Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 426 to 450 of 656 results

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

... lonely place, That yet remembers his embrace, But at his footstep leaps no more, My heart, tho’ widow’d, may not rest Quite in the love of what is gone, But seeks to beat in time with one That warms another living breast. Ah, take the imperfect gift I bring, Knowing the primrose yet is dear, The primrose of the later year, As not unlike to that of Spring. LXXXVI Sweet after showers, ambrosial air, That rollest from the gorgeous gloom Of evening over brake and bloom And meadow, slowly breathing bare The ...

427. God's Pattern for Sainthood

Psalm 24:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... Psalms. Perhaps of all the books of antiquity, the book of Psalms is the most appealing; not just for the beauty of its poetry but the poignancy and authenticity with which the Psalms were written. In the Psalms we see the human heart wrestling with its own imperfections, and we see the perfection of the God who calls human beings to righteous living. Psalm 24 is a beautiful hymn. It begins like this: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it ...

428. A Hot Foot Washing

John 13:1-17

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... come without any water! They try to dry-clean your feet with “a piece of their mind,” just scrubbing away harshly. What they say may be true, but there is no water of love, nothing to wash the dirt gently away, but only a rigid insistence on scraping away every imperfection and the skin along with it! There is another way—that is to come and wash one another’s feet in love, in the spirit of servanthood.

429. I'm 8' 4"

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... ’m eight feet, four inches tall!” His mother, greatly surprised, inquired into the matter and found he was using a six-inch ruler to measure a “foot.” The boy was actually only a few inches over four feet. This is exactly what we do, we measure ourselves against one another, imperfect prototypes, rather than by the standard of the Word of God.

430. Jesus Taken Up into Heaven

Acts 1:1-11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... described in these terms than in any other. The question raised by the apostles in this verse could have been asked at any time during the forty days that Jesus was with them, since he spoke to them often about the kingdom of God (cf. v. 3). Indeed, the imperfect tense suggests that it was asked more than once. But if it was asked at their last meeting with Jesus, there is a certain poignancy in their failure right to the end to understand that the kingdom was not of this world (cf. John 18:36) but of the ...

431. Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Acts 1:12-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... connection between the disciples’ prayer before Pentecost and the pouring out of God’s Spirit on that day. Second, in developing that point, Luke emphasized the disciples’ persistence in prayer. They prayed constantly (v. 14), this word expressing the Greek imperfect, which points to repeated or habitual action. Third, their praying together was an expression of the unity that was a feature of the early church—they all joined together (v. 14). Their praying was probably also a factor in maintaining ...

432. Peter Addresses the Crowd

Acts 2:14-41

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... verb in he warned them is to testify to the truth while protesting against false views that stood in the way of accepting it (cf. 8:25; 10:42; 18:5; 20:21, 24; 23:11; 28:23). The second verb, he pleaded, is in a tense (the imperfect) that implies that Peter made repeated appeals. 2:41 The outcome was that many accepted his message and were baptized. When and where these baptisms took place Luke does not say. There may well have been some lapse of time in which further instruction was given. But effectively ...

433. Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar

Acts 3:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... 16; 4:10, 18, 30. 3:7–8 As Peter took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, his feet and ankles became strong, he jumped to his feet, and began to walk (v. 8). The change from the aorist, “he stood,” to the imperfect, “he started walking around,” illustrates the vivid detail of this narrative, which may well have come from Peter himself. Such vividness is also a characteristic of Mark’s Gospel, with which Peter is traditionally linked (see disc. on 10:14; 10:34–43; 12:1–5). The picture ...

434. The Apostles Heal Many

Acts 5:12-16

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the Lord,” the sense being that they took the Lord at his word (for the title, see note on 11:20). The mention of women is another reminder of their role in the life of the church (see disc. on 1:14). The tense of the Greek verb, were added (imperfect), gives the sense that men and women kept on being added, whereas the passive voice carries the implication that it was God who did the adding (cf. 2:41, 47). 5:15–16 The association of ideas might lead us to conclude that it was the men and women of ...

435. Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem

Acts 9:19b-31

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... those who call on his name” (see disc. on v. 14). The reference in verse 22 is not to Paul’s preaching (as GNB), but to Paul himself becoming more and more powerful. He was going from strength to strength in his new life (the imperfect tense; cf. Ps. 84:7). His preaching and its effect on his hearers are described in the latter half of the verse. The Greek verb (lit., “to bring together,” hence “to compare”) suggests that his preaching consisted largely of comparing the Old Testament with the ...

436. Aeneas and Dorcas

Acts 9:32-43

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... . Peter responded at once to the message from Joppa (“he got up and went,” see disc. on 8:27). On arrival he was made aware of how great a loss the church had sustained. The widows were there showing him the garments that Dorcas had made (imperfect tense—it had been her practice) while she was still with them (v. 39). The participle in the middle voice implies that the widows were actually exhibiting the clothes on themselves (for widows, see note on 6:1). Peter cleared the room as Jesus had done at ...

437. Peter Explains His Actions

Acts 11:1-18

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... :43; also 3:26; 5:31) is God’s gift, and in giving it he “does not show favoritism” (10:34; cf. 20:21; 26:20). The story ends characteristically on a note of praise. A well-supported reading of this verse has the verb to praise in the imperfect, allowing us to suppose that not only on this occasion, but as a common feature of their life, the Jewish church ascribed glory to God. Thus the writer, about to pass to other things, depicts the state of things that he leaves behind. Additional Notes 11:2 When ...

438. The Church in Antioch

Acts 11:19-30

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... their instruction, for he added nothing to them. He only urged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts (v. 23; cf. 15:32), that is, that they continue as they had begun, allowing nothing to shake them in their attachment to Jesus. The imperfect tense of the verb “to urge” (or encourage) implies that he remained in Antioch and that this was his theme for as long as he was there. Ever the encourager (4:36), he showed himself to be also a good man (a description unique in Acts) and full ...

439. Peter’s Miraculous Escape from Prison

Acts 12:1-19a

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... should be outside guarding the doors (cf. v. 10). Peter’s situation looked hopeless. Notice the emphasis on prison, soldiers, chains, sentries in verses 4 to 6. But while Peter lay in chains behind iron doors, the church was … praying … for him (v. 5). The imperfect tense in the Greek indicates that they made repeated prayer, to which Luke adds that they also made it earnestly (v. 5), the same word (though in a slightly different form) as that used in Luke 22:44 of Jesus’ prayer in the garden. It ...

440. Herod’s Death

Acts 12:19b-25

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... that caught the rays of the rising sun in a dazzling display) announced his good intentions toward the two cities. Their representatives (as we suppose) greeted this as the utterance of a god. Indeed, they may have kept this up as a chant (note the imperfect), on which Josephus comments: “He did not rebuke them, nor did he repudiate their impious flattery” (see disc. on 9:31). Josephus adds that Herod then saw an owl (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.10 has an “angel”), which he took to be an omen ...

441. The Return to Antioch in Syria

Acts 14:21-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... circumcision and the like that people would enter in and be called by his name, but simply through the door of faith in Jesus as Lord (cf. 11:18 and 20:21). In saying that the missionaries reported these things, Luke has used the verb in the imperfect. This may mean that the report was repeated as the two met with different groups scattered throughout the city. But the word church is in the singular. There may have been a number of groups meeting separately, but there was only one church. The final note is ...

442. Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

Acts 16:11-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... as people to be taught, we are again reminded of how important a part women play in the story of Acts by comparison (see disc. on 1:14). 16:14–15 At least one of these women was converted, though not necessarily at their first meeting. The imperfect tense of the verb “to hear” in verse 14 suggests that she heard the missionaries on more than one occasion. Her name was Lydia, and that was also the name of her country—though it no longer existed independently, but had long since been absorbed into the ...

