes, instead of to the pain that was in her ...

14. A New Vision

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... old tires. Some of these homes, which are donated to local residents, are attractive enough to be featured in architectural magazines. These students learn to see value in refuse, and to turn that refuse into something beautiful and lasting. (1) Some people look at discarded car windows and see trash. Others see building materials. The difference is vision. What do you see? How you look at your world and how you look at yourself will determine to a great extent what you will contribute to the world and how ...

15. Letting Go and New Beginnings

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... . Next, he examined the briefcase. It was stuffed with various causes and concerns -- issues and initiatives that had inflamed his spirit and impassioned his actions. Now, for some reason, these things seemed less important. The overstuffed briefcase was, thus, placed with the other discarded items. Now this not-so-young hiker felt more youthful as well as taller! He then examined the rest of the baggage and realized that most of it was no longer needed, save for a small backpack which he removed from the ...

16. John 20:1-18

John 20:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... his resurrection rendition to Mary Magdalene. As though the other disciples had never been there, she continues to stand outside the tomb, weeping in despair. When finally she too gets up enough nerve to glance within the empty hole, we are not told whether the discarded grave clothes and shrouds are still lying about on the floor. Instead there is now new evidence, apparently sent as Mary's personal alarm clock: "two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the ...

17. John 20:1-18

John 20:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

18. Small Saves

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... it. How much smaller, or crumbier, could the kingdom of God have started? First with a tiny baby, born in a tiny town, in a tiny country. Then Jesus stayed a small-town boy almost all his adult life, calling a ridiculously small band of discards to disciple and disperse the biggest, most revolutionary news the world had ever received. Jesus knew that small inputs could have massive consequences. A child’s sharing of a few tidbits of bread and fish enabled Jesus to feed five thousand hungry people. And not ...

19. Song of the Vineyard

Isaiah 5:1-7

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... for the outcast, and pluralism yields an "anything goes" attitude (so long as it's not offensive to someone). What is God to do with such produce? The commonsense answer is, "Pitch it!" Here is the amazing part: God doesn't. God doesn't discard us even though we try to discard one another. God refuses to burn the field and start anew, at least not yet. The protective wall still stands, and we are protected from our enemies and the world's raging chaos that threatens to undo us. We have to ask, "Why not ...

20. So, Explain It to Me

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... was my father's name), whatever you do tomorrow, don't preach on the Trinity! You will put us all to sleep." We feel obligated to confess the Trinity. We would feel very strange not talking about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We don't want to discard it from our worship life. But few us know why it is important. Few of us would ever want our pastor to preach on the Trinity. It seems like the ultimate invitation to at least confusion if not total boredom. Instead we spend our energy trying to explain ...

21. Possessions and Choice in the New Kingdom Community

Mark 10:17-31

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... 1 Tim. 6:9–10). An idol is anything that we worship more than God, and in that sense the idolatry of wealth (= materialism) is the preeminent sin in our culture today. When such idolatry occurs (as it does with the rich man), it must be completely discarded (as in 9:43–47). Jesus intended this principle for his disciples too, as verses 23–31 make clear. Sometimes we say that we do not “love” our possessions, that we only “enjoy” them (for nearly all of us, this is a lie). The answer is simple ...

22. Widows and Their Worries: Back to Bethlehem

Ruth 1:1-22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... . This syncretism (fusing two or more originally different beliefs into one) so dominant at the time the story unfolds is something Ruth chooses not to embrace. Ruth does what few Israelites are able to do, embrace and fully commit to Yahwistic religion yet discard all opposing religious alliances. In a very real sense, Ruth clings to the Lord by clinging to Naomi. Because her actions stand in stark contrast to those of the typical Israelite in this regard, at numerous and even awkward times in the story ...

23. In Remembrance

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... anything that was not. His home telephone number simply fell in the latter category. (1) Einstein was not only brilliant, he was wise. There are some things that must be remembered; there are other things that fall into the category of clutter and can be discarded. Our lessons for this Maundy Thursday celebration are about two events that were not to be forgotten. The first is the Jewish Passover. You know the story. The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt. Moses spoke to the Pharaoh in the name of God ...

24. The True Story Wins

Matthew 28:11-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... happened next went against everything they imagined possible in the real world. When an earthquake shook the ground as the angel rolled away the stone, they witnessed that too, and they began to shake also. When they saw the discarded wrappings, they were shocked and their worldview began to be discarded as well. They knew the missing body should have been there inside the tomb with rigor mortis setting in. Yet it was gone--and their bodies trembled with the rigor mortis of fear as well. What they witnessed ...

25. The Stone is My Witness

Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... they endure, these stories continue to bear life within them through generation to generation. Stones make the best witnesses. The angel in our resurrection story today rolls away the stone from the seal of the tomb with rolling thunder. But the angel does not discard that stone, or hurl it into the heavens, or smash it to smithereens. The angel sits upon it. That stone is now a witness to an incredible story. That stone reveals that something spectacular has happened that God needs the guards, and the ...

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