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 1026 to 1050 of 3314 results

1026. Acts 8:26 40

Acts 8:26-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... eunuch (8:26‑40), Saul of Tarsus (9:1‑19), and Cornelius and his family (10:30‑48), dramatically demonstrate how “the ends of the earth” include the unacceptable, the enemy, the Gentile, the “other.” Although entitled “The Acts of the Apostles” throughout, Luke repeatedly makes it clear that these “acts” are “acts” of God, worked out through the witness of those who confess Christ. In today’s text that assurance is declared at the outset as Philip is directed by “an angel of ...

1027. Practicing the Presence

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . But will the Holy Spirit be preeminent in your life this week? The Holy Spirit led Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch. Where will the Holy Spirit lead you this week? _______________________ COMMENTARY The content of Luke’s second volume of work — The Acts of the Apostles — is summed up in Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Embracing and embodying that directive is the continuous theme of Acts. Today’s text is the first of three ...

1028. Walls, Walls, Everywhere Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by ...

1029. Ephesians 2:11-22

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... “wall,” the detailed ordinances and statutes of the Mosaic Law, had been just as completely dismantled by the work of Christ. While elsewhere Paul writes that he is “not free from God’s law” (1 Corinthians 9:21), at this point in Ephesians the apostle is anxious to demonstrate the completeness of the break between the old way of the Law and the new reality made possible only by Christ’s reconciling sacrifice. The world that had been based upon the precision of the Torah has been dismantled by ...

1030. Zombie Zone or Beulah Land?

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

1031. The Tower of Siloam

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... is not a convenient means of explaining or justifying our wars. Peace is the natural lifestyle of a committed follower of Jesus Christ, one who recognizes that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are real and saving events that change lives now. The apostle Paul speaks of righteousness, which is properly defined not as a standard of outward morality, but the state of seeking to live in God's peace, a shalom that was intended to include all nations, all individuals, all of creation in a perfect ...

1032. Holy, Holy, Holy

John 16:12-15

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... roots, the trunk, the branches, the essence of the trinity tree flowers and blooms throughout the Bible. In the Great Commission, Jesus instructs his disciples to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). The apostle Paul underscores the reality of the Trinity in 2 Corinthians 13:13, with a blessing to the Corinthian church, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you." In our gospel today ...

1033. The Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... different skills with an eye to performing different functions in the game. Still, there is an essential unity among them: the same game plan, the same playbook and, to be sure, the same head coach. Paul says, "Yea, team!" Move a step farther with him now. The apostle explains that even though differences exist, differences in abilities and functions, every part of the body has a job to do, and each is important. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don ...

1034. The Business Of The Church

Galatians 1:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... The point of this exercise, of course, is to note that there is no unanimity in answering the question about what is the business of the church. If it is any consolation, the problem goes back to the earliest days of the faith. The apostle Paul felt compelled to address the issue in one of his first encyclicals, the epistle to the Galatians. The Galatian churches were wrestling with the same question that other congregations of the day were: namely, how should new Gentile Christians be incorporated into the ...

1035. The Church Should Go To Hell!

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... show. The temptations for the church are all there, just as they were for Jesus. But instead of falling for them, as a climax of his ministry, after Calvary and before the resurrection, as we repeat in the ancient and historic words of the Apostles' Creed, "He descended into hell." There are any number of hells out there awaiting us. The hells of the homeless, the hungry, the hurting, the hells of the addicted, the afflicted, the convicted, the hell of all those who feel abandoned and alone. The list ...

1036. Getting Directions

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be troubled, and do not let them be afraid" (John 14:27 NRSV). Peace. Just what we need in this scary world. But that is not all Jesus says. He may have other words as well. Think again about this brief account we have in our text of the apostle Paul's mission trip to Philippi. Just before we overhear the story about Paul's vision and the call to "come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9 NRSV), we find an intriguing few verses describing the missionary journey. The little band is comprised of Paul ...

1037. The Most Dangerous Verse In the Bible

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the verses you select. And who is to question you? After all, "All scripture is God-breathed...." Well, try to remember this: a text without a context is a pretext. And it is probably dangerous. So what is the context here? Read it again as the apostle instructs his young son in the faith. ... continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation ...

1038. Ambassadors of The Lord

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... , to see the Christ Child. We, in turn, are challenged to be Christ to others; we must be ambassadors of the Lord. Saint Paul clearly understood his role as an ambassador of Christ, but he had to learn the lesson "the hard way." The scriptures, both the Acts of the Apostles and the letter to the Galatians, tell us that Paul was a zealous persecutor of "the new way." He was present at and condoned the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). But God had plans for Paul and directed him to his assigned task as the ...

