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 251 to 275 of 296 results

251. Five Ways to be "Holy" During Holy Week

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Everyone else is doing it.” Do you remember those words? Do you remember begging your Mom or Dad for permission to do something they would ordinarily not permit by insisting, “But Ma, everyone else is getting to do it!” The typical parental response to such childish logic usually went something along the lines of, “Well, if everyone else jumped off a bridge would you do it too?” (Of course now that grown men and women actually PAY to go bungee jumping off of bridges, that argument might not have as much ...

252. Offerings for the Tabernacle

Exodus 25:1-9

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

Introduction to the Tabernacle: The thirteen chapters that describe the tabernacle have posed a challenge for interpreters since the time of Philo (d. 50 A.D.). In The Life of Moses Philo gave a symbolic reading that has influenced interpretation to the present day. For him, the tent of meeting represented the spiritual world and the courtyard signified the material world. The colors (blue, purple, crimson and white) represented the basic elements; the seven lights of the lampstand were the seven planets; ...

253. Ready for God’s Reign

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Chris Ewing

This parable has to be one of the least liked in the whole Bible. It speaks stern words to those who are not ready for the moment of truth — and it leaves uncomfortably vague just what "being ready" might entail. To understand what Matthew interprets Jesus to mean by readiness for the final judgment, we have to read his whole gospel, and in particular the final third of this chapter, that famous scene of the sheep and the goats, which we'll be reading in another two weeks. But already today there is an ...

254. Setting Forth with God

Numbers 10:11-36

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God leads and protects his people. Understanding the Text Numbers 10:11–22:1 forms a new major unit in the book of Numbers that describes the journey from Sinai to the plains of Jordan. In Numbers 1:1–10:10 Israel had prepared for resuming its march toward the promised land. The tribal camps have been counted, and their positions around the tabernacle designated. The duties of the priests and Levites have been delineated. Gifts for the dedication of the tabernacle have been received, and silver ...

255. Job Hears the Whispers of God’s Works

Job 26:1--31:40

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: When Job considers God’s greatness, he realizes how little he himself knows. Understanding the Text When Bildad says in Job 25:6 that humans are mere maggots and worms before the transcendent God, Job apparently interrupts him. Although Job agrees with much of Bildad’s lofty view of God, he draws different implications from their shared theology. Bildad claims that God’s greatness means nothing can thwart his justice, so life in God’s world is thoroughly predictable, but Job declares that God’s ...

256. The Excitement of Meaningful Living

John 10:10 · Matthew 6:33 · Ephesians 3:20

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

When Jesus said, "My yoke is easy," he was telling it like it is. This caring, this moral commitment, this faith and obedience we have been talking about are really not a burden upon the life of the individual. All these dimensions of life, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, are generators of strength and purpose. In this way personal life finds its wholeness and completeness, and this is what Jesus meant by saying, "I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly." It is a joyful thing. This is ...

257. Casting Out An Evil Spirit

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: Casting Out An Evil Spirit New Title: Good Religion The idea of casting out an evil spirit sounds too much like superstition to many of us. We prefer to relegate such things to the ...

258. On the Ropes: Round 3 - Defending God

Habakkuk 3:1-19

Sermon

James Merritt

It is a man that I have never heard of before until I came across his name preparing this final message in Habakkuk. You would know him very well if you were a devote Anglican or if you knew very much about South Africa. He was the founder of the South African Mission Society. An Englishman, he felt the call of God to go to an unreached tribe in one of the most remote parts of the world to preach the Gospel in the middle of the 19th Century. Alan Gardiner set sail in 1851 with five other missionaries. ...

259. The Sacrifices of the Sacred Calendar

Num 28:1–29:40

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: People can worship God through the regular cycles of life. Understanding the Text In the desert God prescribes a system of sacred space for Israel (Lev. 1–8), whose people camp around the tabernacle while they travel through the desert (Num. 1–4). Leviticus 23 describes the various sacred times that Israel will commemorate upon entering the land. Now in Numbers 28–29, as the conquest draws near, God reiterates the system of sacrificial worship in conjunction with Israel’s sacred times around ...

