Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2701 to 2725 of 5000 results

2701. The Sacrifices of the Sacred Calendar

Num 28:1–29:40

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... 23:3 and at Numbers 28:3–7 above. The regular burnt offering is doubled on the Sabbath to sanctify it. All the other holy day offerings are in addition to the daily burnt offering. 28:11 On the first of every month. The first day of the month is marked by the blowing of the silver trumpets (see Num. 10:10; Ps. 81:3) and by ten burnt offerings (seven lambs, one ram, and two bulls) as well as the sacrifice of a goat for a sin/purification offering. The numerous sacrifices suggest that this was a more ...

2702. The Road to the Throne Is Covered with Blood

2 Sam 1:1–5:5

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... and David accepts his loyalty. Before this, David has been referred to as “(a) king” (1 Sam. 16:1; 2 Sam. 2:4, 7, 11; 3:17) or even as “king of the land” (by the Philistines; 1 Sam. 21:11). But Abner’s use of the article (“the king”) marks a turning point in the description of David. Eight more times in this chapter he will be called “the king,” seven times by the narrator (vv. 24, 31–33, 36–38; in v. 23 he is called “the king” in a quotation). 3:28 I and my kingdom are forever ...

2703. The Ark Does Some Damage

1 Samuel 5:1-12

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... presence, to go into captivity (Ps. 78:56–64). This begins “a transitional period,” which extends from the ark’s capture (1 Sam. 4) to its arrival in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6; cf. Ps. 78:65–72). God then makes his covenant with David, which marks the beginning of a new era for Israel, promising blessing and security (2 Sam. 7).13But Israel’s sin throughout the period of the kingdom, capped off by the pollution of the temple, God’s dwelling place, prompts God to take another “self-imposed exile ...

2704. Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

1 Samuel 15:1-35

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... he is not a human being, that he should change his mind. To make sure there is no doubt in Saul’s mind, Samuel formalizes the announcement of God’s rejection. By saying that God will not change his mind in this case, Samuel marks his announcement about Saul’s demise as an unconditional decree. It is necessary to declare this since God typically is willing to relent from sending calamity. 15:30 please honor me. Apparently recognizing that Samuel has decreed his doom, Saul retracts his request for ...

2705. Séance in Endor: Bad News from Beyond the Grave

1 Samuel 28:1-25

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... fulfilled. According to verse 6, the Lord does not respond to Saul’s attempts to discover the divine will. Dreams, Urim, and prophets are legitimate means of divine revelation in ancient Israel, in contrast to mediums/spiritists. The Urim and Thummim may have been marked lots or objects that would provide a simple “yes” or “no” answer. One thinks that this device would easily yield an answer, so it is puzzling why Saul receives none. But based on a parallel from ancient Assyria, it may be that one ...

2706. Bildad Has the Answer (He Thinks!)

Job 8:1-22

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Daniel J. Estes

... pastoral sensitivity and compassion must pain Job terribly. 8:6 if you are pure and upright. Even though Bildad does not really understand what has prompted Job’s calamity, he speaks as though he understands it completely. To Bildad’s thinking, if Job’s life had been marked by moral purity (cf. Ps. 119:9), then God would have come to his defense already. What is ironic is that the prologue has made it clear that Job is indeed upright, because Yahweh himself said so twice (1:8; 2:3). 8:8 Ask the ...

2707. Bildad’s Final Attempt to Answer Job

Job 25:1-6

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Daniel J. Estes

... a human being, who is only a worm! With these harsh words Bildad completes his third and final speech. Bildad wants to make the point that no humans, including Job, are in a position to call God’s justice into account. However, Bildad overshoots his mark, because to support his position he has to devalue profoundly the whole human race. This, then, is an argument of desperation that raises more questions than it resolves. According to Bildad, in the great pyramid of being, God is at the top and humans are ...

2708. “Some Trust in Chariots . . . , but We Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God”

Psalm 20:1-9

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C. Hassell Bullock

... 4:7, 13; 5:22, 28), until Deborah and Barak defeated them in the Valley of Jezreel (Judg. 4–5). Solomon, not surprisingly, was the first Israelite king to use chariots and horses extensively in warfare (1 Kings 4:26; 9:17–19), marking a military advance, albeit a violation of the Torah. Craigie points out that preparation for war included two phases, one spiritual, involving prayers and sacrifices, and the other military.[6] Psalm 20 reflects them both. Interpretive Insights 20:1 May the Lord answer ...

