Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4626 to 4650 of 4964 results

4626. Day of Disaster

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... and, of course, the temple on earth represents the heavenly temple that was always glorious. The hymnic introduction continues in a way that begins to turn toward the subject of the petition (another reason to think that hymn and petition belong together). Yahweh is called the hope of Israel, the one who can lead Israel from death to life. Those who turn their back on Yahweh, however, will be put to shame, the same verb found in verse 18 where Jeremiah asks God to put to shame his persecutors and to keep ...

4627. God Rejects Zedekiah’s Request

Jeremiah 21:1-14

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... oracle in response to an appeal from King Zedekiah, who sends Pashhur and a priest named Zephaniah (see Additional Notes) as his ambassadors. Now that his back is against the wall, the king, who has mistreated Jeremiah, asks him to pray to the Lord with the hope that the Lord will perform wonders and deliver them from the Babylonians, who, we soon learn (v. 4) are besieging the city. A king asking a prophet to intercede with the Lord in this kind of situation is not at all unusual. After all, the prophet ...

4628. A Letter to the Exiles

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... pray for one’s enemies who had just deported them. However, the command is not totally altruistic. The divine reasoning appeals to the exiles’ self-interest and once again indicates that their stay is not temporary. As Babylon prospers, so will they. Finally, God warns the exiles against the fraudulent hope offered by the false prophets. Interestingly, these prophets are not speaking a divinely-inspired message, but rather they are having or at least reporting dreams that the people want them to have ...

4629. Warning to Zedekiah

Jeremiah 34:1-7

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... sons to his staging area in Riblah in what is today Syria. He then killed the sons and afterward blinded the king. He then sent the king into exile in Babylon. We never hear about his end. Indeed, when the book of Kings wants to present a note of hope at the end of its historical narrative, it reports the release from prison of his predecessor Jehoiachin, taken into exile in 597 B.C. For some reason, we do not hear about Zedekiah. Perhaps he has already died in prison, as is reported by Jeremiah 52:8–11 ...

4630. Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll

Jeremiah 36:1-32

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... latter of which is dated to “early in the reign of Jehoiakim”). However, his restriction is not because he is imprisoned but because he is in hiding (v. 19). Baruch was to go to the temple and read the scroll in the presence of the people. The hope was that they would respond with repentance and beseech the Lord to spare them of the fate that their sins deserved. 36:8–10 Baruch followed Jeremiah’s instructions exactly and read the words of the Lord from the scroll to the people at the temple. (Some ...

4631. How the Gold Has Lost Its Luster

Lamentations 4:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... pictures Israelite soldiers in the city towers with the Babylonian army besieging the walls. They know their fate is sealed unless they get help from abroad. They look in the distance in the vain hope that Egypt will show up. Though once there was a rumor of their coming (Jer. 37), nothing ever came of their hope for help. 4:18–19 Tsade/Qof. Though their purported allies, the Egyptians, never came to help, those who pursued them, the Babylonians and their allies, were right on their steps. The result was ...

4632. Israel Punished and Restored

Hosea 2:2-23

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... several actions. We saw in 2:14–15 that God will lead Israel once again into the desert, “woo” her like a lover wooing his beloved, and lead her once again into the promised land, through the Valley of Achor that has been transformed into a “door of hope.” Now, as she enters the promised land, she will find all the fertility gods removed, and the cult purified of all syncretistic baal worship. 2:16–18 Verse 16 implies that Yahweh had been worshiped as a baal god. To call on the name of a God in ...

4633. Israel Unrepentant

Hosea 6:1--7:16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... a fire burning up a loaf of bread or like a fire devouring a city (cf. 8:14; Jer. 17:27; Amos 1 passim, etc.). In the frantic effort to save its own life in the international realm of empires, Israel relies first on one king and then on another, hoping with each successive ruler that its life will be made secure. But Israel does not look to the one who rules over empires and who is the giver of all life, verse 7. Thus, Israel’s political leaders are also called adulterers by the prophet, verse 4, for they ...

