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 2815 results

351. The Man From Galilee IV: The Treasure Of His Kingdom

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... ."1 To discover the treasure of the kingdom of Heaven is to find life's greatest joy. II. Second, the treasure of His kingdom costs life's highest price. The greatest joy is never free. It always requires something. The price is high. Jesus said this man in his parable "sells all that he has." He sold everything in order to raise enough money to be able to buy this field in which the treasure was found. The kingdom of Heaven is like that. It costs life's highest price. We may look at this negatively. It may ...

352. Proper 10

Genesis 25:19-34, Isaiah 55:1-13, Romans 8:18-27, Romans 8:1-17, Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... it means death to our old lives. The Spirit pushes us along the birth canal to the light of a new life. Gospel: Matthew 13:1-23 1. Sermon Title: The Gospel Story. Sermon Angle: Jesus communicated the Gospel entirely through the medium of story. That's what parables are, a story with a key point of comparison between God's kingdom and our lives. Fertile soil is found when His story intersects with our story. Outline: 1. How do we communicate the Gospel? 2. We try to get inside the other person's story 3. We ...

353. Proper 11

Romans 8:18-27, Isaiah 44:6-23, Genesis 28:10-22, Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... might be a weed; I could have easily been mistaken. We may see some people as weeds and attempt to remove them from our lives, only to find that some of these were actually productive plants in God's field. Holocaust. According to the interpretation of the Parable of the Weeds And The Wheat (vv. 36-43), the weeds will be separated from the wheat at harvest time. The wheat will be gathered to God and the weeds will be consumed in a holocaust. The holocaust by the Nazis destroyed some of the most fruitful ...

354. Proper 19

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7, Psalm 51:1-19, Exodus 32:1-33:6, Hosea 4:1-19, Hosea 6:1--7:16, 1 Timothy 1:12-20

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... God loves them and what he has done, and is doing, to find them and deliver them from death and the devil. This is part of the message that Jesus wanted to convey to the Pharisees, who "watched him," apparently at a dinner where he was a guest. The parable of the father and his two sons, when seen in this context, highlights the joy of the heavenly Father over the return of penitent sinners to the fold through his continuing mercy and grace in Christ. SERMON SUGGESTIONS Luke 15:1-10 (RC, E, L, C); 15:1-3 ...

355. The Confessions of a Younger Brother

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

... if I do not pay any attention to the "signs" I already have - people with needs - I will not pay attention to the voice of my dead brother. At first, I was a little irritated with Abraham, but now I think he is right. Like the rich man in the parable, I am surrounded by people with needs. Some of these people are poor in the sense of economy and suffer the indignity of homelessness, nakedness and hunger. They are in my life just as Lazarus was in the life of the rich man. They cross my path at times when ...

356. Opportunism? Or Opportunity?

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

... it so that we might have an opportunity to know and serve him. But the opportunity too quickly becomes opportunism - the snatching of the opportune moment so that it may be converted into selfish gain. The logical conclusion of it all is that which we read in the parable in Matthew: We kill the owner’s son (in fact, we may pretend that we can kill the owner by supposing that he isn’t there). And in our headlong dash into vain opportunism, we lose completely what was given us in love. A planet, meant to ...

357. Welcome to the Training Table!

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

... for it - in the great celebrative banquet God’s people will share when they are gathered into his family in the world to come. The parable in the text for today, about a great wedding banquet, could also be understood in that way. God calls all humanity to share his ... it hard to understand or duplicate. It’s in that context that we can best understand the second half of the parable in this week’s text. The "regulars," having turned down the invitation to the banquet (let us translate, for our purposes ...

358. The Riddles of Jesus

Luke 8:1-15

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... with me that I would let anyone here read if he wants to. [Let someone try to read it.] No one could read it except the doctor or the pharmacist. They write notes that are like parables. You must study it and belong to the doctor’s or pharmacist’s group to know what it means. Sometimes Jesus told parables like that for the Christians. Only the people who believed in Jesus could really understand what they meant. Other people heard Jesus talk, just as you can look at the note from the doctor, but they ...

