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 2551 to 2575 of 2815 results

2551. Paying Taxes to Caeser

Luke 20:20-26

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The previous parable increased the opposition to Jesus, but since the religious leaders cannot yet arrest him, they try to entrap him. Their praise for Jesus’s integrity is lavish but insincere and hypocritical. Paying taxes to Caesar (20:20–26) was a volatile issue in first-century Palestine. Some Jews thought that ...

2552. Apocalyptic Discourse

Luke 21:5-38

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the breakup of the natural world order, and the resulting terror and fear that seize the human race. The Son of Man will return during these troubled times. The message for believers is, when the world begins to convulse, take hope! Your redemption is imminent. The parable of the fig tree (21:29–33) is easy to comprehend. Just as the appearance of leaves on a tree shows that summer is near, so too the signs previously described indicate that the coming of the Son of Man is near. The assertion that “this ...

2553. Jesus Changes Water to Wine

John 2:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... with important institutions, and in each instance, his presence makes them obsolete. (The same will be true of 5:1–10:42. There Jesus will appear during the major Jewish festivals and demonstrate his authority.) This theme is similar to the Synoptic parables of replacement: new wine breaks old wineskins, and new patches cannot be affixed to old cloth (Matt. 9:16–17). So too the former institutions of Judaism cannot sustain the impact of Christ’s coming. The section has an interesting literary division ...

2554. Warning against Falling Away

Hebrews 5:11-6:12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... :26–27). Of course, it is imperative to maintain that, appearances notwithstanding, such people were never born again or made genuine partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ (John 6:39; 10:27–29; Rom. 9:29–30; 1 Pet. 1:3–5, 23). The brief parable in verses 7–8, similar to others in the Bible (Isa. 5:1–7; Matt. 13:1–9, 18–30, 36–43), reminds us of the impossibility of distinguishing infallibly between the truly converted and the hypocrite and that spiritual fruit is the evidence of ...

2555. The Sin of Favoritism

James 2:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... law” will, however, judge the believer in the sense that we will appear before Christ for an evaluation of our earthly behavior (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10). On that day, mercy will be an important evidence of the reality of our relationship to God, even as Jesus stressed in his parable of the unmerciful servant (2:13; cf. Matt. 18:21–35).

2556. I am the Door

John 10:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . If any person enter through me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” We need to get the picture clearly in our mind in order to experience the full impact of it. Dr. William Barclay reminds us that “in this parable, Jesus spoke about two kinds of sheepfolds. In the villages and towns, there were communal sheepfolds where all the village flocks were sheltered when they returned home at night. These folds were protected by a strong door of which only the guardian of the door kept ...

2557. Today Can Be the First Day of Your New Life!

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... healing and new life.” The same loving Father who gently guided Mary and Joseph toward Bethlehem, then toward Egypt, and finally toward a little town named Nazareth watches over our lives as well. He can free you from your fears if you will trust him. A familiar parable reminds us of a deep truth: In the jungles of Thailand, once a wild elephant is made captive, hunters tie the end of a long chain around the elephant’s foot, and the other end is tied to a huge banyan tree. The great elephant will pull ...

2558. Are You Sorry Enough to Wash Your Face?

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... to salvation and brings no regret" (2 Corinthians 7:10). The emotion of grief has its place in repentance so now we have regret, which is intellectual, and remorse, which is emotional. Remorse happens when intellect and emotion unite in shame. Jesus told a parable of contrast about a Pharisee, the personification of the hypocrite in our Ash Wednesday scripture reading, who prayed with a high sense of himself and a tax collector who was filled with remorse. "God," said the Pharisee, "I thank you that I am ...

2559. The Womb of Amazing Grace

John 4:5-42

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... you are all very nice fellows, but the truth is still that men who don't go fishing, people who only talk about it, will never catch a fish, and therefore do not deserve to be called fishermen." Wouldn't you agree? Now, let me bring this little parable closer to home: Once upon a time there was a group of people who decided to form a church. At their first meeting they agreed that they needed more members and that the only way to get them would be through a determined program of evangelism. They discussed ...

2560. Come Clean

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... room. On closer examination, she discovered that her children were gathered around a family of skunks. Utterly shocked, she screamed, “Run, children, run!” Responding to their mother’s command, each child grabbed a skunk and ran.[1] This story is a poignant parable of our sinful nature. Like giddy children huddled together around something unique, sin has a way of fascinating each of us. Like Adam and Eve in Genesis, it is the mysterious and forbidden fruit which is most attractive. In fact, sin can ...

2561. The Life You've Always Wanted

Acts 5:27-32

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... them to you, and he will, with great delight. It is important that you discover your spiritual gifts. For I believe one day we will all give an account of the gifts we used and the gifts we refused to use for the glory of God. That is what the parable of the talents is all about. Remember what happened to the man who buried his talent in the ground? Well, let’s just say that the person who gave him the talent was very disappointed. There is nothing more tragic than a buried talent. What are you doing with ...

2562. In the Event of Power Failure

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... gas. The entire parade was held up until someone brought a can of gas. The amusing thing was that the float represented the Standard Oil Company. Standard Oil’s truck was out of gas, even with all its oil resources.[4] We laugh, but that is a living parable for many in the Church. There are Christians who sputter through life with no spiritual power because they have run out of gas. Oh, they have a deep reservoir of power at their disposal, but they fail to use it. Is this you? Do you find yourself trying ...

