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 897 results

1. Yes, But He Started It!

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... concern is the relationship, then you don't mind being the one who takes the first step in seeking reconciliation. That's true not only in marriage but in the church, in the workplace, with your neighbors, wherever relationships matter. Jesus says to us, "Take the INITIATIVE." "If your brother sins against you," said Jesus, "go and show him his fault just between the two of you, if he listens to you, you will have won your brother over . . . ." Gary Parker was in his first full time pastorate in Warrenton ...

2. A Breeze In The Dark

John 3:1-21

Sermon

William G. Carter

... are frightening. As the Gospel of John puts it, "This is the fundamental crisis of the world: that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light" (3:19). What does that mean? It means that, like Nicodemus, if we take the initiative, if we move closer to Jesus, if we move closer toward the Light, the longer our doubting shadows may fall. For another thing, when all is said and done, the life Jesus comes to bring, the life of the Eternal One, finally does not depend on ...

3. Imagine a World

Matthew 18:10-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... work out. After you have tried, go get two more people from the church and take them, too. If that doesn't work, take the whole church. And if that doesn't work, then you can let it go. But the point is, try to do something. The point is, take the initiative. Just as God has sought you out before you repented, so you should seek out those from whom you are estranged. Don't sit back in self-righteousness because you are right and they are wrong. Don't sit back in smugness because you haven't done what they ...

4. Remembering the Name of God John W. Cobb

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

... by them throughout their subsequent history. The setting for this lesson of religious history for Israel was the sheep pasture of Midian. The human medium was the refugee Moses. Israel’s first lesson as a people in dire need is that God takes the initiative in deliverance. About all this enslaved people could do was to cry out for help. That they did, but otherwise the story of their misery in bondage was replete with the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. Yet God saw and heard their groaning ...

5. Starting Over

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... of as an externally dictated regimen. What is necessary is for a new form of relationship to begin, one in which Israel will love with the heart and know with the heart and experience intimacy with God from the heart. It will require that God take the initiative, and it will demand that mercy trump judgment in order to bring home the bride. When will this all take place? On the “Day of the Lord,” of course. Still, only from our New Testament perspective do we understand two things that Jeremiah could ...

6. Taking the First Step

Luke 6:27-38

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... that we treat everyone else. Amen, amen. As children of the kingdom, we are not to take our cue from the world whether it be friend or foe. We are to take our cue from our loving Heavenly Father, and it is out of his love and graciousness that we take the initiative and respond to life. He says in verses 37-38 that the child of the kingdom is not to judge or condemn. That's God's business. As his children, we are to give and forgive. Maybe the old Negro-spiritual prayer says it best: "You can talk about me ...

7. From Russia With Love

Acts 3:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... members are there to volunteer to serve -- and we were there. It was an amazing thing. These people, sixty, seventy, eighty years old have never been served in their life. Never been served in their life. And what expressions would come on their face when you would take the initiative and shake hands with them and greet them even though they didn't understand you. I sat two of them down, went and got some trays, went and got their food and came to serve them. They get a bowl of rice, a bowl of hot soup ...

8. The Three Stages to Truth: A Biblical Philosophy of Education

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for truth," to "listening for truth," to "embodying truth." 1. Searching for truth is represented by the question "What is going on?" On the Emmaus Road and in Jerusalem the search for truth begins with a "learning situation" - a teacher taking the initiative with students (Jesus approached them, not vice versa), challenging them with questions about "these things" or current events. On the Emmaus Road part of the "these things" was a dismissal of the resurrection as an "idle tale" of chattering women ...

9. The Offense of Grace

Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... puzzling words from Matthew were offered as guidelines for healthy assertive behavior. You see, to love our enemy is to take charge of the situation, to refrain from just reacting as a victim of their behavior. To love our enemy is to change the situation, to take the initiative to relate to our victimizers in a new way - literally to take the power out of their hands and to put it in ours in a positive way. To love the enemy does not mean to like the enemy. Instead it means to understand them as human ...

10. Center Stage

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... . Mary's pregnancy is of the Holy Spirit. That is far too mysterious a matter for us to speak of it in much detail. We cannot probe too deeply into the biology of this pregnancy. We cannot even discover what Mary thought about bearing this child. God takes the initiative in this narrative. God takes so much initiative that we even wonder whether Mary felt overwhelmed. We would never say that God did not care about Mary's needs. Yet, here might be a case where God's purposes were larger than the needs of one ...

11. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... his relationship with God. Judaism warns we must obey the law. Hinduism persuades us to meditate, diet, and squelch passions. Islam bids us give alms to the poor, pray five times daily, and fight Allah's holy wars. "Do something!" religion bids. "Take the initiative. Reach out!" The other sort of religion is "reactive," and Christianity is its only representative. This sort of faith says there is nothing I can do to restore my relationship with God. Only God himself is capable of doing such. In Jesus ...

12. Blood Sprinkled On A Modern Altar

Exodus 24:3-8, Mark 14:12-16, 22-26, Hebrews 9:11-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... open the door at the sound of God’s knocking. In this instance one of the ways God came knocking was through the concern of Ruthie, Treena’s maid. That is not unusual. God will use whatever tool is at hand to speak to us. God is proactive. God takes the initiative. God comes to us before we ever go to God. (2) This brings us to another truth. Our sin does not cancel out the covenant. That is what the cross is about. We do not have to be perfect to enjoy a covenant relationship with God. A sacrifice has ...

13. Surviving the Big One

Matthew 18:10-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... someone hurts you, offends you, or sins against you, you don’t think about it. You don’t pray about it and you don’t talk about it. You go to that person personally and tell them. II. Be Willing To Confront Privately Why should we be the ones to take the initiative to fix something we haven’t broken? If we are the ones that got hurt, why should we wait on the one who hurt us to come and make things right? To put this in context, before Jesus talked about a family He talked about a flock. “What do ...

