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 351 to 375 of 779 results

351. Remember Your Baptism

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In his book, The Gospel For The Person Who Has Everything, William Willimon tells of a young friend, age 4, who was asked on the occasion of his 5th birthday what kind of party he wanted to have. I want everybody to be a king and queen, Clayton said. So, he and his mother went to work, fashioning a score of silver crowns – cardboard and aluminum foil, purple robes – crepe paper, and royal scepters – sticks painted gold. On the day of the party, as the guests arrived, they were each given a royal crown, a ...

352. The God Who Must Be Pursued

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Arnold Palmer once played a series of exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia. The king was so impressed that he proposed, in good Middle Eastern fashion, to honor his guest with a gift. Palmer resisted, "It really isn't necessary, Your Highness. I'm honored to have been invited." And, in good Middle Eastern fashion, his highness persisted, "I would be deeply upset," replied the king, "if you would not allow me to give you a gift." Palmer thought for a moment, "All right. How about a golf club? That would be a ...

353. Appointed and Sent!

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

The wheat harvest was glorious that year on our farm in South Dakota. Our pastor even came out from town and shocked grain for us. The two men from Arkansas that my dad hired were less ambitious. When Mom brought lunch out to them she often found them resting in the shade of a shock of grain. Nonetheless, the golden sheaves of wheat were so full and heavy they seemed to bow down to us as we passed by on the road. Soon the threshing machine and crew would arrive to separate wheat from straw. It was an ...

354. Jesus’ Compassion and Authority to Feed and Heal

Matthew 15:21-28, Matthew 15:29-39

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew demonstrates Jesus’ compassion and authority in a miraculous feeding and in healing that extends even to a Gentile, indicating that trust is the right response to Jesus. Understanding the Text For a third time in Matthew, Jesus withdraws from controversy (15:21; see also 12:15; 14:13) to minister with healing to the crowds (15:22, 30–31). Given that Matthew focuses almost exclusively on Jesus’ ministry to Israel (10:5–6), it is significant that the story of the healing of a Canaanite ...

355. Jonathan’s Faith Ignites a Victory

1 Sam 13:16–14:23

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: Faith in the Lord’s great power can be the catalyst for his saving intervention. Understanding the Text After announcing the demise of Saul’s dynasty, Samuel departs, leaving Saul alone with a mere six hundred troops to face the Philistine army (1 Sam. 13:15). The situation appears to be bleak, especially when the narrator informs us that the Israelite troops are ill equipped for battle due to a Philistine monopoly on iron (vv. 19–22). But sometimes crisis is the seedbed for heroism. Saul’s son ...

356. The Agenda Factor

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

William L. Self

Architecture and power are Siamese twins joined at the hip. Rulers have always wanted to translate their power into brick and mortar -- from the tower of Babel and Egypt's pharaohs to Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler. I. M. Pei, in his contract given by FranÁois Mitterand to renovate the Louvre, was commissioned to re-establish the glory of France. Serious resources have been committed by rulers to display their strength and grandeur with architecture. David had finally consolidated his ...

357. The Christian Journey II: The Mountain

Sermon

John N. Brittain

Psalm 30; Exodus 24:15-18; Mark 9:2-9 Virtually every religion has regarded mountains as sacred places. Mircea Eliade, the great religious scholar, called mountains an axis mundi, a symbolic link between heaven and earth, between the divine and the human. For those of us from the flat lands of the midwest it may not be as obvious as it should be why this is so. There is something about a mountain that lifts one's mind beyond the mundane no matter how you look at it. A mountain on the horizon cannot help ...

358. The Real Jesus is Channeling Grace

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Carl Jech

I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26) Over the last couple decades we have heard critics decry what has been variously described as "civil religion," "religion in general," or "the religion of the American way of life." Recently, Dr. Robert Jenson, a professor at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, restated the criticism this way: "The God proclaimed in American Protestantism is ...

359. An Unpopular Profession

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Matthew was a tax collector. He was probably stationed in Capernaum, an excellent spot for collecting excise from travelers and merchants, on the trade route between Ptolemais and Damascus. Now, tax collectors are not on the list of anyone’s favorite people at best, but in ancient Israel it was even worse. Tax collectors had little or no social standing. Their word was not accepted in a Jewish court of law. Their money was considered tainted and would not be accepted by the synagogue. In fact, in Jesus’ ...

360. Proper 16

Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 11:33-36, Romans 12:1-8, Isaiah 51:1-16, Exodus 2:1-10, Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 1:8-2:10 The birth of Moses. The story of the Patriarchs ended with Joseph's bringing the Hebrews to Egypt. In due time they multiplied until they became a threat to the Egyptians. The story of the Exodus begins with the birth of Moses who was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. The next ten readings will take us from Moses' birth, to the release from Egypt, to the wilderness wanderings for forty years, to Moses' death. Old Testament: Isaiah 22:19-23 Worthy and unworthy leaders ...

361. A New Day Is Coming

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Richard Gribble

South Africa, a nation rich in resources, people, and possibility, only recently emerged from its darkest hour. The nation traveled through a tunnel of darkness and ignorance that was generated by a social and racial system of segregation called Apartheid. The National Party of South Africa, formed in 1914 after a revolt by the Afrikaner people against the British, created the system of Apartheid in 1948. Ostensibly it was advertised as a means for "separate development" but it in essence was a system ...

362. He Presented Himself Alive

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Robert Lewis Stephenson, on one of his voyages to the South Seas, told about a terrific storm that frightened all the passengers. One man finally went out on deck and watched the captain pace the bridge, calm and undisturbed. He came back to the cabin where the passengers were huddled together and said to them: “I have seen the captain’s face, and all is well.” It was that kind of word that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary carried back to the disciples on that first Easter morning. How remarkable that, in ...

