Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2851 to 2875 of 5000 results

Mark 14:43-52

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... were not present like the women to shed their tears. At that moment they cared only for themselves. Such is the disgrace that we possess when we too live only for ourselves and fail to be concerned for the way of Christ in our lives. Illustrating the Text God builds his kingdom through broken people. Biography: In 1969 Chuck Colson was appointed as special counsel to President Richard Nixon. During his time in the White House Colson was caught up in the Watergate scandal. As Colson was facing arrest for ...

2852. The Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin

Mark 14:53-65

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Grant R. Osborne

... , suffering was the path to glory (a major theme in 1 Peter and Revelation), as it is for us. He demonstrated his power by embracing weakness, and through rejection came victory. That is the model for us as well (Col. 3:1–4; Phil. 2:5–11). Illustrating the Text Putting God on trial Literature: The Trial of God, by Elie Wiesel. This play, made into a television movie titled God on Trial, is based on an actual event. Jewish prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp actually put God on trial with the ...

2853. Peter Denies Jesus

Mark 14:66-72

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Grant R. Osborne

... . Jesus knows and foretells not only Peter’s denials but also that there will be three denials, and that they will take place before the rooster crows. Jesus is the quintessential prophet, who, when he wishes, can recite future events in detail. Illustrating the Text Willing to pay the ultimate price Church History: In approximately AD 165 Justin Martyr and six Christian companions were arrested and brought before the urban prefect Junius Rusticus for refusing to worship the gods of Rome. As they stood ...

2854. The Roman Trial

Mark 15:16-20, Mark 15:1-15

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Grant R. Osborne

... a pattern for suffering that his messianic community should follow. We stand before God guilty, but through the vicarious sacrifice we can find absolution as God “covers” our sins (the meaning of “atonement” in the Old Testament) by Christ’s blood. Illustrating the Text The silence of Jesus Fiction: A Time to Kill, by John Grisham. Grisham’s first novel deals head on with race relations in the southern United States. A young African American girl, Tonya Hailey, is brutally raped by two ...

2855. Jesus Is Crucified

Mark 15:21-32

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Grant R. Osborne

... sense, to portray the depths of irrational human depravity.”9The three hours of darkness and the tearing of the temple’s veil signify God’s judgment, a harbinger of the destruction of the temple soon to come and of the final judgment against the enemies of God. Illustrating the Text The needs of the many versus the needs of the one Film: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In this 1982 movie, the crew of the Enterprise face a powerful former nemesis named Khan. At the end of the movie the crew of the ...

2856. On the Cross Jesus Is Mocked and Dies

Mark 15:33-41

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Grant R. Osborne

... is a harbinger of the judgment to come, first in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and then in the eschaton, the destruction of the world of evil, at the end of history (see also the discussion of the Olivet Discourse in Mark 13). Illustrating the Text The darkness will turn to day! Classic Sermon: “It’s Friday but Sunday’s Coming,” by Tony Campolo. For the followers of Jesus, “Good Friday” must have been the bleakest day of their lives. Jesus was crucified. Jesus was dead. And yet it ...

2857. The Supernatural Witness to the Significance of Jesus’s Death

Mark 15:42-47

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Grant R. Osborne

... as vicarious sacrifice (10:45; 14:24). Jesus was not only the Messiah but also the Suffering Servant, who was “pierced for our transgressions” with the result that “by his wounds we are healed” because he “bore the sin of many” (Isa. 53:5, 12). Illustrating the Text Access to the living God Story: There is a story (perhaps apocryphal) that goes back to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. One of Lincoln’s sons, Tad, was at the park near the White House when he spotted a ...

2858. The Resurrection of Jesus and the Promise of Victory

Mark 16:1-20

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Grant R. Osborne

... angelic commission out of fear (16:8). However, Jesus has promised to meet them in Galilee as their risen Lord (14:28; 16:7), and he will give the strength to overcome their failures. That is the key for us as well. Illustrating the Text The certainty of the resurrection Christian Nonfiction: The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, by Lee Strobel. A former atheist, Strobel confesses that he initially applied his journalistic talents and training to discredit ...

