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 2026 to 2050 of 4967 results

2026. The Power of One Passion and One Prayer

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” There’s our second cliffhanger moment. After promising his disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on them, he ascends into heaven and disappears. Two angels appear to them and tell them that Jesus will come back someday in the same manner in which he left. And our passage ends with the ...

2027. Seeing is Believing…or Is It?

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that this person never doubts anything. But he or she has the courage to ask questions of what he or she sees. So in a sense, doubt is not the opposite of faith, but the confirmer of faith. In our scripture for today, we see Jesus’ first appearance to his disciples from within a locked room. Notably, Thomas is missing. We don’t know why he isn’t there. Did he go for food? Did he need to check on his masonry business? (Thomas was a stone mason and master builder.) Did he check on his family? Was he on ...

2028. Living the FIRE Life

John 17:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... entering into the “life of God” means. It’s a kind of spiritual life in which we exude joy, peace, holiness, and intimacy. And it happens right in the here and now no matter our other circumstances. Eternal Life. That’s the promise Jesus makes to his disciples. But what exactly does that mean? Scholars tell us that the word “eternal life” here in the Greek is “zoe aionis.” The phrase suggests a kind of life that happens in the fullness of time. It refers not to a duration of life or a future ...

2029. The Fork in the Path

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... kill them for their faith. Why do they do it? Because like Phelps, they believe in the mission –down to the very depths of their souls. And they believe in the truth that Jesus promised that says, they will always win in the end. Being Jesus’ disciple is a risky business. It was in the first century. And it still is today. To truly take on the responsibility of discipleship, you must understand the cost analysis. You must come to a moment of reckoning. You must accept Jesus’ challenge or deny him. The ...

2030. A Little Bit of Honey

Matthew 10:40-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... them well. So it is also with God, our messiah, our salvation, our churches, and our faith –things we sometimes take for granted or treat as a nuisance in our lives, but which impact us and our world in so many important ways. When Jesus sent out his disciples into the world to try to make it a little “sweeter,” so that people could “taste and see” that the Lord is good, most people did not yet understand who God was –this God of the Hebrews and Christians, this Jesus the messiah, and these ...

2031. The Contestant

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... end had to die? Bravado. Stubbornness. Stiff-necked people. And yet God never gives up. Jesus never gives up. The stories of Jesus’ disciples have got to be some of the most humorous stories in scripture sometimes. Like the story of Jonah (in which if you read ... a lot of people on a hillside. It’s getting late. He wants time to himself to decompress and pray. So, he sends his disciples to their boat, which is a short way out on the water in the Sea of Galilee (a large, deep lake, but which can become as ...

2032. Hosanna!

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... of the enemy and had taken the first steps to grind them into the dust. This Jesus was a king of power. This Jesus was a king of justice, of righteousness. Jesus was here to show what God did with those who disobeyed. The crowds and the disciples couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do next. We frequently call this the story of the triumphal entry — a day of victory — the day Jesus rode boldly into Jerusalem, called out the crooked moneylenders and temple leaders, stared Rome in the face and ...

2033. Let's Go Fishing

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be a flashy lure or some mouthwateringly scrumptious worm (gag), but to expect the fish to just jump in the boat for no reason will not work. If you want to be successful as you “fish for people” you will offer something to attract new disciples of God, same as one would for fish. For example, an invitation to “Come to church with me sometime” will rarely work. It is too easy to say “Sure” to that and never give it another thought. Instead, invite your friend to something particular: a special ...

2034. Casters and Menders

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... need to “repair” and “adjust” their theology to what God now intends to do. Whereas Simon may be the extrovert, James may be the introvert. Whereas Simon may be the challenger and fierce defender of Jesus, James will be the one to “mend fences” between the disciples and help them all knit together as a team who can fish together effectively. Jesus knows that he needs both! And these are just the first two groups of many whom he will call to be part of his growing team, his inner circle, those ...

2035. The Last Commandment: Love One Another

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Children's Sermon

Various Authors

... love from the dictionary? When I tell a story about love? When I reach over and hug you? Yes, when I reach over and hug you, that proves that I love you. Actions are better than just words. So it is the night of Jesus’ betrayal. Jesus and his twelve disciples are having their last supper together. Normally servants serve and wash the feet of the guests. Because feet are dusty and sweaty in that culture, it feels wonderful to have one’s feet washed and refreshed. But no one washes the ...

2036. That Mountaintop Moment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... see but can only imagine exists outside of our human understanding. Embracing mystery allows us a kind of “overview effect” that can transform us in astounding ways. Such is the mystery and beauty of faith. In our scripture for today, we see Jesus’ disciples confronted and overwhelmed by just that kind of “overview effect”, a mountaintop moment that will re-define who Jesus is and his role in the world. They are flabbergasted. Speechless. They don’t know what to make of it. Operating from out of ...

2037. Free to Forgive

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Jesus has forgiven us –for we all fall short of the glory of God—so we will forgive others in his Name. And in so doing, they themselves will experience the power and glory of God in their lives, often for the very first time. You are all Jesus’ disciples. You’ve all been given a great power. You can use Jesus’ gift wisely, bestowing love and grace upon all those in your lives, not bearing upon what they’ve done, but bearing upon the gift you’ve received in Jesus. Or you can resort to a “eye ...

2038. The Body Of Christ, On Repeat

Luke 24:36b-48

Sermon

Mary Austin

... is the one who opens doors. Just like some people can’t resist a challenge, Jesus can’t resist a closed-up place, something walled off, or a locked door. That’s the place where he loves to come in and ask us what he asked those first disciples: “Why are you so afraid?” In that way, the body of Christ is an antidote to fear. When we feel afraid, anxious, worried, out of strength, the body of Christ is medicine for that. “Be not afraid,” Jesus says over and over in his ministry, and the risen ...

