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 1651 to 1675 of 2815 results

1651. The Cost of Being Christian

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

... , "Unless you are willing to take up your cross and come after me, you cannot be my disciple because you are not going where I am going." He did it not for himself but for us that we might be healthy and whole. Second, Jesus made very clear in the Parable of the Final Judgement that if we want to have the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven as we pray, it is going to cost us something also. If we are to get rid of the root causes of injustice, prejudice, racism, hunger, ignorance, crime, disease ...

1652. Proper 6

Lk 7:36--8:3 · Gal 2:11-21 · 1 Ki 19:1-8

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... 's sin of the spirit. Which of the two was the greater sinner? 3. Forgiven (vv. 47, 48). The dinner party turns into a theological issue concerning forgiveness. Was the woman forgiven because she loved, or did she love because she was forgiven? According to the parable Jesus told at the dinner, the more one is forgiven, the more one loves. When Jesus forgives the prostitute, the dinner guests question who Jesus thinks he is that he can forgive sins. Is it not true that only God can forgive sin? Lesson 1: 1 ...

1653. Proper 18

Lk 14:25-33 · Eze 33:1-11 · Phm 1-20 · Prov 9:8-12

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... he would give up all his goods for Christ. 2. Look Before You Leap. 14:28-32. Need: There is a common tendency to enter ventures without considering what is required. When this is done, many are unable to fulfill the conditions and all may be lost. In two parables Jesus urges us to count the cost. You buy a car, but can you make the monthly payments, pay the taxes, insure the car, and pay the gas bills? You jump into marriage, but are you able to pay the bills, make the sacrifices, educate the children, and ...

1654. Epiphany 8

Lk 6:39-49 · 1 Cor 15:51-58 · Jer 7:1-7 · Isa 55:10-13

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... contains three parts. The first (vv. 39-42a) points to the blindness to our own faults while seeing them in other people. Part 2 (vv. 43-45) describes the heart as the source of our actions, good or bad. The conclusion is in the form of a parable dealing with a house built on rock or sand. To obey Jesus' teachings is to build the house on a firm foundation which can withstand the storms of life. Jesus closes the sermon with a challenge to be doers as well as hearers of the Word. THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ...

1655. The Call for Proper Fasting

Isaiah 58:1-14

Sermon

... own home those whose homes and land have been expropriated in payment of debts, to clothe the naked, and to not withhold your own self from anyone in need of assistance. These fastings that God delights in are very similar to the action Jesus speaks of in the parable of the sheep and the goats, in Matthew 25, where we are judged on the basis of our actions to feed the hungry, to give a drink of water to the thirsty, to welcome strangers, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, and to visit the imprisoned ...

1656. God of the Ordinary

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

... a skilled surgeon, an understanding counselor, a Tylenol or a Rolaid, or maybe just a good night's sleep or a solid meal to bring us back to health. It is no less a miracle, no matter the method, ordinary, or otherwise. Jesus took the parables, simple stories of ordinary, every-day life and objects, and made of them deep, profound, and eternal truths. Our Lord takes ordinary bread and wine and makes it, properly administered, by faith, a spectacular means of giving forgiveness and new life to us. Christ can ...

1657. Communion Is Reformed

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

... :34) saying "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will have worries enough of its own." God wants us to trust him to be present with us and then just live one day at a time! In her book Nestle, Don't Wrestle, Corrie ten Boom tells an old Dutch parable about the clock which had a nervous breakdown. The clock had just been finished and placed on the store shelf with two older clocks on either side. One was an old table top clock which was very negative about life. To the new young clock, he said, "So, you ...

1658. Communion Is Running No More

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

... rooms." Hearing that each child grabbed a skunk and ran to their bedrooms. I'm sure that's not at all what the mother had in mind. I can imagine that those children carried the smell of skunk with them for several weeks thereafter. That could very well be a parable of human life. No matter how hard we try, no matter how far we run, we cannot run away from the stench of sin in our lives. For like those children, we carry with us that basic nature which is rebellious to God wherever we go and whatever we do ...