359. On Being a Tenant

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... our responsibility to share it with him. We often treat the church as if we are doing it a favor when we give. Still, this parable would tell us that we Christians are obligated to return a considerable portion of all that God has given us from the vineyard. "Not what ... the walls of the law of God. To reject and turn him down is in the end to be crushed out of life. He promises in this parable that he comes to us with a loving appeal, God’s only son, that we might receive him and know a new life as a tenant ...

360. Neighbors Who Never Met

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

... our life of luxury while others live their life of poverty. But alas, it is not so! Heaven's reversal of fortune shall one day awaken us to the fact that we have separated ourselves from the agonies of others. That we did not care about others who suffered. This parable invites us to sit along side of Lazarus and see the world from his point of view. That is troubling because when I do that I look a lot more like the rich man in this story than I do the poor man. And I know what eventually happened to ...

361. What Can We Count On From God?

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

James W. Moore

... Jesus was not suggesting that God is like the judge… not that at all! Jesus was pointing out that God is as different from the judge as day is from night. He is not likening them; he is contrasting them. This is what I call a “How Much More” parable. Jesus was saying: If a selfish arrogant, unfeeling, unjust judge can help you if you ask, then how much more can God who loves you intensely help you when you ask. I use this kind of “how much more analogy” all the time. For example, imagine that a ...

362. On Being Picked For The "Rework"

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15

Sermon

King Duncan

... ruin us no, we do a very good job of that on our own! We are free moral creatures, but the sad fact is that we are all spoiled by sin. Since the fall, our freedom is exercised unilaterally always in a direction away from God. This is the parable, as Dr. Don Strobe dubbed it, of "God and Us CrackedPots!" God, the Divine Potter, sends us off into the "catch pan" of fallen humanity, and there we are "melted down." That's precisely what happens to us when we come to acknowledge and profess Christ we are melted ...

363. The Gospel Of Another Chance (choir Dedication)

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... For goodness sakes, why doesn't someone do something about this?" I know a lot of "goodness-sakers". They're always saying "for goodness sake, something ought to be done." But they never get around in sharing in the doing of it. So the obvious truth of the parable is that unfruitfulness is not allowed God's vineyard. Uselessness is a sin because it means that when we are useless we fall short of God's intention for us. You remember that old poem in the vernacular: There are a number of us who creep Into the ...

364. Turn in an Account of Your Stewardship

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... your devotion to money and material things causes you to be self-centered, you in essence deny God’s intention for your life. It is also a denial of the Christ, for Jesus came into the world so that we might be in union with God. The implication in the parable that Jesus told is that if you allow money to be your master, there is no way you can say “Yes!” to God. There are some things money cannot buy. Money will buy a bed, but not sweet dreams. Money will buy books, but not wisdom. Money will buy a ...

365. When Jesus Comes to Church

Mark 11:27-33

Sermon

Michael Milton

... . They came face-to-face with God in their lives, but they spurned His grace. …So they left him and went away (Mark 12:12). Jesus comes, not to condemn you, but to save you and to expose the things that do condemn you. What would you do with this parable? They went away, but …Blessed are all who take refuge in him (Psalm 2:12 ). I once was with someone who had a serious operation. It was not known if there would ever be feeling in this person’s legs again. But after the surgery he told me, “I can ...

366. What Time Is It?

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... accordingly, live as those who have seen the light. So live with hope. Live as those who know that the Kingdom of God is coming. So live lives that become the Kingdom. That is the same message that is in the gospel lesson read to us this morning, the famous Parable of the Talents. It comes in the 25th chapter of Matthew. It tells us that while the Master is away, we are to work. While the Lord is delayed, we are to work. We are to invest what he has given to us, the good news of the Kingdom, invest ...

367. Proper 20

Exodus 16:1-36, Matthew 20:1-16, Philippians 1:12-30, Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon Aid

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

... frame around the story created by the inverted phrases, "first will be last, and the last will be first" and "last will be first, and the first will be last," in 19:30 and 20:16. This theme of the reversal of order also occurs in the parable (20:8). Structure. The lesson opens with a routine, standard beginning (v. 1), which makes a comparison between "the kingdom of heaven" and "a landowner who went out . . . to hire laborers for his vineyard." Then in a first scene we follow the vineyard owner as he moves ...

