Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 101 to 125 of 189 results

101. Historic: The Declaration of Independence

Illustration

Staff

... till his Assent should be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into ...

102. Practicing the Presence

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... manifest. And then it sank. It sank on its maiden voyage. Over 1500 people died. Everything “Titanic” represented was suddenly leaden and dead wrong. Her design — obviously fatally flawed. Her science‑certified perfection — catastrophically collapsed. Her representation of human perfectibility — sunk to the bottom of the sea. Suddenly the “practice” that everyone was “preaching” was broken and worthless. The “practice” of faith in human technology and human power had cost a great ...

103. The Incomparable Christ

Colossians 1:15-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Greek word for image is eikon; even though we force Paul to jump through the centuries to explain, computer junkies know about icons — click on the icon, and you get the whole program. In the eikon Jesus, you have, not just a picture or some representation, you actually have God. Paul then talks about creation and says Christ is the "firstborn" (Colossians 1:15). Firstborn is understood in the ancient world as more than simply order of appearance; it is a title of honor. Thus, for Paul, firstborn of all ...

104. In the Potter's Hands

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

... of pottery, hollowed-out gourds, and animal hides were all that people had with which to transport water from one place to another, prepare meals, or secure precious documents. Additionally, clay figurines were shaped by hand to serve as earthly representations or reminders of the "gods" that were worshiped by the Canaanites and other peoples of the region. Archaeologists tell us that in the time of the prophet Jeremiah, pottery was used for storing foods and ointments, for carrying water, for standard ...

105. Face to Face

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... what every believer does for every other member of the Body of Christ. We “reflect,” we “mirror image,” Christ’s presence, the very face of God, to each other and to the world. Like mirrors, the Christbody community is not a perfect representation. There are always ripples and wrinkles, distortions and disjunctions. But the reflection is still there and shows the world what might be. As disciples each of us has been “transfigured” by our holy encounter with the Holy Spirit and by the person of ...

106. Come One, Come All

Luke 5:27-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... ’t afford to pay the tax the tax collector would loan you money at exorbitant interest and if you couldn’t pay he could take everything you owned, sell it, and keep it for himself. It was the first case in history of taxation without representation. It reminds me of the true story of the little boy that wanted ten dollars. He prayed for two weeks and nothing happened. He then decided to write God a letter requesting the ten dollars. When the postal authorities received the letter to “God USA” they ...

107. An Annual Reminder

John 20:1-9

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... the Old Testament, Peter’s words were surely in conflict with the prevailing paradigm of the time. What about a chosen, covenant people? What about circumcision and the law? What about the theology embodied in the temple architecture, with its symbolic representation of people’s proximity to God: the court of the priests being nearest, then Jewish men, then Jewish women, and then Gentiles as the farthest away? The message that Peter proclaims to Cornelius and the rest of his Gentile household has ...

108. Like a Butterfly

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... that Jesus is His Son, Moses and Elijah disappear and Jesus alone remains. The Law and the Prophets have served their time and pass away, but Jesus, who is the fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophets, remains. What happened on the mountain was a visual representation of what Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” The Law and the Prophets had served their purpose, but the time of the ...

109. In Athens

Acts 17:16-34

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... marketplace,” v. 17) and the Acropolis. As Paul walked this and the other streets of Athens, on every side, in niches and on pedestals, in temples and on street corners, his eye would have fallen on the works of great artists. But he saw their representations of gods and demigods, not as objects of beauty, but as examples of senseless idolatry (cf. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4.19). At first his intention may have been not to preach until Silas and Timothy had arrived. But he was so greatly ...

110. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... Bultmann, TDNT, vol. 6, pp. 205–8. The Greek word underlying being sure of (hypostasis) occurs elsewhere in Hebrews in two places. In the first of these (1:3) the word has an objective sense and is translated “being” by NIV: “the exact representation of his being.” In its second occurrence (3:14) the word may have a subjective sense and is translated “confidence” by NIV: “the confidence we had at first.” Even in this passage, however, an objective sense is possible (as Koester argues). The ...

111. Offerings for the Tabernacle

Exodus 25:1-9

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... it writ small in Israel, a beginning in God’s mission to bring creation to the point where it is perfectly reflective of the divine will” (Fretheim, “Whole Earth,” p. 238; see also Fretheim, Exodus, pp. 268–72). The clearest representations of the creation come from the detailed descriptions of the tabernacle itself. Exodus 25 begins with raw materials: metals (gold, silver, bronze), linen (flax), goat’s wool, leather hides, dyes (red from grubs, blue from snails, purple mixed), acacia wood ...

112. The Golden Calf

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... in the plural (v. 4b, NIV “these are your gods”). This can also be properly translated “this is your god.” 32:4 The “idol cast in the shape of a calf” (ʿegel) was a bull-calf, a symbol of power and fertility. Usually in the Canaanite representation of the god El, sometimes called “Bull-El,” the god stood on top of the calf-bull. Ancient worshipers represented the god Hadad in a similar way. See also 1 Kgs. 12:26–33 for the bulls Jeroboam erected at Bethel and Dan. Jeroboam misused the ...

113. The List of Exiles Who Returned

Ezra 2:1-70

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... this example, willingly faithful to the pattern set out in Scripture. 2:70 Verse 70 rounds off the list by echoing the end of verse 1. In the narrative context this sentence marks the conclusion of a single return in an idealistic representation of the birth of the new community. Additional Notes 2:1 Province refers to an administrative district at some level. At least by Zerubbabel’s time, from which this introduction dates, Judah, known as Yehud, was evidently an autonomous administrative unit in ...

