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 2201 to 2225 of 2273 results

2201. Don't Miss This

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

Pastors are often warned, before they leave the seminary, not to say certain things in the pulpit. One of those things is this: “Never say to your congregation, ‘Of course we all know the Bible story of [fill in the blank].’ ” Why shouldn’t a pastor say that during a sermon? The reason is that, in our day fewer and fewer people actually know what’s in the Bible. They don’t recognize the stories. The preacher needs to tell the story first, as if it’s a brand new one. Pastors are taught something else in ...

2202. Rule of Love

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? — Matthew 22:36 In one of her books, the eloquent Episcopal priest, Barbara Brown Taylor, wrote these words about the Bible: “My relationship with the Bible is a marriage, not a romance, and one I am willing to work on in all the usual ways.”1 What she meant, of course, was that her relationship with the Bible was like any other serious relationship; it included good days as well as challenging days, days of clarity and days of confusion, days of joy ...

2203. Practicing What We Preach

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. —Matthew 23:2-3 In today’s scripture from Matthew, Jesus accused the scribes and the Pharisees of hypocrisy. And he did not do it just once, but numerous times. Indeed, throughout Matthew’s gospel, Jesus spoke more often about “hypocrites” than he did about “prayer.” I was surprised to discover that! He spoke about hypocrisy twelve times ...

2204. Ugly Puppies

Humor

Allen Klein, in his book THE HEALING POWER OF HUMOR, tells about a family trying to give away a litter of twelve puppies. First, they put an ad in the paper that read: "Free to Good Home Adorable Puppies." After several weeks most of the litter was still left, so they changed their tactic and ran another ad. This one read: "Free to Good Home One Very Ugly Puppy and Eight Pretty Ones." Within two days, they had given the "ugly" puppy away nine times.

2205. Horsing Around

Humor

Vance Havner writes about people who come to church to be entertained. In his own inimitable way, he tells about a church that brought in a performing horse. They asked the horse how many commandments, and he stomped ten times. How many apostles, and he stomped twelve times. Some nitwit in the crowd asked how many hypocrites there are in this church, and he went into a dance on all fours.

2206. A Good Guy Down Deep

Humor

You ask why Mary buried her husband Sam twelve feet under? Well, it was because deep down, he was a good guy.

2207. Medical Advice

Humor

The frantic father called the doctor late at night. "Please hurry," he said. "My twelve year old boy just swallowed a ball point pen." "I'll be there in about twenty minutes," the doctor said. "What should I do until you get here?" the man wanted to know. "Use a pencil," the doctor said.

2208. About Those Magi

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Jean Rodenbough tells about a friend of hers whose brother and his family drove to Thomasville, North Carolina just before Christmas. They made this long trip because their cousins and aunts and uncles lived there. Their family was getting together for a Christmas season celebration. As they passed by the Episcopal Church where a manger scene was in the yard, her friend’s 5-year-old nephew asked about the meaning of the manger scene. “That is Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus, there in the manger,” her ...

2209. The Clues Are There

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

Three of the programs embedded in the popular “Masterpiece Mystery” television series on Public Television are set in the university town of Oxford, England. Each episode, in any and all of the three series, begins in the same way. A string of seemingly unrelated incidents follow, one after another, in rapid succession. The viewer is left to wonder whether what’s been presented is not simply window dressing before the ‘real’ story begins. A typical episode might begin something like this. We see a young ...

2210. To Whom Do You Belong?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

We begin with a story, some of which actually happened, and some of which did not. It will be left to the listener to try to imagine which parts are which. A young schoolboy was accustomed to having his father come to fetch him at the end of each class day and bring him home. Since he was only a first-grader and the school was located in a large metropolitan area, there was no way his parents would allow him to walk home by himself. Because his home was not within the zone where the school buses ran, he ...

2211. The Eleventh Commandment

John 13:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

In his book The Wounded Warrior, Dr. Steve Stephens tells the tragic story of former National football star Pat Tillman. Some of you may recall Tillman’s fate. Pat Tillman thought his dreams had come true. He had a multi-million dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals football team, for whom he played starting safety. Everything was lining up just right for young Pat. Then came 9-11. On September 11, 2001, you’ll remember that 19 al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide ...

2212. Bloom Where You Are Planted

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

Wilhelm Loehe was a young pastor in Bavaria, the southeastern corner of Germany. He finished his theological studies in the early 1840s and began to think about where he might like to serve as a parish pastor. Loehe had some characteristics that were viewed by some as virtues, by others as liabilities. He was idealistic, determined, courageous, outspoken, and — in the minds of his detractors — brash. While studying theology, he had come to the conclusion that his expression of Christianity, the Evangelical ...

2213. We Need Some Good News

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

Author Bruce Bawer, a layman within the Episcopal Church, has written a book with a provocative title. Stealing Jesus is a cautionary tale. It argues, convincingly, that within the past fifty years or so the clear intent of the Christian message has been taken hostage and perverted by elements within the American church community, groups determined to redefine what it means to be Christian. Bawer’s main argument is that when a movement takes a classic tradition and reinvents it for its own purposes, ...

