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Showing 276 to 300 of 2331 results

276. At Points of Dispair

1 Kings 19:1-4 (5-7) 8-15a

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... care what you have demonstrated. I'm going to have your head." Elijah had won a great victory and yet the world was still full of the same temptations and evil. What good does it do to fight the battles if nothing ever changes? Elijah ran to the desert. Elijah fled to the desert of despair. Elijah found a solitary broom tree to provide shade, and he laid down and asked God to let him die. We work hard for some good cause. We try to solve hunger by working for the CROP walk or serving the hungry at a soup ...

277. On Speaking Terms

Exodus 33:12-23

Sermon

Argile Smith

... appealed to God as a friend. He put all of his chips on the table, so to speak, in his appeal for God. He asked God to show him once and for all what God expected of his people. Doing what God wanted would get them out of the desert and on their way to the land he promised them. In his appeal, Moses brought up the fact that the Lord favored him, so his request for divine insight had a dependable foundation. It was based on their rock-solid relationship. Furthermore, Moses went on to say, the Israelites ...

278. Going Home

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Argile Smith

... to which he had been called. Accordingly, Moses got to hear Pharaoh give the order to let God’s people go so they could leave Egypt. He got to watch as God’s people worshiped him through the first Passover meal in preparation for the journey across the desert to the Promised Land. He got to see God separate the Red Sea so the people could cross over into safety. On the freedom side of the Red Sea, he had the rare and — many times — painful privilege of beholding God as he worked with his people to ...

279. Breaking News: The Middle East

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... that she thought up! Husbands, have you ever had that happen to you? (Don’t answer that question!) What you are about to find out is this is when all the problems in the Middle East began. Sarai treats Hagar so terribly, she makes Hagar flee out into the desert to die along with her unborn child, but an angel appeared to Hagar and assures her that they will both live, that her descendants will be too many to count, and that she will call the name of the son “Ishmael”. Then, he says this in verse 12 ...

280. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

... And all the place is dark, and all The chambers emptied of delight: So find I every pleasant spot In which we two were wont to meet, The field, the chamber, and the street, For all is dark where thou art not. Yet as that other, wandering there In those deserted walks, may find A flower beat with rain and wind, Which once she foster’d up with care; So seems it in my deep regret, O my forsaken heart, with thee And this poor flower of poesy Which little cared for fades not yet. But since it pleased a vanish ...

281. Manna and Quail

Exodus 16:1-36

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... front of the Testimony. This likely means in front of the tablets of stone, inside the ark of the covenant. The postscript also notes that they ate the manna for forty years . . . until they reached the border of Canaan (Josh. 5:12). Additional Notes 16:1 The Desert of “Sin” is related to the word “Sinai” and not to the English word “sin.” 16:5 The Hebrew says “it will be twice as much.” The NIV interprets this to say “that is to be twice as much” meaning they should gather twice as much ...

282. David Becomes King over Israel

1 Chronicles 11:1-3

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... of David, form the outer circle of this narrative. Included in this circle then are subsections describing the support that David gathered at Hebron (11:10–47 and 12:23–37), at Ziklag (12:1–7 and 12:19–22), and at the stronghold in the desert (12:8–15 and 12:16–18). However, there are also some good arguments why different delimitations can be made. In my division of the subsections I take as the point of departure the different place names or geographical locations that feature in these verses ...

283. Israel Punished and Restored

Hosea 2:2-23

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... to him, then Yahweh will leave her naked and helpless like a newborn infant (cf. Ezek. 16:4, 10), like a land upon which no rain falls (a daring contradiction of Baal’s supposed fertilization of the land with rain), like a traveler who dies of thirst in the desert. Yahweh will show no pity toward any of the children of Israel in their helplessness (cf. 1:6). 2:5–8 The reason for this threat is stated in verse 5: Israel has believed that all of the goods that sustain its life have come from Baal—the ...

