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 1 to 25 of 245 results

1. Send Her Away!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... , just maybe, this story was included as a reminder of how pervasive prejudice is in every culture and how hurtful it can be to use a derogatory term for another human being. Maybe it was intended to shock us. Remember, Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience. They themselves had probably referred to Canaanites as dogs, if not overtly, at least within their hearts. At any rate, this caustic phrase hangs out there causing us discomfort, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the ...

2. Lazarus

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . This is what provoked the Pharisees to begin with. Was Jesus telling a folk tale with which they would be familiar, with his own twist? We can’t be sure, but it’s clear that “Abraham’s bosom” would have been known to a Jewish audience. Jesus does not mention the kingdom of God here, or heaven, or paradise, or garden, or any other eschatological reference. But he refers to the “Bosom of Abraham” perhaps because this is what the Pharisees…and Sadducees might most understand. The Bosom of ...

3. The Call to Encounter

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... would be to us. No matter that some people actually enjoy eating groundhogs and collecting the pelts of muskrats for sale, we consider them creepy and disgusting and that’s the way Luke’s audience would have seen these pigs. A first-century Jewish audience would have no ethical problems with destroying a herd of pigs so a person could be saved from a self-destructive mental illness. Jesus gave the demons permission to enter the herd of swine and the pigs, immediately, stampeded over the nearby cliff ...

4. Lasting Impression

Luke 3:34-38, Matthew 1:5, 16

Sermon

James Merritt

... out in a woman that is mentioned in Matthew and two men who are mentioned in Luke. Here is the first piece of good news that we learn - I. Everyone Is Invited To God's Family Keep in mind that Matthew was a Jewish author writing to a Jewish audience about a Jewish Messiah. Jews, rabbis, and Hebrew scholars would have been extremely excited and intrigued reading about the lineage and the family tree of this man named Jesus Christ. But, what if you weren't Jewish? What if you were a Gentile? We often think of ...

5. A Baby Changes Everything

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the mold for the expected Messiah. Having offered an extensive genealogy to trace the Davidic roots, Matthew turns from the question of “who” Jesus was to “where” he came from. Matthew is primarily concerned with informing his first century Jewish audience that the Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee was born in Bethlehem, the scripturally predicted site of the Messiah’s birth. Matthew also invokes the cast of the mysterious “Magi” to further authenticate the messianic portents that accompanied Jesus ...

6. A New Temple Shall Arise

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... seeks to explain this religious dimension of human life in his letter to the Romans. In chapter 2 of Romans he makes the point that every human being has sinned in the eyes of God, every human being has broken the law of God. His primarily Jewish audience would have understood that the law they broke was the law given to them by God through Moses on Mount Sinai. "But what law is it that non-Jewish people have broken?" they might have asked. Paul anticipates their question. He says that non-Jewish people ...

7. The Simplex Faith of 3:16

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and resurrection, crushed the power of death once and for all. But for first-century listeners, the divinely mandated restorative powers of a snake on a stick was far more comprehensible. For those listeners John 3:16 is full of unfamiliar ideas. A Jewish audience would feel comfortable with the notion that as God’s chosen people they were recipients of God’s love. But the assertion that God extended this divine love to “the world” or “the cosmos” in its entirety was strange and even unseemly ...

8. Plain Talk

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... about the same incident. The authors were different, and so was the audience for whom each wrote. Matthew and Luke both record in their gospels a collection of Jesus' sayings. We know Matthew's version as, "The Sermon on the Mount." Matthew writes for a Jewish audience, and every good Jew knew that all important events happened on a mountain. The law came from Mount Sinai. Moses views the promised land from Mount Pisgah. "I will lift up my eyes to the hills," says the psalmist. The temple is built on Mount ...

9. To Cross Over

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... not arbitrarily select Abraham as his example of faith, but he had some well calculated reasons for doing so. Abraham is considered to be one of the forefathers of Judaism. By discussing the faith of Abraham Paul would have the ear of his Jewish audience. Jesus came from the lineage of Abraham, which means Paul would have the ear of his Christian constituents. But most importantly for both congregations is that Abraham’s faith preceded his actions. Faith came before the law of Judaism. Faith came before ...

10. When It’s Time to Seek Direction

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Iraq or Iran, they were Gentiles in search of a Jewish King. They were people from a foreign religion come searching for this Christ. Matthew, writing to a particular population, starts it off in the 2nd chapter saying “I need to say to this my particular Jewish audience Christ who was born is Christ for all”. O’er field and fountain and moor and mountain they followed the star. In the heat of the day and the chill of the night, they traveled on. With saddle-chaffed legs, sun-burned skin, dust-caked ...

11. Bear the Light

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to Judaism or the daily dunkings self-administered by the Qumran sectarians, John himself immersed those who came to him. Even more unsettling was that John’s demand of repentance and the need for baptizing was issued to a Jewish audience — those who were by definition already God’s chosen, privileged people. John’s baptizing practices were definitely problematic and those most concerned with issues of proper purification, the Pharisees, demanded some additional explanation. They didn’t get it ...

12. Mary Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

John Jamison

... sentence which tells Joseph he ought to see this thing through and try to work things out with Mary. And that even happens in a dream. But that seems to fit Matthew's purpose. Matthew isn't interested in the trimmings of Christmas. He wanted his Jewish audience to understand that old prophecy was being fulfilled, and had to explain the role of Joseph in this process. All that other stuff might confuse the facts and keep some Jews from seeing the Christ in Christmas. As for me, I've always preferred Luke's ...

