Sermon and Worship Resources

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Romans 7:14-25a

Sermon

King Duncan

... in 47 years. The tuna were not only running, but they were also biting! It was a fisherman’s dream. All you needed was a sharp hook and some bait and you could haul in a bountiful catch. You could even make some money. Rumor had it that Japanese buyers would pay up ... call it willpower--or in this case “won’t-power.” Did you know that psychological studies agree with Tom Peters? They show that willpower is the single most important habit for individual success. These studies show that self-discipline, ...

2. FISHERMAN

Isaiah 19:8; Matt. 4:18; Luke 5:2

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... Bible: First, there was spear fishing. In this method, a harpoon or trident was thrown at the fish. Job said, "Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears?" (Job 41:7). This means that fishing is very old. The second method was angling; the common hook and line method. Peter used a hook to catch the fish in which he found a coin to pay the temple tax (Matthew 17:27). We also have our text from Isaiah and also Amos, who said, "They shall take you away with ...

3. Well, What Did You Expect?

Acts 12:1-19a

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... , and whatever I would ask for, I’d get it. But it weren’t so. I tried it. Once I got a fishline, but no hooks. I tried praying for hooks three or four times, but somehow it wouldn’t work. One day I asked Miz Watson to try for me, and she said I was ... our praying? There’s an interesting little incident in Chapter 12 of the Acts of the Apostles that gives us one answer. Peter, the account tells us, had been cast into prison by Herod, and the Early Church was deeply concerned about its leader, and the ...

4. A Joyful New Beginning

John 20:1-9

Sermon

... which his ministry of 15 years was turning out. He had been let down by fellow workers such as Demas and even Peter. Nobody had supported him at his first trial. The church in Corinth was constantly fighting and bickering over stupid issues. All of ... forget the reason why we are here. Lord, may Christ's rising from the dead enable us to become disciples again. Amen. 1. Sidney Hook, "In Defense of Voluntary Euthanasia," New York Times, 1 March 1987, sec. 4, p. 25. 2. Dom Hubert van Zeller, We Die Standing Up ...

5. For the Hearing Impaired

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... and all it has done is make you feel guilty (because you are not out there looking for missing persons, you don’t have any hooks in the water, you are not trying to fish for people, or if you really do want to do what you know the Lord wants ... By having the seed of God’s word planted in his heart. I Peter 1:23 says, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23, NIV) Don’t miss the importance of the fact that ...

6. Let's Go Fishing

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of the bait? They get it when we bring it to them, so let’s go fishing. But suppose we are not very good at preparing our hook, or heaven forbid, our bait is bad? No problem. The witness of both scripture and history is that God can use some strange bait to get the ... asked, “Then how will people learn of what have you done and your love for them?” Jesus said, “I have asked Andrew and Peter, James and John, and a few more friends to tell others about me. Those who are told will tell others in turn. And ...

7. Paul: The Man and His Message

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... a handle for getting a firmer grip on the grace of God. He is so sure of his stand that he dares to rebuke Peter, the acknowledged leader of the Christian community (Galatians 2:11-14). That he could not always control his temper is indicated by his abrupt ... God’s message has been laid upon him (1 Corinthians 9:16). Paul was a Jew but he was a Hellenistic Jew. The hooked nose is a symbol of his Jewishness, the angelic face of Hellenistic ecstasy. The source of Paul’s theology cannot be expressed by ...

8. Loving Like God Loves

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... but students in ground school, learning the first lessons of weather and how a wing gives lift. Not Saint Peter but Peter the goober! Not Peter, James, and John as the inside circle, but more like the Three Stooges. No different than we are. As one ... we think of Jesus’ teaching, remember that it’s for all his followers, not just the advanced, whoever they are? We can’t get off the hook by claiming it doesn’t apply to us. If we are not learning to love our enemies and being drawn to the idea as an ...

9. False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 Peter 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... —by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature. “There is great passion in the words. Grandiose sophistry is the hook, filthy lust is the bait, with which these men catch those whom the Lord had delivered or was delivering” (Bigg, p. ... although the picture of a sow enjoying a bath but then as happily returning to roll in the mud is true enough to life! The basis of Peter’s saying is close to a tale in the Egyptian Story of Ahikar (APOT vol. 2, p. 772): “My son, you were to me like a ...

10. Paul Opposes Peter

Galatians 2:11-21

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... then, was over convincing the Galatians not of the desirability of righteousness but of the correct means of becoming righteous. The hook that the rival evangelists had in the Galatians was that their way—the way of works of law—resonated both ... lytos,” TDNT 6:727–44, esp. p. 731. 2:15–16 Many commentators understand 2:15 to be part of Paul’s address to Peter (see W. Schmithals, Paul and James [trans. D. M. Barton; London: SCM, 1965], pp. 72–73). An alternative reading of 2:15–16a is: “we ...

11. What the Maid Said to the Fisherman

Mark 14:66-72, Mark 14:53-65

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... Are you a spy?” it would have been simply dumb to say, “Oh, yes, of course. I am here under false pretenses.” So he lets Peter off the hook. Weatherhead wrote: “Either he had the intention of rescuing Jesus or else of hearing what was likely to become of him.” “Personalities of the Passion,” New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1963, p. 19) Weatherhead said that if Peter were really such a coward, why did he not stay back in the shadows, instead of coming right up to the fire to catch the ...

12. Swords Into Plowshares

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... Messiah is crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords: "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Here is where the revelation of Scripture ... peak of the country's 17-year civil war, George and his family were among 600 people who sought refuge in St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Monrovia. The military raided the sanctuary, and George saw most of the refuge-seekers killed in front of ...

