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 2273 results

351. Rejoicing in Reality

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... need to be comforted and filled, as much as we want blessing and mercy, as much as we yearn to be the precious children of God, we're not sure it is worth the cost. Or is it? Some commentators call this passage the "ordination address to the twelve." Matthew makes it clear that when Jesus saw the crowds, he made a beeline for the mountain, moving away from all the curious people in order to have conversation with the serious people. Just prior to this passage, we hear about the call to the disciples, those ...

352. Replacing a Fallen Comrade

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... on the roll--the number of Jewish males required by law to form a synagogue. But now there were only eleven leaders in the organization. One of the original twelve had been a traitor. So they needed to find a twelfth apostle--one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. It's not unusual for leadership to change in a church. Pastors leave. Lay people get transferred in their work. Sometimes it is a healthy situation and the congregation can sing, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"; sometimes, as in the case ...

353. When Being Good Is Bad For You Or Breaking The Chains Of Co-dependency

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... who have to "take care" of others; but the "taking care" has a sick quality to it. Melody Beattie has written three classic books on this subject: Co-Dependent No More, Beyond Co-Dependency and Getting Better All The Time, and Co-dependents Guide to the Twelve Steps. She defines co-dependency as "being affected by someone else's behavior and obsessed with controlling it." Do you see the possibility? Being good can be bad for you, even though the heart of Christian living is selfless love. II. That brings us ...

354. The Good Works We Leave Behind

Acts 9:36-43

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... Why, then, would he send everyone away? Why would he seek to clear the room and be alone with the body? Why? Because that's what he had seen Jesus do. Years before, when Peter and the rest of the twelve had accompanied Jesus all along the dusty roads of Galilee, Peter had been in a similar bedroom. The twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus had died, and the house was full of mourners. But Jesus sent them away. Or at least out of the room. And then, accompanied only by a select few disciples and the grieving ...

355. Hang in There!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to "rescue" Jesus, find some way of explaining away this conversation that will put him in a bit more flattering light. The commentators are all over the lot on this one. Some have said that Jesus was just having a bad day - he and the twelve had gone north, out of Galilee (the only time the Gospels have Jesus leaving his native land). He had been having trouble escaping the demanding crowds; things were dangerous politically (King Herod had recently beheaded his cousin, John the Baptist); he was frustrated ...

356. Stand Tall

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... . "If you want me to try it," Robert said after a long pause, "I'll try it." Robert built the program over nine months, drawing on sources personal, clinical, and spiritual. From his experiences with group therapy, he stressed mutual support and the twelve-step framework. Robert added his own personal touch as well as a Christian perspective to the program. His church continued to support him by sending him to several conferences on counseling and alcoholism. As Robert shared his past with others in the ...

357. Be a Bethany

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ” disciples. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were simply followers. More than that, they were simply friends. Significant, they were not part of the “official” group of twelve Jesus had called. It is enormously revealing that Jesus’ best friends were NOT part of The Twelve. Instead they were part of the supportive structure that Jesus leaned on throughout his ministry to buck him up and buoy him onward, as he approached the roughest waters in his life. Before Jesus entered into Jerusalem he did not need ...

358. Mission Ready!

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... hometown. He did not react. He expressed “surprise” and moved on to other communities. That is the way Jesus outlines the basics of what you and I know as Christianity, the Faith that inspires, informs, and moves onward with hope. That is the way Jesus taught the Twelve to work at it. The Western Cowboy gave similar advice to his men, “Move on slowly!” And the gentle and persuasive boss said to his tired men who were tempted to quit, “Just continue on ...” That is the way life is. You and I are ...

359. Making Your Days Count

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... he was tired. Rabbis traditionally sat down to teach. Jesus was grabbing hold of a "teachable moment." This was no casual conversation he was entering into. He was making it clear that now was the time for him to teach and for them to listen. "Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.'" HERE IS THE CENTRAL PURPOSE OF THE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE: TO SERVE. It doesn't matter if you are a janitor of a large company or its CEO, your ...

360. Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 1:4-8). The purpose of this gift is also made clear: It is to be used by the disciples so that they may be "witnesses" for Christ throughout the world. Although Luke records the re-establishment of the apostolate by the election of Matthias to the twelve, it is clear that the disciples are still waiting around for some sign which will give them a renewed sense of mission and purpose. With characteristic brevity, Luke here in 2:1-13 reports the arrival of this long-awaited gift. He cleverly likens the Spirit ...

361. Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

362. Praying With Bloody Knuckles

Isaiah 62:1-12, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

... significant. The breastplate was composed of folded cloth in which there were lodged twelve precious stones in four rows of three, each stone containing the name of one of the tribes. When the priest entered the Holy of Holies he bore on his body the twelve tribes. His very presence at the place of worship was an intercession for the people. He bore on himself, carried in his heart, his profound love and constant intercession for the people. This was a responsibility for the High Priest and a blessing for ...

363. The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

James W. Moore

... in. By this time, firemen were on the scene and the neighbors had gathered outside the smoldering remains of the house. The neighbors had been too frightened to go inside or to do anything to help, and they were tremendously impressed with the courage of the twelve-year old girl. They congratulated her for her heroic efforts and said, “Terri, you are so very brave. Weren’t you scared? What were you thinking about when you ran into the burning house?” I love Terri’s answer. She said, “I wasn’t ...