2563. I Wonder Why My Prayers Go Unanswered?

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... the monk walked down the corridors of the monastery and noticed that each of his disciples had a cat in their prayer room. After seeing the monk with a cat, they thought having a cat was the secret to powerful praying! I believe this is a parable for many Christians today. Many believe they have to do something special in order for God to hear them and have their prayers answered. You will often see folks running here and there to learn the latest prayer gimmick from self-proclaimed spiritual gurus. Prayer ...

2564. Elephants in the Room: Anxiety

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... our lives. The Greek word “worry” in this passage denotes an obsessive worry, a paralyzing worry. The word “worry” in the Greek literally means to be pulled apart in every direction. Jesus spoke of this neurotic worry when he told the parable of the sower and mentioned the seeds that fell among thorns. He said the worries of the world “choked” that good seed. The elephant of anxiety chokes many people. According the Anxiety Disorders Association of America: Anxiety disorders are the most common ...

2565. The Wind

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... get excited about. When your birthday comes you are reminded how old you are. People keep saying ‘Happy Birthday’ to you but there’s really nothing happy about it.” I thought about the conversation with that man and came to the conclusion that it is a living parable for how the modern church views Pentecost and the whole idea of the Holy Spirit. Too many of us sit back and observe the story of Pentecost like a noisy party from the past. We understand it. We know it is a part of our history. But we ...

2566. The Great Omission

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... . It was in a bad part of town. The bakery was small, rundown, and nondescript. Yet at 5 a.m. every morning the aroma of delicious bread emanated from that bakery. People would line up around the block to get their hands on that bread. That is a parable for us as the church. It is not about appearances or gimmicks; it is simply about offering the bread of life. People are so hungry spiritually that all we have to do is offer the bread of life with passion and authenticity and they will come from all over ...

2567. Does Prayer Make Any Diﬀerence?

Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... — 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 any good ...

2568. The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... of Jesus. One of the distinct features of Matthew’s Gospel is that the teaching of Jesus is collected into five sections. The Sermon on the Mount (chaps. 5–7) is the first of these blocks. The others are Instructions to the Twelve (chap. 10), Parables of the Kingdom (chap. 13), Life in the Christian Community (chap. 18), and Eschatological Judgment (chaps. 23–25). Each block closes with a formula similar to, “When Jesus had finished saying these things” (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). We are ...

2569. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 10:1-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the mission setting. Jesus instructed the Twelve to stay in homes and towns where they were welcomed in verses 11–14. Now he adds that those who extend hospitality to the itinerant evangelists actually entertain both Jesus and the Father. Later in a parable dealing with final judgment, Jesus will teach that to minister to the needs of the hungry and oppressed is to minister to God himself (25:31–40). In the context of persecution (v. 23), hospitality could involve harboring at considerable risk those ...

2570. Signs of the End of the Age

Matthew 24:1-35

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... as saying that “when the profound realities underlying a situation are depicted in the dramatic form of historical prediction, the certainty and inevitability of the spiritual processes involved are expressed in terms of the immediate imminence of the event” (Parables, p. 71). Although this seems reasonable in a somewhat abstract way, it fails to correspond to the certainty Jesus claims for his statement (v. 35). Sixth, biblical prophecy is capable of multiple fulfillment. In the immediate context, the ...

2571. What Do You Bring to the Table?

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... heavy burdens were in fact instruments of a new kind of power. Then he proceeded to show the bird how to use those wings to fly. And lo and behold what had seemed like a burden under his tutelage became a means of mounting to the sky. This is a parable, it seems, of what happens when we answer Jesus' invitation and bring our burdens to him, yoke ourselves to him, and resolve "to learn of him." He can take things that feel to us like heavy obstacles and show us how to use them as the means of moving forward ...

2572. What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... really has been helpful. He has made us all aware that there are unconscious forces at work within us all the time, and nothing is more important than getting increasingly in touch with these factors and learning how to utilize them. In the parable from Matthew's gospel, Jesus tells of the enemy that came to sow weeds in the wheat field of a certain man. Karl Menninger, well-known American psychiatrist, discovered an ancient manuscript that contains an interesting sequel to Jesus' story. It reads: "And ...

2573. Hallelujah! Come On, Get Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... walks upon because dirt will nourish seed, root, stalk, leaf, and flower, but the spirit of a man without pity is barren and will bring forth nothing." When we mourn, we learn to have compassion for others. A class in seminary was discussing Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. A young student confessed an incident, of which he was not very proud, which had occurred the evening before. He was hurrying through the door of his apartment headed for the laundry room with a basket of dirty clothes. He scarcely ...

2574. Who Is the Greatest?

Mark 9:33-37

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... Mark saw between the exhortation to take the role of servant (v. 35, and see note on 10:44) and the saying in verse 37 is that the child functions as a symbol for one’s fellow disciple; the use of the child is thus a kind of dramatized parable. To welcome one of these little children means, in context, to treat honorably other disciples, taking the role of servant toward them. The child is not used as an example of humility (as is the case in 10:13–16), for the issue in verse 37 is not imitation ...

2575. The Authority of Jesus Questioned

Luke 20:1-8

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... The many questions put to Jesus are hostile and are designed to trap him into making an incriminating response (see esp. vv. 20–26). The chapter may be divided into the following six parts: (1) the question about Jesus’ authority (vv. 1–8); (2) the Parable of the Wicked Vineyard Tenants (vv. 9–19); (3) the question about paying taxes (vv. 20–26); (4) the question about the resurrection (vv. 27–40); (5) the question about the Son of David (vv. 41–44); and (6) Jesus’ warning about the teachers ...

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