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 526 to 550 of 612 results

526. Mark 10:35-45

Mark 10:35-45

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Anyone who has gone through that social maze and emotional gauntlet known as “high school” knows that there is always an established “elite” as well as a definite “out” crowd. In every school system there are the “chosen few” and the untold “unchosen.” This week’s gospel text reveals that the desire to be the cream of the crop has been with humanity for far longer than there has been adolescent slam books. In today’s gospel text we read about the “sons of Zebedee” and yet these disciples of Jesus come ...

527. Not So With You

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of us here this morning were born BC? By “BC” I mean “Before Cell-phones?” The first cell phone was invented in 1973 by Martin Cooper. My kids were born AC, but I was born BC. In a world of 7 billion people, there are now 5 billion cell phone subscriptions. Pretty amazing for something under 40 years old. In the last forty years the cyber-cellular age has changed the way we do business, the way we get our education, the way we socialize. The world has never been so closely connected, and there has ...

528. Obedience: Our Gift to Jesus

Hebrews 10:5-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

One day a man went to his son's bedroom and found him sitting on his bed with a whole stack of comic books around him. The father said to his son, "Matthew, where did you get the comic books?" Matthew responded, "I took them out of the library." "You took them out of the library? You mean you stole them from the library?" The boy responded, "Yes." The father called the library and said he was going to march his son immediately down with the comic books to apologize and to restore all he had stolen. After ...

529. Shepherds Who Will Shepherd

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

A few years ago, Michael Crichton, of Jurassic Park and the television series ER fame, wrote a novel called State of Fear.[1] Crichton's book wasn't just for entertainment, though; it had an agenda, evidenced by the presence of footnotes, a 31-page bibliography, two appendices, and an addendum, titled "Author's Message." One of the basic messages of the book is that governments and special interest groups try to control society through maintaining a constant "state of fear" by manipulating and even ...

530. Good Hearts

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” That was the thunderous directive declared by the “Wizard of Oz” to Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. Dorothy’s tiny terrier Toto had pulled back the curtain that kept the true identity of “The Wizard” a secret. Instead of being “Oz, the Great and Powerful,” the “wizard” was revealed by the pup to be an ordinary man, a con artist, practicing the art of smoke and mirrors to impress the people with his faked naked powers. Oz may have been a charlatan, ...

531. Lesson from a Chipmunk

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Tony Everett

In today’s first lesson the apostles are gathered with their families in an upstairs room somewhere in Jerusalem. So much had happened during the past few months that it was hard to put it all together. They had accompanied Jesus into the city, receiving a royal welcome fit for a king. Then there was their last supper together, followed by Judas’ betrayal and the arrest in Gethsemane, their own narrow escape from the soldiers, and that most horrible crucifixion. They had just about given up all hope when ...

532. An Announcement to a Virgin

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Ben Patterson tells about his 5-year-old niece, Olivia, and her best friend, Claire, who were participating in a nativity play at school. Claire was playing Mary, and Olivia played an angel. Before the show, a young boy was going around the dressing room proclaiming to all who could hear him, “I’m a sheep.” Then asking, “What are you?” Each child responded politely, including Olivia, who proudly declared she was an angel. The boy then turned to Claire, who was still struggling into her costume with ...

533. Jesus Is Baptized

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

The Rev. Timothy T. Boggess tells what he says is a true story. A mother was at home with her two young daughters one lazy afternoon. Everything seemed to be just fine until the mother realized something strange. The house was quiet. And as every parent knows, a quiet house in the daytime can only mean one thing: the kids are up to no good. Quietly walking into each of the girls’ rooms and not finding them there, she began to get worried. Then she heard it: the sound of whispering followed by the flushing ...

534. The God of Second Chances

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

King Duncan

A national magazine for pastors once carried a rating system for sermons similar to the rating system we’re all familiar with for movies. It went something like this. The person who designed it was a little bit cynical. Here is the rating he gave to various kinds of sermons: “G” - Generally acceptable to everyone. Full of inoffensive, childlike platitudes; usually described as “wonderful” or “marvelous” by those who leave church to shake the hands of the pastor. “MC” - For more mature congregations. At ...

