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Showing 276 to 300 of 4972 results

276. The Bride of Jesus

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Jesus taught. We are his beloved. And one day we will join him at the wedding feast. Paul used this imagery in advising couples about their own marriages in Ephesians 5: 25-33. The last words of that passage go like this: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” Then Paul adds these words, “This is a profound mystery but I am talking about Christ and the church.” The imagery of the Divine wedding continues all the way to ...

277. The Ultimate Mountain Top Experience

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... in prayer. Maybe the events that accompanied being continually in the public eye pulled his focus and his energy away from God. So he took time to be in the Father’s presence simply as a way of energizing his ministry once again. As Desmond Tutu put it, “I leave and go on retreat for two days a month, so that I can do the work God has called me to do the other 28 days.” The story continues: “As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of ...

278. Going Home

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Argile Smith

... . God showed him along the way that God could be trusted. He would give Moses what he couldn’t give himself to finish the work 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 ...

279. A Call for Repentance - Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... someone has said, “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, we can start from now and make a brand new ending.” Ash Wednesday also offers us the opportunity to make a witness to our community if you choose to wear the ashes when you leave this place. Jesus Christ has come into the world in order to redeem it from the power of sin and death. Let us go forth to prepare the world for his kingdom. 1. Rev Sharon G. W. Jones, http://gbgmchurches.gbgm umc.org/aldersgate ma/s030713.htm. 2. Kenneth ...

280. The Broken

John 8:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... exam, caught in a compromising situation in the backseat of a car, or caught with another man’s wife or another woman’s husband. If you have any conscience at all, any character at all when you are caught red-handed with no escape and no excuse it will leave you broken. Today, we are going to read a story about a woman who was not just broken, but she was ashamed and afraid. She was ashamed, because she had been caught in the very act of having sexual relations with a man who was not her husband. She ...

281. The Master's Tools

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... surface. His efforts have no depth.” To this, Brother Plane responds, “Brother Rule will also have to withdraw, for he is always measuring folks as though he were the only one who is right.” Brother Rule then complains about Brother Sandpaper: “He ought to leave, too, because he’s so rough and always rubbing people the wrong way.” And so goes the discord. In the midst of all this discussion, in walks the Carpenter of Nazareth. He has arrived to start his day’s work. Putting on his apron, he ...

282. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... the people holy through his own blood—took place outside the city walls (John 19:20; cf. Matt. 21:39). This analogy is now given an application to the readers in the author’s exhortation to join Jesus outside the camp. That is, they are called to leave behind the security and comfort of Judaism and in so doing to bear the disgrace he bore (RSV: “bear the abuse he endured,” cf. 12:2). The readers are called to endure the persecution that will come their way when they remain true to their Christian ...

283. The Israelites Oppressed

Exodus 1:1-22

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... strategy, as “shrewdly” also can mean “wisely.” He did not try to eliminate them directly. Egypt had a problem with mobile populations. The problem was not that they would take over the country, but that they would join forces with Egypt’s enemies and leave. Before the children of Israel were victims of forced labor, they were subject to forced residency in a totalitarian state. Even Joseph had to ask the pharaoh’s permission to go to Canaan to bury his father Jacob (Gen. 50:4–14). The words ...

284. A Peaceful Mind

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... worry than find reasons to be happy. Go figure. But many Christians are like that as well. We need to hear Jesus speak a good Jewish word to our hearts--shalom, peace. He is always there for you with his arms open wide. Cast your cares on him. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 1. Adapted from http://thepreachersword.com/2013/07/29/word-of-the-week-peace/#more-4361. 2. Doc’s Daily Chuckles ...

285. Isaac and Rebekah

Genesis 24:1-67

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... to send him back to his master. This was a very polite way of asking them to get Rebekah ready to go with him. Laban and her mother hesitated, requesting that Rebekah be allowed to remain with them for a while, at least ten days, before leaving. But the servant demurred, asking not to be detained since Yahweh had granted success to his journey. He realized that should Rebekah’s departure be delayed, a pattern of delays might be established that could threaten his taking her to Canaan (e.g., Judg. 19:5 ...

286. Elijah Flees to Horeb

1 Kings 19:1-8

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... , it refers to beings who are clearly not of this world (e.g., Gen. 21:8–21, with the very theme of miraculous provision in the desert of Beersheba that we find here). The first occurrence of malʾāk in v. 5, after its appearance in v. 2, leaves the identity of this “messenger” uncertain, although the reader of 1 Kgs. 17–18 (not to mention Gen. 21:8) is already clear that he brings life from God rather than death from Jezebel. For angels attending NT prophets in the desert, cf. Matt. 4:1–11. 19 ...

287. The Authority of Jesus over Nature and the Cosmic Powers

Mark 5:1-20, Mark 4:35-41

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... The one who overpowered any who opposed him is now helpless at the feet of Jesus! Still, he fights back and tries to gain some initiative. The words that he utters are quite similar to the demoniac’s in 1:24, with the first part trying to force Jesus to leave him alone, and the second part trying to get at Jesus’s inner essence in order to gain some power over him. Some of the highest Christology in Mark comes from the demons: “Holy One of God” (1:24), “Son of God” (3:11), and now the highest of ...

