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 3951 to 3975 of 4942 results

3951. Division of the House

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

William G. Carter

The more we read the Bible, the more we see things we might wish Jesus never said. This passage is one of them: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Did any of us come to church today to hear him say that? This is the season for family reunions. Most of us have been in gatherings that include fathers, mothers, grandparents, and children. It it is somewhat disturbing to come to church today and hear Jesus say, “I have come to set a man ...

3952. I Have Been Gifted!

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Ronald Love

In December 2019, Grace Fellowship United Methodist Church voted to leave its affiliation with the United Methodist Church and partner with the Free Methodist Church. For several years the controversy surrounding the religious issues dealing with the status of homosexuals in the congregation has severely damaged the denomination. A number of individuals have become outspoken activists, promoting varying positions on this dispute. This has consumed a considerable amount of time, energy, and money of the UMC ...

3953. How About Some Applause for the Creator?

Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Author Fleming Rutledge tells about a time years ago when she was serving as pastor of a church in New York City. She says that during those days, she used to hang around with some people, “urbane literary types,” as she called them, “most of whom were somewhat disdainful of religion.” She remembers one man in particular. When he discovered that Rutledge was a pastor, he made a confession to her. He confessed very sheepishly that he had done something behind his wife’s back. Apparently, his wife had long ...

3954. Imperfect Pastors

Exodus 32:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

I don’t mean to shock you with this revelation first thing in the morning, but there is no such thing as the perfect pastor. Much as I hate to admit it, we all have room for improvement. That is why every pastor needs leaders who will hold them accountable. Most pastors are grateful for honest, constructive criticism. But, like any leader, sometimes pastors get less-than-helpful feedback from their people. Thom Rainer is a church consultant and former pastor, so he has been on both sides of the pulpit. He ...

3955. God's Plan for a New Year

Galatians 4:4-7

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Bill called his parents to wish them a happy New Year, and his dad answered the phone. “Well, Dad, what’s your New Year’s resolution?” Bill asked him. “To make your mother as happy as I can all year,” Dad answered. When mom got on the phone, Bill said, “What’s your resolution, Mom?” She answered, “To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution.” I don’t know if you have given any thought to making resolutions as we say good-bye to this year and hello to the next. However, our text from Paul’s letter ...

3956. Taking the High Way to Heaven

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Lori Wagner

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. --Genesis 28:12 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. --John 14:6 MAX (formerly HBO) has seen huge success recently with its show scripted by Julian Fellowes (author of the popular Downton Abbey), called The Gilded Age. Set in late 19th century New York, the show’s season two finale featured the opulent opening of the newly constructed Brooklyn Bridge. ...

3957. Casters and Menders

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

What’s your personality type? Today, we have lots of personality tests and guides to help you get to know yourself, your best and worst qualities, your weaknesses and strengths, your unique likes and dislikes, the key ways that you handle situations and relationships, the gifts you contribute to a team. Employers, psychologists, dating sites, and others often use these kinds of surveys to help them determine outstanding matches, hires, and dynamic innovators. Why? Because we know as human beings that the ...

3958. We Need Another Miracle

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Do you believe in miracles? Psychology Today reports of a study that surveyed almost 36,000 Americans, aged eighteen to seventy-plus- years-old, and found that 78% of people under the age of thirty believed in miracles versus 79% among those older than thirty (Pew Research Center, 2010). With respect to religious affiliation, 83% of those who were affiliated believed in miracles in contrast to 55% of respondents who were unaffiliated. Although people from all religions believe in miracles, over 80% of ...

3959. Heroines of the Faith

Mark 1:29.39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I am certain that you Bible scholars have experienced the same phenomenon as I have, namely, that you can read the same passage over and over and over again and find something that strikes you anew each time. Scripture does not change, of course, but we change. It is that old saying about not being able to step into the same river twice. That is my experience with this pericope. In years past, I would have noted the Lord’s healing ministry, the way the word spread through the people about this wonder- ...

3960. The View From The Mountaintop

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The transfiguration of the Lord. An important day on the calendar of the church, and one that regularly falls near another important day on the secular calendar of America, the birthday of the man who has been called America’s greatest president, Abraham Lincoln. We have heard the old aphorism about some being born great, some achieving greatness, and some having greatness thrust upon them. Abraham Lincoln can surely lay claim to, at least, the last two of those. Lincoln has always fascinated me. Many of ...

3961.

Psalm 83:1-18

Teach the Text

Craig C. Broyles

The Conspiracy of the Nations Unlike other corporate prayer psalms, this one actually names the national enemies (vv. 5–8), and so it would seem we have one psalm we can date precisely to a particular crisis. But we cannot correlate the nations listed in this alliance with any event narrated in the OT. This list of ten nations appears simply to summarize those who have been national enemies of the people of God, thus making this psalm appropriate for any instance where national security is threatened. ...

3962.

Psalm 83:1-18

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

3963.

Psalm 101:1-8

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

Vows About Acceptable and Unacceptable Associates The genre and function of this psalm are difficult to determine because it is unique. It begins with phrases familiar from individual thanksgivings (“to you, O LORD, I will sing praise”), but what follows are not confessions of what God has done but vows of how the speaker will live. Their closest parallel in the Psalms appears in the liturgies of temple entry (e.g., 26:1–8, 11; see the Introduction). 101:1–2a While the whole psalm is probably recited to ...

3964.

Psalm 103:1-22

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

The Lord Compassionate and Slow to Anger Because this psalm combines individual thanksgiving (vv. 2–5) and corporate hymnody (vv. 6–18), commentators have debated which is indicative of its function (see Allen, Psalms 101–150, [WBC 21; Waco: Word, 1983], pp. 19–20). As I have argued, this separation between individual and corporate settings has been overstressed. Whether the concerns were individual or corporate, Israel’s worship was primarily public. In this public setting, a liturgist would lead the ...

