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 3351 to 3375 of 4942 results

3351. Can Two Stay One?

John 13:31-38

Sermon

James Merritt

Many of you either have heard of or remember the famous daredevil Evil Knievel. He was famous for jumping motorcycles over cars, trucks, tractor trailers, and even tried to jump a rocket propelled motorbike over the Grand Canyon. Before all of his jumps he would look into the camera and give this disclaimer: “Kids, don’t try this at home.” The following story I am going to tell you is true, but if you are single and contemplate getting married one day, don’t try this at home. On my very first date with ...

3352. Jesus Prays for Us

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

A visiting preacher in a small town in Kentucky was concerned when he began the first night of a revival meeting and noticed all of the men were wearing guns. Although rattled, he did the best he could with his sermon. When finished, his anxieties heightened as several of the men approached the pulpit with their guns drawn. In panic, he turned to the chairman of the deacons, sitting next to him. The deacon calmed his fears: “Don’t you worry,” he said. “They ain’t coming after you. They’re looking for the ...

3353. Hamburgers Don't Grow on Trees

Mark 4:26-29, Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

King Duncan

A father tells of taking his four-year-old son, Josh, out to McDonald’s for dinner one evening for a “guys’ night out.” As they were eating their hamburgers, Josh asked, “Daddy, what are these little things on the hamburger buns?” Dad explained that they were tiny seeds and that they were OK to eat. Josh was quiet for a couple of minutes and his Dad could tell Josh was in deep thought. Finally, Josh looked up and said, “Dad, if we go home and plant these seeds in our backyard, we will have enough ...

3354. Chickens with Eyeglasses

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever known someone who was puffed up with pride? Someone with a big ego? Someone who is an “I” specialist, as in the letter I? Someone whose “I’s or “me’s are a little too close together? When Woodrow Wilson was Governor of New Jersey, a very ambitious young civil servant called him at his home at 3:30 one morning. This young civil servant said urgently, “Mr. Governor, I’m sorry to wake you up, but your State Auditor has just died, and I would like to know if I can take his place.” Mr. Wilson ...

3355. The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a reading by J. B. Phillips called The Visited Planet. It’s about a junior angel who is being given a tour of the universe by a senior angel. After touring all the galaxies of the universe, they come at last to our solar system. The junior angel is tired and bored and not very impressed by what he sees. The senior angel points to the earth and says, “Keep an eye on that planet.” The younger angel thinks the earth looks small and dirty and insignificant. “That is the Visited Planet,” say the senior ...

3356. Shall We Waddle or Fly?

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

King Duncan

By the time John arrived at the football game, the first quarter was almost over. “Why are you so late?” his friend asked. “I had to flip a coin to decide between going to church and coming to the game,” John answered. “How long could that have taken you?” asked his friend. “Well,” said Ted, “I had to flip it 12 times.” For football fans, we’re about half-way through the time between the college National Championship game and the Super Bowl. Since football season is nearly over, none of our men had to flip ...

3357. Are You Giving Up Chocolate for Valentine's Day?

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this Valentine’s Day. It is ironic that this is also the First Sunday in Lent. Lent is generally that season of the year when people have chosen a favorite treat or some vice to give up for these six weeks. One man said his children traditionally gave up something like candy for Lent. Last year, however, he urged them to go beyond that to giving up some habit or sin that they knew was bad for them. About halfway through Lent he asked the children how they were doing with their Lenten promise. ...

3358. Solomon Builds the Temple

2 Chronicles 3:1-17

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Solomon Builds the Temple: We now enter the section in which the long-awaited process of building the temple is described. The reader’s expectations have already been focused on the actual building of the temple in Jerusalem from the narration of David’s history in 1 Chronicles 21–22 and 28–29. The Chronicler used 1 Kings 6–7 as his main source for the description of the building of the temple under Solomon. But as has become familiar to the reader, the Chronicler not only abbreviated the source account ...

3359. Solomon's Other Activities

2 Chronicles 8:1-18

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Solomon’s Other Projects: Whereas the construction of the temple in Jerusalem carries the most emphasis in the Chronicler’s narrative about Solomon, some of the other projects of the king are summarized in a brief section as well. The temporal remark in 8:1 indicates that the temple construction took twenty years and that at the end of this period some other projects were initiated. Second Chronicles 8:1–6 briefly summarizes some other building projects that were undertaken. Second Chronicles 8:7–10 ...

3360. Uzziah King of Judah

2 Chronicles 26:1-23

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Uzziah: Uzziah, who reigned approximately 792/791–740/739 B.C., is yet another example of a king who started off well but ended in shame. In this case the Chronicler was solely responsible for presenting this picture of the king. The major part of this narrative (26:5–20) belongs to the Chronicler’s own material, which expanded on a very concise account in the Deuteronomistic version, found in 2 Kgs. 14:21–22; 15:1–7. The former text is part of the Deuteronomist’s conclusion to Amaziah’s reign, while the ...

3361. Manasseh King of Judah

2 Chronicles 33:1-20

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Manasseh: Although King Manasseh is the Judahite king with the longest tenure (fifty-five years, ca. 698/697–643/642 B.C.), he is presented as the prime embodiment of evil in the Deuteronomistic History (2 Kgs. 21:1–18). He is particularly blamed for leading the people astray with the result that they had to be punished with exile. The portrayal of this king in Chronicles, however, is very different. We have seen examples of good kings (according to the Deuteronomistic version) turned into blemished kings ...

