Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3951 to 3975 of 4977 results

3951. John 12:20-33

John 12:20-33

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , he calls to God to "glorify your name." The epiphany of verse 28 is another Johannine exclusive. The voice from heaven responds directly to Jesus' obedience, affirming his understanding both of his identity and of his future. While this voice is not quite a private communication with Jesus, it is decidedly not made clear to the general crowd. Though John's text suggests that all those gathered near heard something, there is considerable disagreement over what that something was. Just as for some, the ...

3952. Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8:26-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... enthusiasm, the eunuch asks, "What is to prevent me from being baptized?"(v.36). Scholars have noted the liturgical ring to this question especially when the editorial additions found in many Western texts are considered. Together they create a quite complete-sounding baptismal rite with the obligatory question and confessional dialogue. Its impromptu nature does not detract from the theological correctness of the eunuch's baptism. The immediate presence of "the Spirit of the Lord" further emphasizes the ...

3953. John 3:1-17

John 3:1-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... with that of a Galilean wonderworker. In case Jesus turned out to be a public relations disaster, this secret visit assured Nicodemus that his reputation would remain intact. Others, who find the Nicodemus figure a generally favorable character, conclude something quite the reverse. Nicodemus is in darkness until he reaches Jesus, the one who is the light, who "shines in the darkness" (1:5). This Pharisee purposively comes to this light when he seeks out Jesus. Likewise, Nicodemus' first words to Jesus ...

3954. Mark 2:23-3:6

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... verses. If they are correct, and the original consisted of verses 23-24,27, it was actually a much stronger, more radical incident than the text we now have presents it. Verses 23-24 and 27 make Jesus' response to the Pharisees' quite legitimate question stand out as a radical departure from accepted Jewish theology. By simply declaring, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath," Jesus disregards the unique divine foundation undergirding the rite and rituals that define the ...

3955. Mark 5:21-43

Mark 5:21-43

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... only serve to point up her story's positive thrust and focus her tremendous faith in Jesus. Despite her appearance, her gender and her status, this woman surprisingly provides Mark with an ideal model of faithfulness. The method of healing this woman experiences is quite unusual. In Matthew's version, the actual healing moment is freeze-framed to make it clear that it is through Jesus' intentionally spoken healing word that she is healed (see Matthew 9:22). But in Mark's text there is no such freeze-framing ...

3956. Ephesians 5:15-20

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... human attempts to gain easy access to the divine. Christians are not to waste time by being lured to accept human advice and human "wisdom" as true indications of God's will. Only God can reveal "wisdom" to the believer. It seems quite likely that verse 18 is referring to the drunken festivals frequented by those involved in the worship of Dionysus, where people would lose all sense of themselves and become wild and frenzied. Only in this totally uninhibited state, Dionysians maintained, could they become ...

3957. John 6:56-69

John 6:56-69

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 60 find Jesus' message more than "hard." They are "scandalized" by it, and as a well-unified group, they "murmur" against Jesus. There is no apparent debate or dissent within this large gathering of disciples. They all complain. Jesus does nothing to ease the difficulty. Quite the opposite, his reference to the Son of Man being lifted up (v.62) suggests the saving specter of the cross itself. Faced with this even more radical message as well as Jesus' ultimatum in verse 65 that "no one can come to me unless ...

3958. Mark 7:24-37

Mark 7:24-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the stories has some aspect about it that we find disturbing to our sense of correctness. Accustomed to reading the gospel and being impressed by the divine power healings reveal, the stories of the Syrophoenician woman and the Decapolis deaf-mute don't quite measure up. The first healing miracle (vv.24-30) of today finds Jesus outside his usual Galilean haunts as he journeys to the boundary regions between Tyre and Sidon. Jesus' attitude seems as altered as his new location. The first thing he does here ...

3959. Mark 13:1-8

Mark 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , as some claim, he could easily have inserted some telling details about its ruin to add to the text's accuracy. But there is no such evidence. The general nature of the destruction prediction has led other scholars to suggest that Mark's gospel was quite likely composed between A.D. 66-69 after several wars and skirmishes; after the early appearance of some very popular false leaders/false prophets (such as Simon Bar Cochba); but before A.D. 70 when the temple was actually destroyed. In verses 3-4, the ...

3960. Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... reference to Jesus' departure clearly points to his death, all that he was about to "accomplish" could include all of the passion events, the salvation they offer, or even all of Jesus' life experiences. As in Mark's version, Jesus' three disciples don't quite get the drift about what is happening before their very eyes. Luke's text alludes to the tremendous sleepiness that "weighed down" Peter, James and John. Was this the reason they saw but did not hear his epiphany? Peter also demonstrates he is still ...

3961. John 20:1-18

John 20:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... indicates that she has abandoned the notion that violence has been done to the body, and that she is hopefully embracing the possibility that a friendly agent, perhaps this gardener, has removed the body to a safer location where enemies or tomb terrorizers (quite common then) could not molest it. Some authorities suggest that the reference to the gardener, unique to John, is an attempt to thwart a claim that a gardener took the body. Tertullian provides one of the earliest outlines of this argument: The ...

3962. Romans 8:14-17

Romans 8:14-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ," but new believers may need to be reminded of that fact. To be "led by the Spirit" does not mean believers will be led into a fear-filled, anxiety-inducing relationship where every thought and action is judged by a guard-like Spirit. Quite the contrary. It is freedom, not bondage, that characterizes the relationship between believers and the Spirit. Although being in a chosen relationship to God, as "children of God," is a tradition drawn from Jewish Scripture, the language of "adoption" Paul uses here ...

