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

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4951. The Sure Foundation

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... longer slave or free, no longer male and female, we hear this passage in a different way than if a man reads it. The one who speaks the words of our gospel passage today is the one who has called us to follow him, just as he called the original disciples, and who began this Sermon on the Mount with a series of blessings that we call the Beatitudes. More than that, the Jesus who speaks these words is the one whom scripture calls "Emmanuel," God with us, the one who was sent to save his people, not to cast ...

4952. Second Sight

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

David Belgum

... the mantle down to Elisha so that the work could continue. To this day we speak of accepting the mantle of authority or this or that as an obligation, a calling. Jesus refused the luxury of staying in this mountaintop experience in the three booths the disciples offered to construct, a kind of Scout camp away from the city, the pleasures of being out in nature away from the hassles of the masses. "As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision....' " What Then Is A ...

4953. All-Surrounding Grace

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... are you doing?" This time the merchant impatiently cried, "Don't delay me. I have to attend to my business." But the rabbi insisted. "Everything you are so worried about is in the hands of God and all that is in yours is to trust and love God." The disciples in the boat in the storm were worried and Jesus said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" The author of the book of Hebrews wrote that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Charlie ...

4954. Affirming The Ash Heap

Job 2:1-10, Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... gone through the Gospel of Mark in order to focus on Jesus as a teacher, a preacher, and a healer. One of the things we have noted is the way Jesus kept telling his followers that he would be put to death. The Gospel records that Jesus told his disciples three times he would be handed over to people who would kill him. Each time we ran across that prediction in our class, we tried to figure out what Jesus had done up to that point in his ministry to deserve the hostility he encountered. In all three times ...

4955. Screaming For A Reason Why

Matthew 26:36-46; 27:45-46 · Job 3:1-26

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... me live? Why should anyone who is to suffer ever be born? Why is life given to people who find it so bitter? Job sat on his ash heap and he screamed for a reason why. It was Thursday night, after he had shared the evening meal with his twelve disciples, that Jesus went to a secluded spot in a city park. And he did as Job had done as he sat on his ash heap. "Why? Why a cross? Is this the only way?" In the rock opera, Jesus Christ, Superstar (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice), Jesus asks some ...

4956. Responding In Anger

Job 7:11-21 · Matthew 21:12-13

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... the Sabbath observance in healing a man with a withered hand. The record read, "Jesus looked round at them with anger." And why not? Surely the man was more important than the day of the week. When Jesus was questioned by the high priest about his disciples and about his preaching, he answered with a tinge of anger in his voice. "I have always spoken publicly to everyone. I never said anything in secret. Why then do you question me? Question the people who heard me." That's when one of the guards slapped ...

4957. Easter Sunday

John 20:1-9

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

... hail you in the Risen Christ who brings to our dark world the glory of an eternal morning. Above the crosses of sin your deathless life shines, bursting through the tombs of death, and is reflected by the beauty of springtime. O Lord, you appeared to your disciples when the world seemed desolate. Quicken, we pray, your people everywhere with a sense of your eternal goodness which rises anew after evil has had its empty day. Roll away the stones of doubt and fear which keep us from a strong faith and a bold ...

4958. Maundy Thursday Service

1 Corinthians 11:17-34, John 13:1-17

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... this bulletin with you as you proceed to the rooms set aside for the Service of Feetwashing.) The Service Of Feetwashing (On facing pages, this is the right-hand page, or page 2) Opening Litany Leader: Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him ... All: "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Leader: Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand ...

4959. The Backside Of God

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... 's glory and his chance to see the back side of God. In his Life of Moses, the early church father, Gregory of Nyssa, says that the reason Moses was permitted only to see God's back is that that is the proper view of one who follows, of a disciple. Seeing the back side of God is, thus, not only not a slight, it is a beautiful metaphor of the wonderful privilege of being able to follow our God. Gregory's image contrasts the desires of the people in Exodus 32 to have an experience with God and Moses' desire ...

4960. The Christian Journey II: The Mountain

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... is a long tradition in Christian writing of what is referred to as "ascent" literature, sometimes using the image of scaling a mountain, often of ascending a ladder, like that in Jacob's dream. This ascent literature speaks of the ways in which disciples of Jesus Christ may advance in their spiritual walk, ever moving closer to Christ. Many persons have criticized this school of writing and this sort of imagery for putting too much emphasis on human effort and constructing an artificial plan of "first you ...

4961. Come As You Are

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... softball games, whatever. Summertime is a great time for "come-as-you-are." That reminds me a bit of the text found in John 21:1-14 which describes one of the Risen Lord's appearances after his resurrection, a "Come As You Are" party of sorts. The disciples had been out all night fishing in a boat. No doubt they were sweaty and tired. Probably they smelled pretty bad: fishing boats are smelly. Their faces no doubt were dirty, and their hair was all messed up from the wind and the waves. Peter was dripping ...

4962. "Friend, Why Are You Here?"

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... project to make the final selection. His choice was from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26: "Friend, why are you here?" (v. 50, RSV). Let's recall the setting for this quotation by Jesus. Do you remember? It's late Maundy Thursday Eve. Jesus is with his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane. And Judas, the Betrayer, arrives, leading a band of Temple guards armed with swords and clubs. Judas has already worked out a plan with the soldiers, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him" (v. 48, RSV). He ...

4963. "Friend, Why Are You Here?"

Sermon

Alex Gondola

4964. Communion With Christ

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... an idea to which we have become accustomed -- that we, in some way, take the body and blood of Christ into ourselves. Many of the Jews in the first century apparently rejected that idea outright. And, John's passage indicates that even some of Jesus' disciples found the teaching difficult to accept. Take Christ's body and blood into ourselves? They thought it was just plain strange. Perhaps we have become so familiar with the Sacrament of our Lord's supper that we sometimes take it for granted. Our lesson ...

4965. Wedding: With Communion

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... of redemption. (Ushers will come and pass to the wedding party and members of the congregation the communion elements.) Pastor: Let us recall on that night so long ago how the Lord Jesus, on the night of betrayal, took bread and blessed it and distributed it to all of his disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body broken for you. This do in remembrance of me." He then took a cup and blessed it and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Take, drink it, if you are able." As often as we eat this ...

4966. A Positive Addiction

Romans 1:1-17

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... of being a Christian. Every corner of the Kingdom requires its members to confess Jesus as uniquely Lord and Savior. Every corner of the Kingdom requires its members to affirm questions like these: Do you trust in Jesus Christ? Do you intend to be his disciple? Do you intend to obey his word and show his love? Every corner of the kingdom expects its members to be positively addicted to Jesus. Again, I've always believed churches with members who really embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior don't have many ...

4967. Every Shot I Ever Hit

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... , I remember we are called to bleed for Him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer explained it this way in The Cost of Discipleship (1937): The cross is laid on every Christian ... When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery, and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time -- death in Jesus Christ ... The wounds and scars ... are living ...

4968. Judas, The Obscure

Drama

Peter C. Garrison

... a loss to know what he himself really felt or thought about anything. How then, not knowing himself, could he have a solid understanding of the Messiah, the Christ, God on earth, our Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth? At times Judas seemed trustworthy enough. He received the disciples' common purse as treasurer. Perhaps the love of money was the root of his evil? Yet to attribute to 30 pieces of silver this treachery of a pupil to rabbi, creature to creator, man to God is preposterous; God's life should not be had ...

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