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 76 to 100 of 612 results

76. Personal Accountability

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

The introductory formula The word of the LORD came to me in 18:1, and the concluding formula declares the Sovereign LORD in 18:32, clearly demarcate the first unit of this section. Unconventional, but equally clear, markers set off the second unit, 19:1–14. In 19:1 the Lord commands the prophet: “Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel.” The final verse of the chapter repeats this identification: “This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.” The common theme connecting the sermon in chapter ...

77. An Encounter across the Lake

Luke 8:26-39, Luke 8:22-25

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus displays his unique power over both the natural elements and supernatural oppression. Understanding the Text Thus far, Jesus’s mission has been confined to the Jewish areas of Galilee, though we have heard of crowds from a wider area coming to hear him (6:17–18). The decision now to cross the lake takes him into Gentile territory on the eastern shore. It is only a brief visit, but it symbolizes the wider extension of the Jewish Messiah’s ministry to non-Jewish people, already signaled in 2: ...

78. Jesus Takes the Initiative

Luke 21:5-38, Luke 21:1-4, Luke 20:41-47

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: The pretentious religiousness of scribes and wealthy worshipers and of the magnificent temple buildings contrasts with the simple devotion of a poor widow. Understanding the Text In place of the question-and-answer scenario of the first part of Jesus’s public ministry in the temple (20:1–40), we now have a series of pronouncements by Jesus that bring that phase of the Jerusalem story to an end. They begin with a response to the leaders’ hostile questioning, in which Jesus raises the question of ...

79. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Lion's Pit: In this familiar chapter, Daniel’s enemies conspire to get him thrown into the lions’ pit for making petitions to his God. Just as we wonder where Daniel is in chapter 3, so we wonder where Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) are in chapter 6, for there is no mention of them. We can be sure that they, like Daniel, would have continued their daily prayers in spite of the threat of being devoured by wild animals, yet there is no explanation for their absence. This ...

80. Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

The Gifts of Comfort and Energy: So Isaiah 39, set in Isaiah’s own day, envisages the future deportation of Judeans to Babylon. Isaiah 40–55, however, is set in the time after this deportation has happened. It does not say “In days to come God will send a message of comfort to people who have been punished,” in the manner of a passage such as 30:19–26. It says, rather, “God is now comforting you who have been punished.” The traditional view is that these chapters were written by Isaiah ben Amoz, and we may ...

81. Jesus Eats with Sinners and Heals the Sick

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:14-17, Matthew 9:18-26, Matthew 9:27-34

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew encourages his readers to trust and follow Jesus, whose healing power and mercy toward sinners signal the arrival of God’s kingdom. Understanding the Text The final section of chapters 8–9 continues to accent themes of Jesus’ authority to heal—with three healing accounts in this section—and faith as the appropriate response (9:22, 29). The call narrative of the tax collector Matthew includes a paradigmatic meal scene in which Jesus eats with “tax collectors and sinners” (9:9–13; see also ...

82. Jesus as God’s Wisdom Is a Hidden Reality

Matthew 11:20-24, Matthew 11:25-30

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Rejection of Jesus as God’s wisdom both deserves judgment and fits a divine pattern in which truth is hidden from the wise and revealed to unexpected ones. Understanding the Text In this passage Matthew’s Jesus critiques various Galilean towns for failing to respond to his message of repentance (see 4:17). As in 11:2–5, the miracles that he has done are directly linked to this message and his identity (11:21–24), so their rejection of his miracles is an implicit rejection of his message and self ...

83. Jesus Adopted by Joseph

Matthew 1:18-25

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew confirms that Jesus belongs to Joseph’s genealogy by adoption, showing Jesus to be the Davidic Messiah and the embodiment of God’s presence to save. Understanding the Text Matthew concludes the genealogy from Abraham to Joseph by connecting Jesus’ birth to Mary, not to Joseph (1:16). In 1:18–25 Matthew “solves” this conundrum by emphasizing that Joseph names Jesus (1:21, 25), thereby adopting Jesus as his own son. This birth story also moves seamlessly into Matthew 2, where Jesus’ birth ...

