Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3476 to 3500 of 3852 results

Nehemiah 6:15-7:3

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... :10–13. There may have been an extreme nationalistic group in Jerusalem that advocated his kingship, but Nehemiah denies this possibility in v. 8. 6:9 The interpretation of v. 9b is uncertain and depends on the Heb. verb rendered strengthen. But I prayed is not in the original, nor is “O God” (NRSV). If the verbal form is intended as an impv., a rather abrupt prayer is implied, vividly recalled in the narrative, like the one in 4:4–5. But one does expect a voc. “O my God,” as in v. 14, like “O ...

3477. Priests and Levites

Nehemiah 12:1-26

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... two after Nehemiah. It seems to refer to the following list of Levites in verses 24–25a. This list is in a different style from the previous priestly one and highlights one of their duties, their ministry of song. It mentions three—originally four (see the additional note) heads, and three singers: Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah. Comparison with verses 8–9 and 11:17 shows that these are meant to be singers, not gatekeepers. The singers are described as performing in antiphonal choirs. This description ...

3478. Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom

Proverbs 1:8-19

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... In chapters 10–31 the NIV headings are based on the titles provided at specific points within the text itself (10:1; 22:17, etc.). 1:8–19 This is a typical lesson given by a sage with a customary introduction in verse 8 that reflects the original family situation. My son can be a stereotypical phrase used by the sages in the instruction of youth. Wisdom and virtue are frequently portrayed in terms of precious ornaments and clothing (cf. 3:3, 22; 4:9). An admonition follows in verses 10–19: one is not ...

3479. To Us a Child is Born

Isaiah 9:1-7

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... Mighty God is unparalleled in the OT in such designations. Wildberger (Isaiah 1–12, p. 405) suggests it is based on Egyptian ways of speaking of the king, but even these hardly parallel such an extravagant description. It is difficult to know what the original hearers would have made of the words if this is how Isaiah meant them. It is significant that the Jewish exegetical tradition assumed that at least the first three phrases referred to God, though it took them as describing God as namer rather than ...

3480. A Prophecy Against Assyria

Isaiah 14:24-27

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... is set in the context of Yahweh’s ultimate purpose of blessing and cursing associated with the promise to Abraham. But Isaiah 13–23 keeps moving between the foci of contemporary or imminent historical events and the ultimate Day of Yahweh, the day when Yahweh’s original and final purpose will come about, when Yahweh will reign in just judgment and a son of David will reign in just judgment (16:4–5). The concern of Isaiah 8 is the many-watered roar of one great nation, Assyria. The concern of Isaiah ...

3481. A Prophecy Against Arabia

Isaiah 21:13-17

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... and east where Assyria and Babylon operate, so Israel needs to take account of Yahweh’s lordship. And the fate of these Arabian peoples again suggests that there is nothing to be gained by allying with Babylon. Additional Notes 21:13 The root word ‘arab originally referred not to an ethnic group but to people who lived on the high desert plain (the word ‘arabah also denotes the arid steppe in the Jordan rift). Only later did the word come to denote the Arab people. But the word also resembles another ...

3482. A Prophecy Against Jerusalem

Isaiah 22:1-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... story is not over, and eventually the city’s destruction will come. The usual critical view is that the poem has been expanded in the light of Jerusalem’s fall in 587 B.C., though it is difficult to know precisely which elements originate with which situation. But evidently the passage works with an arc that extends from marvelous deliverance in the eighth century to eventual fall in the sixth century, and invites us to reflect on issues of joy, grief, realism, sobriety, security, practicality, trust ...

3483. A Prophecy About Tyre

Isaiah 23:1-18

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... and 3 to clarify the meaning (contrast NRSV), but dramatically Isaiah’s own audience has to work out who the poem refers to. Once more the opening of the poem does not say who it refers to. It thus leaves open the possibility that it might originally have referred to some other power, such as Sidon, which is named. Again the fact that the poem describes Tyre’s fall as past does not establish whether it has happened historically or has happened only in the prophet’s vision. NIV’s understanding of the ...