1659. It's a Big Ocean to be Lost In

Luke 15:1-32

Illustration

Brett Blair

H.H. Staton in his book, "A Guide To the Parables of Jesus" tells the story of having been on an ocean liner headed to the Middle East. Nine hundred miles out to sea a sail was sighted on the horizon. As the liner drew closer, the passengers saw that the boat - a small sloop flying a Turkish flag - had run ...

1660. Redemptive Joy! - Sermon Starter

Luke 15:1-32

Illustration

Brett Blair

... the isle shoulder to shoulder with the Commander and Chief. Jesus tried to explain it to his critics when he welcomed and ate with sinners. I want us to take look at it in our reading this morning. There are three great themes that spring out from these two little parables. Three themes that describe precisely the meaning of the Gospel: 1. The Lost 2. The Found 3. And the Joy

1661. The Divine-Human Nexus

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

... the king’s judgment, we dare not lose the perspective we’ve spent all year developing. This text does not stand alone in the canon of scripture. It must be understood as one part of the picture, one piece of the puzzle. Another piece or part is the Parable of the Vineyard in Matthew 20. The owner, you remember, rewarded equally those who labored twelve, nine, six, three and one hours in his vineyard. The point is clear: God gives infinitely more than a just wage, "a day’s pay for a day’s work." And ...

1662. Life in The Meantime

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

D. Wayne Burkette

... , the ultimate of which is life eternal. The meantime is the present, suspended between memory and hope. And to a large degree, realization of future hope is a matter of sensitivity to the demands and opportunities of the present moment. Jesus often used parables to communicate the experience of that reality he called the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom which is also a meantime kind of existence. It looks back to its beginnings with the chosen Israel and forward to what theologians used to call its consumation ...

1663. The Shortest Distance Is Not A Straight Line

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... goats on the earth instead of mixing them all in together until the afterlife. I wish he had simply given us a formula and said, "Apply this. These are from Satan and these are from God. Here is evil and here is good." Instead, he left us that parable about the wheat and the weeds growing together in the same field - good and evil both flourishing in the same ground. I wish it were like tonight's basketball game where the home team wears the white jerseys and the visiting team the colored jerseys. At least ...

1664. Christian Values God's Provision

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Bulletin Aid

Leader: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He made man and gave him dominion over the earth. Congregation: Everything has been provided for our needs. Leader: In the parable of the talents Jesus said, "Everyone who has will be given more and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." Congregation: We have been given much. Teach us to use it wisely, Lord. Leader: Jesus said, "Give and it ...

1665. The Foolish Farmer

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

... what is happening around him and within him. This obsession with material things can wither our sympathy and blind us to other people’s needs. A concentration on material things can close us in on ourselves until we become first cousin to the farmer in the parable. In his book The Compassionate Christ, Walter Russel Bowie quotes an unknown author who penned these lines: He used his health To store up wealth To get, to scrimp and save. Then spent his wealth To get back health And only got a grave. 3. He ...

1666. Growing in God's Freedom

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... me free, free to grow, free to grow up in Christ. Amen. 1. "The Joyful Noiseletter," Volume 8, No. 9, November, 1993. 2. Faith at Work, Volume 104, No. 1, Jan/Feb 1991, p. 3. 3. FAW, Volume 104, No. 1, Jan/Feb 1991, p. 3. 4. Source unknown. 5. Parable by James Taylor titled "Naked Crabs."

1667. The Master Has Come - To Proclaim God’s Kingdom

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

... the way, about to happen, already beginning, not yet here, completely here, and still coming out there in the future. The Kingdom of God is the rule of God in the lives of people, in the life of the world, to the far corners of the universe. Jesus used many parables to teach what the Kingdom of God is like. He said the Kingdom of God is like a man who will sell all he has in order to purchase a pearl of great price. He said it is like a seed growing secretly. No one knows it is there, but ...

