Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2451 to 2475 of 5000 results

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... parable, and then again at the end. "Didn't you bargain for what you got?" the early hires are asked. "Why do you think that is unfair? You are only getting what you thought you were worth." And maybe that is the problem. When we try to mark a service with some value, invariably the price tags never fit. Who Are You Working For? There is one other almost deceptively hidden odd point about the story as Jesus tells it. Where is the landowner throughout the tale? It is his estate, his vineyard, and his work ...

2452. All About Me?

Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-31

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus." It is God's work. Just as God took the initiative in freeing the people from bondage in Egypt, God took the initiative in freeing humankind from bondage to sin; just as God passed over the homes marked with the blood of the lamb in Egypt, he passes over the sin of those who see that in Jesus God had done it again — had reached out to humankind. We are so conditioned that life is "all about me" that it is genuinely difficult for us to accept ...

2453. With Our Own Eyes

2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... to the poor...." Third, did not Jesus teach in John 10:10, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly"? And finally in Mark 10:29-30 Jesus says to Peter, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father ... the conclusions. For example, all you have to do is open the Bible to discover that in the quotation from Mark 10 a little phrase is omitted: "with persecutions." Jesus said one would receive a hundredfold return "with persecutions." How convenient ...

2454. Play It Safe or Take a Risk

Luke 16:1-15

Illustration

Mark Trotter

Rev. Mark Trotter tells of a mission in Mexico, sponsored by Mercy Hospital, in San Diego, and by Rotary International. Thirteen doctors from San Diego, and twice that number of nurses and other support staff, total of about fifty-five persons, paid their own way to go down as a surgical team ...

2455. Finder's Keepers

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... because we've been brought home. Because the Lost has been restored. B. Remember the movie "Cheaper By The Dozen?" One of the youngest boys, Mark, is at that awkward age where he doesn't feel like he fits in, even in his big family. He's the only one who ... signing tour, leaving Dad to care for 12 kids in a new community in which they didn't want to move. Well, in the movie, Mark seems to be the most miserable. And to top it off, his pet frog, Beans, dies and he decides to run away because "big families ...

2456. Fast Forward Faith

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... yet? Do you have some unfulfilled dream or wish? Some longing that you've never acted upon? Bartimaeus, the character in the Scripture for today certainly did. As we will see as we read the passage from Mark, Bartimaeus wanted his sight back. Let's look at the passage that describes his encounter with Christ. Mark 10:46-52 (NRSV) [46] They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. [47] When he ...

2457. Remember: No Deposit, No Return

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... that your words may give grace to those who hear. [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. [31] Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together ... , the full brunt of the garbage of all humankind. He bore the stink and weight of our sin. The perfect, sinless Son of God was marked and scarred with the Sins of this World so that we could be free from the garbage and trash and the stink of our sin. ...

2458. We Are Blessed, Adopted and Sealed

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... glory. [13] In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; [14] this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to ... of that purpose. And when we say "Yes!" to God through our baptism and a living a life of faith, then we are sealed and marked as God's Own. A child of the Kingdom. B. Remember: We are blessed, adopted and sealed. But you might ask WHY? Paul tells ...

2459. He Looks Like You

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Mark Trotter

Mark Trotter, a few years ago, told a beautiful story about a boy whose parents were missionaries to India. When the boy was 12 years old, his parents left him and his younger brother to go to India and take up their tour of duty there. Their intention was that once ...

2460. Whose Wife Will She Be?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... at different angles, twenty-seven of them. Twenty-nine graves in all; two with names, twenty-seven without. The twenty-seven markers without names were for the family’s slaves. The two marked graves were for the plantation owners. The owners were buried in the same cemetery as their slaves. (1) The Dickey’s graves were marked. Small consolation that may have been. Their bodies still lay in the cold, cruel ground as did the bodies of those who toiled their fields. Death is no respecter of persons. It ...

2461. Romans 13:11-14

Romans 13:8-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... : we collapse into bed after watching a marathon of football games only to force ourselves into some semblance of wakefulness in order to get to the mall long before dawn. If “Black Friday” is the wake-up call for consumer craziness, this first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the wake-up season for Christians. Advent is the season where our faith should be on high alert, preparing our hearts and spirits for the arrival of the wholly new work of God on earth: Emmanuel, God with us, God present in ...

2462. A Grim Anniversary

Matthew 2:13-18

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... the mid-first century. Suppose you were observing Christmas and the birth of Jesus the Savior in whatever way the earliest church celebrated that season. But suppose that in the midst of marking Jesus' advent, you ran into a Jewish couple who trembled with rage at the very mention of this Jesus whose birth Christmas marks. Suppose further that upon inquiring what accounted for their vitriol and disdain, you discovered that the Jesus whose birth you get so excited about had been the cause of their own child ...

2463. John 1:29-42

John 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... surprising title John announces is when he spies Jesus the next day and testifies that Jesus is “the Lamb of God”(v.36). This title is uniquely Johannine. Some commentators have related that title to either the paschal lamb, the special sacrificial offering that marked the households of the Hebrews on the night of the last plague of Egypt. Others link it to the regular sacrifice of a lamb offered at the Temple — a symbol of expiation and forgiveness for all of Israel every time it was offered. But ...

