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 226 to 250 of 1225 results

226. The Door of Hospitality

John 12:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... him to worship with them at Montreat Presbyterian Church the following Sunday. “I had been out of prison less than forty-eight hours and there I sat next to Ruth Graham as she announced to the world that I was still her friend,” said the humbled evangelist. “They invited me up to their cabin for lunch and began to help restore my soul.” Are we going to help one another in the community? The Bible is full of one anothering, love one another, pray for one another, care for one another, bear one ...

227. Living on Full Alert

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17. 20-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... come quench this thirsting of my soul, and he promises to do just that. III. INTO OUR ETERNAL HOME, COME LORD JESUS Some months ago, I watched Larry King interview Billy Graham. As this skilled television star probed into the life of this renowned evangelist, Larry finally raised the question, “What has surprised you in life?” Without hesitation Billy replied, “The brevity of it all.” When I was young, time walked, When I grew older time ran Before I knew it, time flew And much too quickly, I was ...

228. The Power to Make a Difference

Acts 16:1-5

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Book of the Bible that Paul writes is his second letter to Timothy. He closes it with these words: “Do your best to come quickly for Demas…has deserted me. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Do your best to come before winter." An evangelist preaching in a park in Dublin once said: “The world has yet to see what God can do in and through and for one individual who is completely yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ." Dwight L. Moody, a shoe salesman from Chicago with a 6th grade education ...

229. Brightening the Corner Where We Are

1 John 1:5-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... we ought not to do and leave undone the things that need to be done. The Bible calls that problem sin. Notice the second two-letter word in every one of these conditional statements. “If we." Most evangelists would preach this text as if you had missed the way. But not the evangelist John. He preached, understanding that he belongs to this community of people who missed the way, who falter from the vision that God has for life. Our first reaction to such reality is denial. John Claypool says, “One ...

230. Leaders Worthy of Imitation

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... , never has, and never will. The collection he is raising is for the church in Jerusalem and not for him and his team. He is bivocational, having mastered the trade of tent-making, and consequently is self-supporting. A tent is a handy item for a traveling evangelist in the ancient world. It can be rolled into a sleeping bag at night, serve as an awning during the heat of the day, or even become a sail, catching wind over open waters. Paul is the founding pastor of the church at Thessalonica. We are all ...

231. Baptism: The Light Shatters the Darkness

Genesis 1:1-5

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... the book of Genesis, this responsibility means we are to transform the darkness present in our lives and those of our brothers and sisters into the light of Christian joy. We do this in general by setting a good example in action and in word. We are to be evangelists to a world that badly needs Christ's message of hope and peace. There is no need to stand on a street corner or go door to door and tell people in an overt way about the message of Jesus. Evangelization is conducted each and every moment of our ...

232. Bigger Not Always Better

Illustration

J.I. Packer

... to North America, I found that most churches, pastors, seminaries, colleges, and parachurch agencies and agents were in the grip of this secular passion for successful expansion in a way I had not met in England. Church-growth theorists, evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and others all spoke as if: numerical increase is what matters most, numerical increase must come if our techniques and procedures are right, numerical increase validates ministries as nothing else does, and numerical increase must be ...

233. In the Arms of Another

Humor Illustration

... utter the words, "I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life in the arms of another man's wife. Yes, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life in the arms of another man's wife." Then, following a pause, the evangelist added, "That woman was my mother." "I've got to use that!" the young pastor thought to himself. A few weeks later, in the middle of a sermon, the phrase leapt into his mind and he exclaimed, "I have spent some of the happiest days of my life in the ...

234. No Other Name

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... have been sullied by time, but not this name. It is a name above all names. And as you leave this place today, my prayer is that you will take that name with you and treat it with reverence. Well known evangelist Sam Kamaleson of India was preaching in an evangelistic crusade in Romania just as the Communist world of Eastern Europe was collapsing. His audience, so long deprived of God and His Word, was large and attentive. One night as he preached, Sam became conscious of an unexpected sound that swept ...

