Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 576 to 600 of 5000 results

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Romans 6:1-14, Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... . Matthew makes the identity of this figure plain—he is an angel descended from heaven, and his appearance is startling and brilliant. Moreover, we are no longer left wondering how the stone was moved from the mouth of the tomb (as we were in Mark); for, in Matthew, the angel moves the stone. Furthermore, Matthew refers to happenings that make the awesome nature of this scene quite clear (as if the physical appearance of the angel would not inspire awe), telling of the earthquake that occurred when the ...

577. A Not So Simple Story of Demons and Pigs

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

... and Luke, this story follows the famous account of Jesus calming a storm. It is as if both writers want to say: "Not only can he calm wild waves, he can even calm wild men." But concerning which body of water Jesus calmed, the writers cannot agree. Mark suggests it was the Sea of Galilee. Luke thinks it was LakeGennasaret. There is good reason to believe Luke on this one. Go with LakeGennasaret. So now you know where you are. You are in a pagan land near LakeGennasaret, somewhere to the east of my nose. The ...

578. A Clock or a Compass?

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

David T. Ball

... longer again, on the other side of the tree, as night came. After a while they were able to tell how much of the day was over by looking at these shadows. The first timepiece was probably invented by a person who put a stick in the ground and made marks in the dirt to show where the stick’s shadow was every hour. The shadow stick is the earliest form of sundial. People judged the time of day by the length and position of the stick’s shadow. The technical name for a shadow stick is gnomon (NO mon), which ...

579. The World's Fittest Human

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... mean a narrow, closed or muscle-bound mind. A mind trained in godliness can control its selfish or hurtful thoughts and instead choose to focus its thoughts and energies on what love demands. 3. Soul Training or Molecular Strength: As with every good exercise regime, Mark Allen's includes a nutritional plan. But instead of advocating some sports drink with his name on it, Allen suggests we stop and listen to our bodies, for the body will tell us what it needs. What Allen's physical focus does not recognize ...

580. Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the Son - he does not know the day or the hour of the Messianic return - and the uniqueness of the divine knowledge of the Father. In Matthew's text "only" is made emphatic, unlike Mark's rendition of this same confession in the REB version (Mark 13:32). To differentiate Matthew's emphatic declaration from Mark's, it might be more revealing to state, "but the Father knows, and he alone." By admitting that no one but the Father knows the precise timing of the Messiah's return, this text stresses ...

581. Genesis 9:8-17

Genesis 9:8-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... him. The forty day unit of time had good biblical precedent: Moses spent forty days on Sinai (Exodus 34:28); Elijah spent forty days on Horeb (1 Kings 19:8); the Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness (Numbers 32:13). It is also generally accepted that Mark's use of the term "tempted" here would be understood better if we read it as "tested" by Satan. This distinction allows us to see this period of forty days as one of personal struggle rather than an invitation to sin. While these first two units ...

582. He Stands Alone

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... us how we are to live sacrificially, in service to one another. Brad Walden, the senior minister of the Tates Creek Christian Church, Lexington, KY tells a true story which he said was related to him by the grandfather of a nine-year-old boy named Mark. Mark’s mother received a phone call one day in the middle of the afternoon. It was the teacher from her son’s school. “Mrs. Smith, something unusual happened today in your son’s third grade class. Your son did something that surprised me so much that ...

583. Baptism Of Our Lord

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8, Acts 19:1-22, Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... life. It calls for repentance, a turn-about in our lives from the love of the world to love of God, from false gods to the true God, from sin to righteousness. 2. Saw (v. 10). For Jesus, his baptism was an intimate, personal experience with God. According to Mark, Jesus only saw the heavens open and the dove; only he heard the voice of God. Baptism for us must also be a personal experience in which God is seen and heard and the Spirit received. It is no meaningful baptism if it is only a routine custom or ...

584. Proper 28

1 Samuel 1:1-20, Hebrews 10:1-18, Hebrews 10:19-39, Mark 13:1-31

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... the sinner's perfection but Christ's perfection. The sinner puts on Christ's robe of righteousness and possesses the perfection of Christ. Thus, God can receive the sinner into his holy presence because the sin is covered by the righteousness of Christ. PREACHING POSSIBILITIES Gospel: Mark 13:1-8 1. The end is not yet (13:1-13). Need: There are groups of Christians who declare that Christ is coming soon. They are convinced it may be any day in the very near future. In this passage, Jesus assures us that the ...

585. Journey To The Heart Of Christmas

Luke 2:1-7

Drama

Lois Anne DeLong

... to see the Baby King. Joseph: Please, let them in. I don’t think your boss will mind. This is ... kind of a special event. Mark: Okay, but try not to wake up the cows. (Shepherds kneel by the baby as Miriam comes running in, followed by Jordana and Ruth. Jordana ... Yes, it can wait until after the kitchen is clean. Now, if you don’t mind, I think the baby needs to sleep. Mark: That’s right. Everybody out of my barn. Let the baby sleep. Miriam: But the others ... my parents, the other shepherds ... they’ ...

586. Holiness of Heart and Life

Romans 2:21-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to be a Jew is scorned and fulfilled by some and respected and made holy by others. I doubt if there is a name more pronounced in history and in present day culture in designating a particular people than the word “Jew.” Circumcision was the identifying mark of the Jew. Paul addresses the failure of the Jew by challenging the meaning of circumcision and calling for a “circumcision of the heart.” Paul affirmed the call of the Jews to be as “God’s own people.” It was with the Jews that God had ...

