Sermon and Worship Resources

Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 4151 to 4175 of 4914 results

4151. God’s Judgment on Assyria

Isaiah 10:5-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

The Felling of Assyria and the Growth of a Branch: As 7:1–8:10 comprised two parallel sequences, so does 10:5–11:16. The immediately preceding section has come to a worrying end, but there now follows an unexpectedly encouraging reversal. Yahweh has been using Assyria to punish Judah, but Assyria’s own woe, or moment of punishment, is coming—as is Judah’s moment of restoration, the restoring of a remnant. We have been told that Yahweh’s anger is still unsated, but then we discover that it is being ...

4152. A Prophecy Against the Philistines

Isaiah 14:28-32

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

14:28–32 With this section we move from the great powers to Judah’s neighbors, and first to Philistia, its immediate neighbor to the southwest, between the Judean hills and the Mediterranean. Realpolitik is urgent here, as the provision of a concrete date suggests. Ahaz died in the 720s B.C., as did the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmanezer V. One of the latter is the “broken rod.” A king’s death often brings a hiatus of power, and Philistia joined a coalition of peoples also interested in ...

4153. Jesus as God’s Wisdom Is a Hidden Reality

Matthew 11:20-24, Matthew 11:25-30

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Rejection of Jesus as God’s wisdom both deserves judgment and fits a divine pattern in which truth is hidden from the wise and revealed to unexpected ones. Understanding the Text In this passage Matthew’s Jesus critiques various Galilean towns for failing to respond to his message of repentance (see 4:17). As in 11:2–5, the miracles that he has done are directly linked to this message and his identity (11:21–24), so their rejection of his miracles is an implicit rejection of his message and self ...

4154. Community Discourse: Lavish Forgiveness in the Kingdom

Matthew 18:21-35

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus stresses that the kingdom community is characterized by unlimited forgiveness based on God’s prior and lavish forgiveness, warning those who are not persistent in offering forgiveness that they will not receive it in the end. Understanding the Text In the second half of the Community Discourse (chap. 18) Jesus highlights the necessity of forgiving others in the Christian community, a theme already introduced in the Sermon on the Mount (6:12–15). As in the first half of the discourse, a ...

4155. Jesus Demonstrates Messianic Authority over the Temple

Matthew 21:12-17, Matthew 21:18-22

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ authority as Messiah over the temple and his critique of its leadership as well as the importance of unwavering faith in following Jesus. Understanding the Text In Matthew the account of Jesus in the temple immediately follows his entry into Jerusalem. Both stories highlight Jesus’ identity and authority as Israel’s Messiah, with the acclamation of Jesus as the “Son of David” by the crowds and by children (21:9, 15). In 21:12–17 Jesus acts with messianic authority by ...

4156. The Model of Jesus for Discipleship Service, Not Self-Seeking

Mark 9:33-37, Mark 9:38-41, Mark 9:42-50

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: Discipleship demands becoming like Jesus in self-sacrificial service to others. His people must embrace diversity in the group and defeat sin and temptation in their lives. Understanding the Text The disciple-centered movement of Jesus from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem continues in this section. The series of interactions carry on the gradual uncovering of the disciples’ inability to understand and their self-seeking responses to the various stimuli that they receive. Structure This passage is ...

4157. Jesus Defines Himself as Lord in Contrast to the Leaders of Israel

Mark 12:41-44, Mark 12:35-40

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: In three final conflicts between Jesus and the leaders, he (1) reveals himself as more than the royal Messiah, (2) warns about the hypocritical scribes, and (3) contrasts them with the humble widow, who gives her all to God. Understanding the Text While verses 35–37 belong with the controversy stories of 11:27–12:37, they also are part of the final three narratives that conclude the section, presented together as Jesus’s teaching in the temple grounds. There is a double contrast: (1) Jesus’s true ...

4158. “Love Your Neighbor”

Luke 10:25-37

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: There are no limits to the disciple’s duty to love other people, even the most unlikely. Understanding the Text On Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem, which began in 9:51, much attention is focused on the nature and demands of discipleship. Here a question from someone outside the disciple group prompts Jesus to illustrate the central demand of discipleship by telling one of his best-loved parables. The famous “summary of the law” in the twofold demand to love God and to love one’s neighbor occurs in ...