2464. Love Lifted Me

Psalm 40:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... was supposed to referee the game. Unfortunately, by 2:30 PM Andy had not arrived. The boys could wait no longer, and this young priest was pressured into being the substitute referee. There were a number of difficulties with this: he had no whistle; there were no markings for the boundaries; he didn’t know any of the boy’s names; they didn’t have uniforms; and, worst of all, he barely knew the rules of soccer and he was to be the referee. As you might imagine, the game soon descended into utter chaos ...

2465. Eyewitness News

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... DO WE KNOW THAT JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD? HOW DO WE KNOW IT’S REAL? JUST LIKE WE KNOW ABOUT THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC, THROUGH EYEWITNESS REPORTS. There were people who were there. They saw him. They saw the nail prints in his hands and the mark of the sword in the side that was pierced. Their eyewitness testimonies have been preserved for us in Scripture. The Apostle Peter was one of those eyewitnesses. We have his testimony in Acts 10. He was preaching in Caesarea to a Gentile audience at the home of ...

2466. Rain on the Unjust

Matthew 5:38-42

Illustration

Mark Twain

Mark Twain once said, "The rain is famous for falling on the just and unjust alike, but if I had the management of such affairs, I would rain softly and sweetly on the just, but if I caught a sample of the unjust outdoors, I would drown him."

2467. Matthew 17:1-9

Matthew 17:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... on the graduates, celebrating their special moment. But the next morning…time to go back to everyday life. Graduation day does mark a new beginning. But for a while, at least, that new beginning might look like same old, same old. Sometimes new ... identity as messiah and his eschatological predictions and promises are historically validated by the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Matthew omits Mark’s derogatory commentary on Peter’s construction offer in v.4. In fact, here Peter seems to be pleased he is ...

2468. More than a Casual Follower

John 14:1-14

Illustration

Eric Ritz

The author Bill Bryson, tells of going to Hannibal, Missouri, to visit the boyhood home of Mark Twain. Mark Twain was one of his heroes. As he visited the home, he was disappointed. The home was supposed to be a faithful reproduction of the original, but it was easy to see that it was not. Far too many items from the 20th century were included in the home. In ...

2469. The Import of Jesus’ Prayer

John 17:1-26

Illustration

George Bass

... of martyrdom are to be seen almost everywhere - and more clearly than at most other places in the world. In the middle of the famous Piazza Navonna, a church marks the spot where a young Christian girl was humiliated and martyred for her faith in Christ. Another church, not too far away, stands over the place where the body of Saint Lawrence was found and given decent burial by a Christian woman. Almost every corner and virtually every church building ...

2470. Super-Size Your Faith

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in a to-the-death match which Harry, of course, wins. In the Star Wars saga the triumph of the Alliance is complete when the Empire and its evil leader are destroyed. But there is no definitive action, there is no final battle that marks the point of “victory” for men and women of faith. In the confrontation between living as a person who is “in Christ,” and the faithless “powers” of the world, there is no crushing, mortal blow Christians can claim as a “victory.” Battles, confrontations ...

2471. Matthew 14:13-21

Matthew 14:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of others. This great miracle of feeding five thousand is the only miracle besides Jesus’ resurrection that is recorded in all four gospels (Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-15). Many specific details are found in all four versions. Matthew’s ... “compassion.” In Matthew’s text this compassion is expressed in a concrete, physical manner: Jesus “cured their sick.” While Mark records Jesus teaching this crowd, and Luke says that Jesus spoke to them about the kingdom of God, Matthew focuses ...

2472. Power!

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart ..." not just "opened," the Greek schizomai means "split," "ripped," "sundered" ... and the Spirit descended on him like a dove. The voice sounded from heaven, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). What an image! It is as if God the Father is confined to heaven at this fantastic moment and in euphoric frustration rips and tears the very fabric of the universe to lay claim upon Jesus, the Son. It is a cosmic "Yes," arms raised ...

2473. Preaching Back Home

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... an attack on Christianity. The great offense of this faith was not the claim that a human could be born of a virgin or that a human could be divine; but the fact that it could happen to a member of the lower classes![1] Hmm. Neither Matthew nor Mark indicate that the offense came at anything Jesus said or did (in fact, just the opposite), but the account in Luke lets us know that the worshipers were angry about the sermon. Truth be told, in our day prophets/preachers are more likely to get into trouble at ...

2474. A Disaster of Biblical Proportions

Job 42:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... outpouring of support from around the globe was phenomenal, and that was good. Less than a week after the flood, the world welcomed the new year 2006, but this time the calendar change was marked somewhat differently than before. Prayers were substituted for parties. Revelers in New York's Times Square marked a moment of silence as did those in other major cities; Paris draped black cloths along the Champs-Elysees. In Thailand, hundreds of mourners - many clutching white roses and candles - gathered in the ...

2475. What Do You Believe about Jesus?

Matthew 16:13-20

Illustration

David E. Leininger

... Malcolm Muggeridge, for most of his life a skeptic, following his conversion became wonderfully reflective. In his book, Jesus Rediscovered, writes: "Beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a silver star marks the alleged precise spot where Christ was born. A stone slab nearby is supposed to mark the exact site of the manger wherein he lay. The Holy Land is littered with such shrines, divided up like African territories in the old colonialist days, between the different sects and denominations ...

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