Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: disciple, evangelist, the 12, the twelve, son of Zebedee, fisherman, incarnation, word became flesh, I Am sayings, apostle, sons of thunder, eternal life, darkness and light, eyewitness

Showing 1251 to 1275 of 1347 results

1251. God's Bouncer or God's Ambassador?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... to do—to enlarge our spiritual family. What is the central teaching of Jesus’ life, the central teaching of the Bible itself? It’s John 3:16, isn’t it? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall ... t help but celebrate. Let’s look again at the final verse in our Bible passage for today, Acts 11 verse 18: “When they heard this,”—they referring to the Jewish believers—“they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, ...

1252. A Day of Passion, Praise and Prophesying

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... of heaven . . .” (6) And that’s exactly what Pentecost is meant to be: a little preview of heaven. In Revelation 7, John is given a vision of what heaven will actually look like. In verse 9, he says he sees a “great multitude that no ... work and an outbreak of praise to God. And the final blessing of Pentecost is a call to prophesy. Notice what Peter says in verses 17-18 when he quotes the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will ...

1253. The Power Of The Resurrection

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... afraid; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; I was dead and see, I am alive forever and ever... (vv.17-18) No doubt about it. It was the exalted heavenly Christ that we and the writer of Revelation encounter. Next Christ uttered the punch line: ... ... 9 of the chapter we consider today where it seems that sin and evil still have their way in the world. Somehow John (the man to whom tradition ascribes the authorship of Revelation) and our Lord felt that the people to whom Revelation was addressed ...

1254. A Life-changing Question

John 9:1-41

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... amazing story of a man who hijacked an elementary school bus in South Carolina and took the bus driver, a bus monitor, and 18 school children hostage. This sounds like a frightening, even tragic, story. But I call it an amazing story because the kidnapper gave ... Copenhaver, in his book Jesus is the Question, notes that Jesus asked 307 questions in the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But he himself only answered three questions directly. (5) This is one of those three. And it’s not at all what ...

1255. Why the Cross?

Hebrews 2:17-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18 NIV). These verses are profound and mean a great deal to millions of Christians. However, the atonement is also what turns many ... and resurrection, we see it confirmed in the New Testament: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8 NIV). What happened on the cross 2,000 years ago? Jesus faced the wrath of evil “head on,” as Corey puts it, and ...

1256. When the Way Is Hard

Matthew 26:14-27:66

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... temple of God and to build it in three days” (verse 61). This was no blasphemy against the temple, for Jesus had been speaking of his body as the temple of God that would be destroyed by his death, and then rebuilt—resurrected—in three days (John 2:18-22). Those who passed by as Jesus hung on the cross clearly understood that he had been referring to his own body, for they taunted him, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!” (verse 40). The religious leaders ...

1257. Mind Your Manners

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... to do. I'm supposed to be an expert on the Bible, theology, things like that, not good manners. My models are Martin Luther, John Wesley, Billy Graham, not Emily Post Or Amy Vanderbilt. What was I to do? Can you imagine my delighted surprise when I found that ... found throughout the Gospels. Matthew: "Whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:4), "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matt. 23:12). And where would be ...

1258. Imperfect Pastors

Exodus 32:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... Bible and realized that much of the theology his family embraced did not align with the teachings of Jesus. He recalls the day he studied John 5—Jesus’ healing of a man at Bethesda—that completely refuted his family’s teaching about healing. He writes, “I wept bitterly over my participation ... a claw machine after he climbed in to get a prize at a North Carolina amusement park,” April 18, 2023, by The Associated Press. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-trapped-claw-machine-climbing-get-prize ...

1259. Fox in the Henhouse

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of his protection. They do not know Herod as he does. Now we must remember too that this same Herod had killed Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist three years earlier. Now he’s told by some of the Pharisees that Herod has a mark on Jesus’ own head as ... B. Gowler, “The Contexts of Jesus’ Parables,” Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University (2006): 11-18, https://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ifl.web.baylor.edu/sites/g/files/ecbvkj771/files/2023-02/ ...

1260. The Dishonest Manager

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Richard Hasler

When Robert Rubin (who eventually became treasury secretary of the United States) as a high school senior applied to Princeton and Harvard he received a rejection letter from Princeton but he was accepted at Harvard. He had hoped to go to Princeton. Four years later Rubin sent a letter to the Director of Admissions at Princeton saying: “You ought to be interested to know what happened to one of the people you rejected … I graduated from Harvard summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.” Later, Rubin received a ...

1261. Evangelism Jesus' Style

John 1:29-42

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Brendon Gill, a New York theater critic wrote an article in the New Yorker magazine in which he was bemoaning the way all the Broadway musicals are miked and amplified. He said that in great old theaters where actors had spoken and sung with ease for fifty years, audiences are now obliged to listen to what he called a “totally phony sound.” He said that in an amplified world “the voice is never heard in its ordinary resonance ... it is pure tin” (James Harnish, “Like Father, like son,” June 19, 1983). ...

1262. More Than We Are

1 John 2:28--3:10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In Cabeza De Vaca’s account of his journey from Florida to the Pacific, between the years of. 1528 and 1536, he tells how the Indians came to him and his companion asking them to cure their sick. The two white men were themselves half-starved, lost and filled with blank despair. Yet, the Indians felt that they, being white men, had super-human power. De Vaca felt that they had no such power. “But we had to heal them or die,” he wrote. Now listen to De Vaca: “So we prayed for strength. We prayed on bended ...

1263. When a Person Is Called

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Galatians is the Magna Carta of evangelical Christianity. It is Paul’s great declaration of religious freedom a freedom that involves independence from men and dependence on God. Today, I’ll be sharing with you in three sessions a series of sermons on Galatians, this landmark profession of Paul’s Christian experience. I will not be doing a verse by verse exposition, but will “preach through’ the book, concentrating on the major themes an on those signal passages that are the heart and soul of Paul’s ...