1668. The Message of Christmas

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

... wrote a poem. He never wrote a song. As far as we know, he never wrote anything that was printed and handed down from one generation to the next. Out of all that he said and did - out of all the travels, all the stories, all the parables - only a very few are contained in the few short words of four brief gospels. In spite of all these limitations, people from every part of the world are honoring him by celebrating his birth. His influence is more far-reaching and profound than all the parliaments that ...

1669. Responding to Christ's Birth

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

... that the first to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews were Gentiles from the East. In these Magi, Matthew anticipated all of those who would respond to Christ's birth by paying homage. Woven into this touching story of the Magi's devotion is the parable of Herod's reaction to the birth of the King of the Jews. Herod responded to the birth not by paying homage, but by plotting to kill the child. Therein lies a paradox: Herod, the chief priests, and the scribes - people who have read the Scriptures and ...

1670. Getting Back to Work

Luke 17:1-10

Illustration

Brett Blair

... gratitude, an appreciation for the very jobs we hold. We see ourselves a little more clearly now. We are not people who have limitless rights. We are citizens who have a duty to serve. This is the lesson Jesus would have us learn. It is the meaning of this short parable and it is the standard for every Christian. Note: Update and adapt the last two paragraphs as you see fit. We have left them in the present tense for historical record.

1671. Advent 4

Isaiah 7:1-25, Romans 1:1-17, Matthew 1:18-25, Psalm 24:1-10

Sermon Aid

CSS

... end of time. But there was a problem: The trumpet, somehow or other, had been bent downward, as if the angel (Gabriel?) had been waiting so long to blow his horn that the metal of the horn had lost its strength and partially collapsed. For me, this has been a parable of the problem that we, who celebrate the birth of Jesus, have in regard to his Second Coming. How long, O Lord? How long must we wait?)

1672. Proper 18 & Pentecost 16

Ezekiel 33:1-20, Psalm 119:1-176, Psalm 95:1-11, Psalm 115:1-18, Exodus 19:1-25, Romans 13:1-7, Romans 13:8-14, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 18:15-20

Bulletin Aid

... responsory to the part of the Exodus story told in Exodus 19:16-24. THE READINGS Ezekiel 33:7-9 (R, L); 33:(1-6) 7-11 (E) The Episcopal Lectionary includes the optional reading of the first six verses of this chapter, simply because they offer a parable about the role of the prophet in Israel, and verses 7-9 set out concretely the responsibilities and consequences that one who understands the role of the prophet must face up to. It pictures the prophet as a watchman, who must be on the lookout for the ...

1673. Christ The King

Ezekiel 34:1-31, Matthew 25:31-46, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, Psalm 95:1-11, Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon Aid

... lessons are in harmony with each other; it is also one of those occasions when the second reading ought to follow the Gospel for the Day. Matthew 25:31-46 This pericope is an announcement of the last things that are to occur, although it is often called the parable of the sheep and the goats, really of the separation, or judgment, of the sheep and the goats. "When the Son of man comes in his glory" suggests, as Jesus did in other sayings, that the return of the Lord will occur at some unknown time in the ...

1674. Sermon Opener - What Will He Find?

Luke 18:1-8

Illustration

Theodore F. Schneider

... for you." Given our understanding of the word, shivers run up our spines as we think about it. "Is that all we have?" we want to shout. "Is 'hope' all we have after all? Just ... hope?" 1. A Hope That Does Not Disappoint Us 2. A Hope Deferred 3. A Parable Of Reassurance

1675. Epiphany 3

Matthew 4:12-17

Bulletin Aid

... we may learn to live for that glorious day when your Holy Rule will be total. In his name we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession Precious God, we confess that we lose both sight and sense of the nearness of your Holy Rule, which Jesus came preaching with parables and witnessing with wonders, and that we live instead in our own world with our own rules, with little or no concern about whether your will is done on earth or not. Forgive us, we pray, and by your Holy Spirit turn our attention to your dawning Reign ...

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