Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 1101 to 1125 of 3314 results

1101. Jesus Announces His Impending Suffering and Death

Matthew 16:21-28

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Jeannine K. Brown

... authentic worship and growth, ministry and mission, and the common good. This vision of communal cruciformity is portrayed in Acts 2:42–47: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together ...

1102. The Baptism of Jesus

Luke 3:21-38

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R.T. France

... being “filled with the Holy Spirit” on specific occasions. But this visible “descent” of the Spirit sounds more like an initial endowment that sets the tone for the whole of Jesus’s ministry to be in the power of the Spirit (cf. the visible coming of the Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost [Acts 2:3]). Endowment with God’s Spirit was to be a mark of the Messiah (Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1). For the sequel in Jesus’s ministry in Luke, see 4:1, 14, 18. in bodily form like a dove. The dove was one of ...

1103. Lord of the Sabbath and Appointing the Twelve

Luke 6:12-16, Luke 6:1-11

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R.T. France

... from the twelve patriarchs. Jesus will later speak of these twelve disciples as sitting on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (22:30). Here Jesus is setting up the leadership structure for the true Israel of the kingdom of God. whom he also designated apostles. The Twelve are drawn from a wider circle of “disciples,” committed followers of Jesus (see 6:17); seventy-two of them will be mentioned in 10:1. The Twelve are singled out to be Jesus’s regular traveling companions, and in 9:1–2 they ...

1104. Jesus’s Fallible Followers

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:46-50, Luke 9:37-45

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R.T. France

... writers here use the normal Greek terms for “epilepsy”; all describe the cure explicitly as an exorcism. 9:40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not. The disciples involved would not include Peter, John, and James (9:28). But all the apostles, not just the leading three, had been given authority to exorcize in 9:1 (and compare the experience of the seventy-two in 10:17), so this failure is surprising. In Matthew 17:20 it is attributed to a lack of faith on the disciples’ part ...

1105. The Story of Israel and the Story of Gentiles

Romans 1:18-32

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C. Marvin Pate

... that which we worship. 1:26–27 God gave them over to shameful lusts . . . due penalty for their error. For a second time Paul says that God gave over/up the Gentiles to judgment, this time with reference to sexual perversion—homosexuality and lesbianism. The apostle to the Gentiles minces no words concerning homosexual behavior; it is the product of the wrath of God. It may be that we are to see a connection between the general immorality mentioned in 1:24 and same-sex relations detailed in 1:26–27 ...

1106. Paul Reinterprets the Story of Israel

Romans 2:17-29

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C. Marvin Pate

... at the altar of perfection instead of loving his wife. The Gentiles and the Restoration of Israel Big Idea If in 2:1–24 Paul argued that Israel’s attempt to keep the Torah results in continued sin and exile, in these verses the apostle to the Gentiles offends all Jewish sensitivities by asserting that (Christian) Gentiles are part of the new-covenant people whose conversion to Christ constitutes a part of the long-awaited restoration of Israel. Understanding the Text In Romans 2:17–29 Paul criticizes ...

1107. The Whole World Is under the Curses of the Covenant

Romans 3:9-20

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C. Marvin Pate

... works of the law” Paul means the law of Moses in its entirety and that no one is able to keep all the Torah in order to be justified before God on the last day. But with a groundbreaking article in 1963 by Krister Stendahl, “The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West,” a new interpretation of Paul’s view of the law began to emerge: before and after becoming a Christian Paul maintained a positive view of the Torah. It was only Lutheran exegesis that gave the false impression that ...

1108. God’s Saving Righteousness and the Restoration of Israel

Romans 3:21-31

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C. Marvin Pate

... the law [nomos]. This verse has generated three major interpretations, to which I will add a fourth. First, the more traditional perspective on Paul sees a problem with his statement here about faith establishing the law of Moses. Up until now in Romans the apostle has said next to nothing positive regarding the Torah, but now suddenly he seems to assert that faith establishes the law. How so? This view answers that Paul is talking not about the law of Moses per se but rather about the intent or commands ...

1109. The Christian’s New Dominion: Dedicated to Righteousness

Romans 6:15-23

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C. Marvin Pate

... to live holy lives), imperfect analogies can be of help in illuminating theological truth (in this case the metaphor of slavery).6Second, now that Paul has made clear in Romans 1–5 that righteousness is imputed to believers apart from their own merits, the apostle has no qualms about saying in 6:19b that righteousness produces ethical results: sanctification or holiness (hagiasmos). 6:21 What benefit [fruit] did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?[7] In 6:20–22 Paul returns ...

