Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 926 to 950 of 1138 results

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 7 describe proper responses to tragedy in both gesture and speech (cf. 2 Sam. 13:31; Job 2:12–13). The poem concludes with the primal emotions of love and hate and their societal effects in war and peace. Through this catalog of a wide variety of opposite actions and emotions, the poem presents a selective but comprehensive portrait of human life “under the sun.” 3:9–22 · The meaning and implications of this introductory poem must be determined by the verses that follow it, regardless of whether it ...

927. A Marriage about to Break Up

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... . The Canaanite god Baal was worshiped on hilltops and in the shelter of large, spreading trees—a practice noted in Hosea 4:13 and forbidden in Deuteronomy 12:2. Figures of speech follow in profusion. The vine, Israel, is of a good variety. The soda and soap (mineral and vegetable alkalis) metaphor stresses the deeply ingrained nature of Israel’s evil. The young camel, wobbly on its feet, illustrates how directionless Israel is as she crisscrosses her ways. The donkey at mating time illustrates the ...

928. Sin and Punishment

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... of his decision in doubt. Such destruction calls for an explanation. In a nutshell the reasons are faithlessness to the law (in which they boasted, 8:8), disobedience to the Lord, a godless lifestyle, and long-practiced idolatry of the Canaanite variety. Other reasons are given in 9:3–9. Voices of wailing in response to the total destruction come from three quarters (9:17–22). First, professional women mourners, usually engaged to prompt crying at funerals and calamities, are hurriedly summoned to ...

929. Trouble in Egypt

Jeremiah 41:16--43:13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... group’s fear of the Babylonians’ indiscriminate reprisal for Gedaliah’s murder (41:1–3). Part of the message is the divine-assistance formula, “I am with you” (42:11). Any decision to go to Egypt must calculate the consequences: death from a variety of causes—sword, famine, and plague (42:16–17). Verses 19–22 add Jeremiah’s personal plea to the remnant not to proceed with their plans. The fatal mistake is not the request for guidance but their double-talk (literally “deceive yourselves ...

930. The Parable of the Sower & Weeds

Matthew 13:1-23, Matthew 13:24-30

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 13:45-46: Parable of the pearl 13:47-50: Parable of the fish and net 13:51-52: Response of the disciples and parable of the house owner 13:53: Conclusion to Parables Discourse 13:1-30 · The first parable (13:1–9, 18–23) illustrates the variety of responses to the message about the kingdom by comparing people to kinds of soil receiving seed. Matthew has narrated a whole range of responses in chapters 8–9 and 11–12 (see commentary on 9:18–38), from great faith (8:5–13) to outright rejection (12 ...

931. The Woman Caught in Adultry

John 7:45--8:11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The section about the woman caught in adultery has always proved difficult. Three questions persist: (1) Is it an insertion into the text of John? Most scholars answer in the affirmative. The best Greek manuscripts do not have it, and when they do, it appears in a variety of places (e.g., after John 7:36; 21:25; Luke 21:38; or even Luke 24:53). It also has a style unlike that of John, and it interrupts the Feast of Tabernacles story (see 8:12). If it belonged here, 7:53–8:1 would imply that Jesus ...

932. The Shepherd and His Flock

John 10:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... (10:11–13, 17); he also knows them deeply—so deeply that in 10:15 an appropriate analogy for this knowledge is Jesus’s relationship to his Father. As Jesus is in the Father, so the disciple is in Christ (cf. 14:20, 24). A variety of secondary themes emerges from these teachings. Is there only one flock of Jesus? Is Judaism the limit of his care? John 10:16 indicates the contrary: “other sheep” refers to members (Gentiles?) beyond Judaism. Is the death of the shepherd something tragic—beyond his ...

933. In Corinth

Acts 18:1-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... can be dated to AD 49 also provides a key date to anchor the events of Acts within the wider historical setting of the first century. Third, this passage provides a description of Paul as a “tentmaker” (Greek skēnopoios), a term that can refer to a variety of occupations related to textiles. Paul is not “idle” when he visits the various communities (2 Thess. 3:11; cf. 1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess. 3:6–7), nor does he preach the gospel for his own profit and benefit. Paul’s experience in Corinth is ...

934. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... and direct their exercise. Thus, if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, and love does not motivate the control of my speech, “I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (13:1; instruments used to produce a variety of sounds that command attention but only frustrate their audience unless accompanied by music or words that interpret their meaning). Similarly, to have “the gift of prophecy” (which conveys insight into the mysteries of God’s activity [1 Cor. 2:7] and knowledge about ...

935. The Perspective of Paul’s Ministry

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... is God, whose work, as in the creation accounts of the Old Testament, forms the decisive beginning for it. For “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (5:19; the order of words within this Greek clause is ambiguous and has produced a variety of translations). The achievement of the work, however, depended on Christ. For the new creation was allowed to proceed without counting the “sins” of the old only because “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (5:19, 21). And now ...

936. Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

Hebrews 10:1-18

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... :3–4; 2:9) and of his royal dominion, now hidden but soon to be revealed (Heb. 1:13; 2:7–8). It is to Christ, therefore, not to Levitical priests and rituals, that sinners must come. In nonconformist Judaism of the Essene variety, likely the form of Judaism exerting the greatest influence on this community, there was an expectation of the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood, but it was never imagined that this would involve anything other than standing priests offering sacrifices repeatedly. In verses ...

937. To Abide in Christ Is to Attain Victory over Sin

1 John 2:28--3:10

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... things out with particularity, he does mention seeing a brother or sister in need and not helping them by sharing the means one has (3:17). Is this the sin mentioned in the first chapter? Perhaps; then again, not treating community members lovingly may take a variety of forms, so it is easier to include a matter for ethical consideration than to exclude one. Whatever the case, to abide in Christ is to attain victory over sin, and this is the central thrust of this section. 3:1–6 · Christ removes our sins ...

938. Denunciation of the Intruding Teachers

Judges 1:1-36

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... term found only here, but the idea is also in James 5:9), being driven by their desires, and buttering up others. These sins were important to Jude but are sometimes forgotten about or downplayed today. Critical Issues in Interpreting Judges A variety of interpretive issues, some of which are more controversial than others, continue to attract scholarly attention. Here I will mention only the most important in a general way, as many of these are discussed more comprehensively in the literature listed in the ...

939. The Power of the Trust Factor

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... moments in the life that Jesus and his disciples shared together. Jesus and his disciples have just eaten the Passover meal together for the last time. He takes a towel and washes the disciples' feet. He has just restated something he has already told them in a variety of ways before. Now, however, his words have a ring of finality to them. Clearly the time of his departure is nearer than ever before. In fact, it sounds imminent. He tells them that he will be betrayed and that his betrayer is one among them ...

940. Dead Hearts and New Beginnings

John 3:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... new beginnings. The very word “faith” carries the connotation of hoping against hope, of believing and daring, of never giving up or caving in. Of course, we can be trite in telling people to have faith. Somewhere I heard about an elderly gentleman who had a variety of health problems. His hearing was going as well as his sight. Arthritis kept him in constant pain. Complaining to his pastor he said, “I don’t know why God just doesn’t take me on home!” His pastor, trying to reassure him answered ...

941. One Heaven of a Party

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... story attracted so much attention that it appeared in the Boston Globe. The story began with her entering a Hyatt Hotel with her fiancé to plan their wedding reception. They looked over menus filled with sumptuous gourmet food. They pored over a wide variety of china and silver. They even studied catalogs of flower arrangements. When they finally made all their selections, they received the bill. As they looked at what they owed, they discovered that they had very expensive tastes. The bill came to $13,000 ...

942. Elephants in the Room: Depression

Lamentations 3:17-26

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... Traveled” that much mental illness, including chronic depression, occurs as a result of our unwillingness to go through the necessary pain of facing the truth in our lives, the truth that will set us free. Depression Can Hit Any of Us Depression can hit any of us for a variety of reasons. It is a fact of life. If you are suffering from it right now, you are not alone! Also know that it is not a sign of spiritual weakness. It is not a sign that you are not praying enough or that you don’t have enough ...

