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 301 to 325 of 715 results

301. Loving Like God Loves

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... , I’ll scratch yours. It’s the form of love than calculates the benefits and keeps the boundaries between neighbors and enemies. It is the primary force of social cohesion for all sorts of groups, but it is not yet a Jesus thing, only a human thing. Jewish tax collectors who sold out their faith and country to the Roman occupiers do as much. Gentile outsiders do as much. So what? You don’t need the kingdom of God or the Jesus of the kingdom for that low level of love, only the desire to survive and ...

302. Never as Stereotypes

Mark 1:40-45

Illustration

John A. Stroman

... as human beings, never as stereotypes. Stereotypes were as powerful then as they are now. Once a label is placed on a person the human being vanishes. Many labels were given to people in the New Testament such labels as tax collector, Samaritan, Roman soldier, prostitute, rich young man, Pharisee, sinner, publican, leper. They all appear in the gospel narrative, and every time Jesus completely ignores the label and deals with the person. This is certainly true of his encounters with Matthew, Zacchaeus ...

303. When the Mood Shifts

Luke 23:33-43

Illustration

Alton F. Wedel

... . The land should bloom again, poverty should be exchanged for prosperity, and swords should be beaten into plowshares. So there were fishermen who dropped their nets and followed him. There were zealots who became excited at the prospect of the kingdom, a tax collector closed his booth and invested his stock in this new opportunity. People brought their sick to him, the pained, the paralytic, and the infirm, for as he preached the gospel of the kingdom, he healed them of their diseases, and cast out ...

304. Get Down and Dirty for Lent

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of contempt will almost certainly get you punched! Jesus had a strange sense of what was “dirty” and what was ‘clean.” He did not accept the boundaries that had been drawn by tradition and authority. He ate meals with the “unacceptable” — tax collectors, Samaritans, outcasts. He actually touched lepers, bleeding women, mad men, and Gentiles. And in today’s gospel text, he used his own spit and plain old dirt to make a mud-pie poultice of “polluted” stuff that he smeared over the face ...

305. Table Talk

Luke 14:1-14

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... section of the Gospel highlights one of Luke’s primary interests: the apparently topsy-turvy scale of values in the kingdom of God. This is summed up in 14:11, and the message will be graphically reinforced by the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in 18:9–14. God reverses our conventional way of assessing who is important and who can be ignored, and in Luke’s Gospel Jesus appears repeatedly as the champion of the underdog, the marginalized, and powerless; he is the preacher of “good news ...

306. The Art of Following

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

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... and said they were all going to hell. They asked what they could do to be saved and he said: “If you have two coats and your neighbor has none, give one of your coats to your neighbor. And do the same with food.” He also admonished tax collectors to be fair in their tax collecting and soldiers to not extort money from people by threats and intimidation. Our professor pointed out that Luke was the only gospel that contained this story about John the Baptist and, since Luke was the only record of it, it ...

307. Mending Fences

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

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Jonah and God’s Forgiveness of Ninevah’s Greed Joshua Witnesses God’s People’s Vow to Serve God as Master at Shechem (Joshua 24) James’ Warning to Those Who Have Made Riches Their God (James 5) Jesus’ Encounter with Zacchaeus the Repentant Tax Collector (Luke 19) The Monetary Deception of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) Simon the Sorcerer Attempts to Buy the Gifts of the Apostles (Acts 8) Jesus’ Parable of the Dishonest Manager Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was ...

308. The Tempest

Jonah 4:1-11, Jonah 3:1-10, Jonah 2:1-10, Jonah 1:1-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Gold Per Year for the Wealth of His Temple (1 Kings 10) As Solomon is Crowned King, the People Bring Gifts (1 Chronicles 29) Psalm 51: Prayer of Atonement Psalm 63: The Prophecy of Things to Come Psalm 64: A Plot is Arising but the Righteous Will Prevail Matthew the Tax Collector Witnesses to Peter’s Paying of the Temple Tax Per Jesus (17:24-27)

309. Words Are Not Enough

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Roy Howard

... Baptist. These learned religious leaders, who had all the words of scripture laid before them, could not accept that this Jesus was the saving one. Yet, those who had no words of promise uttered to them, no Messiah to claim — the outsiders, the sinners, and tax collectors, they are the ones who come streaming into the vineyard to claim Jesus as their saving one and follow him as the Lord of their lives. The leaders looked around at the signs of God’s saving power in Jesus — the blind could see, the ...

310. Welcome, Joe!

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... ’ audience is. Jesus never just told a story to entertain or instruct. He told stories to draw people closer to God. So he was very careful to choose the right story for the right audience. So our story begins with the words, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ Then Jesus told them this parable. . .” What do these verses tell us about God’s heart? Jesus ...

311. Capernaum by the Sea

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the “Way” of Jesus. Jesus would start a movement called “The Way” that would sweep through every country in the entire known world, a movement that was inclusive, revolutionary, inspiring, and for the powers that be, dangerous. He would call tax collectors working for Rome, Syro-Phoenicians, soldiers, radicals, and trained students of the synagogue. He would teach Samaritans, foreigners from Tyre and Sidon, women, and children. He would pronounce the Year of Jubilee and set God’s people free to ...

312. Walking On Our Hands

John 8:31-41

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... a king. This did not sit too well with the Roman authorities. For them the Roman empire was the only legitimate kingdom, and Caesar the supreme lord and king. Jesus knew what some people said of him: "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34). Pharisees and scribes said, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:2). Jesus stated the purpose of his mission: "I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32). In the matter ...

