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 1001 to 1025 of 1225 results

1001. Reliable Witness

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

King Duncan

... to hope. (5) Even if you weren’t impressed by the immensity and the intricacy of it all, the wondrous beauty of creation alone should show the sheer lunacy of believing it all happened by pure chance. “Nature,” wrote Jonathan Edwards, “is God’s greatest evangelist.” And he was right. That is one of the reasons you and I are in this room today. We can’t imagine a universe such as ours coming into being without some Intelligent Being saying, “Let there be light.” Whether it happened in seven ...

1002. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

... the neighbours met, The streets were fill’d with joyful sound, A solemn gladness even crown’d The purple brows of Olivet. Behold a man raised up by Christ! The rest remaineth unreveal’d; He told it not; or something seal’d The lips of that Evangelist. XXXII Her eyes are homes of silent prayer, Nor other thought her mind admits But, he was dead, and there he sits, And he that brought him back is there. Then one deep love doth supersede All other, when her ardent gaze Roves from the living brother ...

1003. Michael Corleone and the Widow

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... a $125 gift to his ministry. That’s a pretty expensive Bible. Of course it came with a promise that anyone who gave money to the ministry would receive a hundredfold in return. (2) Convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff had nothing on this evangelist. Fleecing gullible religious people out of their money via television is just as evil as “devouring widows’ houses” was in Jesus time. These teachers of the Law that Jesus described abused their influence with widows. They took advantage of their helpless ...

1004. When the Unthinkable Happens

Mark 13:1-8, 24-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... until the 1800s. “Because millions of Christians think that the rapture is ‘biblical teaching’ and thus has the authority of the Bible behind it, it is important to know that it is neither biblical nor ancient,” says Borg, “but was first proclaimed by a British evangelist named John Nelson Darby” in the first half of the 19th century. Darby concocted his vision of the rapture by his interpretation of a few passages in the Bible that speak about the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world ...

1005. In Praise of Perseverance

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... named Boniface to minister to the barbarian Germanic tribes of northern Europe. In addition to preaching Christ, Boniface was charged to establish a mutual defense alliance between the Pope and the King of the Germans. Almost immediately, Boniface enjoyed success as an evangelist. As a diplomat, however, he struggled. It took him ten years to get his first appointment to talk to the king. It took 32 years of persistent effort for Boniface to negotiate that military alliance. Yet that treaty proved to be one ...

1006. Unwanted to Wanted

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In 1944, a forty-one-year-old woman sought an abortion from her doctor. He firmly refused, asserting that abortion was just not right, morally, ethically, or legally. The woman later gave birth to a baby boy and named him James Robison. This unwanted child grew up to become a well-known evangelist. God has a plan for every human life, even those who are not wanted.

1007. Children and Evangelism

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The great evangelist D. L. Moody was once asked, “How many converts did you have last night?” He answered, “Two and one-half.” “You mean two adults and a child?” “No,” he replied. “Two children and one adult.” A child converted is an entire life converted.

1008. Predicting Defeat

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Evangelist Bill Glass asked a group of a thousand prison inmates, “How many of you had parents who told you that you would end up in prison one day?” Unexpectedly, almost every one of the inmates raised his hand.

1009. Evangelism - The Church's Life Blood

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Evangelist Vance Havner stated: “Evangelism is to Christianity what veins are to our bodies. You can cut Christianity anywhere and it’ll bleed evangelism. Evangelism is vascular, it’s our business. Talk about majoring on evangelism, you might as well talk about a doctor majoring on healing. That’s our business.”

1010. How To Revival

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A man once came to Gipsy Smith, the celebrated English evangelist of an earlier time, and asked him how to have revival. Asked Gipsy, “Do you have a place where you can pray?” “Yes,” was the reply. “Tell you what to do, you go to that place, and take a piece of chalk along. Kneel down there, and with the chalk draw a complete circle all around you—and pray for God to send revival on everything inside of the circle. Stay there until He answers—and you will have revival.”

1011. P-reach C-hrist

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

A middle-aged farmer who had been desiring for years to be an evangelist was out working in the field one day when he decided to rest under a tree. As he looked into the sky he saw that the clouds seemed to form into the letters P and C. Immediately he hopped up, sold his farm, and went out to P-reach C- ...

1012. Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar

Acts 3:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... . This identification rests largely on rabbinic sources, which may be less reliable in this matter than Josephus. On balance, the Shushan Gate is the most likely, but see Hengel, Jesus, pp. 102ff. (cf. 3:11; 21:27). 3:6 Jesus Christ of Nazareth: Luke, much more frequently than the other Evangelists, names Jesus from his hometown. In a post-resurrection setting, this reflects “an awareness of [Christ’s] continuity with the Jesus of history” (C. F. D. Moule, Studies, p. 166).

1013. The Choosing of the Seven

Acts 6:1-7

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... 3.3; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.43), but the New Testament offers tradition little support. It is noteworthy, for example, that when the early church wished to distinguish Philip from his name-sake, the apostle, it did not call him “Philip the deacon,” but “Philip the evangelist” (21:8). With the scattering of the Hellenists (see disc. on 8:1b), the role of the Seven with regard to the fund seems to have passed to “the elders” (see note on 11:30). Full of the Spirit and wisdom: cf. v. 5 ...

1014. Philip in Samaria

Acts 8:4-8

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... to the one whom they were expecting. Second, his ministry was marked by exorcisms and healings. In this it followed the pattern of the apostles (cf. 3:1ff; 5:16; also 6:8) and indeed of Jesus himself. Luke more often than the other Evangelists maintains a clear distinction between ordinary illness and demon possession (see note on 5:16), as instanced in this passage. Of the various healings that he notes, those of the lame and the paralyzed are especially frequent in this book, no doubt because they were ...

