Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3201 to 3225 of 4508 results

Sermon

Steven Molin

Dear friends in Christ, grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and his Son, our Lord Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. He walked into my office with all the confidence of corporate CEO, this fifteen-year old confirmation student. Without much fanfare, he announced, “I don’t think Mike Stevens should be confirmed.” I didn’t know Randy well; I had only been the pastor of that church for about four...

3202. Trouble in the Vineyard

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In 2015, Maximillian Potter wrote a book called Shadows in the Vineyard. The author told of the true story of the vines of La Romance-Conti, the most famous, finest, and most expensive Burgundy in France. One day, the owner received an anonymous note threatening the destruction of his world-class vineyard if he did not pay a one million Euro ransom. The owner thought it was a joke. Sadly, it was n...

3203. We Need Great Trust in God

Illustration

Sarah Buteux

Johnny Carson told a story about the time when, as the host of the Tonight Show, he made a joke about there being a toilet paper shortage in the city. The next day there really was a shortage because all the viewers who had watched his show ran out afterward and bought up extra toilet paper just in case. There was no trust in the fact that people, if they chose to work together, could ration out ...

3204. Monkey Business

Illustration

Brett Blair

It seems that even monkeys, if they could read, would get indignant about this parable. In the Australian newspaper "The Melbourne Age," there was an intriguing report from the University of Atlanta called: "Monkeys want to see justice done." At the University of Atlanta, researchers have been testing capuchin monkeys. They gave them the task of picking up a small granite stone and bringing it to...

3205. The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

Power. We hear a lot about that today. We are concerned about the proliferation of nuclear power. Social activists are concerned about empowering the disadvantaged in our communities. We want to limit the power of the government in the management of our private lives. And, of course, we want to protect whatever power we already have. Power. The ability to get things done, to make things happen. We...

3206. Jesus Is the Example of Service for His Followers

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus’ disciples are exhorted to renounce their concern for status, following the example of Jesus himself, who willingly suffers and dies to ransom people. Understanding the Text This passage narrates a final teaching opportunity for Jesus’ disciples before arriving in Jerusalem (20:29–21:11). The passage begins with a third passion prediction by Jesus (20:17–19; cf. 16:21; 17:22–23) ...

3207. Jesus Again Predicts his Death

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

In Matthew 20:17–19, Matthew provides Jesus’s third passion prediction to his disciples, this time making explicit that Jesus’s death will be crucifixion at the hands of the Gentiles (20:19). Without narrating a specific response of the disciples (as he does at 16:22 and 17:23), Matthew implies a continuing incomprehension on the part of the disciples as to what Jesus’s mission is really about by ...

3208. Jesus Again Predicts His Death

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

The Last Who Are First: It is important to note the close tie between chapter 20 and the verse that precedes it. The saying about the first who will be last and the last who will be first (19:30) is repeated at the end of the first section of chapter 20 (v. 16). This Semitic device is called inclusio, and because the order is inverted it is also an example of chiasmus (for other examples compare 7...

3209. We Go Up to Jerusalem

Illustration

Jon L. Joyce

Here is a living example of fearlessness, of unwavering loyalty, and of determination to finish a task. At Jerusalem an ugly cross was waiting to inflict its cruel anguish upon Christ. Yet without flinching or hesitation he set his jaw and started for the city. Here was discipline of the first order, and an example to every follower of Christ. Discipline is not popular today. The discipline of th...

3210. Lent 4

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Christ confronts a blind man and heals him. By so doing Christ also confronts the skepticism of the Jewish authorities and each person is confronted with the question: Who is this Jesus? COMMENTARY Old Testament: 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13 (RC) This text presents us with an interesting theological concept that challenges our notions of God's unchangeableness. Here God changes his mind abou...

3211. Lent 4

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The clue to the theme for worship and preaching this Sunday comes more from the general theme of Lent than it does from any theological content of this Sunday. Before Vatican II, the Fourth Sunday in Lent was known as Laetare Sunday, the mid-point in Lent, and was known as "Refreshment Sunday;" The purpose of this Sunday was to gather strength for the final stages of the Lenten p...

3212. The Man From Galilee V: The Test Of His Courage

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

A man and his wife had their vacation interrupted by a terrible toothache. They knew no one in the little town by the interstate highway. But they drove into town and asked for directions to the nearest dentist. They went straight to the dentist's office and told the receptionist they had an emergency situation. They had to see the dentist immediately. The receptionist showed them into a little ro...

