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 2126 to 2150 of 3314 results

2126. Who Is That Preaching?

Acts 2:14a, 22-32

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... . Collect We lift up our eyes to you Lord, after the despair of the cross. We follow the path from the empty tomb to see you risen and walking among us! We praise your name in victory! Amen. Prayer Of Confession Can it be, Lord, that this same apostle, Peter, the rock on whom you are building your church, can it be this man who denied you three times, is now forgiven and preaching to us in your word? Is such forgiveness possible? It can. Let it be, Lord, let it be true. Hear the confession from your ...

2127. The Promise Is for All

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... live to whatever measure your Spirit calls us for. Open our hearts and minds to your will and wishes. Bless us in our daily living. Amen. Prayer Of Confession One: Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter said to them: All: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:37-38) Hymns "Standing On The ...

2128. Called to Be Saints

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship All: Lord, we gather today, in the words of the apostle Paul, as your saints. Left Side: Sometimes it is hard for us to see ourselves as saints. (Note: NIV uses the word holy) Right Side: Other times we know that with your help we have done a good job. All: It is our hope and desire that you be glorified ...

2129. Drop the Net

Matthew 4:12-23

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... inquire in his temple. (based on Psalm 27:1, 4) Collect God of Glory, we accept your welcome to us as we come together in your name. Grant us the grace to extend the same welcome to others who have come to worship in our midst. May we, like your apostles, become fishers of new disciples. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord Jesus, you call to me where I live, where I work, where I play. You speak to me in my language. If I have ignored your call, I pledge to listen now. I hear you call, Lord Jesus. You are ...

2130. Surprised by God’s People

Romans 9:1-5

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Sisters and brothers, let us come together as God's people confident in our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Like the Apostle Paul, we know that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope based on the love of God does not disappoint us. Therefore we gather confident that the Holy Spirit will be present with us today. Let us gather together today, bearing not only the marks ...

2131. Surprised by God’s Bounty

Matthew 14:13-21

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

2132. To a Retiring Church

Philippians 1:21-30

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... for all, One faith around the world we hold, One Spirit gives to each a call, One potter seeks this church to mold. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord Jesus, as we follow you on the road to distant Calvary, it may be easy for us to say, with the Apostle Paul that living is Christ and dying is gain. You have granted us the privilege not only of believing in you, but suffering for you as well. As we travel this difficult road help us to endure these struggles together as we testify to your glory through our pain ...

2133. The Incarnation: What and Why?

Hebrews 2:10-18

Sermon

James L. Killen

... it and to show us that we can do it. He was "in every respect tested as we are, yet without sin." What kind of life is this that he lived to set an example for us? It was a life of faithfulness to the purpose of God. "Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was 'faithful in all God's house' " (Hebrews 3:1-2). He lived a life of commitment to God's purpose for himself and for the whole creation. That is the kind of ...

2134. With a Song in Your Heart

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

James L. Killen

... experience it deeply. But, if the song of adoration is the main theme of our lives, all of the other themes become parts of the symphony. If we allow one of those other songs to be the main theme, our lives will play a different symphony. The Apostle Paul was a man whose life sang a hymn of adoration. Scholars are still squabbling over whether the letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul himself or by one of his followers who hoped to represent him. But, almost everyone agrees that the letter represents ...

2135. Someone Is Trying to Get Through

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

James L. Killen

... able to know that God is. In fact, many people have been able to come to their first experience of the reality of God while marveling at the creation that we see around us and within us. It can also make us able to know a lot about God. The Apostle Paul believed that people should be able to tell a lot about what is right and what is wrong just by looking at the order of the creation. He wrote, "What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the ...

2136. Dealing with Criticism

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Sermon

James L. Killen

... about how to live a Christian life in the real world, directions on how to run a church, and expressions of the loving concern of a good pastor for his people. But we will also find quite a lot of argument intended to defend his authority as an apostle, to refute the arguments of those who disagreed with him, and to defend himself against his critics. That is the first thing we can learn from Paul about criticism: that it happens. It comes with being a decisive person. We may as well get ready for it. But ...

2137. A Christian's Resumé

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

... that has molded your creative talents since leaving the farm? Will they care that you were president of your senior class and yearbook editor, or is the fact that you sold subscriptions door-to-door more important? In the text from 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul presents a resume of sorts that is written from the perspective of God's point of view. Paul includes many descriptions in his resume that would not impress most prospective employers. Today's resume experts would probably have a field day with ...

2138. Uncle Abraham

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

William G. Carter

... real." Nobody has the capacity to be good enough, and the good news is that God is not bound by our limitations. God loves us because of who we are, in spite of who we are, before we even know who we are. "There is no distinction," says the Apostle Paul, "since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Then in the very next breath he says, "And they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ... (made) effective through faith" (Romans 3:22-25). That is ...

2139. Families in Christ

Romans 9:1-5

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... belong the promises - when God speaks and says, "I will be your God, and you will be my people." To us belong the promise of Christ - to be equally with Christ children of God and participants in the kingdom. To them belong the patriarchs. To us belongs the apostles, the disciples, and the Son of God. And to all of us, both the Jews and we Christians, belong the confrontation, the choice we face. Will we accept what God has promised us? Will we accept our adoption as children of God? Will we be a part of ...

