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 276 to 300 of 612 results

276. John 1:29-42

John 1:29-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week's Gospel text covers two distinct pericopes which work together to close out John's introduction of Jesus and to lead the mission of the Messiah onto center stage. Considerable evidence suggests that one of the challenges confronting the Johannine community came from overly zealous venerations of John the Baptist. These steadfast followers failed to shift their allegiance from the proclaimer, John the Baptist, to the proclaimed one, Jesus the Christ. They continued to celebrate the pre-eminent ...

277. Mark 7:24-37

Mark 7:24-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Finishing up his lesson on what is "defiling" and what is not, Jesus sets off to a region that might be considered "defiled." The text explains Jesus' presence in that disreputable corner of the countryside as part of his effort to lay low and remain anonymous. Certainly in the midst of this primarily Gentile region of Tyre, tucked away in the quiet of a private home, Jesus might have expected to snatch a few days of solitude and silence, avoiding the constant recognition and perennial crowds. But Jesus " ...

278. Hunger and Politics

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

Yogi Berra, the great baseball player of an earlier age, was known for his unusual and creative use of the English language. In giving directions to his home, for example, he often told people, "When you come to the fork in the road, take it." His formula for success, as some heard it, was this: "Ninety percent perspiration, and the rest mostly just plain hard work." Then there was the time he went to a restaurant by himself and ordered a large pizza. The waitress asked if he would like it cut into four or ...

279. From Temple to Table

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

As the “wilderness” continues to shrink, the highly populated suburbs weirdly become the new “edges” of civilization. Why else would coyotes have become the greatest danger for small dogs and cats? Why else would deer have replaced moles, grubs, and crabgrass as the biggest landscaping challenge all over suburbia? The only thing worse than having all your flowers nipped off by marauding Bambi’s is the absolutely abhorrent smell of deer repellent. To keep deer from munching down your roses, pansies, zinnia’ ...

280. Mark 6:1-13

Mark 6:1-6

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

After a series of increasingly dramatic miracles that demonstrate Jesus’ power and authority over the forces of evil, the forces of nature, and even the forces of death itself, Mark’s text now abruptly changes pace and perspective. Having traveled back and forth across the Sea of Galilee a couple of times, Jesus and his disciples leave the shoreline scene and undertake a significant side trip to Nazareth, some twenty-five miles to the south. The journey might have been quite a jaunt, but the destination ...

281. A Tale Of Two Peters

Acts 5:27-32

Sermon

David J. Kalas

When the curtain opens on Scene Two, we see a familiar scene. It is the austere, official chamber where the Sanhedrin hold court. The room is cold and intimidating. It feels even more so when the first characters begin to arrive on stage. These are the members of the Sanhedrin: the leaders in the land who form the ruling council for the Jews of first-century Palestine. They are a distinguished looking group. They are well-dressed, well-manicured, and well-to-do. Their faces betray the seriousness of the ...

282. Luke 13:1-9

Luke 13:1-9

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

At the end of every good action movie the big time bad guy finally gets what is coming to him. When the good guy hero dispatches the evil-doer, the audience cheers. Obviously this final judgment was well deserved and proved that the wicked will be punished — hopefully in some dramatic and dreadful way. We all like to believe in cosmic come-uppance. In this week’s gospel text some of those listening to Jesus speak ask him to comment on some “current events” of the day. The tragedies reported by those in the ...

283. Can you Hear “The Voice?”

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It is the heart of Little League season, those spring days when children get their first experience of playing on a team, of learning about the rules of play, and of listening to and heeding their coach. Do you remember that first voice spoken into your ear as you stood at home plate, gripping the bat like a lifeline, waiting for that first pitch? Unlike the actual game, when coaches call out from the sidelines, in a baseball batting practice the coach is right behind the Little Leaguer — squaring their ...

