Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3801 to 3825 of 3852 results

3801. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... life. A few years later, researchers in the U.S. carried out tests on rats that measured their brain waves before and immediately after death, and they found that a very similar thing happened. Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, one of the scientists who participated in the original neurological test in Canada, said, “This could possibly be a last recall of memories that we’ve experienced in life, and they replay through our brain in the last seconds before we die.” (3) What if it’s true that your life really does ...

3802. The Way of a Saint

Revelation 7:9-17 · Luke 6:20-31

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... “blessed.” We call them saints. Welcome on this All Saints Day. I have the good fortune to be addressing a room full of saints. Oh, perhaps not in the way we use the word today—to denote someone of extreme virtue. But saint as it was originally used, to denote someone who has accepted the call to follow Jesus Christ and to align themselves with his church. Fortunately, it is not generally required for modern saints to suffer all that much—at least not in the western world. I know many saints who ...

3803. God's Plan for a New Year

Galatians 4:4-7

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... Do you have his love for all people? Do you have his joy, his patience, his faithfulness, his peace, his compassion? Then you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem for turning this world around. Recently I read an interesting piece about the origin of Watch Night Services for New Year’s Eve. Watch Night began in 1733, with a group of Moravians in Germany, who spent their New Year’s Eve in prayer, waiting for midnight and the start of the New Year. Soon, the Watch Night idea spread to ...

3804. The Case of the Stolen Inheritance

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . Stories move us and teach us better than any other mode of learning. Right now, in movies theatres in this country, you can see a new “take” on Agatha Christie called “A Haunting in Venice.” The 2023 movie is based on the original 1969 novel by Christie called “Hallowe’en Party.” Like many Christie novels, a murder calls slick investigator Hercule Poirot to the scene in order to sniff out the perpetrator during a stormy night. Agatha Christie is one of literature’s most beloved detective ...

3805. Cast in the Image of God

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... with translation. The NRSV translates the Pharisees’ challenge in Greek this way: “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality.” The Greek original however says something a bit different: “Teacher, we know that you are true, and you teach the way of God in truth, and we know that you have no particular interest in [elevating] one man over another, for you do not look to [are not ...

3806. More Than a Bad Day?

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Mary Austin

... bring them enough money to fix their leaky roof. In the end, the DNA of the two congregations was too different for them to merge happily. First Church is now happily nesting with another congregation, now in their fourth location counting their original building, and still going strong. Sometimes the members drive by their first building, a magnificent structure with vaulted ceilings and Tiffany stained glass. They smile and keep driving, happy with where they are now. The members of First Church know what ...

3807. Going Where Jesus Goes

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Mary Austin

... In fact, the messenger says: “He is not here.” Um, this is Easter — if he’s not here, where is he? The women didn’t wait around to ask too many questions. They rushed off, as the story says, seized by “terror and amazement.” In the original Greek, the words are even sharper — trauma, and ecstasy. The story ends in silence. This ending is so unsettling that at last three different attempts have been made to fix it. It doesn’t seem quite right to leave the story there, and later writes have ...

3808. Fever!

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... is lying in bed with fever. Jesus comes, he takes her by the hand, and he lifts her up. The fever leaves her, and she immediately begins to serve them. Now as you know, our English translations always lack the richness of the scripture in its original language. In this case, two particular phrases are immensely important to us: 1) egeiren (Jesus raises her up) and 2) diekonei (she begins to serve them). The Greek word egeiren is the same word for resurrection in the scriptures, the same word Jesus uses to ...

3809. That Mountaintop Moment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , a transformative awareness of our unique human connection. Those who experienced the “overview effect” underwent significant emotional and spiritual transformation. No longer did they see the world in terms of dissension, of cultural differences, nations of origin, or differences in social identity. Instead, the world took on a larger, more comprehensive meaning as an interconnected, organic system of life, a cherished gift, an uncharacteristic glimpse of beauty and brightness within an infinity of ...

3810. The Lord Is With Us

Luke 1:26-38, 2 Samuel 7:1-17, Romans 16:1-27

Sermon

Will Willimon

... straw. But then, every year comes Christmas, and the Incarnation, the sheer, mundane, earthly, ordinary particularities of it, shatter our fuzzy abstractions. The Virgin Birth, which today is put forth as proof of Jesus' divinity, his miraculous strangeness, was originally used by the church as an affirmation of his humanity. Against all Docetists, the Church stood and proclaimed, “I believe...in Jesus Christ...who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified and buried” At ...

3811. Bearers of the Seed

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... (Acts 12:24) “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8) Prop: apples or small oranges or another small fruit Fruit of my loins! Today, it’s a comical phrase, but it has a scriptural origin: “And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.” (Genesis 35:11, King James version) “Whereas therefore he was a prophet, and knew that ...

3812. Raising Power

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... at the Tomb!” The women fled fast! They high tailed it out of there! Our scriptural translation today tells us that the women were seized with terror and amazement. But those words don’t even come close to the descriptiveness of the original language! They were “ekthambeisthe!” Awe-struck! To the level of wide-eyed wonder! It confused and befuddled them to the extent that they were experiencing rapture-like amazement! Their minds were in shock! They were bewildered and afraid. They trembled, shook ...

3813.