288. The Necessity of Vigilance in Light of the Parousia

Mark 13:32-37

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... April and the fully ripe fig in May (see on 11:13). Most likely Jesus refers to the early figs with the appearance of “leaves” and buds on the tree as harbingers of summer. 13:29 when you see these things happening . . . it is near. The thrust of ... , see also Mark 10:40; John 5:19–23. Jesus is one with the Father, but as the Son he is characterized by obedience and leaves the future in his Father’s hands. The angels are mentioned because of their place in the final Day of the Lord (Dan. 7:10; 12: ...

289. Eliphaz's Third Speech to Job

Job 22:1-30

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... If he refuses to turn aside, Job will experience the same fate as these wicked who were carried off before their time (untimely death is often considered the result of divine punishment for sin), and whose foundations have been washed away by a flood. 22:17–18 Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us? These wicked, says Eliphaz, deny the power of God to intervene in human affairs, failing to see that God is the source of all the good things—the wealth and provisions—with which they filled their ...

290. Job's Third Reply to Eliphaz

Job 23:1--24:25

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... humans to more accurately predict God’s responses. To accept God’s freedom from manipulation and control is to acknowledge one’s vulnerability in the extreme. Job’s acceptance that his current state may reflect the inscrutable will and purpose of a sovereign God leaves him with the unsettling conclusion that more of the same may yet be “in store” (lit., “and such as these, many [are] with him”). 23:15 That is why I am terrified. Job realizes and articulates the fact that the freedom of God ...

291. The Lord Speaks

Job 38:1--41:34

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... feathers as the ostrich accelerates (see Gordis, Job, pp. 460–61; Pope, Job, p. 262). In a chase or race, the ostrich leaves the horse and rider behind and laughs in derision at all attempts to run faster. Ostriches have been clocked at peak speeds ... trail in the mud as he slides along. The motion of leviathan through the sea causes the water to churn like a boiling caldron and leaves a glistening wake that resembles the white hair of the elderly. 41:33–34 Nothing on earth is his equal. No animal or human ...

292. Jesus Clears the Temple

Mark 11:12-19

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... ). Thus, the act is not to be taken simply as a rash act of anger but as a solemn prophetic word pronounced for the benefit of the disciples (and for the readers). The green figs of the tree in the story appear early in the spring before the leaves. Since the tree has leaves but no figs it means that it will produce no fruit. The note in verse 13 that it was not the season for figs means that Jesus cannot have expected really to find any ripe figs with which to satisfy his hunger, and that his word in verse ...

293. The Lord Appears to Elijah

1 Kings 19:9-18

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

294. The Call of Elisha

1 Kings 19:19-21

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

295. A Word to Busy Parents

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... remarkable mother. “When I was two years old, I took a crowd of earthworms to bed to watch how they wriggled in the bedclothes. How many mothers would have said ‘ugh’ and thrown them out the window?” asked Jane Goodall, “but mine said, ‘Jane, if you leave the worms here they’ll be dead in the morning. They need the earth.’ So I quickly gathered them up and ran with them into the garden. My mother always looked at things from my point of view.” Says one author, “Seeing things from your ...

296. Can I Get Some Help Over Here?

John 14:23-29

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... go now, but I will come back. You will be all right. I love you.” Jesus gave his followers that assurance. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you” (14:18). In the next few verses, Jesus told his followers that even though the world would ... the peace that is declared by the standards of the world, but the peace that is the Shalom of God. As Jesus put it, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you... Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” God’s response ...

297. Parabola

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and takes him to the hospital. The man has no insurance and no identity, so the man writes a check for several thousand dollars, and leaves his own ID, so that he can be billed for the remainder of the services necessary for this man –an operation, a recovery, a ... all parts of it at different levels. On the surface, you can see a beautiful flowering story. A bit deeper, and you can find the leaves which tell a bit more about the type of plant it is. Look a bit further, and you’ll find the stem. Is it a ...

298. Our Strange, Strong Peace

John 14:15-31

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... he will give you another advocate to be with you forever....” Level Two stronger intensity, passion, and cadence: “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will ... and God will see to my return. Before Jesus died, Jesus gifted the disciples and by association all followers who came after them with peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let ...

299. Homecoming

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

... alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has been raised, he is not here... he is going ahead of you." "Going on ahead of you," the Risen Christ, on ahead, where? Toward the end of John's gospel, Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving them. They were sad. Then he said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you. That you may one day come too." And they were glad at the thought that our hope, in life, in death, is that the same God who raised dead Jesus to life everlasting, may ...

300. Meeting Jesus

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... glasses were ready and he went to the optometrist’s office to get them. He tried them on and they fit well enough. The lady at the desk gave him a brief tutorial on the subject of taking care of your glasses. He paid, thanked her, and turned to leave. He opened the door, stepped out onto the porch, looked around, seeing the world through his new glasses and he wept. “I felt like a fool, standing there crying,” he said. “I was afraid someone might come out or want to go in and they’d see me there ...

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