260. Ready!

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Wait a minute. What is going on here? This is the first Sunday of Advent on the church calendar, and, more than that, it is almost Christmas. Thanksgiving is over along with “Black Friday.” The shops and malls are playing “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” and “Winter Wonderland,” everything is decorated to a fare thee well but we gather in church today and hear the gospel thundering about suffering and the sun being darkened, the moon without light and stars falling from the sky. Not long ago, my wife ...

261. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

3:1–2 The apostle begins this section of his letter by addressing his readers as foolish Galatians! This designation appears to have been a common one for the Galatian tribes who were often considered barbarians and “foolish.” The ancient Greek writer Callimachus (c. 305–c. 240 B.C.), for instance, uses the word as if it were a standard epithet, writing: “the foolish tribe of the Galatians” (Hymn 4, To Delos [Mair, LCL]). Paul uses this epithet to remind the Galatians that they need not be as they once ...

262. The Flood

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

The Increase of Wickedness on Earth: This passage explains why God had to judge the inhabited earth with a deluge (6:9–8:22). It has two distinct sections: a description of the rapid increase in population, when the sons of God married daughters of men (vv. 1–4), and God’s response to human violence (vv. 5–8). The first section reports the population explosion, presumably spurred by the extraordinary marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men. During that era superheroes are said to have ...

263. The Four Horsemen

Revelation 6:1-17

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: As Christ opens the first four seals, God allows human sinfulness to run its course, resulting in warfare, violence, bloodshed, economic hardship, and death. Understanding the Text Just as the vision of the glorified Christ in Revelation 1 leads into the messages to the seven churches in chapters 2–3, so the throne-room vision of Revelation 4–5 prepares the way for God’s righteous judgments that commence in chapter 6. Jesus, the worthy one (5:2–5), now begins to open the scroll by breaking the ...

264. Ingratitude and Judgment

Num 11:1-35

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Ingratitude toward God can lead to forfeiture of blessings. Understanding the Text After nearly a year at Mount Sinai, Israel resumes its march toward the promised land (Num. 10:11; cf. Exod. 19:1–2). It is an auspicious start. Everyone lines up as God has commanded through Moses (Num. 10:13–28) and as directed by the blasts of silver trumpets (Num. 10:1–10). God himself guides the Israelites in the fire cloud and with the ark (Num. 10:34–36). But after three days’ journey from Sinai (Num. 10:33 ...

265. Elihu

Job 32:1--37:24

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

The Friends Conclude and Elihu Begins Excurses: Had the third cycle of dialogue between Job and his three friends been complete, we would expect to find Zophar’s concluding speech in response to Job at this point. However, at least in the canonical form of the book, Bildad’s truncated final speech (25:1–6), Job’s expanded concluding speech (chs. 26–31), the complete absence of any final speech by Zophar, and the opening comments in the following Elihu section, press the reader to understand this collapse ...

266. Faith or Observance of the Law

Galatians 3:1-14, Galatians 3:15-25

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

Paul’s Appeal to the Gospel the Galatians Have Known and Experienced 3:1–2 The apostle begins this section of his letter by addressing his readers as foolish Galatians! This designation appears to have been a common one for the Galatian tribes who were often considered barbarians and “foolish.” The ancient Greek writer Callimachus (c. 305–c. 240 B.C.), for instance, uses the word as if it were a standard epithet, writing: “the foolish tribe of the Galatians” (Hymn 4, To Delos [Mair, LCL]). Paul uses this ...

267. Looking Back; Moving Forward

Exodus 34:29-35

Sermon

Tony Everett

A young college student was searching for a summer job to help defray the rising cost of his education. He finally found one with the State Transportation Department, where he was given the task of hand-painting the white lines in the middle of the road. The supervisor informed him that she expected him to complete ten miles per week, and took him to the job site. "Place your paint buckets right here," she instructed, "and begin painting white lines from this spot." The first day went very well. The ...

