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 1526 to 1550 of 4968 results

1526. You Are the Light of the World

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... of that.” (1) “Isn’t it better,” asks the little song of faith, “to light one candle than to stumble in the dark?” Our task as followers of Jesus is to provide light for a world that lives in darkness. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your ...

1527. Remembering Then; Anticipating When

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Tony Everett

... sends us out to show what this new commandment of love looks like beyond church doors. Here’s an old fable often shared in graduate courses in counseling and group psychotherapy. It is also a good demonstration of the new commandment of love Jesus gave to his disciples. It goes like this: A holy man was contemplating what heaven and hell might look like. Suddenly he had a vision in which the Lord led him to two doors. The holy man opened the first door and saw a larger round table in the center of the ...

1528. The Voice-activated Life

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Reality. As much as we want an "app" for our faith, we need to live in that silent space between the notes„m.the mystery that reveals rather than repeats. App faith is pharisaaic religion. A Jesus faith is trusting the Spirit by leaning into the Silence. Jesus’ disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration rushed to speak and said some things out-of-turn. There is a time to just be quiet and surrender to the mysterious. In fact, being silent is the heart of listening. The letters that spell “l-i-s-t-e-n ...

1529. Right in Front of Our Eyes

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... Christ, Moses and Elijah. But very soon he will be standing in that courtyard where someone will ask him, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?” And he will declare with an oath, “I am not!” Friends, Simon Peter is us! We’re just as wishy-washy in our faith ... the next moment, in a time of testing, we deny we ever knew Him. How do you explain it? There is only one way the disciples were human, just like you and me. They were full of good intentions, but poor in execution. This is one reason we are so ...

1530. Jesus and the Man Born Blind

John 9:1-41

Sermon

James W. Moore

... … as he crouches there and feels in the dirt for scraps of garbage… and wards off with his hands and arms the trampling, heedless crowds, eating their dust and pleading (without much success) for their help. Intrigued by this man’s horrible plight, the disciples ask Jesus a hard theological question: Who sinned? Was it this man or his parents? Why was he born blind? Was it his fault? Or did someone in his family do something wrong to cause this? There is an interesting theological point here. The ...

1531. The Life of Your Table?

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... my God" when you see Christ's wounds wherever they appear in the world?" And as Mother Theresa reminded us every time she spoke, we see Jesus (and his wounds) every day. So…what IS our reaction and response? In the Emmaus Road story, when the two disciples, or what we suspect was a couple Cleopas and Mary, saw his wounds, suddenly the family knew who was at their table. “My Lord and My God.” When Jesus once again breached “table etiquette” and grasped the bread and blessed it, he was revealed to ...

1532. Ignite: Burning Love

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

James Merritt

... stand up when they were told to sit down and to speak up when they were told to “shut-up?” What is it that can give us the boldness we need today to be pro-active in trying to reach people for Jesus Christ? It goes back to what these disciples realized was true about Jesus Christ and what I want to ask us to remember is true about Jesus Christ. Just three very quick things – I. We Need To Remember Who Jesus Is He is our “leader and Savior” (Acts 5:31, ESV). That word “leader” is a word that ...

1533. Sometimes You Have to Do Something

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... in January . . . you were born in July, dear.” I guess if it had been January and the Sea of Galilee had somehow frozen over, anyone could have walked on it. But this wasn’t Minnesota and it wasn’t January. Yet Jesus walked on the water and his disciples were afraid. Jesus tried to calm them: “Take courage!” he said. “It is I. Don’t be afraid.” And, of course, it is Simon Peter who speaks up: “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” You’ve got to appreciate Peter ...

1534. Can Two Stay One?

John 13:31-38

Sermon

James Merritt

... a way that is just talk. The way an unbelieving world will sit up and pay attention and say, “Maybe it is worth following Jesus and maybe Jesus is worth following” is when we love one another and stay in love. The world is not going to know we are disciples because of a bumper sticker on our car, or because of a lapel pin on our coat, or a cross around our neck. They are going to know it when they see us loving each other. One of the greatest witnesses a married couple can give to their neighbors is ...

