Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 26 to 50 of 1285 results

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

William L. Self

... in our desire to hurry up by the advances in technology. For instance, from the year Christ died until the year 1900, the fund of available information for people to know doubled one time. From 1900 to 1950, it doubled again. From 1950 to 1960, it doubled, and it has doubled every two years from 1960 to 1990. It will continue to double every six months until the end of this century. This has created an instant culture that is impatient with having to wait for anything or ever being out of control. Each ...

27. The Talents - A Parable of Stewardship

Matthew 25:14-30

Drama

Robert A. Lehmann

... (money) wisely! Solo 1: Yes, but he had a lot more to work with ... Solo 3: He used his wisely! Narrator: The man with the two talents ($2,000) went right to work too and earned another two talents ($2,000). Servant 2 (Solo 2): That wasn't difficult ... to double the talents ... to serve the master. Solo 3: He used his wisely also. Solo 1: Just luck, that's all! He could have lost it all. Solo 3: He used his wisely. Narrator: But the man who received the one talent ($1,000) dug a hole in the ground and ...

28. Going, Going, Gone

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Curtis Lewis

... resolved to remain Elijah's faithful servant to the end. There is a problem area in this narrative in regards to the "double portion" that Elisha requested of his master. It must be understood that Elisha is not asking to be twice as powerful as Elijah. His ... it." Because of the many miracles associated with the life of Elisha, it is safe to assume that he did receive the double portion he had requested. Elijah's departure was spectacular. Not only was there the whirlwind, which was anticipated, but there also ...

29. The Christian and the World

James 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... those who disobey God (Pss. 1:1–5; 51:15). 4:9 Although the word grieve is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, a related word does occur in Rom. 3:16; 7:24; Rev. 3:17. Hermas Similitudes 1.3 uses “foolish and double-minded and miserable man,” combining double-minded and miserable (grieving). Mourning and wailing are frequent in the Old Testament: Ps. 69:10–11; Isa. 32:11; Jer. 4:8; Amos 5:16; Mal. 3:14. Here there is anticipatory mourning in the face of judgment (cf. Amos 8:10). Laughter and ...

30. The Coming of Zion's King

Zechariah 9:9-13

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... and homecoming is a captivity which no one would wish to escape—except by having that hope fulfilled. The Lord announces fulfillment of the double promise in Isaiah 61:7, “my people will receive a double portion . . . they will inherit a double portion in their land.” God will restore (the hipʿil of shwb) twice as much to Zion. This context implies that her double portion will consist of people. Jews in Diaspora, the prisoners of hope, will return and fill the land. In this way God will reverse ...

31. Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... ” that is identified as “my people,” and 52:9 will confirm this. We can assume that the prophet’s audience is in Babylon, as this is the impression that will emerge as these chapters unfold, but throughout chapters 40–55 the poems have a double focus. They (probably) speak to people in Babylon, but they often speak about Jerusalem or to Jerusalem (esp. in chs. 49–55). The focus of the Babylonian community lies there. The city’s destiny is their destiny. They cannot sing Yahweh’s song in a ...

32. The Sacrifices of the Sacred Calendar

Num 28:1–29:40

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... quart of oil/fermented drink (NIVmg). instituted at Mount Sinai. See Exodus 29:38–41. 28:9–10 On the Sabbath day . . . in addition to the regular burnt offering. See comments at Leviticus 23:3 and at Numbers 28:3–7 above. The regular burnt offering is doubled on the Sabbath to sanctify it. All the other holy day offerings are in addition to the daily burnt offering. 28:11 On the first of every month. The first day of the month is marked by the blowing of the silver trumpets (see Num. 10:10; Ps ...

33. Epilogue

Job 42:7-17

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... test and the test formula consistently results in the restoration of the one tested. The restoration, in a sense, resets the clock back to the pre-test situation. Since God established his freedom in the theophany and Job confirmed it in his concession, the double portion can only be the consequence of God’s freedom and grace. God is not required by any sort of divine retributive mathematics to restore to Job the precise number of possessions he had at the beginning—such an act would have suggested that ...

