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Showing 451 to 475 of 609 results

451. The Day of Atonement: Preparation

Leviticus 16:1-34

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... Lord’s table” (1 Cor. 10:21), a reminder of his invisible presence serving as host. The rites of baptism and the Lord’s Supper together underscore the importance of Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, presence, and second coming, each cherished, foundational doctrines of the faith. There, as here, elaborate ritual underscores that something is theologically important. The Scapegoat: A major crux of interpretation in Leviticus 16 is the meaning of the term ‘aza’zel (see NIVmg) in verses 8 ...

452. Lamps, Cakes, and the Blasphemer

Lev 24:1-23

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... the community assembled is the common executioner of the sentence. Offenses which entail this mode of execution must therefore be of a character that, either in theory or in fact, “offend” the corporate community or are believed to compromise its most cherished values to the degree that the commission of the offense places the community itself in jeopardy. . . . Most if not all of these offenses would, in modern juristic terms, be categorized as “victimless crimes.” They are at the same time crimes ...

453. The Census of the Twelve Tribes

Num 1:1–2:54

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... reasonable. A fully satisfactory solution to this problem remains to be found. Teaching the Text 1. God’s place among his people must be protected. Israel literally camps around God. The tribes surround the tabernacle or tent of meeting to protect and cherish it. Clearly, it is the most valuable of all the Israelites’ possessions because it symbolizes God’s dwelling among them and the values that motivate them represented by the laws stored there. The central location of the tabernacle is a reminder ...

454. Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Obedience

Num 15:1-41

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... work”? Earlier, lighting a fire had been determined to be a violation of the Sabbath deserving execution (Exod. 35:2–3). 15:35–36 the whole assembly . . . outside the camp. Since this act has offended the corporate community’s most cherished values, threatening to bring that community under divine wrath, the whole community participates in the stoning.4Execution is carried out outside the camp to avoid defiling the camp. 15:37–41 These verses discuss tassels attached to garments as signs of ...

455. Keeping Promises

Numbers 30:1-16

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... be your wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon her your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keeping yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live? To this the groom affirms, “I will.” The minister then asks the bride similar questions, and she affirms, “I ...

456. Séance in Endor: Bad News from Beyond the Grave

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... heavy that it could no longer hear. . . . Many and many a man is crying to God in vain, simply because of sin in his life. It may be some sin in the past that has been unconfessed and unjudged, it may be some sin in the present that is cherished, very likely is not even looked upon as sin; but there the sin is, hidden away somewhere in the heart or in the life, and God “will not hear.”8 God’s unconditional decrees are reliable. See also the “Illustrating the Text” sections of 1 Samuel 4 and 15 ...

457. “The Lord Most High Is Awesome, the Great King over All the Earth”

Psalm 47:1-9

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... same time. . . . The question is not whether a particular liturgical form is used, but whether a God-centered as distinct from a man-centered perspective is maintained—whether, in other words, the sense that man exists for God rather than God for man is cherished or lost. We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian heart, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the psalms, and that the habit of celebrating the greatness and graciousness of God yields an endless flow of ...

458. Daniel Interprets the Dream and Confronts Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel 4:19-27

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... to be prophets, in the sense that we proclaim God’s truth to others, whether within the community of faith or without. Champion of the American civil rights movement, beloved pastor, and social activist Martin Luther King Jr. has been cherished for decades for sharing his “dream” as a man committed to speaking the truth in love. Bravely protesting the injustice of racial inequality surrounding him, King exemplified the vital importance of calling others to repentance, whether believers or unbelievers ...

459. Ancient of Days and Son of Man

Daniel 7:1-14

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... We can be confident that God’s ultimate victory is assured. Human Experience: Most people do not want to know the final score of an important sporting event or the ending to a suspenseful novel before they watch or read it. Rather, we cherish the discovery, excitement, and drama of the journey, because we do these things for entertainment. But our experience with real life is different, especially when it involves the darkness and intensity of human evil and global strife. Will countries or religions that ...

460. Claiming Hope

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

... they lived by an order so radical that they thought it would be a sin to go to the bathroom on the Sabbath. Certainly many people were restless and eager to discover a new possibility. John came promising a new possibility. His preaching revived the people's long-cherished hope for the coming of the promised messiah. What about us? Would we have gone out to hear John preaching his message of hope? Are we hungry for hope? Frankly, some of us probably are not. Either we feel that we have all we want or we ...

461. Jacob Returns to Bethel

Gen 35:1-29

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... of clothes (symbolizing spiritual renewal). Even the rings in their ears are removed. Wherever Jacob goes the power of God is manifest (35:5). Jacob now renames Bethel “El Bethel” (“God of the House of God”). More important than Bethel as a site of cherished memory is the remembrance of the God who met him there. Last, God repeats Jacob’s new name, Israel. This is not another tradition parallel to 32:28. Why then repeat it? May the repetition indicate that it is only when Jacob is reconciled to ...

462. Balaam's Donkey

Num 22:21–24:25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... to pronounce in the hearing of Balak. Balak becomes progressively more angry, but Balaam keeps repeating his escape clause. Balaam’s inspired blessings do not say a negative word about the Israelites. To outsiders they are the chosen people whom God cherishes, blesses, and protects from curses. Their problems are strictly “in-house.” Balaam’s first blessing is short (23:7–10). Its thrust is that he cannot curse the Israelites, a separate nation of numerous people, because God has not cursed them ...