Psalm 86:1-17

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... of Psalm 86 lies not in what is on the face of the cards but in its particular hand of cards. 86:1–5 In the first section, the psalm bases the plea, have mercy on me, on the claim, “for to you I call” (v. 3, note the original word order). In support, the hymnic praise then promises, You are . . . abounding in love to all who call to you. Another link and support is found in the term “(devoted) love” (Hb. ḥesed): the prayer claims, for I am devoted (Hb. ḥāsîd, v. 2), and the hymn claims ...

3814.

Psalm 91:1-16

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

The Protection of My God in the Midst of Threat 91:1–16 A key to understanding this psalm in its original context lies in interpreting its imagery. The dominant image describing the obligation of the believer is that of taking “refuge” (vv. 1–2, 9, cf. v. 4). This seems to be not an abstract metaphor but a concrete symbol for trust in God that derives from the temple and the ...

3815.

Psalm 126:1-6

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... ; Zeph. 2:7, 30). Thus, to some extent the issue is moot, whether the phrase refers to the turning of fortunes in general or of the Babylonian captivity in particular. In the early postexilic period, in which the psalms of ascent appear to have been set originally, the phrase’s association with the restoration from exile would have been inescapable. The disputed term is somewhat different in the MT of v. 4 than in the MT of v. 1. The Kethib reading is šebût (the reading followed in the main text of the ...

3816.

Psalm 127:1-5

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... the second. We also need to recognize the ambiguity building a “house” has in Hebrew (as in English): it can denote the physical structure but also the household, that is, the family (see below). While we cannot be certain the latter meaning was originally part of this first proverb, it certainly steps forward when seen in light of the second proverb. Thus, the whole psalm is concerned with the building of one’s family. Finally, the combination of the motifs found in both halves is attested in ancient ...

3817.

Psalm 130:1-8

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... ” (here and in 2 Chron. 6:40; 7:15) and “forgiveness” (here and in Neh. 9:17; Dan. 9:9) are found elsewhere only in postexilic literature. Thus, the early postexilic setting implied in several other ascent psalms may well be this psalm’s point of origin, but the confession in verses 3–4 extends its application to all peoples at all times. 130:1–2 The opening verse is not actually a petition but a description of the act of praying. Implicit in the mere description of the act of “calling” (Hb ...

3818.

Psalm 143:1-12

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... in creation. In 44:1 and 77:5, 11, the phrase, “the days of long ago,” has particular reference to the period of Moses and Joshua (cf. 74:2). “Of long ago” (Hb. qedem) can describe “the skies” (68:33) and Yahweh’s original establishing of the sun, moon, and earth (74:12–17). Thus, Psalm 143 directs worshipers to engage their memory as a means for cultivating personal encouragement in the present and for establishing precedents for Yahweh to act now—even “quickly,” as the following ...

3819.

Psalm 146:1-10

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... with the Davidic monarchy and the postexilic hopes of its revival. Human political power will fail because their plans die with them. This is a sober warning, that we should never put too much hope in human institutions, even if they be instituted originally by God. 146:5–9 Formally, verse 5 is a pronouncement of blessing, but it also acts as instruction, for it identifies the human characteristic that makes one an object of divine blessing. But the only “virtue” named lies in the source of ...

3820. “The Words of the Lord Are Flawless, Like Silver Purified in a Crucible”

Psalm 12:1-8

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... Soviet Union were without proper printing equipment to produce copies of the Bible. Resourcefully, they collected as much printed Communist literature as they could obtain. Taking those printed texts, they cut out each word and pasted them back together to produce a printed Bible. Originally, these same words, when configured within the Communist documents, had depicted the world of the Communist literature they printed. Once reconfigured as the Bible, these words had quite a different textual meaning.16

3821. Body

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... . In the context of degenerative processes, the term is used of rust’s eating into iron, of moths’ eating clothes, and of the bodies of starving persons. Paul has already referred in verse 7 to his body as a “jar of clay,” alluding to the original composition of human beings from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7) and to their subjugation to death and decomposition to dust after the curse (Gen. 3:19). The creation, too, has been subjected to futility and decay (Rom. 8:20). The mortal material out ...

3822. Denunciation of the Intruding Teachers

Jude 1:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... and Lord” (v. 4). In other words, living in disobedience to Jesus is a form of apostasy. 5–16· Main discussion: Denunciation of the intruding teachers: In the main section of the letter body, the author denounces the others, using groups-of-three illustrations originally from the Old Testament but now read through the lens of Second Temple Jewish literature. The first group (vv. 5–7) is the people saved in the exodus, the angels of Genesis 6:1–8, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Two of the three were ...

3823. Gifts You Can’t Return

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Mary Austin

As we near the end of the Easter season, we hear Jesus speaking as part of his farewell message to his disciples. He originally spoke these words just before his death, to prepare his friends. These same words have the same special resonance for us now. The disciples have to learn to live in the world without Jesus’ physical presence, just as we do. We listen in, as Jesus spoke to God about his ...

3824. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... . On the one hand, this may be a chronologically displaced allusion to the Jerusalem priesthood (“prince of thecovenant”) and Antiochus’s agreement to Judea’s internal rule. Here, the “army” that is “swept away” is the Syrian force Antiochus originally overcame (11:21). His acting “deceitfully” relates to the anti-Hellenistic Jewish high priest Onias III, whom the king deposed. Antiochus was induced by a large bribe to replace Onias with pro-Hellenistic priest Jason (whom he also deposed ...

3825. 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 ...

Showing results