84. More Than Just Image

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Would you agree that we are an image-conscious society? Appearances are important to us. And not just our personal appearances. We want the things in our environment—our homes and cars and sneakers and even our lunches—to look Instagram-ready. The problem with living in an image-conscious society is that we are easy to deceive. Too often, appearance wins out over substance. If something looks good on the outside, we don’t question its authenticity or integrity. Author Mark D. Roberts tells of meeting a man ...

85. Sermon on the Mount: Giving, Prayer, and Fasting

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus expects his disciples to practice a covenantal piety that centers on a longing for God’s kingdom to arrive and strives to please God, not humans. Understanding the Text Following on the heels of Matthew’s instructions about keeping the law, this passage indicates right ways of enacting religious practices of giving, prayer, and fasting. In each case, believers ought to act “in secret” to receive divine rather than human approval. Their behavior is to contrast with “hypocrites” who care ...

86. The Two Witnesses

Revelation 11:1-14

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

11:1–2 Many stylistic and thematic elements of this second part of the interlude differ from its first part. For this reason, most commentators think this difficult passage, which centers on the ministry and fate of the “two witnesses,” is derived from some discredited Jewish apocalyptic midrash on Daniel and adapted here by John for his Christian audience (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, pp. 176–81). However, unless John thought it contained an authentic prediction of a temple siege and the ultimate ...

87. Jesus, Isaiah’s Servant of the Lord, Heals Many

Matthew 8:14-17, Matthew 8:5-13, Matthew 8:1-4

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew encourages his readers to trust in Jesus, as he brings the power of God’s kingdom to bear upon human sickness and suffering, both to Israel and as a foreshadowing of Gentile inclusion. Understanding the Text As Matthew’s earlier summary of Jesus’ teaching (4:23–25) indicates, Jesus’ messianic ministry is characterized by preaching (4:17), teaching (5:1–7:29), and healing (8:1–9:38). This section of Matthew introduces Jesus’ healing and miraculous ministry in Galilee, accentuating themes ...

88. Between a Rock and a Hard Rock Thrower

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

As a kid were you ever convinced that you HAD to be adopted? I mean, really: how could you be related to your big-mouthed brother when you are so reserved and quiet? . . . Your math genius parents could never have produced your brain — a brain that can’t add up anything without using fingers and toes. . . . How can you be related when you can play almost any musical instrument and your sister is completely tone deaf? As our personalities develop, as our individual quirks and oddities, likes and dislikes, ...

89. The Gospel of God in Christ through Paul

Romans 1:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was divinely chosen to preach the gospel of God in Christ, the end-time fulfillment of the twofold Old Testament promise of the restoration of Israel and the conversion of the Gentiles. Understanding the Text Romans 1:1–7 forms the first half of Paul’s introduction to Romans (1:8–15 is the second half). The introduction, or prescript, to ancient letters consisted of three parts: identification of the author, identification of the recipients, and a salutation or ...

90. Acts 17:22-31

Acts 17:22-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Paul's speech before the Areopagus in Athens has long been fodder for theological debates. Some philosophers grasp at these texts as proof that Paul saw and used similarities between Christian theology and the belief systems of other cultures gently to lead listeners toward some commonly held truths. Other scholars examine these texts and find a strictly missionary-oriented speech one that cleverly uses the language of ideas familiar to a pagan audience in order utterly to reject their understanding of the ...

91. Sermonon the Mount: The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12, Matthew 5:13-16

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus begins this kingdom sermon by announcing the reality of God’s kingdom as reversal of fortune and restoration of right values and by calling his followers to live out their distinctive identity as God’s covenant people. Understanding the Text The narrative introduction to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (5:1–2) indicates that Jesus’ disciples are the more focused audience of the sermon, with the crowds as recipients who, in a sense, listen in (7:28–29). The first segment of the sermon (5:3–16) ...

92. Dots on a Screen

Hebrews 9:24-28

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Several years have now passed since the television series Survivor first debuted to become a summer ratings sensation. The concept was simple: place a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills, and personalities into close proximity with a common purpose, namely survival on a deserted island, and let the audience watch as their relationships develop, or fall apart. This, of course, is not to be confused with a much earlier comedy series based on the "seven stranded castaways" of Gilligan's ...

