Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 226 to 250 of 1230 results

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... is said to be more obvious in the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 17, though in both cases the thought is clearer from a retrospective position. Although the Davidic king became the ideal (e.g., as in Ps. 72), the view here is realistic. Verse 14 in particular shows that David’s descendants were not expected to be ideal. The Davidic dynasty will endure, but it is to be a “dynasty under discipline” (Ackroyd, The Second Book of Samuel, p. 78). The intimate father-son relationship between God and the ...

227. David's Prayer

2 Samuel 7:18-29

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

228. Faith in the Son of God

1 John 5:1-12, 1 John 4:7-21

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... s love is perfected (NIV, is made complete) among us. God’s love comes to completion or perfection when it realizes its objective in the believing community, and that aim is the full assurance that does not doubt acceptance and communion with God. For the author the ideal of complete or perfect love (2:5; 4:12, 17–18) is primarily a matter of the community’s (among us) sense of its being right with God, as they are being undermined by the attacks of the schismatic opponents. The remainder of v. 17 and ...

229. Division of the Land

Deuteronomy 3:12-20

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... their land to God’s gift, and so all the tribes must fight together to possess what God had given to all. Only when God had given rest to all would any be free of obligation to help the others. The principle expressed here remained an ideal in Israel. In fact, in the turbulent centuries that followed, about the only thing that united the scattered tribes of Israel was this sense of mutual obligation, arising from a common awareness of being “Israel” and a common sense of commitment to Yahweh as the ...

230. Firstborn Animals

Deuteronomy 15:19-23

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... and societies (see introduction). From that base, we can formulate principles that can be used in a modern-day setting. For example, Hamilton suggests the following principles (Social Justice, pp. 135–38). First, social justice in Deuteronomy was no mere abstract ideal, but a matter of detailed practical legislation on behalf of the dependent. Secondly, the justness and health of any society is measurable in terms of the quality of its care for the weakest and most vulnerable members of it. Thirdly, the ...

231. Witnesses

Deuteronomy 19:15-21

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... tenth, for example (19:14), and the ninth (19:16–19). Israel needed structures of authority and leadership that would preserve their societal commitment to justice and obedience to God’s Torah. However, even in a nation living with the ideal standards and patterns of life of 14:28–16:17 and with the ideal leaders of 16:18–18:22, things could go wrong. Premature deaths could happen, by accident (19:5–7), by design (19:11–13), in war (ch. 20), or through causes unknown (21:1–9). It was all very ...

232. Solomon's Wisdom

1 Kings 4:29-34

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... fear under vine and fig tree, in which the nations come in pilgrimage to Zion (Mic. 4:1–5). The gathering around Solomon’s table described in 1 Kings 4 represents in essence a kind of proto-messianic banquet (cf. Matt. 8:11), with Solomon as the ideal king! But what about the horses referred to in verses 26 and 28? Do they merely attest to Solomon’s great wealth? This seems unlikely. We noted in chapter 3 how the authors are intent, even in a passage that is otherwise very positive about Solomon, to ...

233. Jehoshaphat Defeats Moab and Ammon

2 Chronicles 20:1-30

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... set out to inquire (darash) of the LORD. The whole of Judah (from every town) gathered with him to seek (biqqesh) help from the LORD. This “seeking” attitude of the king is a very positive sign. To the Chronicler, darash and biqqesh express the ideal religious inclination. The seeking of Yahweh became material when Jehoshaphat stood up before the assembly gathered at the temple of the LORD (20:5) and started praying (20:6–12). The king introduces his call to God with the invocation O LORD, God of ...

Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal, with takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.

Arnold J. Toynbee

Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light.

Franz Liszt

There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Our ideal is to make her (liberty or American ideals) ever stronger and better and finer, because in that way alone, as we believe, can she be of the greatest service to the world's peace and to the welfare of mankind.

Henry Cabot Lodge

The ideal never comes. Today is ideal for him who makes it so.

Horatio W. Dresser

You know, my children, that humanity advances only by forming itself an ideal and endeavoring to realize it. Every passion has its ideal, which is modified by that of the whole.

Jenny R d'Hericourt

Blessed is he who carries within himself a god and an ideal and who obeys it - an ideal of art, of science, or gospel virtues. Therein lie the springs of great thoughts and great actions.

Louis Pasteur

If our friends' idealizations of us need the corrective of our own experience, it may be true also that our own sordid view of our lives needs the corrective of our friends' idealizations.

Oscar W. Firkins

The ideal and the beautiful are identical; the ideal corresponds to the idea, and beauty to form hence idea and substance are cognate.

Victor Hugo

243. What Do You Expect?

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... a great gulf. And what brought me to Christ was the sense of defeat and the astonishing news that the historic Christ offered to meet the very needs of which I was most conscious.” (6) Think about those words for a few moments. “Between the reality and the ideal there was a great gulf.” Can you relate to John Stott’s realization? When you sit in church and hear about the goodness of God and the joy of knowing Him, do you feel empty and disconnected? Do you feel left out? Are you living with a sense ...

