Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 926 to 950 of 1131 results

926. The Happy Hypocrite

Matthew 6:1-4, 5-6, 16-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... on our forehead will mean this evening. We’re sinners saved by grace. There is only one hope for us. In the words of St. Paul, it is to put on Christ. That is, to quit trying to live righteously by our own power, but to surrender ourselves to Christ’s Spirit and to let him live through us. Author Frederick Buechner tells a story by Max Beerbohm, a British writer and cartoonist, titled “The Happy Hypocrite.” The story is about a despicable and dissolute man named Lord George Hell. Lord George fell ...

927. A Lost Boy

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... then, hopefully . . . reconciliation takes place. Even if we have not had a young person in our family who has wandered into the far country, it is still our story. For it is the story of the human heart wandering far from God until that day comes when it surrenders to the wonder of God’s grace. All of us must sooner or later take that journey home. In another book, titled Sons: A Father’s Love, another father writes, “When my son called I didn’t want to take the call . . . Scott had stolen from our ...

928. Devil Will Build A Road

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... the center that you want to keep for yourself. In most parts of the country, the law would allow you to have access to that one lone spot by building a road across the surrounding property. So it is with us as Christians if we make less than a full surrender to God. We can be sure that the devil will build roads to reach any uncommitted area of our life. When this happens, our testimony will be marred and our service will become ineffective.

929. Freedom From Human Regulations Through Life With Christ

Colossians 2:6-23

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... from a number of religious sources (see discussion in the introduction). Identifying the heresy is not essential for understanding Paul’s basic message. He wants to reassure his readers that, by virtue of the person and work of Christ, they have no need to surrender their freedom to legalism (do not let anyone judge you). The anyone refers to the person(s) attempting to set up as a judge over members of the congregation who do not follow certain laws with respect to food and the observance of religious ...

930. Living to Please God

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the passive side of a vice” (Morris). Epithymia, though, is concerned with its active side, generally also in a bad sense: desiring what is forbidden. The combination of the two words (en pathei epithymias, “in a passion of desire”) suggests the idea of total surrender to illicit sex, which, says Paul, typifies the heathen who do not know God. Their behavior is explained by their ignorance but is not excused by it. In Romans 1:28, the heathens’ ignorance of God is due not to any lack of data but ...

931. Praying for Endurance and Healing

James 4:13-17, James 5:1-6, James 5:7-12, James 5:13-20

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... as reactionary fossils who did not like the modern trends in worship. They were seen as dangerous visionaries who believed that God, not strategic alliances, would protect the nation. Some were even thought to be weak-kneed traitors who suggested surrender (e.g., Jeremiah). Many people probably said, “I admire his convictions, but he seems to be rather masochistic, virtually demanding martyrdom by going public.” Others were glad when the prophet was dead and gone. The suffering itself was far from ...

932. Sin and Punishment

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... behind the walls of Jerusalem. The advantage of the city was, of course, the walls that kept the enemy out, at least temporarily. The disadvantage was that there were limited supplies in the walled city and once those ran out the people had no recourse but to surrender, often to a horrible fate. The people here recognize that their doom is the result of their sin. Their hopes for peace have been dashed as the oracle envisions the onslaught of the enemy army. This is a foe from the north as is indicated by ...

933. Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar

Jeremiah 27:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... them astray. The only hope for these five nations is to submit to the yoke of Babylon. 27:12–15 Jeremiah then delivers the above message to Zedekiah, then king of Judah. He too should submit (bow your neck) to Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon). Surrender is the passport to survival; to resist means death for the king and for many of his people. Rather than providing a long list of mantics, as above with the foreign leaders, Zedekiah is warned not to listen to prophets with a different message. They ...

934. Warning to Zedekiah

Jeremiah 34:1-7

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... the kingship of Jehoiakim, and now we are back to the time of Zedekiah. Chapters 37 and 38 present accounts of times when the prophet was placed in prison and even threatened with death because of his message. Jeremiah was preaching repentance and surrender to Babylon, since Babylon was God’s instrument of judgment. Thus, he was seen as someone who collaborated with the enemy and thus a danger to king and society. An interesting aspect of these stories is the nature of the private conversations between ...

