Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 901 to 925 of 4957 results

901. Support for the Appeal

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... ” by arguments about authority and deceived about truth in this matter as effectively as was Eve (11:3; Gen. 3:1–7). The crux of his concern is the immaturity of the Corinthians’ faith and their consequent childlike acceptance of those who claim authority in the name of the Lord but whose views about Jesus, the nature of the gospel, and the experience of the Spirit are significantly different from those that were originally proclaimed at Corinth. Consequently, since the comprehension of the gospel is ...

902. Appreciation of the Philippians’ Gift

Philippians 4:10-20

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... part of the Philippian congregation and one that is pleasing to God. He uses the image of “fragrant offering” to remind the Philippians of the offerings made by priests in the Old Testament to cover sins and show devotion to God. Because of their generosity, Paul claims that his God will provide for their needs. This is not Paul’s God in the sense that Paul worshiped a different God from the Philippians. The use of the personal pronoun shows Paul’s closeness to God and his dependence on God for the ...

903. Humanity Reaching Out

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

... within us. Is there some fear, ambition, resentment, or old hatred that is keeping you from being the person God has called you to be? God invites you to claim your freedom. Dare to believe that those things are parts of the inhumanity that God has defeated in Jesus Christ. Yes, claiming your freedom can be costly. It was for Jesus. But claiming your freedom can open the door to a new life. Then ask yourself what conflicts are working in your life right now. Are there conflicts with other people? Are ...

904. A Vexing Vision

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... Paul was changed, but Ananias was too. Ananias saw his enemy as a brother, as an equal, as a co-worker for Jesus Christ. As a result, scales fell from Ananias’s eyes, hate dissolved into love, walls came tumbling down, and the gospel prevailed and was pro- claimed like never before. The same vision and opportunity that was given to Ananias is given to us today. Jesus has given his Church the power to break down the walls that exist between our enemies and us. We have been given love to tear down the walls ...

905. Learning to Love

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

James L. Killen

... in a loving relationship with God. God wants you to become a partner with God in the saving work God is doing. But God wants you to choose that for yourself and to enter freely into that relationship. God actually has high expectations of you. God wants you to claim that heritage of higher humanity for yourself. That means God wants you to say "No!" to all who would take those things from you. Know this too: if you ever fail to choose the heritage God has laid up for you and to live it -- no, not if but ...

906. Death, Risk, and Confidence

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... . The love that called us out of nothing into being is at once larger than life and stronger than death. We are told that it is not the will of the Father that any should perish, but that all should come to the fullness of his purpose. The book claims that nothing, not even the experience of death, can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In fact, the New Testament depicts Christ as that courageous figure who did not just walk into the valley of the shadow of death but through that ...

907. Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

Mark 1:21-28

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... human characters in the story all the more disappointing. Jesus’ suppression of the demonic acclamations also shows that Jesus was not interested in mere acclamation; and at the same time, these acclamations help establish for the reader the validity of the claims about Jesus that are made in the opening of this book (1:1) and that are integral to Christian faith. We shall note in the examination of the subsequent sections of Mark that no human character accurately perceives Jesus until the crucifixion ...

908. Clean and Unclean

Mark 7:1-23

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... , though it appears several times in Matthew (e.g., 6:2, 5, 16; 23:13, 15, 25, 27, 29) and in Luke (6:42; 12:56; 13:15). The term in Greek means a pretender or even a shyster and indicates that the critics here are accused of claiming to be diligent in following God’s will while really being more concerned with appearances. These people begins a quotation from Isa. 29:13. Mark’s version resembles more closely the ancient Greek translation of the OT known as the Septuagint and is not exactly the same as ...

909. God's Wrath Against Mankind

Romans 1:18-32

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... against its creator and becomes, in the words of C.S. Lewis, himself more a “Lie than a Liar, a personified self-contradiction” (Preface, ch. 13). 1:22–23 The demotion of God and the exaltation of self give birth to bitter irony: although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. How often this script has been replayed in history! Wisdom is one of the few self-evident virtues, and yet its pathway is littered with irony and tragedy: irony because those who consider themselves wise deny their wisdom ...