244. Spirit Powered Anointing

Luke 4:14-21 · Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to be the church? Jesus will remind us next week. [1] Lois Tverberg, “A Surprisingly Messianic Tradition in the Ancient Synagogue,” January 30, 2018, https://ourrabbijesus.com/articles/triennial-reading/. [2] https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-jubilee-law-ideal-legislation. [3] https://www.jubileeusa.org/de/faith/faith-and-worship-resources/jubilee-tithe/the-significance-of-jubilee.html. See also Dean Ulrich, The Antichene Crisis and Jubilee Theology in Daniel’s Seventy Sevens, p. 79-80 on Ezra and ...

245. House of God

1 Kings 8:22-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

... Time and again we have gathered here bereft, discouraged, defeated, cut off from God and one another. We have brought our questions, our doubts. We have sung our hymns of praise and this God, the same God who is higher than the highest heavens and beyond even our grandest ideals, this one has come to us in this house which we have built and hallowed it with his presence. It's called a "house of God" because in this place, God has not deemed it an unworthy thing to stoop to us. "But will God indeed dwell on ...

246. Failure

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

... the wise. But at his death, his son Rehoboam shows absolutely no wisdom and this failure leads to a division of God's people into North and South. The story strains forward, looking to the horizon of history for a new David who could help make God's ideal a reality. Josiah hopes to renew the covenant God made with Israel, to take up the promise, but he meets an untimely death, a failure effected by an Egyptian king. In the face of so many failures, so many defeats, how could God also not be defeated? There ...

247. Seeing With The Eyes Of Faith

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

... their children, praise their children, set limits for their children, comfort, encourage, admonish… and the list goes on and on and on. A good father doesn’t always encourage, he isn’t an unchanging encourager. An ideal father knows exactly what his child needs and that changes from minute to minute. Ideal fathers, I contend, always love and protect their children, in that way they are unchanging, but precisely how love and protection are extended happens in a myriad of ways. So it is with God, who ...

248. Return To God

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... for his son to return. Isn't that the way it is for those of us desiring spiritual renewal? At some point we must turn toward God. Only then can we recognize just how far from home we are. Our Heavenly Father, too, longs for our return. Lent is the ideal time for us to begin our journey back to God. Turn To Yourself The second step in our return to God is a turning to self. Returning to God requires that we look deep within ourselves to see ourselves for who we really are. We must be honest about our ...

249. Bearing The Cross

Luke 14:25-35

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... her dream. But the dream soon turned into a nightmare. Dr. McDermott was hired to work with a group of physicians. That's exactly as she had imagined it. She would be one of two general practitioners in a group which included many specialists as well. An ideal work environment she thought. And it started out well. Soon enough, however, problems began to emerge. The first problem that faced Dr. McDermott was that she was one of only two women doctors on the clinic staff. The other G.P. was a man with a few ...

250. Take Up Your Cross

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... his stance is less optimistic than some Christian perspectives. This is not to say that the Christian operates without hope. However, the hope must be placed in God and not in people. Pointedly, Tinder says that Christianity is consistently skeptical about political ideals and plans, because of what people are. Christianity must employ language and ideas that are not attractive to the world either. That could not be more explicit than it is stated by our Lord in the Holy Gospel for today. In this reading ...

Showing results

Antonyms: deficient, imperfect

Showing 226 to 250 of 1230 results

226. God’s Promise to David

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

227. David's Prayer

2 Samuel 7:18-29

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

228. Faith in the Son of God

1 John 5:1-12, 1 John 4:7-21

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

229. Division of the Land

Deuteronomy 3:12-20

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

230. Firstborn Animals

Deuteronomy 15:19-23

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

231. Witnesses

Deuteronomy 19:15-21

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

232. Solomon's Wisdom

1 Kings 4:29-34

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

233. Jehoshaphat Defeats Moab and Ammon

2 Chronicles 20:1-30

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Arnold J. Toynbee

Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light.

Franz Liszt

There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Henry Cabot Lodge

The ideal never comes. Today is ideal for him who makes it so.

Horatio W. Dresser

You know, my children, that humanity advances only by forming itself an ideal and endeavoring to realize it. Every passion has its ideal, which is modified by that of the whole.

Jenny R d'Hericourt

Blessed is he who carries within himself a god and an ideal and who obeys it - an ideal of art, of science, or gospel virtues. Therein lie the springs of great thoughts and great actions.

Louis Pasteur

If our friends' idealizations of us need the corrective of our own experience, it may be true also that our own sordid view of our lives needs the corrective of our friends' idealizations.

Oscar W. Firkins

The ideal and the beautiful are identical; the ideal corresponds to the idea, and beauty to form hence idea and substance are cognate.

Victor Hugo

243. What Do You Expect?

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

244. Spirit Powered Anointing

Luke 4:14-21 · Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

245. House of God