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 325 results

1. Resolutions for a New Year

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... has given to use in the name of Jesus Christ. Speaking of Jesus, that leads us to the final note of Paul's greeting to the church: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:3). We have come up with resolutions concerning grace and peace and God. What do we resolve about the Lord Jesus? Perhaps we get a clue from how often Paul refers to Jesus in these few verses at the beginning of his letter — in the opening ten verses, the name appears ten times. That's a ...

2. The Resolution to End All Resolutions

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Remember that while Jesus started out in the temple, he then obediently followed Joseph and Mary back out into the world. We cannot be a part of transforming the world unless we stand in its midst. That is the trouble with our traditional New Year's resolutions they never step outside the confines of our own self-centered existence. What if instead of resolving to lose 10 pounds this year, you resolved to eat according to a diet that could sustain the whole world? What if instead of resolving to get more ...

3. God's Resolutions

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the New Year, not lumbering or loitering their way into it. Italians (again, somewhat in character) throw dishes and pots out their windows for good luck in the New Year. What if Christians were to celebrate the New Year by letting God make the resolutions, both about your past and your future: With regard to your past: God resolves to forgive your sins, blot out your transgressions, and help you accept your acceptance and embrace the memory of the past with gratitude and grace. With regard to your future ...

4. New Year's Resolutions

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

James L. Killen

... avoid condemnation. It always offers a better possibility, another chance. Jesus seemed to be always calling people to make new year's resolutions. As we look to find the risen Christ, the living God, at work to save in our lives, we may find that ... us and for us is the very best life that we can have. It will get for us the thing that we hoped all of our other resolutions could get. It will not be easy. But it will be truly good and ultimately profoundly happy. We don't have to wait until the last judgment ...

5. Three Great Resolutions for the New Year

Psalm 118:1-29

Sermon

James W. Moore

... the right words to say as we step out into a New Year? It’s such an important time, a significant time, a time “of new beginnings.” So, as I look for the right words for the moment, let me give you one great verse of scripture and three great resolutions to carry with you into the New Year. The Scripture verse is one of my favorites in all of the Bible: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” What a great verse of Scripture and what a great philosophy to live ...

6. A New Year’s Resolution

Ephesians 4:25 -5:2

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... for Christians. In the For Better Or Worse comic strip, the family is sitting around the breakfast table as Dad says, "Here we are in a brand new year. I think we should all make some resolutions, don't you?" Mother responds, "Okay. I resolve not to criticize, to nag less, and bake more often." The family cheers: "Right on. Neat! Yeah!" Then Dad says, "I resolve not to lose my temper, and to fix all the things in the house that need repairs." The family says, " ...

7. Conflict Resolution (Series: Fundamentals of Family)

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... not get along with Esau. King Saul tried to kill David. St. Paul wanted nothing to do with his former traveling companion Mark. The letters of the New Testament are full of advice on resolving difficulties. So, I want to offer some thoughts today about conflict resolution. This is not a seven point plan for resolving all differences. It is a few hints from life about getting along with one another. I. Be Factual As a kid, one of my favorite TV shows was Dragnet, where Sergeant Joe Friday regularly said to ...

8. One Thing

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

James Merritt

... does have plenty to say about how we can maximize every year He gives us to reach our God-given potential to be what we ought to be, do what we ought to do and become what we ought to become. Why do people fail in keeping New Year’s resolutions? Why is it so many of us come to the end of one year with the same baggage we carried in the year before? We come to the end of the year and we are no further along in our spiritual lives, our social lives, our physical lives, or our ...

9. God's Adopted Children

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... So this is the last day of the year. Another complete year gone by and what have I accomplished this year that I haven’t accomplished every other year? Nothing!” He smiles and thinks to himself, “How consistent can you get?” This year, if you’ve made resolutions, I trust that God will give you the grace to accomplish them. If not, I trust God will give you the grace to accept yourself as you are and, at least, to admire your consistency. Someone has offered this toast for a New Year for those of ...

10. You Bring Me Great Pleasure

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... powerful, heavenly parent would mean to our life. The absolute best thing we can ever know in life is that we have lived in such a way that it brings God great pleasure. But there is always a flip side. If you fail in your New Year’s resolutions what are the consequences? You lose five pounds instead of twenty. You still sneak a cigarette. You take the elevator instead of the stairs. Your closets aren’t cleaned out and you still don’t get your taxes done until April 14. It’s easy to appease yourself ...

11. Put on Some Clothes

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... meekness. In the face of frustration, find patience. Instead of standing in judgment against others, find the seeds of forgiveness. We cannot make these changes. We cannot bring about these adaptations in human nature just by saying so or posting so. New Year’s Resolutions don’t work because we’re still in charge. Becoming a new person within this new reality of a living Christ means opening up to the power and presence of the Prince of Peace. It means allowing Christ to transform and transfigure your ...

12. The Agony And The Ecstasy Of The Family

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." -- Mark 3:31-35 Jesus brought potential resolution to the confrontation with his brothers and sisters by redefining the family. "My family members are those who do God's will," he said. To discover what Jesus meant by God's will, we have to look at another difficult verse in our story which at first seems ...

13. A Great And Wonderful New Year

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... board. As the teachers gathered around the bulletin board, a great commotion started. One of the teachers was complaining. "Why weren't my resolutions posted?" She was throwing such a temper tantrum that the principal hurried to his office to see if he had overlooked her resolutions. Sure enough, he had mislaid them on his desk. As he read her resolutions he was astounded. This teacher's first resolution was not to let little things upset her in the New Year. (1) I don't know how you are doing on your ...

