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 101 to 125 of 4968 results

101. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 10:1-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... a martyr’s death is incidental. Some have found incongruity in the fact that it is not until chapter 16 (vv. 21–23) that Jesus first predicts his crucifixion. This method of execution was well known in Palestine, and the image would have been easily understood by Jesus’ disciples. Verse 39 is the most frequently recorded saying of Jesus in the New Testament. It is found six times in the Gospels (cf. Matt. 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33; John 12:25). If a person seeks to preserve his own life he ...

102. Lost in the Wonder of God

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God) are re-united in him, and all of the power of God is bestowed upon him, as the Son takes his place in the tri-unity of the Father and the Holy Spirit, eternal and present. The mountaintop meeting is a mountaintop moment! The Son sends out his disciples in the name of God the Father, and the Son, and Holy Spirit to baptize and to teach all people and cultures (ethne) how to follow him and to obey (be observant of, practice) everything in the way he had himself taught them. To baptize them would be to ...

103. I Knew You’d Come

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... this story in our Gospels, John has the shortest - only four verses (6:16-20). Here the bare facts are presented. It is night. The disciples are in a boat. Jesus comes to them walking on the water. They are terrified. Jesus says to them, "Don’t be afraid. It is ... barrier too broad, no pit too deep, no door too firmly locked to keep him out. As he came walking on the water to his disciples, so he will come to us walking on the waters of our deepest adversity. And we shall cry out in triumph, "I knew you’d ...

104. Move Life from Duty to Destiny

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... remember the future, and the Christ who comes to us from the future ushers us into the Father’s presence. Jesus has already gone ahead of us. To dare to face the wind is to dare to turn and face Jesus, who comes to us from the future. The disciples in today’s Luke text could only envision a future that would come to an end at the eschaton. Jesus pointed them towards a different kind of future by promising that his presence, his Spirit, would be there for them until the end of time. “I will never leave ...

105. Not So With You

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Show me your hands. Are they dirty and wet? Or did you keep your hands clean? If your hands are clean, the gates refuse to open. The Incarnation means God came down. How far down? All the way down, even to the point where Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, the filthiest parts of the body in the first century mindset. You don’t wash anyone’s feet without getting your hands dirty and wet. Holiness is not keeping your hands clean, but getting your hands dirty and wet in serving those Jesus loves. The mark ...

106. Sitting Shiva Behind Closed Doors

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas or Didymus (called the “Twin”), one of the twelve of Jesus’ inner circle, was not with the others when Jesus came to them. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in His side, I will not believe this.” A week later, Jesus ...

107. Syrophoenician Lives Matter!

Mark 7:24-30, Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... other guests. What will you do? That’s a bit like the situation Jesus had when he visited the Syrophoenician woman that day. His disciples definitely didn’t want the woman calling to Jesus to be part of their “party.” She wasn’t good enough. She was an ... doesn’t matter if you are white or black or Mexican or Syrian! It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, a new disciple or an old one. Jesus is only interested in the state of your heart! Is your heart warming to love and to life? Is your ...

108. Watch Your Step

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... into the world: Dare to go out without two tunics. Dare to take risks for God without cushy 401k’s. Dare to offer the word and the work (with your hands) of Christ without a down payment. Dare to be a Jesus. Walk the talk Christ directed for his disciples. No “golden parachutes.” Just some sandals and a staff — a way to get there and something to lean on. We might not be very pedestrian anymore. But the way we walk still reveals a lot about us. There is the athlete’s bounce, the runway model’s ...

109. Daily Homework

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... . All of that is to make sure that as we are doing all those other things, in the process, we are daily on the "go" making disciples for Christ. In fact, in God's university, if you don't go, you flunk. If we do not, on a daily basis, leave this church ... over that God the Holy Spirit would move on your heart to do one or the other, if not both. Finally, we are to mature disciples. After we baptize them we are to "teach" them to observe "All that I commanded you." (Matthew 28: 20, NASB) The plan is simple. As ...

110. Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

John 13:18-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going” (12:35). For Judas, the curtain of night had now fallen; having left the circle of the disciples to do his evil work, he was walking in darkness. Additional Notes 13:18 I know those I have chosen. These words must be understood as qualifying 6:70. Jesus chose the Twelve as a group, but Judas will shortly be seen not to have been truly chosen ...

111. The Sign of Jonah

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God). After this Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will ...

112. The Passover and the Passion

Drama

Denny C. Wise

... the twelve. Some people called me James the Lesser. I used to regard myself as a nobody. This is my friend Judas Thaddeus. He, too, knows what it is like to be forever hidden in the background. In fact, his only claim to fame is that he is not the disciple who betrayed Jesus. I guess you would call him the quiet one who stuck.... Well, for a while that is. But then, when the soldiers came, all of us ran like a pack of cowards, hiding in the darkness. After all, Jesus wouldn’t miss us anyway. At least that ...

113. Jesus, the Suffering Messiah

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... order to seize him. There was a brief scuffle. Jesus quickly put a stop to it. The hour had now come with finality. It was too late for struggle. And so the crowd bound him off to the high priest of the Jews that he might be tried. And the disciples? They had all said that they would die before they would deny him. In this place we read simply that, "... they all forsook him, and fled" (Mark 14:50). They all vowed to stand firm. They all forsook him and fled. That is the last we hear about the twelve ...