4159. Priorities

Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:22-34

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Honoring God as king, and being ready for the return of the Lord, must take priority over the ordinary concerns of life. Understanding the Text Several themes from our last section are developed here: God’s fatherly care, the absolute priority of serving God over all other concerns, and especially the tension between material concern and true discipleship—12:22–31 is a sort of commentary on 12:15 and the parable that illustrates it. This last theme of “God and mammon” will be picked up again ...

4160. The Millennial Reign, Followed by Satan’s Release, Defeat, and Punishment

Revelation 20:1-7, Revelation 20:8-10

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: Following the millennial reign, Satan will be released for a final battle only to be defeated for good and eternally condemned. Understanding the Text Following Satan’s imprisonment (20:1–3), believers will reign with Christ over creation (20:4–6). The term “millennium” is a word taken from the Latin for “thousand years” (20:2). The millennial reign both fulfills God’s promise of a messianic kingdom on earth (see “Theological Insights” below) and inaugurates life in the new heaven and new earth ( ...

4161. Purification from “Leprosy”

Leviticus 14:33-57, Leviticus 14:1-32

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Impurities that separate people from God can be cleansed. Understanding the Text Leviticus 13–14 is in a larger unit dealing with ceremonial uncleanness generally (Lev. 11–15). Leviticus 13 identifies the problem of a skin condition (loosely termed “leprosy” in English) and similar-looking molds that produce ceremonial impurity. For persons struck with this condition, the consequences are serious, involving separation from God’s sanctuary and separation from the people of God. Leviticus 14 ...

4162. Sexual Discharges

Leviticus 15:1-33

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God wants to promote life, virtue, and an awareness of his holiness among his people. Understanding the Text Leviticus 15 completes the section in Leviticus on uncleanness (Lev. 11–15). The preceding chapters have treated unclean animals (Lev. 11), uncleanness due to childbirth (Lev. 12), and uncleanness due to “leprosy” (Lev. 13–14). The present chapter (Lev. 15) treats uncleanness due to sexual emissions. All this prepares the way for Leviticus 16 on the Day of Atonement, a chapter that will ...

4163. Ingratitude and Judgment

Num 11:1-35

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Ingratitude toward God can lead to forfeiture of blessings. Understanding the Text After nearly a year at Mount Sinai, Israel resumes its march toward the promised land (Num. 10:11; cf. Exod. 19:1–2). It is an auspicious start. Everyone lines up as God has commanded through Moses (Num. 10:13–28) and as directed by the blasts of silver trumpets (Num. 10:1–10). God himself guides the Israelites in the fire cloud and with the ark (Num. 10:34–36). But after three days’ journey from Sinai (Num. 10:33 ...

4164. You Reap What You Sow

2 Sam 13:1-39

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: The Lord ensures that justice is satisfied, sometimes by allowing one’s children to repeat the parent’s sins. Understanding the Text The Lord confronted David with his sin and announced that he would severely punish him. Through Nathan’s entrapment technique, he even maneuvered David into imposing his own penalty. David must pay fourfold for his theft of Uriah’s wife (2 Sam. 12:6). The first installment of this payment came almost immediately, as the first baby born to Bathsheba and David died. ...

4165. Samuel Confronts the People

1 Samuel 12:1-25

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: The security of God’s covenant people depends on their allegiance to the Lord, who remains committed to them. Understanding the Text This chapter provides a fitting conclusion to the story of Saul’s accession to kingship. Facing a serious military threat from the Ammonites (12:12), Israel demanded a king like all the nations, for they thought such a king, supported by a standing army, would give them the security they so desperately needed (8:19–20). When the time came to choose this king, the ...

4166. Eliphaz

Job 4:1-5:27

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

How Eliphaz Explains Job’s Adversity Big Idea: Eliphaz explains Job’s adversity as a standard case of God’s retribution for sin. Understanding the Text Job’s three friends, who arrived on the scene in 2:11–13, wait until after Job’s opening lament in chapter 3 before they speak. From chapter 4 through chapter 27, the friends and Job speak alternately, as they all try to explain Job’s adversity. Eliphaz is the lead speaker in each of the three cycles of speeches, and his words introduce the key points that ...

4167. Zophar’s Final Words for Job

Job 20:1-29

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Zophar insists that God always punishes the wicked. Understanding the Text In Job 20, Zophar speaks to Job for his second and final time, because in the third cycle Zophar chooses not to answer him. So this chapter constitutes Zophar’s final answer to his friend. Numerous times he alludes to details in Job’s previous speeches, often trying to turn Job’s words against him, but in particular Zophar responds indignantly to Job’s reproof in 19:28–29. However, he dismisses what Job says rather than ...