1535. No Turning Back

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

... s goals than God’s goals. Again, Jesus wants to be King of our lives, not king of our country. And so we come to our lesson for the day. The writer of the Gospel of John explains the situation like this: “From this time, many of [Jesus’] disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Notice that it does not say that many in the crowd turned back or many that he fed turned back. We would expect that. Like many people today, there will always be people who church hop. They will keep shopping until ...

1536. When the Unthinkable Happens

Mark 13:1-8, 24-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... was totally destroyed and wiped from the face of the earth. (4) That was in 70 A.D., approximately 40 years after Christ’s death. In our lesson for today Jesus addresses the forthcoming destruction of the temple and then uses this opportunity to talk with his disciples about the end of time. This is the content of Mark 13, one of the so-called apocalyptic chapters in the Bible, a chapter that has been used to strike fear in many hearts. The end of time is still a subject of speculation in many Christian ...

1537. Submission to Rulers and Masters

1 Peter 2:13-25

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... that they would be called to witness for him before the highest civil authorities, kings and governors (Matt. 10:18; Mark 13:9; Luke 21:12). To punish: The Greek ekdikēsis, punishment, involves the state’s taking vengeance on the culprit (Rom. 13:3–4). The disciple, however, is not to consider taking the law into his or her own hands (Matt. 5:38–48; Rom. 12:17–21). 2:15 God’s will, mentioned here for the first time in this letter, is a theme reappearing in 3:17, 4:2, 19, usually in the context ...

1538. A Peaceful Mind

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... lengths to gain it. Still, we long for it. That’s why John 14:27 is a favorite verse for so many people. Jesus says to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled ... purpose today as his church--to raise up Jesus where a fearful world can see him. Before he left them, Jesus gave his disciples what they needed most--peace, a peace that passes understanding. It was the peace that comes from knowing that no matter how ...

1539. The First Two Days: John the Baptist’s Message

John 1:19-28, John 1:29-34

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... of God (v. 34). Only now does he answer the question, “Why do you baptize?” His baptism is for the sake of Jesus, “that he might be revealed to Israel” (v. 31). The Israel to whom Jesus is revealed is not the whole nation but a small circle of disciples, a group of “real Israelites” (cf. 1:47) who become the nucleus of a new community and to whom Jesus is later said to have “revealed his glory” (2:11) at Cana in Galilee. Jesus is first identified as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of ...

1540. The Plot to Kill Jesus

John 11:45-57

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... Ephraea: the Lord was there” northeast near Rimmon, in the hill country adjoining the Jordan valley. If these traditions are correct, “Aenon near Salim” (3:23) would be some distance to the north, and it is possible (though it cannot be proven) that Ephraim is where Jesus’ disciples carried on a baptizing ministry (3:22). Modern identifications of the site have centered on either the Arab village of et-Taiybe (once called “Afra”) or the valley of Ain Samniya slightly to the northeast. With his ...

1541. The Last Passover

John 12:1-11

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 10:39; John 11:32). The only new figure is Judas Iscariot (vv. 4–6), who has been mentioned (6:71) but who has had no role in the narrative to this point. The story is best understood as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples (13:1–30) and the accompanying farewell discourses (esp. 13:36–14:31). It is frequently observed by commentators that the telling of the story has been influenced at certain points by the memory of a somewhat similar incident in Galilee found only in Luke (7:36 ...

1542. Love One Another

1 John 3:11-24

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... and letters of John are to love for God or Jesus (John 14:15, 21, 23–24; 1 John 4:10, 20–21; 5:2–3), or among disciples (13:34–35; 15:12, 17), or for members of the community (1 John 2:10; 3:10–11, 14, 18, 23; 4:7, 11–12, 19–20; ... specific reference to his suffering and death (cf. 1 Pet. 2:21–23; Heb. 12:3–4; 13:12–13). In John 15:12, Jesus tells his disciples, “Love as I have loved you” (cf. 13:34), and in the next verse he says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down ...

