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 4967 results

2526. The Ascension

Luke 24:50-53

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... a priestly blessing (cf. Num. 6:24–26). The ascension is described in spatial terms (24:51), which has sometimes been a stumbling block to those who are part of the scientific age. But what other way would Jesus use to communicate to his disciples that he would no longer be appearing to them? Clearly, one does not have to argue that heaven is “up there” to see that the act was an effective way of demonstrating that the resurrection appearances were at an end. Acts also informs us that Jesus must ...

2527. Eutychus Raised from the Dead at Troas

Acts 20:7-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... stay awake during a critical moment (Luke 22:45). Jesus travels to Jerusalem to suffer, and Paul also travels to Jerusalem with the full realization of his impending suffering (cf. Acts 21:4, 10–11). Jesus delivers his farewell address after breaking bread with his disciples (Luke 22:14–28), and Paul will also deliver his farewell address after the act of breaking bread (20:13–28). Paul’s raising Eutychus from the dead “on the first day of the week” may also remind the audience of Jesus’s own ...

2528. I Once Was Blind…and Maybe I Still Am

John 9:1-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... and begin to revile him. It is interesting that this formerly blind man recognizes that he sees a reality that the Pharisees cannot. He begins to taunt them: Why do you want to hear [me testify again about my healing?] Do you want to become his disciples too?” The Pharisees respond the way people always respond when they are losing an argument. They toss him out with a final putdown. “You were steeped in sin at birth,” they say, “how dare you lecture us!” This poor man was God’s object lesson to ...

2529. The Womb of Amazing Grace

John 4:5-42

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?' They left the city and were on their way to him" (John 4:28-30). The disciples would reap a harvest of human souls they had not sown. This is the biblical pattern for the Bible teaches us that "salvation belongs ... you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20). It is a call for all his disciples and for all time. Sometimes we sow the seeds that fulfill this command through our example. Peter writes that an ungodly husband may be ...

2530. Oh Say, Can You See by the Dawn’s Early Light?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... how her mind raced to the conclusion that grave robbers had tampered with Jesus' grave. "She ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they ... we must come to him not on our own merits but on his merits alone. He is not expecting us to reach perfection before we become disciples. All he asks is that we come saying, "Dear Lord, I'm not good enough and I have made a lot of mistakes but I am ...

2531. Do You Have Your Key Ready?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... Impulsively she reached for him. Jesus stopped her, however, with the explanation that he had not yet ascended to the Father. Mary Magdalene will have to be content to hold him in her heart. That is exactly what she did. Later she would testify to his disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” What does Mary Magdalene’s experience on that first Easter Sunday have to do with your life and mine? Are there tombs in our lives into which we may be peering with a sense of helplessness and despair? Finally, is there ...

2532. The Life You've Always Wanted

Acts 5:27-32

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... thought of such adventure that many of them ran away from home to become a part of it.4 Jesus walks on the shores of our lives today and tempts us with the experience of his impossible grace. He calls us just as he called the disciples of old: “You want adventure? Follow me. You want challenge? Follow me. You want excitement? Follow me. You want to fulfill your destiny? Follow me. You want to experience trans- formation in yourself and in others? Follow me. Follow me into the high waves of world changing ...

2533. Elephants in the Room: Anxiety

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... strength to get help and find healing then it is worth it. Move from Fear to Faith In the gospel of Mark there is a scene where Jesus and his disciples are on a boat and a storm begins to rage. The disciples are terrified, and they find Jesus asleep. This angers the disciples. They think Jesus is being insensitive to their needs. However, what the disciples did not realize was that Jesus was providing them an example of faith. He was so close to his Heavenly Father that nothing rattled him. There is a true ...

2534. The Wind

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... power of the Holy Spirit. On this historic day God’s power exploded through the church and began its mission of making disciples. It was a day the disciples would never forget. Thousands of people were in Jerusalem celebrating the day that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Disciples were gathered together in a house. Suddenly it happened: wind and fire swept through the disciples. Everybody was amazed and astonished. Many thought a drunken party was taking place even though it was only 9 a.m. A huge ...

