Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 104 results

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Richard Patt

The key verse of the parable Jesus tells here has a way of sending a chill down the spine. In that verse God exclaims, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you ..." (v. 20). Hearing that dramatic warning, maybe you have surmised, "Will I ever get caught in a situation where those stern words are addressed to me?" Generally we tend to feel we have our lives on the right track. We try to keep ...

2. Rich Toward God

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

John G. Lynn

The southern California cities of San Diego and Los Angeles are well known for their misty mornings. Each day in Los Angeles, in the Beverly Hills section, the sky is thick with fog. "Don't worry," the natives will tell you, "it will burn off by noon." And sure enough it does. Every morning it is the same thing ... thick, cold fog until 11 or 12:00. Then sunshine for the rest of the day. In Annapo...

3. Sharing Shalom

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

The Bible has a great deal to say about wealth and the people who own it. This parable of Jesus for example: The usual interpretation speaks of it as a teaching concerning the folly of a life devoted to the accumulation of wealth. It is ridiculous to seek security through riches. The foolishness becomes obvious, so the interpretation goes, when suddenly one night the man dies and must stand before...

4. Gobble, Gobble, Gone

Luke 12:13-21

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: A lesson of sharing. Props: M&M's. You will need: 1) A small package for you to eat. If you cannot eat the whole bag in a single sitting, then slightly open the bag, empty the bag, and place what you can't eat back in. But it needs to be proportioned to the number of children so that it looks as though you could have shared. If you are preaching afterwards, you'll need some water a...

5. My Precious, My Precious

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Who would have thought that a public television show about the junk, or, excuse me, family heirlooms cluttering up everyone's closets, attics, and basements would turn into one of the hottest TV shows going? What's the name of it? Anyone? It's my favorite TV show. That's right: Antiques Roadshow. Antiques Roadshow is now a classic treasure itself, having been public televisions' biggest audience g...

6. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The sayings and the parable found in this week's gospel text evidently come from Luke's own personal "L" source for they appear in none of the other gospels. There are similar stories found in the Gospel of Thomas though there they are lacking in some of the unique Lukan literary flourishes and theological touches. The dialogue in verses 13 and 14 has been the subject of considerable debate among ...

7. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Today's pericope, unique to this gospel, recounts Jesus' response to an interruption injected by a nameless individual in a question-and-answer session which takes place in the midst of a raucous crowd of thousands (12:1). The statement, in context, seems banal and hopelessly petty. Jesus has been encouraging the crowd to be fearless and faithful witnesses even in the face of persecution "before t...

8. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

One of the worst things you can say about anyone is this: Greatness passed by, and they did not recognize it. Ever been somewhere, in a classroom, a meeting, a concert, a church, a family gathering, when some life-changing, reality-shifting, soul-lifting insight has been revealed? Even if most of those listening with you realized they were hearing something amazing, there is always some dimwitted...

9. The Real Real Estate

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

I officiated at a funeral recently of a man who died of a heart attack two weeks after he declared bankruptcy. With his beautiful wife, five kids, and many grandchildren circling the grave, this is how I began the eulogy: One of the wealthiest men in the world died on [....] His name was . . . . He made his wealth in real estate. The real real estate of life. You say: how cruel can you be? In fr...

10. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

There is no escaping hecklers. Preachers, politicians, any public speaker will someday find themselves confronted by a heckler. A heckler is someone with their own agenda who is anxious to take advantage of a gathered, attentive audience to voice that opinion publically. In this week’s gospel text, Jesus encounters a “heckler.” But he then uses the seemingly unrelated concerns of this man to conne...

11. Divided Loyalties

Luke 12:1-12, Luke 12:13-21

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Those who are preoccupied with immediate concerns are in danger of missing what ultimately matters. Understanding the Text The latter part of chapter 11 has been dominated by the theme of opposition to Jesus. That theme is now continued, but also it is developed to speak of the opposition that Jesus’s disciples too must expect to meet, and that will challenge them to stand up for God i...

12. Teachings of Possessions

Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:22-34

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The section on possessions (12:13–34) can be divided into three subsections: (1) warning against greed (12:13–15), (2) the parable of the rich fool (12:16–21), and (3) worry over possessions (12:22–34). In the first paragraph (12:13–15) a man wants Jesus to arbitrate in an inheritance dispute between his brother and himself. This would be typical work for a rabbi. But Jesus refuses, insisting that...