2039. Prophet Without Honor

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

David Coffin

... offered to them by hosts. They were not to seek a nice hotel or a fancy bed and breakfast with more choices for food and possibly a pool or other accommodations. They were to do their mission and then move on. Most commentators agree that one message the disciples were to preach at this point was to repent, as John the Baptizer also preached (Mark 1:4 RSV). If they were refused, then they were to move on and shake the dust off their feet. This tradition came from a practice of traveling to Gentile lands ...

2040. The Loaves

John 6:1-21

Sermon

David Coffin

... has a plan for his people despite the forces of darkness and disorder. Jesus’ walking on the Sea of Galilee made this point. Any person of faith could end up working for a restaurant or public place where crowds and lines of people can be as disorienting as the disciples felt here in John 6. John’s gospel wished to remind us that God still is there in the person of Jesus or God in the flesh. God remains with us in these times of disorder. There is the promise of deliverance and new life. More good news ...

2041. Breathe

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... 6:10-20). Immersing oneself in the breath of God during prayer would essentially protect and guard one against forces that would threaten to invoke harm, stress, anxiety, or pain. But even before that, we see Jesus teaching this very concept to his rather anxious disciples, who were having a difficult time accepting who he was and what he was telling them. He tells them that the Spirit gives them life, that his words are “spirit and life.” His very breath, his words, which come from God, consist of life ...

2042. The Power of Weakness

Mark 8:27-38 · Psalm 19

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

... , the Christ who is about to come, but is not yet here, is a lot easier to deal with! All we can do while we await Christ is to be ready. I saw a bumper sticker once that said, “Jesus is coming; look busy.” And that’s where the disciples were and where the rest of the people who thought of Jesus as a forerunner were. But Peter identified that Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah — the one they had been waiting for, had arrived. And it’s not what you’d expect, Jesus didn’t say, “yes” or “no ...

2043. Baptized in Water

Mark 10:35-45, Psalm 104:1-35

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

... from the same cup, they said that they were, but that night in the garden, they could not stay awake. They said they could drink from the cup that Jesus would drink from but they couldn’t. They abandoned him just as Peter and the other disciples had. Jesus also asked if they could be baptized with his baptism. Before Christians like (here insert the name of the person most recently baptized in your congregation) were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Jews regarded passing ...

2044. Mountaintop Experience

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... joy in their hearts, only to feel the crush of real life in the valley below. Down here the demons ruled. Down here the world was torn by evil. Down here there were pains and torments. Down here, the kingdom had not yet become prominent. Moreover, the disciples who were not on the mountain with Jesus were weak and helpless. They did not have any power in themselves to change things. Jesus, of course, had the power, but his range of influence was limited by his conjoined divine and human natures, so that he ...

2045. Swimming Against the Tide

Luke 6:27-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . Jesus assures us, in his “God with us” best and truthful voice, that God is much more merciful than we like to imagine. Certainly much more merciful than we like to hope for. Isn’t that the story of Jonah? It sure is. Nope. Jesus is perfectly clear. As disciples, we are to do the opposite of what our culture would do, the opposite of what we as humans might be expected to do –we are to love those who sin, those who seem ungrateful, those who reject us, those who even seem to us to be wicked. For ...

2046. Memento Vivere

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... you do not always have me,” Jesus replied to Judas’ outburst calmly. He would let Judas do what he had to do. Jesus had other things on his mind –helping them understand that he would have to die in order that he can live! As much as the disciples did not want to believe that Jesus would have to be killed, Jesus already knew and had prepared for this day. So did Mary, clearly the only one at the time, who did not deny Jesus’ words, but instead had the courage to celebrate him. Mary, we learn, had ...

2047. Faith and Fury

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... elite in Jerusalem. He knows he cannot sway them or help them see what they do not wish to see. In fact, when he tells his own disciples to go out to preach, he tells them as well: go and tell the good news to everyone. Some will receive you. Some won’t. For ... …as much as God would like to. He needed to be ok with saving the ones he could. In the process, he taught his disciples…and us today….a valuable set of lessons for our own lives as well: If people oppose you, if people insult you, if people ...

2048. Remember

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... presence with us. We remember him with prayers, and mealtimes, and sharing. We remember him with rituals, and songs, and worship. We remember him with scents, and images, and sounds. We remember him in our mission to love as he loves. In all that we do as disciples of Jesus, we honor his life, his death, and his promise. And in return, as we feel his presence around us, he grants us his peace, his love, and new life. Today, we continue Christ’s legacy in our gatherings called the church. We heal. We love ...

2049. Motives Matter

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the miraculous truths about God throughout the scripture and throughout our lives! God never gives up on us! God never gives up trying to keep our focus on the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Jesus. We can see Jesus’ message in the words of the disciples’ proclamation! Whenever you enter a town….cure the sick….and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you!’ This is not a message of doom. It’s a message of hope. It’s not a message of power, control, one-upmanship, or arrogance ...

2050. Great Reversals

Luke 12:13-21; Luke 1:46-56; Luke 4:18-19; Luke 6:20-26; Luke 7:21-22

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... Isaiah had prophesied. He was the one who would bring great reversals to life in fulfillment of Mary's song. He was the one who brought good news to the poor. "Blessed are you poor." We should not be surprised at these words of Jesus to his disciples. In Luke 6:20-26 Jesus also speaks of great reversals. The poor will be blessed. The hungry will be satisfied. The weeping ones shall laugh. Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake will rejoice. Reversals work the other way as well. The weak of the ...

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