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 45 results

1. Whispers From A Dream

Daniel 7:1-14, Daniel 7:15-28

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... food laws. Everything that bore the mark of traditional Judaism was uprooted -- gone. As Tishra held her son, tears she had been trying to hold back finally began to run down her face. She was thinking now of the crowning blow of the king's evil edict. The "madman" had even prevented her from having her son circumcised! Her son was not permitted to receive the mark of the people's covenant with God. This evil king had indeed taken everything from them! The anguish welled up within Tishra. Her silent tears ...

2. In The Lion's Den

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... they recommended was that no one be allowed to pray to any god or man other than to King Darius for the next thirty days, and anyone caught violating that order would be thrown into the lions’ den." They urged the king to put this edict in writing so that it could not be altered or withdrawn. Old King Darius, his ego over-stimulated, issued the decree. Daniel’s custom was to pray three times a day in an upstairs room with windows opened toward Jerusalem. Do you think Daniel changed his habit because ...

3. A Law We Can Live With

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... of conduct from the Almighty -- signs of grace rather than series of guidelines. Indeed, it could be argued that the Commandments can only be understood in the context of unmerited salvation. Or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer once suggested, you will get the real flavor of these edicts, if before each one you simply repeat the opening words: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery ... therefore you shall ...."4 It is because of who Yahweh is and what Yahweh ...

4. Good News for Exiles

Psalm 137:1-9, 2 Chronicles 36:15-23, Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

... exile. Well, that’s the contrast you need to begin to understand Gospel. The Good News is that when you find yourself in exile, God makes ready His move. Just as surely as Babylon was for the Hebrews God’s instrument of Law, the Edict of Cyrus was God’s instrument of grace. The Persians under Cyrus pursued a much more enlightened policy than that of the Babylonians. The Persians built their more advanced empire on the progressive principle of pluralism. They were willing to respect, instead of stifle ...

5. Suffering for Christ

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... goes back to the mid-winter of A.D. 320. This account tells how a new ruler of the Roman Empire gave this edict: "No more Christians in the imperial Court. No more meetings in churches, or anywhere else except in the open air outside city walls ... they made in their gleaming bronze and polished leather! In command was the Captain, a seasoned veteran, who on receiving the edict against the Christians, assembled the troops and read out the instructions. "Men of the Twelfth Legion," he shouted, "you have shown ...

6. A Miracle Child

Exodus 2:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the more that is here is here to teach you and me, all of us, about faith and commitment. Moses’ mother hid him for three months; now you can’t keep a child hidden very long; but she was able to keep him hidden for three months, bravely opposing the edicts of the king. And when the writer of the book of Hebrews set up that great gallery of faith in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, and hung in that gallery all the people of sacred history who were examples of faith, he included the mother and father of Moses ...

7. The Ark of the Covenant

Exodus 25:10-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that all male children were to be killed. Something - and I think something even more than a natural mother’s love - some voice whispered in this mother’s heart that this child of hers, Moses, was especially to God. So, she risked everything, braved the royal edict, and hid her son away for three months. When the baby was too old to hide any longer - no doubt each day his lungs were stronger, and his infant cries more likely to attract attention - when she could no longer hide him, her faith caused her ...

8. Wimps or Water Walkers

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

King Duncan

... . A few years ago, at age 11, this girl named Malala began blogging for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She wanted to let the world know about life in Pakistan under the Taliban. In 2009 the Taliban issued an edict that banned education for all girls. This was offensive to Malala, and the edict became a featured target of her blog. And so, in October 2012, some misguided Taliban thugs boarded a school bus on which young Malala was riding and shot her in the head at point-blank range. The bullet ...

9. A Spooky Kind of Love

1 Samuel 28:1-25, Matthew 28:11-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Saul disguised himself and set out for Endor’s cave. After all, he could hardly let anyone see him contradicting his own edict. But that didn’t stop him from doing so himself if it suited his own ends. So Saul appeared in Endor and asked the woman ... there to “Bring up a spirit!” Ironically, the woman at first refuses. She is obeying Saul’s own edict better than he, and so she says to the stranger: “Saul has cut the spiritualists from the land! Why are you trying to ...

10. Flatliners

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... don't have a reason to laugh. When we laugh it is because we know the last word will be restoration. "Woe to you with a good reputation." Big deal. The false prophets had a good reputation. Is that really what you want? Be very careful, because even after these edicts are given by Jesus, He's still in a flatliner mode. He flattens us all out. He takes us all on the level. He puts every category on an even keel. Please hear this or you will miss the gospel message here. I have known in my life some very ...

11. Pentecost -- A Wild, Weird, Wonderful Day

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... were open on the God-ward side in a way that is almost unknown to us today. Look at the vitality of Pentecost. The greatest period of growth, expansion and moral influence of the Christian Church took place between Pentecost and the time of Constantine's Edict of Toleration in 311 A.D. that brought about the demise of the church resulting from the church's union with the Roman state and culture. The Holy Spirit And Change What a dramatic change came about at Pentecost, especially to the apostle Peter. We ...

12. Just In Time

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

... for his "fallen out of favor" queen. This young virgin is pleasing to the king and he brings her into his court. But there is a catch: one of the king's most trusted advisors has grown to hate the Jews and desires to have them destroyed. An edict has already gone out with the king's authority to eliminate the Jews from the provinces. How can this young queen speak on behalf of her people? Such an attempt most certainly will earn her the same fate as the last queen, possibly worse. Her uncle, Mordecai the ...

