Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 651 to 675 of 4943 results

651. Thanks for Their Gifts

Philippians 4:10-20

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... I rejoice greatly in the Lord, meaning “I gave joyful thanks to the Lord” (when I received your gift). Paul is grateful to the Philippian Christians for the gift they have sent, but his rejoicing arises chiefly from the evidence it supplies of their continued eagerness to cooperate with him in the gospel. Some commentators have found Paul’s wording here very oddly chosen for an expression of thanks: Dibelius speaks of his “thankless thanks.” But his words have to be read in the light of the deep ...

652. Isaac and Abimelech

Genesis 26:1-35

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... to mollify Isaac by conceding that he had become aware of Isaac’s success as a result of Yahweh’s being with him. Abimelech’s awareness motivated him to propose that there be a sworn agreement between them, a treaty or a covenant that would continue with their children. He was concerned that Isaac, who was growing stronger, might someday harm his people either by usurping some of their grazing areas or by an outright display of force. At last Abimelech treated Isaac as an equal. He reminded Isaac that ...

653. Clean and Unclean Foods

Deuteronomy 14:1-21

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... in 2 Corinthians 8–9 appeals to the prior grace of God (8:5–9; 9:8), stresses the need for generosity to aim at equality (8:13–15), portrays giving as a matter of responsive obedience (9:13), and breathes an ethos of joy, thanksgiving, and continued blessing (9:6–14). Additional Notes 14:1 Children of the LORD your God: The portrayal of Israel’s relationship to Yahweh in child-father terms is very ancient. Possibly the earliest reference to it is in the ancient poetry of Deut. 32:5, 6, 18, 19 ...

654. Hezekiah King of Judah

2 Kings 18:1-16

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... :43; 2 Kgs. 12:3; 14:4; 15:4, 35), used there of acceptable worship of the LORD. It is thus apparent that up to that time (Hb. ʿaḏ-hayyāmîm hāhēmmâ) is not to be interpreted as implying that they venerated the snake continually throughout the preceding period, but rather that they did so in that period and never thereafter. As with other artefacts in the temple (cf. the additional note to 1 Kgs. 6:18), the symbolism of the snake (a fertility symbol associated elsewhere with the goddess Asherah) was ...

655. The Lord's Devastation of the Earth

Isaiah 24:1-23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... rejoicing, Moab humiliated (25:6–12) response (26:1–19) Israel protected and restored (26:20–27:13) At the same time, the visions and the responses link with each other so as to form two sequences on parallel tracks. The theme of devastation in 24:1–13 continues in 24:17–23, whose ending is then the starting point for 25:6–12. The equivocal response of 24:14–16 gives way to unequivocal praise in 25:1–5, whose theme is then taken up in 26:1–19. Because of their visionary portrayal of world ...

656. Ezekiel's Call

Ezekiel 1:1-28, Ezekiel 2:1-3:15, Ezekiel 3:16-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... silent and immobile, as in the very next chapter Ezekiel performs actions in the community and continues to address them throughout the remainder of the book. It is tempting for a modern reader to find signs of mental illness here. But we must not miss ... the strong points of continuity in the ancient prophetic witness. Jeremiah’s behavior was scarcely stable. He writes, “My heart is broken within me; all my bones ...

657. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia

Ezekiel 25:1-7, Ezekiel 25:8-11, Ezekiel 25:12-14, Ezekiel 25:15-17

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... –11) through the reign of Saul (1 Sam. 11), and the subjugation of that neighboring kingdom by David (2 Sam. 10:1–11:1; 12:26–31//1 Chr. 19:1–20:8). However, as Judah’s star waned under Assyrian and Babylonian assaults, Ammon’s continued to rise. Ezekiel first pronounces judgment upon Ammon: “Because you said ‘Aha!’ over my sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile” (v. 3). This could suggest ...

658. Tyre, Sidon—and Israel

Ezekiel 26:1-21, Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-19, Ezekiel 28:20-26

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... south (in a part of north Africa today called Libya; on these place names, see the Additional Notes). The many lands from which Tyre’s crew has been recruited underline the far extent of the city’s influence at its height. However, as the limping qinah meter continually reminds us, this poem is a lament: to paraphrase Mark Antony (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 3.2), Ezekiel has come to bury Tyre, not to praise it. 27:12–25 But before we come to Tyre’s demise, the text as we now have it breaks into a ...

659. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... of heaven has come near” (10:7; likewise 4:17). While a post-Easter message will rightly include and emphasize Jesus as rightful king and his life, death, and resurrection as the inauguration of God’s reign in this world, it is important that the Christian message continue to be centered on the kingdom. God in Christ has come to reclaim and put back in right order all that belongs to God. The Christian message is not, as some have criticized, just pie in the sky—a message about how we can escape from ...

660. The Disciples’ Insufficient Faith to Heal as Jesus Heals

Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 17:24-27

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... job description of all who follow him. So we can encourage people with a text like this one, since it shows that the first disciples struggled to trust Jesus to empower them for ministry and also shows Jesus promising power for ministry to his followers. 2. Jesus continues to affirm that his death and resurrection are necessary for his mission and for the divine plan to be fulfilled. Matthew has made it clear that Jesus in his life and ministry is bringing near God’s kingdom (e.g., 4:17; 5:3–10). And as ...

661. Jesus’s Authority to Forgive and Heal Sinners

Mark 2:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... ministry of 1:38–45, Jesus returns “home” to Capernaum (2:1), which he has made his headquarters (1:21; Matt. 4:13). Probably this is Peter’s home, where Jesus stays when in Capernaum (see on 1:29). He apparently slips in secretly, but his renown continues unabated from 1:33, 37, 45, as the crowds come anyway from all around and fill every corner of the house and possibly the immediate neighborhood as well. As in 1:21–22, Jesus begins by “preaching the word” of the gospel (1:15) to them. The ...

662. Jesus Calling and Accepting the Outcasts

Mark 2:13-17

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... building up his discipleship band (2:13–14), and a controversy section where Jesus answers the criticism of his opponents (2:15–17). Capernaum is on the northwest shore of the lake, so it is natural for Jesus to be teaching on the shore. His popularity continues (a “large crowd” is there), and among them he sees Levi, a tax collector. There is some dispute about the identity of this Levi. Only Mark tells us that he was “son of Alphaeus,” and in the list of the Twelve there is one named “James ...

663. Family in the New Kingdom Community

Mark 10:13-16, Mark 10:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... to the kingdom of God; the first uses them as illustrative of the place of those lowly in status in the kingdom, this one with children as models for kingdom living. The bringing of children to rabbis for a blessing was common, and a similar practice has continued in almost every religious tradition to this day. Mark does not tell us why the disciples rebuked the people (cf. 9:38–40); it likely had to do with the low status of children and the feeling that Jesus was too busy (and children too disruptive ...

664. Jesus Claims God-Given Authority to Condemn the Leaders

Mark 12:1-12, Mark 11:27-33

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... away with mistreating and even killing the agents of the powerful owner time and again. Surely they had to realize that at some point retribution would fall on their heads. But that is just the point. The Jewish people (and all of us sinners) think that they can continue to get away with it. It is not logical, but that is the issue—sin is never logical. The purpose of Jesus here is to depict the deep mercy of God; he did keep sending prophets (and apostles) to call the nation back to himself. 12:6 a ...

665. The Good Life

Luke 6:17-26

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... in the kingdom of God, with all its hardships, with most people’s idea of the good life. Understanding the Text Following after the selection of the Twelve, this is the beginning of a programmatic sermon on the blessings and demands of discipleship, which continues to the end of the chapter. The parameters are thus established for the role that the disciples will play in the developing story. Outline/Structure Luke 6:20–49 is a much shorter “equivalent” to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7 ...

666. God’s Saving Righteousness and the Restoration of Israel

Romans 3:21-31

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... Paul declares that the old covenant / Mosaic system was based on legalism (see Rom. 2:1—3:20; 7:1-13; 8:1-4; 9:30—10:5). And covenantal nomism is still legalistic because it is synergistic. 3. Two-Covenant Theory Explanation: Paul taught that Jews should continue to be saved by obeying the Torah like the Old Testament says, but that Gentiles are saved by faith in Christ apart from the Torah. Weakness: But Romans 1:18—3:26; 9:30—10:5, for example, make it clear that Paul believes that both Jews and ...