535. Building a New Team

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

When Vince Lombardi was hired as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1958, the team was in dismal shape. A single win in season play the year before had socked the club solidly into the basement of the NFL, and sportscasters everywhere used it as the butt of loser jokes. But Lombardi picked and pulled and prodded and trained and disciplined the players into becoming a winning team. They were NFL champions in three consecutive seasons, and took the game honors for the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi was ...

536. When Is Enough...Enough?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Comedienne Joan Rivers who died last year once said something with which many people would agree. “People say that money isn’t the key to happiness,” said Joan Rivers, “but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.” “I always figured if you have enough money . . .” says Joan Rivers. How much is enough money? That is a good question. A Hollywood film editor once said, “I had this date the other night with a woman who wanted to walk along the beach. I’m wearing a twelve?hundred ...

537. Demons, Pigs, and the Economy

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Garasenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. — Luke 8:37 In polite society we have not wanted to talk much of demons and the demonic. In our liberal, educated culture, we believe that sin was due mostly to ignorance and that evil could be eradicated by education. In our psychologically enlightened times we have avoided the more ancient religious and mythological language of devils ...

538. A Lost Boy

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

King Duncan

(Growing Strong in the Season of Lent, Lent 4) A father tells of putting his 4-year-old daughter to bed one evening. He read her the story of the Prodigal Son. They discussed how the younger son had taken his inheritance and left home, living it up until he had nothing left. Finally, when he couldn’t even eat as well as the pigs, he went home to his father, who welcomed him. When they finished the story, the Dad asked his daughter what she had learned. After thinking a moment, she quipped, “Never leave ...

539. Asa King of Judah

2 Chronicles 14:2-15

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Asa: The Chronicler dedicates the next narrative episode to the reign of King Asa of Judah (ca. 911/910–900 B.C.). As in the Abijah narrative, the Chronicler introduces a significant portion of his own material, creatively restructuring the Asa narrative in the source text (1 Kgs. 15:9–24) within a coherent theological framework. The Deuteronomistic version communicates a positive image of Asa as a king who ensured religious-cultic purity (1 Kgs. 15:11–15), and it narrates an unrelated episode of ...

540. Made Alive in Christ

Ephesians 2:1-10

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

Christ and the Salvation of Believers Chapter 1 of Ephesians is dominated by the theme of praise and thanksgiving. In verses 3–14 the apostle utilizes a redemptive eulogy to praise God for all the spiritual blessings that he has bestowed upon the believer. These blessings are mediated through the Son and are confirmed in the believer through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. The use of baptismal themes suggests that the hymn may have been connected with the celebration of baptism in the early church. ...

541. Children and Parents

Ephesians 6:1-4

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

A continuation of these rules of conduct as they apply to children and parents (6:1–4) and slaves and masters (6:5–9) appears in 6:1–9. As in the section on the husband-wife relationship, there is the specific emphasis that the ethical life of the Christian is both grounded in and directed toward the Lord. The superscription of submission “out of reverence for Christ” in 5:21 serves the entire code. Wives are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord (5:22); children are to obey their parents “in the Lord ...

542. Disobedience and Defeat

Judges 2:6-3:6

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

Survey of Israel’s Early History: Joshua to Judges · Here begins a new section, but not immediately a new subject. In fact, rather than carrying the story forward, the text looks back to the period immediately after the Israelites renewed their covenant with the Lord at Shechem (Josh. 24). The text picks up nearly where the book of Joshua left off. Joshua 24:28 almost word for word corresponds to Judges 2:6. The section that follows (vv. 10–19) points to the author’s special concern with Israel’s spiritual ...

