Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 1 to 25 of 4968 results

1. The Disciples' Grief Will Turn to Joy

John 16:17-33, John 16:5-16

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... from their Lord. For them, Jesus prays “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (17:21). Chapter 16 affords yet one more clue about the prayer in chapter 17: It is to be Jesus’ last prayer for his disciples, not only because he is leaving the world, but because his return to the Father makes possible for the believer a new relationship to God in prayer. To pray to the Father in Jesus’ name (vv. 23, 24, 26) is to have direct access to the Father. Jesus will not ...

2. Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

John 13:1-17, John 13:18-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... day, servants might wash the feet of their master on his return from a journey, a wife might wash her husband’s feet, or students the feet of their teacher, but not the other way around. Peter’s address to Jesus as Lord (v. 6), while customary among individual disciples in this Gospel (cf., e.g., 6:68; 11:21, 27, 32, 39; 13:36, 37; 14:5, 8, 22), has a special aptness here in accenting the incongruity of the situation. Why a Lord or master should act out the servant’s role toward those who are actually ...

3. The World Hates the Disciples

John 15:18--16:4

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... is thrown away and withers; such branches are … burned (v. 6). a’ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (vv. 7–8). The point of the sentence as a whole is that when branches remain with the vine they bear fruit, and when they do not they die. Clearly, a and a’ are promises, while b and b’ are warnings or threats. In b the negative point is made ...

4. Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:1-5, John 17:6-19, John 17:20-26

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... of the world. This is clearly seen in the prayer’s conclusion (vv. 24–26). In verse 24, petition gives way to a straightforward declaration of intent: I want those you have given me to be with me where I am (cf. 12:26; 14:3). Jesus desires for his disciples a vision of his own glory, the glory you have given me … before the creation of the world (cf. v. 5). The glory that Jesus and his loved ones share is rooted in the Father’s love for Jesus; it antedates the world and will outlast the world (v. 24 ...

5. Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:6-19

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe … none has been lost (v. 12; cf. 6:39, 10:28).… I have given them your word and the world has hated them (v. 14). At every point, Jesus’ past activity undergirds his future-directed request: He kept the disciples safe (v. 12), and now he asks the Father to keep them safe when he is gone (vv. 11, 15); he gave them God’s message (v. 14), and now he asks the Father to sanctify them by the truth; your word [i.e., “your message”] is truth (v. 17 ...

6. The Disciples’ Insufficient Faith to Heal as Jesus Heals

Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 17:24-27

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... comfortable leaving the work of ministry to the “professionals.” Yet participation in the kingdom ministry of Jesus is the job description of all who follow him. So we can encourage people with a text like this one, since it shows that the first disciples struggled to trust Jesus to empower them for ministry and also shows Jesus promising power for ministry to his followers. 2. Jesus continues to affirm that his death and resurrection are necessary for his mission and for the divine plan to be fulfilled ...

7. Jesus, Peter, and the Beloved Disciple

John 21:15-25

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 18, 25–27) is a special case that must now be dealt with. The three denials must be canceled by three affirmations. In addressing Peter each time as Simon son of John (vv. 15, 16, 17), Jesus speaks to him as if he were no longer (or not yet!) a disciple, for he goes back to the name Peter had when he and Jesus first met (cf. 1:42). The framework for the set of questions is the principle, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (14:15). Jesus had said: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them ...

8. Jesus' First Disciples

John 1:35-42, John 1:43-51

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... with leaving one’s past life to “follow” Jesus (cf. Mark 1:16–20) and comes to completion either in “following” him at last to a martyr’s death or “remaining” faithful to him in a life of loving obedience (cf. John 21:19–23). If the two disciples spent the rest of Day Three with Jesus, the events of verses 40–42 must be taking place on Day Four. Yet The next day is not announced until v. 43. Why? The narrator apparently does not want the call of Simon Peter (verses 40–42) to detract ...