3213. Competition In The Kingdom?

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Jesus and his faithful band had begun their final journey to Jerusalem; it was the last trip that they would take together. Along the way Jesus told them again that he would be condemned to death by the authorities, he would die, but would be raised on the third day. It would happen to him on this very trip to Jerusalem, he said. This was the third time that Jesus had made this prophecy in the pre...

3214. Facing the Glory Road

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Tell me, how would you like to have life served up to you? The newest neophyte among the Madison Avenue ad men will tell you. Every word of copy that they write promises to fulfill what they consider your deepest yearnings. You want it soft, just as soft as Puff facial tissues. You want it comfortable. You want it secure. You want to live in a kind of bovine, cud-chewing complacency, comfort, and ...

3215. Authority Through Servanthood

Sermon

Dean Lueking

The Question Of Our Time Today’s sermon is on the subject of authority, based on the text above. It is no overstatement to say that authority is the question of our time. Wherever one looks in our world today, in family, government, business life, and the church, the conclusion seems unanimous. Authority is in a bad state of erosion. Why is this so? What can be done about a matter so vital to pe...

3216. Encounters With Christ V: Jesus and James and John

Sermon

James W. Moore

Some years ago when William Howard Taft was President of the United States, he found himself in an interesting dilemma. A woman who was a friend of the Taft family kept pestering President Taft to appoint her husband to the post of Secretary of Commerce. Now, the woman’s husband had no political experience at all – no training for the job at all – no real expertise or qualifications to bring to ...

3217. A Mother's Request

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

3218. Envision: The Great Commitment

Sermon

James Merritt

Envision: such a powerful word. In 1969 America did something that had only been dreamed of and fantasized about in books and novels—she put a man on the moon. How did this happen? Because John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 envisioned putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Nearly a half-century ago, 22,000 acres just south of Orlando, Florida was a swamp where alligators outnumbered peo...

3219. The Power and the Glory

Sermon

I begin with a word about two American cities, cities of fame and sometimes of infamy. The first is in the east, almost as far as the Atlantic Ocean. It is this nation's capital, workplace of the president and of senators and representatives and of thousands of bureaucrats. It is a place where decisions handed down and deals hammered out affect millions of lives. It is a place so attractive and im...

3220. What Makes You Angry?

Illustration

Jon L. Joyce

The disciples were irritated by a mother whose love for her sons induced her to ask a favor of Christ on their behalf. The disciples were indignant when they heard of it. But these same men were soon thereafter to stand by, or flee, without venting their indignation while Christ was maligned, beaten and put to death. One of the tests of a man or woman is what stirs him to anger. The self-centered ...

3221. Service Is the Way to Honor

Illustration

Jon L. Joyce

Once a clergyman wrote an article for a magazine that attracted considerable attention. It was titled "Why I Do Not Want My Son to Become a Minister." In the article he stressed how many are the demands made upon a minister and stated that he wanted his son spared these irritating requests for help. Another minister commended that the title of the article should have been "Why I Want My Son to be ...

3222. The Same Cup

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A cup and some concentrated juice. Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever asked your mother to do something that she did not think that you could do and told you so? (Let them answer.) Maybe you wanted to lift something that was too heavy for you to lift, or you wanted to stay up late and your mother told you that you would get too tired. Have you ever done anything like that before?...

3223. Are You Able?

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Are you able? We've been asking that question this Holy Week. Are you able to drink the cup I am going to drink? asked Jesus as the disciples shuffled for position. Can we walk the road Jesus walked, the Via Delarosa, the way of sorrows? Can we eat the bread of brokenness? Can we take up the cross and follow Jesus? Sobering questions, serious questions, the kind of questions that crack open a har...

3224. Is It Wrong To Be Ambitious?

Sermon

King Duncan

Some newspapers carry a little cartoon called ZIGGY. Ziggy is one of those for whom life never seems to work out right. For instance in one cartoon, Ziggy sits in his chair and contemplates the week that has just ended. "Sheesh! What a week!!" he says. "MONDAY morning, my horoscope in the newspaper told me to go back to bed! "TUESDAY, opportunity knocked while I was out back taking out the garba...

3225. Claim Your Ministry

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

"but whoever would be great among you must be your servant." - Matthew 20:26b Augustine wrote: "So deep has human pride sunk us that only divine humility can raise us." This point was not lost on St. Martin, the famous soldier-saint of France. The story goes that one day he was praying and there appeared to him a figure robed like a king with a jeweled crown and gold-embroidered shoes. The voice ...

Showing 3201 to 3225 of 4508 results