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 2051 to 2075 of 2815 results

2051. Changed Lives - Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... Scripture in question is a book of poetry and songs, not a book of instructions or history. Don’t compare apples and oranges. There is historical truth and there is spiritual truth. There are parts of the Bible that are poetry, parts that are parable. These are intertwined with historical narrative. It’s difficult even for scholars to separate the two. Science tells how; faith tells why. There is historical truth and there is spiritual truth. Here’s the final thing that needs to be said: we walk by ...

2052. How to Live a Sizzle-When-It-Drizzles Life

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... stray sheep was a potential “meals-on-wheels” for all sorts of hungry hunters. Communal sheepfolds, small walled enclosures, were often shared by several different flocks and their shepherds. Coming together for safety during the night was essential for survival. Jesus’ parable describes that kind of coming together. But Jesus offers something more than just a way to “make it through the night.” As Jesus revealed that he was both shepherd and gateway he enabled his listeners to gain a glimpse of ...

2053. Would You Make a Good Witness? (Ascension Day)

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... who have experienced Christ in their own lives and are willing to share that experience with others. And the question we have to ask ourselves is, are we good witnesses? Sociologist and author Father Andrew Greeley, in one of his creative and thought-provoking parables tells about a politician who was running in a very close election against a very clever campaigner. This politician “had a good message and an exciting platform, but he was not well known. So he had to make a lot of speeches around the ...

2054. Be of One Mind

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... be the kind of church that can lead people to Jesus. Paul pleads with the church at Corinth, “Listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” That would be a good appeal for any congregation. 1. Parables, etc. 2. http://www.chapel.duke.edu/worship/sunday/viewsermon.aspx?id=15. 3. The Song of the Bird (New York: Doubleday, 1984). Cited by Barry J. Robinson, http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/b‑or06‑keeping.php. 4. Illusaurus.

2055. The Way the World Is

Illustration

King Duncan

... be nice now that the Cold War is over if we could totally eliminate our defense establishment with the knowledge that no nation would ever commit aggression against its neighbor again. But that's not the way the world is. Winston Churchill used to tell a parable about a zoo in which all the animals decided to disarm. They arranged `peace talks' to work out the details. The rhinoceros asked for a strict ban against the use of teeth in war. The stag and porcupine agreed, but the lion and tiger defended teeth ...

2056. Building According to Code - Sermon Starter

Matthew 7:21-29

Illustration

Brett Blair

It is significant that Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with the parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders. Throughout the long day Jesus had been preaching to the vast multitude. They listened to him with amazement and awe. But Jesus warned them that that was not enough. It is never enough simply to listen to the words of Jesus, even though we ...

2057. Slaving for Nothing

Mt 9:35-38

Illustration

King Duncan

... friend one day. She confessed what they had done. She revealed the hardship through which they had come in paying for the replacement. It was then that her friend explained that the necklace Mathilde had borrowed was the costume version of the real thing. It was virtually worthless. What a parable of contemporary life! People frantically slaving for values that turn out only to be worthless. Harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

2058. Matthew 10:40-42

Matthew 10:1-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and decisive action taken based on the words of a messenger. Conversely, to mistreat a messenger, to insult, even to “kill the messenger” was a direct attack on the one who had sent the message bearer. In Matthew 21:33-41 Jesus’ parable of the landowner who sent first his servants and finally his own son to collect what he was owed by his unscrupulous tenants, also demonstrated this “representative” identity of the messenger. The murderous tenants are in effect beating and finally killing their ...

2059. The Sower and the Seed - Sermon Starter

Matthew 13:1-23

Illustration

Brett Blair

... of God was the main emphasis of Jesus' ministry and this is accepted by most. But defining precisely what the Kingdom was is a bit more difficult. Indeed, even Jesus himself was often illusive about it. He did not speak in absolutes; rather, he spoke in parables. Such is our scripture text for this morning. Jesus compared the Kingdom to a sower going out and spreading seed. Some of it falls upon hard ground and is unable to take root. Some of it falls on shallow ground, and although it initially sprouts it ...

2060. The Sin of Robin Hood

Exodus 20:15

Sermon

James Merritt

... class, you are a thief. If you have a gift that can be used in the service of this church, and you are sitting on your hands doing nothing, you are a thief. You are keeping for yourself what rightly belongs to God. In Mt. 25, Jesus told the parable of the talents. He told of a rich man who called his servants together and gave them certain talents; that is, monies. He gave them monies according to their ability. But everybody received some money. When the Master came back he found that two of the men had ...

2061. The Church: The Health of a Godly Family

Hebrews 10:22-25

Sermon

James Merritt

... , bothers to go to church." The old man said, "I go to church because I want infidels like you to know which side I'm on." When you bring your family to church you let the whole world know whose side you are on. Have you ever read Aesop's parable of The Lion and the Woodman's Daughter? It goes like this: A lion was very much in love with a woodman's daughter. The fair maiden referred him to her father and the lion applied for the girl. The father said, "Your teeth are too long." So the lion ...

2062. Body Building at Its Best

1 Corinthians 12:13-27, Ephesians 4:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... ; some are dynamic, some are laid back; there are leaders, then there are followers. Some of us are noticeable, some of us are inconspicuous. But we are all equally needed, and all equally necessary. Everybody is somebody in the body of Christ. There is an old parable I read years ago of some Tools that were having a meeting. Brother Hammer was presiding, but the Tools had decided they no longer wanted Brother Hammer to lead. As a matter of fact, they wanted him kicked out of the Tool Chest because he was ...

2063. The Danger of American Express

Exodus 20:17

Sermon

James Merritt

... the heart. b. It Is Rooted In A Focus In Luke 12:15 Jesus gave this stern warning about covetousness: "And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.'" He then tells a parable about a rich man who had more money than he would ever spend, more house than he could ever live in, more food than he would ever eat, more clothes than he could ever wear. But he wanted more. Why? When you read verses 17-19, you'll see the ...

