Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 276 to 300 of 793 results

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Theme: Here is a sermon on evangelism that doesn’t use the word “evangelism” once. The text for this week’s gospel reading is a combination of three pericopes which portray the beginning of Jesus’ public Galilean ministry. While Matthew’s description mirrors much of Mark’s version, Matthew’s unique focus on theological nuances and precise historicity bring added details and depth to Jesus’ actions and words. In the first section (vv.12-17) Matthew takes more than a glancing interest in the “whys” and the “ ...

277. Lent 4

Jn 9:1-41 · Eph 5:8-14 · Ps 23 · 1 Sam 16:1-13

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The Old Testament texts explore what it means to be anointed by God. I Samuel 16:1-13 is the account of the anointing of David by Samuel and Psalm 23 is a prayer song in which the worshiper who has experienced threatening events also experiences the security of God through anointing. I Samuel 16:1-13 highlights the risks that accompany the anointing of God, while Psalm 23 outlines the unique security that God offers each of us. 1 Samuel 16:1-13 - "The Risk of Anointing" Setting. I ...

278. Proper 22

Exodus 20:1-21, Matthew 21:33-46, Philippians 3:1-11, Psalm 19:1-14

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 20:1-20 is the account of the revelation of divine law to Israel that occurred at Mount Sinai. Psalm 19 is a hymn in praise of law. Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 - "The Gift of Law" Setting. The most prominent event in Israel's wilderness journey is the revelation of law at Mount Sinai. After Israel is led out of Egypt in Exodus 15 their initial wilderness journey is described for 3 chapters ( Exodus 16 -18). In Exodus 19:1 the journey stops and the reader is informed that Israel ...

279. Romans 5: 1-11

Romans 5:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week’s epistle text offers the opening salvo in the next section of Paul’s great treatise. After spending the first four chapters establishing the primacy of faith over works, Paul now turns to that which foundationalizes faith: hope. This hope is based upon the founding stories of God’s past acts, as illustrated by the examples of Abraham and Sarah. Their faith in God’s promise of a future, of a family, gave them hope for fulfillment, hope for the child of their prayers. But if Abraham and Sarah’s ...

280. What to Wear to the War

Ephesians 6:13-17

Sermon

James Merritt

Just a few years ago I had the privilege of taking my youngest son, Joshua, to Boston, Massachusetts to spend a couple of days there to see the Boston Red Sox play and to tour the city. It was a beautiful time with my son as we saw the USS Constitution, nicknamed "Old Ironsides," we walked the campus of Harvard University. But then we went on an historical walk through the city and came to the old North Church. It was there my imagination took me back to the year 1775, when a man by the name of Paul Revere ...

281. Pray, Baby, Pray

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

I see we’re all here this morning, in spite of a lot of warnings that we wouldn’t be. Or are we only here in some parallel universe? Pinch or touch your neighbor to see if they’re really here. Okay. We’re all here. On 08 September 2008 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was finally turned on, and we weren’t turned off. What is the Large Hadron Collider? It’s the largest machine ever built, a seventeen mile long circular tunnel designed to smash together protons in a re-enactment of the Big Bang. How’d it do? ...

282. Body Sculpting and Self Shaping

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

As a society, we are obsessed with our external images. As Christians we should recognize that our energies need to focus on how we can allow Christ to shape and mold us into new beings. The two texts focused on for this week approach the question of self image from two different but related perspectives. The text from Mark tells the story of an exorcism, a dramatic but not unbelievable or unheard of event in the first century A.D. Today we think that the type of demon exorcism Jesus practiced in Capernaum ...

283. Minding Your Heart

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The church is the Body of Christ, and as such it has many organs. This week we consider how best the church can achieve a healthy balance between head, hand and heart. The Hopi Indians have a tradition that contrasts "head knowledge" with "heart knowledge - a tradition that respects the strengths of both ways of knowing. Western culture has been less equal handed, for while it has recognized the existence of other ways of examining the world, it has steadfastly relegated any deviations from "head knowledge ...

284. Rules for the Road

Joshua 3:7-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

NOTE: This sermon, written in the 90s, read the way it's written below, could be a good introduction on how rapidly things have changed. Think about how to rerwork it as an illustration using the original lanuage or completely adapt it by updating the items. How to cruise on the new-century superhighway. People who work at or own a computer should be aware of these two things: First, they have more processing power at their fingertips at home and at the office than the sum of NASA computers that got the ...

285. Fingerprints of the Soul

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Unlike "fingerprints," which everyone is born with, we die with soulprints. How deep those soulprints go depends on the depth of our moral character and virtue. Do you know who your patron saint is? Maybe you didn't even know that you were born on the "feast day" of Saint Somebody-or-other. "Feast Day" refers to the death date, not the birth date, of a designated saint. Death dates, rather than birthdays, were celebrated as "feast days" because it was assumed that the saint's birthday into eternity was on ...

286. Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

As the earliest gospel, Mark's writings offer a brand new kind of Jesus. Beyond oral narratives and retold stories, Mark's work brought his first-century readers a completed, coherent message a gospel. He opens his account of Jesus' life and ministry by designating it once and forever as "good news." Just as Mark's account of Jesus' life is the briefest version of the four, he seems to have an editor's knack for finding the most succinct way to get his message across. Jesus' mission and message are surely ...

287. Jeremiah 23:1-6

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Jeremiah preached his message to Judah from 626 until about 589-587 B.C. He spent his lifetime criticizing the rulers who were slowly selling out his country and his people to the powers of the Babylonian Empire. Jeremiah himself experienced a period of forced exile at the hands of some of his own panicked neighbors. It's no wonder that Jeremiah had little regard for the monarchs under whom Judah had suffered for the last 50 years. Immediately preceding this week's Old Testament text, in Jeremiah 22:11-23 ...

288. Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This Sunday marks the beginning of Advent, a season in the church calendar that, in similar fashion to Lent, is a time for spiritual preparations and reparations. It is in this spirit of preparation/reparation that Jesus admonishes his listeners to watch and be ready for the unexpected and unpredictable return of the Messiah. Jesus' immediate concern here, in what stands as one of his final discourses with his disciples, is to prepare them for the tumultuous events about to unfold in Jerusalem. The texts ...

289. Ephesians 1:3-14

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The epistle reading for this week gives us one of the longest continuous sentences found in ancient Greek literature. Ephesians 1:3-14 is only one complete sentence in its original Greek, although nearly all translations now break it down into several shorter sentences to make it an easier read. Some scholars suggest that this lengthy unit should be seen as a doxological hymn that may even have been a liturgical prayer. They recognize an identifiably Trinitarian focus in this text the work of the Father ( ...

290. John 15:9-17

John 15:9-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week's gospel lesson gives us a portion of the "true vine" unit, usually understood to include John 15:1-17. The theme of Jesus as the true vine, with his Father as the gardener, continues through verse 4, when two alternatives are then placed before the listener. Verses 5-6 expand on these choices, one positive, one negative. The lectionary verses read today (vv.9-17) are part of the next unit of this chapter where only the positives are developed. Fundamentally, the first half of this chapter is ...

291. The Darkness of a Youniverse

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Of all the bad ideas that have come out of highly centralized government, one of the worst “bad ideas” has got to be Daylight Savings Time. Benjamin Franklin originally came up with this idea of a “Daylight Savings Time” in the first part of March. It may have been the dumbest idea of his brilliant mind. But it was Woodrow Wilson who implemented Franklin’s suggestion in 1918. After just barely beginning to be able to see to eat breakfast, for the past three weeks we have been plunged back into rising in ...

292. Characteristics of the Church

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In one of his novels, William Faulkner wrote, “That which is destroying the church is not the outward groping of those with in it, or the inward groping of those without, but the professionals who control it and have removed the bells from its steeples.” (quoted by Dr. Lovitt H. Weems, Jr., at his Inaugural Address as President of St. Paul’s School of Theology, December 11, 1985.) I don’t know everything that Faulkner meant by that. He may have been talking about the fact that the professionals within the ...

293. Fighting Back Against Falling Back

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

You’ve had a couple of weeks to adjust. How you doing . . . fighting back against falling back? Spring forward; fall back. These past couple of weeks your bio-rhythms have been batty, fighting back after “falling back” or maybe even “falling flat.” Retreating one hour in order to get back to “Standard Time” is supposed to make our mid-winter mornings less dark and dismal. Unfortunately, as anyone who lives above the 45th parallel knows, those brighter “a.m.’s” come attached to distinctly darker and longer ...

294. Matthew 14:22-36

Matthew 14:22-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

After a big satisfying meal, what everybody really wants is a rock-n-rolling all night sea voyage — right? Okay, maybe not. But we’ve all been at meals when the atmosphere suddenly becomes uncomfortable, when the best-sounding dessert is a quick exit. This week’s gospel text begins with such a “get-out-of-town-fast” moment. What is unusual about this town-skipping agility, however, is not that it comes about as an attempt to escape a failure, a disappointment, or a disaster. Ironically the ‘skip-the- ...

295. Weed and Feed

Sermon

John Smylie

I think some people are natural-born gardeners. Our Lord grew up in a society that was familiar with agriculture. The images that he used to explain the ways of his Father in heaven are familiar to his audience. Growing up, my closest experience to agriculture was living in, "the Garden State." Most people, when they pass through New Jersey, are surprised to see that expression on the license plates of vehicles registered in New Jersey. Most folks traveling through New Jersey experience the megalopolis, ...

296. The Heart of the Matter Is the Heart!

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Traditionalism is the living religion of the dead or the dead religion of the living. Tradition imagines that nothing worthwhile will ever again be done for the first time because everything worth doing has already been done. Therefore, traditionalism repeats what it imagined always was and what it imagines always will be. The problem with tradition for tradition's sake is a terminal case of spiritual heart disease. In this scripture reading, a delegation of religious leaders makes their way from Jerusalem ...

297. Historic: The Declaration of Independence

Illustration

Staff

The unanimous Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies in Congress, July 4, 1776 When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold ...

298. Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

At last, on this fourth and final Sunday of Advent, the gospel reading steps away from the story of John the Baptist and his ministry. Finally we move toward the venue of Jesus’ birth. Perhaps the most delightful difference between the gospels of Matthew and Luke is their distinctive choices of where to start. Matthew, the historian, begins with a timeline, a genealogy that carefully traces the Davidic lineage. Like any good Jewish family flow-chart, the focus is on the male descendants. Not surprisingly, ...

299. The Unwanted Christmas Gift: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Survivor” is a reality tv game show that has proven to be one of the most successful franchises in television history. Starting in 1992 as the brainchild of a British tv producer, Survivor has spread throughout the world to play in over 50 countries as diverse as Chile and China. If you’ve watched CBS’ “Survivor” with its $1,000,000 prize, you notice how quickly the sixteen to twenty strangers separate out into two groups, no matter how many “tribes” there are. In one group are those who, in the face of ...

300. Touched

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

We now live in a “virtual” world. A TGiF world where T=Twitter, G=Google, i=iPads/iPhones (and all the other i-devices), and F=Facebook. In the next couple of months, Facebook will be going public. The only questions are a) whether Facebook's IPO be the biggest IPO in American history; b) how soon this summer will Facebook reach 1 billion users (that’s 1/7 of the planet’s population); and c) whether or not Facebook is really worth 100 billion dollars? Regardless of how you answer those questions, all of ...

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