13. Scandal

Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 26:1-5

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... large mouse trap with “prop” piece; stone or rock; basket of river rocks People I know are hooked to two tv shows right now. One they admit right away: “Empire.” The other is more ... . How frustrating it is, when you don’t have the support of the people around you, and they just don’t get it. For Jesus, this frustration hits a head with Peter! And he lays into him, putting him in his place. In a sense, Jesus is saying, “you may not understand what I’m telling you, but if you don’t, just trust ...

14. It's A Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... now turns and is eaten up with a bad case of the dumbs. Mark tries to let him off the hook by saying it was caused by fear. But Mark's attempt only reinforces Peter's reputation for opening his mouth only to change feet. Let's face it, Peter's remark wasn't the brightest thing he could have said. I. ON THE MOUNTAIN: A. Six days after Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus takes His inner circle Peter, James and John up a high mountain to spend time alone. It may have been for a leadership conference ...

15. It's a Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

16. John 21:1-19

John 21:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... if he “loved” (“agapao”) him. The third question Jesus asked was “do you love (“phileo”) me?” Simon Peter’s response is consistent in all three instances: he expresses his “phileo” for Jesus. If the verb “agapao” suggests something stronger than “phileo,” as it almost certainlly does, then Jesus lets Simon Peter off the hook in his third question. No doubt it is Jesus’ own “agapao” that leads him to veer away from the image of the Good Shepherd’s ultimate sacrifice ...

17. Easter 3

Psalm 116:1-19, Acts 2:14-41, 1 Peter 1:13-2:3, Luke 24:13-35

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... work, particularly the one whom God designates as the divine agent for the achievement of salvation. God acts, and we react, spurning God's will; but God prevails. This message does not let us off the hook. We do not hear simply, "You're okay!" or "God loves you, so learn to love yourselves." The gospel, as Peter preached it on Pentecost, confronts us squarely with our guilt—we stand in opposition to God; we even work actively against God. In the face of our guilt, however, the gospel declares that God is ...

18. The Real GPS: Gospel Positioning System

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... lives and loves the way of his Lord, Simon Peter’s “way” will not be “his way.” Jesus and Yahweh will be his Way. Simon Peter would never call himself a “hero.” But Simon Peter would, at the last, hope to call himself a ... a very needy world. She was the last survivor of the Annexe. And every August 4th, Miep Gies would draw the curtain, take the phone off the hook, and mourn her lost friends — the Frank family. She was not a hero, she said, but she had done all she could to help her friends. ...

19. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Betrayed"

John 13:21-30; Matthew 26:14-16; 45-50

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of remorse, it blows a hole in the defenses and strikes us at the very heart and soul of our existence. Scripture tells us that Peter looked into the eyes of Jesus after his third denial, just as the rooster crowed. It doesn't say the anything about whether Jesus and ... and he bears no guilt or fault in the matter. And that means he hung himself for nothing. It lets him off the hook. If there had never been a Judas, Jesus still would have wound up on the cross. We need to realize that Judas represents the ...

20. Changing Times

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... they spoke about the coming day of the Lord. Isaiah helps us think about the blessing of having our times in God’s hand. Peter urges us to make the most of that time, especially in days of Advent when we expect another divine invasion. Mark’s gospel opener ... Most striking was the man’s hair. A great wave of hair flowed down the front of his head, cascading in a single hooked lock over his forehead. But the back of his head was completely bald. On the pedestal, Lysippus had chiseled the figure’s ...

21. Three O’Clock at the Temple

Acts 3:12-19

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... Gershwin or Rogers and Hammerstein or simple "praise" songs inviting audience participation. They want to praise, praise, praise God and drown out God's word of judgment. Soul searching is discouraged. There was a challenge — at the temple — at three o'clock. Peter lets his listeners off the hook. "You didn't know what you were doing. You didn't know that you were murdering a man who willingly took the bullet for you! But now you know! Look at this lame man now whole and leaping and dancing! The man ...

22. How Does One Follow Jesus During The Threat Of War?

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

George Johnson

... historical crisis has been capturing the attention of us all. My sense of call as a pastor has urged me to set aside the sermon on Peter and Cornelius and speak about following Jesus in the face of the threat of war. It has come to my attention that I would be shirking my ... Messiah way, the Jesus way, when he says: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks." If we were to use language that would be appropriate to our military weapons today, swords and spears would read ...

23. We've Been Bragging About You!

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... to stand behind a tree to bait his hook. Once when he wasn't paying close attention and forgot to stand behind the tree, a sevenpound largemouth bass jumped out of the lake, cleared thirty feet of shore, and bit the hook while the fisherman was still baiting it. (1 ... church keep providing the services that only the church can offer whether that church is in Thessalonica or in our town. Peter Wagner, a church growth expert, took a survey of hundreds of pastors. His intent was to compile a list of measurable ...

24. The Curriculum of God’s Kingdom

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... paralyzed. Only his face and the tips of his boots were above water. I decided to start casting." His homemade lure hooked Ovesen's rubber waders on the first cast of about ten yards. But Oveson weighed nearly 250 pounds. Wilhelmsen used every ... his own”? 5. 9:1. See www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sites/TScpIntr.html for fascinating material on Capernaum archaeology, including the home of Peter. 6. Mark 1:21-34. 7. See the Scripture sheet on vv.12-15: 1 Now when he heard that John had been “handed over ...

25. 'Nevertheless': A Word of Faith

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... Memphis, and to you be the glory!" Consider another example. A middle-aged couple are heartbroken. Their 19-year-old son is hooked on drugs. He even steals items from the home in order to pawn them and buy drugs. These distraught parents cry out ... , to bring their boats. Both boats were so overloaded with fish that they could barely make it to land. Nobody had to tell Simon Peter, a professional fisherman, that he had just witnessed a miracle. He fell on his knees and cried out to Jesus, "Lord, I don't ...

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