4634. Israel to Reap the Whirlwind

Hosea 8:1-14

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... beginning of the final line of verse 13 is emphasized, and the sentence reads in the Hebrew order: “They to Egypt shall return!” The meaning of that judgment has been a matter of debate among commentators. Does the return to Egypt mean that Israel’s only hope is to look to Egypt once more for help against the Assyrian invader (cf. 2 Kgs. 17:4)? That would scarcely be equivalent to God’s judgment. Does the line mean that the Israelites’ only recourse will be to flee to Egypt to escape the invading ...

4635. Punishment for Israel

Hosea 9:1--10:15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... of sinful human beings. Israel has chosen its own way and will reap the consequences. Its king will fall at the dawn of the battle-day, and its country will be no more. In the midst of such a devastating picture, we would not expect to find a word of hope for the future. Yet we must consider the fact that to wear a “yoke” is to be subject to guidance by a Master who holds the reins—in short, to be the subject of discipline (cf. Matt. 11:28–30), and discipline has as its object correction for the ...

4636. Rend Your Heart

Joel 2:12-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... God; nothing forces God to accept us back into his fellowship. Always we are totally dependent on the Lord of our lives; we can only wait for God’s action. As it is written: I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. (Ps. 130:5–6; the entire Psalm fits with the situation and thought in Joel) Additional Note 2:12 Declares the LORD: This is the prophetic formula, “Oracle ...

4637. A Lament and Call to Repentance

Amos 5:1-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... judgment is death. As Calvin remarks in his commentary on this passage’s picture of the silencing of those who speak the truth, “When licentiousness has arrived to this pitch, it is certain that the state of things is past recovery, and that there is no hope of repentance or of a better condition” (Calvin, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, p. 271). 5:14–15 Once again Amos reminds his hearers of the traditions embodied in the Yahweh faith of the past. In verses 4–5, they were reminded that they were to seek the ...

4638. Israel’s Restoration

Amos 9:11-15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... of Yahweh and go unpunished; otherwise Yahweh would not be the Lord. But human sin is never the last word. God has the final say. And because God is a good God of love, the final word is always one of hope and restoration and salvation. With God alone, however, rest all our hopes for salvation. Significantly, Amos 9:12 emphasizes that it is the Lord alone who will do these things. Enslaved to our sinful injustice and empty worship practices and proud claims that we can save ourselves, we cannot bring in the ...

4639. Jonah's Anger at the Lord's Compassion

Jonah 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... sends Jonah into a paroxysm of anger, verse 1. Jonah’s preaching has brought about the result that every prophet should hope for—repentance and transformation of life in those to whom the message of judgment has been announced. Jonah has been ... 3. Thus, like an angry parent rebuking a child, Jonah does not even bother to answer Yahweh’s question in verse 4. Instead, he hopes that Yahweh has gotten the point and will be convinced to return to the original judgment (cf. 3:10) and destroy Nineveh. So Jonah ...

4640. Israel Will Rise

Micah 7:8-13

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... has been indicted (6:1–8); its sins, specified by the sins of Jerusalem, have been set forth (6:9–16); Jerusalem has recognized and lamented those sins (7:1–7) and turned to Yahweh as its only possible savior (7:7). And in that turning lies Jerusalem’s hope and the certainty of its salvation (7:8–10), for whoever comes to the Lord will not be cast out (John 6:37). “As a father pities his children, / so the LORD pities whose who fear him” (Ps. 103:13). 7:8–10 Jerusalem, in its new trust in ...

4641. Clean Garments for the High Priest

Zechariah 3:1-10

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... other priests. The survival of the priestly line and their restoration to service in the temple are shown to Joshua and to Zechariah’s audience as men symbolic of things to come, especially God’s promise to bring my servant, the Branch. The audience of the book knows that messianic hopes had not been fulfilled in Zerubbabel. In this verse God answers the question posed in Psalm 89:49, “O Lord, where is your former great love, / which in your faithfulness you swore to David?” As the people wait in ...

4642. The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem

Zechariah 8:1-23

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... to Jerusalem. There will be a movement throughout the world. People from one city will go to another and urge the inhabitants to join in the pilgrimage. They will have two goals. The first will be to entreat the LORD, to ask God graciously to accept them. They may hope for forgiveness, rescue, and healing (as, e.g., in Exod. 32:11, 1 Kgs. 13:6; 2 Kgs. 13:6; Jer. 26:19). Daniel’s prayer defines the way to entreat the Lord, “by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth” (Dan. 9:13). The ...

