Sermons on Matthew 23:11-15:

The God Shaped Hole In All Of Us (We Need God)

Contributed by Spencer Homan on Dec 15, 2008

This is a sermon focusing on the impact of God’s presence on our lives.

Matthew 23:13 13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” “The God-Shaped Hole in all of Us” I’m sure none of you have EVER experienced the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:13

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

You Might Be A Pharisee (What Not To Do)

Contributed by Spencer Homan on Dec 15, 2008

This sermon focuses on what NOT to do as Christians, looks at comparing ourselves to the Pharisees.

Matthew 23:15 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. “You Might Be a Pharisee” It’s hard for us to fully realize… just how cool the Pharisees were in ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:15

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Living For Your Own Glory Series

Contributed by Jeffery Anselmi on Aug 8, 2008

Living for our own glory will hurt our ability to reach people.

INTRODUCTION • ME CHURCH VIDEO • SLIDE #1 • That is some kind of church! • Can you imagine what kind of church we would have if we all had that type mentality. WOW! • Today we are going to look at the second of 8 things that we can do to be a bad Christian. • I believe we can easily forget why we ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:5-12

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Becoming An Obstacle To Those Seeking The Way Series

Contributed by Jeffery Anselmi on Aug 15, 2008

WE do not want to be the reason that people turn from Jesus!

INTRODUCTION • SLIDE #1 • There is a lot of responsibility that comes with being a Christian. It is not always easy to do what we are called to do. • It is so easy to get off course and start heading down the wrong path. • We can run into a lot of dangers if we start neglecting our faith. • Over ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:13

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

When Our Faith Is Not Based On Our Relationship Series

Contributed by Jeffery Anselmi on Aug 22, 2008

When our faith does not spring from our relationship with Jesus, we will have problems.

INTRODUCTION • RELATIONSHIP VIDEO (NOT A POWERPOINT) • SLIDE #1 • Should relationships make a difference in your life? Should a relationship with Jesus make a difference in your life? • Our relationships in many ways define who we are. Think about it, to Rachel’s friends, I am Rachel’s dad. To ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:15

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Call No Man Father! Series

Contributed by David Smith on Jun 19, 2009

You must not be called ’Teacher,’ because you are all equal and have only one Teacher. And you must not call anyone here on earth ’Father,’ because you have only the one Father in heaven. Nor should you be called ’Leader,’ because your one and only leader

“Call no man ‘Father’” says Jesus. That’s part of our reading today from Matthew 23. Jesus says, “call no man ‘Father’”. What’s that doing here? And I don’t just mean what’s it doing here as this week’s reading. I mean, what’s it doing in the Bible? Since the (not so recent) publication of “The ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:8-11

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

Standing In The Way Of The Spiritual Progress Of Others Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Feb 18, 2010

This message looks at how we sometimes block the door for spiritual seekers and keep them from finding God.

BIG IDEA: We can point people to God, but we can also stand in their way. - Matthew 23:13. - The idea here is blocking the door or pointing someone in the wrong direction. - This is something we should pause and consider how heartbreaking the image is: someone seeking spiritual truth, someone ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:13

Denomination: Baptist

How To Be Exalted By God Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Feb 18, 2010

This message looks at the need for humility and how God works through it.

OUR OWN BOOTSTRAPS: How often do we bring our plans to God as an afterthought? - Too often in church life and in our individual lives, we come up with our plans and then we bring them to God. - “Is this alright with You?” - “Please bless this.” - “God, make ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:11-12

Denomination: Baptist

Moving To The Head Of The Line Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Mar 14, 2010

Jesus hated pride and used the Pharisees to highlight the evils of that sin. But why would God hate pride, and how would I know if I suffer from it?

Last Sunday we introduced the “Upside Down Teachings of Jesus”. The teaching of Jesus that just don’t make sense to most people. Today’s sermon will continue that theme by focusing on Jesus’ teaching: “the Last shall be First, and the First shall be Last”. OPEN: When my dad first married my mom, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:1-12

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Woe To The Hyprocrites!

Contributed by James Jack on Apr 11, 2009

Jesus’ stinging tirade against the hyprocrites and heretics is a righteous condemnation of false religion.

I get worked up about a lot of things. I get worked up when they change the words to old hymns that are favourites of mine. I get worked up at umpiring and refereeing decisions – perhaps not as much as St. George supporters, but worked up nonetheless. I get worked up when Damien takes the last ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:1-39

Denomination: Anglican

Jesus' Warning Series

Contributed by Jim Kane on Apr 7, 2008

The Second Sermon of Lent 2008

This morning we begin with a ‘Trivial Pursuit’ type question. (Slide 1) The United States Army once had a Camel Corps. The year the Camel Corp was organized was: A) 1917 B) 1856 C) 2003 D) 1943 The correct answer is 1856. According to wikipedia, some of our national leaders felt that having ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:1-12

Denomination: Church Of God

Unmasking The Hypocrite Series

Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Jan 16, 2008

Jesus did something no one else had done...He stood up to the religious bullies that were leading people astray. There’s much we can learn about hypocrisy here. Link inc. to formatted text, audio, and PowerPoint.

Unmasking the Hypocrite Matthew 23:1-39 http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/UnmaskingHypocrite.html This is Jesus’ last public message before He dies on the cross. It is stunning...a scathing denunciation of false religion and hypocrisy. Let’s set the scene: Jesus is speaking to 3 groups of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:1-39

Denomination: Baptist

Your Righteousness Must Exceed That Of The Pharisees-Clean The Inside Series

Contributed by Matthew Kratz on Jan 26, 2008

Hypocrisy is 1) CURSED FOR ITS EXCLUSION, ITS 2) SUBVERSION 3)PERVERSION 4)INVERSION 5)EXTORTION AND SELF-INDULGENCE 6)CONTAMINATION AND 7)PRETENSION

A majority of adults who don’t attend church say they believe in God, but they have other feelings about the institution of church. A recent survey of 1 402 adults who don’t attend church, not even on holidays, found that 72 percent thought the church ‘is full of hypocrites,’ In Canada over the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:13-33

Denomination: Other

Changing Our Focus Series

Contributed by Carl Greene on Feb 6, 2008

People with humility don’t deny their power; they just recognize that it passes through them, not from them.

We have begun our journey into an understanding of what it means to be disciple of Christ. We’ve talked about the issue that sometimes we tend make becoming a disciple too hard, and too often when we here the word disciple, we tend to cringe and hide. It’s not that we don’t want to serve God, we ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:12

Denomination: Methodist

The Measure Of Our Commitment

Contributed by Tony Abram on Jun 11, 2007

THE MEASURE OF OUR COMMITMENT BEFORE THE LORD FOR OUR OWN PERSONAL MINISTRY!The foundation of our commitment to ministry is CHARACTER AND CALLING. Every believer has a divine calling on their lives.

THE MEASURE OF OUR COMMITMENT BEFORE THE LORD FOR OUR OWN PERSONAL MINISTRY! I. The foundation of our commitment to ministry is CHARACTER AND CALLING. A. The calling of God is forever. (Rom 11:29 KJV) For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. B. God can use anyone. He even used a ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 23:11, Matthew 23:43