9. The Next Two Days: The Call of the Disciples

John 1:43-51, John 1:35-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

10. The Disciples Confess Jesus as the Messiah

Matthew 16:1-4, Matthew 16:5-12, Matthew 16:13-20

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... 35) and the promise of authority for Peter and the Twelve (16:18–20; see 18:18; 28:18–20). Yet the placement of this confession immediately before Jesus’ first passion prediction (16:21) and Peter’s subsequent rebuke (16:22) indicates that Peter and the other disciples do not understand the kind of Messiah Jesus has come to be. In 16:21–28:20 Matthew will make clear the nature and destiny of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah. Interpretive Insights 16:1 tested him by asking him to show them a sign from ...

11. Monologues: Disciples Redeemed

John 20:10-18, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Drama

Raymond I. Keffer

... other plans for me. "I received many revelations from God which I put into a book for mankind to read and to study. When the jealous ruler died, I returned to Ephesus where I lived a long life and died a natural death. My life was blessed like no other disciple's life, which is why I am referred to as John the Beloved." Judas (Optional) "I am Judas. I was once one of them, but I refused to listen to what Jesus was teaching us. I betrayed Jesus because I did not listen. I was selfish, greedy, and spiteful. I ...

12. True Disciples

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... It doesn't matter whether or not your hands go UP, DOWN, FORWARD, or BACKWARD when you sing. What matters is if your hands go OUT to others when you stop singing. Worship experiences should lead to changed lives. Worship experiences transform believers into disciples, and disciples are God's means for transforming the world. The church has too many true believers. To believe that Jesus is the Son of God isn't enough. The Devil's a believer. The Bible says the demons believe...and tremble. Many of the church ...

13. Jesus Appears to the Disciples

Luke 24:36-49

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... Rom. 10:20 and his use of Ps. 18:49; Deut. 32:43; Ps. 117:1; and Isa. 11:10 in Rom. 15:9–12. Verses 48–49 are brief summaries of what will be more fully treated in Acts 1:6–2:4. In v. 48 Jesus tells his disciples that they are witnesses of these things (see Acts 1:8). They are witnesses of his entire public ministry, his passion, and now, most importantly, his resurrection. But the idea of being witnesses is not a passive one. They are to become proclaimers of repentance and forgiveness of sins ...

14. Academics, Fanatics, and Other Disciples

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... bedrooms at home are full of magazines and books. My wife shudders each time we pass a bookstore! And yet, for all my love of the life of the mind, Jesus' call for discipleship is more than a call for scholarship. Jesus did not command his disciples to be just thinkers, but to be lovers -- and loving is an activity more inclusive than thinking. Just think of the devastation and destruction brought upon the world by great thinkers who were not great lovers. We now are challenged to use our great thinking to ...

15. Paper Flowers and Disciples

Matthew 28:16-20

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... . [Take one of the children and pretend you are wrestling him into a position of submission. As you wrestle him ask him repeatedly to give in and become a disciple.] That is one way to make a disciple. Do you think this is the way Jesus meant for the apostles to make disciples? [Let them answer.] Do you know any other ways to make people disciples? I know how to make a flower out of paper. [Take your pattern and a pair of scissors and cut out a flower.] If I can make a flower with scissors, maybe I can ...

16. Make Disciples

Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... But for many it seems that there never is a suitably convenient place to unpack them all. Being a Christian in this kind of a "packed-value" (not "value-packed"!) postmodern culture challenges the church to be intentional about nurturing fully commissioned disciples in its midst. Our money-crazed world is still full of "sheep" people wandering aimlessly, following anything or anyone that seems to be moving no matter what the direction or destination. Without a sturdy, guiding set of values to shepherd them ...

17. The First Disciples

Luke 5:1-11

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... of a growing number of people publicly associated with Jesus (5:33; 6:17), of whom the Twelve will be only a select few chosen to be his closest associates (6:13). From here on this will be the story not of Jesus alone but of Jesus and his disciples, and he will very seldom be seen apart from their company until he is taken from them in Gethsemane. Even where they are not specifically mentioned, their presence is assumed. At the end of the book it will be to this group that the continuation of Jesus’s ...

