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 3022 results

1. For Christ’s Sake, What’s Going On?

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... play the role of double agent, then he’s got a fox inside the henhouse. If he can bring chaos to an entire believing congregation, he’s accomplished something! From the start, the Christian Church knew this could happen. Matthew’s Gospel in particular takes steps to anticipate community discord. In fact, the bulk of Matthew’s code of discipline for church life is packed into this text, in his eighteenth chapter. Taken out of context, without due regard for all of Scripture, and the call such as most ...

2. Super-Size Your Faith

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... them that even when they seem to be losing battles and skirmishes in the struggle against evil and injustice, the battle has already been won. Jesus won the victory over evil and death in his death and resurrection. We participate in that victory when he take steps and leaps of faith to join Jesus in his ongoing mission in the world. This old song would be a great way to conclude your sermon. Ira D. Sankey’s “Faith is the Victory” Encamped along the hills of light Ye Christian soldiers, rise And ...

3. Anger - Eleven Ways To Blow Up, Seven Ways To Cool Off

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

... right way -- that's not an easy thing to do at all.5 Theologians through the ages have suggested several ways to deal with anger. First, make an inventory of the things that make you angry. Identify those things or persons that make you angry, and then take steps to avoid them. Better yet, seek a way to be reconciled to them. Second, make a vow to yourself that the next time your blood starts to boil you won't blow up. Promise yourself that the next time you will stay cool and talk quietly and reasonably ...

4. The Ultimate Question

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... make his sacrifice all the more poignant."(1) TIME magazine said the film "wants to find a middle ground between irreverence and irrelevance, promising a Savior who laughs and emotes like the blue-collar rabble rouser he was in the New Testament. It takes steps toward greater realism, putting the political ferment of Christ's time in the foreground [and it does an outstanding job of that], but ends up a traditional, staid epic that is double-dipped in ham-fisted dramatics."(2) Well, quibble, quibble. To be ...

5. The Feast of Leviathan

Luke 24:36b-48

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... change, just as he has changed. Bottom line: Resurrection of the body matters. The vibrancy and life of the body...matters. The truth of Jesus’ bodily resurrection cannot be ignored by the disciples. Jesus is essentially “in their faces” with it. He takes step after step to prove that he remains with them, not as an ethereal ghost, but as their master and teacher “in the flesh.” And although in his manifestations, he seems to appear slightly different in appearance….in some cases, they don’t ...

6. A Big Fisherman · Peter

Mt 16:13-20 · Jn 1:35-42

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... his testimony so eloquently that three thousand of their number endorsed "the apostles' teaching and fellowship." (Acts 2:1-42) Stirring as this event was, however, Peter knew he could not let matters rest there. So he pressed on with his witness by taking steps to conserve the decisions of those who were joining the fellowship daily. (Acts 2:47) From personal experience the big fisherman was aware the converts could not be left to their own devices to grow in the faith. Moreover, had not the Master once ...

7. Let’s Face It

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... . That’s the finest guarantee of all that we will be prepared, whenever it may come. B. We Can Surrender in Advance There is a second way we can be ready for the end with which God will surprise us. Instead of clinging too tightly to this life, we can take steps now, when death does not seem to threaten us, to be prepared to lay down the life God gave us at any time. There is a danger that we become so enamored of this life, given us on loan, that we find it impossible to let it go, like Linus ...

8. Sonny Moneybags

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... close...just like Sonny. You see, those sins of the spirit do not amount to all that much in our eyes. If someone pushes dope, engages in prostitution, is a thief or a murderer, we and everyone else recognize the sin. Even the government recognizes it and takes steps to stop it. That is why we have courts and penitentiaries. But no one was ever arrested for stealing the laughter from a child's eyes with their angry words. No one ever went to jail for killing a marriage with constant bickering and ill temper ...

9. Enduring

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... Terror was at hand. Nicholas II, Czar of All the Russias, thought he was still living in the Middle Ages, and that, as Supreme Autocrat, he was an absolute ruler, even though it was early twentieth century. The British ambassador suggested that Nicholas take steps to restore the confidence of the Russian people in their Czar. Nicholas retorted that the Russian people needed to restore the Czar’s confidence in them. So it was that the revolution broke upon the head of a bewildered Nicholas, and he, along ...

10. What is Your Golden Calf?

Exodus 32:1-33:6, Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... has come to no good end. Look…either you’re on your way to file a missing person’s report. Or you suspect, he or she has started a new life with some other secret family. Or you come to terms with his or her absence and begin to take steps in a new direction. You begin grieving the loss and fearing the worst! Anyone see the movie “Cast Away”? He’s holding onto his past for dear life, because he’s feeling lost and alone. Meanwhile, she has decided he’s not coming back and has gone and married ...

11. Jesus - the Holiest Name

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

... . If he can get the certificate issued that way, he will argue that the city accepted the change from 1069 to Michael Jo Holtz, and this constitutes legal recognition of 1069 as his name. Needless to say, the city attorney has been apprised of the situation and is taking steps to block this latest move of Mr. Dengler to acquire a four digit number as a new name.20 No one opposed the name Jesus for the baby boy born to Mary and his earthly father, Joseph. Nor were there any questions like the ones asked of ...

12. Saved!

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... must I do to inherit eternal life?" Give him credit. When so many in both the first and the late twentieth centuries never bothered to inquire, much less bestir themselves, it is refreshing to behold someone who ponders things eternal, and takes steps toward finding an answer. As a pastor, I was often tempted to upbraid the congregation, the choir, the officials, or the Sunday school teachers for haphazard worship, lackadaisical teaching, failure to practice the anthem, or no enthusiasm in administering the ...

