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Showing 4401 to 4425 of 4936 results

4401. Dust Off The Throne

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:26-38, Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

David J. Kalas

When I was a kid, my parents would host several Christmas parties each year — one for each of the adult Sunday school classes from our church. In preparation for each party, my mother would employ me in vacuuming the living room, mixing the punch, lighting the candles, and such. One task that invariably came before the first party of each Christmas season involved the silver tea set. It was a lovely set, but we seldom used it apart from the annual Christmas parties. Consequently, when December rolled ...

4402. The Census of the Twelve Tribes

Num 1:1–2:54

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God fulfills his promises. Understanding the Text Numbers begins with Israel still “in the Desert of Sinai,” where it has received the Ten Commandments (Num. 1:1; cf. Exod. 19:1–2). Numbers continues the story of Exodus and Leviticus. At the end of the book of Exodus, Israel constructs the tabernacle, or “tent of meeting.” The book of Leviticus gives rules for how Israel is to use the tabernacle. Now from that tent at Mount Sinai God gives further instructions. Centuries earlier God had promised ...

4403. Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Obedience

Num 15:1-41

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Fellowship with God and defiant sinning are incompatible. Understanding the Text Numbers goes from a narrative about scouts (Num. 13–14) to a seemingly unrelated chapter of laws concerning sacrifices, unintentional sins, Sabbath breaking, and tassels. Why this material is placed here rather than with similar material in Leviticus has mystified interpreters. Numbers 15 does contribute one thing to the previous story. In Numbers 14 Israel is told that the adults will not enter the land (Num. 14:20– ...

4404. The Daughters of Zelophehad (Part 1)

Numbers 27:1-11

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God’s people will receive their rightful inheritance. Understanding the Text The plague of Numbers 25 and the census of Numbers 26 mark the end of the first generation after leaving Egypt and the emergence of a new one. But how does the unit on the daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27:1–11) fit into this sequence? One answer is that the purpose of the census of Numbers 26 is to determine allotments in the land, and this passage is related to the fair distribution of the land.1 But why does the ...

4405. “Their Violence Comes Down on Their Own Heads”

Psalm 7:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: While God’s justice is ultimately the solution to the problem of evil, evil also carries in itself the gene of self-destruction. Understanding the Text Psalm 7 is an individual lament, as are Psalms 3–6. The two ingredients that constitute this type of psalm are the lament and the reasons for lament.1 The lament is against David’s enemies, expressed in 7:1, 6, 14, 15, and 16. Whereas the innocence of Psalm 6 was more implied than explicit, here the psalmist is so convinced of his innocence that ...

4406. Living Sacrifices

Romans 12:1-8

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

The person who is justified by faith shall live (1:17). That is the theme of the epistle. In chapters 5–8 Paul began to discuss the characteristics of the “new life” (6:4), but not until chapter 12 does he devote himself to the ethical and ecclesiastical shape of it. Justification by faith produces neither moral passivity nor permissiveness. Rather, the indicative of chapters 1–11 leads to the imperative of chapters 12–16. The faith which saves is a faith which can and must be lived, and only the faith ...

4407. Job's Reply to Eliphaz

Job 6:1–7:21

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

Impatience Justified: The first chapter of Job’s response to Eliphaz divides into three parts. Initially (vv. 1–13), he defends the sense of growing impatience with his circumstance that Eliphaz has attacked (4:1–6). Job then turns to a counterattack on the fickleness of some friendship (vv. 14–23). He concludes chapter 6 with a pointed demand to know where sin resides within him that is commensurate with the punishment he bears (vv. 24–30). 6:1–4 Job’s impetuous words are the consequence of unbearable ...

4408. The Death of Jesus

Mark 15:33-41

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

15:33–41 This portion of the narrative of Jesus’ execution is full of dramatic events, including the darkness from noon till mid-afternoon (v. 33), Jesus’ cry to God (v. 34), his last cry (v. 37), the tearing of the temple curtain (v. 38), and the statement of the Roman officer (v. 39). But at least some of these events hint at the significance of Jesus’ death. For example, the darkness not only suggests in general that something momentous was happening, but it also may be an allusion to Amos 8:9 (“I will ...

4409. Redeemed

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: paycheck (month) or $2000-$3000 in cash [Hold up the check or cash.] I’m holding here a paycheck for $3,000. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s an approximate month’s take-home salary for an average American today. $4,000 gross. $3,000 net. Some of you probably make more than that, some less. But that’s the national average for 2015. At the dawn of the first century, an average wage for an Israelite would have been the equivalent of about 7 or 8 silver shekels per month (in ...

4410. Fake News vs. Fantastic Good News

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

Early in 1761 two small earthquakes hit London, England. Soon afterwards, a rumor spread through the city that a well-known psychic had predicted a massive earthquake would occur on April 5 of that year. Gullible people were alarmed. Citizens of London began leaving the city, moving to other cities nearby or setting up camps in the outlying rural areas. And then they waited for the big one to hit. And, of course, it never did. (1) Such rumors or faulty predictions have spread in this country from time to ...

4411. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

What a blessing to be with you all on this Pentecost Sunday! Today we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people and thereby giving birth to the church of Jesus Christ. We come to celebrate the wonder and power of God’s love in Jesus that calls us into community and service together. And truly we come this day to celebrate the great gift we have in Jesus Christ himself. This all sounds great, doesn’t it? I love a celebration! Who doesn’t? Especially if it’s a birthday and everyone is ...