910. Righteousness Through Faith

Romans 3:21-31

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... statement must await chapters 12 and following, but Paul will argue that righteousness by faith is the necessary prerequisite to fulfill the intent of the law (e.g., 8:4). The opposition of righteousness and law is largely due to a false dichotomy. Paul nowhere claims that law, rightly understood, was ever a means of salvation. It had a preparatory and subordinate function to reveal sin (3:20), and thereby to lead one to Christ (Gal. 3:24). But that salvation had always been intended by faith is evinced in ...

911. Struggling with Sin

Romans 7:7-25

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... an iron wedge between law and gospel by his heretical teaching that the God of the OT, the so-called Demiurge, was an inferior and evil God in contrast to the God and Father of Jesus Christ. To this day anti-Semitism more often than not reasserts this claim. Paul naturally recoils from this terrible idea. The law, to be sure, is of divine origin and is holy and good (vv. 12, 14), but it cannot rescue humanity from its bondage to sin. Paul then repeats a position he has stated before: I would not have known ...

912. God's Sovereign Choice

Romans 9:1-29

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... a Jewish perspective, Israel was preeminent among the nations. The name “Israelites” (NIV, the people of Israel, v. 4) derives from Jacob, the patriarch who wrestled with God and prevailed (Gen. 32:28). It means the elect, covenant people of God (Isa. 43:1). Who else could claim adoption as sons (Exod. 4:22; Jer. 31:9; Hos. 11:1)? What other people had beheld the divine glory, the very presence of God in theophanies (Exod. 3:2ff.; 24:10), in the desert (Exod. 13:21–22), in the temple (1 Kings 8:29; Ps ...

913. Love, for the Day Is Near

Romans 13:8-14

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... identifies that object as one another (v. 8), fellowman (v. 8), and neighbor (twice in vv. 9–10). The other person represents God’s claim on our love. We normally think of our neighbor as a person who is like us, but in the parables of the Good ... manner! That is the meaning of “love your neighbor as yourself.” The Future Is Retroactive Christians sometimes make contradictory claims about their faith, for faith, like life, cannot be reduced to purely logical categories. A parent, for example, can ...

914. Food Sacrificed to Idols

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... behavior as misconduct both in and against Christ. Additional Notes 8:7 Paul’s strong adversative opening, But not (Gk. ‘All’ ouk) signals that he is taking exception to a previous statement. From context and content he is offering a correction to the claim in 8:1 that “We know that we all possess knowledge.” 8:8 Conzelmann (1 Corinthians, p. 148) observes, “The neutrality of food does not mean the neutrality of conduct.” 8:9 The paragraphing of the NIV can be misleading. Neither the wording ...

915. Warnings from Israel's History

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... poured out for the people to drink. He may have combined that account with Numbers 21:16–18 (or perhaps he inherited an already amalgamated version of the story) before making his own creative use of the narrative: that rock was Christ. This claim strikes the reader of today as fantastic, although such connections were not considered odd or inappropriate in Paul’s day. Targumic writings (Tosefta Sukkah 3:11; Targum Onqelos Num. 21:16–20), Philo of Alexandria, and Pseudo-Philo all make similar, though ...

916. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... the early days of the church. At points in the NT one finds simple references to Christian belief and life as “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). Whether Paul intends to play on that image here is uncertain, but by claiming to show the Corinthians the most excellent way, he is nevertheless purporting to inform them of the essence of Christian living. 13:1–3 Verses 1–3 establish the necessity of love, for love alone confers worth to all other spiritual gifts. The mention of tongues has ...

917. The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... 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), or they denied a future resurrection and claimed a fully realized this-worldly resurrection (as in 2 Thess. 2:1–2; 2 Tim. 2:17–18). Option one makes the plainest sense of the words, but there is no indication in general that the Corinthians denied life after death. In fact ...