1110. Freedom from the Law through Christ, Enslavement to the Law through Adam

Romans 7:7-25, Romans 7:1-6

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C. Marvin Pate

... in Genesis 3:13 LXX (apata?) of Eve in the garden (cf. 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14), making it all the more likely that Genesis 2–3 continues to weigh heavily in Paul’s argument in 7:7–12. As he mentioned in 7:8, so the apostle repeats in 7:11 more intensely that the serpent/sin in the garden and sin in humanity perverted the holy law of God into disobedience. It is difficult to say precisely what Paul means by “sin . . . deceived me” by perverting the law into death and not life. For Adam and ...

1111. The Reversal of the Deuteronomic Curses and Blessings: Replacing Law with Faith

Romans 9:30--10:21

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C. Marvin Pate

... , similar to the first criticism, the contrast between doing the law and believing in Christ pervades 9:30–10:3. For Paul suddenly to shift gears and describe the doing of the law in positive terms seems very awkward and ultimately self-refuting to the apostle’s argument in Romans that salvation is by faith alone. Third, the parallel between 10:5 (“righteousness that is by the law”) and Philippians 3:9 (“not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law”) is too close to be denied ...

1112. The Mystery and Mercy of God

Romans 11:25-32

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C. Marvin Pate

... sermon could simply follow the suggested outline that I offered for 11:28–32: the problem for mercy, the procedure of mercy, and the plan behind mercy. Concerning the first sermon/lesson, a mystery, for Paul, usually is an apocalyptic event now revealed to him, the apostle of the end time, in this case the mystery of Israel’s conversion to Jesus as the Messiah. The catch is that the nations will first come to Christ, and then Israel’s restoration to God will occur via their trust in Jesus. God’s ...

1113. The Divine Plan of Salvation

Romans 11:33-36

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C. Marvin Pate

... the three-point outline of the chiastic structure of 11:33–35, relating each point to Christ. First, Christ, not human merit, is the basis of God’s riches of grace. That Paul has Christ in mind in 11:33, 35 is clear in the way that elsewhere the apostle associates Christ with the spiritual riches of God (e.g., Eph. 1:3–10; Phil. 4:19; Col. 1:27). In other words, God’s riches of salvation are poured out on sinners through the grace of God according to his riches in Christ Jesus. Second, Christ is the ...

1114. God and Government

Romans 13:1-7

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C. Marvin Pate

... years were good years for the Roman Empire. After that, however, it was all downhill for Nero and those whom he harassed and tortured. It could be argued, then, that since Paul penned his letter to the Roman churches during Nero’s good years, the apostle’s command to be obedient to the government was retractable. Yet when Peter wrote his letter to the same Roman churches sometime between AD 64 and 68, at the height of Nero’s atrocities, he essentially repeated Paul’s words to obey the government if ...

1115. The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Revelation 1:1-3

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J. Scott Duvall

... . 1:2, 9; 6:9; [14:12]; 17:17; 19:9, 13; 20:4) and the “testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:2, 9; 12:17; [14:12]; 19:10 [2x]; 20:4)—two somewhat synonymous phrases that describe the message of God’s great story communicated through his prophets and apostles, especially centering on the gospel. 1:3 Blessed is the one . . . , and blessed are those. This is the first of seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). In this case, we have a double blessing: (1) on ...

1116. Message to Ephesus

Revelation 2:1-7

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J. Scott Duvall

... 3:1, 8, 15), further defined as (1) labor or hard work, and (2) perseverance or endurance. Their hard work includes maintaining doctrinal purity (2:2). This church does not tolerate wicked or evil people but critically examines these false apostles (see also v. 6). In this context, the term “apostle” refers to representatives or messengers from a sending church (e.g., 1 Cor. 12:28; 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25). The church at Ephesus had tested some of these traveling messengers and found their message to be ...

1117. Message to Smyrna

Revelation 2:8-11

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J. Scott Duvall

... or death. We are not supposed to seek persecution for its own sake, but neither are we to compromise in order to avoid it. Jesus calls his followers to expect opposition (e.g., Matt. 5:10–12; 24:9–13; Luke 6:26; John 15:18, 20; 16:33). The apostle Paul suffered much and flatly says that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12; cf. also Acts 14:22; 1 Thess. 3:3–4). Throughout Revelation, God calls his people to faithful endurance (e.g., Rev. 1:9; 2 ...

