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 1701 to 1725 of 2815 results

1701. Journey To The Cross VI: Jesus And Pontius Pilate

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

James W. Moore

... would be poor.” Success comes not from material possessions. Success comes from giving your life to a great dream. III. Success Is Not Living For Self; It Is Living For Others. A little boy came home from Sunday School... He had studied the Good Samaritan parable... His mother asked him, “What did you learn?” He said: “I learned that when I’m in trouble, somebody ought to help me.” He missed the whole point... and so often, so do we. By present day standards of success, Jesus wouldn’t measure ...

1702. Journey To The Cross VII (Easter): Jesus And The Women At The Tomb

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... ; it was cold… he threw it into the sea. He picked up another stone – cold! He threw it into the sea. He picked up another stone… it turned warm in his hand, and before he realized what he was doing… he threw it into the sea! That’s a good parable for Easter, isn’t it? Because that can so easily happen to us. We can come upon a miraculous moment like Easter… we can feel it turn warm in our hands… but then (so dulled by the routine) before we realize what we are doing… we throw it away ...

1703. DIPS IN DISCIPLESHIP

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... shall fear no evil, for thou art with me." Even if we abandon God; he does not abandon us. As C. S. Lewis wrote, "The gates of hell only can be locked from the inside." God is always as close to us as a whispered prayer. When he told the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus left no doubt that it is the Father’s desire to forgive us and re-enter into a loving relationship even after we have had a dip in discipleship. When all of our best efforts have failed and we realize that we can’t go ...

1704. THE BEAUTY OF SELF-LOVE

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... Bible does not necessarily mean a personal liking, a sentimental affection, but rather it suggests our active good will in behalf of our neighbor. In other words, God says we are to love everyone even when we might not be able to like everyone. Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is a great model of neighborly love. The Samaritan overstepped all existing borders to do concrete costly acts of love, even to one considered an enemy. The teaching of Jesus is clear - the love of a neighbor has no boundaries ...

1705. The Forgiven and the Forgiving

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... we fail to forgive, the "hump" of our unforgiveness is caught in the "eye of the needle" and we can’t get through. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." Let’s look at our world for a moment look at it over against the parable. Recently TIME magazine wrote about the Mafia in the U.S. They counted twenty-one victims recently murdered by them, and told of the last murder a former Associate District Attorney who was a witness before the Grand Jury. The article showed that six FBI witnesses ...

1706. I Knew You’d Come

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... they learn. So Peter stepped out of the boat. To the amazement of all, he started to walk on the water. Then he noticed the wind. He was afraid and started to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he cried out. And at once Jesus reached out and grabbed him. What a parable this is of the frailty of human faith. So many of us view faith exclusively from its human side. We interpret it as determination. Where you set your jaw and double up your fists and say, "I can do it." Now this is an admirable virtue in many areas of ...

1707. What It Takes to Stay Christian

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... describing as he wrote about "the labor of love" is that special New Testament word, agape. Agape-love, as most Christians know, is Christian love, willful love, love with its eyes wide open as well as its arms, the kind of love which Jesus described in the parable of the prodigal son when the waiting father ran to welcome his errant son with open arms even though the son didn’t deserve it. Agape-love is that kind of love which St. Paul described in 1 Corinthians 13 as being "patient and kind ... which ...

1708. Genuine Imitations

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... that they are judged. Jeremiah, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, had this in mind when he asked, "Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?" (Jeremiah 7:17). This also was the primary point of Jesus’ parable of the last judgment when he welcomed those who would enter the Father’s kingdom: "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick ...

1709. Are You Exercising Your Faith?

Mt 4:1-11 · Phil 3:12 · Gen 32:3

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... grounds represented an infinitesimally small part of the world. Now I know something about the far west, the mid west, the east coast and just a bit around the south. And there is so much more to see before I die! What I have been telling you is really a parable about faith. When we are first born into the faith we may think we know all of faith that there is to know, but the farther we go in faith, the more we realize all that we don’t know, and the more we are delighted by new discovery! And ...

1710. Are You Under Arrest?

Heb 5:11-13; 10:39

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... in the Jerusalem jail. I think his words are meant for me and you too. His very life was intended to discharge people from the prisons of their own making - the prison of sin, the prison of illusion, the prison of despair. "A Lady Named Olive" is a modern parable written by Pat Ryan, and it is really the story of a jailbreak. A lady named Olive owned two shopping bags full of words. One bag was plain brown, very old, and filled with the kind of words that could reach out and connect her with other people ...

1711. The Un-Parade

Matthew 16:21-28, Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... to win the confidence of a congregation in the first six months. Many in the faith want to get their religious act altogether by yesterday when you and I both know that a religious orientation is honed until the day we die. Jesus once told a parable about persistence, featuring a judge "who neither feared God nor regarded man" and a widow in his city "who kept coming to him." Her wish was this: "Vindicate me against my adversary." He kept putting her off, but she kept insisting, and in the end persistence ...

1712. Joseph

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... -son dialogues, with wise suggestions, gently given; firm admonitions, solemnly spoken. Stories would have been told with mingled tears and laughter. Lessons of life were discussed in quiet confidence; love shared in word and deed. Were some of the parables born in these conversations? Was it here that Jesus learned of common, household terms: bread, coins, sheep, lamps, vineyards, seeds? Can a boy really come to adulthood without the close acquaintance of an understanding, compassionate older man? Sometime ...

