Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 101 to 125 of 5000 results

101. The New-Covenant Blessings: Peace and Hope

Romans 5:1-11

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... abandonment and hostility, even if only for a time. And the Holy Spirit is the one who transcends time in order to bring to the sinner’s consciousness the depth of love displayed on the cross, making the death of Jesus an existential reality. Illustrating the Text The Trinity shows the source (Father), medium (Spirit), and proof (Son) of love. Hymn Text: “The Love of God,” by Frederick M. Lehman. Lehman (1868–1953) wrote this song in 1917 in Pasadena, California. The text is based on a Jewish poem ...

102. The Divine Plan of Salvation

Romans 11:33-36

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... 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 wisdom of God, the means of salvation history, according to 11:33–34. Recall the hourglass illustration concerning the remnant of God’s people in the Bible (see the “Teaching the Text” section for Rom. 11:1–10). In that diagram, the Old Testament story narrowed from the creation of the world, to the calling out of Israel, to the faithful few ...

103. Applying God’s Wisdom to Life’s Issues

1 Corinthians 2:6-16, 1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... superseded any of the human wisdom being offered in Corinth. Although Paul avoids calling himself an idi?t?s, a term describing the common man who was not a philosopher (lover of wisdom),[1] he does describe his entry onto the Corinthian scene as an illustration of how God uses the ordinary. Like the Corinthians when they were called, Paul was nothing in the eyes of the world.2 Contrary to the Corinthians, however, Paul had no desire to display his own accomplishments. He had come solely to proclaim Christ ...

104. Christian Success and Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... , the Christian message and lifestyle bring a 180-degree correction to secular understandings of success. The cross calls for his willingness to crucify personal desires (1 Cor. 9:19–22) and wait for the crown till Christ calls him home (2 Tim. 4:8). Illustrating the Text The Bible is not a treasure trove of unrelated sayings to be used however we find convenient. Anecdote: A familiar story tells of a distressed man who was seeking a word from the Lord by closing his eyes, opening the Bible, and reading ...

105. The Priority of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... and thereby come to obscure rather than amplify God’s voice. 3. Because gifts are provisions for the present time given to enable the continuation of Christ’s ministry, their significance is found only as they bear witness to Christ. Paul illustrates this by highlighting an exceedingly selfless act—giving everything one owns to the poor. Even that can be done for the selfish reason of parading one’s devotion. As testimonies to Christ, however, selfless gifts help lead both believers and nonbelievers ...

106. Resurrection and Transformation (Part 1)

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... that God grants bodies fit for their purpose, Paul draws an analogy from the well-known link between seed and plant to the relationship between natural and resurrected body. This allows Paul to stress continuity without rejecting transformation. And it affords him an illustration of how God turns death into a seedbed for new life. The analogy proves brilliantly helpful for Paul’s argument. The seed must die before new life can come from it. Still, what comes up from the ground relates directly to what was ...

107. Message to Laodicea

Revelation 3:14-22

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... door of the believer’s life sends a powerful message. Jesus is saying, “Yes, I want to renew our relationship. I’ve been here all along. If you hear me knocking and open your life to me, I’ll come in and bring healing and restoration.” Illustrating the Text Jesus is the only reliable source of life. Object Lesson: Place a bouquet of roses and a simple potted plant next to each other. One is beautiful, the other plain. One pleases the eye. The other seems pedestrian. However, one will die while the ...

108. Worthy Is the Lamb Who Was Slain

Revelation 5:1-14

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... will pour out his wrath has already poured out his life to offer salvation to all people. The cross of Christ includes both divine love and divine justice. Teaching the Text 1. Worship is our response to what God has done for us in Christ. This passage clearly illustrates the biblical principle that worship comes after deliverance (e.g., Exod. 4:31; 14:31; 2 Chron. 7:3; Ps. 95:6–7). Jesus’s work on the cross makes him worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, and this, in turn, calls for universal ...

