Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1501 to 1525 of 4508 results

1501. A Man Under Authority / A Centurion's Faith, An Elder's Love

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Let it be done for you according to your faith.” Props: Centurion helmet or any military helmet and stick Hope pulls you forward. Faith pushes you forward. Love keeps you moving forward. A story recently made the news whereby a visitor from Israel to the US had a serious heart condition, and needed a heart transplant immediately or he would die. He was older than the recommended age for surger...

1502. The Biggest Reunion Picnic of Them All

Children's Sermon

Object: a compass. Who knows how to use a compass? (If you have volunteers willing to explain its use, have them point to the four directions: north, south, east, and west; or do it yourself. Be ready to name one place in each direction and ask in which direction it is from where you are.) Do any of you attend family reunions? (Look for a response.) If you do, do other people come here or do you...

1503. Step Three - Faith

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to God as we understood him. In seminary I was preparing to take the final exam for my course in Theology 101. In any survey course there is always far more to study than is possible to cover. I tried to study the entire field of theological thought. I reviewed all my class notes. I even resorted to prayer. But neither the study nor ...

1504. Jesus Heals Many

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The account of Jesus’s healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (8:14–15) emphasizes Jesus’s power to heal by his touch (as with the leper; 8:3). Matthew sums up these first three miracles and Jesus’s healing ministry generally (8:16) with a fulfillment quotation from Isaiah 53:4, emphasizing Jesus as the one who takes Israel’s diseases upon himself (8:17). Readers have already heard a likely allusion tyi...

1505. Jesus Heals Many

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

A Ministry of Healing: Matthew summarized the public ministry of Jesus as teaching, preaching, and healing in chapter 4 (v. 23; repeated in 9:35). In chapters 5–7 we were introduced to the teaching ministry of Jesus. In chapters 8–9 we will learn of his ministry in deeds. This second main section of the Gospel comprises three series of acts of miraculous power. Each series has three miracles—one i...

1506. The Man From Galilee III: The Touch Of His Hand

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

A little girl named Charlotte went with her grandmother on a shopping trip downtown. When she returned home her parents were talking with her about the trip, what she had seen, how she liked it. They asked her if she had been afraid among all those people and cars as she crossed the street. She said, "No. The big policeman held up his strong hands and all the cars stopped and Charlotte crossed ove...

1507. The Physician

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” (Isaiah 53:4) In 1917 during the Bolshevik Revolution a painting by the artist known to us as Rembrandt called “Christ with Arms Folded” was confiscated from the home of Russian Count Alexander Orloff Davidoff of Petrograd. Ten years later, the painting was again stolen from the Pushkin State Museum in Moscow and ruthlessly vandalized, slashing and...

1508. Jesus’ Authority to Perform Miracles

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew encourages his readers to trust and follow Jesus wholeheartedly, as he shows Jesus’ power and authority to be greater than sin, the demonic, and even nature. Understanding the Text Matthew continues in this passage to emphasize themes of Jesus’ authority—here over sin (9:1–8), the demonic (8:28–34), and nature (8:23–27)—and faith as the appropriate discipleship response to Jesu...

1509. The Cost of Discipleship

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Matthew includes here a teaching on discipleship. Although the identity of the two “would-be” disciples has been debated (is either a true disciple?), the account focuses on Jesus’s expectations for his disciples in light of the arrival of God’s kingdom: sacrifice and uncompromising allegiance (8:18–20), even in the face of family obligations (8:21–22; for “Son of Man” [8:20] as Jesus’s self-desig...

1510. The Cost of Following Jesus

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

1511. Jesus Calms the Storm

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Matthew uses the next set of three miracle stories to demonstrate that Jesus’s power not only is for healing but also extends over nature (8:23–27) and the demonic (8:28–34) and includes authority to forgive sins (9:1–8). Not only do these accounts show Jesus’s authority, but they also raise more deliberately the issue of Jesus’s identity (e.g., 8:27), as well as show a range of responses to his m...