114. Jesus Appears to Thomas

John 20:24-31

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... synagogue” (12:42). Of those, the narrator had said, “They loved praise from men rather than praise from God” (12:43). The disciples had fled at Jesus’ arrest (16:32; 18:8) and returned to their quarters in Jerusalem (cf. 19:27; 20:10); now ( ... will see me (16:16). I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy (16:22). The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord (20:20). I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor … the Spirit of truth ( ...

115. Running Around The Empty Tomb

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Thomas Long

... child is not afraid and does not cry. The mother's love has moved from being only an external reality to being an inner certainty. The child now trusts that the mother's absence is not abandonment but a different expression of love. Just so, when the beloved disciple saw the empty place where his Master had been, when he realized that Jesus was out of his sight, he did not fear abandonment; Jesus' love had become for him an inner certainty, and he bet his life on the wager that this absence was another and ...

116. Swimming With The Sharks

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... : Peter, James and John. As usual Mark doesn't give us details about what happened on the mountain. Did they have a time of prayer? Did Jesus lead them in a time of meditation? We don't know. ALL WE KNOW IS THAT SUDDENLY THE DISCIPLES SAW JESUS TRANSFIGURED. What does that mean, transfigured? It means he was changed, before their eyes. If you can imagine seeing the word “glory” occur, right in front of you, you’ll begin to get a picture of Jesus’ transfiguration. Jesus transformed into the glorified ...

117. Signs of the End of the Age

Mark 13:1-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... in Deut. 13:1–5, and an allusion to this passage may be intended here. (Cf. 1 John 4:1–3; 2 Thess. 2:1–12; Rev. 13:11–18). The Coming of the Son of Man (13:24-31): 13:24–27 Having described the coming trials that his disciples must face, including the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus now deals with the appearance of the Son of Man in glory and what amounts to the consummation of the kingdom of God. The preceding events (vv. 5–23) are all the result of the evil in the world and will involve ...

118. Good News for the Multitudes

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Thomas C. Short

... learning the trade, and now it was time for him to be a carpenter. His days of preparation were past. He had paid the price. Now, he was excited about putting his skill to work. He was not going to turn his back on all of this to be a disciple of Jesus. From that moment he knew his service to this traveling preacher would be limited. An older man heard the warnings and did not try to play tricks on himself. "First to thine own self be true." he thought. He knew himself and his fear of pain and suffering ...

119. John 17:6-19

John 17:6-19

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to the Father is maintained by Jesus' use of the divine name while he was on earth. It may appear unusual that Jesus does not now name the gift of the Holy Spirit as the protecting, unifying presence to act on behalf of the disciples once he is gone. Chapter 14 had certainly already discussed that progression. However, here in direct prayer with the Father, Jesus perhaps demonstrates his closeness with the divine by directly petitioning for the Father's name, not the Counselor's presence, as the protective ...

120. The Lord’s Prayer and The Stones-Serpents-Scorpions Story

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for or attachment or devotion to a person or persons.” Abruptly he sits down and resumes playing. Stunned and puzzled, Lucy turns away and murmurs, “On paper, he’s great.” That’s our danger: we’re great “on paper.” But what about on asphalt? The Disciples’ Prayer is not an “on paper” prayer. It’s an asphalt prayer; it’s a rubber-hits-the-road prayer? It’s a reality prayer for a reality world. And that’s where the scorpions, serpents and stones come in. The Lord’s Prayer comes ...

121. Eleven Plus One

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... automobiles. There's a Web site where you give them your personality characteristics, and they'll select a car for you that embodies your personality. So let's give it a try. You tell me what you think of when I give you the name of a disciple, and let's see what kind of car you'd pick. (Say names and listen to responses) Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Nathaniel, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas. Caldwell and I did our own picking. Let's contrast what you and the computer chose ...

122. John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to John's theology, the Holy Spirit is a shalom-Spirit. Close communion with God, which only the Holy Spirit makes possible, can bring true peace, the peace of Christ, to the believer. Thus Jesus could bestow neither his peace nor his Spirit upon the disciples until after his death and resurrection (as implied in John 1:33 and 7:39). Jesus relinquishes his own spirit on the cross (19:30) so that it may become available to all after his resurrection. Jesus formally proclaims, "Peace be with you" to his ...

123. Red, White and Pink

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Jesus is not a cause. Jesus is The Christ. As we walk with him on The Way, discover his Truth, and live his Life, we wear the crown of martyrdom, of witnessing, for the gospel. At the end of Luke’s gospel Jesus declares his disciples to be “witnesses,” or “martyrs,” for him. In the second part of Luke’s story — the Book of Acts — it becomes increasingly clear what being that kind of “witness,” that kind of “martyr” entails. To be devoted to Jesus means to serve Christ, to sacrifice ...

124. P.S. I Love You

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... they receive a sign. At Jesus’ directive they cast their net off the starboard side of their boat and, after a night of fishing futility, they suddenly are faced with a net full to bursting. It is at Jesus’ word, with Jesus’ specific directive, that the disciple’s catch goes from nada to not-to-be-believed. The full-to-bursting, not-to-be-believed net holds 153 fish — a specific number that has given biblical scholars way too much fun trying to figure out and pin down. Basically, though, this is a ...

125. Peter's Confession, Christ's Prediction

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

... him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again" (Mark 10:33-34). Jesus speaks of the cross. The disciples stay fixed on glory. James and John ask him if they can sit one at his right hand and one at his left, in glory ... this story I will invite you to take up your cross and follow me." Or this series of stories focused on the blindness of the disciples could end in prayer. Fashion a closing prayer that invites Jesus to open our blind eyes. Still another route for a sermon on today's ...

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