284. Acts 2: 1-21

Acts 2:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

When we experience something completely new to us we make sense of that experience by comparing it to something we do find familiar. Thus rattlesnake “tastes like chicken.” Ostrich meat “tastes like beef.” Experiencing zero gravity in space is “like” floating in the Dead Sea, where the extreme salinity of the water makes swimmers so buoyant they are virtually weightless and cannot sink. To describe colors to someone who has always been blind and only knows the world by touch, we might say blue “is like” ...

285. Fire from Heaven

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” Is there any food more universally loved than ice cream? It’s cool and creamy. Silky smooth. You can have it in any flavor you desire. Even garlic. Ice cream is the ultimate “cool” comfort food. Of course there was no “ice cream” until there could be “ice-on-demand.” That means available ice when it was not threatening to bring down your roof or freeze you to death during a blizzard. Ice cream did not come into its own, was not tasted by other than the ...

286. Filling the Hole in Our Hearts

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A Sunday School teacher taught her class to recite the Apostles Creed by giving each child one phrase to learn. When the day came for the class to give their recitation, they began beautifully. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” said the first child. “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord,” said the next. And so it went perfectly until they came to the child who said, “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: from thence ...

287. No Substitutes

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

King Duncan

A church organist sent the following note to his minister: “I am sorry to say that my wife died last night. Could you please find a substitute for me for the weekend?” Well, I’m certain he meant a substitute organist not a substitute wife. Speaking of substitutes, there was an award ceremony years ago for the legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio at the Lotos Club of NY. At that event, DiMaggio’s former teammate, Phil Rizzuto, told the audience that one time DiMaggio, who was wildly popular, was supposed ...

288. What If You Truly Were Born Again?

John 3:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

“It’ll be dark soon,” a character says in the 1968 western Firecreek, starring Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda. Then he adds, “Things happen at night.” (1) Well, they do happen at night. Take our lesson from John for example. “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night . . .” So begins one of the best known stories in Scripture . . . and also one of the most important. Nicodemus probably came under the cover of night because he was ...

289. Ignite: Burning Love

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

James Merritt

We all learn sooner or later that “Things are not always as they seem.” Sometimes what we think is bad news is really good news in disguise. That is illustrated by a story of two women who had not seen each other in quite a while. They were catching up and the first woman said, “I just got married.” Her friend said, “That is good news.” She said, “No, it is bad news. He is ugly.” Her friend said, “That’s bad news.” She said, “No, it is good news. He is rich!” Her friend said, “That’s good news.” She said ...

290. Peter Addresses the Crowd

Acts 2:14-41

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Though not the first speech in Acts (cf. 1:16–22), this is the first to proclaim the Christ event, that is, it is the first instance of the kerygma. It touches on the ministry and death of Jesus, but its chief concern is to show that Jesus is the Messiah, and to this end it lays greatest emphasis on his resurrection and ascension. As we shall see, this speech sets the pattern for much of the other preaching in Acts. From a survey of all the instances of kerygma in Acts, C. H. Dodd has identified six basic ...

291. Saul’s Conversion

Acts 9:1-19a

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

As far as Luke was concerned, the conversion of Paul was the single most important result of the “Stephen affair.” Its importance is borne out by his threefold repetition of the story here, in 22:5–16, and in 26:12–18. Luke’s authority must have been Paul himself. The three accounts differ in detail, and it is not easy to say to what extent this was due to Paul—or to Luke—though we may be reasonably certain that some, at least, of the variations were Paul’s as he adapted the later accounts to his different ...

292. Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos

Acts 18:18-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The end of the “second” and the start of the “third missionary journey” are narrated here with almost breathless haste, as though Luke were anxious to have Paul start on his work at Ephesus. The brevity of the narrative leaves us guessing at a number of points as to where and why he went, but for the most part we can plot his course with reasonable confidence and make good sense of all that he did. Because of the broad similarity between this journey and that in 20:3–21:26—the common elements being a ...

293. Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

Acts 20:13-38

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

In this section is found the only example in Acts of an address given by Paul to Christians (cf. 14:22; 18:23). In it we see him as the pastor and friend of the Ephesians, and no other passage in this book shows greater feeling than this. There is a remarkable vividness about the speech, the reason for which is obvious: it is the only speech in Acts about which we can be reasonably sure that the author himself heard what was said. Even so, he has imposed his own style upon it. But in this speech more than ...

294. Before the Sanhedrin

Acts 22:30--23:11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The Roman commander treated Paul’s case as a routine matter. It belonged to the jurisdiction of the local authority, the Sanhedrin, and so to that authority he referred it. But then we have the extraordinary spectacle of such violence erupting in the Sanhedrin that Paul’s life was again in jeopardy and he had to be rescued. This was in some measure due to Paul himself, who showed neither tact nor any desire, as he had on the previous day, to conciliate his audience. A curious feature of the incident as ...

295. Tyre, Sidon—and Israel

Ezekiel 26:1-21, Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-19, Ezekiel 28:20-26

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

In the final form of Ezekiel, a collection of oracles against the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (26:1–28:19) interrupts a series of short oracles against the minor kingdoms surrounding Israel (beginning in 25:1). The pattern of short oracles resumes with a brief oracle against the second major Phoenician port city, Sidon (28:20–23), followed by a summary and conclusion to all the oracles against the nations (28:24) and a promise of salvation for Israel (28:25–26). It seems likely, then, that this series of ...

296. Jesus Begins His Ministry to Israel

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus announces the arrival of God’s kingdom by preaching and healing and calls disciples to follow in his mission. Understanding the Text This passage begins a new section of Matthew’s story of Jesus in which Jesus begins to minister to the people of Israel in the area of Galilee (as signaled by the narrative formula at 4:17; 16:21). The inaugural message of Jesus—“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (4:17)—is identical to John’s earlier preaching (3:2). Jesus’ preaching of the ...

297. Pharisees Reject the Divine Origin of Jesus’ Power

Matthew 12:22-37, Matthew 12:38-45, Matthew 12:46-50

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Although Jesus is accused of healing by Satan’s power, Matthew shows him to be enacting the kingdom by God’s Spirit and so warns of judgment upon those who fail to accept Jesus’ identity and respond in obedience. Understanding the Text The controversy between Jesus and Galilean Pharisees intensifies in this passage. The Jewish leaders again accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons (12:24; cf. 9:34). Jesus addresses their accusation with a set of analogies, claiming in the ...

298. Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a Peaceable and Humble King

Matthew 20:29-34, Matthew 21:1-11

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: After mercifully healing two blind men, Jesus enters Jerusalem as a peaceable and humble king in concert with Zechariah’s vision of Israel’s king who comes to bring salvation. Understanding the Text This passage, which narrates Jesus healing two blind men outside Jericho (20:29–34) and thereafter entering Jerusalem in kingly fashion (21:1–11), introduces a new section of Matthew focused on Jesus’ ministry to crowds and confrontations with Jewish leaders in Jerusalem (chaps. 21–23). Matthew ties ...

299. The Birth of Jesus

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

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: The Messiah is born in humble circumstances, but a blaze of heavenly glory shows his true significance. Understanding the Text With this scene, the fulfillment of the angel Gabriel’s announcements (1:11–20, 26–37) is complete. Both John and Jesus have been unexpectedly conceived, celebrated in prophetic songs, and born in remarkable circumstances. Each is already revealed as having a central role in God’s plan of salvation, but the angel’s words now emphasize that the good news is centered on the ...

300. Affluence and the Afterlife

Luke 16:19-31

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Material wealth can go with spiritual poverty; in the end it is spiritual wealth that matters. Understanding the Text There has been no change of audience since 16:14: Jesus is still speaking primarily to the Pharisees. (He will return to teaching the disciples in 17:1.) Luke has characterized the Pharisees as lovers of money (16:14), so this parable is a warning to the affluent. It is thus the culmination of a theme, already set out in the blessings and woes of 6:20–26, that has run strongly ...

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