284. Israel’s Sin

Hosea 11:12--12:14

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... judgment follows: God will once again make Israel dwell in tents, as it did in its first trek through the wilderness. Probably môʿēd refers here not to appointed feasts but to God’s meetings with Israel in the tent of meeting in the desert (cf. Exod. 33:7–11)—a distinctly northern, Mosaic tradition. Perhaps Hosea is saying that prosperous Ephraim will return to the barren life of the nomad, as some commentators have maintained. More probably, however, this is once again a note of God’s covering ...

285. God's Zeal for Salvation

Joel 2:18-27

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... Into that covenant fellowship, then, God works to draw all peoples, that the earth may be filled with the glory and knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea (cf. Isa. 2:2–4; Hab. 2:14; Zech. 8:20–23). Israel, in the time of Joel, has deserted its God and turned to other deities. But God is jealous (Exod. 20:5)—that is, zealous—for the purpose of recreating his world (Exod. 34:10; Isa. 9:7). Therefore, Israel’s apostasy will not change the fact that Israel is God’s people, living in God’s ...

286. Jacob Loved, Esau Hated

Malachi 1:1-5

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... –14; 1 Kgs. 22:47). David conquered Edom (2 Sam. 8:14–15) and Amaziah captured the city of Sela (2 Kgs. 14:7), but the conquest that turned Edom’s mountainous homeland southeast of the Dead Sea into a wasteland, gave his inheritance to the desert jackals, and turned their cities into ruins, took place much closer to Malachi’s time. Neither the OT nor extrabiblical sources describe the end of the Edomite monarchy. When the Babylonians made their final assault on Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Edom was a safe ...

287. The First Two Days: John the Baptist’s Message

John 1:19-28, John 1:29-34

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... words and may have been adapted from them with only slight changes (“This is [rather than “I am”] he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah”). If Isa. 40:3 helped shape the consciousness of the Essene community of Qumran in going out to the Judean desert to study the law (1QS 8.13–16), there is no reason why it could not have influenced John the Baptist as well. 1:24 Some Pharisees who had been sent: It is highly unlikely that the writer would either introduce a new delegation at this point ...

288. The Birth of Isaac

Genesis 21:1-7

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... Early the next morning Abraham acted on Sarah’s demand in light of God’s instructions. Compassionately he took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. Then, entrusting the boy to her, Abraham sent them off. Hagar wandered about in the desert of Beersheba, apparently lacking direction. After the water in the skin had been consumed, she put the boy under a bush for some protection from the burning sun. She then went a little way—as far as one could shoot an arrow—and sat down. In agony ...

289. Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... city in 587 B.C. (see Ezek. 10–11). But the background prior to that is the picture of Yahweh’s coming from afar through the desert to act in power on the people’s behalf (30:27–33). Once again Yahweh will come in this way. As is often the case when ... is right. The NT follows the Gk. translation of the OT, which omitted “in the wilderness” (see next NIV note). “In the desert” could then be taken as denoting the place of the calling rather than the place of the preparing. The NT’s quotation ...

290. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia

Ezekiel 25:1-7, Ezekiel 25:8-11, Ezekiel 25:12-14, Ezekiel 25:15-17

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... the Lord declares, “I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession” (v. 4). The references to tents and camels in verses 4–5 suggest that the people Ezekiel has in mind are Kedarites—Arabian tribes out of the eastern desert. Jeremiah 49:28, where “people of the East” refers to the Arab kingdom of Kedar, supports this identification. The Kedarite Arabs were an aggressive and hostile force on the borders of all the kingdoms in the Transjordan. By Ezekiel’s time they had already ...

291. Epilogue to the Law of the Temple: River, Land, City

Ezekiel 47:1-12, Ezekiel 47:13-23, Ezekiel 48:1-29, Ezekiel 48:30-35

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... , 17). But now the question underlines the transformation that God’s renewed, unqualified promise of presence brings (v. 7a). Ezekiel sees a great number of trees on each side of the river (v. 7). Wherever the river flows, even through the Arabah (v. 8), the desert wastes of southeastern Judah, its waters bring life. Indeed, by the time this life-giving stream reaches the Dead Sea, it has become such a mighty flood of fresh water that When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh (v. 8). In ...

