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 676 to 700 of 2273 results

676. Braveheart

John 20:24-29

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

John 20:24-29 (NRSV) [24] But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. [25] So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his ...

677. Getting at the Truth

John 14:16-17

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... edge. One married man told me he rarely confides in his wife or confesses to her any of his failings or weaknesses, because during arguments she uses that very information to berate him and tear him down. However, other people have experienced something different. The twelve-step groups such as AA know that when they entrust their lives to a higher power and bare their souls to that power, they sense they are beginning to get in touch not only with themselves but with ultimate reality. One young man told ...

678. A Caring Woman

Acts 9:36-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... however, Tabitha became sick and died, evidently before her time. The other disciples in Joppa were so upset about her death that they sent for Simon Peter to come to them from a nearby town. As you remember, after Jesus’ death, Peter became the leader of the twelve apostles. When Peter got to Tabitha’s house, he was taken upstairs to the room where they had lain her body. Among the mourners in that upper room was a group of widows. Widows and orphans were the neediest members of society in Jesus’ day ...

679. Bread for the Party (Bread of Life I)

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... Feeding of the Five Thousand. This pericope reminds me of the child who was asked to name his favorite Bible story. The child replied, “The one with the boy in it who loafs and fishes.” I am convinced that Jesus was not loafing. He and the Twelve had tried to sneak to the mountain beside the lake for a mini “R & R,” after much work, but when the people mushroomed around him, he gave up on “resting” and returned to ministering. Jesus was then, and is now, “fishing” for persons, persons whose ...

680. Revelation 1:4-8

Revelation 1:4-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... sinfulness necessitated his death — which is to say everyone, everywhere, in every age — “will wail” as they finally comprehend the judgment they deserve. Though not an exact quote, John’s imagery recalls Zechariah 12:10, with the audience expanded from the twelve tribes of Israel to “all the tribes of the earth.” John concludes his prologue by referring once again to the eternal presence and constant involvement of the Creator with the cosmos. God’s self-declaration is as “the Alpha and ...

681. Finding Answers to Family Feuds

Genesis 25: 21-34

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... book, Healing the Wounds of the Heart. In it she talks about the rejection she felt when her father divorced her mother. I remember deciding then that if my father did not want the child I was, neither did I. As an adult, I continued to accept the twelve-year old interpretation of divorce, as well as the scorn and hatred of myself for years and years. What parents think play a gigantic role in what children do and how they feel for a lifetime. Parents play a part. Of course, the siblings themselves wind up ...

682. Jotham King of Judah

2 Kings 15:32-38

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... in Lev. 13:27, 34, of ritual examination). There are also various other innovations (vv. 17–18); Ahaz takes apart the movable stands (1 Kgs. 7:27–36; 2 Kgs. 25:13; 2 Chron. 28:24), disposing of their side panels and basins, and he exchanges the twelve bronze bulls under the Sea (1 Kgs. 7:23–26) for a stone base. Finally, he takes two actions of uncertain nature (cf. the additional note to v. 18). The motivation for all these innovations is not evident. Our first suspicion, given the close relationship ...

683. Ahaz King of Judah

2 Kings 16:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

684. The Fulfillment of the Law

Matthew 5:17-20

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... to the message of Jesus. One of the distinct features of Matthew’s Gospel is that the teaching of Jesus is collected into five sections. The Sermon on the Mount (chaps. 5–7) is the first of these blocks. The others are Instructions to the Twelve (chap. 10), Parables of the Kingdom (chap. 13), Life in the Christian Community (chap. 18), and Eschatological Judgment (chaps. 23–25). Each block closes with a formula similar to, “When Jesus had finished saying these things” (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1 ...

685. The Calling of Levi

Mark 2:13-17

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... religious objections to paying taxes to gentile conquerors in Mark 12:13–17. Levi son of Alphaeus: In the Luke 5:27 parallel the man is called simply Levi, but the Matt. 9:9 parallel calls him Matthew. This “Matthew the tax collector” reappears in the list of the twelve apostles in Matt. 10:3, but though both Mark (3:18) and Luke (6:15) mention a Matthew in their list, he is not called a tax collector, and without the evidence from Matthew’s Gospel we would not necessarily link the Levi of Mark 2:14 ...

686. Beautiful Words Of Life

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

... wayside. Perhaps the novelty had worn off. Perhaps, with opposition rising, people were becoming afraid to be identified with the Man from Galilee. Whatever the case, it was a time of decision for those who were left. Jesus surveyed those who had deserted him. Then he asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" As so often, it was Simon Peter who answered for the rest, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Peter ...

687. A Mother · A Canaanite Woman

Mt 15:21-28 · Mk 7:24-30

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... her child. Compounding matters still further the disciples came up as the woman was making her appeal and, sizing up the situation, they urged Jesus to send the woman away lest she become troublesome to them all. Some, recalling the mandate Jesus had delivered to the Twelve as he dispatched them on a missionary journey, (Matthew 10:5-6) think he reacted to the woman's appeal in the manner he did because she was not an Israelite. But the Master loved children and wanted only the best for them. (cf. Matthew ...

688. The Kind of People Whom God Chooses

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

William G. Carter

... faith and their perfect understanding. We want to believe that they had their collective act together. We want to affirm them as competent and capable, always knowing the correct answer to a question or the perfect solution to a problem. But that was not the case. The twelve disciples were ordinary people, like you and me. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel a whole lot better. Following Christ is difficult enough. It is an awesome task to live as God’s person in a world like this. It is ...