3965.

Psalm 108:1-13

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

Prayer for God’s Exaltation and for His Victory over “Edom” 108:1–13 Verses 1–5 were drawn from Psalm 57:7–11, an individual prayer. They consist of a vow to praise God internationally and an invocation for the universal manifestation of his glory. By excluding 57:1–6 our psalm omits all references to individual distress. Verses 6–13 of our psalm were drawn from Psalm 60:5–12, a corporate prayer lamenting a battle defeat. These verses consist primarily of an oracle promising military victory and of ...

3966.

Psalm 110:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

The Davidic King Promised Dominion over Enemies Psalm 110 is a royal psalm composed originally for the preexilic Davidic kings and was later applied to the Messiah, as the many NT citations make evident (the NT cites this psalm more than any other OT passage). Like Psalm 2, it refers to Yahweh’s installation of the king on Zion and to his promise of military dominion over enemies. Both of these psalms may have been sung at the king’s enthronement (implied by “sit at my right hand”) or annually “in the ...

3967.

Psalm 122:1-9

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

Peace for Jerusalem, the City of Pilgrims Like other psalms of ascent, this one contains hints of pilgrimage. The call, “Let us go to the house of the LORD,” signals their journey’s departure, and the declaration, “our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem,” signals their arrival in the holy city. The description of the tribes “going up” (Hb. ʿlh, v. 4) uses a key term for the worshipers’ ascent to Yahweh’s mountain (cf. 24:3). The voice of a representative liturgist is evident. The speaking “I” in ...

3968.

Psalm 145:1-21

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

The Divine King and His Universal Kingdom The praise of this psalm is hymnic in that it praises God’s attributes and deeds in general, but the speaker is “I” throughout (“we/us” does not appear), and the opening verses are characteristic of individual thanksgiving. It begins, not with an imperative summons addressed to a congregation, but with a proclamation of praise: “I will exalt you.” The verses form an acrostic (i.e., each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hb. alphabet), but this feature ...

3969. Denunciation of the Intruding Teachers

Jude 1:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

1–2 · Salutation: The salutation is brief, identifying the author, as we have noted, and then identifying the recipients as people who have been “called,” “loved,” and “kept” by God the Father and Jesus Christ. There is no criticism of these “dear friends” stated anywhere in the letter. 3–4 · Opening: Reason for writing: After the salutation comes the reason for writing. While about to write in another vein, Jude has received information that means he must instead exhort the community he addresses to “ ...

3970. David's Mighty Men

2 Samuel 23:8-39

Teach the Text

Big Idea: Sin sometimes has devastating consequences: God’s justice must be satisfied. Understanding the Text The Structure and Function of 2 Samuel 21-24: These final chapters of 2 Samuel are an epilogue. They are arranged in a mirror structure, in which the elements in the second half of the literary unit thematically correspond to those of the first half, but in reverse order, creating a mirror effect:1 A Saul’s sin and its atonement: David as royal judge (21:1–14) B The mighty deeds of David’s men (21: ...

3971. The Lord's Answer

Habakkuk 1:5-11

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

A Protest and an Answer (i): After the introduction (v. 1), Habakkuk challenges Yahweh about faithlessness and violence in Judah and Yahweh’s failure to act in deliverance (vv. 2–4), and Yahweh announces the intention to take action by means of the Babylonians (vv. 5–11). 1:5–11 Yahweh is stung into responding and implies that Habakkuk’s protest was quite proper. It is necessary to do something about the way people are treating each other in Jerusalem, and Yahweh is committed to acting. Typically Yahweh ...

3972. Blessings for a Defiled People

Haggai 2:10-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

December: More than two more months have passed; the day of the final prophecies by Haggai that are recorded, the 24th day of the ninth month (December) is exactly three months from the day when people began the work on the temple, on the 24th day of the sixth month (September, Hag. 1:15). The festival of Hanukkah, commemorating the rededication of the temple after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, was subsequently set to begin on the day after this, on the 25th day of the ninth month (December), ...

3973. Building Trust

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

David Coffin

Imagine a family member receiving a late night phone call, in which the caller ID reads, “County Corrections.” A close loved one is being held in custody due to an arrest of being intoxicated either on an alcoholic or opioid drug influence while driving their motor vehicle. The loved one needs the family member to immediately call them a lawyer and drive down to the county corrections facility. This is like being unexpectedly ambushed at night from a person whom we least expect to be acting like this. This ...

3974. Gideon's Ephod and Death

Judges 8:28-35

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

After executing the two kings, Gideon takes the ornaments off their camels’ necks. This curious detail is significant in that such ornaments, along with the pendants and purple garments mentioned in 8:26, were status symbols often associated with royalty. Perhaps not coincidentally, Gideon’s interest in such items is followed immediately by the report of the people’s offer of kingship to him (8:22–27). Admittedly, kingship is never explicitly mentioned in the people’s offer. But the verb “to rule over” ( ...

3975. The Raising

John 11:32-44

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Stones have fascinated us since the beginning of time. They make up the bulk of the earth’s crust. The earth’s mass comprised primarily of igneous rocks, such as granite and basalt, consists of minerals, such as silicon, oxygen, iron, aluminum, magnesium, and others. Most land rock is granite. Most oceanic rock is thicker basalt. These rocks comprise 95% of the earth’s substance. The surface yields sedimentary rock, primarily such as shale and limestone, which make up the remaining percent.[1] From the ...

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