The Handwriting on the Wall (5:1-9): Big Idea: Sacrilege against God can lead to a divine confrontation that worldly wealth, power, and wisdom cannot adequately address. Understanding the Text Daniel 5:1–31 is woven into the book’s overall literary structure in two ways. First, it advances the narrative of chapters 1–6, in which the first four focus on Nebuchadnezzar (chaps. 1–2 with historical markers and 3–4 without) and the last two show the transition from Belshazzar of Babylon to Darius the Mede ( ...
10:1–29:27 Review · Proverbial Collections: Advanced Instruction in Wisdom: If one views Proverbs 1–9 as a basic introduction to proverbial wisdom, then chapters 10–29 serve as the advanced course. Or, to express it differently, the prologue presents and commends wisdom, while the collections that follow illustrate the scope and variety of situations in which wisdom is advantageous (without absolutely guaranteeing success) if employed properly and in a timely manner. Proverbs 1–9 also gives the reader a ...
Isaiah 63:7--64:12, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, Psalm 80:1-19, Mark 13:32-37, Mark 13:1-31
Sermon Aid
William E. Keeney
The Fig Tree Lesson We were traveling in the dark. The route number told us to make a turn north as we merged with another major highway. Then we relaxed and in a very short time missed the sign that told us to turn east again. In the dark and not watching carefully on an unfamiliar road, we missed the sign. Sometime later we realized that we were not seeing signs for our route and the exit signs pointed toward unfamiliar towns. We realized that we had not read the signs carefully enough. It cost us an ...
I have always liked the children's story Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. In the story a little boy named Alexander has an absolutely rotten day. The story relates all of the traumatic experiences Alexander faces: waking up with gum in his hair, finding no prize in his box of cereal, having no dessert at lunch, going to the dentist and having a cavity, having lima beans for dinner, getting soap in his eyes from his bath, and having his pet cat choose to sleep with his brother. ...
COMMENTARY Old Testament: 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49 The armies of king Saul are challenged by the champion of the Philistines, Goliath, a huge man who challenges the Israelites to select a man to fight against him. The victorious party would triumph not only over his opponent but his opponent's army. David comes down to the field of battle and goads Saul's army for their lack of courage. "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (v. 26). David's ...
These words, spoken by the Apostle Peter on the first Christian Pentecost, reveal the lasting significance of the pivotal event which had just taken place, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the world mission of the church. As Christians throughout the world unite to celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church, these simple words still carry a message of vital importance concerning the nature, the purpose, the outreach, and the impelling power of the community of the Spirit which came ...
Psalm 80:1-19, Isaiah 7:1-25, Romans 1:1-17, Matthew 1:18-25
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS At the very heart of Advent is the anticipation and celebration of the incarnation—of God's being present with us. Our Old Testament lessons for the fourth week of Advent turn directly on this central theme. Isaiah 7:10-16 is a prophecy that anticipates Immanuel ("with us is God"), and Psalm 80 is a communal petition for God to be present. Isaiah 7:10-16 - "The Sign of Immanuel" Setting. Isaiah 7:10-16 is a central Old Testament text for Christians. It was already given a central place ...
Big Idea: Job points to evidence in life where God’s wisdom and power work contrary to the retribution principle. Understanding the Text As the discussion comes to the end of the first cycle (Job 3–14), Job is not persuaded by the arguments of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. All three of the friends agree that Job must repent of his sin and then God will restore him to the blessing he enjoyed previously. In the first part of this long speech of seventy-five verses, Job speaks to his friends (12:1–13:12). ...
Psalm 100:1-5, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 is a description of God as a good shepherd. Psalm 100 is a song of praise. Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 - "God as the Good Shepherd" Setting. There are two central images in Ezekiel 34, shepherds and sheep. The image of a shepherd is used in this chapter to refer to kings and the power of monarchs to lead the people of Israel, their sheep. The imagery of this chapter, therefore, relates well to the Reign of Christ Sunday. Structure. An overview of Ezekiel 34 is ...
Do you know what it's like to live between D-day and V-day? The idea comes from Anthony Hoekema. He writes: Jesus Christ has come, and therefore the decisive victory over sin, the devil and the flesh has been won. However, the victory is not yet complete. We live, as Cullmann puts it, between D-day and V-day: though the enemy has been decisively defeated, there remain pockets of resistance; there are still guerrilla troops to be defeated; there are still battles to be fought. In one sense, we already ...
Our Creator, how we enjoy the arrival of spring. Lush green grass rises in our lawns decorating our streets with home to home carpeting. Bird songs, silent in winter, now fill the air with enchanting melodies. The brown loam of our gardens and fields warms in preparation for the coming seeds and plants. The brilliant colors of jonquils, tulips, and hyacinths edge our flower beds and ring our trees. Who are we that you lavish upon us such splendor? The air warms as the sun dispatches the winds of winter. ...
The following is an article written by Keller published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1933. I All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited ...
THEOLOGICAL CLUE The Holy Trinity is a "liturgical late-comer" among the feasts and festivals of the church; officially, it has been an established feast of the church for 555 years, since Pope John XX approved of it in 1334. Its history began with the dedication of churches to the Holy Trinity in the ninth century, at least one liturgy in the tenth century, and an actual feast celebrated in the eleventh century. This festival was retained in the revised church year and the liturgy of the church by the ...