13. The Parable of the Rich Fool

Luke 12:13-21

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

12:13–21 The disciples also must learn not to be diverted from their commitment to Jesus by greed for wealth and material possessions, a theme that is important to the evangelist Luke. The transition to this topic, presented as the Parable of the Rich Fool (found only in Luke), is effected by someone in the crowd who wants Jesus to tell his brother to divide his inheritance. Jesus had no legal aut...

14. Who's the Fool?

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

George Reed

This parable is often referred to as the parable of the rich fool and has been used to make any number of homiletical points. Some of them have even been relevant to the story! I have heard many a sermon preached on the “eat, drink, and make merry” portion of the scripture. We were warned about the dangers of having a good time. This was taken as a warning against what used to be called a “liberti...

15. Lessons from a Fool

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Bishop William Willimon was chaplain for many years at Duke University. He is a well-known writer and speaker. He says wise things in a witty way. Once Willimon and his wife had a group of students over to their home after a chapel service. They had a picnic, then some of the students lingered to play basketball or to talk. Willimon sat on the patio with one student who said, “Dr. Willimon, thank...

16. Jesus' Guide to Wise Investing

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A sixth-grade teacher posed the following problem to one of her arithmetic classes: “A wealthy man dies and leaves ten million dollars. One-fifth is to go to his wife, one-fifth is to go to his son, one-sixth to his nephew, and the rest to charity. Now, what does each get?” After a very long silence in the classroom, one little fellow raised his hand. With complete sincerity in his voice, he answ...

17. Pigs Get Slaughtered

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to give you a quiz. There was a famous line from a movie more than twenty years ago. The line goes like this, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” Do you remember that line? It’s from a popular 1980s film titled, Wall Street. The story revolves around an ambitious young stockbroker, played by Charlie Sheen, and his ruthless, greedy mentor, played by Michael Douglas. Douglas’ charac...

18. The Foolish Farmer

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Note, first, that God did not say this man was evil. God said he was a fool. Note, secondly, that most of us would not say he was a fool. We’d say he was an obviously successful businessman. We esteem abundance. Jesus said, "A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." We act as though a man’s life does consist in the abundance of his possessions. We have a saying, "If you’...

19. Real Security

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to hi...

20. Full Barns--empty Souls

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Motivational speaker Danny Cox tells an interesting story in his book, Seize the Day. Danny and his wife took a hot air balloon trip early one morning in Africa. As the balloon rose gracefully, they saw a herd of wildebeest running frantically across the vast expanse below. The herd stopped suddenly and began looking around as if they were confused. Danny asked their pilot why the herd had stopped...

21. Drowning In A Sea Of Stuff

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A 6th grade teacher posed the following problem to her arithmetic classes: "A wealthy man dies and leaves ten million dollars. One-fifth is to go to his wife, one-fifth is to go to his son, one-sixth to his butler, and the rest to charity. Now, what does each get?" After a very long silence in the classroom, little Joey raised his hand. The teacher called on Joey for his answer. With complete sin...

22. Fighting Over Daddy's Will

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Permit me to do a little prying. It's for your own benefit. How many of you have made a will? You don't have to raise your hands, but it could be an important question for many of us. Many family squabbles have erupted over the lack of a wellthought out will. There is a book titled THE 400WORD WILL. It contains some interesting wills from Japan. Listen to a few of these. I quote: "After you finis...

23. Three Foolish Things You Can Do With Your Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

We live in a crazy country. The Associated Press ran a story about a woman who tried to hold up a bank. Her weapon? A device that she said controlled a bomb in her car. Brandishing her innovative weapon, the woman demanded money from 3 tellers at a branch bank in Bowling Green, Ohio. Suddenly the tellers realized that the device she was waving in their faces was not a remote control for a bomb at ...

24. You Fool!

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The incident stirring up this text is the request of someone in the crowd who asked Jesus to judge between on older brother and himself regarding an inheritance. The real problem isn't the request which Jesus refused, but the greed lying beneath the surface of the request which Jesus addressed with a parable about a rich fool who went to hell. In Jesus' day, the oldest brother got the inheritance...

25. Proper 13

Colossians 3:1-17, Hosea 11:1-11, Psalm 107:1-43, Luke 12:13-21

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter—Psalm 107:1-9, 43 First Lesson—The prophet bemoans the infidelity of Israel. Hosea 11:1-11 Second Lesson—Paul speaks of moral and spiritual resurrection. Colossians 3:1-11 Gospel—Jesus warns against misplaced values. Luke 12:13-21 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Leader: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is goo...

Showing 1 to 25 of 104 results