3484. Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

Isaiah 37:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... 34–35 followed by four chapters of prose stories about Hezekiah, the last of the kings of Isaiah’s own lifetime. One reason for this surprise is that they also appear in 2 Kings. As with 2:2–4, we do not know which is the more original version. But Isaiah is prominent in the stories and they incorporate some of his prophecies, so it is reasonable enough that they should appear in the book called Isaiah. There are several other locations within the book that would seem more natural than this one. Yet ...

3485. The Servant of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1-9

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... Duhm, who wrote an epoch-making commentary on Isaiah in 1892. Duhm suggested that this passage, along with three others about Yahweh’s servant (49:1–6; 50:4–9; 52:13–53:12), constituted a group of four “Servant Songs” that did not originally belong in their present contexts and needed to be interpreted in relation to each other and independently of those contexts. The basis for this view is the tension between the description of Yahweh’s servant in these passages and the references to Israel ...

3486. Israel's Only Savior

Isaiah 43:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... unleashed. The verbs in verse 3b are perfect, and KJV was surely right to translate them as past. They refer to God’s past act of bringing Israel out of Egypt and delivering it at the Red Sea, the event that constituted its creating and forming, its original redeeming and summoning (v. 1). Having done that, then, Yahweh is quite prepared (in keeping hand to plow) to do it again (v. 4). It is illuminating to compare this pair of “fear not” oracles with the previous pair in 41:8–16. Verses 1–3a have ...

3487. Restoration of Israel

Isaiah 49:8-26

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... a whole suggest Babylon. Presumably assuming the last, NIV has made the singular into a plural and followed other traditions (see mg.) in reading “fierce” for “righteous” as in v. 25, rather than reckoning that MT’s “righteous” is the “more difficult reading” (and therefore the more likely to be original), which these other traditions have instead assimilated to v. 25.

3488. I Want to Make Sense Out of My Life

John 6:24-35

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... up, just like this Rubik's Cube.And you know the best way to get everything straightened out? Talk to God about it. Pray. God loves us, and He wants to help us with our problems. (As you speak, straighten out the Rubik's Cube and return it to its original appearance) And when we pray and turn our problems over to God, He'll show us how to straighten things out, how to make them right again. Let's pray right now and ask God to show us how to work out our problems.

3489. A Cat In a Tree

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... has many problems; he who lacks bread has only one problem. And that, of course, is to obtain food. Our lesson for the day concerns the feeding of the 5,000. Actually this story should probably be relabeled, “the feeding of the 10,000”--since the original number did not count women and children among those fed. Any way you count the number of people fed, however, it was an enormous group. You know the story. A report came to Jesus that John the Baptist had been brutally murdered by King Herod. When ...

3490. Fake News? No! Fake Religion

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... such things as fake news are such a big problem today? Some people are remarkably gullible. And sometimes people who are pushing fake items as well as fake ideas are remarkably expert. Years ago the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Amsterdam put some of their priceless originals next to copies of those same paintings and held a contest to see how many visitors could tell the false from the true. Of the 1827 people who took part in the experiment, only seven were able to tell the genuine from the fake. That’s ...

3491. Excuses! Excuses!

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... he also invested his gold wisely. He earned two more bags. But a third servant was given just one bag of gold. This servant was fearful and hid his bag of gold in the ground instead of investing it as his master had hoped. So he had only the original bag of gold to show for his stewardship when the master returned. Listen to his reasoning--or excuse-making, if we might call it that: “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not ...

3492. Among You Stands One

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... down from her bedroom so she could see her surprise. Under the tree was the most beautiful doll Phyllis had ever seen. For years she would recall that doll as the best gift she’d ever been given. Years later, Phyllis learned the secret of the doll’s origins. Phyllis’ mother had taken one of Phyllis’ old, ragged dolls and washed and painted it. Then she took her one and only dance gown, the prettiest dress she owned, and cut it up to make a dress and booties for the doll. Finally, she cut off a ...