93. What Kind of Pillar Are You?

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Who are the pillars of the church? If others look to you as a “pillar of the church,” what kind of pillar are you? Jesus answers that question in our gospel reading for this morning, but to get to his answer we’ve got to exercise the discipline of historical context. We’ve got to put his words and images in the context of the culture of his day. So here we go . . . Anyone who has ever had a class on Greek and Roman culture has had to recall and recognize the three distinctive types of architectural columns ...

94. Luke 3:7-18

Luke 3:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

We are still traveling “on the road to Bethlehem” this third Sunday of Advent. But textually we are “wandering in the wilderness.” This week’s gospel text that accompanies us on our journey is focused on John The Baptist as proclaimer and preparer for the coming Messiah. Luke’s text tells us much less about exactly HOW John baptized, and much more about WHY John baptized and what participating in this ritual meant for those who were baptized. The thrust of John’s message is double-edged. He proclaims both ...

95. Jesus Transfigured as a Foreshadowing of Future Glory

Matthew 17:1-13

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew indicates that Jesus will suffer in the pattern of his predecessor, John the Baptist, but also foreshadows Jesus’ resurrection glory, which will follow his suffering. Understanding the Text Matthew’s account of the transfiguration, following directly on the heels of Jesus’ first passion prediction, highlights Jesus’ (future) resurrection glory. As Peter has been prominent in the confession of Jesus as Messiah in 16:16–20, so here too he plays the key, supporting role in this narrative ( ...

96. The Spirit and the Glory of the Age to Come and the New Covenant

Romans 8:28-39, Romans 8:18-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul showcases another blessing from the Spirit of the new covenant: glory. More particularly, the Spirit is a sign of the glory of the age to come and the new covenant. And yet, that glory occurs in the midst of this age and suffering. Understanding the Text 1. Suffering/glory (8:18) 2. Three groanings (8:19–27) a. Creation groans (hope for the revelation of the children of God) (8:19–22) b. Believers groan (firstfruits of the Spirit / by hope we were saved) (8:23–25) c. The Spirit groans (the ...

97. The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

After the establishment of the Twelve, Luke proceeds to describe the descent of the Spirit as a further sign of the dawn of the eschatological era (2:1–13). The dating of this event to “the day of Pentecost” (2:1) may be important for two reasons. First, “Pentecost” is by definition the fiftieth day after Passover (cf. Lev. 23:15–16). To locate this event at Pentecost is to provide a temporal marker for the events that followed Jesus’s death and resurrection. Luke has noted earlier that Jesus appeared to ...

98. The Fox

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David G. Rogne

I know that I don't have much status up here in Gaul, but will you do me the favor of listening to me? I've had an awful lot of time to think during these years I have been in exile, and I need to share my conclusions about life with someone. My name is Herod. The problem is that our family is so extended, and so many people bear that name, that I should really use my given name, which is Antipas. My circumstances used to be far different than they are now. It's not that Lyons is such a bad place to end up ...

99. What Is Required of Us?

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

“I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In a message titled Seizing Your Divine Moment Erwin McManus speaks of his son Aaron: “One summer Aaron went to youth camp. He was just a little guy, and I was kind of glad it was a church camp. I figured he wasn't going to hear all those ghost stories.... But unfortunately, since it was a Christian camp and they didn't tell ghost stories, because we don't believe in ghosts, they told demon and Satan stories instead. And so when Aaron got home, he was ...

100. Jesus the Messiah from Joseph’s Family Line

Matthew 1:1-17

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew, in the opening genealogy, emphasizes Jesus as the Davidic Messiah, whom God has sent to enact Israel’s restoration from exile and to include the Gentiles in God’s kingdom. Understanding the Text It may seem surprising to find a genealogy at the opening of Matthew’s Gospel, but genealogies were a common means for establishing and substantiating the identity of a person. Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus demonstrates that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah-King, from David’s royal line. Introducing ...

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