368. Proper 21

Exodus 17:1-7, Matthew 21:23-27, Matthew 21:28-32, Philippians 2:1-11, Psalm 78:1-72

Sermon Aid

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

... comes as the good news that real change does take place. The past doesn't determine the future. A bad decision or a hastily spoken word does not eternally set you outside God's good graces. A call refused can be reconsidered. (2) After the parable proper, the second part of v. 31 makes a strong statement that the Christian community needs to hear on occasion. Jesus reminds us that people who are genuinely unconcerned with God can often be caught up in the fresh movement of the Spirit more easily than ...

369. The Lost and Found Son

Luke 15:11-24

Sermon

James W. Moore

... tenderly as a loving father! Hold that in your mind for a moment… we are going to come back to that, but first remember the parable with me. One day, Jesus told the story about a man who had two sons. The younger son got restless and came to his father ... and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive again… he was lost and now is found.” What a powerful parable this is! Packed with meaning, packed with life! Now, we could go off in lots of different directions in trying to understand what ...

370. Matthew 20:1-16

Matthew 20:1-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... waiting there, he promptly hires them and sends them out to his vineyards. This scene is repeated again at noon, three and five o'clock. Each time, idle laborers are employed and sent out to work. In verse 8, the second half of this parable begins. The landowner gives his manager specific instructions for paying all the workers. By paying the last-hired first, those first-hired not only witness the landowner's generosity toward these late-hired workers but they also have to wait around, adding even more ...

371. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... on his unscrupulous steward (v.8a), or they give up trying to justify the master's commendation by declaring that a particularly catastrophic scribal error caused a misreading of verse 8a, which, in turn, resulted in a wrong conclusion. The gist of the parable in verses 1-7 remains fairly clear, whatever one chooses to believe about verse 8. Jesus, who has been addressing the scribes and Pharisees, now turns and offers a message for the disciples. The man eventually tagged as the "dishonest manager" is ...

372. Luke 14:25-33

Luke 14:25-33

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... cost of discipleship. If one counts the cost, one will scarcely choose to follow at all. His comments are instead deliberately aimed at thinning the ranks of the casual and the curious who are following him. Another scholar offers a compelling view of these two parables in the Lukan context. He views the stories from the perspective of Jesus himself. Jesus, facing Jerusalem, is seeking committed disciples to carry on the work of the kingdom. It is he who is the tower-builder and the king going to war. He is ...

373. Luke 18:1-8

Luke 18:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ), losing one's life (17:33), one being taken and "the other left" (17:35), and following Jesus' words, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather" (17:37) Luke should intervene editorially to encourage the "chosen ones" (v. 7) "not to lose heart" (v. 1). The parable is similar to Jesus' remarks in 11:5-8 about the neighbor who goes to a friend at midnight asking for a loaf of bread for his late-arriving guests. Although the friend will not get up to fetch a loaf of bread in the name of friendship ...

374. You Fool!

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... have two dogs in our hearts," he said. "One dog is called Good; the other dog is called Evil. They fight all the time." A friend asked, "Which one wins?" "The one I feed," the man replied. The greedy man in our text and the greedy farmer in Jesus' parable both fed the wrong dog. They fell into the trap of feeding the dog which urged priority to the trivial pursuits in this life to the neglect of eternal pursuits. It's like someone got into the window of life and moved the price tags on the items displayed ...

375. Why Is God Unfair?

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... homily. "In the same manner [Rabbi Bun], although he had only studied the law up to the age of 28, knew it better than a learned man or a pious man who would have studied it up to the age of 100 years." According to his telling of the parable, the wages are earned appropriately, for the last who were hired worked harder than the first, and accomplished more. Yet, Jesus won't give us that room for interpretation. He clearly says that the last to be hired have been "idle" all day (Matthew 20:6-7), not just ...

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