Sermons on Tradition:

The Heart Matters Most - Lessons From Matthew 15 Series

Contributed by William Akehurst on Jun 12, 2025

GOD cares more about the condition of your heart than the traditions you keep. GOD desires genuine inner purity and authentic faith, not religious performance. True righteousness comes from a transformed heart, not outward tradition.

2025.06.15.Sermon Notes. The Heart Matters Most – Lessons from Matthew 15 When Religion Misses the Point William Akehurst, HSWC Reminder: It’s Father’s Day Scripture: Matthew 15:1-39, Isaiah 29:13, Psalms 51:10, Psalms 139:23-24 INTRODUCTION: JESUS confronts the religious leaders for honoring ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 15:1-39, Isaiah 29:13, Psalm 51:10, Psalm 139:23-24

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Let Us Go To Bethlehem And Find The Faith Of Christmas Series

Contributed by Mark Roper on Dec 17, 2008

Today our Christmas traditions have evolved from the different ways Christmas is celebrated around the world. Immigrants have brought their customs with them, and as a result we have a great diversity of customs, traditions, and fantasy’s that obscures t

Let Us Go to Bethlehem and Find the Faith of Christmas Luke 2:15-20 It is hard to imagine not celebrating Christmas, yet during the infancy of America Christmas was banned and for a time, and even illegal. How did we get to where we are now? Christmas evolved out of the old Roman festival of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-15

Denomination: Church Of God

Not Offended

Contributed by I. Grant Spong on Mar 6, 2024

Would we be offended if Jesus critiqued some of our church traditions as being vain? Let’s examine Matthew 15.

Would we be offended if Jesus critiqued some of our church traditions as being vain? Let’s examine Matthew 15. Vain Traditions Was Jesus criticized over a man-made tradition? Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Get Right, Church

Contributed by Riley Turner on Jan 25, 2001

We must break down the walls of racial, cultural, and traditional division in the Lord’s Church.

The following is an excerpt from a sermon preached by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1956, entitled: PAUL’S LETTER TO AMERICAN CHRISTIANS. In this sermon, Dr. King reads a fictitious letter written by himself, but he presents it as if it were a lost letter of the Apostle Paul to the ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:13-22

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Portal Power Series

Contributed by Quint Pitts on Dec 21, 2009

Final Sermon in the series that weaves carols and customs of Christmas traditions around the world throughout the message.

PORTAL POWER Christmas Around The World—Part 4 Today we’re taking the last leg of our Christmas journey around the world. And our last stop is Germany. The Christmas tree is an integral part of German Christmas celebrations. The Christmas tree actually originated in Germany. Cutting and ...read more

Scripture: John 1:51

Denomination: *other

Do You Hear The Voices?

Contributed by Ricky Johnson on Sep 12, 2009

A Grandparents Day sermon calling us to listen to the voices of Wisdom, as she reveals experience and tradition.

Voices, soft, loud, sultry, or brash, they are all around us. Whose voices capture our attention? Do those strange little voices which roam around within our heads lure us? Or are we more captivated by the voices of those in positions of authority? Maybe the voices we really listen to are from ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 1:20-33

Denomination: United Methodist

Sermon On The Devil Within

Contributed by William Meakin on Sep 12, 2021

Wikipedia defines a devil as: “The personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions.”

William Ralph Inge, an English author, Anglican priest and professor of divinity at Cambridge once remarked: “There is no law of progress. Our future is in our own hands, to make or to mar. It will be an uphill fight to the end, and would we have it otherwise? Let no one suppose that evolution will ...read more

Scripture: James 4:7, Romans 10:13, 1 Peter 5:8

Sola Fide! Series

Contributed by Charles Mallory on Mar 10, 2023

Justifying grace in the Wesleyan tradition. We are saved by God's grace through faith.