2214. Advice

Romans 12:2, 9-20; 13:8-9

Sermon

Will Willimon

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, there is the scene where old Polonius, an aging, sentimental blowhard, gives advice to his son, Laertes. Laertes is preparing to leave for France and old Polonius, knowing what sometimes happens to eighteen year olds in Paris, does what fathers do -- he offers advice. Most of his advice is rather innocuous. In those days, before dreaded social diseases, there wasn't really any important parental advice like, "Always remember what Surgeon General Koop says…" Despite its stupidity, ...

2215. Where’s the Authenticity?

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

Words are cheap. They can also be deadly if used improperly. One of our tasks and opportunities as human beings, endowed with brains capable of critical thinking, is to learn to discern what is to be believed and trusted and what is not. During the run-up to a recent presidential election, a cartoon appeared in a national magazine. It showed a flock of sheep grazing on a hillside. In view of the flock was a large billboard showing a wolf wearing a business suit, smiling and flashing sharp, white teeth. The ...

2216. Be Healed

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

A lot of damage has been done to the idea of wellness by “faith healers.” They are not as prevalent in present day American culture as they once were. Decades ago, people with ailments of all sorts would flock to the services of radio / television preacher Oral Roberts. He had the reputation of laying his hands on the diseased parts of the bodies of his supplicants and praying over them. Frequently he would conclude his ritual by commanding the person, “Be healed!” Some of the sick pilgrims claimed they ...

2217. He’s Not Who We Thought

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

There is something strange, almost jarring, about the appearance, exactly in the middle of the sixteenth chapter gospel of Mark, of a story about an other-worldly sound-and-light show on top of a mountain. The report of what we have come to call “The Transfiguration of Our Lord” doesn’t seem to fit where it appears in Mark’s gospel. Think about it. Before he gives us the story of Jesus with two Old Testament prophets, being glorified in a blaze of light, Mark reports that Jesus’ disciples were, to put it ...

2218. Darkness

Mt 27:45 · Jn 1:5 · 1 Jn 1:5

Sermon

Will Willimon

Elizabeth's husband had died a horrible, painful death after a long illness. And when he died, it was as if a light had gone out in her soul, so deep and dark was her grief. Why had a good man like that had to suffer so, she wondered. Her grief was made worse by her having been taken on as a project by a fundamentalist Christian church on the edge of town. The guy she had dated in high school had been "saved," transforming him into an insufferably pompous prig. Now he and his wife and all their new ...

2219. It's Worth the Wait

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

There are certain human experiences that are universally annoying, but everyone has to experience them at some time. Like waiting in lines. And in our rushed and privileged society, it seems like we have less and less capacity for waiting. A woman tells of trying to get a table at a very popular and very busy restaurant. She approached the hostess and asked quite brusquely, “Will it be long?” The hostess kept writing in her hostess book, so the woman leaned closer and asked again a little more firmly, “ ...

2220. Our Need and God's Provision

John 6:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

What’s your favorite food? The food you could eat once a day for the rest of your life, if you had to? At this time of year, you can find food festivals all over the U.S. that celebrate just about any kind of food you might enjoy. There’s a Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California. Waikiki, Hawaii hosts a Spam Festival every year—if Spam is really what you long for. Atlanta, Georgia holds a Chomp and Stomp Festival every year that features a chili cook-off and bluegrass concert and dance. If you Google your ...

2221. The Power of the Staff

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” “He was amazed at their unbelief.” Right after that, we learn that he continued to go among the villages of Galilee teaching. And then he called his inner posse, the “twelve,” and he gave them authority as well to heal and cleanse. He told them to take nothing for their journey except a staff. Now listen to this. “No bread, no bag, no money, no extra clothing.” Just a staff. If a place welcomed them, they should ...

2222. Metaphors Be with You

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

His name was John Davis, he was my neighbor, and he was a peculiar person. Don’t get me wrong. I liked him but even his wife said John was an “acquired taste.” I sometimes think that, had he been born thirty or forty years later, he would have been correctly diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome or some other condition associated with the higher functioning end of the Autism spectrum. He was a gifted man, to be sure, a tool designer and metallurgist who worked for a big corporation, very smart and very ...

2223. What Jesus Saw

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

King Duncan

Jon Krakauer is a mountaineer and the author of the best-selling book Into Thin Air. The book is about his 1996 expedition to Mt. Everest in which numerous climbers died in a blizzard. Krakauer was not prepared for the deadly blizzard. He didn’t know it was coming. He stood on top of Mt. Everest and just saw some cloud formations and thought nothing was wrong. Later he met another climber who had returned quickly to base camp when he saw those same cloud formations. He had hustled back down the mountain. ...

2224. In the Wilderness of Temptation

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I had the strangest dream the other night. I found myself standing at the gates of heaven talking to St. Peter. I thought, "Oh, man, there's still a bunch of stuff I haven't done yet." St. Peter grinned and said, "Don't worry, you're just here for a guided tour." And sure enough that's all it was. St. Peter took me around showing me all the sights. The streets really are paved with gold. Everything was more beautiful than I could ever describe. But there was one really strange aspect about heaven. ...

2225. Don't Miss Jesus

Luke 2:41-51

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Luke is the only gospel writer who gives us a peek into the childhood of Jesus. Luke, the physician, is analytical and an observer of life. Biblical historians believe that Luke had much of his research with first hand observers of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Not being an apostle or having first person knowledge, he relied upon others. One of those was Mary, the mother of Jesus. Someone said that Jesus’ childhood is like a walled garden — the inside of which no one has seen. Luke plucked one ...

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