1512. Jesus Calms the Storm

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

1513. A Good Deep Breath

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A paper bag or some balloons. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever been out of breath? Did you ever run so hard that you thought that you were losing your breath, or have you ever been hit so hard the wind was knocked out of you? It is a very frightening feeling. You have a lot of air inside of you and you need it. I know because a lot of people have told me that I have...

1514. The Healing of the Demon Possessed

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Matthew moves from Jesus’s authority over nature to his power over the demonic (8:28–34). Jesus has crossed the lake and arrived in the region of Gadarenes, part of the Decapolis (cf. Matt. 4:25). (Manuscripts differ on the location name; some read “Gerasenes,” an area thirty-three miles from the Galilean Sea [cf. Mark 5:1], others “Gergesenes,” which was on the seashore, in addition to “Gadarenes...

1515. The Healing of Two Demon-possessed Men

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

1516. A Piggy Pudding

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: pig bones In my hand, I am holding pig bones. Now this may be nothing special to any of you who love pork! But pig bones mean everything to an archaeologist on a site in Israel today. Why? Because pig bones are only found in areas where non-Jewish practices were going on. Finding lots of pig bones in a certain town would indicate the presence of Greeks, Romans, or Philistines, depending ...

1517. Healed Once Again

Eulogy

Anna M. Ritter

Sudden Illness God heals. That might sound like a contradiction of reality to us who are here, at this time, in this place, who are gathered to commend ____________ to God, ____________ whose illness struck so suddenly and who sickened and died so rapidly. But let me read you a gospel text, one well-known to us all. The evangelist Matthew tells us: Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over and cam...

1518. Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Matthew's gospel collects the miracle stories into chapters 8 and 9 a technique designed to emphasize Jesus' unique identity. The miracle stories demonstrate that Jesus was not just some gifted teacher or itinerant wonderworker/magician. He was truly God's Son the Messiah. Within these chapters, Matthew gathers three sets of narratives, each containing three separate miracle stories. This week's g...

1519. Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Matthew's text moves from one phase of Jesus' ministry into the next. For the past two chapters, Matthew has been busy stockpiling healing and miracle stories one after another in order to build an indisputable case for Jesus' divinity. Matthew's focus on the miracles has been so intense that there has been little said up to this point about the disciples who follow him and are witnesses to all th...

1520. Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

After Matthew records a flurry of miraculous healings and resuscitations (chapters 8 and 9), Jesus' mission to Israel, God's "lost sheep," would appear to be well underway. But at the conclusion of chapter 9 and the beginning of chapter 10, Matthew's Gospel finds Jesus, rather than celebrating any of these recent miracles, lamenting over what yet needs to be done. It is Jesus' overwhelming compass...

1521. Jesus Heals a Paralytic

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Matthew’s account of Jesus’s healing a paralytic emphasizes his authority to forgive sin (9:1–8). In response to the faith of the paralytic’s friends, Jesus unexpectedly grants the man forgiveness rather than healing (9:2; although in ancient context, it might be assumed that the two were connected; cf. John 5:14). Some teachers of the law privately assess that Jesus is blaspheming, presumably bec...

1522. Jesus Heals a Paralytic

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

9:1–8 Jesus leaves the region of Gadara on the east shore of Galilee and returns by boat to Capernaum (cf. Mark 2:1). There, some men bring to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. In Jesus’ day most people slept on mattresslike pads on the floor. Thus the mat would be a sort of pallet or stretcher that could be carried without undue difficulty. When Jesus saw their faith, that is, their confidence tha...

1523. Communion Is Remedial

Sermon

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming." But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which...

1524. The Fine Print

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever. All: Your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. One: Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. All: For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord? One: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; stead...

1525. Follow

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6) Collect We pray more boldly in word than in heart, for we know, Lord, that you desire steadfast love, and that if we ask, you may indeed call us to great things. Even so, call us, Lord. With your help we will be ready. Amen. Prayer Of Confession We need you, Great Physicia...

Showing 1501 to 1525 of 4508 results