2709. “The Earth Is the Lord’s, and Everything in It”

Psalm 24:1-10

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C. Hassell Bullock

... Israel (Ps. 14:7). It is probable that the Hebrew clause “who seek your face, O Jacob” (see KJV) should be read, “who seek your face, O God of Jacob” (Ps. 20:1; Isa. 2:3, and so LXX). This verse ends with selah, a liturgical term, here marking the end of a strophe and indicating where the Levites made a liturgical response (see NIV footnote; see also sidebar “Selah” in the unit on Ps. 3).6 24:7 Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors. “Heads” is a metaphor for the ...

2710. “His Anger Lasts Only a Moment, but His Favor Lasts a Lifetime”

Psalm 30:1-12

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C. Hassell Bullock

... could be charted along a path between extremes. The “dedication of the house,” whether it be the temple or the palace, would be the positive pole of history’s wide vacillations. In fact, the writer of Samuel remarks that David’s building of his palace marked that point when he “knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel” (2 Sam. 5:11–12). A metaphorical interpretation of the psalm makes a lot of sense, since it can ...

2711. “May the Net They Hid Entangle Them”

Psalm 35:1-28

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C. Hassell Bullock

... in the Gospels does he use an imprecation against his enemies. He both prescribes and practices a new standard of behavior toward one’s enemies, best expressed by his words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Mark 23:34). At the same time we may ask the question whether we should make a distinction between interpersonal relationships, on the one hand (in which we are to love our enemies and turn the other cheek, etc.), and the behavior of those responsible ...

2712. “Your Love, Lord, Reaches to the Heavens, Your Faithfulness to the Skies”

Psalm 36:1-12

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C. Hassell Bullock

... who identify themselves as “Christian” but rarely attend church have a divorce rate of about 60 percent. However, the divorce rate of those who attend church regularly is only 38 percent, far below the national average.[14] In Psalm 36 we see that there is a marked difference in perspective, and morality, of those who walk with God and those who do not (the “wicked”). When we evaluate our lives, we must do so in light of God’s Word and not in light of what is normative in the culture. There should ...

2713. “The Span of My Years Is as Nothing before You”

Psalm 39:1-13

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C. Hassell Bullock

... ” (39:4a). We should point out to our congregation or class that this psalm typically treats its subject in less than a systematic way, although we can discover the dimensions of the topic by a careful reading of the psalm. The central topic, in fact, is marked off by an inclusio, “Everyone is but a breath” (39:5c and 11c). Between these duplicate observations is a mini-essay on the real values of life, and we can make this the heart of our message, growing out of the suppliant’s recognition of life ...

2714. Nebuchadnezzar’s Testimony and Tree Dream

Daniel 4:1-18

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Ronald W. Pierce

... affirmation builds on God’s “giving” Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands (1:2) and anticipates Nebuchadnezzar’s repentance in 4:28–37. 4:18 This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. The resumptive rhetoric of the king marks both the beginning and the ending of this pericope. The dream’s interpretation should have been easy for Nebuchadnezzar’s trained interpreters. Perhaps the dark judgment scene (4:13–17) had prevented them all from facing this reality, or the sages ...

2715. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

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Ronald W. Pierce

... people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. Two pagan kings, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (4:3) and Darius the Mede (6:26–27), each issue a royal decree—in strikingly similar poems—to honor the one true God. Not coincidentally these persons mark the beginning and the end of Judah’s exile. Nebuchadnezzar also praises God in 2:47; 3:28; and 4:34–35, 37.5 After reiterating the uniqueness of Daniel’s God as the “living God,” the king’s words turn to God’s sovereignty over earthly ...

2716. Ancient of Days and Son of Man

Daniel 7:1-14

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Ronald W. Pierce

... the Old Testament of the coming of Jesus the Messiah in the New Testament as the Son of Man to inherit the kingdom of God (Mark 14:61–62).3 Daniel 7:1–28 is outlined by references to Daniel in the first person (7:2, 15, 28). Within this framework, ... affirmed by all four Gospel writers) represents his person and work as God’s unique and sole solution for humanity’s plight. In Mark’s Gospel alone the Son of Man “has authority on earth to forgive sins” (2:10); is “Lord even of the Sabbath” (i ...