2859. The Birth of Jesus

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

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R.T. France

... easier to envisage Jesus as truly “one of us” if his entry into the world was in such an ordinary domestic scene rather than in the abnormal setting of a stable or cave (the latter was a persistent tradition in the early church). Illustrating the Text God’s miraculous work and self-revelation bring different responses in different people, but all of them bring him glory. Personal Stories: Tell about a time when you and a close circle of companions or family members all experienced the same miraculous ...

2860. The Baby Messiah Recognized

Luke 2:21-40

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R.T. France

... our congregations consist of Gentiles, here is an opportunity to reflect on God’s grace, which has brought the light of the gospel to us as well, and on the church’s continuing task to bring that light to people outside our own “comfort zone.” Illustrating the Text Anna and Simeon are models of the elderly whose hope in God has remained alive. Anecdote: John R. W. Stott. John Yates, pastor of The Falls Church Anglican in Falls Church, Virginia, wrote the following after the death of John Stott (1921 ...

2861. John the Baptist

Luke 3:1-20

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R.T. France

... from John’s baptism to the meaning of later Christian baptism, but John himself gives a pointer forward in 3:16. And if “baptism with the Holy Spirit” is contrasted to John’s water baptism, how does it relate to Christian water baptism? Illustrating the Text In his courage and refusal to be silent about moral scandals, John the Baptist is an outstanding example of a religious leader standing up to a political leader. Biography: Thomas Becket. Thomas Becket, or Saint Thomas of Canterbury (1118–70 ...

2862. Sabbath in Capernaum

Luke 4:38-44, Luke 4:31-37

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R.T. France

... in 4:42, sometimes try to tie Jesus down to our own limited agenda, so that he needs to break loose and move on? Jesus’s ministry of healing in Capernaum was good, but the good (and popular) can sometimes be the enemy of the best. Illustrating the Text The Christ who defeated Satan in the wilderness also has authority over all demonic forces. Quote: Jesus, a New Vision, by Marcus Borg. More so than extraordinary cures, exorcism is especially alien to us in the modern world. In part, this is because we ...

2863. The First Disciples

Luke 5:1-11

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R.T. France

... , as some have speculated, Jesus was aware of a shoal likely to hold fish, how did he know of one that experienced fishermen had not detected? What is meant by calling this “miraculous,” and what does it tell us about Jesus? Illustrating the Text There have been stories throughout history of people leaving everything and following Christ as the disciples were called to do. Biography: William Booth. Booth (1829–1912), an English Methodist preacher, was the founder and the first general of the Salvation ...

2864. Lord of the Sabbath and Appointing the Twelve

Luke 6:12-16, Luke 6:1-11

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R.T. France

... was God himself who chose the twelve tribes of Israel to be his special people. Since the Twelve in some sense represent a reconstituted or restored Israel, Jesus is again claiming the authority of God to call out a new people for himself. Illustrating the Text Sometimes it is highly instructive when the authority of an established power group is challenged by a newcomer’s reaction. Literature: “The War Prayer,” by Mark Twain. This bitterly ironic, short prose indictment of war is told in the form of ...

2865. Jesus and Women

Luke 7:36--8:3

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R.T. France

... the prominent and distorted portrayal of Mary Magdalene in some recent popular literature (e.g., The Da Vinci Code), it would be good to take this opportunity to point out how later speculation differs from the New Testament evidence.3 Illustrating the Text Jesus welcomes those marginalized by society. Spiritual Song: “The Welcome Table”/“Some of These Days”/“Members Don’t Get Weary.” Called by various names, this nineteenth-century civil-rights song would be worth playing for a congregation ...

2866. An Encounter across the Lake

Luke 8:26-39, Luke 8:22-25

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R.T. France

... 44. If you have tackled the issue of demon possession more generally there, what has this story added to your understanding? If you have not, here is another good opportunity to help your audience consider the issue in relation to modern thinking. Illustrating the Text Jesus has power over the created order, and he is able to intervene in a crisis. Biography: Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In his book Loving God, Charles Colson tells about the experiences of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) in a Siberian work ...

2867. A Sick Woman and a Dead Girl

Luke 8:40-56

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R.T. France

... for silence. Describe the challenges to faith that he faced and how we might face similar challenges. See also the last paragraph in “Teaching the Text” on 7:1–17. This story allows similar reflections on life, death, and resurrection. Illustrating the Text Jesus’s power is only unleashed by his grace and received by faith. Nature: Lightning is an amazing natural phenomenon that almost everyone has seen or experienced. The static charges that build up in air masses store unimaginable potential ...