14. A Remedy For Anger

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... to her. (5) Sometimes it happens that way with a fairy tale ending. Usually, though, reconciliation is hard work. Reconciliation cost Jesus his life. Surely you and I can seek to be reconciled with those who has done us wrong. But someone has to take the initiative, just as God took the initiative with us. Isn't it time for you to be reconciled? 1. Anthony Campolo,Seven Deadly Sins (Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1987). 2. Studs Terkel, Race (New York: The New Press, 1992), pp. 20-22. 3. Pulpit Resource ...

15. Refuse To Be A Victim

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

James Garrett

... in Christ Jesus. There is a quality of dignity and worth and value we must not deny. A victim but refuse to be a victim! You can always take the initiative. You can take control of your life. Do not reciprocate; do not let those who would victimize you determine your behavior, said Jesus. You take charge of your life and its situation by taking the initiative in loving, caring and giving. When someone does you wrong, it’s his problem. When you return wrong for wrong, then you have a problem. When we are ...

16. Being More than Civil

1 Corinthians 1:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... else there. He says, "To get to heaven, according to the New Testament, all we need to do is cry `Help,' and God welcomes anyone home who asks for help, for grace." In fact, the stories of Jesus, especially the parables of Jesus, say that God takes the initiative in offering us grace. That was the most astonishing thing about Christian preaching. Not only does it say that grace given to us is unmerited, it says that God has taken the initiative to offer it to us. Did you ever notice this? The service ...

17. Where's Your Spirit?

Acts 19:1-7

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... that something happens long before she reaches sixteen. To define baptism as "covenant" means that it is a promise of forgiveness to each one of us, before we have sinned. That is what is so wonderful about infant baptism, it illustrates dramatically that God takes the initiative in offering grace. God's forgiveness is not based on something that we do, not on our repentance. God's grace is given to us freely. Before we shape up, God has promised that he will forgive us and never stop loving us, and ...

18. The Agony and Ecstasy of Sight

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... to his suffering. This detail is important for two reasons. First, we find here a situation in which Christ acted without being asked to help. The blind man does not cry out in this story as did Bartimaeus, "Lord, have mercy upon me." It is Christ who takes the initiative and comes to him. This would suggest we be careful not to establish rigid patterns and programs of how God acts in every case. On one occasion our Lord says, "Ask and it shall be given unto you." That is true; but it is also true that ...

19. The Heart of the Reformation

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... way of bringing reconciliation, of healing rifts, of making peace. When a rift has occurred in human relations, each party waits for the other to make the first move toward reconciliation, and the rift only gets deeper. If it is to be healed, the one or the other must take the initiative, go half-way and then more than half-way. What God has done is to go all the way in freely given uncalculating love to heal the rift of our sin and to draw us to himself. It is a mistake to think that I must do something to ...

20. Step Nine - Discipline

Mt 5:21-26 · Eph 4:25-32 · Num 5:5-10

Sermon

John A. Terry

... is to blame. But Jesus urges us to go to the one from whom we are estranged without having to decide who is right or who is wrong. My neighbor may have something against me that I am quite justified in believing is not my fault. I can still take the initiative to get things right. This is a message about religion and reconciliation. What if you are in church, and there start to think of the one with whom you are in conflict? It was the custom then to offer various gifts at the temple, from bulls and cows ...

21. If Only We Would Be Open To The Spirit ...

Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... my belief in God’s Spirit, I also affirm the necessity of responding to God’s presence. His Spirit is surrounding me, ready to instruct, guide, command, encourage, comfort, and inspire me, but I have to decide to acknowledge and answer to it. God takes the initiative, but the response is up to me. John Killinger, in Bread For The Wilderness, Wine For The Journey, tells of a friend who kept a diary of her prayer life. She became convinced that she needed to be more disciplined in meditation and prayer ...

22. No Box Seats In The Kingdom

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

William G. Carter

... . We hear them beg for power, and shake our heads in disbelief. Perhaps it shocks us to see such blatant self-promotion within the ranks of Christ's disciples. Outside the church, these attitudes are present every day. The world out there encourages us to take the initiative, climb the ladder, and push to the front of the line. "Blessed are the aggressive," says our culture, "for they will get what they want." If that means pulling the boss aside and making a private pitch, then that is what must be done ...

23. The Dynamic Word

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... begins to play in his own clumsy way the role of God in his own life. The dynamic Word addresses man in this very condition. The God who speaks is the living God, the God who acts, the God who seeks man even when man does not seek him. He takes the initiative. He confronts man with his judgment and his grace. Before him we need not pretend to be something we are not and can never be. He knows us as we are. He encompasses us in the midst of our alienation from him to establish a personal relationship with us ...

24. The Waiting Place

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

William L. Self

... of God that is current in the late twentieth century. We have seen God as some mountain to be explored or an argument to be understood -- something for us to control. Only a few of us think of a believer as one who waits for God. In the Bible God takes the initiative at a time when it seems like we can only wait. We must wait, as Israel waited in exile. It is like a mother carrying a child in her womb; she waits for the baby to be born. It is like parents waiting for a teenager to become an adult ...

25. Bad News, Good News

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... us so that God may show us the way. Christ comes to the two disciples. They do not recognize him, but it is he who takes the initiative. He walks with them and interprets Scripture for them. We need to hear this word about the Christ who comes to us. Often we think ... just as he came to those two disciples on the road to Emmaeus even though we may not recognize him. He takes the initiative. He knocks on the door. When the two disciples arrived at Emmaeus, they were so enraptured with their new friend whose ...

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