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 2526 to 2550 of 3315 results

2526. The Thick Darkness

1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... and ourselves: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 And the Apostle Paul said that he and his fellow missionaries were "stewards of God's mysteries" (1 Corinthians 4:1). There are times when we ourselves have encountered the hiddenness of God. Have you ever tried to meditate or pray only to feel that you were reaching out into ...

2527. The Disciples' Culture Shock

Mark 9:30-37

Illustration

Father George Griener

... hearing this American hit song in Munich played havoc with my expectations. In fact, it was such a culture shock that the memory remains vivid even today, three decades later. Two millennia later Mark's Gospel continues to recall the culture shock the apostles had when the cost of discipleship finally dawned on them; when their expectations of the reign of God came face-to-face with hard-nosed reality; when fascination and enthusiasm with this Jesus began to be transformed into self-sacrificing commitment.

2528. Where to Put the Pies

Mark 9:38-41

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

... I am not going to be part of doing it that way now. I won't have any part of that kind of thing. Those new people are going to ruin this church. They don't know anything. They aren't even from around here." Sound familiar to anyone? The apostle John came up to Jesus one day. "Jesus", he said, "I was walking down the road with the rest of the disciples, and we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We tried to stop him because we don't know who he is; we tried to stop him ...

2529. Stopping Pettiness

Mark 9:38-41

Illustration

Jerry Goebel

All too often, gossip, silence, and exclusion serve just these purposes, cutting off the prophetic from the congregation. This is what the Apostles were doing to this one man "caught healing." They were demanding that Jesus hobble his powerful works because he wasn't one of them. We can stop our pettiness by taking four actions: 1. Get out in the harvest. Recognize the crisis in harvesters and the ripeness of the harvest. ...

2530. No Intimidation

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... us. We all have families in which the rejection is generations old and growing. Lent calls us to take inventory. "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord." We knew him by way of the blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, his apostles, crucifixion, and resurrection. Each segment is there for you and me to study. Each is there also for our gratitude and ongoing direction. It seems that if we have missed something or someone essential, it is our fault. Our belligerence and pride are present in ...

2531. Holy Extravagance

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... people in poverty? That has already been answered for us. All of this perfume that could bring in tons of money and you waste it on Jesus' feet! Maybe if we didn't already know Jesus, we would have bought into the treasurer's comment. After all, he was an apostle and there were only twelve of them. Yes, he was posing for good and, if you didn't know him, he made quite a good impression. We know some people like that, don't we? Sometimes their posturing is a sight to behold! You and I can be gullible. We ...

2532. Mary Magdalene’s Day

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... . We must wonder why it was given to her. After all, there is a great deal of information saying she was a woman of questionable morals. Ah, but that was so like Jesus and his ways. Peter, James, John, and Paul would come to us as solid apostles. She would largely be in the background, smiling in glorious contentment and savoring her honor. As is so frequently the case, the most germane inquiry is, "Have you and I seen the Lord?" Now, we have been thrilled by one of the most moving passages throughout the ...

2533. Cured Cripples and Crabby Critics

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... the power of the Holy Spirit we can be overcomers, people who live not just under the circumstances, but above them. In the Bible, we find encouragement for having an attitude of gratitude, overcoming our own handicaps and helping others overcome their handicaps. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 15-16: We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus ...

2534. Only the Lost and the Least

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... Saint Paul Revere but, in a certain sense, he was right about the Bible being revolutionary. Love for the least and the lost flies directly in the face of the way many people think. Christianity offers a revolutionary reversal of values. Saint Paul the Apostle, the premier missionary and theologian of all time understood this transvaluation of values in the light of his own sin. In our second lesson for today, Paul said, "The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the ...

2535. Standing Tall in the Lord

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... focused on the prize (3:12), the light at the end of the tunnel. One must live, Paul suggests, not on the level of the world, that of the Judaizers, but on a higher plateau. The Philippians are to focus their attention on their citizenship in heaven. As the apostle states, "So, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are of the earth" (Colossians 3:1-2). Paul wants the ...

2536. Jesus Brings Hope

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... . It is filled with symbols, namely words and numbers, that have special meanings. In some ways, one needs a list of signs and a road map to negotiate the text. Additionally, the book is written in a prophetic voice. The author, most probably John the Apostle, as judged by its rather unlettered construction and prose, hears God's Word (1:2) and is on eleven different occasions ordered to transmit this word to his brethren. On four occasions the seer clearly marks the book as a document of prophecy: "Blessed ...

2537. Enduring the Trials of Faith

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... of all the kingdoms of the world. He does not need such material possessions. Throughout his public life, Jesus was forced to endure the pain of rejection. Some claimed he was possessed by Beelzebub. He was misunderstood by his inner circle, betrayed and denied by his apostles. During his agony in the garden, Jesus sweat blood (Luke 22:44) as he prayed to his father asking if possible for the cup to pass, but in the end said, "Not what I want but what you want" (Matthew 26:39c). Jesus' crucifixion was his ...