2868. The Messiah and His Glory

Luke 9:28-36, Luke 9:18-27

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R.T. France

... and not to be ashamed of him the exhilaration of the mountaintop experience, but also the scary sight of a transformed Jesus and two dead men returned the embarrassment of his inappropriate words his possible shift of perceptions about Jesus from 9:20 to 9:36 Illustrating the Text Sometimes one must lose one’s life in order to gain it. Literature: Till We Have Faces, by C. S. Lewis. This novel (1956), based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche, is reputed by some sources to be one of Lewis’s own favorite ...

2869. Discipleship and Mission

Luke 10:1-24, Luke 9:57-62

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R.T. France

... pioneer evangelism and to settled church ministry? Does this mean that an “unsuccessful” ministry is a reason to move elsewhere? The disciples’ message “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” What does this teach us about priorities in our ministry? Illustrating the Text Personal security and even family duties must give way to the demands of discipleship. Hymn: “Take My Life and Let It Be,” by Frances Ridley Havergal. In this beloved hymn (1874) Havergal (1836–79), a poet and hymnist who ...

2870. Negative Responses to Jesus

Luke 11:33-36, Luke 11:29-32, Luke 11:14-28

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... what circumstances) they may continue to have a role in provoking faith today. It may be helpful here to read some of the literature about mission contexts where spiritual “power encounters” have been important in the advance of the gospel. Illustrating the Text Jesus has the power to drive out demons. Missionary History: Exorcism has always been part of the missionary experience in some parts of the world. Rowland Bingham (1872–1942), founder of the Sudan Interior Mission, wrote about the “constant ...

2871. Divided Loyalties

Luke 12:1-12, Luke 12:13-21

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R.T. France

... does this mean in practice? Is there a clear dividing line between responsible provision and an unhealthy preoccupation with possessions? Is it possible to be a rich disciple? How might the message of this parable be applied to the “prosperity gospel”? Illustrating the Text Fear of human opposition must be outweighed by our ultimate loyalty to God. Christian History: Fox’s Book of Martyrs. This book, a renowned work of church history and martyrology, is an abridgement of Actes and Monuments (1563) and ...

2872. Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... of the two sons: sin, repentance, grace, joy, sonship. Do these accurately represent the content of the parable? Is there anything missing? (E.g., might “compassion” [15:20] be added?). In your teaching or study group, spell out the implications of each word. Illustrating the Text God will go to extraordinary lengths to rescue the lost, and he welcomes them back with joy. Story: “The Runaway,” by Philip Yancey. This is Yancey’s modern retelling of the parable of the prodigal son, featuring a young ...

2873. God and Mammon

Luke 16:16-18, Luke 16:1-15

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R.T. France

... is true in our Christian lives. 4. Serve the only Master who really counts (16:13). In the end, the manager’s loyalty to his earthly master counted for little. Our ultimate loyalty must be to God, who holds in his hands our eternal destiny. Illustrating the Text Wealth can be a tremendous hindrance to ultimate salvation. Literature: Paradise Lost, by John Milton. In this great epic poem (1667) about the fall of Satan and his angels and the subsequent sin of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the garden ...

2874. Affluence and the Afterlife

Luke 16:19-31

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R.T. France

... us about our approach to Scripture as a source for theology (i.e., the danger of looking for the whole gospel in a single passage)? How does judgment on the basis of deeds (e.g., Rom. 2:6–11) fit into the gospel of grace? Illustrating the Text Those who have material wealth are expected to help others. Church History: St. Martin of Tours. Born in Hungary, Martin (316–397), while still a boy, attended a Christian church without his parents’ permission at about the time when Christianity, though still ...

2875. Lessons in Discipleship

Luke 17:11-19, Luke 17:1-10

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R.T. France

... to save (19:10). Second, in Acts, Luke’s second volume, the proclamation of the gospel in Samaria (Acts 1:8; 8:4–8) is essential for the outward expansion of the good news. Luke’s Gospel is quintessentially the “gospel for the outsider.” Illustrating the Text It is a serious matter to be the cause of a fellow disciple’s failure. Film: Days of Wine and Roses, directed by Blake Edwards. This film (1962), though not a Christian one, shows powerfully the horror of leading someone astray and then ...

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