109. The Protective Sealing of God’s People on Earth

Revelation 7:1-8

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... place, like a contract. God has promised to protect us, his people. As a witness to this promise, he has sealed us with his Holy Spirit, assuring us that we belong to him and will never suffer his condemning wrath. (This kind of illustration could be supplemented either by obtaining a wax seal or by interviewing a notary public about their duties.) Believers are called to a life of spiritual warfare. History: On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the United States naval base in Hawaii was attacked without warning ...

110. The Coming Judgment Calls for the Saints to Leave Babylon

Revelation 18:1-24

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... to pay the lowest price can create the market for industries that use people as machines in the production of their goods. God’s judgment of Babylon is harsh in part because of the enormous value and worth he has bestowed on human beings. Illustrating the Text God’s judgment may come suddenly on the corrupt. News: Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi had hands covered in blood. A sponsor of terrorism, this despot saw himself on the way to becoming the emperor of Africa, a kingmaker and kingdom builder. Before ...

111. God’s Judgment of Babylon Calls for Celebration

Revelation 19:1-10, Revelation 18:1-24

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.” For the third time in the book we encounter a “mighty angel” (cf. 5:2; 10:1). This time, the angel participates in a symbolic act of throwing a huge boulder into the sea to illustrate the judgment of Babylon (cf. Jer. 51:63–64; Ezek. 26:12, 21). The millstone was not a small stone used to grind grain by hand (e.g., Matt. 24:41) but a huge stone that weighed several tons and was turned by a donkey or mule (e.g., Mark ...

112. The New Heaven and New Earth

Revelation 21:1-27

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... from enemies. In the new creation there will be no night, no darkness, no evil (cf. 22:5; John 9:4; 11:10; 13:30). The light of day will endure forever. Consequently, the gates of the city will never close (cf. Isa. 60:11), illustrating how God’s people will experience perfect protection and total freedom from the fear of their enemies. The image of continuously open gates also underscores that among the redeemed, no one is closed out. The multicultural people of God will have full and unlimited access ...

113. The Sin Offering

Leviticus 4:1--5:13

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... space of the sanctuary had to be regularly purged of sin’s pollution by the blood of sin offerings, so the sins of both the church and individual Christians need to be purged by the blood of Christ so that God’s Spirit will not be grieved. Illustrating the Text Our sin offends God. Food: One of the longest-running reality TV shows is Fear Factor. In the show, contestants must overcome common fears, such as fear of heights or bugs or fire, to complete challenges. One of the mainstays of the show is for ...

114. The Census of the Twelve Tribes

Num 1:1–2:54

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... in triads in which the most prominent of the triad is listed first. The tribes take these positions when they camp, and the order of their groupings determines when they “set out” to relocate the camp (vv. 9, 16, 24, 31). See the illustration. 2:3–9 On the east . . . Judah . . . Issachar . . . Zebulun. East of the tabernacle are Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Judah, the tribe destined to be the ruling tribe (Gen. 49:10), is given the most prominent position, immediately in front of the tent of ...

115. The Lord Thwarts a Shrewd Counselor

2 Sam 16:15–17:29

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... to be king (1 Sam. 16:1–12; 2 Sam. 6:21), not to Absalom, whom the story never describes as being the Lord’s chosen.3Hushai’s deceiving Absalom is all part of the Lord’s plan to “bring disaster” on this usurper (see 17:14) and illustrates how God typically deals with deceivers (22:27). Indeed, the one who has used deception against his father (13:23–27; 15:7–9) has now become the deceived. 16:22 he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. Ahithophel urges Absalom ...

116. Meet Israel’s New King

1 Sam 9:1–10:8

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... I aloud, ‘My dear father’s words are come to pass: God’s Justice has overtaken me, and I have none to help or hear me: I rejected the Voice of Providence.’” And again, “Thus we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its Contraries; nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.”14 This is a great study of God’s sovereignty. In his mercy, God often provides the legitimate needs of the faithless. Literature: Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. One ...

117. The Lord Guides, Encourages, and Protects David

1 Samuel 23:1-29

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... Lord to bless someone else. On both of the prior occasions the blessing was tainted (Judg. 17:2; 1 Sam. 15:13). Pious-sounding blessings do not necessarily mean that the heart where they originate is morally pure. for your concern for me. This account illustrates the point that “concern” (or compassion), in and of itself, is not necessarily a proper emotional response. In fact, on an earlier occasion the Lord told Saul not to spare the Amalekites (15:3), yet he and his army did so (15:9, 15), prompting ...

