Sermon and Worship Resources

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Proverbs 19:1-29

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... a warning not to go to extremes (cf. 23:13). 19:19 The text is doubtful and meaning uncertain. The NIV seems to suggest that if a person rescues a hot-tempered man, he will force that person to intervene for him over and over again instead of learning from his mistakes. See the Additional Notes. 19:20 Synthetic. An admonition to abide by the wisdom of the sage. The end is not the end of life, but the end of whatever affair that calls for, and will profit from, advice. 19:21 Antithetic. This saying resembles ...

52. Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar

Jeremiah 27:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... Jeremiah turns to the priests and the people to warn them about the false prophets and their dangerous message of hope. The prophets were apparently claiming that God told them that the articles from the LORD’s house would be returned to Jerusalem soon. We learn about the capture of some of these articles, which included gold and silver dishes, silver pans, and gold bowls, in 605/604 B.C., at the time Daniel and his three friends are brought into captivity (Dan. 1:2), though the most immediate reference ...

53. Jeremiah in Prison

Jeremiah 37:1-21

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... . However, in 38:1, we will see Jehucal again, this time calling for Jeremiah’s death. On the other hand, Zephaniah, the priest, has made appearances at 21:1; 29:25, 29, and we will read about him again in 52:24. In the last reference we learn that Zephaniah is not an ordinary priest, but “the priest next in rank” after the “chief priest.” The account in chapter 21 tells us that he was involved in an earlier embassy to Jeremiah from Zedekiah along with Pashur son of Malkijah, a known adversary of ...

54. The Fall of Jerusalem

Jeremiah 39:1-18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... the land was not totally depopulated. There were some whom the Babylonians purposefully left behind (in ch. 40 we will learn of some others who continued to resist Babylonian occupation). These are identified as the poor of the land (see Additional ... the last few years of Judah’s existence. And now their descendant Gedaliah will serve an important function. In 40:5 we will learn that Nebuchadnezzar appointed him to be governor of what is now the Babylonian province of Judah. 39:15–18 Suddenly the topic of ...

55. Gedaliah Assassinated

Jeremiah 40:7--41:15

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... into Egypt again, but with those who went into exile in Babylon (see ch. 24). It is to the latter that the oracles of salvation of chapters 30–33, some of which are couched in exodus language, are directed. 40:7–10 In the previous chapter, we learned that Nebuchadnezzar had turned Judah into a province of his vast empire and that he had chosen a native, Gedaliah, to function as the governor. Gedaliah was the man to whom Jeremiah reported after he chose to stay in Judah rather than going to Babylon. The ...

56. The Day of the Lord

Malachi 4:1-6

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... 3:5 and the decrees regarding tithing (3:8–10). Malachi 3:7 accuses all Israel in every generation of turning away from God’s decrees and failing to keep them. This admonition to remember the law embraces the full range of covenant obligations which must be learned and kept. The Lord’s torah is called the law of . . . Moses. This title appears only a dozen times in the rest of the OT, half of them in the postexilic books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Daniel. Exhortations to obey “the Law ...

57. The Healing at the Pool

John 5:1-15, John 5:16-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... doing (v. 19). But Jesus is not backing down, for his words reiterate the claim of verse 17 that the works he performs are the very works of God (v. 19). His language is like that of a parable; he is like a son apprenticed to a human father, learning by example and imitation (v. 20). His authority is absolute, not in spite of the fact that he does nothing by himself, but because of it. His authority is a derived authority. In all that he does he is subject to his Father and totally dependent on his Father ...

58. Jesus the Bread of Life

John 6:25-59

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... process has deep roots in divine election and in the individual conscience (cf. 3:20–21), only the free outward act of coming to Jesus in faith proves that a person has been thus taught by God (v. 45). As far as human experience is concerned, to hear and learn from the Father means hearing and believing the message of Jesus, for only Jesus (having come from heaven) has seen the Father (v. 46; cf. 5:19; 8:38) and only he can interpret the Father to the world (cf. 1:18). In Jesus, the Father speaks (cf. 5 ...

