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 1201 to 1225 of 2815 results

1201. Best Advice

Matthew 7:24-29

Illustration

Brett Blair

... with this very warning: Everyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is wise; those who hear and do not are fools. Hearing wisdom is one thing, putting it into practice is another. But there is a third element here to the wisdom of Jesus' parable that might be easily over looked by careless reading. It is true that Jesus offers the disciples a wise word: Build on rock not sand. That's the obvious first point of the story. Secondarily, he reminds them to put this advice into practice. Now the ...

1202. A Kudzu Kind of Kingdom

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... said, "You know, I think I just heard a discouraging word." All of us have to deal with discouragement from time to time. So did Jesus' disciples. When Jesus sensed that their morale was down, he told three parables that are recorded in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. Those parables tell us that the Kingdom of God has something in common with kudzu, the unofficial state flower of Mississippi. In fact, some folks credit kudzu with having preventing the whole state of Mississippi from being washed down the ...

1203. Nothing Great Happens Without It

Luke 14: 25-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... 000 Mercedes. Now though the price is the same for everybody the cost would be far less to Donald Trump than it would be to Donald Chump. Likewise, there is a cost to be counted if you are going to follow the Lord Jesus. Jesus illustrates that consideration in two parables. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it." (V. 28) The Christian life is like a strong tower. It is to be a tower of work a tower of worship, a tower of ...

1204. Don't Forget to Forgive

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... once said, "Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one makes you but even with him; forgiving him sets you above him."2 III. The Principles Forgiveness Promotes To illustrate the truth about real forgiveness, Jesus tells a parable. In this parable he shares six vital principles to remember about true forgiveness. You can neither forgive, nor truly understand forgiveness, until you under-stand and apply these principles in your own life when you're dealing with people who have sinned against ...

1205. Foundations for the Future

1 Corinthians 3:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... has is your money. There is also a parallel spiritual truth. Any money that you have comes from God, so your money is really His money. God is vitally interested in how you give His money, how you save His money, and how you spend His money. Jesus told 38 parables, 16 of them had to do with money, and he taught more about money than any other subject. As important as prayer is, there are only 500 verses on prayer in the Bible. As important as faith is, there are only 500 verses in the Bible on faith. But ...

1206. Heaven Is a Process

Matthew 13:1-23

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... , walls with precious stones and pearl gates." Our images of heaven tend to be some form of paradise where everything is beautiful and wonderful. But here in the gospel of Matthew Jesus does not describe "heaven" as a place. He is speaking in parables and in each parable he refers to heaven as an activity. Heaven is not a destination but a journey. For Jesus, heaven has to do with planting seeds, discovering treasure, selling everything you have and being caught up in a huge net. In other words heaven is ...

1207. The Lost And Found Collection

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... I stand before Jesus and render accountability, I don’t want him to look at me and say, “Bill, do you remember John Smith in your Myrtle Beach congregation? He’s not here. Didn’t you warn him? Didn’t you tell him how to get here?” In Jesus' parable, why did the sheep get lost? It was not angry with the shepherd or the other sheep. The sheep was just interested in the business at hand, which was eating grass. He ate a little bit here, then a little bit there; then he eased around a hillside and ...

1208. I Believe That Jesus Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... what will cost you something, something you don’t want to live without. Then your gift becomes a sacrifice that God values highly.” (4) Is there any kind of cross on your shoulder? I want to close this message about the cross with one of my favorite parables. It’s about three trees. According to the story, these trees could communicate, and they were discussing the future. One said, “I would like for my wood one day to be used to make a cradle, for a little baby to rest in.” The second tree said ...

1209. Joseph: Don't Bury Me Here

Genesis 50:22-26; Exodus 13:19-22; Joshua 24:32

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... promise that when God led them out of Egypt, they would carry his bones back to the Promised Land. But for us, perhaps it is a parable of faithful living, a reminder that faith is not a destination, but a journey. 1. Spiritually, in my walk with Christ, "Don't bury me here." ... , the goal of the Christian life is to keep growing, keep stretching, keep traveling....until we all get home. But this parable of the journey of faith is not just for the individual. It's communal, as well. 2. In our life together, " ...

1210. Keeping Shut About the Good News

Acts 3:1-10; Acts 4:13-20

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... , a statistic and a post script… The Parable Once upon a time, a group of people in a small town realized their town was in trouble. So they built a swimming pool, opened it to the neighborhood and invited everyone to come. And the people came. And they were happy. They discovered a new sense of community and ...

1211. Engage Mind before Putting Mouth in Gear

James 3:1-12

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Christ also used words when appropriate to challenge. He said to his parents after their three-day search resulted in his discovery in the temple, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49). His parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) challenged Jewish officials on who they considered their neighbor. He used strong language, even to the point of losing a part of our body (Matthew 5:29-30; Mark 9:43-48), to suggest that nothing must interfere with ...

1212. When Life Isn't Fair

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... does the law of gravity. By the grace of God we do right not because we fear hell, but because in the long run it is in our best interest and in the interest of those we love. But there is a second question that arrives out of this parable. IF GOD WANTS TO BE GENEROUS WITH OTHERS, THEN SHOULDN’T WE REJOICE? Those who had worked in the vineyard would not have been at all dissatisfied with what they had received if they had not compared their wages with what the others had received. There is something very ...

