Sermon and Worship Resources

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Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Steve Molin

... those men, has just helped my daughter Valerie, who is 3 1/2 years old, prepare dinner.1” She went back. In a mighty act of forgiveness, Elisabeth went back to carry on the mission begun by her husband, and she ministered to the very people who killed him. The subject today is forgiveness, and isn’t that odd? In an era when politicians stand constantly ready to sling mud at one another, and nations stand ready to sling missiles, you and I have gathered together in this church to consider the ...

2. Soft Subjects

Illustration

Vernon Grounds

... ," Cousins is quoted: "The words 'hard' and 'soft' are generally used by medical students to describe the contrasting nature of courses. Courses like biochemistry, physics, pharmacology, anatomy, and pathology are anointed with the benediction of 'hard,' whereas subjects like medical ethics, philosophy, history, and patient-physician relationships tend to labor under the far less auspicious label 'soft'. . . [but] a decade or two after graduation, there tends to be an inversion. That which was supposed to ...

3. The Subject Is Salvation

Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19

Sermon

James L. Killen

A pastor was talking one day with some men whom he knew were not actively involved in any religion. He was surprised to learn that all of the men believed in God. But when they gave their reasons for believing, they all told stories of some narrow escape in which they assumed that God had miraculously interceded to save them or someone they knew from disaster. One told about a narrow escape in a traffic accident, another told of a day when, if he had not been late leaving for work, he might have been ...

4. Can You Carry Your Weight?

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... already told you more than they told me.” Who was it who said it takes two people to hurt you: an enemy to say it about you, and a good friend to come and tell you about it. All those persons “and any other commandment” (v.9) are subjects, not objects, of your time and attention and emotional investment. All those people are your true “neighbors.” All those people are the ones Jesus called upon us to “love as yourself.” Evil wants us to think of God as a “God of Rules.” That makes God an ...

5. Marriage

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... lives of men and women in the church. For Paul mission is more important than marriage, and marrying or refraining from marriage should facilitate God’s purposes, not hinder the doing of God’s will. 7:39 With this verse Paul seems to shift back to the subject he originally addressed in 7:1–24, the situation of the married women and the nature of the marital bond for those who are already married. The position that Paul stakes out at the outset of the discussion, A woman is bound to her husband as long ...

6. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... ) occurs elsewhere in Hebrews in two places. In the first of these (1:3) the word has an objective sense and is translated “being” by NIV: “the exact representation of his being.” In its second occurrence (3:14) the word may have a subjective sense and is translated “confidence” by NIV: “the confidence we had at first.” Even in this passage, however, an objective sense is possible (as Koester argues). The objective sense is probably to be favored in the present passage because it is more in ...

7. I am the Man Who Has Seen Affliction

Lamentations 3:1-66

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... that God respond to him. Verses 58–60 are a development of verse 57. He asks that God take up his case. This legal language is found in the prophets to describe God as a prosecuting attorney, charging his people with breaking the covenantal law and thus making them subject to the curses of the covenant (i.e., Jer. 2:9; Mic. 6:1–2). But here the poet wants God to take the side of his people who are represented by “the man of affliction.” The enemy has treated him as if he is guilty, but God should ...

8. I Wonder about The End of the World

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... will begin. We don’t have to look very far to find someone who has an opinion on it. In fact, many would not believe how many different views and opinions there are about the end of the world. When people are emotionally charged about a subject such as eschatology, it is inevitable that there will be intense debate about it. I will not go into great detail about these differing opinions and views, but suffice it to say that some are speculative, some are ridiculous, and some are just good fiction. There ...

9. Future Glory

Romans 8:18-27

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... the stars. All these would be restored by the advent of the Messiah. See Str-B, vol. 3, pp. 247–55. Paul’s statements on the matter are more measured. He says only that the present languishing of creation is by the will of the one who subjected it, namely, God. Without lessening the consequences of Adam’s sin (5:12), Paul seems to allow that the mystery of suffering is greater than a simple causal relationship between human sin and the futility in creation. 8:23 Dante picks up the theme of suffering ...

10. Punishment for Israel

Hosea 9:1--10:15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... thought that gives us a great deal of difficulty, of course. But the OT is the most realistic of books. When God gives the people over to their own way (cf. Rom. 1:26, 28) and their fate is left to the forces of secular history, they become subject to all the cruelties and destructiveness of sinful human beings. Israel has chosen its own way and will reap the consequences. Its king will fall at the dawn of the battle-day, and its country will be no more. In the midst of such a devastating picture, we would ...

11. The Parable of the Ten Minas

Luke 19:11-27

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... be preferred. The distinctive features found in the Lucan version fit the evangelist’s theology. The part about the man of noble birth who is to have himself appointed king but has to go to a distant country (v. 12), and while he is absent is hated by his subjects who do not want him to be their king (v. 14), is intended to explain the delay of Jesus’ expected return and the inauguration of the kingdom of God (v. 11). The kingdom has not yet appeared, for the king (i.e., Jesus) is yet in a distant place ...

12. Job's Third Reply to Bildad

Job 26:1--31:40

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... the “hands” as much as any wound or bruise. Verse 8 outlines the consequence should Job’s denials be proven false. If he has taken from others by means of deception or even theft, he will suffer similar loss. Although the image is clearly agricultural, it is subject to a variety of understandings. Will others eat Job’s produce because they steal it? Will they receive his goods as a judgment against Job in court? Or is it because he will die and leave his crops to those who come after him (Eccl. 2:18 ...

