Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2701 to 2725 of 3160 results

1 Timothy 2:1-15

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... beyond domestic responsibilities, (2) wrongly interpret Scripture, and (3) contradict Paul’s teachings. The difficulty with this view is that Paul’s argument is not primarily situational but theological. It is altogether apparent that in his estimation some sort of unholy convergence of factors has emerged in Ephesus. Though specifics of the situation remain elusive, the problem Paul addresses involves a combination of the misinterpretation of Scripture (1:3–11), wealthy women (2:8–9), teachers who ...

2702. False Teaching

2 Timothy 2:14-26

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... Pastorals (1 Tim. 1:10; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1–2). Paul believes it is critical to handle the word of truth correctly when it comes to the timeline of redemption (see also 1 Corinthians). It is folly of the worst sort to believe that you have arrived at your final goal when you are still merely on the way. Thus, it is a fatal error to teach—as Hymenaeus and Philetus (otherwise unknown to us) do—that the only resurrection that is to take place has already happened. Wrongly applying ...

2703. Leaders and Rebels

Titus 1:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... such teachers are “full of meaningless talk and deception” (1:10). Second, Paul regards the teachers as being relationally disruptive: they are themselves “rebellious” (1:10) and are “disrupting whole households” (1:11). To the extent that they promote any sort of ethic, they declare merely human “commands of those who reject the truth” (1:14), not rich biblical teaching. Third, Paul regards the teachers’ motives as corrupt (they teach “for the sake of dishonest gain” [1:11]) and their ...

2704. True Christian Faith seen In Its Works

James 2:14-26

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... :31–46). Thus, James draws the conclusion (2:17): faith by itself is “dead”—not just in the sense that it is not doing what it should but that it is not even really what it claims to be. In the ancient world, writers often used a sort of argumentative style to carry along their discussion. Paul uses it frequently in Romans, and James uses it here. He has an imaginary opponent object, “You have faith; I have deeds” (2:18a). The force of this objection has been understood in a great number of ways ...

2705. Fix It, Daddy

John 11:17-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... let him go.” That will make your heart beat faster, will it not? “Unbind him and let him go!” It tells us that Jesus is in control. The story of the raising of Lazarus is a drama of love, new life and freedom. It is representative of the sort of thing that Jesus is continually doing in people’s lives. There are three ingredients in the story of Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus that are always present at those times in our lives when our balloons are a forlorn wad of wet rubber and we are ...

2706. Dying To Live

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... the horses and chariots they came in on are disintegrated, and we are commanded to erase from our minds any memories of the past, killing any thoughts of the glory days. It appears that God is finally fed up with the world and is initiating some sort of holocaust to wipe everything out. But all of this death and destruction is prelude to God’s creation of something new. It would seem that destruction would defeat the virtue of creation. Perhaps we ask, “Is this the only way for God to create something ...

2707. Elephants in the Room: Addiction

Romans 7:15-22

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... more and more to hit the high, and there is a crisis because often the amount needed to hit that high is financially impossible without stealing, lying or borrowing.” Often when addicts hit the third stage they will lie, cheat, steal, and commit all sorts of crime in order to feed their addictions.” Who or What is to Blame? There are many experts who have studied addiction and what causes it. Most agree that addiction has many contributing factors. There is the factor of genetics. Many addictions run in ...

2708. John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Matthew 3:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... returned with his parents to Nazareth and “was obedient to them” and “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:51–52). Such meager information did not satisfy the curiosity of later writers. They felt moved to invent all sorts of miraculous tales and assign them to the early years of Jesus’ life. For example, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas tells of Zeno (one of Jesus’ young friends), who fell from the upper story of a house and died. Zeno’s parents accused Jesus of ...

2709. The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... life all those things that provide genuine and lasting satisfaction. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For those who live in a world in which they can turn on the tap whenever they want water and are always able to secure some sort of food to eat, the experience of hunger and thirst is foreign. Not so in the ancient world, where so many lived constantly on the edge of starvation and often traveled through desert regions without water. Thirst as an image for spiritual longing is seen ...

2710. The Man With Leprosy

Matthew 8:1-4

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... s bacillus) would probably have kept the man away from the crowd that surrounded Jesus. According to Jewish law, lepers lived in isolation and warned all who approached by crying out “unclean! unclean!” (Lev. 13:45). The Greek word refers to any sort of inflammatory skin disease, such as psoriasis or ringworm (cf. NIV text note; GNB aptly translates, “a dreaded skin disease”). In any case, the condition made the person ceremonially unclean (Lev. 13–14). The reverent faith of the leper is seen both ...

2711. Jesus Heals a Paralytic

Matthew 9:1-8

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... Gadara on the east shore of Galilee and returns by boat to Capernaum (cf. Mark 2:1). There, some men bring to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. In Jesus’ day most people slept on mattresslike pads on the floor. Thus the mat would be a sort of pallet or stretcher that could be carried without undue difficulty. When Jesus saw their faith, that is, their confidence that he could restore the paralyzed man to health, he said, Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven. In the ancient world there was a widespread ...

2712. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 10:1-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... are to give the Semitic greeting (v. 12) “peace be with you.” If the family in the home is deserving (Lamsa, “trustworthy”) the greeting of peace is to rest on it; if not, it is to return to the disciples. In ancient days a pronouncement of this sort was thought to have an objective existence. It could be taken back as well as given. In Isaiah 55 God’s word is said to go out and accomplish that which he desires (Isa. 55:11). Whenever the disciples are refused hospitality, they are to leave and ...