943. Pop Verses: Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... a big God. Why would his will be so confined? Now are there limits? Yes, there are lines and boundaries that God does not want us to cross and he will let us know what they are. But God gives us the freedom to live out his will in a variety of ways. C.S. Lewis once said that “all genuine religious conversions are blessed defeats.” You want to know the secret to finding God’s will? A surrendered spirit. This means we must change how we approach God and his will for us. Instead of deciding what we want ...

944. A Warning Against Hypocrisy

Matthew 23:1-39

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... Jesus who is not allowed by his critics to say anything contrary to their tastes will be a Jesus quite different from what we should expect to find in history. A. M. Hunter lists as examples of the “astonishing variety of portraits of Jesus which our learned men have given us: Renan’s ‘Amiable Carpenter,’ Tolstoy’s ‘Spiritual Anarchist,’ Schweitzer’s ‘Imminent Cataclysmist,’ Klausner’s ‘Unorthodox Rabbi,’ and Otto’s ‘Charismatic Evangelist’ ” (The Work and Words of Jesus, p ...

945. What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... ." But such a statement is just like saying: "I can't smell the color red; therefore I don't believe such a thing as redness exists." Maybe what needs to be realized is that reality exists in many different forms, and we humans have been given a variety of capacities that relate to this diversity. There is the reality of color, and corresponding to that is my capacity to smell. I can only get in touch with these realities when I use the appropriate perceiving mechanism that I have been given. All right, we ...

946. Thanks-Giving Is Good for Everyone

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... depression was the result of her own self-pity. She could not think of anything but her own situation and that made her feel low. The other lady had been in intensive care and knew all of the discomforts and pain of being plugged into a variety of machines and devices. Nevertheless, her spirits were high. She was thanking God for the close attention and constant care she was receiving. She was aware of what others around her were suffering, and she was thankful that her own difficulties were not worse than ...

947. Signs of the End of the Age

Mark 13:1-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... prophecy we have an affirmation of the central place Jesus, the Son of Man, has in the expectations of Christians, a reflection of the divine role he is understood to exercise. Verses 24–27 are constructed out of vocabulary heavily dependent upon a variety of OT passages. The traditional nature of the language must be recognized, for the description of the events is not intended as a specific and literal indication of their appearance. Rather, these allusions to the OT (which the readers were expected to ...

948. The Lord's Supper

Mark 14:12-26

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... him: No specific OT reference comes to mind, and it is likely that no one passage was meant. Instead, the words probably mean simply that the sufferings of the Son of Man are a part of God’s plan (see the note on 9:12) and are indicated in a variety of passages, such as Isa. 53:1–6; Ps. 41:9–13. It would be better for him if he had not been born: Though the death of the Son of Man is part of God’s plan, the betrayer is nevertheless guilty of a great crime. No particular fate ...

949. The Twelve Apostles

Luke 6:12-16

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... for “twin,” in John 11:16; 20:24; 21:2. Only in the Gospel of John are we told anything about this apostle. Legend had it that Thomas was Jesus’ twin. Probably for this reason the name of Thomas was associated with a variety of apocryphal writings. There is an Infancy Gospel of Thomas that tells of Jesus’ infancy and boyhood. According to this work, Jesus performs several astounding and often ostentatious miracles. His touch restores a man who had been transformed into a donkey; his diapers purify ...

950. Jesus at a Pharisee's House

Luke 14:1-14

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... .” Marshall (p. 579) comments that dropsy was regarded by some rabbis as resulting from immorality. 14:3 experts in the law: Lit. “lawyers,” who were legal experts on the law of Moses. See note on 5:21 above. 14:5 a son or an ox: A variety of textual readings of this verse is found in the manuscript tradition. Some mss. read “donkey and ox” (or “ox and donkey”) or “sheep and ox.” These variant readings are likely due to 13:15 (“ox and donkey”) and to the strangeness of linking “son ...

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