Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2751 to 2775 of 4490 results

2751. Oh, Jerusalem

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Nowadays we have 24-hour news stations, satellite radio, email alerts, and other ways of finding out breaking news pretty much the instant it is happening. But it wasn't always so. When John Adams acted as an ambassador to Europe during the Revolutionary War he could go for months without hearing from the Continental Congress. He arranged loans of millions of dollars to help the fledgling nation, but no one back in America knew. The Battle of New Orleans was a decisive victory for the new nation in the War ...

2752. Put Within Us

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

Note: This text was also dealt with earlier in the exposition of the first reading for Proper 24. In the years immediately prior to 1517, Martin Luther was slowly but surely killing himself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As penance for his sins he would flog himself and sleep naked in his cell. His confession sessions sometimes lasted hours as he tried to ensure that every sin, no matter how minor, had been confessed. Luther believed what scripture and the church said about the seriousness of ...

2753. Kintsugi Vessels

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Anyone here love “antiques?” How about “Antiques Road Show?” Did you know it’s been around for 36 years, since 1977? [This would be a good time to facilitate a short time of interaction with the congregation over their favorite “antiques,” their favorite shows dealing with “antiques,” what the difference is between “antiques” and “collectives,” etc.] “Antiques” and “collectibles” have value because they have survived intact for a long period of time. With the exception of those few things that are made of ...

2754. A Missed Opportunity to Forgive

Luke 15:11-32

Illustration

Staff

A childhood accident caused poet Elizabeth Barrett to lead a life of semi-invalidism before she married Robert Browning in 1846. There's more to the story. In her youth, Elizabeth had been watched over by her tyrannical father. When she and Robert were married, their wedding was held in secret because of her father's disapproval. After the wedding the Brownings sailed for Italy, where they lived for the rest of their lives. But even though her parents had disowned her, Elizabeth never gave up on the ...

2755. Just Checking

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The “Circle of Life.” What parent has not listened to Elton John’s heart-tugging theme song for Disney’s “The Lion King” movie (1994)? It is a glorious piece of music, and in the course of the movie the music is wedded to the image of the cute baby lion Simba being celebrated at his birth. It is one of the most powerful “feel good” moments in a “feel good” movie. But as biologists, and pop-song composers, and pastors, and moms and dads everywhere all know, that “circle of life” has always included the ...

2756. While It Was Still Dark

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this Easter Sunday 2015 the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. This is the most important day in the year for Christians. Unfortunately, tomorrow is the biggest day of the year for some golfers. It is the start of The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. You think I’m kidding about their relative importance? Years ago, Frank Chirkinian, the head of CBS Sports, discovered that The Masters and Easter Sunday happened on the same day that year. Upset at this ...

2757. The God of All Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

In an ancient letter, the purpose of an opening, or prescript, is to establish a relationship between the sender and the addressees. Accordingly, in 2 Corinthians Paul and Timothy are named as the senders of the letter; “the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia” represents the recipients; and “grace and peace” is the expression of greeting and good will. Paul deviates somewhat from the established form by adding details about the senders, and by using the word “peace” in ...

2758. I Am a Rose of Sharon

Song of Songs 2:1-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

The Lovers Together (2:1-7): As this section opens, the two lovers are clearly together: they become partners in dialogue. The woman and the man first exchange playful banter, then admiring comments. The admiration closes with the woman speaking to or about the man. She then speaks for the first time a verse which will recur. This verse is clear in imagery although not in time (2:6). Then there follows the first instance of another recurring verse, the adjuration to the daughters of Jerusalem (2:7). 2:1–7 ...

2759. Drought, Famine, Sword

Jeremiah 14:1--15:21

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Drought (14:1-10): Boda (“From Complaint to Contrition: Peering through the Liturgical Window of Jer 14, 1–15, 4,” ZAW 113 [2001], pp. 186–97) has persuasively argued that the unit 14:1–15:4 reflects a transformation from lament to penitential prayer. He believes that the chapter reflects a public liturgy led by Jeremiah to unsuccessfully avert God’s coming judgment anticipated by a drought. While there are debates whether 14:1–16 and 14:17–15:4 are connected, he rightly points to the allusion to ...