3963. 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . In verse 4, Paul turns his praise outward, proudly declaring that he "boasts" about the Thessalonian church "among the churches of God." Whether Paul's "boasting" was ad hoc, limited to those churches he was visiting while writing to the Thessalonians (quite probably the Corinthian churches), or whether his "boasting" was more intentional, broadcast to as wide a number of Christian communities as he could reach through messenger or letter, it is evident that there was one more element in the Thessalonians ...

3964. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... some amorphous, anti-Christian force or sentiment that will permeate our world. The personal nature of the descriptive actions in verse 4 gives this singular leader a character all his own. As an individual, this "lawless one" is also quite specifically an eschatological figure - and therefore is not present until those final "end times" themselves have dawned. "Rebelliousness" and "lawlessness" may confront the church and challenge the faith of Christians in every age and generation. Scripture evidences a ...

3965. Luke 21:5-19

Luke 21:5-19

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... expanded. Lavish embellishments and decorations had been added to the site. The "gifts dedicated to God" (v.5) were votive offerings and objects worshipers dedicated to God, which then became a part of the permanent temple decorations. Some of these were quite elegant and expensive, like the so-called "golden vine" Herod himself is supposed to have given to decorate this place of worship. Repeating Mark's warning, Luke predicts that despite its beauty, its elegance and the dutiful homage it evoked, the ...

3966. A Powerful Sacrament

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... power. (1) That was a service to be remembered. I wonder if John the Baptist had any memorable baptisms. He certainly had one the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist was a colorful individual he dressed strangely and he ate a bizarre diet. His preaching was quite colorful as well. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” he said to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were in his audience (Mt. 3:7). He certainly was not diplomatic with his preaching. It takes guts to call members ...

3967. More Than Feelings (Weddings)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Illustration

James McCormick

... don’t feel loving – maybe especially when you don’t feel loving! Of course, the source of such love is God. God loves us with a love that never wavers, a love that is unconditional, and then He asks us to pass that love along to one another. I’m quite sure that, of all God’s gifts to us, the greatest gift of all is the gift of love. Amen.

3968. John 4:5-42

John 4:5-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... what is being offered her. It is not until Jesus stuns her with knowledge of her personal life in intimate and embarrassing detail that she begins to realize that the conversation is about spiritual life. Acknowledging Jesus as a "prophet," she remains quite concerned about the cultural chasm separating Samaritans and Jews (v.20). With the conversation now moved onto the right track, Jesus seeks to broaden this woman's horizons once again - this time beyond the particularities of people and place. In verses ...

3969. Acts 7:55-60

Acts 7:55-60

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the grave. Like Jesus, Stephen begs divine mercy for his killers. While Stephen's selfless sacrifice of life and his loving and forgiving nature mirror Jesus' own attitudes in life and death, the circumstances of their deaths are quite different. Jesus' death was carefully and legally orchestrated by the religious authorities. The mob crying out for Barabbas instead of Jesus was about as spontaneous as the outbreaks of applause and cheers at our national political conventions. Everything was carefully ...

3970. Acts 1:6-14

Acts 1:6-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and begin chiding them for standing about staring. Perhaps it is the reprimand of the angelic figures that has kept the church from celebrating Jesus' Ascension with more excitement and exaltation. Ironically, the whole tenor behind this episode is quite "down-to-earth." Instead of magnifying the miracle of Ascension, the disciples are immediately plunged back into their discipleship roles here on earth. When the white-robed messengers foretell Jesus' eventual return, the disciples apparently get the hint ...

3971. Romans 14:1-12

Romans 14:1-12

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , of course, the later Levitical restrictions on the types of meat that were "clean" and on the proper way to prepare meat (removing the blood). But meat itself was not viewed as suspect in any way. Indeed, the rituals of temple worship were quite bloodthirsty - Yahweh demanded and received burnt offerings of fat and meat regularly. Still, there were certain minority Jewish groups, such as the Therapeutai of Egypt, who abstained from both meat and wine. Various non-Jewish groups also picked up this trait as ...

3972. Luke 2:22-40

Luke 2:22-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... this period of defilement, she was to bring a lamb, a pigeon or turtledove to the temple as a sacrifice and a sign that she was once again ritually clean. Luke's details make it clear that Mary and Joseph are, at least at this point in their lives, quite poor for instead of a lamb, Mary exercises the Levitically provided option for those who cannot afford a lamb and brings instead two doves. But while the baby Jesus did not have to be present for this ceremony, he did need to be brought to the temple for ...

3973. Acts 19:1-7

Acts 19:1-7

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... received only John's baptism. Nowhere do we read of any other followers of John or Jesus receiving re- baptism. What then is so unique about this slow-witted bunch in Ephesus? Paul's first question to them in v.3 indicates their problem, which was apparently quite evident. Paul asks nothing about their faith in Christ he asks only "Did you receive the Holy Spirit?" In Paul's book, the presence or absence of the Holy Spirit, then, is the litmus test of true discipleship that all those who would be members of ...

3974. Mark 1:14-20

Mark 1:14-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... are clearly the first disciples called. Simon is also the only one among Jesus' band of disciples who has a member of his own family healed (1:29-31), and is the first disciple personally renamed by Jesus (3:16) a change Mark takes quite seriously, for while he is consistently "Simon" up until 3:16, the disciple is consistently "Peter" thereafter. This "call" section begins by reminding us that Jesus is still in Galilee when he begins calling disciples. Note that Simon and Andrew are carefully described as ...

3975. Mark 14:1-15:47

Mark 14:1-15:47

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Peter as one who was with Jesus. At the time of his arrest, Jesus had reminded his accusers of his presence, and presumably also the presence of his disciples, in the temple "day after day" (v.49). As a servant of the high priest, then, it is quite likely that this woman had seen Peter and the other disciples with Jesus on several occasions. Peter's denial is both immediate and awkward. His double insistence, "I do not know or understand," is stated poorly so that the Greek text's grammar reflects the panic ...

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