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 4251 to 4275 of 4959 results

4251. Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... a mission that was not completed simply by the act of incarnation, but by the climatic ending of his work through his death on the cross. It is this obedience, even to death, that gives the human Jesus his claim to Lordship and which encourages his disciples to follow in his footsteps. The final three verses of this hymn reflect as high a Christology as is found anywhere in the Scriptures. God exalts the obedient Christ and then raises the name - that is, the very essence of Jesus - above every other name ...

4252. Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... me." In verse 10, Jesus is depicted at dinner with an entire roomful of Matthew-types "tax collectors and sinners." And Jesus is not preaching before these outcasts or lecturing them sternly on their sinfulness. These unlikely associates Jesus, disciples, sinners are specifically described as "reclining" at table together. They clearly are a group gathered in fellowship. Jesus is literally a "friend of sinners." The Pharisees, those paragons of righteousness, are appalled at Jesus' behavior and question his ...

4253. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... -time" event. It was coming into being even as he spoke. The delicate difference between Jesus' parables and the clumsier allegorical interpretations of later writers is clearly evident in today's text. The consensus of scholars is that the "explanation" Jesus gives his disciples in 13:36-43 was an editorial insertion into this chapter's textual arrangement. A careful reading reveals that the true parable form of the story of the wheat and the weeds, found in 13:24-30, is concerned with different issues and ...

4254. Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28

Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... kashrut or an outright denial of the continued power of Jewish law. While later generations of Christians found in Jesus' words support for acceptance of the church's then Gentile majority, there is nothing in this text to suggest that here Jesus completely abrogates all tradition. The disciples' response to Jesus' announcement seems to be almost ridiculously self-evident. Yet it serves ominously to foreshadow the deadly relationship growing up between Jesus and the religious authorities of Jerusalem. The ...

4255. Matthew 18:15-20

Matthew 18:15-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Matthew's conspicuous concern for ecclesiastical good health and the growth of true discipleship faith is evident throughout chapter 18. While in Mark's gospel, issues of inter-disciple relations are pared down to the argument over "Who is the greatest?" (9:33-37), Matthew crafts an entire chapter around how disciples of Christ should live together in a faith community and how the church should conduct itself and treat its own members. Today's pericope, Matthew 18:15-20, deals specifically with issues of ...

4256. Luke 6:27-38

Luke 6:27-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , Jesus goes to the mountains for prayer, reflection, refreshment, rejuvenation. It is while enjoying one of these mountaintop moments that Jesus singled out 12 apostles from among his many disciples. Immediately after this, Jesus leads his newly appointed apostles back down the mountain to "a level place," a place where apostles, disciples and a crowd of eager people stand shoulder to shoulder. The level place accords them all equal footing, just as they are all equally in need of Jesus' message. Although ...

4257. Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the approaching moment. This is the first use of this term in Matthew's gospel - though it will now be repeated in verse 43 and in 25:13 and 26:38, 40, 41. Clearly, as the upcoming events in Jerusalem grow closer, Jesus is cautioning his disciples to keep alert to the signs about them and to ready themselves for the unexpected. The Matthean text personalizes the Messiah's impending arrival for each listener by having Jesus switch from "Son of Man" language to declaring that it is "your Lord" who is about ...

4258. John 6:24-35

John 6:24-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... text, it is a good thing he did! Seldom has a more ungrateful, obstreperous, and pathetically ignorant lot been more clearly portrayed than by John in this chapter. On the day after the miracle of the loaves, the throng wakes to find Jesus and his disciples had crossed the sea to Capernaum. (John's geography does not agree with Mark's or Luke's, but it is of little consequence.) Conveniently (for both the crowd and the gospel writer) some boats appear and ferry the people over to Jesus. Though anxious ...

4259. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... those to whom he appeared. Luke breaks with Matthew and Mark's tradition of placing the call of the first disciples at the earliest stages of Jesus' ministry. Rather, Luke waits until Jesus has an established reputation, considerable fame and an impressive ... following before he has Jesus call his first 'official' disciples. As Jesus approaches the Sea of Galilee, or what Luke calls "the lake of Gennesaret," he is surrounded by a ...

4260. Luke 9:51-62

Luke 9:51-62

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , veritably epitomized by this vagrant journey he has undertaken, is the mark of this Messiah's ministry (for the wildlife imagery see Mahlon H. Smith, "No Place for a Son of Man," Forum, 4 [December 1988], 83-105). The second and third would-be disciples' requests sound so reasonable and compassionate that Jesus' rebuffs seem all the more startling. The one who requests time to go and bury his father is told to "let the dead bury their own dead," and is urged instead to go and "proclaim the kingdom ...

4261. Luke 13:22-30

Luke 13:22-30

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... picture here is of a teaching Jesus, lecturing in the streets, surrounded by a milling crowd of believers, doubters, disciples and curious hangers-on. From this mixed crowd comes the question from "someone" about the salvific scope of the approaching eschaton. We ... do not know whether this questioner was a devoted disciple or a troublemaker trying to get Jesus into the proverbial tight spot. However, Jesus' response makes it quite clear that the ...

4262. Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... :46) are more concerned with the quality of this in-between time or if our proper focus should be on the unpredictable nature of its duration. The second theme undergirding all these words about the parousia, then, is its sudden and unexpected nature. Disciples apparently are both to be ready for an unexpectedly expected intrusion of the Son of Man, and to be busy performing acts of Christian love and obedience. Regardless of which horn of this dilemma one chooses to perch upon, the outcome for those caught ...

4263. John 12:20-33

John 12:20-33

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Andrew before the two of them finally go to Jesus. But, instead of focusing on what these seekers want, John's text dumps them and never refers to them again. Their purpose was chiefly to backdrop the forefront declaration Jesus now makes before his disciples. Although the Greeks themselves disappear from sight, they usher in a new age, a time when "the hour has come" for Jesus "to be glorified" (v.23). The appearance of the Greek proselytes defines a crucial moment in Jesus' ministry. Obviously, John is ...