13. Connect the Dots

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... is just one tiny "dot" on an otherwise blank sheet of paper. Over the course of a lifetime, your paper becomes filled with dots. If every experience you had in life was registered as a dot, what kind of pattern would those dots begin to form? We need to take steps to help us make sure that every "dot," every response we make, reflects the living presence of Christ in our lives. If the church is the body of Christ, then each one of us is a "dot," a part of the composite image of Christ that the church ...

14. Don't Worry, Be Peaceful

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

Scott Bryte & Kimberly Miller van Driel

... forever; can be frustrating, scary, and almost painful. We really want to know. We need to know. If we knew what was coming, we would know what to do to be ready for it. We would know how to brace for it. If we knew what was coming, we could take steps to prevent the bad and encourage the good. If we knew what was coming, we could have some control over it. When we don’t know what will happen next, we are not in charge. We are not in control and we don’t like it. We need to know ...

15. You Have Been Subpoenaed!

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... witness for anyone within the sound of your voice. Profanity is a billboard-sized advertisement saying: "God doesn't mean much to me." If you engage in shady business deals, your Christian witness is tarnished for all persons aware of those deals, until you take steps to make it right. If you behave one way at church and a totally different way at home, you will have no significant Christian witness in your family. Now, I want to issue an Easter challenge. All the experts tell us that unchurched persons ...

16. When God Calls

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

... to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Galatians 1:15-17 Before Jeremiah can even ask the question, "What am I going to be when I grow up, Daddy?" God takes steps to equip and prepare him for the ministry of prophecy that he will be called to fulfill. God grants Jeremiah great insight into the human condition. God equips Jeremiah with great tenacity. God gifts Jeremiah with deep compassion - a willingness to truly suffer with ...

17. Respect: Lesson for Victorious Living

Ruth 4:1-12

Sermon

... of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople, in 1919, provided the key for the ecumenical movement as we know it today. The Orthodox churches are known for their nationalistic tendencies. This synod "officially decided to take steps to issue an invitation to all Christians to form a ‘league of churches’," according to W. A. Visser’t Hooft in his book, The Genesis and Formation of the World Council of Churches. The author further states, "Thus the Church of Constantinople ...

18. Step One - Honesty

Luke 8:26-39 · Proverbs 23:29-35

Sermon

John A. Terry

This past summer I read an article that caused me to make a significant change from my usual practice of preaching from the lectionary. The article, titled, "Coming to Grips with Drug Abuse," made the point that neither clergy nor parents need to be experts on drug dependency, though we do need to be well informed. We need to understand what it means to describe chemical dependency as a disease. Therefore I am going to talk about addiction for a time before I talk about today's Scripture readings. But what ...

19. Step Four - Courage

Mt 26:69-75 · Acts 9:1-9 · Ps 139:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. The psalmist talks of the God before whom such a searching and fearless moral inventory is both possible and necessary. Ours is a God who, in traditional language, is omniscience and omnipresent, a God who knows all and is everywhere. This Psalm is sometimes called the Psalm of the unavoidable God. We believe that before our God there are no secret thoughts or actions. All is known by our God. I remember hearing a lecture one time where ...

20. Step Two - Hope

Mk 10:46-52 · 2 Cor 12:7-10 · Is 12:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step two. "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." One word sometimes used to summarize this step is the word hope. We are going to look at today's texts as they relate to believing God restores us as we turn our lives over to that Power greater than ourselves. In the Old Testament reading, Isaiah sings a song of deliverance. The words might sound like a call for personal deliverance, but it is really a song for the deliverance of the nation and a call for a ...

21. Step Twelve - Responsibility

Lk 19:1-10 · Gal 6:1-10 · Is 61:1-4

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step 12: "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." This is not a step inward in our own journey of life and faith. It is a step outward which we take after we have recognized where God has led us in this journey. It is, in religious language, the call of the missionary. It is the call to share the good news. For some it is the good news found in sobriety. But it is a step for anyone caught ...

22. Step Ten - Perseverance

Lk 12:35-48 · 1 Cor 10:1-13 · Ps 15:1-5

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step ten: "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it." The 12 steps are a long journey, and the texts for today are ones that help us continue on the long journey. This passage from Corinthians is one I think should be a history teacher's delight. It is a mode of scriptural interpretation known as "typology." It is a form of historical study. This method sees events in the history of Israel as "types" of events like other events. Here the redemptive events in Israel' ...

23. Step Eleven - Spirituality

Mt 26:36-46 · 1 Thess 5:12-22 · Ps 25:1-15

Sermon

John A. Terry

This past week I had a new adventure. I did some plumbing work I had never done before. But I got out my handy homeowner's guide, and followed along step by step. It took longer than I thought it would. But at last it was almost complete. Close to the very end came the time when I put on the nuts and bolts that held it all together. As we reach toward the end of this series, we are approaching the step that tightens down and holds in place all the other work. The 11th step is: "Sought through prayer and ...

24. Step Six - Willingness

Jn 5:2-9a · Heb 4:14-16 · Is 1:12-20

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step six: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Here is Isaiah, whom we saw in last week's text being so awed by God's presence, so totally aware of his uncleanness before God. His was a majestic experience of worship. In this morning's text God speaks through Isaiah, questioning the validity of the people's worship. The local Chamber of Commerce recently came out with a listing of the best of Gwinnett. It listed the best pizza, the best athlete, the best country road. And ...

25. Step Nine - Discipline

Mt 5:21-26 · Eph 4:25-32 · Num 5:5-10

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step nine: "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others." In these passages of Scripture, we have rather specific advice. Let us look first at the Old Testament, the book of Numbers. The bulk of the Law is given in Exodus and Leviticus, and then again in Deuteronomy. This morning's passage is a law of restitution, a special case law, supplemental to Leviticus 6:1-7. It deals with restitution in the situation in which there is no kinsman, that is, no ...

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