1015. Philip and the Ethiopian

Acts 8:26-40

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the version with which Philip was most familiar. These particular verses speak of the Servant suffering for others but in the end reaping his reward (a hint of the resurrection? see disc. on 26:23). It was ready-made as a starting point for the evangelist, and the Ethiopian’s question, Who is the prophet talking about? gave him his opening. Jewish scholars had already answered this question in a number of ways. Some held that the Servant was the nation (cf. Isa. 44:1; LXX 42:1). Others maintained that ...

1016. Peter’s Vision

Acts 10:9-23a

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... never eaten anything impure or unclean (v. 14; cf. Ezek. 4:14; also Lev. 10:10; 20:25; Dan. 1:8–12; 2 Macc. 6:18ff.). These words take us back to the teaching of Jesus in Mark 7:15 and to the inference drawn by the Evangelist (who is traditionally associated with Peter): “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean’ ” (Mark 7:19)—an inference that may owe its origin to this housetop experience, for the voice that had said, “Kill and eat” added, Do not call anything impure that God has ...

1017. Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

Acts 13:1-3

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... of Herod Antipas. The evidence of the Greek inscriptions suggests that he bore a court title as the companion and confidant of the tetrarch. Thus Manaen may have been Luke’s source of information on Herod Antipas (Luke says more about Herod than any other Evangelist). Manaen’s name is Jewish. It means “comforter” and is found in Josephus (Antiquities 15.373–379) as the name of an Essene who foretold (for he too was a prophet) that Herod the Great would become king. The association of the name with ...

1018. In Pisidian Antioch

Acts 13:13-52

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... 37 Neither did Paul say anything of Jesus’ appearance to him, perhaps because the circumstances were different and he had not followed Jesus as the others had done or seen him die. So instead of including himself among the witnesses, he presented himself as an evangelist (v. 32; cf. 1 Cor. 15:11). The Good News concerned the Messiah whom God had promised to their fathers and had now sent (cf. 26:6; Rom. 15:8). It was addressed especially to Jews—us, their (i.e., the ancestors’) children—though Paul ...

1019. Paul in Ephesus

Acts 19:1-22

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... that in the end Paul had no option but to withdraw, taking with him the disciples. The Christians were probably already holding separate meetings (see disc. on 18:19ff., also 14:27 and note), but Paul had now to find a new base for his evangelistic preaching. His solution was to use the lecture hall of Tyrannus, where he continued his discussions—the same technique as before—but now with a much wider audience. The Western text has the very credible addition that Paul held his meetings between the fifth ...

1020. Ashore on Malta

Acts 28:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... readers: “Did Paul preach the gospel as he exercised a ministry of prayer and healing? Were any Maltese won for Christ? Did the apostolic party leave behind a Christian community? The record is silent; but we may surely believe that here was an evangelistic opportunity too good to be missed” (Martin, pp. 136f.). Additional Notes 28:1 The island was called Malta: The view is sometimes expressed that they had come, not to Malta (Sicula Melita), but to Melita Illyrica (Mljet) in the Adriatic Gulf (see A ...

1021. Paul Preaches at Rome Under Guard

Acts 28:17-31

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... ” (1:8). 28:30–31 By way of illustration of this theme, Luke leaves us with a picture—not unlike the series of cameos in the earlier chapters that depicted the steady growth of the church (see disc. on 2:42–47)—of Paul doing the work of an evangelist among all who came to see him in his rented rooms (v. 30). For two years he continued thus—himself a prisoner, but the word of God unfettered (cf. 2 Tim. 2:9). The closing words of the book: Boldly and without hindrance he preached (see disc. on 4 ...

1022. The God of All Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... nations” (Rom. 11:13), thinks in terms of the original nations, which, from a contemporary Jewish perspective, are approximately coextensive with the current Roman provinces. Once he has evangelized a representative number of people in a particular locality, Paul’s job as evangelist is over, and he is eager to proceed to unreached territories (cf. Rom. 15:19–20, 23). He expects the gospel to radiate out from the established center(s) to the rest of the nation/province. Hence, although 2 Corinthians is ...

1023. Accusations

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... (cf. 5:12), for at the Parousia, the Lord will reveal the purposes of the heart (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5; 13:12). 1:15–2:4 Paul refutes the accusation that he is unreliable in his travel plans with two points. First, he shows that his evangelistic ministry is grounded in his apostolic commission (vv. 17–22). Second, he declares that he was faithful to this commission when he changed his plans in a situation that itself had changed (1:23–2:4). 1:15–16 Confident that the Corinthians will understand him fully ...

1024. Gift

2 Corinthians 8:16--9:5, 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... “remember the poor” in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1–10; cf. Rom. 15:26). As a result, the collection for Jerusalem became one of Paul’s major objectives as an apostle over the course of the next two decades. He wanted to conclude his evangelistic work in the eastern Mediterranean area (Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia) by taking a collection among the churches that he had established there and by bringing that gift to the Jerusalem “saints,” as he called them. From there, Paul planned to advance the ...

1025. Advice About Widows, Elders and Slaves

1 Timothy 5:1-6:2

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... her duties, thus suggesting that it be translated “looking after children” and refer to caring for orphans. Likewise showing hospitality is argued to refer to a duty, “alongside the overseers (cf. 3:2), in the reception and entertainment of itinerant evangelists, preachers,” etc. (Kelly, p. 117). But that is to let the idea of “duties” determine the meaning of the text, and it fails to take seriously enough that this list reflects a reputation already gained through these kinds of good ...

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