4412. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

4413. A Pep Talk for the Kingdom

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Legendary football coach Knute Rockne was a master motivator. At the halftime of one game, his Notre Dame Fighting Irish were playing poorly. The team walked dejectedly to the locker room where they braced themselves. They knew Rockne would tear into them. They sat and sat, but Rockne did not appear. Finally, as the team began to head toward the door for the beginning of the second half, Rockne came walking in. He looked around and started to walk back out again. Then with a look of disgust on his face, he ...

4414. Sabotaging The Sabath

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Richard Patt

We wish the story here would have ended another way. Yes, it was the sabbath (always meant to be a beautiful day for God's people!). And even on the sabbath people become sick or continue to be sick. Jesus notices a woman, all hunched over, obviously one who had been ill for a long time. He is a merciful Lord, so he takes the initiative to call her over and lay his hands on her. In these gracious acts, the woman is healed on the spot. Her body is straightened again, and she praises God for God's goodness. ...

4415. The Intersection Of The Cross

Matthew 5:31-32

Sermon

Mark Radecke

The pastor finishes reading the Gospel text and the people squirm more than usual. What will he say? What can he say? The passage he has just read proclaims a chain of hard sayings, some of them impossibly harsh, condemning sin and strengthening the commandments. Anger, insulting speech, adultery, lust and swearing oaths are all roundly condemned. But it is the stark prohibition against divorce that has the people wondering what he will say. In the text, Jesus clearly says, "No divorce." The pastor must be ...

4416. Rules For A Happy Life

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

America's premier Protestant preacher of the early part of this century, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, once told a story from his early days as presiding minister of the great Riverside Church in New York. It seems that Fosdick, liberal by theological standards of the time, was turned off by much contemporary preaching with its emphasis on sin and threat. He vowed he would place his emphasis on the love and forgiveness of God. One day a man who had attended Riverside for several months approached Fosdick to ...

4417. The Adventure Of The Empty Tomb

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

Comment: I am a Sherlock Holmes* fan. In early 1983, I got to wondering what would happen if Sherlock Holmes investigated the Resurrection. On Good Friday evening, I decided to go to work on a short, short story to be used the Sunday after Easter during a congregational hymn sing. I already had a sermon started for Easter Sunday. As I began to write, I heard the voices and literally let the story flow from what I was hearing. After working two hours I had two problems. One, the story was already a page ...

4418. Out On A Limb

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

A friend told me of the hours he spent as a child in a large cherry tree in his grandmother's backyard. The tree was very large and high, at least as he remembered it. He remembered the very first time he climbed it. He had to jump to catch hold of the lowest branch, and then pull himself by sheer muscle power up onto it. Then he could work his way up the tree. The tree seemed so high, that he got dizzy looking down, and yet, scary as it was, he couldn't resist climbing higher and higher. Finally he got ...

4419. On Being Salty

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

John Jamison

I don't remember ever meeting my Uncle Peacock. Apparently I did, but it was when I was so young that I really don't remember anything about him. But I have heard enough stories about him that I feel I know him very well. Uncle Peacock died several years ago, though all I know about his death was that it was the result of a long Saturday evening in town with a 20-pound watermelon and a chicken. It seems that somehow he ended up falling off the levee down by the river. I don't know how it all fits together ...

4420. Step Eight - Love

Mt 7:7-14 · 2 Cor 5:16-21 · Ps 19:7-13

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step eight: Made a list of all persons we harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. I can see the scene now. They are meeting over a three-martini lunch to plan out the advertising strategy. They struggle with what hook they will use to lure people to their product. One of them says, "Think of this? What revives the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, is to be more desired than gold and is sweeter than honey?" What could be the product? How about a vacation ...

4421. Everybody Pray!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

"Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him, 'Son of David, sir!' she cried. 'Have mercy on me! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.' But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, 'Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!' Then Jesus replied, 'I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.' At this the woman came and ...

4422. Humility Gate

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

Every visitor to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which stands on the site of the stable where Christ was born, must stoop to enter. For the main entrance to the church is so low that no person, except a child, may walk through it erect. The door was made in this fashion to prevent medieval raiders from riding their horses into the church to persecute the Christians and disrupt services of worship. Although the threat of the medieval raiders has long since passed, the low door of the church has not ...

4423. No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

The Reverend Sam Jones was a great Methodist preacher over in Georgia. His style was unusual. Often he would engage the congregation in dialogue. One Sunday morning he said to his people, "Let's pretend that the church is a locomotive. What part of that locomotive would you like to be?" One man held up his hand and said, "I'd like to be a wheel that just helps rolls that train down the track." Someone else said, "Brother Sam, I'd like to be the whistle on that locomotive that sounds God's praises ...

4424. Perhaps Next Summer...

Acts 24:1-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

The poet said it: "The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year." And suddenly, it came to us this past week that summer was over. Unbelievably, it was the first day of autumn. Actually, we don’t regret the passing of any other season, but, somehow, it is different with the summer. We all look sadly at each other and ask: "Where did it go to?" We all have the frightening feeling that something precious has slipped through our fingers. Somehow, the days went by and we didn’t savor them like we ...

4425. Feeling Down And Looking Up

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

The scripture for today is from the portion of Isaiah which scholars know as Deutero-Isaiah, or Second Isaiah - chapters 40 to 55. Those chapters certainly were not written by the eighth century B.C.E. prophet whose name it bears, but rather by an anonymous observer of the events in the closing years of Babylonian rule, and who interpreted the meaning of those events to the Jewish exiles in Babylonia. A momentous event stirred him to prophesy to the captives, and that event was the rise to power of Cyrus, ...

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