2760. Jeremiah’s Complaint

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Jeremiah’s Lament: As we have just heard (20:1–6), Jeremiah’s message was not met with repentance but resistance. He is not proclaimed as a messenger of God come to save the nation from destruction, but he is met with violence because the religious and political authorities believed he was seditious and a false prophet. This complaint records the prophet’s reaction to his circumstances. Using the lament form familiar at least in general structure and tone to what we find often in the psalms of ...

2761. A Letter to the Exiles

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Letters to Babylon and Back: Chapters 27 and 28 describe a prophetic conflict concerning the status of the 597 B.C. exiles to Babylon and the future of those who remain behind. Jeremiah represented the view that the former would stay in exile and the latter were under judgment. Hananiah attacked Jeremiah and optimistically stated that all would end well in just a short period of time. The present chapter continues the same note of prophetic conflict. However, rather than two prophets in contact physically ...

2762. Where Does the Power Come From?

Acts 1:6-14

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: A bundle of sticks Good morning, boys and girls. I need to see a muscle. Will somebody step up here and make a muscle for me? (Get one of the fellows to flex an arm muscle.) I read somewhere that the word "muscle" goes back to a Latin word which means "little mouse." The muscle in your arm looks like a little mouse under your skin. Our message for today is on power. Where does it come from? Muscle power is one kind of power, isn't it. We say a person is a powerful man. We could mean, he is very ...

2763. The Impending Departure II

John 16:5-16, John 16:17-33

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The second farewell discourse runs most closely parallel to the first precisely where it is most properly a “farewell” (i.e., where it addresses directly the question of Jesus’ impending departure; cf. 13:33). Here, inevitably, is also where the differences between the two discourses become most noticeable. Whereas the first discourse was largely structured around a series of questions by various disciples, here the question-and-answer method seems to be consciously abandoned. The earlier discourse began ...

2764. Sermon on the Mount: Jesus Teaches on the Torah

Matthew 5:17-48

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus explains his role as fulfiller and consummate teacher of the Torah (Old Testament law) and expects his disciples to live in covenantal obedience to his expression of the Torah, culminating in the call to love even one’s enemies. Understanding the Text This passage begins the body of the Sermon on the Mount and introduces Matthew’s extensive emphasis on the law. In the title sentence (5:17) Jesus claims to fulfill rather than abolish the Law and the Prophets and then calls his kingdom ...

2765. Jesus as the Isaianic Servant of the Lord

Matthew 12:15-21

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew shows Jesus’ withdrawal from his antagonists and his admonition to secrecy to be signs of his identity as the Isaianic Servant of the Lord, who will proclaim justice to all the nations. Understanding the Text Following the Sabbath debates between the Pharisees and Jesus, Matthew narrates that Jesus withdraws from controversy and turns to the crowd, which needs and receives his compassionate healing activity (12:15). This first of three withdrawals from controversy (also 14:13; 15:21) is ...

2766. Two Memorable Healings

Luke 5:17-26, Luke 5:12-16

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus brings not only physical healing and social restoration but also spiritual liberation by the forgiveness of sins. Understanding the Text These two episodes develop Luke’s portrait of Jesus the healer, a theme that was alluded to in 4:23 and spelled out in 4:40, and that will remain a prominent feature of his ministry throughout the time in Galilee and on the road to Jerusalem. In 4:40 we learned of Jesus’s ability to heal “various kinds of sickness,” and here that bald statement is filled ...

2767. Uncleanness Due to Childbirth

Leviticus 12:1-8

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God provides for people’s health, cleansing, and restoration regardless of social standing. Understanding the Text This chapter continues the laws of purity for all Israel that specify what can cause ceremonial uncleanness (Lev. 11–15). Uncleanness is caused by eating or touching unclean animals (Lev. 11), by childbirth (Lev. 12), by certain skin diseases and molds (Lev. 13–14), and by sexual emissions (Lev. 15). The discussion thus moves from external uncleanness (animals) to uncleanness related ...