1039. The Great Sacrifice of Love

Luke 9:18-27, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... response from us. He understood how privileged he was to be chosen by God to be a missionary. He believed this was his mission as partial payment for the sacrifice Christ endured for him. He confesses that he was unfit to be chosen, let alone to be called an apostle, as his former life as a zealous persecutor of the "new way" was antithetical to the notion of Jesus and his message. Thus, he concludes, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (v. 10). Paul's conversion and his commission came in response to ...

1040. Don’t Compromise Your Beliefs

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... more importantly his message, namely to never compromise the faith in Christ that he instilled in the Galatians when he formed the community a few years earlier. Paul chastises the Galatians for deserting the gospel he preached for one preached by false apostles. Paul presumably is speaking of the Judaizers, a sect of the "new way" that demanded full adherence to the Mosaic law. It seems the Judaizers had accused Paul of preaching a false message, one not from Christ, because he suggested circumcision was ...

1041. Show Me Your Credentials

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... , even though in the eyes of others it seems like an utter failure. To many his credentials seem worthless, yet he believes that Christ has made his suffering and troubled life the most compelling proof of all that his message is true and his authority as an apostle is legitimate. So, what are your credentials? You folks claim to be Christians. You claim to be the very sons and daughters of God. You claim to be members of the kingdom of heaven. You claim to be saints, holy ones, and the apples of God's ...

1042. An Uncomplicated Gospel

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... of you" (Romans 1:1-8). This basic letter form appears again and again in most of the letters of the New Testament. It's not surprising then that our scripture text from Galatians 1 would follow the same form. The letter begins with "Paul an apostle"; is addressed "To the churches of Galatia"; and includes Paul's traditional prayer for their well-being used also in his letter to the Romans and elsewhere, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:1-3). But instead ...

1043. Living with Integrity

Galatians 2:15-21

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... principles of the Christian faith. But to many people today, they're simply one more example of Christian jargon that seems to brand the church as too complicated and out of touch for our time. Is it real? Is it relevant? Does it matter? To the apostle Paul in our scripture reading for today, "justification by faith" was so important that he repeats it over and over again like a football coach going over and over the same drill again and again. To him and to his first readers, "justification by faith" was ...

1044. A Tale Of Two Peters

Acts 5:27-32

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... are being called to appear before these assembled leaders. We in the audience do a double take when we see them. We know these men! They are Peter and John, the beloved men who were part of Jesus' inner circle during his earthly ministry. These apostles had been apprehended and kept in custody. For them, this is judgment day. These erstwhile Galilean fishermen look so out-of-place. They find themselves in a setting they never could have imagined just a few years earlier and for a reason they never could ...

1045. Look Who's Talking

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... Peter had only been serving and obeying God. It was wrong because it reflected a deep-seated problem in the hearts of the critics themselves. Notice in the text what it was the believers back in Jerusalem had heard: the impetus for their criticism of Peter. "Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God" (v. 1). If the news that had reached their ears was simply that Peter had been in the wrong kind of place with the wrong kind of people, then ...

1046. The Man Who Wasn’t There

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... if Paul and his companions looked at one another that sabbath morning and asked, "Where is everybody?" Not because no one was there at that riverside place of prayer, but because the people they naturally looked for were not there. Still, like a good golfer, the apostle Paul always shows his willingness and ability to play it where it lies. He did not find a synagogue. He did not find the Macedonian man from his vision. Indeed, he found no men that sabbath day at all. But he found a small gathering ...

1047. When God Calls

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

... set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Galatians 1:15-17 Before Jeremiah can even ask the question, "What am I going to be when I grow up, Daddy?" God takes steps to equip and prepare him for the ministry of ...

1048. Philippians 3:17-4:1

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ” and of all those in the community who “live according to the example you have in us.” Paul himself is an example only because he too is an imitator: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The apostle is encouraging all members of the faith community to participate in a faithful “walkathon”. Just as today we have “walks” for a host of good causes — CROP walks, Breast Cancer Walks, March of Dimes Walks, Paul was inviting Christians to “observe those walking” in ...

1049. The Cross Burden or Blessing?

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

1050. On God's Side Or In God's Way?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... in some way unclean, unfit to belong to the body of Christ. Then something quite unsettling occurred. Word was spreading throughout the community that Gentiles were being accepted into the faith. It was being whispered that even the Apostle Peter, the most influential of the first Apostles was part of this movement. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those Christians who prided themselves on their Jewish backgrounds criticized him. They had heard reports about him. They heard that he had not only entered ...

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