667. The Story of Abraham versus the Story of Israel

Romans 4:1-25

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... the commonly held view that Abraham was justified by his good works: theological (4:1–5), hermeneutical (4:6–8), historical (4:9–12), logical (4:13–17a), and experiential (4:17b–25). Understanding the Text The general context of Romans 4 is that it continues the discussion of 3:27–31: the latter states that justification is by faith, while the former illustrates that principle from the life of Abraham. We may correlate these two passages in this way: 1. Justification is by faith (3:27–28; 4:1 ...

668. New Dominion as a Blessing of the New Covenant: Dead to Sin

Romans 6:1-14

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... 1–10) a. The issue: Shall we sin so that grace may increase? (6:1)2 b. The answer: No, for one who has died to sin cannot continue to live in sin (6:2) c. The explanation (6:3–10) i. Christians died to sin in union with Christ’s death (6:3–5) ii. ... Paul’s reply is his impassioned m? genoito (“May it never be!”). Since Christians have died to sin, how could they possibly continue to live in sin? “Live in sin” is best understood through the lens of the overlapping of the two ages. (1) The age ...

669. Ethics and Eschatology

Romans 13:8-14

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... to any part of the law, certainly not the civil and ceremonial aspects, and not even the moral aspect—the Ten Commandments. Rather, the love of Christ flowing through the believer fulfills all that the law ever intended (though Moo perhaps allows for the continuing role of the law in the Christian life in light of human sinfulness). Second, there is the Calvinist view, which says that the Ten Commandments should function as a gauge of the Christian’s behavior. This is often called the “third use” of ...

670. “Weak and Strong” Should Get Along

Romans 14:1--15:13

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... their own liberty, love the Christians who are weak in faith. To put it another way, those Christians who are living in the new covenant should love those Christians who are living like they are in the old covenant. Understanding the Text Romans 14:13–23 continues Paul’s instructions to the strong and the weak in faith at Rome by focusing on the need for the Christians strong in faith to love those Christians weak in faith. They should do this by limiting their own liberty in Christ and by not flaunting ...

671. Many Parts, One Body

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... how the church functions as an organization but to show that the church is the means through which the incarnate Christ reveals himself on earth.[4] The gifts of the Spirit, then, are given not for the members’ sake as such but to enable Christ’s continued work on earth. As Hicks comments: There is thus a close similarity between the Christian and Stoic points of view in this period. The difference lies in the fact that in Paul’s view it is in Christ that social and national barriers are cast down ...

672. Worthy Is the Lamb Who Was Slain

Revelation 5:1-14

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy. The entire universe hangs in the balance as the search continues for someone capable of taking the scroll, breaking its seals, and unfolding the final stages of God’s plan for human ... praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! Now all of creation worships God and the Lamb together, and remarkably this unique relationship continues throughout the rest of the book (e.g., 6:16; 7:9–10; 14:4; 21:22–23; 22:1, 3). The second of four ...

673. The Woman, the Son, and the Dragon

Revelation 12:1--13:1a

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... of accusation (Eph. 6:16). 12:11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Not only has the dragon been conquered by Michael the archangel; he continues to be conquered by Christians. Believers triumph over or overcome the devil (nika?; see the sidebar in 2:1–7) in two ways. First, they rely on the finished work of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who shed his blood on the cross for the sins of the world ...

674. The Beast from the Sea (Antichrist)

Revelation 13:1b-10

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. Whether the phrase “the dragon stood on the shore of the sea” concludes chapter 12 or introduces chapter 13, the point is that the dragon calls forth and empowers the beasts to continue his war against the saints. In light of the Old Testament tradition equating the dragon with Leviathan or Rahab, the sea monster that symbolizes the chaos and evil that threaten God’s creation (e.g., Pss. 74:13–14; 89:10; Isa. 27:1; 51:9; Job 40 ...

675. The Priestly Portions of Sacrifices

Lev 6:8–7:38

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... the “wave” or “elevation” offering (v. 30) was presented.1 Interpretive Insights 6:8–13 These are the regulations for the burnt offering. These regulations are specific to the evening burnt offering (see Exod. 29:38–39) that is kept going continually (v. 13) until morning (v. 9b), not freewill burnt offerings (Lev. 1) that are offered during the day. The ashes are, more specifically, the fat ashes. “Body” (v. 10) is literally “flesh,” meaning the genitals (cf. Lev. 15:3). The priest ...

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