14. The Guiding Light for a New Year

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... new year. Don't shrink back from the coming year. Don't hide in the shadows. Walk boldly. Arise, Shine! NOTICE HOW THESE WORDS CALL TO US ON A PERSONAL LEVEL. How we think about this new year speaks far more loudly than any resolutions we might make. Do we dread the coming year? Are we fearful, apprehensive? Dr. Viktor Frankl gained fame for his books chronicling his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The humiliation, beatings, tortures, lack of sanitary conditions, and lack of ...

15. Living By The Calendar Instead Of The Clock (New Year's)

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... 5, those fiery words that attracted us to ministry in the first place." He had awakened to how far his call to ministry had been buried under the need to make budgets and committees work in parish life. Looking at failed resolutions that failed can be sad. Looking at life resolutions can be a glad occasion. Robert Frost wrote poetry which rang a bell with many paths we have all taken, especially when he spoke of taking the "road less traveled" which has "made all the difference." How glad is the moment ...

16. Light For A New Year

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... 1996: I will follow my new diet religiously until I get below 200. 1997: I will try to develop a realistic attitude about my weight. Resolution #4 1994: I will go to church every Sunday. 1995: I will go to church as often as possible. 1996: I will set aside time ... is it they say about the road paved with good intentions? I hope you are more successful with your New Year's resolutions. Author Nell Mohney tells about a friend of hers who is consistently positive and upbeat. This woman's outlook is so ...

17. The Defining Moment (A Sermon for New Year's)

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... medal in the Olympics. (2) The coming of the new year forces us to face the question: what will be my priorities this year? That's a question that Simeon, the central figure in today's Bible passage, didn't have to ask himself. His New Year's resolution was the same every year: to wait for the Messiah. Years ago author J .C. Ryle wrote these words (and please, feel free to substitute the word woman where you feel it is appropriate): "A zealous man in religion," writes Ryle, "is pre-eminently a man of one ...

18. Congratulations, You've Made the Team

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

Fredrick R. Harm

... blindness and disappointed in love, wrote a prayer in which he asks that he might accept the pace of life, which at times is troubling, "not with dumb resignation, but with holy joy; not only with the absence of murmur, but with a song of praise." Only a Christ-motivated "resolution" can enable a person to do that. And isn't it also true that we soon discover that we not only have a pace to keep but also a pace-maker who keeps us! Christ himself is our companion in the race. His is a presence that is real ...

19. Holy Habits

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... need more teachers and substitute teachers. Could God be calling you to add your name to that list? I hope so. HERE IS SUGGESTION NUMBER 4 FOR HOLY HABITS IN 2007—I WILL CONTROL MY TONGUE. Of course, we mean with God’s help. One of my New Year’s resolutions is that I will not make any comment about a bad golf shot that I would not want the Lord to overhear. Several weeks ago we conducted the funeral for one of the great saints of Christ Church, D.A. Noel. As I listened to people talk about D.A ...

20. Fine Tuning

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , the art of fine tuning if you will. He calls upon the members of the faith community to try to resolve discordant relationship issues, first singly, then in tandem with others––to bring someone who is “out of tune” or “dissonant” back into a place of resolution. If it can’t be done no matter how many “voices” sing together in harmony along with the dissonant voice, urging him or her to focus attention on God and the mission of the church, then let it go, and let God take it from there ...

21. This Feels Like Where I Came In

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

... the Cuban Missile Crisis forty years ago, I pray that we won't have to play the hand we've laid on the table. But if we do, I find moral breathing space on page 61 of the United Methodist Church's Book of Resolutions (2000 edition) which reads: Some of us believe that war, and other acts of violence, are never acceptable to Christians. But we also acknowledge that most Christians regretfully realize that when peaceful alternatives fail, the force of arms may be preferable to unchecked aggression, tyranny ...

22. New Beginnings

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... you gained between Thanksgiving and Christmas, or if you’re planning on joining a health club, or if you’re going to run five miles a day. Five miles, by the way, is my total aggregate of a lifetime of running. The late Erma Bombeck made some memorable resolutions over the years: 1. I will go to no doctor whose office plants have died. 2. I’m going to follow my husband’s suggestion to put a little excitement into my life by living within our budget. 3. I’m going to apply for a hardship scholarship ...

23. Adopted! Thank God!

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... the nature of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. How about you? Are you there yet? Or are you still on the outside looking in? Do you understand what God has done for you? Do you understand how much God loves you? Are you ready to go beyond resolutions this New Year to a revolution a new life, a new purpose, a new identity as one who belongs to God? 1. Parables, Etc., January, 1987, p. 4. Cited in Robert J. Morgan, Preacher’s Sourcebook Creative Sermon Illustrations (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007), pp ...

24. Our Scheduled Appointments with God

Hebrews 10:19-39

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... have at least one appointment with the Almighty each week, right here at Christ Church. For the sake of your eternal soul, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, do not neglect your regular appointments with God. I want to challenge you to make to New Year’s resolutions today. The first is this: I WILL BE FAITHFUL TO A SMALL GROUP IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH. This could be a Sunday school class or a Bible study group. Why be part of a small group? Notice our scripture for the morning. Christians are urged to ...

25. Doing Battle with Demons

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... parents and churches to use moral persuasion to keep children from smoking. But speaker after speaker told personal stories of the health problems created by tobacco. One commissioner, who served on the Assembly Committee on National Issues which had first considered the resolution, said her father had died a number of years ago of lung disease caused by smoking and, with her voice breaking, told the Assembly her mother had died of the same ailment just the previous day while the committee was debating the ...

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