3493. A Time to Get Angry

John 2:13-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... in our lives or a negative. There are times when a Christian ought to get angry. Jesus was angry when he drove the moneychangers out of the temple. They had turned a place of worship into what he called a “den of robbers.” The moneychangers were originally an answer to a problem raised by Roman coinage. Roman coins had on them the image of Caesar. Since they carried a graven image, they were unacceptable for Temple ceremonies. The people were then forced to change their Roman coins into coins that were ...

3494. Making Sense

John 17:6-19

Sermon

John Jamison

... as the church spreads into different places with very different beliefs and cultures. Our passage today is based on an argument that arose as the early church began to grow in the highly intellectual cultures of Greece and Rome. These were also the seats of the origin of things like logic and law, so this new Christian faith was viewed through those filters. The argument went like this: Even if we do accept the story that Jesus lived on earth, died on the cross, and was fully resurrected as the stories say ...

3495. Everything You Need to Know about Love

John 15:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... ’t wake you at four in the morning demanding to be fed or changed. The truth is that small babies are born totally self-centered. That doesn’t mean they’re bad. One man said his three children are the best evidence he knows for the doctrine of original sin. Babies aren’t by nature bad. They are simply totally helpless. In order to survive in this world they must make their needs known. If you meet those needs, then a baby will probably grow to love you. But, is that really love? We say that children ...

3496. Treasure Hidden In a Clay Jar

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... ://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/gods-goodies-in-cracked-pots-johann-neethling-sermon-on-grace-61561. 3. Randall Bergsma. Cited in Edward K. Rowell, 1001 Quotes, Illustrations, and Humorous Stories (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2008), p. 177. 4. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754), Alain De Botton. Cited in Status Anxiety (Vintage) (Kindle Edition). 5. Dr. Ray Pritchard, http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/christmas-hope/. 6. Larry Briney, More Grace for the Daily Grind (Xulon Press).

3497. A Divided Family

Mark 3:20-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... Christians are bailing out by the thousands. (2) That, too, is sad. You know the statistics. A recent study reports that the majority of elementary school children today will live in at least three different families before finishing eighth grade. That includes family of origin and families with step-parents. A divorce is granted every 26 seconds in our land. Slightly more than half of all marriages, and nearly 60% of all remarriages end in divorce. I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty. Some of you ...

3498. Would You Take the Crown Without the Cross?

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Brett Blair

... in the Garden of Eden by viewing him as he is now. Imagine if you knew nothing of aircrafts and mankind’s ability of flight. Now imagine that you came upon the wreckage of an aircraft and you along with many others tried to reconstruct the original version of the aircraft. If we knew nothing of flying, we would hardly suspect that this pile of rubbish had once soared above the earth. The material would be the same; the capability of flight, however, would be lost. What we have lost is our understanding ...

3499. The Advocate and the Street Where You Live

John 15:26-27, 16:4-15

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... To renounce the Holy Spirit is to pronounce judgment against ourselves. The Holy Spirit leads us to saving faith. That Spirit, our Advocate, also inspires us as witnesses and guides us through the wilderness of life. The text, John 15 and 16, originally applied to the people of the first century. The text also deals with us today. In the first century, the Advocate called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified the disciples of Jesus Christ. That's also true for twenty-first-century disciples. After telling ...

3500. Family Ties and Good-byes

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... resentments in Jesus' family are different from those in our families, but they are there, as we see in our text. According to the NRSV of the New Testament, our story begins with these poignant words: "Then he went home." The NIV translates the Greek original: "Then Jesus entered a house." The Phillips paraphrase simply says: "He went indoors." The context in all three translations clearly shows that it was family time as well as ministry time when Jesus came to the territory where he grew up and worked as ...

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