1213. Fairness

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

... lives. We have always been taught: You get out of something directly in proportion to that which you put in it. Yet, that is not what happened in Jesus' story. In our way of thinking, the laborers who came to the field late got something for nothing. This parable challenges us not to look upon the Kingdom of God, or the church, as a business community. Yet, that is difficult for us to do, because that is our point of reference. What do you think would happen if a person joined the church this morning and ...

1214. Imitate Generosity

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

Douglas R. A. Hare

... I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?" The vineyard owner claims the right to pay his workers not on the basis of their merits but on the basis of his own compassion. Why should such generosity be condemned as injustice? Underlying the parable is the Old Testament conception of God as the creator who is GOOD, that is, generous to all (see, e.g., Ps.145:9). Jesus reveled in the incredible magnanimity of God (see 5:45). Of course Jesus believed in the God of justice, but in his ...

1215. Refusing to Share

Matthew 21:33-46

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... to provide for them until the next season. The villagers gathered around the giant keg and it was tapped. A pitcher was placed at the tap and out came nothing but pure water. It seemed that everyone in the village that year had the same idea. The parable of the vineyard is not unlike the villagers in Italy. The servants were to reap the fruits of the vineyard for the landowner but were denied that opportunity by the tenants. The tenants refused to share their grapes with others. They even went so far as to ...

1216. If It Were Up To Me

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... right there. If I were allowed to edit the sacred text, I'd grab my little bottle of White-Out and paint over verses 11-14. Because up to that point this had been a fairly lovely parable of grace. Had the story concluded with verse 10, we'd be left with the happy portrait of a succulent feast being punctuated by the chatter of the guests and the clank of flatware against china. That's not how it ends, however. Instead Matthew leaves us with the bitter ...

1217. Matthew 22:15-22

Matthew 22:15-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... entered the temple (back in Matthew 21:23), his authority was immediately questioned by the chief priests and elders. Jesus quickly quashed their inquiries, but went on tending to those around him, teaching them through his favorite method — parables. But after unfolding three parables Jesus is again confronted with a question from the religious establishment. This question had been carefully crafted as a "trap" and was loaded with intentional "malice." The unusual group that comes to Jesus in 22:15-22 is ...

1218. Late, Late, so Late!

Matthew 25:1-13

Illustration

John MacArthur

... of the ten maidens. Nineteenth century English poet Alfred Tennyson, in his Idylls of the King, adapted that parable to write this for Queen Guinevere, who learned too late the cost of sin: Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill! Late, late so late! but we can enter still. Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now. No light had we: for that we do repent; ...

1219. Stepping Out on Faith

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... barrel hadn’t held together, she wouldn’t have either. (3) There is a time for risk and there is a time for caution. Too many people like Anna take incredibly stupid risks. But there are many more people who live life too cautiously. Jesus told a parable about a wealthy man who was going on a journey. He called three of his servants to him and entrusted his property to them. This was not unheard of in that day. Slaves often held managerial roles. They were sometimes trusted to run the entire estate. To ...

1220. The Sheep and the Goats - Sermon Starter

Matthew 25:31-46

Illustration

Brett Blair

... much, engage in sexual promiscuity, live a lifestyle of constant stress then our bodies will judge us. We simply cannot escape judgment in life. Jesus rarely spoke about the final judgment, but on one occasion he did paint a picture for us in one of his stories. The parable that I just read gives a strong jolt to those who are heavy on doctrine but short on ethics. A shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, said Jesus, so too shall there be a great division on the final day. Those on the right hand will ...

1221. The Necessary Book

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... volume is clearly in the black. In fact, the master sees no red ink at all. The value of his restored relationship with the community is beyond price. As a Necessary Book, the accounting of the master's reputation is clearly in the black. Jesus' parable finds the master gladly welcoming economic loss if it means that he has an ensured and restored standing in the community. The master believed that there was far more at stake on the ledger than a profit margin. Likewise, the Christian preparing his or her ...

1222. Welcome or Warning?

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of Jesus have so many positive things to say that there is little time for braying about the bad or droning on forever about the dangers. This is not to say that turning your life over to Christ turns your mind off to the world's injustices. In Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds, the patient farmer is not blind to the weeds growing in his field. He can easily tell a weed from a wheat stalk. How to deal with these intrusive weeds is the question he faces, not whether they really exist. The farmer in ...

1223. God Will Be God

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... will not be trivialized down to human-sized aspirations. God will not be domesticated to our fads and fancies. God has purposes and ways that are far beyond us and our reckonings. In the parable told in this week's gospel text, Jesus provides a wry glimpse at the difference between God's designs and human desires. Jesus' parable opens a tiny portal of light into the Divine as he incarnates the genuine kingdom of God (or "heaven") by engaging us in his story. The landowner's generosity is bestowed on these ...

1224. John 10:11-18

John 10:11-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... - or as John liked to refer to them, "through figures of speech" (10:6). Jesus also used the parable to skewer his adversaries, often with such subtlety that they failed to recognize their own caricature as it was drawn before them. Another favorite illustrative technique used by Jesus and recorded most prominently in John's gospel is the "I am" format used to introduce one after another new image ...

1225. Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... so vital, his characters so pungent, his scenes so artfully set, that our whole being is drawn into the flair and fascination of these stories. It is no surprise that Luke's Gospel is most commonly read at Christmas, or that our most beloved parables are found in his writings. The "Good Samaritan" illustration is the continuation of Jesus' discussion with the lawyer about the requirements for inheriting eternal life. Matthew (22:34-40) and Mark (12:28-34) each record their own versions of this dialogue, but ...

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