2768. “Even When I Am Old and Gray, Do Not Forsake Me, My God”

Psalm 71:1-24

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: When our strength ebbs with age, our spiritual inclination is to pray that God will not forsake us. Understanding the Text Psalm 71 has no title, evoking the idea that Psalms 70 and 71 might be viewed as a single unit. In view of their verbal affinities (see “Additional Insights: Corresponding Verbal and Thematic Connections in Psalms 69–72,” following the unit on Ps. 72), the latter psalm, perhaps composed by David himself in his old age, was likely adapted by the compiler of Book 2 to provide a ...

2769. Dealing with Potential Covenant Violation

Joshua 22:1-34

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

22:1–24:28 Review · Staying in the Land:The final three chapters of the book, consisting of an account of a potential conflict (22:1–34) and two speeches (23:1–24:33), each with its unique setting, do not immediately appear to constitute a natural literary unit. But these episodes do share a common concern. While the near conflict is triggered by a potential covenant violation that threatens to jeopardize the welfare of the entire community, Joshua’s two speeches also warn of the destructive potential of ...

2770. God’s Judgment of His People

Amos 2:6-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The final pair of oracles describes what God will do to Israel and Judah (2:4–6). The Israelites who were listening to Amos were probably a little surprised to hear that a prophet from Judah would condemn his own nation, but this adds to Amos’s credibility and the persuasiveness of his message, for a true prophet must speak everything God says and not show any favoritism. Israel and Judah had lived as separate nations for about two hundred years, and the two nations fought several wars against each other ( ...

2771. Man's Plans and God's

Micah 2:1-5

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The second chapter begins with a woe oracle (2:1–5). The roots of the woe oracle genre are found in funeral laments, expressing sorrow over the loss of the deceased. The prophets, however, adapt the form to their own purposes. No sympathy may be heard in Micah’s voice; rather, threat of sure judgment. The use of the woe threat signifies that the object of the oracle is as good as dead. The object of the oracle is described in general terms in verse 1 and then more specifically in verse 2. They are those ...

2772. Living for God

1 Peter 4:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

There is no break in the flow of thought at 4:1. Although Noah is not mentioned in 4:1–6, we will best grasp Peter’s meaning if we keep him in mind. For what Peter says in essence in verses 3–5 is, “You are in the same position as Noah, who refused to join in the profligate and licentious behavior of his contemporaries, even though they thought him peculiar for his refusal. Hold yourselves aloof from such practices, for God is about to act in judgment now as he did then.” Peter actually uses the word “ ...

2773. The Sin Offering

Leviticus 4:1--5:13

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

The Purification Offering: We come now to a different kind of sacrifice. We are still in the Manual of Sacrifice, but the concluding verse of chapter 3 prepares the reader for a section on the breaking of prohibitions. Those sacrifices portrayed in chapters 1–3 are voluntary. Chapters 4 and 5 consider sin, or purification, offerings and guilt, or compensation, offerings. While chapters 1–3 place the sacrificial animal at the fore, chapters 4–5 focus on the type of sin that necessitates the sacrifice and on ...

2774. Rules for Priests

Leviticus 21:1--22:16

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

Priests and Offerings: The Holiness Code now moves to cultic issues. Chapter 21 treats issues related to priests, who carry a special holiness, and chapter 22 provides instruction on offerings that are to be handled with great care. These chapters apply the holiness perspective to the priesthood as an institution and to various offerings. Chapter 21 addresses priests and their families and then delineates the physical requirements for entering the priesthood. 21:1–9 The chapter begins with the notion that ...

2775. Fire from the Lord

Numbers 11:1-3

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

The Beginnings of Rebellion: The journey has begun after the long and careful preparations. Now suddenly the reader is thrown into the rebellions that punctuate this journey. We have seen that the first ten chapters of the book prefigure this turn of events, but the overall positive tone and constant obedience of the people in those chapters are shattered by a sudden dominance of disobedience beginning immediately with chapter 11. From the theme of the right ordering of life as God’s people, we move to ...

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