543. Samson's Vengeance on the Philistines

Judges 15:1-20

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines: The saga continues with the conflict between Samson and the Philistines heating up and expanding to affect a larger number of people. Samson’s burning anger led him to some unusual and radical actions, which he justified as doing unto them what they had done to him (v. 11). There are also some surprising developments within the Israelite camp. Admittedly shocking is the role of the Judahites. Whereas Judges 1 presents them as zealots who alone of all the Israelites ...

544. Nehemiah’s Prayer

Nehemiah 1:1-11

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

The Background to Nehemiah’s Mission: The two missions in Ezra 1–6 and 7–10 were launched by the decree of a Persian king, behind which lay the sovereign will of the God of Israel, disclosed in Scripture and providence. The third and last mission, spread over 1:1–2:8 and summarized in 2:18a, also follows this pattern. The focus on Nehemiah in 1:1–10 corresponds to the description of Ezra’s qualifications by birth and training in Ezra 7:1–7. The narrative here reveals Nehemiah’s strong convictions, which ...

545. False Religions Worthless

Jeremiah 7:1-29

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon (7:1-15): Jeremiah’s temple sermon is one of his most famous speeches. The core of its message attacks those who appear religious by participating in religious ceremonies, while not backing up their apparent beliefs with ethical lives. In other words, this sermon is an attack on the hypocrites of his day. We do not know the exact time before the destruction of the temple when this sermon was delivered. However, its strong conditional tone holds out hope that God’s judgment might be ...

546. Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

Habakkuk 2:2-20, Habakkuk 1:12--2:1

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

A Protest and an Answer (ii): In a sense there was nothing surprising in Yahweh’s response to Habakkuk; it is entirely in keeping with Isaiah’s understanding of the role of Assyria and with Jeremiah’s understanding of Babylon. But Yahweh has given hostages to fortune in noting that the Babylonians are inclined to violence, that they seize homes that do not belong to them, that they make up their own rules for the conduct of relationships, that they worship themselves, their power, and their glory. How can ...

547. Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting

Zechariah 7:1-14

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

A Query about Commemorative Fasts (7:1-3): A question about mourning the destruction of the temple introduces a series of sayings that address the present spiritual condition of the community, review the divine judgment on its ancestors, and declare God’s promises of future blessings. A concentric literary framework holds these oracles together in a chronological and logical sequence that answers the practical question about religious observance and the underlying spiritual distress over the fulfillment of ...

548. Jesus Goes to the Feast of Tabernacles

John 7:1-13

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

For the third time (cf. 5:1; 6:1) a narrative begins vaguely with the words after this. The remark that Jesus went around in Galilee (v. 1) is probably intended as a summary or a general characterization of his ministry, acknowledging the truth of the synoptic witness that Galilee was indeed the location of most of Jesus’ teaching and healing activities. The narrator probably assumes that Jesus lived in Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and disciples (2:12; cf. 6:59), using that town as the base for his ...

549. Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-26

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

Cain Slays Abel and Lamech Boasts: The first siblings are unable to live in harmony. Hatred propels Cain to murder his own brother. The tragic, brute power of sin also finds expression in Lamech’s boasting song, in which he brazenly gloats over a wanton killing while pronouncing threats against others. These incidents illustrate how Adam and Eve’s disobedience unleashed sin as a destructive power in society and brought death into the world. This chapter has four parts: the births of Cain and Abel (vv. 1–2a ...

550. The Lord's Anger Against Israel

Isaiah 9:8--10:4

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Yahweh’s Unsated Anger with Israel: After 6:1–9:7 comes to an end, 9:8–10:4 pairs with the preceding section, chapter 5. The section as a whole takes further the earlier talk of Yahweh’s raised hand (5:25–30). The six woes (5:8–24) also come to a conclusion in 10:1–4. The fact that speaks of disaster for northern Israel might suggest that it is the background for the disaster for northern Israel presupposed by 9:1, but this material also confronts Isaiah’s own audience in Judah with the prospect of their ...

Showing results