292. Jesus Is Tested in Gethsemane

Mark 14:32-42

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... 6:13 (“lead us not into temptation”). There are two aspects here: the vigilance to identify temptation, and the prayer for God’s strength to overcome temptation. The disciples were failing in both aspects, and in the next scene they will succumb and desert their Lord. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. This is not the Holy Spirit5but rather the human spirit. The disciples at heart want to remain faithful, but they are weak, and their lower nature lacks the strength to rise above their ...

293. The Resurrection of Jesus and the Promise of Victory

Mark 16:1-20

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... the truths of Jesus Bible: A great example of the power of God to restore fallen Christians is the story of John Mark himself. In Acts 15:36–40 we see that Paul and Barnabas parted company over the issue of Mark’s failure, when he had deserted them in Pamphylia. Apparently the challenges and dangers of missionary work had become too great for Mark. Paul, while in prison near the end of his life, wrote to Timothy, “Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to ...

294. Racism and Envy

Numbers 12:1-16

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... Mount Sinai (Jebel Musa) on the way to ‘Aqabah.9 Thus, along with Taberah (Num. 11:1–3) and Kibroth Hattaavah (Num. 11:4–35), it became associated with acts of rebellion and complaints against God and Moses. Desert of Paran. Numbers 10:12 describes the trip from the Desert of Sinai to the Desert of Paran in a mere sentence, but it takes the rest of Numbers 10–12 to flesh out all that happens along the way. Theological Insights God appears in this passage as judge in a dispute between Moses ...

295. Yahweh Speaks as the Master Teacher

Job 38:1--41:34

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... how Yahweh accomplishes what he does in the weather. Job has to admit that his knowledge of snow, hail, lightning, wind, rain, and ice is profoundly deficient. Even what Job experiences he cannot comprehend or explain. In directing Job’s attention to the desert, Yahweh indicates that he sends rain to places where there are no humans to profit from it (38:26–27). Humans may perceive this as unnecessary or even a waste of resources, but Yahweh’s purposes for the earth go far beyond specifically ...

296. Unnoticed at Your Own Party

Isaiah 35:1-10, Matthew 11:2-11, James 5:7-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... , the splendor of our God . . . Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs . . .” When would that day come? It would come when the Messiah would establish his reign over all the earth. A great day was coming when everything that was wrong would be set right. But ...

297. Jesus’s Temptation

Matthew 4:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... as he does in each case, with a scriptural text from Deuteronomy. The affirmation from Deuteronomy 8:3 prioritizes the sustenance of God’s words over bread. In Deuteronomy, this affirmation comes as part of a call for Israel to remember their forty years in the desert as a time when God tested their obedience and humbled them. God fed them manna to teach them the true source of their sustenance (Deut. 8:2–3), with Deuteronomy 8:5 identifying Israel as God’s son. The use of Deuteronomy 8:3 connects the ...

298. Introduction and No Other Gospel

Galatians 1:1-10

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... actions in a paragraph that is noteworthy for its emotional intensity. He is “astonished” not only by the apparent departure of the Galatians from what he will argue is the core of the gospel but also by their lack of endurance with the truth (1:6). Such a desertion is understood not simply as a differing point of view but as a rejection of God himself (“the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ”; 1:6)! While the use of the term “so quickly” may relate to Paul’s recent visits there ...

299. In the Event of Power Failure

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... . He said to the Abbot, “Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation, and contemplative silence; and according as I am able I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts. Now what more should I do?” The desert father rose up in reply and lifted his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. As the young monk looked on with amazement, the Abbot said, “Why not be totally changed into fire?”[10] I dare you to let the power of Christ ...

300. The Temptation of Jesus

Matthew 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... God arranges for the time of testing, it is the tempter who carries out the temptations. We are reminded of Job’s trials, allowed by God but brought about by Satan (Job 1:8–2:10). God in his sovereignty uses intermediate agents to accomplish his will. The desert place where Jesus was tested was the rocky and barren region that lies between the high plateau east of Jerusalem and the shores of the Dead Sea. In the Old Testament it was called Jeshimon, the wasteland (cf. Num. 21:20; 1 Sam. 23:19). As the ...

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