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 2251 to 2275 of 4942 results

2251. The Vision of God

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

Chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians begins a sharp divide with the nine chapters that have preceded it, a break that continues through the rest of the letter. The first nine chapters revealed a significant struggle between Paul and the Corinthians, but it seems in those chapters that Paul felt that they were making progress. As we saw in the previous lectionary passage, Paul felt confident enough in chapter 8 to urge the Corinthians to finish taking up the offering for the church in Jerusalem. From chapter 10 on, ...

2252. Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

As kids we brag most about the stuff we’ve been born to or gifted with — a bigger house, a cooler bike, a taller stack of video games, the latest model computer, the newest cell phone. As adults we brag most about the stuff we feel we’ve earned — a bigger paycheck, a better college, a successful career, a position of power and influence, how far we’ve climbed from where we started. In today’s epistle text Paul covers all that bragging territory and then some as he argues against those who were advocating ...

2253. Your God Shall Be My God

Ruth 1:1-18

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Like the short story that gave structure to the book of Job, so the book of Ruth is considered to be a finely honed literary piece, often called a novella. It is meant to exhibit exemplary behavior. Just as Job proved faithful through good fortune and ill, so the characters in the book of Ruth are equally laudatory. The story starts with an Israelite family in the time of the judges. (This historical setting becomes the reason that Ruth was put right after the book of Judges in the Septuagint.) This family ...

2254. The Covenants of the Scripture

Illustration

Merrill F. Unger

Scripture's covenants and their significance: Eternal covenant, Hebrews 13:20 :The redemptive covenant before time began, between the Father and the Son. By this covenant we have eternal redemption, an eternal peace from the 'God of peace', through the death and resurrection of the Son. Edenic covenant, Genesis 1:26-28: The creative covenant between the Triune God, as the first party (Genesis 1:26), and newly created man, as the second party, governing man's creation and life in Edenic innocence. It ...

2255. God Can Turn Your Trash Cans into Treasure Chests

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Southeast Asia is hot. The economies of its countries are sizzling, especially Viet Nam and Indonesia, with the highest growth rates of almost anywhere on the planet. Investors and tourists from all over the world are flooding both countries. Of course, Bali, Indonesia, is where everyone wants to go. But if I could go anywhere in Southeast Asia, it would be the island of Sumatra. Why Sumatra? Because this island is the archipelago of 17,000 islands known as “Indonesia” is where the “manna” of that country ...

2256. The Gospel By Starlight

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him" (Matthew 2:2). Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.[1] The annual observance of the birth of our Savior is almost over - Epiphany, recalling the visit of the wise men, is commemorated on January 6 and ends the liturgical celebration following the "Twelve Days of Christmas." No gifts of turtle doves, French ...

2257. God’s Chain Reaction

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

April Yamasaki

In 1980, NBC introduced a new television game show called Chain Reaction. Since then, the show has appeared in different forms, but the main idea has always been for different teams to fill in a chain of words. For example, the first word in a four-word chain might be "light," the last word "spring," with the team needing to guess the two words in-between. In this case, "light" comes from a light "bulb," and out of the bulb grows a "daffodil," which comes up in the "spring." It's a chain reaction of words ...

2258. Killing What Is Already Dead

Colossians 3:1-11

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Every pastor has had this experience. It doesn't have to be the husband in a marriage, but let's just say that it's the husband. The man comes to the pastor's study clutching the report from the physician's office: high blood pressure, overweight, danger of heart disease. The physician has ordered the man to lose weight and to stop smoking. Sitting in the pastor's office, the man swears he is going to take better care of himself. He's said it before, but this time he really means it. He wants to be around ...

2259. Breaking News: A World Gone Wild

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

The media called 2010 “The Year The Earth Struck Back.” Take your pick–tsunamis, typhoons, and tornados. What is called “Natural Disasters” killed a quarter of a million people in that 12 month period. More people were killed world-wide by natural disasters in 2010 than were killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.[1] When it comes to Breaking News you can always count every year on some natural disaster interrupting your regularly scheduled programming. Let’s just take four of them and ...

2260. Of Peace and War

Deuteronomy 20:1-20

Sermon

James Merritt

I want to give you two dates. The dates are roughly sixty years apart. They were not chosen however randomly and they will strike a chord in every one of us for one reason or another. The first date is December 7, 1941. If you are from what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation” you know immediately what that date represents. It is when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The second date is September 11, 2001. If you are a baby boomer, a Gen Xer or even a millennial you will remember that date. That was the ...

2261. On the Ropes: Round 1 - Doubting God

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

On Saturday, March 25, 1911 at 4:40 p.m.—just ten minutes before closing— a fire broke out on the top floors of the ten story Asch building in New York. 145 of the 500 employed there died that day, trapped in the building by locked doors and collapsed escape ladders, or jumping to their deaths from the eighth and ninth stories. The investigation of the tragedy resulted in rules like fire exits and sprinkler systems that have since saved many lives. But that did not save the lives of people’s sons, ...

2262. On the Ropes: Round 2 - Debating God

Habakkuk 1:12--2:1

Sermon

James Merritt

Even though we know we can’t do it we all have tried at one time or another. Even though we know it won’t work we’ve all taken our shot at it. Even though we know deep down it really doesn’t do any good we do it anyway. I am talking about bargaining with God. We’ve all done it. We’ve all tried to bargain with God to get God to meet us on our terms: “God, if you’ll do this I’ll do that” or “God if you will just come through this one time I promise I’ll do this or do that.” That desire goes all the way back ...

2263. Ignite: Fire and Water

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

James Merritt

You have fired up the grill, got some big juicy steaks on there, you are just about ready to take them off, some grease from the fat falls on those hot coals, flames spit up and catches your finger on fire. Sitting right next to the grill is a glass of ice cold water that you have been drinking on a hot summer day. So, finger on fire, glass of ice-cold water – what do you do with your finger? Exactly! You would immerse it into that water! Normally, water extinguishes fire, but in this case baptismal water ...