4168. “In God I Trust and Am Not Afraid. What Can Mere Mortals Do to Me?”

Psalm 56:1-13

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: To ask God to store our tears “in his bottle” is to affirm our trust in God’s attentive care to the detail of our miseries. Understanding the Text Psalm 56 is an individual lament that, suggested by the Greek and Aramaic translations of “A Dove on Distant Oaks,” came to be used as a community lament (see the comments on the title below). As is often the case with laments, the psalm is tempered by statements of trust (56:3, 4, 11), so much so that we would not go entirely wrong if we called it an ...

4169. “In Your Heart You Devise Injustice”

Psalm 58:1-11

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: As one thinks in one’s heart, so one does, and that explains many of the tragedies of history. Understanding the Text Psalm 58 is usually identified as a community lament, although Gerstenberger is probably more accurate when he says it is “neither complaint nor thanksgiving nor hymn” but closer to the prophetic invective against the ruling classes.1 Except for the historical note in the title of Psalm 57, the terms of the title of Psalm 58 are the same. Further, the two psalms share the metaphor ...

4170. Rebellion of Korah and Aftermath

Numbers 16:1-50

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Numbers 16 is one of the most harrowing and dramatic chapters in the entire Bible. It reports the ill-fated rebellion of Korah and company (16:1–40) and the subsequent uprising of the Israelite community to protest their “martyrdom” (16:41–50). In the wake of the scouting episode (chaps. 13–14), a large and powerful contingent of leading Israelites blames Moses and Aaron for keeping the Israelites in the wilderness until the adult generation will die. The attack against the Lord’s appointed leaders is two- ...

4171. The Account of Josiah

2 Chron 34:1–36:1

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The Chronicler’s high opinion of Josiah is evident from the opening accession summary note in 34:1–2, where he is compared to his ancestor David, an honor bestowed in 2 Chronicles 10–36 only on Hezekiah (2 Chron. 29:2). Rising to power in the final third of the seventh century BC, a period that saw the shift of imperial power from Assyria to Babylon, would give Josiah the political space to enact his key religious reforms (34:3–33) in three phases: his eighth (34:3a), twelfth (34:3b–7), and eighteenth (34: ...

4172. One Should Embrace Wisdom and Avoid Folly

Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

9:11–10:20 Review · If one understands “his hour” and “evil times” (literally “his time,” “bad time”) in 9:12 as referring to death (as in 7:17), then one can view 9:11–12 as the conclusion of the discourse on death. It is preferable, however, to view these verses as the introduction to the following section on the benefits of wisdom in contrast with folly. This chapter strongly resembles the book of Proverbs in both form and content and is more loosely organized than the rest of Ecclesiastes. 9:11–10:1 · ...

4173. Foreign Alliances

Isaiah 30:1-33

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The background of chapters 30 and 31 lies in the diplomatic mission to the Ethiopian ruler Shabaka, who extended his rule as far as the Nile Delta. Because of the increase in Shabaka’s power, the Judean aristocracy considered the possibility of an alliance between Shabaka, Hezekiah, the Philistines, and the Phoenicians against the Assyrian king Sennacherib (705–701 BC). The leadership of Judah relied on political solutions to political problems (30:1–7). They made every attempt to solve their problems ...

4174. Jesus Before Pilate

John 18:28-40, John 19:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

This entire narrative section bears the marks of a carefully written unit. Its dramatic suspense is second to none. Pilate moves in and out of the praetorium five times (18:29, 33, 38; 19:9, 13), establishing the innocence of Jesus and exploring his title of “king.” In fact, kingship weaves continuously through the story, becoming the principal theme (18:33, 36–37, 39; 19:2–3, 12, 14–15, 19–22) until Pilate’s caution turns to fear (19:8). Even when Jesus is crucified, Pilate insists on Jesus’s title in ...

4175. Apostles of Christ

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Paul then turns to the situation that gave rise to his remarks on wisdom, the tendency of some at Corinth to make comparisons between their teachers, to boost their favorite above the others, and to boast of their allegiances (1:12–17). Alluding to 3:5–9, Paul again asks the Corinthians to recognize that the truth lies in precisely the opposite direction. It is not the Corinthians who “belong” to Paul, Apollos, or Cephas; rather, along with all things, life and death, the present and the future (Rom. 8:38– ...

Showing results