235. Transformed to Christ

2 Corinthians 3:7-18

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... consistent with the commission Christ gave him, beginning from the day of his conversion on the road to Damascus. The Transfiguration itself is a highly significant event in Jesus' life. All three synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tell us the story. All three evangelists connect it in time to Peter's earlier profession of faith. When Jesus asked the apostles who he was, Peter responded, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Now six days later (Luke says eight days) Jesus ...

236. When We Feel Lost

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... Franklin Graham’s story about his own return home after living as somewhat of a prodigal. He tells his story in his book Rebel with a Cause. Franklin Graham is, of course, the son of the world’s most famous evangelist Billy Graham. By his own admission, Franklin was a rebel; in fact, he openly opposed every value and every virtue his parents stood for, including the Christian faith. He smoked, he drank, he cursed, he caroused; he did it all. But no scene in his book is more poignant than ...

237. Jailhouse Rock

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... said to himself, “Hey, I want what they’ve got!” This is evangelism in its purest form. The jailer brought them out and asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” But it wasn’t because they had knocked on his door in an evangelistic campaign. It wasn’t because the disciples had confronted him and asked, “If you were to die tonight, would you go to heaven?” It was because he saw that Paul and Silas not only talked the talk, they walked the walk. He could see by their attitudes ...

238. Honk If Something Falls Off

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

King Duncan

... rain.” God doesn’t bless people according to their political philosophies or even their religious persuasions. Some TV evangelists would send blights on certain cities say Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans but Jesus is absolutely clear that God doesn’t play that way which is ... one reason why the TV evangelists should have absolutely zero credibility. This is to say that everyone we meet is to be the object of our love. That ...

239. For the Hearing Impaired

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... the seed falls. In other words, the one thing that determines success and evangelism is not the sower or the seed, but the soil. It is not the messenger and not the message. It is the receptivity of the missing person that determines whether or not our evangelistic efforts are successful. You will notice there is nothing wrong with the sower or how he sows the seed. It is not his method. There is nothing wrong with the seed. It is not that he has bad seed. There is nothing wrong with the composition of ...

240. The King Born in a Manger

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... town. They hung their wash on the Confederate monument. They began to preach on the courthouse square until the county commissioner decided that it was inappropriate and required them to pack up and leave. But before they left, a thin, pale girl, the daughter of an itinerate evangelist, got up and sang a song that John Jacob Niles had never heard before. “I wonder as I wander out under the sky, why Jesus our Savior did come forth to die for poor, lonely people like you and like I. I wonder as I wander out ...

241. The Credibility of the Gospel Paul Proclaims

Galatians 1:11-24

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... of his ancestors. Whereas elsewhere Paul speaks of non-Jews as Greeks (e.g., Gal. 2:3; Rom. 1:16), here he speaks of them as Gentiles. “Gentile” was a Jewish designation for non-Jews and so more than likely the one used by the rival evangelists. At this point Paul may be echoing his opponents so as to resonate with and then reshape the Galatians’ current sensibilities. Paul affirms that as soon as God called him he separated himself from Judaism so completely that he did not even go to see those ...

242. Life by the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-26

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... sentence structure in verse 18 also suggests that the Galatians regarded themselves as those who knew the Spirit. The consequence of this fact is that they are then not under law. The subtext is Paul’s assertion that they do not need to accept the rival evangelists’ offer of law in order to live well. The plain sense is that there are two contrasting and mutually exclusive ways of approaching the ethical choices in life: through the guidance of the Spirit or through the guidance of the law. 5:19 So as ...