935. A Message About Babylon

Jeremiah 50:1--51:64

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... reads like an event-vision (see also 4:11–12; 6:1–8; 46:1–12; 50:41–43). The commands and descriptions are given as if the speaker is actually present at this future event. In verse 15, for instance, we have the description of the surrender of the city as the defensive towers and walls crumble. The vengeance of the Lord here is also described using an agricultural metaphor. They are to cut off the fertility and productivity of the land by bringing an end to both sower and reaper. Finally, everyone ...

936. Israel Punished and Restored

Hosea 2:2-23

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... Yahweh will henceforth have mercy on his dependent people, and he will restore his covenant with them in the most intimate of relationships. In that new covenant, Israel, here referred to by a masculine pronoun as in 1:9, will respond with a confession of complete trust, surrender, and love, my God! (cf. John 20:28). The new age of the new covenant will come, Hosea is saying, as the result of God’s action alone. Israel will have done nothing to deserve it, and it is not conditional on Israel’s work. By ...

937. A Promised Ruler from Bethlehem

Micah 5:1-4

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... of verse 3, which refers to exile (cf. 4:10), the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 588 BC is probably intended. However, the humiliation of the king mentioned in verse 1c–d probably has to do with the earlier treatment of the Davidic king, Jehoiachin, who was forced to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and who was carried into exile in 597 BC (cf. 2 Kgs. 24:10–12). For the humiliating custom of striking on the cheek, see Job 16:10; Lam. 3:13; Matt. 26:67; and cf. Luke 22:64; John 18:22; 19:3. The ...

938. Timeout at Tiberias

John 21:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... and Indian fighters could attack. To make it worse, many of Washington’s men got drunk. In nine short hours, with thirty dead, seventy wounded, and many more deserting, the battle was over. Defeated, Washington gave up his sword and signed an article of surrender. George Washington, the future “father of our country,” lost his first battle, his first fort, and his first command in one fell swoop. As he limped back to Virginia to his beloved Mount Vernon, he made no excuses. But he also did not give ...

939. Ben-Hadad Attacks Samaria

1 Kings 20:1-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... themselves and by the wall of Aphek, which falls, Jericho-like, on those who have sought refuge in the city (cf. Josh. 6, esp. 6:15 for seventh day upon which battle was joined). Ben-Hadad’s officials produce a second plan (v. 31): surrender! Doubtless more because he has no alternatives rather than because he still trusts their judgment (cf. the origin of “plan A” in vv. 23ff.), Ben-Hadad allows them to proceed (vv. 32–33), clothed to signify penitence (sackcloth, cf. 21:27) and submissiveness ...

940. Zechariah King of Israel

2 Kings 15:8-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... open and he smote all its pregnant women, he cut open.” The general direction of the translation is probably correct, although the subject of “did not open” must strictly, in the context, be Menahem. The thought is perhaps that he failed to persuade them to open the gates (i.e., surrender).

941. Jehoahaz King of Judah

2 Kings 23:31-35

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... rebels. 24:8–17 It is his son Jehoiachin who succeeds him and pays the price for his rebellion. The armies of Babylon march on Jerusalem and besiege the city, as the Assyrians had done before them (2 Kgs. 18–19). Jehoiachin is no Hezekiah (v. 8). He surrenders (v. 12) and is carried off into exile, along with all the treasures from the temple and the palace (v. 13; cf. 20:17–18 and the additional note to 1 Kgs. 14:26). Solomon’s gold, which once flowed into his empire in fabulous quantities (1 Kgs ...

942. The Glory of Zion

Isaiah 60:1-22

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... city, and the promise of it might seem ethically questionable to readers. It is then striking that there is no reference to a sense of satisfaction or enjoyment on the city’s part (v. 5 suggests awe). Further, the nations do not come merely to surrender their resources to a city or to its inhabitants. They acknowledge Jerusalem because it belongs to Yahweh, the Holy One (v. 14). Their submission to Jerusalem is a sign of their submission to Yahweh. The herds of camels that bring gifts come proclaiming the ...

