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 4519 results

1. My dear friends, let us play.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... life for others through the many ministries of caring which the church and other organizations have to offer. On Ash Wednesday I have played with death, and death has no control over me. "Remember that you are dust." Dust that has been animated by the very breath ... about the doing of prayer and alms-giving as I am about the non-doing of the ashes! When we understand the ashes as play, they cease to be a big deal, as ashes. They merely are an annual reminder that the fasting life, the self-giving life, is ...

2. The Play's Playbook for the Game of Life

1 Peter 4:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Right: With 53 seconds left in the game, Stanford was down 17-19, stuck in their own backfield. It was fourth down, 17 yards to go. But miraculously the Stanford QB (anyone? . . . John Elway) rallied, got the first down, and Stanford marched down the field. In four plays they got to the 18 yard line. With eight seconds to go, the field goal kick was up . .. And good. Stanford had won the game, 20-19, and the crowds went crazy. Or had they? Only four seconds remained on the clock, so Stanford had to kick ...

3. Playing Church Or Playing Jesus

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... woolen mittens we used to wear. They kept the hands warm but you couldn't pick anything up when you had them on. Love for God may seem to warm our hearts, but it is not real unless it helps us to take hold of our neighbor's needs." Playing church or playing Jesus? I believe you see the difference. We are the temple of the living God. We are the body of Jesus Christ. We dare not let anything tear us asunder. But neither dare we stray from our central reason for being. That is to tell the world, in Jesus ...

4. Silly Putty, Play-Doh and Potter's Clay

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... to look at this morning because, we come to God to be reshaped. And we can come to God is three different ways, as: Silly Putty, Play-Doh or Potter's Clay. I. Silly Putty A. Remember Silly Putty? They still sell it. It was inducted into The National Toy Hall of Fame ... process. It doesn't bounce but in its pliable state it doesn't break either. And unlike Silly Putty it holds its. And unlike Play-doh, it not only holds its shape but it doesn't crack when it dries. You can preserve your creation. B. As you can ...

5. God's Playful Wisdom

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... . Then one Sunday two of the elders from different factions find themselves assigned to watch the first-and-second-grade room. They suggest to the children that they play a game together. One of the children says, "Let's play church." Another child says, "I want to play the good preacher." "That's no fair," said another, "you played the good preacher last time. Why don't you play the preacher who gets told to go away?" "I don't want to go away," said the first child. "I'll be the preacher to one group. You ...

6. Divine Liturgy, Divine Play, Divine Comedy

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Carl Jech

... real Jesus Christ is a mythic being in this sense. The simple "Jesus of history" always stands in a healthy, dynamic and creative tension with the symbolic "Christ of faith." The life of Jesus and the Divine Litury of the church give us many levels of meaning to play with. When John's Jesus says to the disciples, "Where I am going you cannot come," he is referring both to his going to death on the Cross and to his going into another dimension with God where there are "many mansions." It took time for these ...

7. How to Play Fair in Foul Play

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ignorant. His compassion for the people was always worn on his sleeve. Yet despite all this giving, all this sacrifice, all this love ... he was still driven to the cross. In this week's gospel text Jesus reveals that he is aware of the foul play he will experience at the hands of his own people - he will face "great suffering," he will "be rejected" by the most respected religious leaders, and he will ultimately "be killed" with the approval of those same leaders. In his lessons on discipleship Jesus tries ...

8. Playing One Hand

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... in the game is both a relief and occasion for celebration, and it would be nice if we could ponder this side of the image as a real gift of grace. Yet the other side of the image is important as well. While you only play one hand, you do play a significant role, one not to be discounted or underestimated in any way. The delight we take in assisting others, that act of encouraging another, and then faithfully standing by them through thick and thin and passing on to them the truths you have learned about ...

9. Equipped To Play

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... progressive evolution of equipment. A fellow said to a friend, "I got some new golf clubs for my wife." His friend remarked, "That's great! I wish I could make a trade like that." Again, I'm just kidding. But it's a tough game and it makes sense to play with the best equipment. History has taught there are always new and improved ways of doing things. If you think that's hooey or somehow alien to our ethic, you need to take another long look at our Lord's parable of the wineskins (see Matthew 9:17). Life is ...

10. Learn To Play Again

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... created you and me there was great joy in his heart. For example, do you think when God thought about creating a daisy, he just said, “Um, daisies be”? I don’t think so! Tony Campolo talks about the time when his grandson was just a little boy and would play on Campolo’s knee. He would bounce him up and down, lift him up into the air, and bring him down to the ground. Campolo said that every time he would do this his grandson would say, “Do it again, Pop! Do it again!” And Campolo would do it ...

11. Playing A Role Or Being A Truth

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the subtle sneaky important reason he was born to be a human being and not a chair.” That’s a powerful word of us, and this is the crux of it; we are not to be Norman Nothings. Our choice is whether we will chicken out on ourselves by playing a role or struggling with self integrity, being a truth. Paul spoke to this struggle as he wrote to the Romans, do not be conformed to this world. My favorite and the most graphic translation of that verse is in Phillips. Don’t let the world around you squeeze ...

12. A Level Playing Field for God

Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... of Isaiah's writing. I'm led to ask about what obstacles might get in God's way here and now? What might it mean for you and me to get up off the couch and help out with this preparing thing? What would it take to make a level playing field for God today? Prepare the way of the Lord! I wonder if forty million people without health insurance is a mountain or a valley? Prepare the way of the Lord! Do you think that one in ten children in the United States suffering from malnutrition represents a desert to ...

