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 851 to 875 of 2815 results

851. How Did It Come to This?

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

Sermon

... more pre-occupied with self-seeking. Then they began experimenting. With the Hebrews it was religious experimentation, but I suppose experimentation came come in many ways. There are three parables in the 15th chapter of Luke and we spend a lot of time on Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, the lost boy, but I wonder if the two other parables are not more poignant. They are the lost sheep and the lost coin. I know very few people who have willfully and rebelliously turned their backs on the religious ...

852. Proper 20

Lk 16:1-13 · 1 Tim 2:1-8 · Amos 8:4-7 · Hos 11:1-11

Sermon Aid

... us a lesson on the right use of wealth. Jesus teaches us that we should be as wise, resourceful, shrewd, and clever as the unjust steward in our handling of mammon (money, property). The right use of money can make for us friends in heaven. After the parable, we are told that if we are faithless in handling small sums of money, we will do the same with large amounts. Moreover, Jesus frankly says we cannot have two masters: God and money. The Chris-tian is master of his finances by putting them in the ...

853. Beyond Good Intentions

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

... smile, "These people who have their first opinions recorded in print for the rest of the world to toss back in their faces!" As I read those articles, I remember thinking what I still believe: that, sometimes, to change one's mind can be an act of courage. In a parable of Jesus there was a man who changed his mind. A son of the vineyard owner, Jesus tells us. You and I could imagine him to be a teen-age son, feeling a bit rebellious and having reached his limit taking orders from "the old man." After all he ...

854. Mi Casa, Su Casa

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... finally even the landlord’s son they kill, hoping thereby to gain his inheritance. The penalty for their wicked conduct is clear to all: eviction and death. Equally clear to the audiences of Matthew and Jesus are the abundant references to another biblical parable: Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard. Here the people of God are themselves God’s "pleasant planting," well tended, well cared for. But when the vintner looks for his vineyard to yield grapes, it yields only wild grapes, a piece of symbolism later ...

855. In Defense of the One-Talent Servant

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

... altered and, in some cases, suspended altogether. Still, our aim is to hear the truth. We have heard the familiar story of the one-talent servant in the reading of today’s Gospel. It is a parable of the coming of God’s Kingdom, a parable of God’s judgment upon his servants, a parable about the nature of discipleship, of opportunity seized and lost. The defendant is the one-talent servant who is accused of unfaithfulness in his position of steward or trustee of his master’s resources. Because there ...

856. Getting Back To Work

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Brett Blair

... owes us nothing. If it is true that God owes us nothing, we understand why self-righteousness is such a loathsome attitude for religious people. Self righteousness assumes we are due God’s blessings and grace because of our good behavior. Let’s take a look at this short parable that teaches us to avoid this attitude. Jesus asks you to imagine you are the owner of a farm with slaves. When the slave’s work is done for the day and he comes in from the field, are you going to wait on him? Help him recline ...

857. Proper 27 & Pentecost 25

Psalm 50:1-23, Psalm 43:1-5, Psalm 63:1-11, Amos 5:18-27, Hosea 11:1-11, 1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon Aid

... 4:13-18 (R, E, C) See the Lutheran reading for Pentecost 24. I Thessalonians 5:1-11 (L) Paul, as he has done so many times in his letters, sounds the eschatological note, declaring that the "day of the Lord will come" and, drawing on Jesus' parable (Luke 12:39f.) "like a thief in the night." He was positive that the Lord would return at a time determined by the Lord God, and that Christ's second advent would catch most people by surprise and unprepared. Therefore, he warns the people of Thessalonika to ...

858. The Prodigal Prince

2 Samuel 14:1-33

Sermon

... ; deprived of family and deprived of hope, which was the only candle beaming light into her heart’s humble hovel. David was roused from his apathy and vowed that the murderer would live. Quickly his mind saw through the tale. It was too pat. Too easily did the spurious parable mirror his own situation. For did he not also mourn a murdered son Amnon? And did he not also have a son who had murdered in cold blood? A son named Absalom who had been in exile for years. A son he longed to see from the time the ...