2535. Does Prayer Make Any Diﬀerence?

Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... to learn — the Lord’s Prayer. After that, he taught them about the importance of prayer. Please understand — this teaching was not from a prayer guru who had written a best-selling book. This was a lesson on prayer from Jesus himself. Then Jesus told his disciples a parable about the importance of persistence in prayer (Luke 11:5-8). Jesus underscored that the key to effective prayer is to pray persistently and habitually. Are we surprised? If I go to the gym once a month, do you think it will do me ...

2536. Some Enchanted Evening

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... to edge his way through the crowd toward you. But there is a question on his face. As he slowly comes toward you, his eyes intent on you, it dawns on you what the question is. He is coming to ask you the same question he asked of his disciples that day, "Who do you say that I am?" Your adrenalin kicks in, your hands start to sweat, and your heart speeds up. "Oh my goodness," you think. "It's really Jesus. He's actually here." Your mind goes through some nervous flashbacks to confirmation classes and Sunday ...

2537. Jesus and Beelzebub

Mark 3:20-30

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... , are shown as being given a relationship with Jesus that transcends and replaces his earthly ties. We shall return to this matter when we deal with 3:31–35 in the next section. In 3:20–30, Jesus is shown heavily burdened in ministry with his disciples. The location is not entirely clear (see note). Next, Jesus’ relatives (see note) set out to seize him out of concern for him. The Greek wording here is not quite as precise as the NIV translation, and it is not clear whether it is Jesus’ family ...

2538. Jesus Calms the Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... one, reveals something of Jesus to Mark’s readers, so that the rejection in 6:1–6 is all the more tragic. We should also note that this is one of two sea miracles in Mark, the second found in 6:45–52. It likewise ends with the disciples pictured as failing to see what it really means. Additional Notes 4:35 Evening: This sort of detail, such as the references to other boats (4:36) and the cushion (4:38), are possibly simply the remnants of the firsthand version of the story. Otherwise it is hard ...

2539. Jesus' Teaching on Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... give the Holy Spirit (the giver of “good things,” cf. Matt. 7:11) to those who ask him? Additional Notes 11:1 teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples: Jesus’ disciples wanted to have their own distinctive community prayer, as other groups had (such as John’s group of disciples, and other groups of disciples who followed various rabbis and teachers). Lachs (pp. 118–19) points out that the Lord’s Prayer is best compared to the Jewish “Short Prayer,” not to the longer prayers (such ...

2540. On the Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:13-35

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... alive. Others (one of whom was Peter, see v. 12) went to the tomb and found it empty, but they did not see Jesus. The report of the women had failed to convince. (Women of first-century Palestine had little credibility. Had it been Peter and other disciples who had seen the angels, then the report probably would have been more readily believed. But the prominence Luke gives to the role played by the women in the discovery of the empty tomb, a role based squarely on early tradition, is yet one more example ...

2541. The Throne in Heaven

Revelation 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... may help explain John’s image of “blazing lamps,” here in apposition to the “sevenfold Spirit,” as an element of God’s reign (cf. Acts 1:6–8; 2:1–4; 1 Cor. 4:20–21). According to Johannine teaching, God sends the Paraclete to the community of Christ’s disciples (John 14:16–17) both to teach (John 14:26) and to comfort (John 14:27) in light of the church’s present situation. The rule of God is not removed from the experience of God’s people on earth; God is always for Christ’s ...

2542. Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... means “age” and pēchys can be used metaphorically as “a span of time,” it is best to take the phrase to mean “to prolong life by even a short period of time” (v. 27; NIV has add a single hour to his life). Jesus’ disciples are to examine with care (katamanthanō, a compound in which the prefix kata intensifies the verb manthanō, “to learn”) the lilies of the field (v. 28). The flowers are perhaps the purple anemone, whose color would lead naturally to a comparison with the royal purple ...