2140. All Your Facilities Intact

Acts 17:16-34, Colossians 1:15-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... will testify that there is something intangible, ineffable, something you would describe as "spiritual" there. You cannot escape the fact that these people were very, very religious. One of the lessons read to us this morning is the account from The Acts of the Apostles of Paul's visit to Athens, his first visit there. He ascended Mars Hill, to the Acropolis. Now get this, "acropolis" means, in Greek, "high city." The city on the high hill, like Machu Picchu. As he entered the Acropolis he saw all the ...

2141. God Never Gives Up

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... . We have one version of it in the epistle lesson that was read to us this morning, the First Letter to Timothy. He also wrote about it elsewhere, especially in Galatians. And, of course, we have that dramatic version of it in the Acts of the Apostles, the Damascus Road experience, where Paul is knocked down and blinded, then led to Damascus where the Christians ministered to him. But this is the way Paul described his experience to Timothy: I am grateful to Christ Jesus who appoints me, even though I was a ...

2142. Have You Got a Prayer?

Luke 3:21-22

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... In thee I am well pleased." That is Luke's version. All four gospels portray this scene. But Luke's version is a little different than the others. In each version, though, the Spirit descends "like a dove." The Holy Spirit is not a bird. Luke and the other apostles use the dove as a metaphor for the Spirit's coming into our lives. It is a beautiful metaphor. Have you ever seen a dove descend and land? It is graceful, gentle, and quiet. That's the point being made. That is the way the Holy Spirit will enter ...

2143. Joy to the World

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... agrees that they have been added on by a nervous editor who didn't think that the gospel would sell if it didn't have a conventionally spectacular ending. So they added resurrection appearances of Jesus, the granting of supernatural powers to the Apostles, and a final scene with divine pronouncements. That is the stuff of popular religion. The last twelve verses of the gospel were pasted on to provide that ending. Even the most conservative biblical scholars agree with that, that the gospel ends with the ...

2144. The Extended Family

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the Church, and I believe he does...when Jesus speaks to disciples in the gospels we are to interpret that as speaking to us, to the Church. So if he says this to John, then it puts another interesting spin on this scene. In the Acts of the Apostles it says that Mary was a part of the early Church. If John represents the Church, then the Church takes care of Mary. And they did. She is listed among those people gathered there in Jerusalem, in the Upper Room, waiting anxiously for Jesus to return at Pentecost ...

2145. The Paraclete Is Not a Bird

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... . So why don't you just call it the Paraclete. Jesus was gone from them now. That was what the Ascension was all about. "He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty," as we recite that in the Apostles Creed. This is the sequence. He was with his disciples for forty days after the Resurrection. He appeared to them at various times for forty days. This next Thursday is the fortieth day after Easter, Ascension Day. Next Sunday is called Ascension Sunday. That is why ...

2146. They Grow Up Fast

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... third verse reads, "Jesus is our childhood's pattern; day by day, like us he grew." The hymn was part of a fascinating project, one of a series of hymns written by Cecil Alexander, back in 1848, to teach children the meaning of the Apostles' Creed. "Once in Royal David's City" was written to explain that article, "Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary," which in theology is called, "The Incarnation." Alexander interprets "The Incarnation" to mean, "He was little, weak, and helpless, tears ...

2147. This Is Not Rocket Science

Acts 2:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... To have faith as Christians is to trust that when Jesus says that, it is really for me. So Abraham and Jesus are there as the cornerstones of our faith. But there are many others who are a part of this heritage as well. There are prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, philosophers and theologians. I like to think of those people as a part of our heritage as benchmarks. A benchmark is that mark that surveyors make to indicate the starting point in mapping out a territory. They cut a benchmark into a rock, or ...

2148. Uses of the Past

Philippians 3:4b-16

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... Paul disagreed. His whole career had been based on the belief that Jesus came for everybody, not just for the Jews. You didn't have to become a Jew to become a Christian. The Council of Jerusalem, the first council of the Church, all the apostles gathered there, agreed with Paul, that this wonderful new thing had happened, and the covenant is now open to everyone, Christ has come for everyone. They ordained Paul to preach this good news to the Gentiles. But there were those who disagreed. They followed Paul ...

2149. When to Hold On

II Timothy 3:14-4:5

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... whom Timothy has received this tradition. They are named there. It says, "You have learned this from Lois and Eunice." They are Timothy's grandmother and mother. They raised Timothy in the Christian faith. Lois and Eunice are mentioned also in the Acts of the Apostles. They were the head of the Church in Lystra. It meets in their house. That is where Paul first met Timothy. He visited them, stayed in their house, met their son, Timothy. He was so impressed with the quality of Timothy's Christianity that he ...

2150. Where Do You Abide?

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Both our scriptures this morning come from the same hand. Or perhaps we could say, they come from the same community of faith, those who followed the Apostle John in his interpretation of Jesus, and what Jesus means for us. One clue to that common authorship is the word "abide." You find it in both passages read to us this morning, in the Gospel of John and in the First Letter of John. In the Gospel of John, ...

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