13. Play The Fool

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... passage for today, Paul puts it this way: "We are fools for the sake of Christ" (1 Corinthians 4:10). Do not his words imply that if we follow our Lord with deep commitment we will seem to be fools in the estimation of the world? And yet to play the fool is precisely what we are called to do. When we contemplate being fools for Christ's sake, the image that invariably comes to mind is "God's troubadour," Francis of Assisi. He stood against the wisdom of the medieval world. They could not understand why a ...

14. The Saint Who Played Second Fiddle

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... way. Andrew was the “kid brother.” Simon was aggressive, quick-thinking, swift on his feet, a leader. Andrew, on the other hand, was more inclined to be quiet and reserved. All of his life, Andrew had to take a back seat. He had to play “second fiddle” to his more famous and popular brother Simon. One of the professors at Boston University School of Theology some years back was Pat McConnell. He said that throughout his entire professional career he was always the victim of the double handshake. You ...

15. Playing Golf at Midnight

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... for money. How much?” Boswell said, “$1,000 per hole.” Hogan said, “That’s a lot. How many strokes do you want me to give you?” Boswell said, “No strokes. I’ll play you heads up.” Hogan said, “Charley, I can’t do it. What would people think of me taking advantage of a blind man?” Boswell smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Hogan, our tee time is tonight at midnight!” (1) Charley Boswell was a remarkable man. He did not let ...

16. Let's Play, Stump The Theologian!

John 16:5-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... Spirit. Wouldn't you agree that the Trinity is a confusing doctrine? Even the finest theologians find themselves at a loss to explain it satisfactorily. Some use the analogy of the masks worn by actors in the old Greek tragedies. One actor wearing many masks can play many parts. But it is still just one actor. Others have used the analogy of water. Under normal conditions, water, H2O, is a liquid, but freeze it and it becomes a solid. Heat it and it becomes steam. It is still H2O, whatever form it takes ...

17. Playing The Comparison Game

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... because I am generous?" You and I know the answer to that one: The workers would have been perfectly happy if they had not played the comparison game. They compared what they were paid with what the others were paid, and then they were dissatisfied. And that is true ... We are of infinite worth just as we are. So, don't worry about the Jones. They've got worries of their own. Quit playing the comparison game. There is nothing in it but heartache and failure. There will always be someone who has more, who can do ...

18. Playing Outside the Rules

Luke 6:27-38 · Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... if we already have all the answers? Yet, we humans love to claim God’s high, holy chair for our own, and declare we know the way God thinks, because surely Jesus thinks the way we do! Right? But, does he though? Jesus in our passage today is playing with a popular Jewish phrase called “midda k’nessed midda.” It translates “measure for measure.” It means that what you do will return to you in like fold. It’s the way Jewish thinking had been for thousands of years. An eye for an eye. A tooth for ...

19. Playing to the Right Audience

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

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... marries for the reward of love is a true lover. One scholar wrote, “The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but the activity itself in consummation.”15 The reward for years of practicing violin is the joy of playing a Beethoven sonata or a bluegrass tune in which you enter what is called the zone, a place of purity and ecstasy where you merge with the music. God will meet our needs, but our deepest need is for more of God. It is amazing how quickly things ...

20. Playing By A Different Set Of Rules

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... the grain of common sense, and certainly against the advice of most country agents: let the weeds grow! Leave the weeds alone for now, for in due time, they will be destroyed by the one who is in a better position to judge than are any of us. God plays by a different set of rules than our human standards and emotional zeal might prefer. Leave the weeds alone! But why? Why not purge society and our community of all the evils that surround us and make light of the ways of Christ? Is not the church supposed to ...

21. Born to Play Second Fiddle

Luke 1:57-66

Sermon

George Bass

... with God through this visitor; he would hardly have asked God for such a special son who, in the eyes of God, was marked for greatness in a role that was totally subservient to the mission of Jesus Christ in the world. He was born to play "second fiddle" to the savior. That was Gabriel’s message to Zechariah, and Zechariah affirmed that message at John’s circumcision: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge ...

22. Playing the Blame Game

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... always for wholeness and health. God’s will is for your needs to be met. That is why Christ healed this man. Healing is God’s will. This is so important for us to understand. If, when we are going through a time of extreme heartache and we insist on playing the blame game, we may be cutting ourselves off from the very power that can heal us. Notice how Christ heals this man. According to our lesson, he spits on the ground, makes some mud with the saliva, and puts it on the man’s eyes. Then he tells ...

23. Playing It Safe

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... dated? So I was thinking about cardinals the other day. In the cardinal world, it is more important to be attractive than safe. When it comes to evangelism — to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ — we Lutherans, like those of many mainline denominations, have been playing it safe for a long, long time. We wait for people to come to us... here, in church, and then we count on the pastor to proclaim the gospel. It’s dangerous to mention God, Jesus, the Spirit, or the church out in the world. Even ...

24. You Can Talk the Game, but Can You Play the Game?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Sermon

Will Willimon

... on those all-too-rare moments when the Panthers are actually doing well), when a gaggle of fellow human beings (rather large and beefy fellow human beings) get it all together, blend their individual talents and bend their wills into one, executing their plays with perfection. I had much the same feeling about the perfo1rr1ance of the Raleigh ballet. In a world of rampant permissiveness -- where we are accustomed to accepting sloppy work, as long as people mean well by it, where things are slapped together ...

25. Valuing Life Without Playing God

John 10:10-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

God likes life, He invented it. It is to the full-flowing, free life that He invites us. I have lived my life by that simple motto. Jesus put it even better in John 10:10 which is the text I want to linger on today. “I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly," or to the full, to the maximum. In our quest for Christian values, we must do some serious thinking about this thing called life. Who gives it? What's it worth? Who has the right to end it? Those are some of the questions I would ...

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