2543. Jesus Calms the Storm

Matthew 8:23-27

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the miracles are also found in Mark, but located in chapters 1–10. By recording the miracles in a form more concise than Luke’s, Matthew makes the statements of Jesus stand out more distinctly. 8:23–27 Jesus now gets into a boat with his disciples and starts across the Sea of Galilee. This pear-shaped lake (eight miles wide and thirteen miles from north to south) lies 680 feet below sea level. The high hills that surround it are cut with deep ravines that act like great funnels drawing violent winds ...

2544. The Faith of the Canaanite Woman

Matthew 15:21-28

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... a few small fish, Jesus had the crowd seated, and they were fed. After they all had eaten their fill, the leftovers were gathered, and there remained seven basketfuls. Not counting the women and children, some four thousand had been fed from the meager supply of the disciples. A question that is always asked concerns the relationship between the two miraculous feedings as reported both by Matthew (14:13–21 and 15:32–39) and by Mark (6:30–44 and 8:1–10). Luke records only one (9:10–17), and John 6 ...

2545. The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

Matthew 16:5-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... of the four thousand. That he was able to take care of their physical needs was abundantly clear. This should indicate to them that the statement about guarding against the leaven of the religious leaders had nothing to do with literal bread. Then the disciples understood that he was warning them against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In Old Testament ritual, leaven was regularly excluded (Exod. 34:25; 23:18). Paul counsels the Corinthians to get rid of the old leaven that they may be “a new ...

2546. The Guards' Report

Matthew 28:11-15

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... were sustaining the third (whose head “overpassed the heavens”). A voice from heaven asked if he had preached to those that sleep and is answered in the affirmative by the cross (10:39–42). 28:11–15 While the women were still on their way to tell the disciples what had happened, some of the guards went into the city to report to the chief priests. Since Pilate had placed the Roman guards at the disposal of the Jewish leaders (Matt. 27:62–66), it would not be unusual for them to report to the chief ...

2547. Causing to Sin

Mark 9:42-50

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... she is not easily renewed (v. 50a), but by maintaining this salt, Jesus’ followers can more easily be at peace with one another (v. 50b). The simple purity of dedication to Jesus that does not seek its own advantage enables one to be a servant to fellow disciples, and thus promotes peace. These sayings are difficult at first, and Mark’s decision to include them all here on the basis of catchwords may strike us as strange. But his intent was to pile up words of Jesus that could be used to make the point ...

2548. The Little Children and Jesus

Mark 10:13-16

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... he would perhaps impart some blessing to them, for Jesus’ touch is described elsewhere in Mark as regarded by people as conveying such blessings as health (e.g., 1:41; 3:10; 5:28, 41; 6:56; 7:32; 8:22). The impatience of the disciples (v. 13) is perhaps more understandable given the apparently ceaseless demands made upon Jesus and the Twelve by people, and given the general attitude of the time that children, while important and loved by parents, were nevertheless very definitely “to be seen and not ...

2549. Jesus Arrested

Mark 14:43-52

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... agreed upon, a kiss from Judas (vv. 44–45), and the respectful greeting, Rabbi! combine to make Judas’ treachery all the more villainous. The one blow struck in Jesus’ defense (v. 47) is so futile as to be almost comical; and the rout of the disciples (v. 50) makes this token resistance even more pitiful. The fascinating reference (peculiar to Mark) to the young man who flees naked (v. 51–52) from the scene of the arrest has occasioned various theories as to why it is given here. Some have suggested ...

2550. Peter Disowns Jesus

Mark 14:66-72

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... shame of denying their Lord. Peter’s tears (14:72b) denote this shame, and the tearful Peter is a dramatic example of what it means to deny one’s faith in Christ. Finally, with this incident, the reader is left with Jesus alone, the disciples having fled and their spokesman (Peter) having failed miserably. In the coming events of his sufferings, Jesus is alone to do the will of God, and the message is thereby presented that the salvation obtained through Jesus’ work was obtained by him alone, unaided ...

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