918. Prologue

Revelation 1:1-3

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... to the theological crises of his first readers. Revelation was written to transform the way believers “see” their own worlds and as a consequence respond to God and to neighbor in truth and love. 1:1 John, who writes in service of Jesus Christ, claims to have received divine revelation through visions (1) from Christ’s angel, who presumably received it (2) from Christ, to whom it was first given (3) by God for the community of Christ’s disciples on earth. This scheme, where prophetic truth has its ...

919. The Throne in Heaven

Revelation 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... the four living creatures offer praise to God as representatives of all creation; together creature and creation will participate in God’s redemption of all things. 4:8b The hymn they sing echoes the seraphs’ declaration of God’s holiness in Isaiah 6:3. No claim for God’s rule is compelling that fails to include God’s holiness. The reign of a holy God insists that all creatures on earth, represented in the throne room by the four living creatures, are accountable to God and obligated to give the ...

920. Jesus Is Coming

Revelation 22:7-21

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... from beginning to end because it is revealed by the Lord, the God of the spirits. The parallel phrase (22:7b) repeats this same claim but expands it in the form of a personal beatitude: Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book. ... the disobedient as a prophetic word of rebuke. Because he bears definitive testimony to the word of God, Jesus Christ now claims that the eschatological judgment of everyone’s deeds lies with me. His authority to mediate God’s coming judgment is based upon ...

921. Bildad

Job 8:1-22

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... parallel between weed and godless even more striking. The weed—whose rapid spread and abundant growth mirror the seeming prosperity and robust health of the godless—will be torn out and forgotten so that even the place it formerly occupied disowns it and claims, “I never saw you.” This is, of course, the ultimate act of willful forgetfulness that is turned back from God on those who forget him. A concluding statement emphasizes the futility of the life that refuses to acknowledge and depend on God ...

922. The Lord on His Heavenly Throne

Psalm 11:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... , and his heavenly throne. In the minds of the ancients the earthly temple was the immanent symbol participating in the transcendent reality. The Jerusalem temple was a window, as it were, into the heavenly temple (cf. 20:2, 6; 150:1). The speaker can claim without contradiction that he takes direct refuge in Yahweh and that Yahweh is on “his heavenly throne.” The word order of verse 5 is somewhat uncertain. The Greek LXX and the Syriac Peshitta read, “The LORD examines the righteous and the wicked ...

923. Cultivating Faithfulness Until the Flourishing Wicked Wither

Psalm 37:1-40

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... But what, then, specifically does it promise believers, and what is the time frame of the judgment? We cannot appeal to retribution beyond death. This psalm, along with the rest of the Psalter (with only a few possible exceptions), makes no hint of such. In fact, it claims the “cutting off” of the wicked will take place soon (v. 2) and in a little while (v. 10). “You [i.e., in your lifetime] will see when the wicked are cut off” (v. 34). And verse 10 appears to indicate this will be no isolated act ...

924. Rest for the Weary

Matthew 11:25-30

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... as well as bring a person to truth. It is the attitude of the learner that determines the result. It has always been God’s gracious will (v. 26) to resist the proud but give grace to the humble (James 4:6). 11:27 Verse 27 records several remarkable claims by Jesus: God has committed to him all things; he himself is known only by the Father; and the Father is known only by him and those to whom he has chosen to reveal him. The authenticity of the verse is regularly questioned because of its Johannine ring ...

925. The Lord Compassionate and Slow to Anger

Psalm 103:1-22

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... his anger for a time (vv. 8–9). Yahweh “heals all my diseases” (v. 3), yet humans’ days are like grass—they flourish and wither like a flower of the field (vv. 15–16). In cases such as these, we would be wrong to take such psalmic statements as absolute claims. It is understandable that psalmic praise, in order to be musically metrical and liturgically forceful, will not be laden with qualifications covering every possible ramification. Thus, when we consider both sides of each ...

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