443. Paul and Silas In Prison

Acts 16:16-40

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... this way, perhaps with no intention of doing so, they witnessed effectively to their fellow prisoners, some of whom may have been under sentence of death (see disc. on v. 27). The Greek verb implies that the prisoners gave them their closest attention, and the tense (imperfect) shows that the missionaries held it throughout (cf. Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 2:14; Phil. 4:6, 7). There is no suggestion that Paul and Silas prayed for their own release. Probably their prayers were of praise. 16:26 To the miracle of grace ...

444. In Corinth

Acts 18:1-17

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... from the Greek whether Silas and Timothy, on their arrival from Macedonia, found Paul devoting himself exclusively to preaching, or whether this was something he was able to do only after they had rejoined him. If the latter—and this seems the more likely, taking the imperfect tense to be inceptive: “he began to devote his whole time …”—it may mean that they had brought gifts for the support of his work (cf. 2 Cor. 11:9; Phil. 4:15). Luke’s description of this new phase is a striking one. NIV ...

445. Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos

Acts 18:18-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... that he understood it, was a great enthusiast for the faith. An expression is used that means literally “to boil in the spirit,” that is, his own human spirit, and so perhaps “to bubble over with enthusiasm.” This led him to speak and to teach (imperfects, indicating his habit) all that he knew about Jesus, though what he knew turned out to be incomplete. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord (this implies that there was some kind of gospel preaching in Egypt by about A.D. 50). However ...

446. The Riot in Ephesus

Acts 19:23-41

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... of the demos (Gk. ekklēsia), but their behavior belied the name, and in the following verses he reverts to “the crowd” (so the Greek of vv. 33, 35). Most of them did not even know why they were there, but in any case “kept on shouting” (imperfect) one thing or another. 19:33–34 One interested party did try to make its view heard, though how exactly Alexander fits into the picture is not clear. (Is he Alexander the metalworker of 2 Tim. 4:14f. and the heretical teacher of 1 Tim. 1:19f.?) There ...

447. Paul Arrested

Acts 21:27-36

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... to the steps, the crowd became increasingly violent, angry at seeing Paul snatched from their grasp. So violent were they that the soldiers had to carry Paul to safety with the crowd pressing after them, shouting all the while (present participle with the verb in the imperfect), “Away with him!” (to execution), as they had of Jesus in this very place some thirty years earlier (cf. Luke 23:18 and John 19:15, where the same verb is used; cf. also Acts 22:22). Additional Notes 21:28 And besides, he has ...

448. Paul the Roman Citizen

Acts 22:22-29

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... place” (21:28a), had been sufficiently borne out by what they had heard. So they took up again their cry, “Away with him,” reinforced now by the phrase “from the earth” (NIV Rid the earth of him). He’s not fit to live, they declared (v. 22)—the imperfect tense implies that this had been so in their opinion for a very long time. Their rage was given expression by their throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air (cf. 2 Sam. 16:13; Job 2:12; Rev. 18:19) and shouting (v. 23). In the ...

449. The Trial Before Festus

Acts 25:1-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... change of high priest meant no change of Jewish policy with regard to Paul. So, while Festus was in Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders told him about Paul and urgently requested him to grant a retrial in Jerusalem—both the word itself and the tense (imperfect) underline their importunity: “They kept on requesting” (v. 3). There may also have been a public demonstration (organized by the leaders?) in support of their plea (cf. v. 24; Luke 23:13ff.). It is not clear whether they were asking for Paul to be ...

450. The Storm

Acts 27:13-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... many days and so they were deprived of all means of estimating their position or even of determining with any certainty their direction (for of course they had no compass). As one day stretched into another all hope of deliverance “was being stripped” from them (imperfect passive). Passengers and crew alike settled into a state of despondency. 27:21–22 When matters were at their worst and they had gone a long time without food (v. 21)—a not uncommon result in those days of storm at sea, through the ...

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