2717. Spiritual Warfare and Jewish Suffering

Daniel 8:1-14

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Ronald W. Pierce

... the persecutions of God’s people under the last kingdom and its little horn, giving only a hint of hope. This demonstrates the importance of the writer’s connection of chapter 7 with the rest of the apocalyptic visions. In 8:1–27, the resumptive “I, Daniel” marks the chapter’s beginning, middle, and end (8:1, 15, 27), precisely as it did in the previous vision (7:2 [see NRSV], 15, 28). Within this context, 8:1–14 divides into four parts: the vision’s setting and the appearance of the ram (8 ...

2718. How to Escape Being Possessed By Our Possessions

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... James Denny points out, he taught that men should be afraid to become rich. “How hardly shall they that have riches enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom.” (Mark 10:24-25) “This parable (of the rich fool) is designed to show how riches and good fortune in life tend to lead not to blessing but to tragedy. Here we discover one of the great differences between the thinking of Jesus and our own.” (2) Isn’t it ...

2719. Our Most Common Sin

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... than they really are, and that’s why the Greek word used for sin in the New Testament means literally, “to miss the mark.” Jesus is telling us that only those who are humble enough to admit that they have missed the target are going to be ... putting the circle around the shot they’ve made to prove it was a bull’s-eye—but those who know that they’ve missed the mark, those who know that they’re sinners and are willing to confess and seek mercy. For them the gates are opened, and they go away from ...

2720. Saul Tries to Kill David

1 Samuel 19:1-24

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... important juncture, since the prophetic frenzy that overtakes Saul here at his last meeting with Samuel mirrors what happened after Samuel first anointed him (10:11–12). Thus, Saul’s anointment began with Samuel and was marked with the sign of prophecy, and it ends with Samuel and is again marked by prophecy as well as the symbolic removal of his garments, representing his removal as the anointed king. Although Jonathan is Saul’s oldest son and is expected to succeed him on the throne, he has become ...

2721. Psalm 22

Psalm 22:1-31

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

New Testament authors clearly portray Psalm 22 as messianic; they do so either by citing it directly, as in 22:1 (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34); 22:18 (John 19:24); 22:22 (Heb. 2:12), or by referring to it, as in 22:7 (Mark 15:29); 22:8 (Matt. 27:43); 22:15 (John 19:28); and 22:16 (John 20:25). Psalm 22 begins with deep anguish, a sense of being deserted by God, who does not answer the sufferer’s prayers (22:1–2). The psalm concludes both with praise to God ...

2722. Wisdom is Supreme

Proverbs 4:1-27

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... which concludes the positive commendation of wisdom, consists of three instructions, each of which begins with a direct address (4:1, 10, 20). In 4:1–9, which utilizes several terms from the preceding section, the father passes on counsel from his own father that is marked by another metaphorical presentation of wisdom as a woman. Verse 1 uses “my sons” rather than “my son” for the first time in the book (cf. Prov. 5:7; 7:24; 8:32), which, along with the reference to the mother in Proverbs 1:8 and ...

2723. The King and the Maiden Banter

Song of Songs 1:1-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... distress of the maiden’s situation. If the shepherd can call to her from among all the flocks and shepherds seeking refuge from the noonday heat in the shade of rocks and trees, her search for him will be expedited. The shift to the feminine form (1:8) marks a different speaker, probably the women of the royal harem. The phrase “most beautiful of women” is repeated three times in refrains by the harem women (1:8; 5:9; 6:1), and it echoes a constant theme in the poem—the flawless beauty of the maiden ...

2724. Deliverance of Israel

Isaiah 27:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... . The Old Testament uses the language of Canaanite mythology in order to express God’s control over evil, chaos, and rebellion. The New Testament also employs this symbolic language (Rev. 12:7–10). Leviathan is the master of the sea, whose punishment marks the end of rebellion in heaven and on earth. Isaiah develops his vineyard poems (5:1–7) into an eschatological picture (27:2–6). Though the vineyard has been destroyed because of its utter worthlessness, God remains faithful to his people. Because ...

2725. Proclamation of Restoration

Isaiah 48:1-11, Isaiah 48:12-22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the peace that comes from Yahweh’s victories over the enemies, they have been subjugated. Israel has lost God’s great blessings because of its stubbornness. The prophet calls the people to leave Babylon (48:20–22). The coming out of Babylon marks the beginning of the era of restoration. For that reason it is important to begin seeing that all of the blessings of restoration, beginning with the return from exile and extending to the coming of Jesus Christ, are expressions of the new covenant ...

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