313. Topsy-turvy Christianity

Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... come as a shock to them. Did some of them wonder what they had gotten themselves into? Did they ask one another, "Does he mean if we are poor we are blessed, but if we are rich we have woe?" Perhaps Peter, a poor fisherman, turned to Matthew, a wealthy tax collector, and said, "See, the Master says I am the blessed one, but you're the one who is in trouble. How do you figure that one out? Is being poor supposed to make me happy, and are you miserable because you are rich?" In any large gathering of people ...

314. Prepare The Way

Malachi 2:17--3:5

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... ! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance" (Luke 3:7b-8a). John even got specific: "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise" (3:11). He went on to tell tax collectors to collect no more than their due and soldiers not to extort (3:13-14). John made the message clear. We live in a similar situation. We give lip service to God, but we are practical atheists. We live as though God did not exist, as if God were ...

315. Proper 19

Psalm 14:1-7, 1 Timothy 1:12-20, Jeremiah 4:5-31, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... D. Rejoicing Personally and in Community CONTACT Points of Contact 1. Friend of Sinners. Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. That is, in fact, more of a compliment than an accusation. He was considered a sinner because he ate with tax collectors and others whom the religious leaders branded as religiously impure. Jesus did not worry about being contaminated by the association with these persons. Jesus as a friend of sinners has two points of contact with us. The first is that he represents the ...

316. The Limits Of Love

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... makesthe point. There are, according to Jesus, no limits to God's love. The hero of one of his most famous stories was a Samaritan. Women play an important part. He heals the daughter of a Roman soldier. He had dinner with a traitor -- a tax collector. Every time you cometo the borders of love, Jesus penetrates them, and claims God does too. And that was tough to swallow for those who were certain that the divine blessing could not possibly extend beyond their own kind. Jesus addressed the question early in ...

317. Plain Talk

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... He is out to prove that Jesus came to do away with all the distinctions which make some people think they are better than others. His is a universal gospel, and that universe is populated with the poor, lepers, Samaritans, beggars, women, foreigners, rotten kids, tax collectors and drunks. He wants them to know that God loves them just as much as he loves the orthodox, the pure and the righteous. In Luke's hands, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," becomes, "Blessed are you poor." On Matthew's mountain Jesus ...

318. On The Road To The Cross

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... went around playing with children, and said, "Look here, this is what God is all about: Unless you have the faith and love and trust of these little people, you can't grasp really well who I am." He went around talking to winos, prostitutes, cheats, tax collectors, and said, "Look here, God loves you and cares about you. You are an important person because you, too, are one of my children." And Jesus went around telling stories about sons who take up their inheritance and go out and blow it on wine, women ...

319. No Freudian Slip!

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... . When he invites his disciples to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, he is referring to himself. Jesus embodied the kingdom. Jesus was the manifestation of God's rule in this world. And as Jesus welcomed sinners and doubters and outcasts and tax collectors and whores and all of those who seemed to be miserable failures when it came to trusting God, he was sending a message to his worried and anxious disciples who always seemed to be fretting about what they would eat or what they should ...

320. Simply Simon

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

... , what with his popularity and all. So he accepted and I invited some of my friends over as well. "Well, he arrived last Thursday night with all of his disciples. Can you imagine! Twelve of the scruffiest men you've ever seen -- fishermen, laborers. Why, he even has a tax collector in that group! Not that I mind, though. I'm open to all kinds of people being part of the temple community. But I didn't know he'd bring all twelve of them. I thought the caterer was going to blow a gasket. "We'd just gotten down ...

321. An Unfamiliar Place For God

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... to those who were his enemies, those who did him harm. Jesus also reached out to the kind of people who might make some of us feel uncomfortable. He entered into relationships with lepers, marginal members of society, sick people, criminals, unscrupulous tax collectors and pathetic prostitutes. In a word, Jesus embraced sinners. The perfect, sinless Son of God became a prisoner in a strange and unsettling world filled with sinners. But rather than just "doing time" and counting the days until he again would ...

322. In The Eyes of God

Isaiah 20:1-5

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... promised King sparkled or not. But we do know that as he began his gentle reign he did not see people as other people saw them; his eyes, like the eyes of God, looked into their hearts. These are the eyes which spotted a curious tax collector in a sycamore, noticed disappointed little children behind his disciples' robes; eyes which pierced Peter's heart in the firelight of a courtyard; eyes which had compassion on his mother even from the cross. It goes beyond a keen sense of observation. It was a matter ...

323. Week Of Ash Wednesday

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... own life Jesus came to call sinners, not those who have no need for a doctor. Jesus will not wait until we think we need him; he is there now and always will be inviting us to participate more fully in his life today. The call by Jesus of the tax collector Levi, a stereotypical sinner in the eyes of the Jews, is the example which Jesus gives us in searching out the lost. Active ministry does not wait for humans to fail; it seeks to aid people all along the road of life. Jesus, the great healer, came to heal ...

324. Broadway

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... With thanksgiving in his heart for God's amazing grace, my friend saw her on her way. What a U-turn! But it is not unlike the transformation that took place after Peter denied his Lord, or a woman named Mary gave up prostitution, or a tax collector named Zacchaeus stopped cheating everyone in his community. Ours is a gospel about "turning points" in people's lives. It's about the transforming power of Jesus Christ that can turn our lives around 180 degrees. The love made real in Jesus Christ still proclaims ...

325. The Witness Of Caiaphas The High Priest

Drama

Dann J. Ettner

... The following ismy testimony. Who could have blamed me for my opposition against Jesus? Ihad the support of the scribes and Pharisees. We knew this Jesusas a troublemaker, a person who walked side by side with sinners.He touched the unclean. He ate with tax collectors. He evenworked on the Sabbath and He did His magic to make the lame walkand the blind see. His following of disciples was growing every day. People,brought up in the teaching of the law of Moses, were turningaside and following this man. This ...

Showing results