3362. Jehoahaz King of Judah

2 Chronicles 36:2-4

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah: The accounts of the last four kings of Judah are very brief. Two of them (Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin) ruled for only about three months each, while the other two (Jehoiakim and Zedekiah) each ruled for eleven years. Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim therefore were nothing more than transitional figures bracketing the rule of King Jehoiakim of Judah and leading to the rule of Zedekiah. Although Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim were still successors to the throne of their respective ...

3363. The Fall of Jerusalem

2 Chronicles 36:15-23

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

The Fall of Jerusalem: Judah’s very sad and violent end at the hands of their Babylonian masters is the theme of the second to last subsection in the book of Chronicles. It is clear from this text that the Chronicler’s intention was certainly not to give a factual account of the end of the Judean kingdom but rather to provide a theological interpretation of this event of the past. Second Chronicles 36:21 particularly links what happened in the past to “the word of the LORD” that came to them “spoken by ...

3364. The Believers Share Their Possessions

Acts 4:32-37

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Here we have the second in Luke’s series of cameos of the inner life of the church (see disc. on 2:42–47). In this, he takes up again the theme of their fellowship. Of the other matters dealt with in the earlier sketch, he has already had something more to say about prayer (4:23–31) and will shortly add something on the subject of miracles. 4:32 For the expression all (Gk. plethos) the believers, see note on 6:2. One of the most remarkable features of life among the early believers was their unity. This is ...

3365. Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1-11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The idyllic picture of the church presented in 4:32–37 had to be qualified. The church must soon have made the painful discovery that sin could enter into its fellowship, and because it suited his theme, and was a matter of particular interest to him, Luke chose to mention what was probably an early and notorious instance of sin in connection with the common fund. Ehrhardt sees the story of Ananias and Sapphira as a test case for the question whether a rich man could be saved—important for the church of ...

3366. The Stoning of Stephen

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that, in part, Luke has modeled the life and death of Stephen on the Gospel story. Elements include Stephen’s ministry of miracle and the spoken word, the inability of his adversaries to match him in debate, the trial before the Sanhedrin, the false witnesses, the high priest’s question, the reference to the Son of Man, Stephen’s dying prayer, and the petition for the forgiveness of his murderers. To some extent this may have been a purely literary device—Luke’s ...

3367. The Church Persecuted and Scattered

Acts 8:1b-3

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Though it would be foolish to suppose that the believers were anything other than a minority in Jerusalem, they had by this time made their presence felt at every level of the city’s life and, on the whole, had been well received. But the storm that broke over Stephen brought in its wake a decline in their popularity (cf. 6:12), which in turn enabled the Sanhedrin to take much stronger action against them. The word “persecution” occurs here for the first time in Acts (v. 1), and for the first time ordinary ...

3368. Cornelius Calls for Peter

Acts 10:1-8

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The importance that Luke ascribed to the story of Peter and Cornelius can be measured by the space that he gave to it. The story is told in detail in chapter 10, retold in chapter 11, and touched on again in chapter 15. The issue it raised was a critical one. To date the gospel had been well established in Jerusalem and was extending throughout the Jewish territory (9:31). It was only a matter of time, therefore, before the limits of that territory would be reached (both geographically and demographically ...

3369. 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 ...

3370. Eutychus Raised from the Dead at Troas

Acts 20:7-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

There is a marked contrast between the meager information of the previous section and the detail that characterizes the remainder of the journey now that the “we passages” have resumed. It includes in this section a description of a “church service” in Troas. 20:7 On the eve of the delegates’ departure from Troas, they met with the local Christians for a “service.” Luke allows us a glimpse of what was probably a typical meeting of Christians in these early days of the church. First, their purpose was to ...

3371. Paul the Roman Citizen

Acts 22:22-29

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

22:22–23 Until now the crowd had remained quiet (cf. v. 2) and prepared to hear what Paul had to say. But at the word “Gentiles” the riot was in danger of erupting again. No doubt what offended them was his claim to a divine commission to offer salvation to all peoples (this could have been read into his words from what they knew of him) without their submitting first to the “yoke” of the law (cf. 15:10). They would hear no more of this (cf. 7:57), and the opportunity was gone for Paul to defend himself, ...

3372. 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 ...

3373. The Plot to Kill Paul

Acts 23:12-22

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The Lord had assured Paul that he would witness in Rome, and that promise came a step nearer fulfillment with Paul’s transfer to Caesarea. The story has all the marks of an eyewitness account, such that only the most skeptical would question Luke’s veracity. Martin describes these verses as “a drama of suspense and mystery, with hurried exchanges of information, quick decisions, and sworn secrecy.” The name of God does not appear once, yet “the undertone of divine providence runs throughout; and God is ...

3374. The Trial Before Festus

Acts 25:1-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

25:1a Very little is known of Porcius Festus. Josephus contrasts him favorably with both his predecessor, Felix, and his successor, Albinus, stating that he acted promptly to rid the country of robbers and sicarii (Antiquities 20.182f.; War 2.271–276). He seems to have been disposed to govern the country well, but found himself unable to remedy the ill effects of Felix’s rule. Ehrhardt calls him “the one honourable governor Rome ever sent to Judea” (p. 117). As far as Paul was concerned, though Festus bore ...

3375. Paul’s Second Visit to the Jerusalem Church

Galatians 2:1-10

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

2:1–2 Paul says his next visit to Jerusalem was not for another fourteen years. We do not know if the fourteen years later refers to fourteen years after his conversion or after his first visit to Jerusalem. Paul says he and Barnabas went up together and that he took Titus with him. Barnabas and Paul had a functional partnership—Paul must have trusted Barnabas to share his views, or he would not have wanted him present at the Jerusalem meeting. At this stage of his ministry Paul identifies Barnabas as his ...

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