4264. Acts 9:36-43

Acts 9:36-43

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... away from the turmoil in Jerusalem caused by the controversial witness of Stephen and the appearance of Saul (who had "made havoc in Jerusalem" [9:21] among the growing community of disciples, and who was now proclaiming that Jesus "is the Son of God" [9:20]), Peter quietly assumes the role of roving pastor-at-large to the disciples scattered beyond Jerusalem. While in Lydda, where Peter heals Aeneas "who had been bedridden for eight years" (9:33), Peter is summoned to Joppa by two men who do not explicitly ...

4265. Luke 18:1-8

Luke 18:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... concern for the post-Resurrection ecclessial community living with the fervent expectation of the Parousia: "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (v. 8b). This question, together with Luke's opening comment that the parable was taught to encourage the disciples "to pray always and not to lose heart" clearly show us, not what appears to be the point of the parable, namely that God does not need to be pestered into coming to the help of his people, but that Luke's use of this parable ...

4266. Refusing to Quit

2 Timothy 4:5-8

Sermon

James McCormick

... results that are there. I know that periodically I become frustrated. What I must do is step back and take the longer look. Usually I discover that more good is happening than I knew. I try to remember the situation faced by Jesus and his disciples. They didn’t seem to be making a dent in that first century, pagan world. At Jesus’ death there was only a handful of faithful followers. Discouragement came easily. Yet, the course of human history was changed because they refused to give up. They remained ...

4267. John 9:1-41

John 9:1-41

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ' entourage encountering a man "blind from birth." At first it seems this congenital condition is mentioned so that the miracle Jesus performs might appear all the more dramatic. Jesus' response (v.3) to the off-the-mark, theologically off-the-wall statement made by the disciples in verse 2 (cf. Jeremiah 31:29-30 and Ezekiel 18:14) seems to suggest that this blindness is a canvas for a demonstration of God's transformative power. But taken in the context of the whole story, blindness-since-birth is John's ...

4268. Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of fire. Suddenly the Holy Spirit is among them and within them demanding of them just one thing - speech. While the crowds are amazed at the varieties of languages, the true miracle here is the content of the words spoken to them. Suddenly the same disciples who had been little more than towers of timidity are shouting out for all to hear and understand about "God's deeds of power" (v.11). This alone speaks volumes. The first mission of the newly formed church is proclamation - Spirit-inspired speech to ...

4269. Mark 16:1-8

Mark 16:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of Jesus' resurrection. In verse 6, the angel delivers the ultimate gospel message, the Easter exultation: "He is risen!" (Or as the pedantic NRSV puts it, "He has been raised!") "He is not here!" Given the angel's next directive to the women witnesses, "Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you" (v.7), the ending of Mark's gospel might be more palatable if it concluded at that point. Undoubtedly it is the final verse that leaves ...

4270. John 6:24-35

John 6:24-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Chapter six begins with two of the most startling and impressive "signs" Jesus ever delivered: feeding five thousand hungry listeners with a mere five loaves of barley bread and two little fish, and an aquatic stroll toward a boat-load of astonished disciples sailing three or four miles out from shore. The supernatural character of these two signs is obvious and yet was apparently not universally convincing. After once more being tracked down by the crowd, Jesus is questioned in a manner that reveals these ...

4271. Mark 7:24-37

Mark 7:24-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , in an attempt to disseminate his message and raise up leaders for the days to come, Jesus has been involved in a tiring, tedious, often tormenting attempt to tutor his chosen disciples on the message and mission he represents. As he defends his hesitancy to heal this woman's child, he speaks of his own "children" those dear, dense disciples who must be "fed," must become the bearers of the good news when he is gone. Jesus is as concerned about the success of his mission as this brave and persistent ...

4272. Mark 1:14-20

Mark 1:14-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of Jesus the Christ. Once Jesus’ gospel, his good news about the kingdom of God, has been declared, Mark’s text immediately moves to record how Jesus goes about building this kingdom through the establishment of a community of followers. When Jesus begins calling disciples to join him, it is hard for us to comprehend what an unprecedented act this is vis a vis the biblical tradition. In Israel’s long history, no learned rabbis, no revered holy men, no prophet called others to join them. The most ...

4273. Pouring Our Lives into People

Mark 1:14-20

Illustration

Neal Sadler

... an overpowering presence or a good or even polished speaker. But one thing he said that night, memorable to many in attendance, was wondering that if rather than preaching to the masses as he had done, whether it would have been more effective to choose just 12 disciples as Jesus did, pour his heart into them, and encourage them to do the same. Maybe that would have made a bigger impact on the world. I don't know. Billy Graham has had quite the impact. But the point he was making was that the most critical ...

4274. The World's Worst Bargain

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... asked for her favorite verse of scripture. She said it was Matthew 16:24, “If any man will come after me, let him....” She was referring, of course, to the verse in Matthew’s Gospel that reads like this in the King James Version: “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Mark records this same teaching. It reads like this in the New International Version of the Bible: Then he called the crowd to him along with his ...

4275. Whatever It Takes

Mark 1:29-39

Illustration

Gary Nicolosi

... takes" is the response of the committed. It's a "can do" attitude that refuses to give up or give in. Think about those two responses when it comes to the Church's mission. Jesus said to love your neighbor. Whatever. Jesus said to go and make disciples of all people. Whatever. Jesus said there is more rejoicing over one sinner who is found than 99 that stayed within the fold. Whatever. Now, let's change that response to "Whatever it takes." Jesus said to love your neighbor. Whatever it takes. Jesus said to ...

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