34. Sword of Truth

Luke 2:22-40 · Hebrews 4:12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... “rhomphaia,” a huge, long, sharp, thick, spear-like, ancient sword made by the Thracians. The sword was infamous for its deadly thrust, often to the heart. The sword was so long that one typically had to wear it over the shoulder to carry it in its sheath. Double-edged and used in close combat, the sword acted more as a spear or impaling lance than a sword for slashing. The iron rhomphaia was more lethal than a Roman sword and was feared for its power and reach. If twisted, it could slice the heart in ...

35. The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... and returns. He calls together his three subordinates and asks them to give an accounting. The first two report that they have doubled the original capital. He commends each of them and assures them of tenure in partnership with him. The third comes forward in ... Christ need to grow up to the fullness of maturity in him. Points to Ponder 1. A challenge to consider is whether we can double the return on the talents given us. That takes some risk in trying to use them. It also takes time and may seem that ...

36. The Witch of Endor

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... When the battle’s lost and won, That will be ere the set of sun. Where the place? Upon the heath There to meet with Macbeth.1 Later in the play we have the incantation and recipe for the brew which will cast a spell over the Scottish Thane: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat and slips of yew Sliver’d in ...

37. It’s as Simple as That

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... calling. We do not need divine assistance to grasp and appreciate Elisha’s task, which was to weave the meaning of the revelation into attitudes and actions which everyday faithfulness demanded. It was into the context of Israel’s daily life that he worked his double share of the spirit. He lived out the covenant relationship with himself, God, his people, and the nation. It’s as simple as that. In the Old Testament river crossings are often used to separate two estates of life, the new from the old ...

38. Trusting the Truth

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... over there." (4) James knew that to find the light, we had to seek wisdom from God--not darkness from human beings. It is God''s perspective that leads us to the light. We must be willing to go. James is right in verses 6, 7, and 8: a doubting, double-minded person will never find the light while looking for the keys to life in the darkness. Second, God''s wisdom leads us into what is right. Unlike riches and positions of high places, which will all fade away in our life, God''s wisdom and ways will not. As ...

39. Look Carefully How You Walk

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. (7:18) There's no question about it -- Wesley was a Christian, yet he was not a Christian. Hold on Preacher, I can hear you say. Stop the double talk. How can you say Wesley was a Christian and he was not a Christian. What sort of talk is that? Have you heard the story of the young man who began his work in a grocery store? About the second day that he was there, a rather elderly woman ...

40. The Bent-over Woman

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... benders on the sidewalks of a Galilean village. Addictions bent people over 2,000 years ago, just as it happens today. Maybe the woman is bent over by some problem over which she has no control. Perhaps she is poor. Abject poverty is a burden capable of bending you double. In Jesus' time the poor were legion. Maybe the burden of poverty bent that woman over. Jesus had compassion for the down and out of his time. On the other hand, Jesus loved the up and in as well as the down and out. Jesus was a friend to ...

41. When in Joy, Enjoy (Fruit of the Spirit: Joy)

Galatians 5:22

Sermon

James Merritt

... joy only comes when we are productive in our lives, or, bearing fruit. This researcher hired a man—a logger. He said: "I will pay you double what you get paid in the logging camp if you will simply take the blunt end of this ax and just pound this log all ... chair, some sunglasses, and a coca cola, would that fill him full of joy? No. What if you bought him a brand new wardrobe of double breasted fins and people skin shoes, would that fill him full of joy? No. Do you know how to fill that fish full of joy? ...

42. Build a Bridge and Get Over It

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the head at the same time and still be able to function. Or to paraphrase James M. Cain's classic noir thriller, "The Postmodernist Always Rings Twice." Postmodern pluralism has created a world of double takes, a world that faces in at least two directions at the same time. The patron saint for the postmodern era might as well be Leonardo da Vinci, who sketched with his right hand while he wrote with his left simultaneously. Poet W.N. Herbert has ...

43. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

... drew us with delight, The men of rathe and riper years: The feeble soul, a haunt of fears, Forgot his weakness in thy sight. On thee the loyal-hearted hung, The proud was half disarm’d of pride, Nor cared the serpent at thy side To flicker with his double tongue. The stern were mild when thou wert by, The flippant put himself to school And heard thee, and the brazen fool Was soften’d, and he knew not why; While I, thy nearest, sat apart, And felt thy triumph was as mine; And loved them more, that they ...

44. Overseers and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... reflect the theme of humiliation and exaltation. Thus the great mystery of the godliness we believe in, Paul sings, has to do with Christ’s own humiliation and exaltation and the church’s ongoing witness to him who is now the exalted, glorified one. This double focus, especially the emphasis on the ongoing ministry to the nations, returns to a theme sounded earlier in the creedal words of 1:15 and 2:4–6. But the question still remains: Why this hymn with these emphases at this point in the letter ...

45. Manna and Quail

Exodus 16:1-36

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... gather twice as much on the sixth day. This is based on v. 22, where it says plainly that they gathered twice the amount. Rabbinic tradition interprets it to say, “it will prove to be double,” meaning the single amount gathered on the sixth day will miraculously double. In v. 22 they interpret “double” to mean that it doubled after it was gathered, which is the reason for the leaders’ visit to Moses (see comment on v. 22). 16:7 After the Lord’s oath about the “glory of the LORD” filling the ...

46. Ehud

Judges 3:12-30

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... on his hand because of a wordplay in Hebrew. Benjamin is ben yemin (“son of [my] right hand”) and “left-handed” is ’itter yad yemino (“bound [in] his right hand”). In other words, Ehud was a non-right-handed son of [a] right hand. Wordplay and double entendre also play a key role in the following scene. The full impact of the Hebrew words is lost in translation, so I offer my translation: “The Israelites sent by his hand a present for Eglon, king of Moab.” At this point, in an aside, the ...

47. The Year of Canceling Debts

Deuteronomy 15:1-11

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... and gift, and on the negative basis of God’s moral judgment against one who is hostile and grudging to the needy. Furthermore, the rhetoric of the passage is stylistically emphatic. Hebrew gives weight to an imperative or a promise by a double verb form: infinitive plus imperfect (e.g., “giving you shall give,” i.e., “you must surely/freely/generously give.”). There is a greater density of this emphatic construction in Deuteronomy 15 than in any other chapter in the book. English translations have ...

48. Prologue to the Law of the Temple: The Lord Comes Home

Ezekiel 40:1--43:12

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other (v. 19). The faces of the ox and the eagle must then be on the back, unrepresented, side. Once more, Ezekiel enters the long room of the temple. This time, he notes the double doors leading into the main room and closing off the Most Holy Place. Both are carved like the paneling with reliefs of cherubim and palm trees (vv. 24–25). 1 Kings 6:31–32 states that Solomon’s temple also had olivewood doors. Chronicles describes the doorway into ...

49. “You Laugh at Them, Lord; You Scoff at All Those Nations”

Psalm 59:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... in fact can damage our self-image and our public image and harm us at the core of our being. David describes them as “swords” (59:7) and the “snarling” of dogs (59:6). To get into the substance of the psalm, we should draw attention to the double refrain of Psalm 59, one negative and one positive. The negative refrain (59:6 and 14) functions in the psalm to sound the theme of the harm that evil can do. In fact, David suggests that the enemies snarl and growl at their prey, daring God to do anything ...

50. Epilogue

Job 42:7-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... data. When Job prays on behalf of the friends, God restores Job with twice as much as before. Brothers, sisters, and former friends all make their way to comfort and console him, each one giving him “a piece of silver” and a gold ring. Job’s flocks are doubled (1:3; 42:12), reparation elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for one who has lost property through theft or a negligent trustee (Exod. 22:4, 7, 9). A new family of “seven sons and three daughters” is born to Job, the same as in the beginning (1:2 ...

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