587. Throw Caution to the Wind and Open the Door

Matthew 10:40-42

Illustration

Randy Hyde

... prayed with him, and they parted ways. As he walked to his car, the man called after him with a sense of urgency. "Did you mean what you said?" "About what?" "Did you mean that I could come to this church?" Mark says that as he drove home he realized the man had told his life story as a way of explaining why he couldn't come to church. He felt he wasn't "clean enough" to be included in that kind of congregation. How clean does someone have to be before ...

588. When Did This Start? — Part 1

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... than I is coming after me" (v. 7). And that was about it. Eight verses sum up all the preparation, then in verse 9 Jesus will show up for his baptism. The church sets aside four weeks each year during Advent to get ready for the arrival of Jesus, Mark sets aside eight sentences. It's as if Dave — not one to be compared to Jesus by any means — was to emerge from a random subway station and just start his show there after a brief introduction. There is so much packed into this handful of words, we could ...

589. A Whole City at The Door

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... a bunion was at the door knocking. But is that what Jesus was about? Did Jesus come into the world — to borrow the language of John — so that he could start a popular healing and exorcism ministry? John says, "In the beginning was the Word ..." (John 1:1). Mark reports that Jesus' first act in his ministry was the act of proclamation, of preaching. There are three questions that we would all benefit from asking ourselves and our faith from time to time, to help us keep our focus as we walk the road of ...

590. The Great Inescapable Question of Eternity

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. — Mark 8:36-38 Let us consider what we know about who Jesus Christ is and, finally, ask ourselves, "Who do I say Jesus is?" Popular Opinion "He asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?' They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of ...

591. Long Live The King

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... beginning of our time until its very end in that reign of glory that has no end. This kingdom is not bound by those marks of our time that we call endings and beginnings. Rather, this kingdom, as Jesus says in the gospel, "is not from this world" a ... he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the end and the beginning. Endings and beginnings are for us as humans to mark the passing of our lives and of our ages. We have a king who reigns over us, who has always reigned over us, and who will ...

592. How Can I Keep From Singing?

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus appears on the scene — at his baptism — the very heavens open up and spill the beans. When Jesus makes his first public appearance to preach and teach, an unclean spirit pipes up in the synagogue crowd and identifies him as “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). While Jesus successfully shushes that spirit and squashes a host of other demons into quietness, his attempt to stay under the radar is lost when he responds to the needs of one man with leprosy. When the demons Jesus cast out were ordered ...

593. Be Healed, Be Held

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... him apart. What distinguished Jesus was so essential to his being that it permeated even his clothing. The hemorrhaging woman believed in Jesus’ divine power so much that she was convinced all she needed to do was touch his clothing in order to be healed. Mark’s text doesn’t offer details about what part of his clothing she touched. It might have been the swinging and swaying tassels affixed to the traditional garment worn by observant Jews (Numbers 15:38-39; Deuteronomy 22:12). Or it might have been ...

594. The Things Close to Your Heart

Mark 13:1-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... had become a matter of “insider trading.” At the moment of his death the barriers are thrown away to the inner courts of the temple: “Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” [Mark 15:37-38]). This curtain or veil was set up between the inner court and the sanctum sanctorum, the holy of holies, an inner recess which contained the Ark of the Covenant. This was the sacred chest in which it was believed the copy of the Law given ...

595. The Temple of Doom and the Bridegroom

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

596. When You Drop the Ball, What Next?

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... success on his ministry. And yet. You know the rest of the story. When you catch the ball, and heal the sick, the crowds go crazy glad. But when you flub the ball, and fail to heal, or do the unexpected, the crowds go crazy mad. In Mark’s gospel the beginning of Jesus’ Galilean ministry is nothing but a string of success stories. Jesus exorcises unclean spirits. He heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. He cleanses lepers and makes those who are paralyzed to walk again. He restores a withered hand to full ...

597. Jesus Casts Out Impure Spirits

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... began to cry out, and the interesting thing is he spoke in the third person plural: “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” Then he reverts to the first person singular, “I know who you are the Holy One of God!” Mark explains to us that this man who was crying out was possessed by an impure spirit. We don’t know if this means that the man was mentally deranged, but we might guess that he probably was. Sadly, such people do exist, of course. Maybe if this sad man ...

598. Dealing with Cantankerous People

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... for what I am today.” (5) If you want to be better than you are right now, spend time in the company of someone who embodies the virtues you would like to acquire. Or be a mentor and role model to someone else who is just beginning the journey. Mark Roberts in his book, Dare to Be True, tells about a friend years ago who decided she wanted to run a marathon. Even though Nancy had been a faithful jogger for many years, she had never tackled a full marathon. Someone suggested she join a track club, where ...

599. The Apostles Heal Many

Acts 5:12-16

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... please God to use both as “means of grace.” It is better, then, not to look for a link between verses 14 and 15, but to see verse 15 as a reference to the response of the nonbelievers to the growing fame of the apostles, Peter especially (cf. 19:12; Mark 6:56). That they should have sought Peter’s shadow was in line with the popular idea of the time that “to be touched by a man’s shadow means to be in contact with his soul or his essence and to be influenced by that, whether it be for ...

600. Paul Before Agrippa

Acts 25:23--26:32

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... stand on (his) feet, for the Lord had work for him to do (cf. Ezek. 2:1). He had been appointed (for this verb, see disc. on 22:14) “as a servant and as a witness” (for “witness,” cf. 1:8, 22; etc.; the word “servant” is used of John Mark in 13:5), that he should tell others what he had seen (the risen, ascended Son in the glory of the Father) and what he would be shown in time to come, literally (with Jesus speaking), “the things in which I will appear to you.” The reference is to visions ...

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