463. Nathan Rebukes David

2 Samuel 12:1-31

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... against the prophetic office. Moreover, the analogy Nathan uses in his story of the rich man who steals the poor man’s sheep is just the sort of behavior Samuel warned is characteristic of kings: kings are takers, and they will appropriate what you cherish (see 1 Sam. 8:10–18). Thus this passage betrays the same critique of kings and advances the image of prophets as dominant over kings. In the years that follow, David continues to reap the consequences of his sins with Bathsheba and Uriah, starting ...

464. Jeremiah versus the People

Jeremiah 26:1-24

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... of the judges (1 Samuel 1–4). It was destroyed, likely by the Philistines, in the middle of the eleventh century, more than four hundred years before Jeremiah. The threat is against both the prized three-hundred-year-old temple and the cherished city of Jerusalem. For a nation that just lost its revered king, Josiah, and had been subjugated by Egypt, further disaster seemed intolerable. Priests and prophets, whose livelihood depended on the temple, are enraged (26:7–16). Promoters of “civil religion ...

465. Conversion and Call of Paul

Acts 9:1-19a

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... they fail to “see” the meaning behind such an event. Second, to Saul this encounter is undoubtedly a conversion experience, although not in the modern sense of changing religion. Instead of abandoning his past, he finds fulfillment of the torah that he cherishes in Jesus himself (24:14–16). This experience of encountering Christ affects both his behavior and his understanding of the God that he has attempted to serve. Third, this is also a call narrative, as through Ananias Saul is called to be ...

466. Final Greetings

2 Timothy 4:9-18, 2 Timothy 4:19-22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the kindhearted nearness of God to his people. Paul endures the ignobility of being known as a criminal because his own Savior’s love took him to a criminal’s cross. In life or in death, God’s people can know that he is close by them and that he cherishes them.

467. The Biggest Prayer Ever Prayed Under Heaven

John 17:1-11

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free" (Luke 4:18). The priest always begins his time of prayer with a personal confession of his own sins. He knows that the psalmist says: "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18). Priesthood secondly demands upward communication. The office of priest is God's gracious provision for a people who need someone who can advocate for the people when he comes into God's presence ...

468. Humanity Reaching Out

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

... . The slaughter of the innocent children dramatizes something that is an all-too real aspect of life in our world. When the soldiers left, a community of people was left crying out in grief and in anger and probably thinking that they would never dare to cherish hope again. If we are sensitive to what goes on around us, we must sometimes feel that way too. It is the result of the inhumanity that always seems to be at work to destroy everything truly human and everything genuinely divine among us. The Bible ...

469. Something Different

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

... The first verse says "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3). There is an attitude many people want more than anything else that might be called being "rich in spirit." This is very different from just being financially fortunate. It is a cherished arrogance that does not know how to be grateful. It is always boasting that it deserves everything that it gets. It delights in looking down on others who have less as if they are inferior. The "put downs" this arrogance communicates can have a destructive ...

470. Death, Risk, and Confidence

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... beyond this experience. We have no more physical or material power with which to work at such a moment. If there is anything more, it is up to another, and the question arises: "Does another power exist at all, and if so, is it the sort of power that cherishes individuals and would want or would be able to sustain such spirits and enable them to live on in other realms?" The moment of death is just like the moment of birth in terms of who is there to receive and nurture and develop these "bare selves" who ...

471. John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Luke 3:1-20

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... can create for himself a people who will love and obey him. John’s words strike at the very heart of the presumption held by many of the religious of Israel, and because of this they provide a fitting introduction for Jesus, whose teachings will likewise explode cherished but erroneous views. John’s statement that the ax is already at the root of the trees (v. 9a) not only points to the urgency of the moment, but recalls popular prophetic imagery in which judgment is also in view (see Isa. 6:13; 10:33 ...

472. Submission to the Authorities

Romans 13:1-7

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... duties also accomplish the good (the word for “right” is in Greek the same word for “good” in 12:9–21) and thus fulfill the rule of agapē. Calvin was surely correct that obedience to magistrates is not the least important way by which to cherish peace and preserve love of others (Romans, pp. 484–85). 13:1–5 The question under consideration is a practical one: what ought to be the attitude of believers toward governing authorities? At the outset we must note the obvious: the apostle was not ...

473. The Lord's Supper

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... praise. If so, Paul’s remarks indicate that unity is essential and unity without diversity is meaningless. To bring shame to those who have nothing is to express disdain, even if unintentionally, for the church of God. One might conclude by contrast that to cherish God’s church would lead one to honor the less fortunate or that to bring honor to those who have nothing would be an expression of concern for God’s church. As Paul compares and contrasts matters in Corinth, the reader finds him teaching ...

474. Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... , not the experiences themselves. The situation seems to be that the Corinthians are taking spiritual gifts as the grounds for comparison among themselves, and that is leading to ranking of gifts and boasting. Among the Corinthians the flamboyant gifts are more cherished and more highly esteemed. Remarkably, some people in Corinth seem to have become so elevated in their spirituality that they had no use for, and even expressed disdain for, the all-too-human Jesus who suffered the disgrace of dying on ...

475. God’s Revelation in the Skies and the Scriptures

Psalm 19:1-14

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... more valuable than gold and that warn Yahweh’s servant. They lead him finally to petition Yahweh’s forgiveness and to own Yahweh as his Redeemer. Yahweh’s revelation leads not merely to awe and fear of natural powers, nor to legalistic religion, but to a relationship so personal and cherished that one’s desire is simply to be pleasing in Yahweh’s sight.

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