Dictionary: Rest
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Sermon
King Duncan
We live in a world that canonizes celebrity. It no longer matters how much a person has accomplished or how much they have contributed to society. All you have to do to become famous in today’s world is to keep yourself in front of the media. We have people, it’s often noted, who are famous simply for being famous. People like Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, for example. They became so famous that they starred in their own reality show “The Simple Life.” Before that, says one critic, Paris Hilton did ...

Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
Israel’s Loss of the Stuff of Life (9:1-4): Some commentators would regard 9:1–9 as the first complete unit in this chapter. Others would point to 9:1–6. Judging on the basis of rhetorical criticism, it seems best to divide the chapter into five separate oracles: verses 1–4, 5–6, 7–9, 10–14, 15–17. What we have here are several oracles, strung together by the redactor/disciple of Hosea on the basis of the common theme of the loss of vitality. In this instance, however, the beginnings and endings of the ...

Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
Jesus’ solitary escape from those who would make him king provides an additional reason for a detail in the synoptic Gospels that is only partially explained. After the feeding “Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray” (Mark 6:45–46; cf. Matt. 14:22–23). John’s Gospel suggests that he also “he went up on a mountainside” to prevent a kidnap attempt! In similar fashion, Mark and ...

Sermon
Charley Reeb
“On April 3rd, 1843 there were scores of believers in the Northeast who were awaiting the end of the world. They all followed a New York evangelist named William Miller. They were called “Millerites.” Journalists had a field day. Reportedly some disciples were on mountaintops, hoping for a head start to heaven. Others were in graveyards, planning to ascend in union with their departed loved ones. Some high society ladies clustered together outside town to avoid entering God's holy kingdom amid the common ...

Understanding Series
Gerald H. Wilson
Opening Criticism Bildad’s speech clearly falls into two major segments: the opening response caustically directed to Job (18:1–4); and a longer wisdom rumination or admonition concerning the ultimate destruction of the wicked (18:5–21). The commentators variously divide the latter section into subsections, but in my opinion no particular division is more persuasive than another. The discussions of Clines, Job 1–20, pp. 407–8, and Whybray, Job, pp. 89–91, however, are particularly helpful. 18:1 The heat of ...

Understanding Series
William Nelson
The King Becomes a Beast-Man and Then Recovers: In terms of form, chapter 4 starts out as a letter from King Nebuchadnezzar addressed to all people everywhere. It begins in the first person with praise to God (4:1–3). Next, the king relates in his own voice the story of his dream (4:4–18). Then the account shifts to the third person for Daniel’s interpretation (4:19–27) and for the narrative of how the dream was fulfilled (4:28–33). Finally, the text reverts back to the first person as Nebuchadnezzar ...

Sermon
April Yamasaki
Over the years, many people have speculated about the end of the world and the end of time. Will there be a great war? A great earthquake? Will there be a sudden rapture where the faithful suddenly vanish as Hal Lindsay once predicted in The Late Great Planet Earth? Will it be as Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye describe in their best-selling Left Behind series? Would the end come in 2011 as American broadcaster Harold Camping predicted? We know now that he was wrong. Would the end come in 2012 as some ...

Sermon
Lori Wagner
Story Lectionary for Post Resurrection Week One: Hebrew Testament Connections: Genesis: The Story of Noah and the Mourning of Methuselah Genesis: The Sealing of the Garden Psalm of Jonah and/or Psalm 98 Psalm 30 Prayers: The Kaddish and the Tziduk Hadin Song of Moses (Exodus 15) Song of Judah (Isaiah 26) Gospel of John: Jesus’ First Appearances to His Disciples in a Locked Room The Scripture in Story: “Disciples in Hiding” --the Good News Witness as told by John Early in the morning, on the first day of ...

Sermon
Lori Wagner
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. Malachi 4:2 Props: Prayer Shawl or Tallit (with Tzizit) or Cloak/Diver’s helmet Have you ever had the opportunity to take or watch a scuba diving lesson? What happens is this: a group of students, young and old, listen as the instructor has them practice fitting on the scuba helmet. Of course the helmet is part of the breathing tank apparatus, which supplies them with oxygen down below the surface of the water. You can’t watch this without ...

Luke 10:25-37, Genesis 48:1-22
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, I spent some time this week investigating the whole chicken and road dilemma and here are some of the best explanations I’ve found: Machiavelli: The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The ends of crossing the road justify whatever motive there was. Thomas de Torquemada: Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out. Timothy Leary: Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take. John Locke: Because he was ...

Sermon
King Duncan
Sir Ernest Shackleton was a celebrated explorer during the first part of the 20th century. In his writings he describes some of the tasks he and his companions faced in preparing to return from an expedition to the South Pole. They knew they would have to leave some possessions behind. He writes that he was profoundly impressed with the things his companions considered important, as contrasted with the things they threw away. For example, they took their money out their pockets and left it behind. Even ...

Sermon
John R. Brokhoff
Late in the evening before his little son’s birthday, a father was trying to put together a complicated toy as a birthday present. He was not making very good progress. There were a lot of parts in that shipping carton. He realized that he should have begun this days ago, but he had left it until the last hour. Yet he had confidence that he could complete the job with his mechanical knowledge. In his haste, he cut his hand badly on a sharp corner, and it bled profusely until bandaged. When he had finished ...

Mk 4:12-16, 22-26 · Heb 9:11-15 · Ex 24:3-8 · Ps 126
Sermon Aid
Russell F. Anderson
COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Exodus 24:3-8 After Moses and the elders commune with the Lord on the mountain, Moses builds an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars of stone, representing the twelve tribes. He assembles the people for a covenant ceremony. The people agreed to obey the Lord's commands as delivered by Moses. In witness to the covenant between God and the people, Moses ordered that many beasts be sacrificed. He took half the blood and dashed it against the altar, representing God's ...