2538. The Difference between Knowing and Doing

Galatians 2:15-21

Sermon

John Jamison

... remaining in Jerusalem maintained that circumcision was non-negotiable, and the only way into the salvation of the church. Those preaching from other corners of the world insisted that such laws were unjust, and the acts of false believers. At one point, Paul met the Apostle Peter, one of the original disciples, and ended up in a yelling match with him. It seems that Peter, who was one of the Jerusalem boys, had had a dream about the laws regarding cleanliness. In Acts 10, we read that Peter had a dream ...

2539. Thank God We Can Change

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... you are doing under these extreme circumstances. The final exception is one that many of us are familiar with. When a person has a religious encounter after age thirty, there is bound to be a radical shift in their thinking about life. That was the case with the Apostle Paul. He tells his story at least three times in the book of Acts and again shares parts of it in several of his epistles, including the letter to Timothy we are reading today. As he shares his testimony, he comes away very thankful for the ...

2540. The Promise that Won’t Be Broken

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... reached the end of his life. Yet, despite the dark days, the letter opens with Paul's usual calm and confident expression of faith and grace. Putting his own circumstances out of his mind, he reminds Timothy who it was who called him and named him an apostle of Jesus Christ. Despite the fact that Paul outwardly looked like a beaten, forgotten man, Paul knew that he belonged to Jesus. That was enough to keep him going despite the hard times. Paul knew that Jesus had made promises that would not be broken. It ...

2541. What Must I DO to Receive Life? - Sermon Starter

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Brett Blair

... that we also need to remember that to this young boy Jesus was not the Son of God. He was simply a new prophet, with an exciting message, a magnetic personality, and eyes that gripped you when you spoke to him. He was certainly not the Christ of the Apostles' Creed. At this point in his ministry, not even the disciples looked upon Jesus in that regard. The stone of Easter had not yet been rolled away. And so for a few moments this morning I would like to champion the cause of this underdog and reassess his ...

2542. An Invitation to Joy

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... day of hope and restoration. He calls for rejoicing in Jerusalem, since it will be once again a city in which God delights, and which delights in God's presence. Zephaniah says, "Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion ... Rejoice and exult with all your heart." The Apostle Paul echoes Zephaniah's command to rejoice, even while Paul is imprisoned at the hands of the Romans: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" That is a most unusual mandate coming from a prisoner who may be about to lose his life ...

2543. Like a Tree Planted

Jeremiah 17:5-10

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... a metaphor. It also describes the physical branching out of families, a plan by which God's Word and teachings are passed on. God cares deeply about physical life as well as the spiritual. You are the branches that sustain the blossoming of new life. The Apostle Paul reminds us that, "It is not the spiritual which is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual" (1 Corinthians 15:46). The root system is a vital part of the tree, even though it is almost totally invisible. Roots serve to anchor the tree ...

2544. What's in a Name?

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... what that record means. Just as the father of all of us was a wandering Aramean, so, too, the Son of Man complained that, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20). And the Apostle Paul once shared his glittering resume. As he put it, he was "... a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law ...

2545. Essentials

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... for the world, have set their faces like flint and have not been put to shame. On a February day in the year 156, Polycarp, the overseer of the church in Smyrna, was arrested on the charge of practicing the Christian faith. In his youth he had known the Apostle John and others who had known the Lord in the flesh. In the Martyrdom of Polycarp we read: Therefore he was brought forward to the Proconsul, who asked him if he were Polycarp. When he said he was one and the same, he tried to dissuade him, saying ...

2546. Priceless

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride." Yes, Paul said, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). But more importantly, we know he is risen. The angels at the ascension asked the apostles why they were looking up in the air. There was work to do. Pick up your cross? You've already got it, but start walking toward your resurrection, now and in the life to come. We began by talking about the noise that Krakatoa, that great volcano ...

2547. What Church Looks Like

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... Rome but had served Rome all their lives, had all the privileges of Roman citizenship. They were used to serving a place they had never seen, living by the rules of a place they had never seen, and proclaiming themselves citizens of a place they had never seen. The Apostle Paul was led to Philippi by a dream in which he saw a man from Macedonia begging him to bring the gospel to them. He found a people ready to serve a heaven they had never seen, to live by the rules of heaven though they had never seen ...

2548. Jailhouse Rock

Acts 16:16-34

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... told that the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. The book of Acts chronicles our forays among the nations. And you know, the story isn't over. Let's cheat for a moment and sneak a peek at the end of the Acts of the Apostles. We follow Paul all the way to Rome, where under house arrest he continues the work of the gospel. We read: "He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ ...

2549. Wisdom's Delight

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... . James is the only whole book in the New Testament that fits that tradition, but there are a number of sections of other books that echo the wisdom teaching of the Old Testament, and these verses from Colossians are among them. In these verses, the Apostle Paul identifies Jesus as the "firstborn of all creation" and the one who "is before all things," which would seem on the surface to be a contradiction of Proverbs 8. But when we recall that Wisdom was simply a personification of a characteristic of God ...

2550. The Smell of Bread

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... are the dead who from now on die in the Lord" (Revelation 14:13). To die "in the Lord," whatever that may mean in terms of physical experience, means only good things in terms of the spiritual realm. Another verse is from 2 Peter, where that apostle tells his readers, "... entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you" (2 Peter 1:11). That adjective "richly" means a lot, doesn't it? Still, another does not address dying per se, but it clearly applies ...

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