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 576 to 600 of 715 results

576. It’s a New Year: Take 7 Steps Forward

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... biggest on-going battles Jesus fought with the Pharisees was that he constantly was crossing the line between what was considered “pure” and what was considered “impure.” Jesus hung out with lepers, prostitutes, well-known sinners, Gentiles, and even tax collectors. These were quagmires of impurity and impropriety in the eyes of the Pharisees, who were the original “puddle-jumpers.” Pharisees were the avoid-the-dirt-at-all-costs people. Jesus leads his disciples hip-boot high into puddles and ...

577. Will You Be an April Fool for Christ?

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... order to fulfill God’s will. He directed and rode in a pilgrimage parade to the tune of “Hosanna” into Jerusalem. Then he left it all to plod a dusty path back to Bethany. His disciples were not scholars or star students. They were fishermen and tax collectors, nobodies and ne’er-do-wells. His “foolish” path took him into Jerusalem to the chants of “Blessed be” and had him driven out of Jerusalem with a cross beam strapped to his back on his way to Golgotha. How willing are you to become an ...

578. Celebrate the Small Stuff

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , there was no one who celebrated the “small stuff” quite so well and publically as Jesus. Jesus went to weddings and banquets. He dined out with friend and strangers and sinners. He kept company with respected authorities like Nicodemus and despised tax collectors like Levi and Zacchaeus. Jesus took time and he took exception. He took time to play with the “little ones” and included little children in his work and words. He took exception to the dismissal of “outsiders” — the cursed, the ...

579. Lust

Galatians 5:16-26

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... we would really be interested in helping folks with the problem, would be to look to causes and cures rather than be content with thunderous oratory. Think of the way Jesus handled things. He took much grief because he was perceived as a friend of "tax collectors and sinners," those who would have been considered "immoral" the way most folks understand the word. What he was trying to do with those unusual friends of his was to point the way to life on a higher level, life characterized by those words that ...

580. The Incomparable Christ

Colossians 1:15-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... on people to be baptized in recognition of their cleansing — thus his nickname, John the Baptizer or John the Baptist. John was a man of high ethics — he preached fairness and sharing: A person who had two coats should give one to a someone who had none; tax collectors were warned to collect no more than their due; and soldiers were instructed to rob no one and be content with their wages, with fairness and with sharing. But sharing your brother's wife was a bit much. So here he was in the royal prison ...

581. Big Men in Little Planes

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... they understand that they are children of God. Sometimes we put too much emphasis on the meek and mild Jesus. If he were that meek and that mild, why in the world would anybody ever crucify him? If he were that meek and that mild, would he have driven the tax collectors from the temple? Jesus came to be servant to all, but he wasn’t a wimp. I think it’s interesting that when they came to take him that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, they sent a whole brigade of soldiers. They didn’t regard him as a ...

582. It’s a Good Thing He’s Gone!

Ephesians 1:15-23, Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... were people like the religious leaders who may have said, "It was bad enough to see all the common people flock after him. For someone who claimed to be a man of God, he certainly could have chosen to associate with more respectable people than tax collectors, thieves, harlots, lepers, the blind, and all other such notorious sinners. Then to do it all in the name of God! And to claim to be able to forgive their sins! And to show such disrespect for the religious traditions of our fathers and the customs ...

583. God's Playful Wisdom

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... up and says, "Our group wants to have a party." "You can't have a party in the church," says another. "Church is for God, and God doesn't like parties." "Uh uh," says another, "I have a storybook that says Jesus liked to go to parties with tax collectors and spenders." "But if Jesus liked parties, how come our church never has parties?" asked another. As the two stunned elders watched, they saw mirrored before them the child's perception of what it was like to be a church. Suddenly one of them began to ...

584. Prayer-Conditioning Your Life

Luke 2:29-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . But do we pray? Do we ask for God’s guidance? Do we open ourselves up to a divine insight that might clash with a credit report, a job review, or a resume? After a day and night of prayer, Jesus chose fishermen, day-workers, a tax collector, zealot, and generic nobodies to be his disciples. On the surface these were fringe, insignificant members of society, individuals with no good prospect of being building blocks for the kingdom of God. It was only through prayer that God revealed to Jesus the true ...

585. Just-Say-The-Word Disciples

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... eat a meal with a Gentile. Simply to enter the home of someone who was not “observant” or in other words, observing all the laws of ritual purity and cleanliness provided for in the holiness code, meant instantaneous defilement. One reason tax collectors were so flauntily outcast and ostentatiously ostracized was because their profession required them to be in constant physical contact with the Gentile Roman rulers. By virtue of their profession, they lived in a continual state of ritual defilement. For ...

586. Re-thinking Our Mission

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... hear Jesus. Those who gathered around the Master were uneducated persons who had little use for pomp and circumstance in religion. The Sadducees and Pharisees held them in contempt. They regarded Jesus’ followers as the scum of the earth fishermen, tax‑collectors, prostitutes. It particularly galled the Pharisees when Jesus said that these persons of low social stature would go into the kingdom of God before they, the religious elite, would. This was a bizarre teaching to many of Jesus’ listeners. Yet ...

587. Unity and Hope

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... Jesus came to live among us was to break down all the barriers that divided people. Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry he repeatedly broke down cultural and social barriers. Jesus shocked the religious leaders by eating and socializing with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2) the religious leaders complained not understanding why Jesus would want to spend time with people they believed to be undesirable. Jesus showed love and ...

