Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2551 to 2575 of 5000 results

2551. When You Reach the Rejection Hotline

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... stone you builders rejected . . . has become the cornerstone,” wrote the Psalmist. Luke knew this was the perfect description of Jesus. He was rejected by the religious leaders of his day, but he was the only foundation upon which people could reliably build their lives. Mark it down so you never forget it. Jesus is the only reliable foundation on which we can build our lives. Is your life built on that foundation? If so, you are a very fortunate person. Ellen Edwards Kennedy puts it this way. “When I ...

2552. She Looked Great, But...

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

... germs. They knew nothing about germs in those days. Instead, this was about maintaining a religious tradition. In fact, Mark pauses for a moment and explains to his Gentile audience living outside of Palestine, the Jewish practice of ceremonial ... washing. “Unclean,” the Greek word is koinais, as Mark explained it, meant “ceremonially unwashed.” It was a technical term among Jews denoting whatever was contaminated according to their ...

2553. She Looked Great, But...

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

2554. Shall We Take the Escalator?

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... change the barrels--or you could stop firing for a while. Some of us are like that machine gun--we need to quit firing for a while. We need to get away and let our barrels cool. Even Jesus needed to get away from time to time. We read in Mark 6: “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to [the disciples], ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and ...

2555. Be Careful What You Ask For

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... of success. It even affects our families. We want our children to become doctors and lawyers and engineers. Nobody tries to persuade their children to become servants. What?! A servant? But sometimes God’s way confuses man’s wisdom. In Mark 10, Jesus tells his disciples for the third time about his impending death. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him ...

2556. King Jesus

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... , is that "the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." Why does Luke tell us the story this way? He reminds us, at the beginning (Luke 1:1-4), that there are other reflections on the life and teachings of Jesus in circulation. Mark, in his gospel, did not think it appropriate even to talk about the weakness of Jesus when he was just a baby; so his tale begins as the full-grown Jesus strides decisively through the hills and valleys of Galilee, healing and teaching and proclaiming the kingdom of ...

2557. Sunday's Here

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... to get out their cell phone and record the event for posterity. In John’s account, it was early Sunday morning. It was still dark. Mary Magdalene is making her way to the tomb. Mary Magdalene loved Jesus so very much. Mark tells us that Jesus had cast seven demons out of Mary (Mark 16:9). We don’t know what that means--the casting out of demons. Some people believe Mary Magdalene had been a prostitute before she met Jesus. We don’t know. The “seven demons” may refer to a complex illness, not ...

Mark Twain Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I have always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand.

Mark Twain

2559. Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar

Acts 3:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... v. 11) (see J. Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament, pp. 129f.). The second possibility is the Nicanor Gate, which led from the Court of the Gentiles into the Court of the Women. The description given of this gate by Josephus, War 5.201–206, marks it as especially magnificent, with doors of Corinthian bronze work (it was also called the Corinthian Gate). Since the Court of the Women was the place of assembly for the services, the beggar might well have chosen to make his stand at this point (see ...

2560. The Believers’ Prayer

Acts 4:23-31

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... 22), aware that his role as king depicted in the psalm would only be fulfilled in his serving and giving his life “to redeem many people” (Mark 10:45). His further description as God’s holy servant (v. 27) reminds us of his devotion to God and to the task to which God ... (v. 26) were identified as Herod the Tetrarch, that is, Herod Antipas, who was loosely referred to as “king” (cf. Mark 6:14), the rulers as Pontius Pilate, the nations as the Romans who had carried out the crucifixion, and the ...

2561. The Apostles Persecuted

Acts 5:17-42

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... them. Then, it had been a question of due regard for the law. The Pharisees had a clear understanding of how the law should be kept, and when they saw that Jesus did not conform to their view, some went so far as to speak of contriving his death (Mark 3:6, though in the end it was the Sadducees rather than the Pharisees who were chiefly responsible; see disc. on 4:1f.). In this regard, nothing had changed. The Pharisees were as quick to condemn Stephen as they had been to condemn Jesus when the law was at ...

2562. Philip in Samaria

Acts 8:4-8

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... of their own Messiah, the Taheb (see disc. on 3:22 and 7:37). At all events, the situation must have been similar to that described in John 4:25ff., with Philip giving a name to the one whom they were expecting. Second, his ministry was marked by exorcisms and healings. In this it followed the pattern of the apostles (cf. 3:1ff; 5:16; also 6:8) and indeed of Jesus himself. Luke more often than the other Evangelists maintains a clear distinction between ordinary illness and demon possession (see note on ...

2563. Aeneas and Dorcas

Acts 9:32-43

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... been her practice) while she was still with them (v. 39). The participle in the middle voice implies that the widows were actually exhibiting the clothes on themselves (for widows, see note on 6:1). Peter cleared the room as Jesus had done at the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:40; but cf. Luke 8:54). But unlike Jesus, he first knelt in prayer before speaking the word of command (see disc. on 1:14 and 7:60; cf. e.g., John 14:12–14) The use of the name Tabitha in that command suggests that Luke was ...

2564. Peter’s Vision

Acts 10:9-23a

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... anything impure or unclean (v. 14; cf. Ezek. 4:14; also Lev. 10:10; 20:25; Dan. 1:8–12; 2 Macc. 6:18ff.). These words take us back to the teaching of Jesus in Mark 7:15 and to the inference drawn by the Evangelist (who is traditionally associated with Peter): “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean’ ” (Mark 7:19)—an inference that may owe its origin to this housetop experience, for the voice that had said, “Kill and eat” added, Do not call anything impure that God has made clean (v ...