1543. Assured by the Certainties of Faith

1 John 5:13-21

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... ; 5:30; 6:38–40). In the Gospel of John prayer must be in Jesus’ name (14:13–14; 15:16; 16:21–24, 26), and the praying disciples must abide in Jesus and his words in them (15:7). In 1 John 3:21–22, prayer is answered because “we obey his commands and do what ... readers his Dear children (teknia; 2:1, 12, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4), a term which Jesus had used for his disciples in John 13:33. The imperative verb for “guard” or keep (phylaxate) is in the aorist tense, connoting a decisive action, though ...

1544. The Jewish Leaders as Negative Foil for Jesus’ Followers

Matthew 23:1-39

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... statement about the relationship of Jesus’ followers to one another is a proverbial statement, similar to the ones in 19:30; 20:16 (the first will be last, and the last first). These proverbial statements address inappropriate emphasis on status in the coming kingdom. Disciples are to take on the humble position of those with little status instead of seeking status and position in the kingdom (see 18:3–4). Teaching the Text 1. Jesus uses the Pharisees and teachers of the law as a foil to teach his ...

1545. Spiritual Hypocrisy—Living by the Rules, Not by the Heart

Mark 7:1-23

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... “come out” and truly “defile.” It is not the food itself that defiles but rather the inner state of the soul that actually corrupts. This general principle demands an inner purity of the heart for anyone to be right with God. 7:18 Are you so dull? The disciples join the crowds in their failure to comprehend Jesus’s teaching (as in 6:52; 8:17, 21) and ask him (in a “house,” the place for questions in Mark [cf. 3:20; 9:28]) about the “parable” (see 4:11) or analogy that he has given in ...

1546. The Path of Discipleship

Mark 8:31--9:1

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... and dying to the things of this world. (4) The final goal of all this is the coming of God’s final kingdom at the return of Christ, when this world of sin will be over and our eternal glory revealed. Teaching the Text 1. To be a disciple of Jesus requires a denial of self. The very meaning of discipleship centers on the absence of self and the centrality of Christ in every area of life. However, we must separate the denial of self from self-denial. The latter involves refusing certain aspects of life, an ...

1547. Family in the New Kingdom Community

Mark 10:13-16, Mark 10:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... that either member of the union (or anyone else) “separate” or divide the God-sent oneness. 10:11 divorces his wife and marries another woman. Once again in a “house” (the place in Mark for teaching [cf. 2:15; 7:17; 9:28]), Jesus clarifies for the disciples what he means. There are two forms of this statement. Mark and Luke 16:18 have the strict reading here, while Matthew 5:32; 19:9 add the exception phrase, “except for immorality [porneia].” It is common to say that Mark’s is original and ...

1548. Praying in Faith

Mark 11:20-25 (26)

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... ’s teaching and means that God has now made available to his people through faith and prayer an incredible power to see impossible things take place. and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen. So much failure on the part of the disciples has taken place due to lack of faith and hardness of heart (6:52; 8:17–21; 9:19, 24, 29). There is a certain tension in the word for “doubt” (diakrin?), which in James 1:5–7 refers not just to “doubting” God but to a divided ...

1549. Feasting and Fasting

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 5:27-32

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... of blasphemy by scribes and Pharisees against Jesus in 5:21 is now further developed in two scenes in which he is criticized first for mixing with people regarded as irreligious and second for not imposing a proper disciplinary regime on his disciples. The impression thus grows stronger that Jesus’s whole approach to religion is fundamentally different from that of the scribes and Pharisees, and the Sabbath controversies in 6:1–11 will underline this difference. This theme will lead up to his eventual ...

1550. The Coming of the Kingdom of God

Luke 17:20-37

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... caught unawares by the day of the Son of Man. Theological Insights This is a remarkable section, found only in Luke. If, as the comments above have assumed, there is a deliberate link between the address to the Pharisees in 17:20–21 and that to the disciples in 17:22–37 the thought moves from the kingdom of God (already a present reality) to the future “day(s) of the Son of Man.” The implication seems to be that there is a continuity between the two, and that therefore the future authority of the ...

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