363. The Power to Belong

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

At the tender age of 11, I stood before a crippled preacher in a tiny country church, professed my faith in Jesus Christ and became a full member of that congregation. My devout mother doubted I was old enough to know what I was doing. A few skeptics seemed sure I was not sincere. That was 49 years ago. I still love Jesus and I still believe the local church is God's best hope for humanity. So on this Sunday that we have set aside for membership and confirmation, I want to talk about the power of belonging ...

364. 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 ...

365. No Confidence in the Flesh

Philippians 3:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

First Conclusion: Call to Rejoice “With this communication about Epaphroditus now the epistle seems to be at an end” (Ewald, ad loc.). If so, nothing remains but a final word of greeting. The reader is therefore prepared for Finally. 3:1 Finally: the natural inference from this phrase (drawn by most commentators) is that Paul is on the point of finishing his letter. If the letter be regarded as a unity, it must be assumed that something suddenly occurred to him which prompted the warning of verse 2 with ...

366. Love the Lord Your God

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

One Lord, One Love, One Loyalty: 6:1–6:3 This section starting back in 5:32 links the earlier recollection of the past events at Horeb and the actual exhortation and teaching of the law to the present generation that is launched at 6:4. Since it has now been established that Moses is God’s authorized spokesman, then the people’s obedience to what he tells them is effectively obedience to God, and any deviation to the right or to the left will be a rejection of the way of the Lord. In Hebrew, chapter 6 ...

367. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Oh You Obstinate Nation: It has made sense to read much of chapters 28–29 against the background of Judean assertion of independence from Assyria and alliance with Egypt in the latter part of Isaiah’s ministry, but only in chapter 30 does reference to Egypt become explicit. While the setting might be the independence movement during the reign of Sargon in 713–711 B.C., alluded to in passages such as 14:28–32, we have separate reference to alliance with Egypt in the context of the similar events of 705–701 ...

368. And a Child Will Lead Them

Exodus 2:1-10, Matthew 18:1-9, Matthew 18:10-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

When Maria (name disguised), dying of cancer, watched her partner hurt her three young children for the 7th time that month, she did the most painful thing a mother can do. She sent them away. She secretly arranged for them to be rescued and adopted, so that she could ensure their safety when she knew she could no longer fend for them. She couldn’t bear to leave them with him while she spent her last days in the hospital. Maria gave up the chance to spend the last moments of her life with her children in ...

369. Giving Our Best

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

King Duncan

A few years ago when corporate America was emphasizing excellence in the workplace a story was circulating about a widower who had for years been eating at the same restaurant. On this particular night, he sat down at his usual table and his waiter, as usual, put before him, as usual, a bowl of chicken soup. As he started leaving, Mr. Smith called out, “Waiter!” “What?” said the waiter. “Please taste this soup,” said Mr. Smith. The waiter frowned. “It’s the chicken soup you always have,” said the waiter. “ ...

370. Proper 7

Mt 10:16-39 · Rom 5:12 – 6:11 · Jer 20:7-13 · Gen 21:8-21 · Ps 86

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Genesis 21:8-21 Sarah jealously guards the rights of her natural son, Isaac, by ordering Abraham to throw out her slave girl, Hagar, with her son. God speaks to Abraham in his distress about the plight of Hagar and her son, telling him to do as Sarah wished because his descendants would be counted through Isaac. Furthermore, God would also make a great nation through Ishmael. Lesson 1: Jeremiah 20:7-13 Jeremiah was born about 650 B.C. and began his ministry in the 13th year of King ...

371. Resist Temptation

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

The Holy Gospel for this First Sunday in Lent is the evangelist Mark's very brief account of the temptation of Christ. The temptation account may bring to your mind the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ. That movie gained much attention, because many people protested the substance of what was purported to be a possible last temptation of our Lord. The suggested temptation was that on the cross Jesus thought about what life would have been or might have been like had he loved a woman and married. Many ...

372. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

There is something strange and paradoxical about the faith of Christians, and many people struggle to understand how we can celebrate the life of someone who died on a cross; someone who didn't fit the conventional criteria of success; someone who brought good and joy to the world, yet was executed by the very people to whom he brought goodness. How could God take someone who was penniless and make us wealthy; someone who was homeless and provide us with a many-roomed mansion in our Father's house? What a ...

373. Counsel for Discouraged Disciples

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

John Bunyan had a remarkable ability to represent everyday truth in impressive allegory. One of the most vivid representations in his story, Pilgrim ‘s Progress, has to do with what happened in the Valley of Humiliation. No sooner had Pilgrim entered this valley than he saw the foul fiend Apollyon bearing down upon him, breathing fire and smoke. Pilgrim’s first impulse was to turn and flee for his life. As he was about to do so, however, he remembered that the only armor he wore was on his front side. ...

374. Christian The King

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken." "And he made us kings and priests unto God and his Father." (Revelation 1:6a [KJV]) A four-year-old boy was about to have a birthday. His mother told him he could have any kind of party he wanted. He asked for a party where everyone would be a king or queen. In preparation for his big day, ...

375. The Reality Of The Resurrection

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Brett Blair

Here we are in the year 2003. It still fills me with a bit of awe that I witnessed the turn of the millennium. We are looking back this year and celebrating some amazing things that happened, things that seemed impossible in their day. There are three major celebrations. Perhaps you are aware of them: We are celebrating a centennial: 100 years ago few people thought it possible that man could fly. No one except the two sons of Rev. Milton Wright who at 10:35 on the morning of Dec. 17, 1903 made their first ...

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