18. Behold The Man Who Trained Disciples

Luke 10:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... the idea in mind. We simply do not know all Jesus may have said to his followers. We have in the New Testament only a small part of what he said over three years. But we can assume Jesus put a great deal of time into training all of his disciples. As Jesus was moving toward Jerusalem he planned to stop in several towns along the way. He had been in those towns before, but now he prepared the seventy to go on ahead and announce that he was coming that way. He told the seventy that the harvest was great ...

19. If You Are A Disciple of Jesus Christ

Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:12-16

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... prayed all night? I'm afraid that if I tried, I would fare no better than Peter, James and John who kept dozing off. Verses 13 through 16 tell us that Jesus chose twelve to be with him constantly. We usually refer to those twelve as the disciples, but he actually designated them to be apostles. The word "apostle" comes from the Greek "apostolos" and means "someone who is sent out." The first thing that strikes you about the twelve whom Jesus chose is how ordinary they were. None of them was educated, famous ...

20. The Commissioning of the Disciples

Luke 24:50-53, Luke 24:36-49

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... . 24:51 he left them and was taken up into heaven. This is a bald summary of what Luke will describe more fully in Acts 1:9–11 (and has already anticipated in 9:51). The visible relocation of Jesus’s body makes it clear to the disciples that this is the end of his physical presence on earth. There is a partial parallel in Elijah’s departure in 2 Kings 2:10–12, leaving Elisha to continue his ministry, though nothing there corresponds to the death-resurrection-ascension sequence here. 24:53 they ...

21. Being a True Disciple

John 8:31-36

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... and wash the blood off your hands, slap a bandage on it, and go out and hit another thousand golf balls! That's what it takes to hit a golf ball like me. (Jerry D. Butcher, "Just Do It!" Clergy Journal, February 1993, p. 11) Becoming a disciple will also cost us something. A few years ago someone promoted one of those fast-track evangelism programs designed to win the world to Christ quickly and easily. It involved putting a bumper sticker on your car that read "I Found It." Supposedly a person's interest ...

22. The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

John 4:27-38, John 4:1-26, John 4:39-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... v. 14) is about to begin. For sower and reaper alike, it is a moment of joy (v. 36). (2) One sows and another reaps. Jesus transforms a traditional saying on the inequity and futility of human life (cf. Eccles. 2:18–21) into a word of promise to the disciples: They are to benefit from the labor of others for they are sent to reap a harvest they have not planted (v. 38). But in Jesus’ application of these proverbs who is the sower and who is the reaper? And who are the others mentioned in verse 38? Verse ...

23. Generic Christians Or Disciples?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... Rock was a stone Jesus stumbled over. Jesus told Peter his thoughts were not from God but man. Then Jesus told Peter, "Get behind me." It sounds as if Jesus is saying, "Get lost, Peter!" He is not. Instead, Jesus is once again calling Peter to be his disciple. "Get behind me," was a call for Peter to assume his proper place following Jesus. THAT'S A CALL JESUS STILL ISSUES TODAY. That's the first thing we need to see. Jesus says to us, "Get behind me. Follow me." Tony Campolo was preaching in West Virginia ...

24. Lifelong Disciples

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

James McCormick

... before God to give an account of our lives, He will ask but one question. He will ask, “Well, what did you do with it?” What did you do with it? Did you die before you got around to growing up? Or did you become a committed, mature, growing, adult disciple? I know what I want to be able to say! Prayer: Loving Father, we are grateful that You have created us with such great potential for growth, and that, each day, You call us to come to You, to learn from You, and to stretch out to become the persons ...

25. Doing What Disciples Do

John 15:12-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... game. If worship were a matter of rest, we could stay home and sleep. But, worship is a meeting with God. It is the place where God and people get together. The longer I lead worship, the more I am convinced that if I am going to be a faithful disciple, I have to find ways and means to be consistent and persistent at worship. You cannot be a vital Christian if you do not find ways to be involved in worship. Worship is the heartbeat of faithful discipleship. It was the middle of the day when Jesus first met ...

Showing results