Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 79 results

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

Once I had a friend who was offended whenever the phrase "we are miserable sinners" was used in the corporate prayer of confession. She did not feel that she was a miserable sinner. And indeed she wasn't in comparison to most of the other people in the church. She was compassionate, kind, thoughtful, and a great teacher of little children in Sunday School. Nor did she "regard others with contempt"...

2. The Good, The Bad, And The Justified

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

The famous actor Gregory Peck was once standing in line with a friend, waiting for a table in a crowded Los Angeles restaurant. They had been waiting for some time, the diners seemed to be taking their time eating and new tables weren't opening up very fast. They weren't even that close to the front of the line. Peck's friend became impatient, and he said to Gregory Peck, "Why don't you tell the m...

3. Oh, Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble

Luke 18:9-14

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: To teach humility before God in prayer. Props: None. Lesson: Usually when we gather up here, we talk to one another about different things, but this morning I'd really like to pray, but I need you to help me. Would you help me pray? (response) Good, let's pray: As you pray fold your hands, look up to heaven, and pray in a prideful manner. "God, I thank you that I'm not like other b...

4. Oh, Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Johnny Dean

If you were to casually stroll to your mailbox tomorrow and find the following items there, which would you open first: a bill from J. C. Penney’s; an advertisement for life insurance; a catalog from Victoria’s Secret; or a brown envelope from the Internal Revenue Service? I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that you would probably open the brown envelope from the IRS first. And I imagine ...

5. The Cunning Craftsman, God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

In her play, "The Zeal of Thy House," Dorothy Sayers imagines a stonemason working on an intricate carving for the chancel of Canterbury Cathedral, who clumsily lets his tool slip and spoils the whole great piece of stone assigned to him. It is a sad moment as the valuable and custom-cut stone stands misshapen. The architect, however, takes the tool out of the artisan’s hand and although he remons...

6. Life's Two Pockets

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Every one of us needs to be reminded constantly of our smallness and our greatness. Some days everything goes right. Some days everything goes wrong. Some days it's "Good morning, God." Other days it's "Good God, it's morning." Every now and again, you wake up to sunshine and blue sky, your favorite shirt is clean, commuter traffic flows along like a river, the boss loves all your ideas at...

7. Luke 18:9-14

Luke 18:9-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Luke closes the central section of his gospel with the startling, but (at first glance) straightforward parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. There is, of course, considerable debate over whether all of this parable contains the exact words of Jesus. For example, verses 10-13 seem to reflect both genuine concerns of Jesus and accurate Lukan theology; in the opening and closing verses of t...

8. From Pride to Humility

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Our son Brad was a better-than-average high school football player. He played on a team that was always in contention for a state championship. His name or picture was often splashed on the Saturday morning sports page of the Lexington Leader. I've never believed kids learn much from fatherly lectures so, I always tried to communicate values through often repeated, pithy, little statements. E...

9. Luke 18: 9-14

Luke 18:9-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

We are all familiar with the axiom, “You are what you eat.” It is a declaration that assumes the choices we make about what we put into our mouths reveals something about the rest of the choices we make in our lives. The story told in today’s gospel text suggests that Jesus used a different indicator to examine the internal motivators guiding a life. Jesus’ example finds that prayer what people p...

10. Broken and Beautiful

Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

If I were to call you a "broken" person, you would probably resent it. But the Bible says that a certain kind of brokenness is essential if we are to be close to God. That late Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard could tickle the funny bone of almost anybody. But when he wrote about his father, he could make you cry. His father was a soldier, a veteran of World War II who returned to military duty i...

11. Two Parables about Prayer

Luke 18:9-14, Luke 18:1-8

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: We should pray with confidence that God will respond, but our confidence should be in God’s mercy, not in our own merits. Understanding the Text Parables have been a prominent feature in Luke’s narrative of the journey to Jerusalem, especially in chapters 14–16. The two parables in the present section, together with one further one in 19:11–27, will round out the collection before Jesu...

12. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Luke 18:9-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Again, it is hard to detect the relationship between the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector (18:9–14) and the preceding parable. Perhaps this parable illustrates the kind of faith (cf. 18:8) that God desires. Luke again begins the parable by making an editorial comment (18:9). This parable is addressed to the self-confident and self-righteous—those who look down on others with contemptuous ...

13. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Luke 18:9-14

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

18:9–14 With the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Luke’s Central Section draws to a close (with v. 15 Luke resumes following his Marcan source [at Mark 10:13]). This parable “makes a fitting finale for the Lucan Travel Account” (Fitzmyer, p. 1183), for it illustrates with graphic clarity what Luke sees as the correct attitude one should have before God. The Parable of the Pharisee a...