13. Come and Find Rest

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

... LEAVE NEWS ITEMS OR ADVERTISING. This is a man who knows how to rest! But is this what Jesus really meant when he said: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest?" No, Jesus was referring to his Jewish audience that was burdened with all the observances of Mosaic law. These people had regulations on their food, clothes, how they farmed, and so on. The taxes were overpowering. To these people Jesus said: "Come to me. Stop being burdened by law and accept your salvation by ...

14. Is Anything Unforgivable?

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... these words are likely to understand Holy Spirit in the sense of the third person of the Trinity, and feel that, somehow, it is possible so to offend the Holy Spirit as to be forever unforgiven. I think that we need to understand the Holy Spirit as Jesus' Jewish audience would have understood it, for no idea of Trinity had yet been introduced. For them, the Holy Spirit of God had two functions. One was to bring God's truth to people, as when a person was inspired to speak a word in God's behalf. The other ...

15. Armageddon Anxiety

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... this week's gospel text, Jesus is deserted by "many of his disciples" because of his refusal to tell the people what they wanted to hear. His flesh and blood imagery was both too gutsy and too graphic, too fantastic and too unreal for a large portion of his Jewish audience. The great irony of this text is that the very message that reveals how we may personally experience the intimacy of God in our lives is the message that leads us to turn our backs on Jesus the one who is the divine gift of life. For many ...

16. Priceless!

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... say “kingdom of God.” They mean the same thing. As we’ve noted before, a good Jew considered the name of God so sacred that he or she would not even write God’s name. Perhaps that is the reason that Matthew, who was writing for a Jewish audience, was hesitant to write “kingdom of God” for fear of violating the holiness of God’s name. So he used the term “kingdom of heaven.” But they mean same thing. What is this kingdom that Christ spent most of his ministry proclaiming and how can we go ...

17. Playing to the Right Audience

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

It was an incredible military breakthrough. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Joe Rochefort broke the Japanese codes. From an intelligence base on Oahu, he predicted an attack on Midway Island for June 3, 1942. Because of Rochefort's skill, the United States surprised the Japanese Navy with its first defeat in 350 years. Four carriers were lost, one cruiser, 2500 men, 322 aircraft, and the best of their pilots. The tide turned in the Pacific; Japan never recovered momentum. Commander ...

18. Turning Potholes into Mud Puddles on the Bethlehem Road

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Did you hear? NASA is already testing prototypes of space suits for the first astronauts who will walk on the surface of Mars. Scientists are hoping this event might happen around 2030. That means by the time all the infants playing baby Jesus in this year’s bathrobe dramas known as “Christmas pageants” are getting their driver’s permits! Right now the space suit design weighs about one hundred pounds and completely encases whoever wears the suit within a separate, sealed environment. The environment on ...

19. More Than Just Image

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Would you agree that we are an image-conscious society? Appearances are important to us. And not just our personal appearances. We want the things in our environment—our homes and cars and sneakers and even our lunches—to look Instagram-ready. The problem with living in an image-conscious society is that we are easy to deceive. Too often, appearance wins out over substance. If something looks good on the outside, we don’t question its authenticity or integrity. Author Mark D. Roberts tells of meeting a man ...

20. Between a Rock and a Hard Rock Thrower

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

As a kid were you ever convinced that you HAD to be adopted? I mean, really: how could you be related to your big-mouthed brother when you are so reserved and quiet? . . . Your math genius parents could never have produced your brain — a brain that can’t add up anything without using fingers and toes. . . . How can you be related when you can play almost any musical instrument and your sister is completely tone deaf? As our personalities develop, as our individual quirks and oddities, likes and dislikes, ...

21. Dots on a Screen

Hebrews 9:24-28

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Several years have now passed since the television series Survivor first debuted to become a summer ratings sensation. The concept was simple: place a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills, and personalities into close proximity with a common purpose, namely survival on a deserted island, and let the audience watch as their relationships develop, or fall apart. This, of course, is not to be confused with a much earlier comedy series based on the "seven stranded castaways" of Gilligan's ...

22. What Kind of Pillar Are You?

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Who are the pillars of the church? If others look to you as a “pillar of the church,” what kind of pillar are you? Jesus answers that question in our gospel reading for this morning, but to get to his answer we’ve got to exercise the discipline of historical context. We’ve got to put his words and images in the context of the culture of his day. So here we go . . . Anyone who has ever had a class on Greek and Roman culture has had to recall and recognize the three distinctive types of architectural columns ...

23. The Fox

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David G. Rogne

I know that I don't have much status up here in Gaul, but will you do me the favor of listening to me? I've had an awful lot of time to think during these years I have been in exile, and I need to share my conclusions about life with someone. My name is Herod. The problem is that our family is so extended, and so many people bear that name, that I should really use my given name, which is Antipas. My circumstances used to be far different than they are now. It's not that Lyons is such a bad place to end up ...

24. What Is Required of Us?

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

“I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In a message titled Seizing Your Divine Moment Erwin McManus speaks of his son Aaron: “One summer Aaron went to youth camp. He was just a little guy, and I was kind of glad it was a church camp. I figured he wasn't going to hear all those ghost stories.... But unfortunately, since it was a Christian camp and they didn't tell ghost stories, because we don't believe in ghosts, they told demon and Satan stories instead. And so when Aaron got home, he was ...

25. Elohim

John 1:29-34, Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Then God (Elohim --plural) said (singular verb), 'Let us make (plural verb) man in our image, after our likeness'" (Genesis 1:26) Prop: A large Quilt, hanging backwards on a stand, so that the threadwork is visible I want to show you a picture this morning. Take a look. What do you see? What is it? [Give people time to answer.] Is it the sky? Clouds? The sea? A painting? Now what if I give you a different view: What is it? Tell me. A pool! It’s a pool! You couldn’t tell by the first picture I showed you. ...

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