1118. Priesthood Confirmed and Its Mediation Duties Specified

Num 17:1–8:7

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... one of them” (Num. 16:3). Not every Israelite is a holy priest. A call to ministry is something that comes from God. There are many examples of such calls to ministry in Scripture: Moses (Exod. 3–4), Isaiah (Isa. 6), Ezekiel (Ezek. 1–3), and the apostle Paul (Acts 9:1–16; 26:13–19). But no one is to enter ministry by self-appointment. The ministry of anyone who does so will not be blessed by God. Second, the ministry of the Levites illustrates that ministry is confirmed by God. Aaron may well ...

1119. Moses’s and Aaron’s Sin at Meribah

Numbers 20:1-13

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... prize by some bad behavior (1 Cor. 9:27). Cephas (Peter) is rebuked by Paul for shunning gentile Christians and not treating them as full siblings in Christ (Gal. 2:11–18). Apollos needs correction for his inaccurate doctrinal teaching (Acts 18:24–26). The apostle John includes himself with the “we” who sin but have an advocate in Christ (1 John 2:1). Even spiritual leaders must take heed: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12). Teaching the Text ...

1120. Balaam’s Final Prophecies: The Star and the Scepter

Num 24:15-25

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... Num. xxiv. 17]; and another Scripture says, “Behold a man; the East is His name” [or, “Dayspring”; Zech. vi. 12 (according to the LXX)]. Accordingly, when a star rose in heaven at the time of His birth, as is recorded in the memoirs of His apostles, the Magi from Arabia, recognizing the sign by this, came and worshipped Him. Justin Martyr applied the “star” of Numbers 24:17 to the star of Bethlehem, and he saw Jesus rather than David as the fulfillment of this prophecy. It does seem a little ...

1121. “You Will Fill Me with Joy in Your Presence”

Psalm 16:1-11

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C. Hassell Bullock

... Psalm 16 (Acts 13:35–37) would suggest that this was a key apostolic Old Testament witness to the resurrection of Jesus.[2] Some commentators believe that the apostles, having experienced the glorious resurrection of Christ, placed their template of the resurrection of Christ on the psalm, and thus the New Testament application. The apostles, however, and Jesus himself, looked at the Old Testament as the source of the prophetic word. They believed the template was the Old Testament, not the New Testament ...

1122. The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... Israel’s suffering on behalf of Israel, or the suffering of the prophet himself or any prophet, or that of a Moses-like figure. The apostolic interpretation of the text opens and closes with the identification of the servant. On the one hand, the apostles encourage God’s people to suffer with patience and endurance for the sake of the kingdom. They modeled this vicarious lifestyle. On the other hand, they also point to Jesus Christ as the paradigm. Instead of seeing a one-to-one correspondence between ...

1123. Jesus' Burial

Mark 15:42-47

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... names of these and the reference to “many other women” (15:41) indicate that Jesus was followed by more than the Twelve apostles. Ironically, women unmentioned before now remain to the bitter end at the cross. True, they stand at a “distance,” but the distance of ... the women is better than the absence of the apostles. Into the report of the women’s trepidation at the cross Mark inserts the story of Joseph of Arimathea, who on late ...

1124. Watchfulness

Luke 12:35-48

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the disciples cannot predict with certainty when the Son of Man will come; therefore, they must always be ready. Peter inquires about whether Jesus is speaking specifically to the apostles/disciples or to all people (12:41). Jesus does not answer the question directly, although he implies that he is referring only to the apostles/disciples, because they possess authority over the other servants (12:42). In this third parable, Jesus focuses on the responsibility of managers to take care of their servants (12 ...

1125. Resurrection: Scripture Fulfilled

Luke 24:1-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the resurrection first, even though they were not considered in Jewish society to be credible witnesses. Notice that Luke says nothing about an appearance of Jesus here; the tomb is empty and angels claim he is risen. The women report the news to the apostles, yet the apostles view these tales as “nonsense.” Peter, however, is stimulated to investigate further. He sees the linen that was used to wrap Jesus’s body lying on the ground, and leaves the scene mystified (24:12; cf. John 20:3–9). There are ...

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