364. Choosing a God

1 Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Elijah to the altar to see what would happen. They did not have long to wait. In a flash, fire came down from heaven as lightning. It struck the meat and turned it to charcoal; it turned the wood to ashes; it scorched the rocks Elijah had set up for the twelve tribes; and in its heat, it evaporated all the water that had been poured out even to the extent of lapping up the overflow in the trench turning it into nothing more than a moat of steam. Elijah had won! The Lord had won! For the people, they knew ...

365. Laugh, Thomas, Laugh!

John 20:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to wake him." Now the group is even more confused. "What do you mean, you have to go and wake him? If he is asleep, that means he is going to get better." But then Jesus explains, "I do not mean asleep asleep; I mean asleep dead. Let's go." The twelve know how dangerous it is to make such a trip ... especially if it is only to pay last respects. But here we meet Thomas for the first time, the same Thomas we have called the doubter all these many centuries, and what do we find? No doubter now. We find ...

366. Look How You Listen

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... ." Is not this what all of us, in our best desiring, want to become? All of us who have perceived in Jesus Christ the power and love of the Son of God, do we not long to be, fully and completely, beloved children of God? You who, like the twelve, have been following faithfully, do you not with the Ephesians say, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing ... just as he chose us in Christ ... to be holy and blameless before him in love ...

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

Matthew 20:17-19

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... Him. This was to be a real test of His courage. Several times Jesus talked with His disciples about going to Jerusalem. It seems the closer they got to it, the more He talked with them about it, naturally so. Late in Matthew's gospel we find Jesus and the twelve getting ready to go there. In chapter seventeen Matthew tells us, "As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, 'The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.' And ...

368. Simon Peter: Strong Stone or Crumbling Clay?

Luke 22:54-62

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... of that night when I denied Jesus so painful is not only the fact that I was there then, but that I did indeed know him very well. For three years I had had the high privilege of being one of his chosen followers. Ask anyone to name one of the twelve, and chances are they will give you my name first. That’s how you’ll find it, too, in the list of the apostles provided in the Bible. I don’t say that to boast. It only adds to my shame that I who had been more or less a ...

369. God Communicates in Humanly Understandable Terms

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard D. Campbell

... of the young Jesus as an exhibitionist or some kind of "boy wonder." Christian art has sometimes depicted the incident under the misleading caption, "The Boy Jesus Teaching in the Temple." But scripture never portrays Jesus as a "boy wonder"! Luke never suggests the twelve-year-old was a precocious teacher of elders. Luke describes Jesus as "... sitting among the teachers, listening ..." (v. 46). Like any boy of that young age who has been raised in a devout home, he listened with respect to his elders. So ...

370. Peter Disowns Jesus

Mark 14:66-72

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... accusation made by the servant girl, but in doing so he is denying Jesus. You are a Galilean: Matt. 26:73 says that Peter’s accent indicated that he was not from Judea but from the northern part of Palestine. This connection of Jesus and the Twelve with Galilee suggests that Jesus was known as a popular figure of that area and was less closely identified with Judea. Galilee was the area from which several leaders of Jewish resistance against Rome arose in Jesus’ era. 14:72 Immediately the rooster crowed ...

371. Serving Hands

Psalm 92:1-15

Sermon

... service to us, instituted the special meal of his own body and blood, the meal which was prepared with you and me in mind. By the Gospel and the faith that's been worked in our hearts, we are invited as Jesus' guests to this special meal. Like the twelve who sat together with him that first night, we have been called into discipleship. We have been invited spiritually to the upper room to partake in this most special meal, to fellowship with our Lord and one another, to sing hymns, to share the Word, and to ...

372. The Healing of a Boy With an Evil Spirit

Luke 9:37-45

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... . What is puzzling is that in 9:1 Jesus had given his disciples “power and authority to drive out all demons,” and yet in this case they were unable to effect a cure. It is unlikely that disciples other than the Twelve are in view. Fitzmyer (p. 809) wonders if the power given to the Twelve in 9:1 was only for the mission itself and so was temporary. This may be, for it is in the context of the later mission of the Seventy that the disciples of Jesus once again experience authority over demons (see ...

373. Sister Act

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... that Jesus loved and valued both sisters equally. It's unfortunate that we see only this one occasion when Mary is praised and Martha put down. I'm sure that Jesus did not mean for us to read it that way. After all, assuming Jesus and the twelve were all there, plus Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, there were at least 17 hungry people to be fed. No wonder Martha was "distracted with much serving." Have you ever served seventeen hungry people? Max Lucado is right on target when he writes: "Every church needs a ...

374. Choosing Your Spirituality

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... barely survive, and then die before they know what is happening. I want a spirituality that inspires hope, positive thought, a vision of better things to come. Visit the Hall of Faith: Abraham and Moses, David and Isaiah, John the Baptizer and the Twelve Apostles believed God was inspiring them to look into the future expecting better and greater things to happen. They responded to that challenge and greater things happened. A spirituality that will do these things for me must answer three questions with a ...

375. John 20:19-31

John 20:19-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 21). The number of those gathered in this closed room is never revealed in John’s text. But there is no reason to assume this group is only the ten apostles (Judas and Thomas being absent). In fact, since John refers specifically to “The Twelve” in v.24 to describe Jesus’ apostles, the implication is that these undifferentiated “disciples” are a larger group. It is to all those present, therefore, that Jesus gives his commission: “So send I you.” The focus and scope of this “sentness” is ...

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