943. Ezekiel's Call

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

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... of the exile of King Jehoiachin (1:2). Jehoiachin became king when his father Jehoiakim rebelled against Babylonian rule, and died in the midst of the resulting siege of Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 24:1–4). Jehoiachin’s one kingly act was the surrender of the city to the Babylonians (2 Kgs. 24:12). Afterwards, he was taken away into exile, together with seven thousand soldiers, a thousand skilled laborers, and “his officials and the leading men of the land”—including, presumably, the young priest Ezekiel ...

944. Personal Accountability

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... he devoured men (v. 6). Indeed, this lion is said to have so terrorized the countryside that The land and all who were in it were terrified by his roaring (v. 7). This doesn’t sound much like Jehoiachin, whose one kingly act was surrendering Jerusalem into Babylonian hands in order to save the city from destruction. Though both Kings and Chronicles do describe Jehoiachin, in stereotypical terms, as doing evil (2 Kgs. 24:8–11//2 Chr. 36:9–10), there are indications that Ezekiel was positively inclined ...

945. Egypt

Ezekiel 29:1-21, Ezekiel 30:1-26, Ezekiel 31:1-18, Ezekiel 32:1-32

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... routes. Of course, that alone would have made daily life increasingly difficult and uncomfortable for the inhabitants of the island city. Evidently, matters ended with a negotiated settlement: Ethbaal III likely went into exile, but the city did not surrender (Katzenstein, History of Tyre, p. 331). As Katzenstein succinctly expresses it, “Tyre was the actual loser, but the destruction of the city itself, prophesied by Ezekiel, did not come to pass” (Katzenstein, History of Tyre, p. 331). Ezekiel’s ...

946. A Prophecy Against Gog

Ezekiel 38:1-39:29

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... the fate of Egypt’s armies in 29:5 and 32:4. Beyond these connections, however, is a broader link between Gog and Pharaoh. In the priestly material relating to the exodus, God, not Pharaoh, is always in control. During the plagues, whenever Pharaoh seems on the point of surrender, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart; he cannot release the Israelites until God allows him to do so (implied in Exod. 7:13–14, 19, 22; 8:19; 9:7b, 12, 35; directly stated in 7:3; 10:1–2, 20, 27; and 11:10). The object, for the ...

947. The Resurrected Jesus Is Vindicated by God and Given All Authority

Matthew 28:1-10, Matthew 28:11-15, Matthew 28:16-20

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... ask, “What would Jesus do?” but many Catholics and non-evangelical Protestants prefer to ask, “What does Jesus do?” In their eyes Christ makes his body and his Holy Spirit available to believers in the sacraments, and he models selfless surrender to his Father’s will. Since the nineteenth century, Word-centered Protestant evangelicals have focused on Jesus as speaker and doer, not mystical presence or submissive servant.10 Holding both visions—Jesus as speaker and doer and Jesus as presence with ...

948. Jesus Calling and Accepting the Outcasts

Mark 2:13-17

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... converted from lives of depravity (e.g., Augustine, Billy Sunday). We must realize that each one of us is made in the image of God, and thus he has placed in us seeds of greatness that can produce a harvest of incredible results if we simply surrender completely to Christ and allow the Spirit to guide our lives. Illustrating the Text The strengthening power of bold faith Bible: One of the consistent themes of the Bible is that blessing comes through acts of faith. We see this in Mark 2, with the paralytic ...

949. Caring for the Needy and Commissioning Apostles

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

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... lives. You can locate the entire poem on the internet and read some or all of it to your listeners. What we see throughout the Gospels is that Jesus did not allow people to follow him on their terms but loved them enough to challenge them to surrender fully to his lordship. The power of ministry Object Lesson: Bring an electric appliance or electric power tool. Try to turn it on to use it without plugging it in. Obviously, without the source of power, the appliance or tool is unusable. Now, plug it in and ...

950. Jesus Turns to His New Family

Mark 3:31-35, Mark 3:20-30

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... been a primary motif in Mark, and here we see the extent to which it can go, often involving our dearest loved ones. Another insight in this passage relates to spiritual warfare. Jesus has bound Satan, and the only proper response to Jesus is to surrender to and put complete faith in him. The supreme danger of blaspheming Jesus is real, and the result will be final rejection by God. The final insight relates to ecclesiology, envisioning the church as the new family of God in this world. Teaching the Text ...

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