Genesis 45:1-28, Matthew 15:21-28, Romans 11:1-10, Romans 11:25-32, Psalm 133:1-3
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS In Genesis 45, Joseph provides his brothers with a theological interpretation of the events that have befallen him, while Psalm 133 celebrates kinship. Genesis 45:4-20 - "The Power of the Promise" Setting. Scholars have long since noted how different in character the Joseph stories are from the other ancestral stories. The sharpest point of contrast is the absence of God as a central character in the Joseph stories. God does not appear as a visitor at mealtime, does not talk directly to ...
Good morning! It is great to see everyone. I am excited because I begin a new message series today! It’s called “Pop Verses!” meaning “popular’ verses of scripture. It was tough for me to whittle down this list to seven. There are several popular Bible verses. However, I think I picked the ones that most people are very familiar with. And some of these may be your most favorite of all. In this series we are going to take a closer look at these pop verses and the context in which they appear. We are going ...
Controversy in Corinth These verses move from the foundational issues to a controversy in the Corinthian church, and the verses articulate a tough-minded logic that proves the error of the position taken by some of the Corinthians. The problem was that some of the Corinthians said there is no resurrection of the dead. The statement as Paul reports it could mean that they said there is no resurrection at all, or they advocated “immortality” (survival of the spirit) rather than “resurrection” (new creation ...
Mk 14:1 - 15:47 · Isa 50:4-9 · Phil 2:5-11 · Ps 31:9-16
Sermon Aid
Russell F. Anderson
THIS WEEK'S TEXT Revised Common: Isaiah 50:4-9a · Philippians 2:5-11 · Mark 14:1--15:47 or Mark 15:1-39 (40-47) Roman Catholic: Isaiah 50:4-7 · Philippians 2:6-11 · Mark 14:1--15:47 Episcopal: Isaiah 45:21-25 or Isaiah 52:13--53:12 · Philippians 2:5-11 · Mark (14:32-72) or 15:1-39 (40-47) COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 50:4-9a The third servant song. The Lord gives his servant the task of comforting his beaten people. His efforts meet with rejection and abuse but his faith in Yahweh remains unwavering. Lesson ...
One of my favorite authors today is a professor at Loyola University in Chicago. His name is Father John Powell. In addition to being a best-selling writer, he is also a highly popular lecturer, teacher, and counselor. In his book entitled Through The Eyes of Faith, he tells about his prison ministry. About once a month, he visits a prisoner in the state penitentiary. He describes how difficult that is for him personally… the atmosphere is dismal, dark, depressing… and charged with suspicion. However, on ...
It's an awesome responsibility to preach. One of my heroes, Bishop Gerald Kennedy, was fond of telling of the Church of England Bishop who remarked that a sermon is something a clergy person will cross a continent to deliver, but will not walk across the street to hear. There may be more truth in that than most of us will admit. Yet, when we get beyond our egoes and our yet unredeemed arrogance, we know that preaching is an awesome responsibility. And especially is it so at a high hour such as this when we ...
I am astonished that so many people should care to hear this story over again. Indeed, this lecture has become a study in psychology; it often breaks all rules of oratory, departs from the precepts of rhetoric, and yet remains the most popular of any lecture I have delivered in the fifty-seven years of my public life. I have sometimes studied for a year upon a lecture and made careful research, and then presented the lecture just once -- never delivered it again. I put too much work on it. But this had no ...
1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Micah 6:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon Aid
Russell F. Anderson
COMMENTARY Old Testament: Micah 6:1-8 God brings his chosen people to a cosmic court where even the mountains and hills bear witness. The charge: the people had forgotten the Lord's mighty works of redemption and the wealth of past blessings. In verse three he puts them on the witness stand to make their case but they apparently have nothing to say. Therefore, God presents his case, detailing his acts of mercy and deliverance as he brought them out of Egypt and into the promised land. Though guilt is ...
The four elements of black preaching might also be called the four corners of the art. As stated earlier, our aim is to shed light on the uniqueness of black preaching as a celebrated art form. While traditional categories are helpful in grasping the structure of black sermons and their functional value, the way sermons move and empower black audiences and reach their desired objectives is more important. Thus the description of black preaching as a four-cornered universe is designed to identify the ...
October 1991, the Andrea Gail, a seventy-two foot long fishing boat, with a 365 horsepower turbo-charged diesel engine, leaves a New England port headed for the Atlantic Ocean. It is going on what was supposed to be another routine fishing trip. But it was to be her last voyage. Why? Because she ran into the most powerful and dangerous force on earth—a full-blown hurricane on the open seas. An ocean hurricane is so powerful that the combined nuclear arsenals of the United States and the former Soviet Union ...
Former boxer Muhammad Ali has charmed the world with his swaggering self-confidence. But he is quick to admit that he wasn't always so sure of himself. In the book The Entertainers by Timothy White, Ali recalls a particularly humbling moment from his teen years. He had a crush on a girl named Areatha Swint. Seventeen-year-old Ali sometimes walked Areatha home from school. One day, as they reached the top stair of her apartment house, Ali worked up the courage to turn around and kiss her. And then he ...
We’re beginning today a series of sermons on the Gospel of John. Earl Palmer rightly calls this gospel, the intimate gospel. Because that’s what it is. It’s the personal story of John of the personal Christ. We’re going to be doing during the next few weeks, maybe more than a few weeks, we’re going to be doing what I call ‘preaching through this gospel.’ Now this will not be a verse-by-verse or a chapter-by-chapter study of the gospel, but rather we will hit the high spots. In fact, I have an idea that we ...