859. Proper 10

Matthew 13:1-23

Bulletin Aid

... Church (vv. 18ff.), seems to be that, despite the fact that eventually it will find a fertile audience and yield extraordinary fruit, the gospel will initially and repeatedly fail to take root. In this regard, the injunction in verse 9 is telling the hearers of the parable either to heed its lesson, or simply to let the gospel itself "fall on deaf ears," if need be. Call to Worship Leader: May God make us fertile soil for the gospel! People: MAY GOD MAKE US DILIGENT SOWERS OF THE WORD! Leader: May God grant ...

860. Proper 22

Mt 21:33-46 · Php 3:4b-14 · Ex 20:1-20

Bulletin Aid

... coming Reign Exegetical note Form-critical analysis of this passage in light of the other versions of the parable in the Synoptics and the Gospel of Thomas reveals that the original point of the story was not Christological; nor was it primarily allegorical ... . Rather, it was a simple, if shocking, "Kingdom" parable, whose point was the value of the coming Reign of God and the extraordinary, even desperate measures that the lowly should ...

861. Proper 10

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon Aid

... see the world, its pain and joy. Pastor: I invite us to give thanks and live with courage and commitment to a new humanity. Ministers: Let it be so! So be it! Message with the Children of All Ages Consider this: Simply illustrate the parable, by bringing some seeds, and showing what happens to them. Show how people in their daily lives resemble the seeds. Proclamation of the Word Suggestion: Because I come from a farm where my parents raised chickens, I made the comparison between seeds and chickens. Each ...

862. Proper 11

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon Aid

... half-hour? Or to a person who can kiss away a $200 bill for costume jewelry?" (source unknown) 2. "Now that it's all over, what did I do yesterday that's worth mentioning?" (source unknown) Charge to the Congregation One pastor did this: Review one, or all three, parables. Conclude with "The person who has ears, let that person hear, and obey." Planning for Your Congregation I. Other Scriptures Psalm 103:1-13 Psalm 86:5-6, 9-17 Exodus 3:1-12 Isaiah 44:6-8 Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 Romans 8:18-27 II. Suggested ...

863. An Adaption of Luke 18:9-14

Luke 18:9-14

Drama

... : This is a choral reading. The six people can either stand or sit, separated from the congregation, or remain scattered through the church and rise to read their individual parts. 1: Jesus told this parable for the benefit of anyone who is caught up in the importance of his own goodness and despises everyone else. Jesus told this parable for the benefit of anyone who is willing to hear it. 2: "A person went into the temple to pray; he walked to the altar, raised his eyes to heaven and prayed boldly, ‘God ...

864. The Grace of Disillusionment

Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

And he went out and wept bitterly.- Matthew 26:75b In his famous autobiography, Henry Adams wrote of his chronic irritability. He thought it was the result of knowing too much about his neighbors and thinking too much of himself. We have in Luke’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican a man who, like the early Henry Adams, combines a low opinion of his neighbors with a high estimate of his own qualities. The Pharisee’s prayer in chapter eighteen is taken from life, for a similar prayer comes to us ...

865. How’s Your Appetite?

Matthew 5:6 · Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... his listeners, "Regardless of what you have done, God is like a father, standing at the door every day, waiting for you to come to him. And when you do come, he treats you like royalty." This may well be the best-memorized story in all Christendom. There is one parable he told that has always fascinated me. I guess the reason is that the hero of the story is a rascal. This story pops in and out of my mind as I think about the fourth Beatitude. The main character has been given a lot of titles. He is known ...

866. The Agony and Ecstasy of Sight

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... the first time. Our eyes are opened and we behold his glory! While It Is Day Before Jesus cures the blind man, he tells a brief parable: "We must keep on doing the works of him who sent me as long as it is day; the night is coming when no one can ... Our Creation Story It is interesting to note that John follows this miracle story of the healing of the man born blind with the parable of the sheepfold where the sheep hear the shepherd’s voice and follow him because they know his voice. Actions may speak louder ...