GET WHAT YOU DESERVE! I HAVE HEARD THAT STATEMENT QUITE A FEW TIMES FOR “BENEFIT-RELATED” TV COMMERCIALS. I PERSONALLY DON’T WANT WHAT I DESERVE! ROMANS 6:23A, “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH….” ETERNAL DEATH IS THE “PAYCHECK” ONE RECEIVES WHEN THEY LIVE APART FROM GOD, IN THIS LIFE-TIME, AND STILL ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:1-11, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:12, John 3:16, Isaiah 43:25, Romans 5:9  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Free Methodist

Mary: Who She Was (And Who She Wasn't)

Contributed by Dr. Bradford Reaves on Oct 15, 2020

There is quite a bit of confusion among some as to the Mother of Jesus. Who she was and who she was not. Some church traditions erroneously lend into that confusion. Today we look briefly at Mary in a manner of separating biblical fact from unscriptural tradition

Grace Community Church Winchester, VA www.GraceCommunity.com Rev. Bradford Reaves, Sr. Pastor Watch This Message https://youtu.be/lEeSaAcwtWs Introduction As we come to this portion of the Birth Narrative in Luke, I think it is important to point out a couple of things. First, this portion of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 1:26, Revelation 22:8-9, Luke 1:46-55, Romans 1:3, Galatians 4:4, Luke 11:27-28, Matthew 13:55  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Brethren

Saving The Church From Falling

Contributed by Richard Papafio on Aug 5, 2018

Laws, traditions and customs have no place in the New Covenant church which is governed and operated by Grace and Grace alone

May the peace of the Lord be with you. Topic: SAVING THE CHURCH FROM FALLING Acts 15:4-5 King James Version (KJV) 4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. 5 But there rose ...read more

Scripture: Acts 15:4-5

Denomination: Charismatic

God's Word Or Ours?

Contributed by Greg Nance on Sep 11, 2010

Religious traditions are dangerous. We can easily be satisfied by them. Passified by them so that we go to sleep and do not follow God's call. May God deliver us!

Matthew 15:1-20 has been a key passage to point out the danger of vain worship by following man made traditions instead of God's word. I have often heard this passage applied to the activities that we do in our church services, but Jesus' application is actually much broader. So just what is a ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 15:1-20

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Second Hand Religion

Contributed by Dr. Ronald Shultz on Mar 10, 2001

The need for a personal Savior

Second-Hand Religion If you grew up in a large family, you know exactly what hand-me-downs or second hand items are. If you grew up in the Depression Era, and you were the third son or daughter, your clothes might have been a bit threadbare after going through the wear and tear of two siblings. ...read more

Scripture: James 1:5-6, John 7:17, Revelation 6:15-17, Psalm 118:8, Matthew 8:5-10, Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 24:23-26, Matthew 15:21-28, Matthew 15:1-9, John 7:17-18, Titus 3:9, John 3:3, John 16:13, James 5:14, James 1:5, Hebrews 5:12, Hebrews 4:10, Acts 17:10-12, Luke 10:38-42, Romans 1:13  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Baptist

He's Not A Baby Anymore!

Contributed by Dr. Ronald Shultz on Dec 15, 2001

The manger is empty as well as the grave. We are not dealing with a child.

He’s Not A Baby Anymore! We are in the season where everybody gets all mushy. Maybe it is because a baby in a manger brings out the paternal instincts in people. Maybe it is because a baby is not threatening. There is something about the Christ child that gets more attention than the day we ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-16

Denomination: Baptist

The Hazards Of Worship Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Feb 11, 2011

The most hazardous thing about worship is: We can think we're doing it when, in fact, we are not!

First Presbyterian Church Wichita Falls, Texas February 13, 2011 THE HAZARDS OF WORSHIP The Glory Due His Name: Part 1 Isaac Butterworth Matthew 15:1-14 (NIV) 1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 15:1-14

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Who Is The Real Jesus And What Did He Mean? Series

Contributed by Denis O'callaghan Ph.d. ,th.d., D.d., D. Phil. on Sep 19, 2012

Understanding our historical faith

There are Two Extremes in the consideration of who Jesus is... One extreme in this debate is a radical skepticism. Ever since the publication of the writings of H. S. Reimarus in 1778, the belief of the church that Jesus was and is the Christ, the divine Son of God, born of a virgin, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:13

Denomination: Independent/Bible