1713. Can We Really Get Along?

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... ; they will shoot us.' That made me sad. (signed) Love Allison." Maybe Allison sensed that most people in most neighborhoods are more inclined to help than to hurt, but her culture was trying to teach a different view. It was no accident that in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, the good guy is a despised Samaritan, helping a wounded Jew. Refuse to go along with cultural traditions that don't square with biblical truth, like limiting your social circle to one race; like evaluating a school by its racial ...

1714. Can a Christian Go to Hell?

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... was full of hatred for his brother, Abel. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that only the pure in heart see God. When Jesus found a fig tree that was supposed to have fruit and did not have any, he cursed it for its fruitlessness. This is a parable of what we can expect for our lack of putting our religion into life. Our record in putting faith into practice is not good and leaves much to be desired. Many times we church people do not act like children of God. We are more like wolves than sheep. Will ...

1715. Only Love Can See the Star

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... of God’s direction became evident once more as they sought to alleviate the human needs of others. The hard lesson became the guiding principle of their lives, the healed estrangement became the miracle of a new relationship. And so the little legend becomes a parable of great truth: "that love must be in our hearts if the light of Christ is to shine on our path, guide our steps, and show us the secret of successful relationships." When they finally arrived at the place where Jesus lay, united once more ...

1716. Humility Gate

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... of the Christian faith: humility before God who is creator, sustainer, and redeemer of life. "This is my body which is broken for you ... this is my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins ... this do in remembrance of me." Here is the acted parable. It is the same gate of humility through which all of us must enter in order that we might know the full meaning of our Christian faith. In the last conversation with his disciples around the lowly, common table, he said to them, "I am the way and ...

1717. When The Cheering Stopped

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Brett Blair

... there are no miracles recorded in these chapters what you will find is a persistent call to commitment. Hungry one morning Jesus stops by a fig tree and finds no figs. He withers the tree because it is producing no fruit. Jesus demands fruitful committed lives. A Parable is told: Who is more committed? The son who says, “I will work” and then does not or the son who says, “I will not work,” repents, and gets the work done? It is the son who does the work. The greatest commandment is given: Love God ...

1718. Christianity Can Be Fun

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... fantasy back into lives that had grown stale with religion. He hosted parties, fed people on hillsides, saw excitement and potential in hated and despised people. He ate and drank and allowed people to anoint his head with oil. He told humorous stories and poignant parables. He celebrated wedding feasts and even worked on the Sabbath. He pointed out to us the never-ending problem of man: Ever since the Adam and Eve account we have always tried to out-god God. Adam and Eve (humanity) were given a beautiful ...

1719. The Win-Win Philosophy of Life

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... in Second Samuel. David, the leader of his people, had committed adultery with Bathsheba. In addition, he had covered up by having her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. Nathan approached David about the problem. He appealed to David’s wisdom by telling a parable. When David saw his mistake, Nathan comforted him and helped him to make good his responsibilities. David assumed a responsible attitude and out of the situation another son was born to David and Bathsheba. Nathan was again there, this time in a ...

1720. Learning to Be Graceful

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... have embodied this in their lives. Soren Kierkegaard, one of the great Christian teachers, used to say that he never preached the truth. He claimed to preach things that made people realize the truth. How right he was. Jesus never preached the truth! He preached parables and stories which made people realize the truth. The crass, blunt truth is sometimes best left unsaid. Often as we ride on an interstate highway, we encounter a truck that takes up more than its share of the highway. The truck bears a sign ...

1721. Hooray for Humility!

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... ourselves in contrast. It is also recognition that all that is good about you really comes from God. Every virtue we catch in ourselves should make us grateful, not proud. Egotism and pride go hand in hand. Pride is the villain in almost all the parables Jesus told. Pride is the sin of so-called "good" people, and strikes where we smugly assume we are strongest. Pride was the devil’s real trouble. Lucifer didn’t "run-around," didn’t "overindulge." His sin was in wanting God’s seat. Remember the ...

1722. Being Set Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... and ability to be a new person - one we can like and respect and live with in freedom. Paul lays it out, "When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new creation; the old order has gone, and the new order has already begun" (2 Corinthians 5:17). A parable by Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize poet, reads, "I have on my table a violin string. It is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end, it responds; it is free. But it is not free to sing. So I take it and fix it into ...

1723. Embalmed Alive

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... possibilities, before any of these magnificent potentials were realized. It is the searching question that our very creation demands that we answer: "Have we fulfilled the purpose of our creation, or have we died without ever having lived?" We cannot forget the stinging parable of Christ concerning the fig tree and the vineyard. The owner of the vineyard comes seeking fruit, and he finds none. And he says to the husbandman of the vineyard: "For three years now, I have come to this tree seeking fruit, and ...

1724. Justification and Reconciliation

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... emphatically: "Justification is forgiveness, nothing but forgiveness, for Christ’s sake."17 Thus what Paul means by "justifying the ungodly" may be expressed more effectively by the language of the home rather than that of the law court, as our Lord does in his parable of the prodigal son. And Paul’s own analogy of dying and rising with Christ is a more powerful figure of speech than acquittal in court for expressing the entrance into the new life. In any case, if justification is the article by which ...

1725. Numbered Hairs

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... Classic), 1938, 1964. 9. Tolstoy, op. cit., p. 548. 10. Reginald L. White. "The Price Of A Life," in "Saturday Review," December 16, 1972, p. 8. 11. John Howard Griffin. Black Like Me, p. 133. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1960, 1961. 12. Fulton Oursler. Modern Parables, p. 30. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. (Permabooks), 1950, 1951, 1952. 13. Iola B. Parker. "Nothing Bad Is Happening Right Now," in "Christian Herald," August, 1969, pp. 27-28, 31.

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