59. Jacob Apprehension in Meeting Esau

Genesis 32:1-32

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... ). These place names recall the day when Esau, the hairy one (se’ir), sold his birthright for some red pottage (’adom; 25:30). Although Esau now lived far from central Canaan, Jacob feared that Esau was still so angry at him that on learning of Jacob’s return he would seek retaliation for the losses of the birthright and the patriarchal blessing. To mollify Esau, Jacob sent messengers ahead of him, instructing them to tell Esau about his sojourn with Laban and his wealth. In these instructions Jacob ...

60. The Second Journey to Egypt

Genesis 43:1-34

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... . 13:14), and “ruler of all Egypt” means that his particular authority extended throughout the land of Egypt. In selling him they had merely been agents of God’s will. 45:9–13 Joseph next enjoined them to return to his father and tell him what they had learned: Joseph was alive and God had made him lord of all Egypt. They were to give Israel the command to come down to him without delay. When he arrived in Egypt, he would live in . . . Goshen and be near his son. Joseph made it clear that there was ...

61. Renewal of the Covenant

Deuteronomy 29:1-29

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... elsewhere. He knows that the eyes that had witnessed the exodus have not become eyes of faith (cf. 1:30–32). The ears that heard the thunder of Mt. Sinai have not become ears of obedience, in spite of good intentions (cf. 5:26f.). The hearts that learned the message from these events, namely, that Yahweh alone is God (cf. 4:35, 39; 7:9; 29:6b), are still capable of turning away and worshipping other gods (cf. vv. 18f.). It is this perennial fickleness of human nature, even among the redeemed people of God ...

62. A Rebellious Nation

Isaiah 1:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... of chs. 34–66). Knowing (v. 3) is a matter of recognition and acknowledgment, of will as well as mind; does not know thus has similar implications to rebelled. Yahweh is Israel’s parent and thus teacher. The people of Israel are Yahweh’s children, expected to learn from their teacher in the way presupposed in Proverbs as well as Deuteronomy (e.g., Prov. 1:8–9; 4:1–4; Deut. 6:6–7; 11:19–21). But they are willfully lacking in moral and spiritual insight. That is so despite the fact that they ...

63. Two Adulterous Sisters

Ezekiel 23:1-49

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... , and also the commentary on vv. 22–27). Oholah becomes a byword among women (v. 10; compare 16:56–58), an example to all cities and people—in particular, one would think, to Jerusalem—of the fate of the faithless. 23:11–21 Jerusalem, however, learns no such lesson: in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister (v. 11). She lusts after the Babylonians after seeing them depicted on a wall relief portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads ...

64. Jesus as God’s Wisdom Is a Hidden Reality

Matthew 11:20-24, Matthew 11:25-30

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... :1–2; 2 Pet. 3:10). Matthew here and in the surrounding context (10:15; 12:36) uses “day of judgment” to refer to that same final judgment (see also 2 Pet. 2:9; 3:7; 1 John 4:17). 11:25 hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. In Jesus’ prayer to the Father (11:25–27) the twin motifs of revelation and hiddenness come to the fore. Matthew will highlight these themes across this section of his Gospel (11:1–16:20) and will particularly focus on them in ...

65. Jesus Transfigured as a Foreshadowing of Future Glory

Matthew 17:1-13

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... of Jesus’ postresurrection glory implicitly points to the cross, which will be a necessary part of the journey for Jesus. And the immediate context (17:10–13) makes this connection explicit: glory and the cross go together. As N. T. Wright puts it, Learn to see the glory in the cross; learn to see the cross in the glory; and you will have begun to bring together the laughter and the tears of the God who hides in the cloud, the God who is to be known in the strange person of Jesus himself. This ...

66. Caring for the Needy and Commissioning Apostles

Mark 3:7-12, Mark 3:13-19

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... embodied the importance of ministering to the whole person: “During his four years in Haiti, Wess experienced the most devastating message that poverty speaks to a child, ‘You don’t matter.’ Wess also learned that the most strategic way to break the cycle of poverty is by investing holistically in children, meeting their physical, spiritual, socioeconomic and vocational needs to give them a hope and a future.”7As Jesus ministered to the whole person so must the church. This is a great opportunity ...