14. Prayer - What’s in It for You?

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

The Gospel Lesson for this day is the familiar story about the tax collector and the Pharisee. As usual Jesus uses a colorful juxtaposition to gain our attention. A tax collector, hated by many, reviled by most, and the so-called religious Pharisee. It is easy to visualize the scene. The Pharisee looks very religious. He wears religious garments. He sounds religious. He does religious things. He f...

15. The Weakest Link

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

I'm beginning a series of messages that I've always wanted to do on probably my favorite portions of Scripture in the Bible—the parables of Jesus. I'm entitling this series "Virtual Reality—God's Favorite Stories." Did you know that 1/3 of all of the things that Jesus taught, He taught with parables? Someone has defined a parable as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That is why I refer to...

16. Who Is Right

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

Two homes in one city, but in two totally different areas with two totally different residents. One home was situated in a very comfortable, gated neighborhood with a well-kept yard with flowers around the mailbox and a mat at the front of the door that said, “Welcome” in soft navy letters. Inside that home lives a minister with his family. At the front of the house are bay windows where the pasto...

17. Understanding Outrageous Grace

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Let me ask you a tough question this morning: how many of you have been accused of being a poor listener? Or should I call it “selective listener”? We hear what we want to hear. Most of us have been guilty of this at one time or another. Maybe we’re easily distracted. Publisher Thom Rainer has collected stories over the years from his pastor friends of some of the strangest distractions they’ve d...

18. The Freedom To Be Wrong

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

I want to begin with a situation that might happen to a young person. I hope that those of us who are older will think back to our youth and put ourselves into the same story. Let’s say you’re still living at home and going to school. On a Saturday night you take the family car. Let’s admit you’re an excellent driver and that you have the right to think of yourself as careful and prudent at the w...

19. An Encounter With Two Old Friends

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

We need to exercise our sensitivity today as we encounter two old friends, the Pharisee and the Publican. When I first learned this story in my childhood from the Bible storybook and when I told this story in the early years of ministry, the issue was already cut-and-dried. The righteous Pharisee became the scoundrel whom one loves to hate, while the Publican became the hero. Recently, however, i...

20. I ... Oh ... U

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

It all started with Ol’ Zeke in some prehistoric dinosaur patch, foraging for food, having things pretty much his own way, and feeling a bit superior when his ape family relatives dropped in to visit on weekends. Then we are told mythically that the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him." And by whatever early beginning story you subscrib...

21. The Gift Of Inadequacy

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Mark Twain once wrote about a fictitious sea captain named Stormfield. Stormfield receives a mighty surprise the day he marches into heaven. He is met by Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates. "I beg pardon," Captain Stormfield says to St. Peter, "You mustn't mind my reminding you and seeming to meddle, but hain't you forgot something?" St. Peter ponders for a moment and then shakes his head. "Forgot s...

22. The Problem With Keeping All The Rules

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Photographer Wendy Ewald travels around the world teaching children to use photography to express their thoughts and feelings. Take a child who is relatively powerless and give him a camera, and suddenly that child is empowered by the chance to express himself. Ewald recalls a little Indian boy named Pratap. When Ewald handed him a camera, Pratap began to shake all over. He explained that he was a...

23. Reflecting God’s Abundant Love

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Molly F. James

I lived for a portion of my childhood in Bath, Maine. There are many notable things about this small city on the Kennebec River, but is perhaps best known for its ships. In the late 1800s and early 1900s it was full of shipyards that built all kinds of wooden sailing vessels. Now it has just one shipyard, Bath Iron Works, which is a huge facility that builds destroyers and frigates for the US Navy...

24. Humility in Repentance

Luke 18:9-14

Bulletin Aid

Carl Hoefler

Call to Worship Pastor: God calls us to live a life of righteousness; but at the same time, he wants us to be honest in the confession of our sins. People: It is too easy for us to be silent about our sins, and remind God of the good things we have done. Pastor: God is pleased with our righteousness. But he also knows about our sinfulness, and wants us to repent with true humility. People: May God...

25. The Trap of Self-Righteousness

Luke 18:9-14

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call to Worship Leader: We gather in Your house, Lord, humbly and with prayerful hearts. People: For each of us has gone astray in our own way before God. Leader: Yet in Christ each of us is lovingly welcomed in God's house. People: Then let us not judge each other; instead let us extend God's grace. Leader: For in God's grace alone are we made clean, that none should boast. All: Blessed be the na...

Showing 1 to 25 of 79 results