689. Time For A New Vision

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Angela Akers

... because Jesus wasn't just calling the apostles to be his witnesses. The word that Jesus uses in Acts 1: 8 is marturas. We use a form of marturas today in our word martyr, a person who makes a great sacrifice for, or even dies for, their faith. Of the twelve men who were closest to Jesus, almost all suffered and died for their faith. (7) The power of the Holy Spirit is also the power to face death if necessary for the cause of Christ. Only the tremendous power of the Holy Spirit can give us the courage to ...

690. The Resurrection

Luke 24:1-12

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... Son of Man: See note on 5:24 above. On the allusion to the passion prediction see commentary and note on 9:22 above. 24:9 the Eleven: Although he will not tell of Judas’ death until Acts 1:16–19, the evangelist clearly means the Twelve Apostles minus Judas Iscariot. According to Matt. 27:3–10, Judas commits suicide before the resurrection. The chronology of the Lucan version is vague. Moreover, the mode of Judas’ death according to Acts is not easily harmonized with the Matthean account. 24:10 Mary ...

691. What’s Going on at Your House?

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... ’s take an overview of these rather candid remarks. By St. Mark’s diary, Jesus’ ministry has just begun. Jesus has healed several paralyzed and sick persons. He has preached to numerous crowds. He has broken the Sabbath as they interpreted it. He has called the Twelve to be with him as interns for on-the-job-training. His innovative techniques draw large crowds around him. He is so popular that, when he and the disciples go to the house to eat, their time together is interrupted by the litanies of the ...

692. Give Me Jesus!

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Richard Patt

... this sad sight too. And it is at this point that we come to the little exchange of words in today’s Bible story. In verse 66 we read: Because of this, many of Jesus’ followers turned back and would not go with him any more. So he asked the twelve disciples, "And you - would you also like to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life." To put it in modern terms, wasn’t Simon Peter really saying, "Give me Jesus!"? Yes, when all else is said ...

693. Mark 9:38-50

Mark 9:38-41

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... is that the exorcist “was not following us” (v.38). Note that John doesn’t stipulate that the exorcist was not a follower of Jesus. Rather, that this spiritual activist was not a member of the inner sanctum. He was not one of The Twelve. He was not “one of us.” The echo of self-importance from v.34 is unmistakable in John’s announcement. The disciples, with John as their spokesman, are still concerned with their own reputations, their own recognition. Rather than affirming their actions and ...

694. A Glory Revealed in the King

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Charles M. Mountain

... they saw in Jesus a Washington, a Lincoln, and the Generals Patton and MacArthur somehow all melded into one personality. So they glorified Jesus and wanted to crown him King. But as so often happened in Jesus’ ministry, they completely missed the point. The twelve had trouble comprehending their Lord’s actions. We read in 12:16: "The disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified," then they got it. As with most of Jesus’ words and actions, the meaning of this incident only ...

695. Judas, A Person Like Us

Mark 14:43-52

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... little band — made him the treasurer. There is some evidence of greed in Judas, but it couldn’t have been greed that led to betrayal. He could have demanded far more than 30 pieces of silver. Perhaps he was jealous. There were tensions among the twelve, jockeying for positions and power. I doubt if Judas escaped that. So, undoubtedly, ambition was a factor in Judas’ life. He’s a person like us, isn’t he? Covetousness and greed, jealousy and ambition - none of these is foreign to us. But, these ...

696. Bread For The Journey (Bread of Life III)

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... for the Journey” is my theme today, based on another part of St. John’s narrative about the “Bread of Life.” This whole subject of “Bread of Life” began with the feeding of the Five Thousand. It continues to develop as Jesus and the Twelve make their journeys through the various towns, to the lake and mountainside, responding to the crowds. As we noted last week, these short scenarios in St. John’s Gospel cannot be taken literally. They are profound and they have double meanings. My thoughts ...

697. Hey! I Want To Believe!

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... fire, they cool, lose their ardor, and are very difficult to rekindle. That had not yet happened to Thomas. He was not yet lost. He was simply missing when a significant occasion happened in the life of the Christian community. After all, he was one of the twelve selected by Jesus to be his disciples. A good guess would be that Thomas' heavy heart was responsible for his absence. Some people in times of grief want to be alone. Maybe Thomas sought out his own family after the crucifixion. Maybe he felt he ...

698. Seeking a Shepherd King

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... of this story, Saul is still king over Israel. Toward the end of the eleventh century B.C., Israel was literally threatened with annihilation at the hands of the Philistines, who dwelt in five city states along the coast of Palestine. The loose federation of the twelve tribes that had up to that time furnished volunteers for Israel’s army was too weak to withstand the Philistine incursion. As a result, the people of Israel demanded that Samuel appoint for them a king to lead them in battle (1 Samuel 8:4 ...

699. Touch and Feel, Taste and See

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... ." [22] When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. [23] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." [24] But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. [25] So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his ...

700. Jesus at the Temple

Matthew 21:12-17

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the concessions” (Beare, p. 417). Two problems should be mentioned. In Matthew, Jesus entered Jerusalem, went to the temple and drove out the money-changers. In Mark, Jesus went to the temple and after looking around, “went out to Bethany with the Twelve” (Mark 11:11), returning on the “following day” to cleanse the temple (Mark 11:12–19). If one accepts Mark as the first written Gospel, it would appear that Matthew has moved immediately to the climactic event and transferred the account ...

Showing results