2264. Look and Live

Isaiah 44:24--45:25

Sermon

James Merritt

Just outside Gatlinburg, Tennessee is a theme park called “Dollywood” that is owned by country music legend, Dolly Parton. Besides being a singer and a theme park owner, Parton is also an author. Her autobiography is entitled Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. On the back of that book is this quote: “I am not a very religious person – although I grew up with a very religious background. ‘Let every man seek his own salvation’ is one of my favorite scriptures. . . .” Well, by all indications ...

2265. Lost Baggage: Empty Your Suitcase

Matthew 18:10-14

Sermon

James Merritt

If I have ever done a series of messages in my life that struck home, hit a nerve, scratched an itch or met a real felt need it is the series that we are concluding today that we have called “Lost Baggage.” As we have said repeatedly, everybody has baggage. Even if you grew up in what you would consider a perfect environment, that environment itself may have loaded you with baggage. What kind of baggage do people carry? Many times it’s relationships baggage. Maybe a failed marriage in your past. Maybe you ...

2266. Night of Light

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Timothy Cargal

One of the great cultural traditions of modern American Christmas observance is the use of lights. Everything that doesn’t move is decorated with lights. Christmas trees are recognizable by their lights, and indeed as more and more types of trees are used as Christmas trees, the more it is the presence of the lights that identifies them as such. Lights are put around lampposts. We hang lights from the eaves and awnings of our homes, and around windows and doorframes. Lighted fixtures and images are arrayed ...

2267. Jesus Casts Out Impure Spirits

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Today we’re going to talk about casting out demons or, as Mark calls them in today’s lesson, impure spirits. It’s not a subject that we talk about very much in church anymore, even though it figures prominently in the New Testament. Maybe at the end of today’s service I will perform an exorcism and cast out a demon . . . or not. Perhaps you have someone in mind that you think could profit from such an exorcism. But enough about members of Congress . . . Some of you will remember a movie that caused quite a ...

2268. Like a Butterfly

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

King Duncan

This is that day in the church year when we celebrate Christ’s transfiguration. Here’s something for you to think about. Did you know that the Greek word translated as “transfiguration” is the word “metamor-phothe,” from which we get the word “metamorphosis”? I’ll bet I could invite one of our children up here and he or she could tell us about metamorphosis. A dictionary defines metamorphosis as “a transformation, a complete change of appearance and form.” The best example we have of metamorphosis is the ...

2269. What Are You Waiting On?

John 11:1-16

Sermon

James Merritt

It is something that all of us will spend at least an hour doing every day and I mean every day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. In fact, we will spend 5 years of our lifetime doing nothing but this. It is universally above everything else the one thing everybody hates to do. In fact, there is nothing that we do that is more frustrating, aggravating, irritating and feels like more of a waste of time than doing this. Can you guess what it is? It’s waiting. An hour every day we wait on something. We are put ...

2270. Who Is Right

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

Two homes in one city, but in two totally different areas with two totally different residents. One home was situated in a very comfortable, gated neighborhood with a well-kept yard with flowers around the mailbox and a mat at the front of the door that said, “Welcome” in soft navy letters. Inside that home lives a minister with his family. At the front of the house are bay windows where the pastor kneels to pray every morning hoping that his neighbors will see him, because he wants to be a witness. The ...

2271. Right Answer - Wrong Conclusion

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

One of the most important frontiers being explored by today’s scientists is that of artificial intelligence--that is, teaching computers to think like humans. In fact, there are many reputable scientists who believe that by the middle of this century computers will be able to think more efficiently and effectively than human beings. At that point the sci-fi horror movies of robots taking over the planet will have some credibility. But there are skeptics. The great computing science pioneer Alan Turing-- ...

2272. Brushing Your Teeth with Oreos

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Having a family is a challenge. One poor mom described the challenge she has keeping a clean house like this, “Cleaning house with kids around,” she said, “is like brushing your teeth with Oreos.” Yucky! Sounds kind of gross to me. Those of you with small children, however, will have to tell me if she got it right. Humorist Robert Orben asks, “Who can ever forget Winston Churchill’s immortal words: ‘We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in ...

2273. Preparations for Building the Temple

2 Chronicles 2:1-18

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple: In 1 Chronicles 22 and 28–29 the Chronicler indicated that King David had paved the way for the building of the temple in Jerusalem and had already made extensive preparations. It is therefore somewhat strange that, according to the Chronicler’s narrative, Solomon had to appoint craftsmen again and had to gather building material from Lebanon. However, the narrative reaches its climax here, when the actual building of the temple is credited to Solomon. Second ...

2274. The Believers’ Prayer

Acts 4:23-31

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

4:23 On their release, Peter and John immediately went back to their own people, that is, the believers, and told them what had happened. For their place of meeting, see notes on 1:13 and the discussion on 12:12. Their specific mention of the chief priests and elders again points to the Sadducees as their chief opponents (see disc. on vv. 6, 8). 4:24 The seriousness of what they had to tell and their sense of dependence upon God were such that the whole group fell to prayer. The expression they raised ...

2275. Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem

Acts 9:19b-31

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Here we see how seriously Paul took his new vocation as a man “saved to serve.” But the pattern for the Twelve had been first to be with Jesus then to be sent out (Mark 3:14), and Paul soon found the need to be alone for a while with the Lord (cf. Mark 6:31). His own writings add a number of details to Luke’s narrative at this point. 9:19b–22 As the bearer of the Sanhedrin’s commission, Paul would have been expected to preach in the synagogues of Damascus, and so he did, using them as he would the ...

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