13. What Shall We Do With The New Wine?

Mark 2:18-22

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... in the wineskin, but in the wine. There is the tendency to confuse the wineskin with the new wine. When the church became an institution rather than a movement (this happened at the time of Constantine in the fourth century with his Edict of Toleration), it confused the message with the institution. Many turned their attention to protesting the interest of the institution rather than the proclamation of the good news. For many Christians the institution became primary and the message of the gospel became ...

14. The Spiritual Organ Of Corti

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... at what they had done swept over them. Their once deaf ears sensed a stirring. Emperor Honorius rose and left the coliseum. The people followed him. Abruptly the games were over. Honorius sensed the mood of the crowd. His ears too were opened. He issued an edict forbidding all future gladiatorial games. Honorius' ears had been opened to the violence and dehumanization of the games. As a result he was able to speak. So it was that in about the year A.D. 404, because one individual, filled with the love of ...

15. The Glorious Company

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... day throughout the Eastern Church, a feast day for all the saints of the church. In 835, Pope Gregory IV established November 1 as the feast day in the Western Church. After enduring nearly three centuries of periodic persecution until Constantine's Edict of Milan in 313, the church could name a long list of saints and martyrs of the faith, through whom the faithful found inspiration and models for faithfulness, and for whom a continuing hymn of thanksgiving was appropriate. The ancient Te Deum Laudamus ...

16. Making Christmas Last

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Brett Blair

... read. The events and characters are so familiar: Caesar Augustus and the census, Mary and Joseph’s delicate situation of a child outside of wedlock. A very pregnant Mary riding a donkey on a three days journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfill a government edict, The birth in the cattle cave because there was no lodging. The Shepherds who are keeping watch over their flocks by night. The Angels announcing to them the birth of Israel’s King. And then they begin to sing, Glory to God in the Highest ...

17. The Quality of Mercy

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

... able to pay could be put into prison or sold into slavery. So the king ordered this fellow sold, together with all members of his family. A terribly drastic measure, one might say. Yes, but, after all, this was a terribly large debt. Hearing the king's edict, the stricken debtor implored the king for mercy, pleading for his freedom and another chance. The king was so moved that he granted the man's request, forgiving him the entire debt - just wiping it off the books, all of it. Then as this forgiven fellow ...

18. Never Forgotten

Isaiah 49:8-26

Sermon

... , especially to her grandson Henry, the first Bourbon king of France. Henry had been raised a Protestant. Though he gave up his Protestantism to become king of France, he did not forget his origins or the strong influence of his grandmother. He issued the Edict of Nantes, assuring freedom of worship to Protestants in more than 3,000 castles in the realm, as well as full civil rights and admission to all schools, universities, and hospitals in the land. Henry was a Bourbon from Navarre. He remembered. He did ...

19. Is God Still God?

Isaiah 44:6-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer ..." The people’s Sovereign is also their Savior, the Redeemer. Indeed, he did deliver the Israelites from the bondage of Babylon through the rise of Cyrus, king of Persia, who, after defeating the Babylonians, gave an edict allowing the Jews to return to rebuild their city and temple. Later in the chapter from which our text is taken, we are told that Cyrus is God’s shepherd, his anointed one to fulfill his purpose of redeeming the Exiles. Here is an amazing ...

20. Separation of God and State?

Isaiah 44:24--45:25

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... also to bring salvation to a people. For fifty years, God’s people were slaves in Babylon. God gives Cyrus victory over the Babylonians and moves the heart of Cyrus to allow the Jews to go back to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. In 538 B.C., Cyrus gave this edict: "The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me the kingdom of the earth and has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up." In ...

21. A Dead Man in a Witch’s Cave

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... his own laws - for he had expressly forbidden the use of witches or sorcery (1 Samuel 28:3, 9) - he decided to consult a witch. Yes, Saul did the very thing which he had forbidden others to do. He knew witchcraft was wrong; he had issued his edicts against it. Yet, the very policy that he had prohibited, he now practiced. This should not surprise us. How often have you exempted yourself from something you knew you shouldn’t do? You know you shouldn’t drift through a stop-sign. You know you shouldn’t ...

22. When Ten Equals Two

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Larry Powell

... , was an unwritten code revered as a matter of social preservation, usually differing from tribe to tribe. Religion, it seemed, was little more than smoke from a self-kindled fire. If only there was some standard, some prescription from the cosmic vacuum, an edict from the fathomless silence. It is against this background that Sinai looms, not just as a mountain, but as something of a massive divine Rosetta Stone: "And God spoke all these words saying ..." And when the thunder and lightning had subsided and ...

23. Hard Choice

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... read a special proclamation issued by King Charles I. After a period in which the country had observed strict blue laws, the king issued a decree urging to people to return to participating in sports on Sunday. Most church leaders refused to read the edict. But to one congregation's amazement, their minister read the king's decree. But he followed the pronouncement with these words, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And he added, "Brethren, I have laid before you the commandment of your king and ...

24. A Church Shaped By The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... style. In his book, The Once and Future Church, Loren Mead describes three eras in church history. The Apostolic era of the Church began at Pentecost and was characterized by rapid growth amid hostility and persecution. It ended with the Edict of Milan in A.D.313 when Emperor Constantine “Christianized” the empire. This ushered in a period of seventeen centuries during which the Church existed within a culture generally friendly to Christianity. Mead calls this second era, “Christendom.” Today we ...

25. Where's the Fire?

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , like making bricks. During that time, the Pharaoh, who was the king, ordered that all male babies born to Jewish women that year were to be killed as a means of population control. There were too many immigrants into the country. Moses' mother, when she heard this edict, hid her baby, Moses, in the bulrushes along the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter came along, found the baby, took him into the palace, raised him as a prince of Egypt. In fact, she is the one who gave him his name. His name, "Moses," is not a ...

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