268. How Costly Grace? Or Does Spelling Count?

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

As long as men and women and boys and girls have inhabited this planet, they have sought to control their lives in whatever ways possible. In order to have a better harvest, they have experimented with different crops, different fertilizers, and different methods of planting. In order to kill more game for food, they created more and more advanced kinds of bows, more accurate arrows, more deadly traps. In order to protect themselves from neighboring tribes they produced walls and moats and castles, and ...

269. Don't Be Stupid

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Sermon

Richard L. Sheffield

I ordered a new book this week. Hope it comes soon. Because God needs to read it! It's called Your Executive Image. As CEO of all that is, that's Creator, Executive, Overseer; as CEO of anything and everything that matters to you and me, God needs to keep up appearances. And it really doesn't do God's image any good for him to go around calling people "stupid children" (Jeremiah 4:22). Yet, Jeremiah tells us, God said of his people in Israel "... My people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid ...

270. God Sends Us Ahead

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

This is it. The moment we've all been waiting for. The moment when all the people who thought you'd never amount to anything watch you come out on the stage. The spotlight hits you. The audience stands and the entire hall reverberates with their applause. This is that moment when a man dressed in the finery of the Egyptian court makes himself known to his impoverished brothers. "It's me, Joseph! It's me! Remember me? The brother you threw into a pit? Don't you remember me, Judah? You suggested that you ...

271. The Covenant Of Amazing Grace

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

"The earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer mind their parents. Everyone wants to write a book, and it is evident the end of the world is fast approaching."1 Sounds like the evening news or tomorrow’s headlines, doesn’t it? The truth is that this description of society was found inscribed on an Assyrian tablet dated 2000 B.C. Jurgen Moltmann, professor of theology at the University of Tubingen, West Germany, shares this modern observation concerning our anxious ...

272. Are You Going Down?

Luke 2:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Many years ago there was a serious coal mining accident in the Allegheny mountains. Many miners escaped, but three men were trapped somewhere deep in the earth. No one knew if they were alive or dead. As the hours passed, intense heat and noxious gases built up within the mine itself. Two days passed before a search expedition was allowed to enter the mine. The camera teams from the local news station interviewed the three-man rescue team as they prepared to enter what could be their grave. A reporter ...

273. Try This on For Size!

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

One church has an organ that many sweated, sacrificed, and slaved to buy. Its cost was astounding! But when one hears its tone, sits under the influence of its quality, one begins to believe it was worth it all. It is a special musical instrument. It will serve God and man for many decades. But what will happen when something goes wrong with this musical instrument? Who will be called in to repair it? Perhaps there is one of you who tinkers with old organs and antique pianos. Would we allow him to fix the ...

274. Can You Smell the Perfume?

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A group of men celebrated on and on in a sports bar. "Here's to 94," one of them toasted. "Hip-94-Hooray," another of them cheered. "Ninety-four, Ninety-four," "Ninety-four," they chanted in unison. The waitress could take the mystery no longer. When one of them left for the men's room, she intercepted him and asked, "Why the big deal about 94?" "It only took us 94 days to finish this puzzle we've been working on." "What's so special about that?" He replied, "Hey, the box reads 5-7 years." Puzzles are not ...

275. Better To Be a Loner than a Loser

Daniel 1:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

Cassie Bernall. With one word this teenage girl became a household name and a part of God's Hall of Fame. On April 20, around 11:30AM, two gun-wielding teenagers at Columbine High School confronted her, and with guns raised, one of them asked her this question: "Do you believe in God?" After a momentary pause, she looked him squarely in the eye and said, "Yes." After he replied simply, "Why?" he shot her and killed her instantly. But at that one moment, with that one word, Cassie Bernall illustrated a ...

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