118. Adversity of a Righteous Man

Job 1:1-22

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... trusting him with their trouble. Like Job and the psalmists learned, our adversity can lead us into new frontiers in our knowledge of and confidence in the Lord. Illustrating the Text All humans face adversity in some form or another. News Stories: Recent statistics about medical problems, financial difficulties, and natural disasters illustrate the principle that all people face adversity. The power of adversity to quickly reduce a person from prosperity to poverty was witnessed in the stock market crash ...

119. Job Presents Evidence against the Retribution Principle

Job 12:1--14:22

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... do not know God correctly. Their criticisms of Job are unfounded. What they said has no substance but is as ephemeral as ashes. Job may well have accompanied these words with object lessons, picking up some of the ashes and pieces of pottery where he was sitting, to illustrate how their words will be burned up and their defenses will be broken like clay pots. 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. See the sidebar “Hope or No Hope in God?” 13:18 I know I will be vindicated. Job speaks ...

120. Job Feels Both Confidence and Terror

Job 23:1--24:25

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... wait in silence?”1 Song: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” by U2. In one of contemporary music group U2’s most famous songs, the lead singer, Bono, sings that he still hasn’t found what he is looking for. He illustrates with several scenarios, returning to the lines “but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” The artist’s search for meaning in life is comparable to Job’s; however, Job explicitly searches for God, while Bono’s search and repeated disappointments ...

121. “His Anger Lasts Only a Moment, but His Favor Lasts a Lifetime”

Psalm 30:1-12

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... but a goal of life, and that goal, when reached, is a life of joy. The writer to the Hebrews even describes the Savior’s journey to the cross as underwritten by joy (“For the joy set before him he endured the cross,” Heb. 12:2). Illustrating the Text From lament to praise History: Natan Sharansky, a noted Jewish dissident who became a member of the Israeli parliament, tells the story of his imprisonment by the KGB in the Soviet Union. During those years his one constant companion was a book of Psalms ...

122. Daniel's Prayer

Daniel 9:1-19

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... ’s prayer should not be taught as a “model prayer” in the way that the Lord’s Prayer is presented in the Gospels (Matt. 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4). It does not necessarily reflect the form of “true” or “mature praying.”17 Illustrating the Text The gracious gift of covenant with a righteous God demands our obedience. Quote: Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The perfectly holy and righteous God paid the ultimate price for our sin. Such an amazing sacrifice demands our awe and worship and also compels us to ...

123. Miscellaneous Laws

Deut 23:15–25:19

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 13). However, the rights of the debtor are to be respected by not entering a person’s house to select what could be put up as security and by not taking a person’s cloak beyond sunset since it is needed to keep warm at night. A third illustration (24:14–15) concerns paying workers each day before sunset for their work, since they have no resources otherwise to get food and the necessities of life for that day. In the case of individual sins, children are not to bear the brunt for their father’s sins ...

124. Proof of Deceitful Ways

Hosea 11:12--12:14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... ’s strength, Jacob did overcome the angel in the sense of begging a blessing from him. Hosea 12:4b describes yet another incident in Jacob’s life: God talked to Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 28:10–22). No explicit interpretation is given to these last two illustrations from the life of Jacob, but Jacob’s struggle with the angel may suggest that the people of Israel should not wrestle with or resist God like Jacob did but should listen to and accept the promises of God Almighty as Jacob did at Bethel. Verses ...

125. The Cost of Being a Disciple

Luke 14:25-35

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... no one can take precedence over Jesus. One must renounce “even their own life” and be willing to follow Jesus in the way of death (14:26–27). Those who are not willing to follow Jesus in such a radical way cannot be his disciples. Two illustrations are given to show the need for counting the cost before embarking on the road to discipleship. Someone building a tower (14:28–30) would surely calculate the cost of the project before starting. A half-finished building would be the object of ridicule. So ...

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