2565. The Church in Antioch

Acts 11:19-30

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... visit of Paul to Jerusalem has sometimes been identified with that of Galatians 2:1–10, but on the whole this seems unlikely (see disc. on 15:1–21). When Barnabas and Paul had completed their task, they returned north, taking with them John Mark (12:25). Additional Notes 11:20 Greeks: The manuscripts vary between “Hellenes,” i.e., “Greeks,” and “Hellenists,” the word used in 6:1 and 9:29—the latter having the better textual support, the former making better sense. It would hardly have been ...

2566. The Council at Jerusalem

Acts 15:1-21

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... ), that is, they must become Jews before they could be granted full Christian status. The matter came to a head when a number of Jewish Christians came to Antioch advocating this policy. The ensuing controversy led to the convening of a council in Jerusalem that marked the end of the matter as far as Acts was concerned, though in fact it remained a vexing question for many more years to come. The council had to weigh the two principles of liberty and obedience. The outcome was a triumph of love. Along with ...

2567. Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

Acts 16:11-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... ; and a little beyond this ran the river Gangites, a tributary of the Strymon. The erection of an arch of this sort often accompanied the founding of a colony and was intended to symbolize the dignity and privileges of the city. It could also mark the pomerium, a line encircling an empty space outside the city within which no buildings or burials were permitted or strange cults allowed to be introduced. The Jews may therefore have been obliged to hold their meetings at this distance, beyond this gate. Here ...

2568. Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos

Acts 18:18-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... had made, perhaps early in his stay at Corinth when he had been depressed and afraid (v. 9). These vows, based on the Nazirite vow of Numbers 6:1–21, appear to have been a common feature of Jewish piety (cf. 23:21–26; m. Nazir). Their conclusion was marked by the shaving of one’s head and the offering of sacrifice in the temple. Both acts were normally done in Jerusalem, but if the devotee was far from the city, he seems to have been allowed to trim his hair and to bring the trimmings to Jerusalem to ...

2569. Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

Acts 20:13-38

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the phrase you know how I lived the whole time. This appeal to their memory is a familiar Pauline idiom (cf. Phil. 1:5; 4:15; Col. 1:6; 1 Thess. 2:1f., 5, 10f.), though the verb “to know” is distinctively Lukan. 20:19 His ministry had been marked by self-sacrifice. The tears were not for his own hard times (lit., “trials” or “temptations”), which were, on the contrary, a source of joy, but for the suffering of others—for those “in Christ” who faced trials (cf. v. 31; Rom. 9:2; 2 Cor. 2:4 ...

2570. Paul Speaks to the Crowd

Acts 21:37--22:21

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... words from his mouth. You will be …: Between these two clauses stands the Greek word hoti (not represented in NIV). GNB renders it as a causal conjunction, introducing the reason for God’s choice of Paul. It is better understood, however, as signaling (like our quotation marks) the content of the message. Paul would hear God saying, “You will be my witness …” 22:16 Be baptized and wash your sins away: Both verbs are in the middle voice in the Greek (so also perhaps in 1 Cor. 10:2 of baptism and ...

2571. Body / Ambassador

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... ecstatic experience of the enraptured mystic (cf. Philo, Questions and Answers on Genesis 1.24; On Drunkenness 146–147) or to insanity (cf. Mark 3:21). Hence, picking up a theme related to his previous discussion of being at home in the body or with the ... in a way that repeated cultic rites could not. As the Son of Man, Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Likewise, Paul understands Jesus as the Suffering Servant of the Lord, who bears the iniquities of the many (cf. esp. Isa. 53:4 ...

2572. Paul’s Second Visit to the Jerusalem Church

Galatians 2:1-10

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... the time serves further to validate his own position. Early Christian tradition generally connected Peter, James, and John (e.g., Mark 9:2). Their direct link with Jesus accounted in large measure for their unparalleled authority within the early church. James ... the only place in his letters where Paul mentions John, who is usually understood to be the disciple John the son of Zebedee (Mark 3:17). 2:10 The only thing that the Jerusalem church required of Paul and Barnabas was that they should remember the poor ...

2573. Sons of God

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... of baptism are in evidence. In some cases a direct connection is made between baptism and the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8), in others between baptism and repentance (Acts 2:38). Paul speaks infrequently about baptism. It appears that ... ). It is a phrase that occurs in other parts of the NT in the context of speaking of the initiation of Christ’s salvific work (e.g., Mark 1:15; John 7:8). The word exapostellō, sent, indicates being sent on a commission. The cognate noun is “apostle.” 4:5 The law must refer to ...

2574. Not Circumcision but a New Creation

Galatians 6:11-18

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... in Christ. 6:17 Paul appeals that no one should cause him trouble. He conveys an air of confidence that his letter will accomplish its task and that in the future he will no longer be troubled by this situation. Paul knows himself to be one who bears the marks of Jesus on his body. He is certain of his own integrity and that his position will win the day. And, in terms of the outcome of the struggle between the rival evangelists and himself, he was right. 6:18 Paul ends with a grace benediction and an Amen ...

2575. Thanksgiving and Prayer

Ephesians 1:15-23

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... , and were employed by some authors of the NT to illustrate the spiritual struggle between the forces of good and evil or light and darkness. The exorcism of demons by Jesus, for example, is seen as a sign of his authority and power over demonic forces (cf. Mark’s Gospel and disc. on Col. 1:16). Part of the message of Colossians is that Christ is superior to all evil powers. In the Christ hymn (1:15–20), Paul affirms Christ’s sovereignty by stating that these powers are created by Christ and thus are ...

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