1264. He Pitched His Tent Among Us

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

What is the central fact of Christianity - the very heart of this faith which we celebrate today? What is the wonder of wonders in this all-wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ? What would you venture to suggest as the heart and soul of this faith that has changed the course of human history, the face of civilization, and the personal lives of innumerable souls? Think! Is it “the fatherhood of God” which Jesus himself stressed so forcefully? Is it the gracious movement of the Holy Spirit making real the living ...

1265. A Gallery of Mirrors

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere I read of an art show that featured a unique introduction. The entry area of the gallery featured what appeared at first to be four paintings. Actually the paintings were on mirrors and as you looked at each of them, it was your mirrored image that became dominant. It was an imaginative statement about the nature of art. It was an invitation to enter the paintings —— not to remain aloof to an indifferent viewer, but to identify. I want us to look at our scripture lesson today as a gallery of ...

1266. Baptized in Water

Mark 10:35-45, Psalm 104:1-35

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

For the past month in our gospel readings, Jesus has been making his way to Jerusalem. He has been preparing his disciples for what awaited him there. They have rebuked him, been afraid to ask what he meant, and squabbled over who would have positions of leadership in his movement after he left them. Mixed in with his instruction and preparation to his disciples are stories of Jesus healing people seized with demons, disputing with the Pharisees, and lifting up the needs of children and “little ones,” ...

1267. Living While You Wait

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There were two fellows who lived and breathed baseball. They were professional players with the Atlanta Braves and you would think that playing for a living would be enough. But not so – these guys breathed, ate, and slept baseball. More than teammates, they were very close friends. So, they talked with each other about that mattered most in their lives. One of their big concerns was whether there would be baseball in heaven. They loved baseball so much that they were not sure at all they wanted to spend ...

1268. Being and Doing as the People of God

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

One of the most single television presentations during this decade, I believe, was the television series based on Alex Haley’s best-selling book, Roots. Millions of people read the book, and millions more saw the television drama. It was a moving presentation of a two-century epic of Kunta Kinte and the six generations who came after him. You will recall that Kunta Kinte was the great-great-great-great-great grandfather of Alex Haley, the author. If you did not read the book, you may have missed one of the ...

1269. Assurance: The Privilage of All Believers

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

One of my favorite writers is Loren Eiseley. He is an anthropologist and naturalist who can blend scientific knowledge and imaginative vision, and record his findings with the perception of a painter, the words of a poet, and the heart of a prophet. I share one of his stories in his own words, because the way he puts words together is powerful and inspiring. “The sound that awoke me was the outraged cries of the nestling’s parents, who flew helplessly in circles about the clearing. (A raven had raided ...

1270. The Church: The Dwelling Place of Wonder

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere along the way, I think I got it from one of my heroes, Bishop Gerald Kennedy, I connected a drama critic’s definition of the theater with an understanding of the church. “The theater,” said the critic, “is the dwelling place of wonder.” Isn’t that marvelous? “The theater is the dwelling place of wonder.” But it’s really a better definition of the church than it is the theater. Think about it: THE CHURCH IS THE DWELLING PLACE OF WONDER. How well that resonates with Paul’s word. Listen to it in our ...

1271. Discipline and Means of Grace

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

We move now to talk about discipline and means of grace. In my definition of Spiritual Form I chose words very carefully – Listen again: “and appropriating by commitment, discipline and action.” Our discipline is armed at cultivating an awareness of the indwelling Christ. Paul’s words to the Romans make it clear. Listen to Paul in Rom. 12:1-2: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your ...

1272. The Essence of the Gospel

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I don’t know how It Is with you, but I can recall occasions when a text of scripture grabbed my imagination, gripped my mind, burrowed its way into my soul, and became a part of my being. In many instances, I can relive the setting when that happened, and it energizes my life. Our scripture for this is such a case. It was Senior Recognition Day at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, 1958. From the time I answered the call to preach as a seventeen- year-old country boy in Mississippi, I’ve always ...

1273. When You Have Everything You Need, Except What You Need (Managing Money)

Luke 12:22-34, Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In New England, there is the grave of an old Yankee skinflint. While he was alive, he offered his future heirs their legacy in advance if they would give him 12 ½% interest on it. When he died, they put this epitapth on his tombstone: Here lies old 12 percent The more he saved, the less he spent The less he spent, the more he saved Oh Lord, can Ichabod be saved? Now that’s a good question, and we could preach a sermon on that. You remember Jesus said on one occasion that it was as difficult for a rich man ...

1274. Lord, Is It I?

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A few weeks ago, I told a story about Alexander Whyte, the great Scot Presbyterian preacher. Once an evangelist came to Edinburgh, and to enliven his preaching, he began criticizing the local ministers, among them Dr. Whyte. A man who heard the criticisms came the next day to Dr. Whyte. “The Evangelist said that Dr. Hood Wilson... was not a converted man,” he told Dr. Whyte. The great preacher rose from his chair in anger. “The rascal!” “The rascal! Dr. Wilson was not a converted man!” The visitor was ...

1275. Love without Limits

John 13:31-38

Sermon

John K. Bergland

The eloquent preacher Tom Long tells the story of a small church-related college that held an annual event called Christian Emphasis Week. It was the task of the Christian club on campus to invite a speaker who would come and lead a college revival. This particular year they invited a preacher who had come highly recommended. They were told of his dynamism and his unique way of communicating the gospel. The first night of the revival the chapel was filled with the faithful. There were no "animal house" ...

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