243. Paul's Charge to Timothy

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... hardship brings Timothy back to a common theme in this letter (1:8; 2:2; 3:12) and prepares him for Paul’s final testimony that follows. As before, it appears in the context of proclaiming the gospel. Do the work of an evangelist. This noun, evangelist, is found elsewhere in the NT in Ephesians 4:11 and Acts 21:8. Here it simply recalls the imperative with which this charge began (v. 2, “preach the message”). Discharge all the duties of your ministry. With this fitting imperative, which embraces ...

244. A Widow at the End of Her Rope

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... Do you understand that when we encounter people of other faiths, this is to be our task--we are to be so kind and loving to them, that they see who God really is--He’s like Jesus. And when they learn about Jesus, they are to be turned into evangelists as well. Do you remember the words of Gandhi--that he would have become a Christian . . . except for the Christians he had known? God help us if that could be said of us. What a wonderful story this is. God uses his prophet to bring healing into the home of ...

245. Joy at Believers’ Walking in the Truth

3 John 1:1-14

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... work … for the truth. Gaius is a good example of someone who shows love in practical action. He “has material possessions” and sees and helps his fellow Christian in need (1 John 3:17). Not every Christian has the gifts or opportunity to be an evangelist or a missionary, but nearly everyone can, like Gaius, be a “fellow worker in the truth” (RSV), by supporting those who go forth to bring the gospel to others. Additional Notes 6 The word ekklēsia, or church, is used in the Gospel and letters ...

246. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... used here)is the term commonly used to refer to his second advent. In Matthew parousia occurs at 24:3, 27, 37, 39, with these instances clearly referencing Jesus’ reappearing in the final day (see comments on 24:3). Here at 10:23 and elsewhere in Matthew the evangelist uses erchomai (a common Greek word for “come”) along with other phrases from Daniel 7:13–14 to evoke the picture of “one like a son of man, coming [LXX: erchomai] on the clouds of heaven” (cf. Matt. 10:23; 16:28; 24:30; esp. 26:64 ...

247. On the Cross Jesus Is Mocked and Dies

Mark 15:33-41

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... the heart lining, shock from blood loss;5but it is clear that Jesus does not die an ordinary death like the two criminals alongside him (who lived on, requiring that the soldiers break their legs to hasten death [see John 19:32]). For the evangelists, Jesus released his spirit, and his death is a supernatural event. Theological Insights Inthis scene the crowds and leaders demonstrate the depravity of humankind and the hatred that sinful humankind feels for God’s Son and the true people of God. There are ...

248. The Resurrection of Jesus and the Promise of Victory

Mark 16:1-20

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... (John 21:1–23), the disciples on the mountain (Matt. 28:16–20), five hundred followers (1 Cor. 15:6), James (1 Cor. 15:7), and the disciples at the ascension (Luke 24:44–53; Acts 1:1–12). From this rich store, each evangelist chose the material that fit his purposes. The Historicity of Jesus’s Resurrection: The historicity of Jesus’s resurrection has been debated throughout the church age. There are seven theories to explain what may have happened: (1) Early Jews said that the disciples stole ...

249. Luke the Historian

Luke 1:1-4

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... reliable. If, then, we take Luke at his word, he tells us that his aim is to write reliable, accurate history, set out in an acceptable literary form, and he went to considerable pains to ensure that he was as well informed as he could be. Luke the Evangelist But Luke is not just a chronicler of events. He is a man with a message. Much of what he wants his books to convey is, naturally, shared with the other Gospel writers and with his associate Paul. But in some ways his work stands out as distinctive ...

250. The Death of Jesus

Luke 23:44-49, Luke 23:26-43

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... :9, 13, 33 (cf. Acts 1:13–15). The special mention of the women (whom we met earlier at 8:2–3) prepares us for their important role as witnesses in 23:55–56; 24:1–10. Theological Insights Like the other evangelists, Luke says little about the physical aspects of crucifixion. His account focuses instead on the rejection of Jesus (Jewish rulers, Roman soldiers, Pilate’s sarcastic placard, one of the criminals) contrasted with support and recognition coming from unexpected sources (mourning women of ...

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