867. A Daughter of Jacob

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... against the whole Jewish traditional attitude toward the Gentiles. Hobbs says, "What better way could he show the vicious nature of the tradition of the elders than by assuming their role himself."15 Hobbs sees this part of the miracle story as an acted parable performed for the disciples to unmask their vicious attitude that would ignore a woman in great need simply because she was a Gentile. The point is stingingly clear. The outside world was crying out to the priest-nation of Israel for help, and they ...

868. Are You Still Frightened of the Dark?

Genesis 1:1-5 · John 1:4-5 · Psalm 139:11-12

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... so too the inclusion of our darkness into the light of consciousness enhances our ability to control that darkness. The most rampant and destructive form of darkness is that darkness perpetrated by one who denies that it’s happening. In the twelfth chapter of Matthew there is a parable that applies here. Here it is: "When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one, it says to itself, ‘I will go back to my house.’ So it goes back ...

869. Virtue Won’t Hurt You

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... became pushed in the background by our churches for another meaning. Instead of the love of God, some people focus on the sin of the prodigal and emphasize that one must stoop as low as eating with pigs in order to begin his journey home. To be sure, the parable means that how low one may decend in life, God is still there forgiving. Yet this is somewhat removed from the stance that a person should get at the end of his rope before he turns to God. Witness the number of testimonies you have heard from ex ...

870. Forgiving Is Forgetting

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... the throat and told him to pay what he owed him. When the debtor asked for him to be patient, the man threw him into prison. Well, the king found out about this transaction and threw his wicked servant in jail and released the other man. Jesus summed up his parable by saying this is exactly what the King of kings will do to us if we do not forgive our neighbors. Life is full of instances when people "rub us the wrong way." Now most of us, I am certain, do not have forty years to stumble around in loneliness ...

871. God’s Generosity Resented

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... . These two things Jesus must have wanted to say to the Jews and the disciples in his day when he told the story. But, when we study the Scripture, we must do more than discover its setting and its rationale back then; we must also ask ourselves, "What does this parable say to us now?" Here we learn a lot about our God, and it’s all very reassuring. The story tells us that God is kind. To be unemployed is a devastating thing. It robs us of our sense of self-worth. It removes from us our pride and feelings ...

872. A Teddy Bear and Christmas

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... surgeon's professional name card. Just beneath his name he had written this caption: "This is the highest fee I have ever received for professional services rendered." A little boy had given the most precious item he had, out of a love-filled heart. This is a parable of Christmas. 2000 years ago our gracious God, with a heart filled with love, looked out upon a sin-marred, tear-stained world. Had you and I been in charge we might have destroyed the whole mess and started over. But God's great heart was too ...

873. Why Should I Go On Living?

Matthew 12:38-45

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... demon of inadequate faith, but now come the demons of fear and futility and purposelessness and corruption and delinquency and dope and alcohol and crime. All right, what’s the answer? The answer is so obvious that Christ doesn’t even put it in His parable. The answer is HIMSELF! And no one seriously denies the validity of that answer today. The emptiness of our world and of our lives literally cries out for Jesus and the Christian faith. And no doubt, you are nodding your mental heads in agreement. But ...

874. Judgement Day Is Coming

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... lady in his conference named Tess Hoover. One day Tess said to him, "Bishop, you're so conservative that you probably believe in the devil." "Yes I do," he said, "and I don't like her at all." A SECOND TRUTH IS THIS: GOD IS PATIENT AND KIND. In Jesus' parable, the owner of the farm does not clean out the weeds right away. God is amazingly patient with us sinners. Listen to this word from II Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting ...

875. Building According To Code

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Brett Blair

... Kings and clowns that caper in sawdust rings; and common people like you and me, are builders for eternity; Each is given a bag of tools, a shapeless mass, a book of rules, and each must make… a stumbling block or a stepping stone. III Third, the parable suggests the real test in life comes when the storms are upon us. Why is a code important? Because one day the storms will come and our lives will be tested. The renowned English historian Allister McCook once evaluated Henry VIII by saying: He was at his ...

Showing results