Sermon
Robert Beringer
A Japanese legend says a pious Buddhist monk died and went to heaven. He was taken on a sightseeing tour and gazed in wonder at the lovely mansions built of marble and gold and precious stones. It was all so beautiful, exactly as he pictured it, until he came to a large room that looked like a merchant's shop. Lining the walls were shelves on which were piled and labeled what looked like dried mushrooms. On closer examination, he saw they were actually human ears. His guide explained that these were the ...

Sermon
Alton F. Wedel
When Jesus came to Galilee, he began his preaching with the message, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And the expectations of the people soared to heights not known since Solomon. They had been oppressed, depressed, distressed, and had been waiting for the day when from their midst a hero would arise to lay a left hook on the jaw of the hated Roman Empire, restore the glory of the dim and distant yesteryear, and make those good things happen that the prophets had foretold. The land should ...

Sermon
Leonard Mann
"Among those who are born of women ..." If you are thinking of the human race, this is a rather inclusive statement; I can’t think of very many people it leaves out! And this is a statement of Jesus as he offers a summa cum laude of highest praise to one of his associates in the dissemination of truth and light. He says, "Among those who are born of women, there has not arisen a greater prophet than John the Baptizer" (Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28). What was it that was so great about John - this son of ...

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:1-4
Sermon
Phil Thrailkill
It was an incredible military breakthrough. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Joe Rochefort broke the Japanese codes. From an intelligence base on Oahu, he predicted an attack on Midway Island for June 3, 1942. Because of Rochefort's skill, the United States surprised the Japanese Navy with its first defeat in 350 years. Four carriers were lost, one cruiser, 2500 men, 322 aircraft, and the best of their pilots. The tide turned in the Pacific; Japan never recovered momentum. Commander ...

Sermon
James Merritt
Mark Twain once said this about the Bible: "I have no problem with those parts of the Bible I don't understand. It's those parts of the Bible I do understand that gives me fits." The passage that we are going to study certainly fits into that category. This passage illustrates something I bet most of you have never thought about before. One of the easiest things in the world to do is to become a Christian. It is ridiculously easy. All you have to do is confess you are a sinner, repent of your sin, believe ...

Sermon
James Merritt
There was a young boy who wanted to go down to the lake and fish, and his mother asked him to take his little sister along. Well, he protested vigorously. He said, "Mama, the last time she came with me I didn't catch a single fish." The mother said, "Well, I will talk to her and I promise this time she won't make any noise." The boy said, "It wasn't the noise Mom, she ate all my bait." I have come to the conclusion that there are basically four reasons why people do not catch fish: (1) Some people are ...

1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Sermon
James Merritt
At a riding stable where horses could be rented, the following sign was posted: "We have fast horses for folks who like to ride fast. We have slow horses for folks who like to ride slow. We have big horses for big folks and little horses for little folks and for those who have never ridden horses before we have horses that have never been ridden." That sign reminded me of something that I did many years ago that I am going to confess to today. There is a side of me that many of you do not know about and ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
It’s something for a commoner from rural Mississippi to be in the presence of royalty, but I want you to know I was there. I shook hands with Prince Philip. And my wife Jeri was standing beside the Bishop of Kenya, when he was introduced formally to the Queen of England. It was the occasion of the reopening of Wesley’s Chapel in London in 1980. It was a great occasion and people from all over the world, Methodists from all over the world had come for that exciting event. I’ve never experienced anything ...

Sermon
King Duncan
Greetings on this Mother’s Day. Someone has made a list of nine things a Mother would never say. See if your Mom would ever say these things: 1. “How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?” Anybody? 2. “Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too.” 3. “Just leave all the lights on . . . it makes the house look more cheery.” 4. “Let me smell that shirt Yeah, it’s good for another week.” 5. “Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I’ll be glad to feed and walk him every day.” 6. “Well, if Timmy’s mom ...

Matthew 18:15-20
Sermon
Wayne Brouwer
Thomas Browne said that "the vices we scoff at in others laugh at us from within ourselves." More than any other relational failure this is true of hurt and vengeance. When the great nineteenth-century Spanish General, Ramon Narvaez, lay dying in Madrid, a priest was called in to give him last rites. "Have you forgiven your enemies?" the padre asked. "Father," confessed Narvaez, "I have no enemies. I shot them all." Too often that is the story of our lives, and Jesus knows it. Lewis Smedes wrote a book we ...

Understanding Series
Norman Hillyer
Respect for Authority 2:13 What living the Christian life entails is now spelled out in some practical detail. Peter applies the admonition Submit yourselves to a series of relationships: to civil government (vv. 13–17), to slavery (vv. 18–20), to Christ himself (vv. 21–25), and to marriage (3:1–7). The relationship of Christians to the state was one which soon became problematic, for in the early centuries of the church all states not only were governed by pagans but included pagan worship within their ...

Ezekiel 15:1-8, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 17:1-24
Understanding Series
Steven Tuell
As a priest, Ezekiel was literate and well educated. His learned background is apparent in his imaginative use of a variety of literary forms and styles. The effect of this creativity on his original audience was evidently mixed; some contemporaries dismissed him as a teller of riddles (20:49; the NIV renders the Heb. meshalim “parables”) or “one who sings love songs” (33:32). Certainly, though, this variety makes Ezekiel one of the most interesting, as well as the most baffling, of the prophetic books. In ...

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