67. God’s Miraculous Provision: Caring for the Needy

Mark 6:30-44

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... . Lord, thank you that I can walk to the bathroom. . . . Lord, thank you that I can still brush my teeth. . . . And the list goes on and on. I have learned in my journey with ALS to focus on what I can do, not on what I can’t do. I have learned to be grateful for the small things in my life and for the many things I can still do.”5We must learn to see God’s hand in the daily miracles of life. You might want to use an excerpt from the DVD Ed’s Story, produced by the nonprofit group ...

68. Rejecting or Responding to Jesus

Luke 10:1-24

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him.”2 Lewis says that MacDonald had “an almost perfect relationship with his father” that was “the earthly root of all his wisdom.”3 From his father, Lewis adds, MacDonald “first learned that Fatherhood must be at the core of the universe,” and this prepared him “in an unusual way to teach that religion in which the relation of the Father and Son is of all relations the most central.”4While nothing on earth can adequately ...

69. Eliphaz Turns Up His Criticism of Job

Job 15:1-35

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... a sinner, so he cannot be righteous before God. According to Eliphaz, all humans deserve only divine judgment. 15:17–18 Listen to me and I will explain to you. Drawing on what he himself has observed (v. 17) and what he has learned from tradition (v. 18), Eliphaz claims to be the spokesperson for wisdom. By exhorting Job to listen, Eliphaz assumes the role of the learned teacher, and he places Job in the role of the ignorant student. If Job would just stop talking, then he could listen to Eliphaz and ...

70. Job Hears the Whispers of God’s Works

Job 26:1--31:40

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... is exploding in the contemporary world. Nearly every day we hear about new discoveries across the broad range of research. Every year, college and high-school textbooks are enlarged and revised as students have an expanding field of information to learn. Despite all this learning, however, there is so much that humans do not know, so they must maintain a spirit of humility. Only the omniscient God truly understands life in its totality. As the narrator illustrates the extent of human searching, he describes ...

71. Yahweh Speaks as the Master Teacher

Job 38:1--41:34

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... birth? The mountain goat here is the ibex that today can be seen in the En Gedi area of Israel. It is an elusive animal that can be observed only from a distance, and it resists domestication by humans. With telephoto lenses humans can now learn some of the habits of animals like the ibex, but until recent times little was known of its patterns of life. Job cannot detect even the gestation period for its offspring, in contrast to the knowledge of animal husbandry he must have for his domesticated animals ...

72. “Taste and See That the Lord Is Good”

Psalm 34:1-22

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... verses, including the title (which is v. 1 in the Hebrew), has a middle verse (v. 12 Heb.; v. 11 Eng.), and taking the first letter of the first, middle, and final verses, the balanced structure now produces a wisdom code word ’lp, meaning “to learn, to teach” (Prov. 22:25; see the comments on Ps. 25:22). There is, of course, the possibility that the final verse was a congregational response.[2] The first part of the psalm (34:1–7) has the features of an individual psalm of thanksgiving, containing ...

73. “Cast Your Cares on the Lord and He Will Sustain You”

Psalm 55:1-23

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... time” (1 Pet. 5:6). In that context of humility, he quotes the first part of verse 22, “Cast all your anxiety on him,” and then adds to this his understanding of the character of God, “because he cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). Whether he learned this from the great literature of the Torah (e.g., Exod. 34:6–7), the Psalms were a rich resource for recognizing the character of the Lord’s unfailing love (hesed, not used in this psalm but implied), and this counsel was still appropriate for the Jews ...

74. “Your Love Is Better Than Life”

Psalm 63:1-11

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... that he realized he was missing, and just to be out with a fishing rod in his hand and the quiet peace of nature all around was something he was newly discovering. Without judging people like these, we can admit that many of us need to adopt and learn to live by the motto “my whole being longs for you” (v. 1). When we live under that banner, and only then, will we come to confess that “your love is better than life” (v. 3). An expectation for worship Science: Many people have a very low expectation ...

75. Zophar

Job 11:1-20

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... incapable of true wisdom. Yet Zophar’s following words encourage Job to pursue the right path (11:13–20). In context, then, Zophar appears to be challenging Job not to be a hollow man. 11:13–20 · Zophar’s instruction to Job now follows. If Job can learn from Zophar’s words, he is well on the road away from hollowness. Job must direct himself toward God and expunge all iniquity (11:13–14). With that done, brighter days lie ahead—a response to Job’s imagery at the end of his previous speech ...

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