2064. Like a Good Neighbor, Jesus Is There

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" (v.36) I'm sure the answer almost gagged the lawyer. "And he said, ‘He who showed mercy on him.' Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.'" (v.37) Are you a good neighbor? I read a modern parable of the Good Samaritan that went like this: A certain woman went down from Washington to Richmond and ran over a spike, which punctured her tire and left her stranded by the side of the road. After raising the hood of her car and tying a scarf to her ...

2065. Science and the Bible

John 17:17, 1 Timothy 3:16

Sermon

James Merritt

... . Listen to what he said about the Bible and science: I accept the Bible as the word of God because of its own miraculous character, born in parts and the course of the ages and yet completed in one harmonious whole. Without the Bible, all God's precious parables in nature, His other book, are utterly lost, and nature, exploited merely for lucre are for the pride of science, is degraded and ruined. I testify that the Bible is the word of God because it is meat for the spirit just as definitely as bread and ...

2066. Face the Music

Hebrews 9:27-28

Sermon

James Merritt

... . 6:23) But the result of death is judgment. It had been calculated that of 1,870 verses recording words which Jesus spoke, 13% are about judgment and hell. Jesus spoke more about those two topics than any other topic including love. Of the forty parables that Jesus told, over half of them relate to God's judgment.1 Christianity is not the only religion that talks about the judgment of God. Islam speaks of individuals being questioned by two angels, Munkar and Nakir, before walking a bridge that stretches ...

2067. Why?

Job 3:11-12, 16, 20, 23

Sermon

James Merritt

... His own hand on the thermostat. That's why he says to Job, "Who then is able to stand against Me? Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine." (41:10b-11) Jesus Himself said something very interesting about evil. He told a parable of the wheat and the tares. He told how the enemy came during the night and sowed tares among the wheat. (Mt. 13:25) Now "among the wheat" in the Greek is a strong expression meaning "all through the midst of the wheat, between the wheat, and on ...

2068. Hazardous to Your Wealth: Myths about Money

Malachi 3:7-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... billion annually. Fraud in the Worker's Compensation Program estimated $5 billion in 1995 according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.5 The second tip is invest it wisely. God expects you to be thrifty. He expects you to save. He expects you to wisely invest. The parable of the talents not only deals with abilities, it also deals with money. You should invest it wisely so that the money can grow and you can give even more to the work of God. The third tip is give it generously. You know nobody is ever ...

2069. Know Your Weeds

Matt 13:24-30, 36-43

Illustration

Todd Weir

... Milkweeds had to be hacked off with a hoe and would "bleed" and die as the sap ran out. If you didn't handle the weeds right, hours of back-breaking work in the sun would be completely wasted. Jesus knew his weeds as well. The meaning of Jesus' parable about the wheat and the weeds becomes clearer when we look at the specific kind of weed he talks about. Tares are "bearded darnel, mentioned only in Matt. 13:25-30. It is the Lolium temulentum, a species of rye-grass, the seeds of which are a strong soporific ...

2070. Faith over Time

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Illustration

Eugene Winkler

... , Alistair Cooke, remarks, "The Duke was at his best when the going was good." Aren't we all? Is that true of your faith? We believe in God when things are going well, but give us a few problems, a disappointment or two, and we begin to doubt. But the parable is saying to us: God is in charge of the harvest, hang in there, because things will work out in God's way and in God's time. Our faith cannot depend just on the good times and good health. It just may be that our theology is like that ...

2071. Niebuhr vs. Niebuhr on War

Matthew 13:24-30

Illustration

D. Mark Davis

... Century. But, he had a point to make. The reason that Richard Niebuhr argued for 'doing nothing' was that human beings often have a way of responding to evil with acts that produce more evil, however unintended. Perhaps that's what's at the heart of Jesus' message in the Parable of the Weeds. In our determination to 'do something,' we often act in ways that, beyond our best intentions, perpetuate violence rather than repelling it.

2072. From Outward to Inward Sins

Matthew 13:24-30

Illustration

Dennis Kastens

... , a censorious attitude. In fact, he points out that these sins are more commonly committed by church people than by those who are not. So prevalent is it in church circles, that it is sometimes labeled "Christian cruelty." What is the sin of judging implied in Jesus' Parable of the Tares? What exactly is judging? If we see a man walk out of a bar and stagger down the street, it is not judging to say he is intoxicated. That is a statement of fact. Judging is jumping at unverified conclusions. It is relating ...

2073. Global Rich List

Luke 6:17-26; 16:19-31

Illustration

Brett Blair & Sarah Dylan Breuer

... me in the top 16% of the world's richest. That information sure puts me on the edge of my seat when I hear "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." And it puts me on the edge of my seat when I read the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Luke's "woes" don't say anything like, "woe to you who are rich and ungenerous"; they just say, "woe to you who are rich." As one of the world's top 16% richest people, that has to give me pause.

2074. Neglect

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Illustration

King Duncan

... , and the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect. That's a parable about many people's lives, is it not? We let things go. We put off dealing with them. We ignore that which is disturbing, yet inconvenient until it is too late. And our ceiling comes crashing in. Neglect. What a powerful word. It describes many family ...

2075. In Love with Howard

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... went to bed feeling well connected to the universe for a long, long time. It was a Howard Family Enterprise . . .” (1) That’s a pretty healthy view of the universe for a child to have. He is part of the universal family enterprise. Jesus told many parables about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven (the terms are interchangeable), and he used many expressions to try to explain what the kingdom was like. Two of his most popular descriptions are found in today’s lesson from the Gospel of Matthew ...

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