4643. The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

Zechariah 13:7-9

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... fires of judgment will smelt out the dross—whatever would keep them from returning to God. The positive product, the silver and gold, are people who will call on the Lord’s name. To address the Lord in praise or petition is an act of faith and hope. Elijah, for example, called on Yahweh’s name in the contest with the Baal prophets. When the Lord answered by fire, the people acknowledged that the Lord is God (1 Kgs. 18:24, 36–39). The refining fire that verse 9 prophesies will also inspire faith. The ...

4644. Blemished Sacrifices and Admonition for the Priests

Malachi 1:6-14, Malachi 2:1-9

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... Malachi’s priestly audience (vv. 8–9) do not fit the commandment form either. Yet God has sent this mitswah so that the covenant with Levi will “continue” to exist (v. 4). In spite of the judgment the priests currently suffer, this mitswah offers them hope for the future. If they will minister as priests according to God’s command (v. 7), then the covenant with Levi will continue. It is in this sense that this passage functions as admonition, or command. 2:3 Rebuke: The LXX translation, “banish ...

4645. Timeout at Tiberias

John 21:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... to me--you know, like, ‘You keep hanging in there,’ or something like that. But all he did was look at me, and then he said in his little kid’s voice, ‘You stink!’” (1) Out of the mouths of babes . . . that’s not the kind of encouragement you hope for at a moment like that, is it? “You Stink!” I want you to keep that story in mind as we look at our lesson today from John’s Gospel. The disciples of Jesus are demoralized. They’re ready to quit. That might surprise us. After all, this is ...

4646. An Army Officer Deeply Concerned

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... ran to get his brother Peter. Four men removed tiles from the roof of a house where Jesus was speaking and lowered a man through the ceiling so that Jesus could touch him. Do you know people like that--people with that kind of concern, that kind of compassion? Hopefully you are that kind of person. There are many people like that still around in our world today. They will tell you that loving people is its own reward. That is the second thing we need to see. You will never get closer to heaven than when you ...

4647. Blessed Are the Believers

John 20:19-31

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... to see the other stars. On a very dark night, however, we can see beautiful stars in all their glory. That has given a lot of people hope. The darker the night, we say, the brighter the stars. I read recently that even on a bright day, however, if you go down into a ... like I am in a deep well and can't get out. But wait. If I look up, I can see the stars shining. There is still hope. God is with me. Things are going to be all right. So, if things are not going real well for you right now-- at school, at home ...

4648. Living Smart

Luke 10:38-42

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: A picture of a caterpillar, butterfly or cocoon Good morning, boys and girls. I hope you are enjoying the summertime. But even more than that I hope you are looking forward to going back to school in the Fall. We are really lucky to have schools, aren't we? Schools help our minds to grow just like sunshine, food and water help our bodies grow. I read somewhere that a butterfly never grows. Did you know that. ...

4649. Jesus Talks with a Samaritan Woman

John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... of a whole family. Such things occur in the book of Acts (16:15, 33–34; 18:8; cf. 11:14) and at the end of this very journey in John’s Gospel when Jesus reaches Galilee (4:53), but in Samaria it is not to be. Perhaps in the hope of receiving the living water immediately, the woman tells Jesus that she has no husband. Jesus ironically commends her for telling the truth (vv. 17, 18) and so exposes her adultery (cf. Mark 10:12). The change of subject is not so abrupt as it appears. The narrative assumes a ...

4650. The Last Day of the Feast

John 7:45--8:11, John 8:12-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... , Sukkah 4.9–5.4). On the last day, when these rituals had ceased, Jesus proclaims himself the true source of water and of light—for Jerusalem and for all the world. In 8:12 he again extends an invitation and a promise, but again the note of hope is submerged in a context of rejection and judgment (8:12–20). The parallelism between 7:37–38 and 8:12 suggests that the scene of the action has not changed. The smaller units comprising 7:37–8:20, loose-knit though they may be, are legitimately treated ...

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