13. I Hate To Rain On Your Parade, But

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... had to be hard for Jesus to talk about his own death, but he wanted his disciples to understand what was going to happen. Whenever I visit people who are in failing health, due to age or perhaps a terminal illness, I sometimes feel the need to bring up the subject of death. "Do you have any favorite hymns you would like to have played at your funeral? Is there a passage of scripture you would like for me to read at your funeral? Do you have a favorite poem you want someone to read at your funeral?" I feel ...

14. Letting Go

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... being in the world and it is I who seeks to overcome the threat of death. While it is the self as object, the self as one’s way of being in the world, which is accepted by God, it is the self as subject, as I, who seeks that experience of acceptance. It is the self as subject, it is I, who knows continuity, and is the link between the old self and the new self. To free one’s awareness from one’s constricted way of being in the world calls for a heightened sense of awareness, an awareness which ...

15. The King and His Kingdom

Matthew 6:33

Sermon

James Merritt

... fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." (Mark 14:25) Can you guess what was the last subject that Jesus spoke about before He ascended into heaven? Acts 1:3 tells us He was "speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." ... out what your King wants done, and then to do it. But it also means to seek the government of the King. A loyal subject desires to be controlled by the king, to be governed by the king, to be ruled by the king. But you may be saying, "Sounds ...

16. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... the law was used by God for a particular period of time for certain limited purposes, a point he will reiterate in the following verse. Paul is referring to Scripture as that which testifies to the ways of God. God, not the law or Scripture, is the implicit subject of verse 22. When we look at the whole sentence, it is God who made the promise to those who believe. The second clause of the verse is a purpose clause describing the reason for which God imprisoned all things under sin. It was so that what was ...

17. Jesus Takes the Initiative

Luke 21:5-38, Luke 21:1-4, Luke 20:41-47

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... a very satisfactory solution. 21:33 my words will never pass away. Jesus’s prediction is as indestructible as God’s word (cf. Isa. 40:8). 21:34–36 Be always on the watch. The parallel discourses in Matthew and Mark mark a clear change of subject at this point, turning to “that day or hour” which, in contrast to Jesus’s explicit prediction of the destruction of the temple within “this generation,” cannot be known (Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32), and Matthew then goes on to speak at length about ...

18. I Wonder about Life after Death

John 14:1-3

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... we don’t understand and can’t control. To a degree it is healthy to be afraid of death. It keeps us alive, and we need to have a healthy sense of caution for what we don’t know. However, what is not healthy is to try to ignore the subject of our own death. All of us are going to die. There are no exceptions. As the old saying goes, “We don’t get out of this world alive.” We might as well face up to the fact that one day we will die. However, the fact we will die ...

19. Thanksgiving

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... asserts that they refer to divisions in the church between those advocating logos and those involved with gnōsis. Rather, in Paul’s discussion of the situation in Corinth (12:8; 14:6–25) the concerns with speaking and knowledge seem intimately connected. 1:7 The subject of “spiritual gifts” that Paul raises already in the thanksgiving is a major topic of discussion in ch. 12 of the letter; and Paul mentions this matter in the course of his comments at both Rom. 12:6 and 1 Cor. 7:7. These gifts are ...

20. Faith or Observance of the Law

Galatians 3:1-14, Galatians 3:15-25

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

21. Mutual Submission

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

Will Willimon

... are also enjoined to "love your wives."(v. 25) In fact, much more space is given to the duties of husbands, than to those of wives. Evidently Paul feels that husbands need more instruction in how to behave in marriage than wives. Whereas wives are asked to be subject to their husbands, husbands are told to love their wives "as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."( v.25) How did Christ love the church? By dying for the church, giving up his life for the church's sake. That's how husbands are ...

22. Christ, Our King

John 18:33-37

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

... was that he claimed to be king. It was in the exchange between Pilate and Jesus that the contrast between the two leaders, and their two kingdoms, became clear. Jesus was direct and transparent saying that his kingdom was not of this world. He said that his subjects were those who recognized truth. So his kingdom was not over a piece of land, rather it was over the hearts and minds of those who were brave enough to follow him. If his kingdom was like Pilate’s, his followers would have been waging war ...

23. Christ, Our King

John 18:33-37

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

24. Breaking The Tabboo

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... . The truth is that all of us much of the time are busy trusting other gods than the god of Jesus. Just look at how we spend our money. Just look at what we are really committed to. It isn't very pretty. It isn't very faithful. The subject of money may be taboo in the church, but it certainly wasn't taboo for Jesus. Continually in his preaching and teaching Jesus breaks the taboo. When Jesus talks about the kingdom of God he uses images and illustrations from the world of money and economics more than any ...

25. Needed: Fidelity Insurance

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... . I have called you to a beautiful existence together. Don't neglect or abuse it or lose it." I wish there were a guaranteed fidelity insurance policy for marriages. There is none. But the closest thing to it is St. Paul's inspired guidance to the Ephesians: "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ." Could it be that the single thing your marriage needs most is for both of you to kneel at an altar and make or renew a commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord? Then Christ will have a chance to correct ...

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