2713. Jesus and John the Baptist

Matthew 11:1-19

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... such as Isaiah 59:20 (“The Redeemer will come to Zion”) and Psalm 118:26 (“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”). That Matthew uses heteron rather than allos (someone else) suggests that John was expecting a Messiah of a different sort. Jesus sends the inquirers back to John with instructions to tell him what they hear and see (v. 4). It is up to John to grasp the appropriate messianic implications. Schweizer writes, “Faith must always be a man’s own personal response and can never ...

2714. Clean and Unclean

Matthew 15:1-20

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the ‘am-hā’āreṣ) ignored it. The “washing” before eating had to do with ceremonial uncleanness, not personal hygiene. Leviticus 11–15 treats the subject of unclean foods. From the Jewish point of view, people became unclean by contact with any sort of ceremonially unclean object or person. To ensure purity, people would go through a rather elaborate ritual of purification before they ate. It involved pouring water on the hands with the fingers up so the uncleanness would flow off the wrists ...

2715. The Demand for a Sign

Matthew 16:1-4

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... would stray so far from Jerusalem and the temple. One’s response to such conjectures is determined by the larger question of textual reliability. It seems perfectly reasonable to accept the text as it stands and understand the two groups together as a sort of official representation of Judaism. Most English translations note that verses 2b–3 are missing in a number of early manuscripts. Some scholars see the verses as a later addition from a source similar to Luke 12:54–56. Others argue the deletion ...

2716. The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 18:1-9

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... , they were heading in the wrong direction. Before they could even qualify for entrance into the kingdom, they would have to change completely their way of thinking. The answer to the disciples’ question is that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the sort of person (Gk. hostis should be taken qualitatively) who will humble himself and become like the little child who stood in their midst. Since children are not humble in the usual sense of the word, it is often discussed what quality Jesus had in ...

2717. Despair, Hope, Easter, and Pentecost

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... of immediate pressures, but the problem was there did not seem to be any kind of future left. That which had made life so meaningful was now broken, apparently "too broke to mend." There have been so many others who have, do, and will experience this same sort of anguish. Not long ago I was in a cardiac care unit beside the bed of a man who was just regaining consciousness after a crippling heart attack. He asked if I had heard about what had happened to him, and when I nodded, he said anxiously: "What ...

2718. Death, Risk, and Confidence

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... on whatever sea lies beyond this experience. We have no more physical or material power with which to work at such a moment. If there is anything more, it is up to another, and the question arises: "Does another power exist at all, and if so, is it the sort of power that cherishes individuals and would want or would be able to sustain such spirits and enable them to live on in other realms?" The moment of death is just like the moment of birth in terms of who is there to receive and nurture and develop ...

2719. Face-to-Face with the Kingdom

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... "The kingdom of God is like..." All through the gospels Jesus speaks of this kingdom as something positive, attractive, and appealing. He compares it to a treasure one finds in a field or a pearl that is obviously of great value. The moment a person discovers this sort of thing, he naturally begins to want it above all else. But how do we develop such positive feelings about the kingdom of God? What has to happen to us so that we realize that the rule of God is infinitely superior to any form of words, how ...

2720. Gratitude and Coping

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... and turned what seemed like an insoluble problem into a great triumph. Now, how are we to regard an event of this kind? Is what happened here so utterly miraculous that we are to feel no commonality with it or assume that only a divine being could do this sort of thing? I realize that this is the way many people look at this event, and thus dismiss it as having no practical application to their lives. But it seems this would be a bad mistake. After all, the church fathers used to say: "He became what we are ...

2721. What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... failed to learn the most basic single truth about God; namely, that he is a holy one. This word "holy" was not originally a moralistic term. It meant "separate," "unique," "only one of its kind." When applied to God, it means that he is a different sort of being than anything else we experience. There are actually just two orders of reality, the uncreated and the created. Everything in the world but God is in this second category — the created. Nothing else but God is in the first category. Now, what this ...

2722. Smother Love

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... had always imagined that it would come as a shock to say to oneself: "Now the sun is setting for the last time for you, now the hour hand will make only two more revolutions before 12, now you are going to bed for the last time." Nothing of the sort. Perhaps I am a little cracked. For I cannot deny that I am in really high spirits. I only pray to God in heaven to sustain me in this mood, for surely it is easier for the flesh to die in this state. How merciful the Lord has been to ...

2723. Throwing Away the Calculator

Matthew 18:21-25

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... knows the chances for repayment are next to nil, so he took your stack of IOUs and tore them to shreds for one reason and one reason only. This someone wants to remain in relationship with you. When someone like that has stopped keeping score on you, you feel sort of foolish keeping score on the people in your own life. How often should we forgive? Will seven times take care of it? "Not seven times," Jesus said, "but, I tell you, seventy-seven times" (v. 22). This is no burden, no job, no chore. This is a ...

2724. Hallelujah! Come On, Get Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... . I will follow their lead and use "happy" in place of "blessed." Somehow we have been taught to believe that to be happy we need to be in control. I saw a cartoon in which a fellow was bowed in prayer. He was saying, "God, can you help me, but sort of make it look like I did it all myself?" If we can't be in control we certainly want it to look like we are in control. But to be spiritually poor means to recognize that there are many areas in which we are not in control. Robert Schuller ...

2725. Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

Mark 1:21-28

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... time the term was being applied to the buildings used for the gatherings, and it appears also that a somewhat standardized order of service was followed, consisting of prayers (including recited, set prayers), readings from the OT, and a sermon of some sort. In Jesus’ time synagogues were not led by a professional rabbi as in modern times. Instead, there were lay leaders who supervised the meetings. If the synagogue meeting included someone known as a teacher of religion, that person would be invited to ...

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