588. Let Them Eat Cake

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that was defined by beliefs, but acted out by strange “what-do-you-more-than-others” Jesus behaviors and belongings. Christian communities included both Jews and Gentiles. As if that wasn’t strange enough, well-known sinners and n’er-do-wells (tax collectors, nobodies, women of questionable reputations) were invited to attend meetings, worship gatherings, and sit-down meals. There was even open talk of divine love and forgiveness that went as far as loving one’s enemies if one made a confession of ...

589. Getting out of the Doldrums

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... own mission and message. Jesus’ parables, his public messages, delivered to a larger audience but always arrow-aimed at his disciples, reveled in paradox and reversed expectations. The first were to be last. All sorts of outcasts, sinners and lepers, tax collectors and woman of questionable status, Samaritans and even Gentiles, all were invited to sit at Table. His message was not a “Pro-test” but a “pro-Testament” message, a welcome to all who would embrace the “new” Testament of salvation ...

590. Really!

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... we meet as Jesus did, we will see at least three things in every person: First, original. Jesus treated everyone he encountered as a one-of-a-kind, an original piece of divine art. Jesus never saw Samaritans and sinners, tax collectors and tarnished souls, possessed spirits and the pitiful poor. Jesus only ever saw singular creations, unique children, resurrection saints, heaven-sent, heaven-bound angels. Jesus only ever saw uniquely original gifts to this world. Second, sacramental. As original creations ...

591. A New Name for a New Year

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... that he would no longer be known as Jacob, but as Israel, which means “Prince of God.” Imagine that. Not only was Jacob’s name changed, his heart was changed as well. He was never the same again. Those the world called tax collectors, Jesus called disciples. Those called sinners, Jesus called companions. Those scorned as immoral, he called forgiven. Those called common fishermen, he called fishers of men. A crucified thief he called an heir an heir of paradise. What names have you been called? What ...

592. A Miracle Story

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (v.34). Wow. *It only took a lifetime of living and working with Jesus. *It only took watching Jesus extend his love and compassion and healing powers to lepers and Gentiles and tax collectors and “sinners” of all stripes, for the entirety of his ministry. *It only took the miracle of the resurrection — the greatest event in the history of the world, the divine demonstration of God’s power of life over death, and the transforming, infusing ...

593. The Christian's Royal Jelly

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... insurmountable obstacles, no bottomless pits, no dead ends. Christ came for all the hungry sparrows, pathetically picking at the edges of a culture that was for them a closed bag of goodies. The poor, the sick, the outcasts, the unclean, the tax collectors, the powerless, the pitiful. Women, children, Samaritans, Gentiles. All were offered royal honey by Jesus’ healing words and healing hands. All were offered, not just gleanings and left-overs, but their own portion of Christ’s presence and the gospel ...

594. The Foolishness of God

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

King Duncan

... were of noble birth . . .” Paul was simply telling the truth about the early church. Few of them had big names or power or wealth. Paul was saying, “Look, God hasn’t chosen celebrities to proclaim his word. He’s chosen farmers, fishermen, tax-collectors, housewives.” That’s how God works not from the top down, but from the bottom up. Not through superstar evangelists, but through electricians and plumbers and sales people and teachers. That’s who God depends on. God depends on Sunday school ...

595. The Woman at the Well

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” I fear that cheap grace is the grace that has become somewhat the norm in many churches today. When Jesus encountered people their lives were radically changed. Zaccheus the tax collector shared a meal with the Master and he cried out, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Mary Magdalene ...

596. Can These Bones Live Again?

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... terrible price, his family paid a terrible price, but God never gave up on David. We read his psalms and we know he discovered God’s grace in his life, and from his lineage came the Messiah. In the New Testament we encounter Zacchaeus, a tax collector despised by all. He was probably a cheat and traitor. But after a meal with the Master, Zacchaeus became a new person. Or how about Peter? Impetuous, ineffective, indecisive, quick to anger, the disciple who denied his Master, and yet he became the leader of ...

597. In the Mood for Murder

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... . That is something that a lot of good, sweet, nice, decent people need to realize. When Jesus told us to turn the other cheek, he did not mean for us to become doormats for everyone to walk on. Certainly he was no doormat. Remember how he drove the tax collectors out of the temple (Mt. 21:12-17; John 2:13–22)? He was angry with those who criticized him for healing on the Sabbath (Mark 3:5 even uses the word “anger”). And in Matthew 23:17 he called the Pharisees “blind fools.” So we conclude that ...

598. A Global Celebration

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... a revolt against Rome say something like “love your enemies.” No one recorded him saying to an adversary anything like, “I’ll take care of you after the resurrection.” What kind of Messiah was he? We know he wasn’t a wimp. No wimp could have driven the tax-collectors out of the temple. No wimp in the midst of his terrible suffering could have forgiven those who had put him on the cross. He was a strong man, but a man not given to vengeance nor to violence. More than anything else he was a man of ...

599. The Life of Your Table?

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... towards the Torah, towards God’s special presence at their table. But that also meant that many others would be excluded. Jesus broke all these dining rules. Jesus introduced a whole new set of table manners. He ate on fast days. He ate with tax collectors. He called Zacchaeus out of a tree and invited himself to his home for dinner. He ate at wedding feasts and at smart, sophisticated Pharisaic gatherings. He sipped water at a well out of the bucket of a woman of highly questionable reputation. With ...

600. Appetites and Desires

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Messiah of the Open Table, dared to dine with those who were outside the comfort zone of the religious establishment those who were “large and in charge.” Jesus ate with Romans and other Gentiles. Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus ate with tax collectors. Jesus ate with all sorts of “out there” persons. Yet John the Baptist, the one charged with announcing the coming of the Messiah, was discharged and dismissed for being some kind of aesthetic weirdo — living in the wilderness, living off locusts and ...

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