114. The Decree of Darius

Ezra 6:1-12

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... in 5:13–15. Readers are left with no doubt that, in basic format and in ongoing function, the second temple had the same value as the first. It was an essential part of the narrator’s agenda that the postexilic community was an authentic representation of the Israel of God. 6:6–12 The text continues with the actual letter, with its direct address to Tattenai and his “inspectors” (REB). The edict of Cyrus was allowed to stand, and Tattenai’s policy of noninterference (5:5) was approved, with the ...

115. List of the Family Heads Returning With Ezra

Ezra 8:1-14

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... are not told how many priests returned with Ezra. In the list of Nehemiah 7/Ezra 2, they made up a tenth of the immigrants. In that list a Davidic group was not singled out, although Zerubbabel’s leadership bore implicit witness to its representation. Here explicit mention attests the continuing honor paid to the preexilic royal line. Later the Chronicler would reflect such honor by tracing it down to his own era (1 Chr. 3), seemingly with an eschatological interest, but Ezra-Nehemiah as a whole displays ...

116. Ezra's Prayer about Intermarriage

Ezra 9:1-15

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... . The logical, drastic conclusion to be drawn was that they must be expelled. There can be no doubt that the hermeneutic was derived from the teaching of Ezra, who was to work these very texts into his prayer. This thinking marks a development consistent with the representation of the community’s earlier history in Ezra 1–6 as made up of returned exiles. In fact, this definition will feature in verse 4 and 10:6, 8, 16. Outsiders belonging to “the peoples of the lands” had no place in the new Israel ...

117. Nehemiah Helps the Poor

Nehemiah 5:1-19

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... wives” (Vogt, Studie, p. 111; compare the NRSV). Wives were left to run the smallholdings while their husbands were working on the Jerusalem project. “The people” connotes “the common people” (REB) by being differentiated from the oppressing upper class. The representation of the oppressed as “the (real) people” is reminiscent of the use of the phrase “my (= God’s) people” in prophetic literature, for example in Isa. 3:12, 15. As in 2:16, their Jewish brothers, or “(their brother) Jews ...

118. Jeremiah Threatened with Death

Jeremiah 26:1-24

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... not appear to be variants of the same sermon. That Jeremiah would deliver two sermons at the temple courtyard is hardly surprising considering the importance and significance of that place. It was a public place as well, and so he could, at least by representation, reach all the people of the towns of Judah. The divine intent of this oracle is clearly repentance. God wants the people to hear the pronouncement of judgment and then turn back and obey him (perhaps they will listen). If they do, he will relent ...

119. Israel to Reap the Whirlwind

Hosea 8:1-14

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... to be subservient to the tôrâ (cf. Deut. 17:14–20). Second in Israel’s rejection of the “good” is the fact that they have made idols of silver and gold for themselves, verse 4b. From the very first, the covenant laws forbid Israel to make any representation of a deity (cf. Exod. 20:3–6, 23; 34:17; Lev. 19:4), for the God of Israel could not be revealed through anything “in heaven above” or “in the earth beneath” or “in the water under the earth” (Exod. 20:4 RSV). Those who broke the ...

120. The Beginning

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... is witnessed in several texts (1 Kgs. 22:19–22; Job 1:6–12). God considered making humans in God’s image and likeness. Image (tselem) and likeness (demut) are used in similar ways in the OT. “Image” refers to a copy or a close representation (it is also used infrequently for an idol; Num. 33:52; Ezek. 7:20; 16:17). “Likeness” emphasizes the comparison of one object with another or the correspondence between two objects. Each word tempers the other. The use of two terms for the comparison of ...

121. Hagar and Ishmael

Genesis 16:1-16

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... this messenger. On the occasion of the Lord’s appearance to Abram, “three men” visit (18:2, 16, 22). After the period of the judges there are scarcely any reports of God’s appearing in this manner. As Hamilton says, the messenger is more of a representation of God than a representative of God (Genesis: Chapters 1–17, p. 451). For von Rad, “he is God himself in human form” (Genesis, p. 193). 16:12 There are no records of any conflict between the descendants of Ishmael and the children of Israel ...

122. Love and Obey the Lord

Deuteronomy 11:1-32

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... the North and thus on the left. It is also suggested that Gerizim was covered with fertile vegetation whereas Ebal was barren (Mayes, Deuteronomy, p. 218). Further details of the ceremonies on these mountains are given in chapter 27. This physical representation of the fundamental choice between blessing and curse immediately precedes the central section of law that begins in chapter 12 and is the first thing recorded after that section closes in chapter 26. It thus functions as a kind of thematic “verbal ...

123. Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan

1 Kings 12:25-33

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... ” (Jeroboam encouraging worship of the LORD via the calves, on this view) is not “actually” idolatry at all. From whose point of view? It is certainly idolatry so far as passages like Deut. 4:15–24 are concerned. You cannot worship the LORD using representations of him, for then you are not worshiping him at all but “other gods” (1 Kgs. 14:9). Whatever Jeroboam thinks he is doing with his calves, it is idolatry from the point of view of these passages; and it is already clearly associated ...

124. Jehoshaphat King of Judah

1 Kings 22:41-50

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... ). Both Matt. (3:4) and Mark (1:6) portray John the Baptist (as “Elijah”) wearing both this kind of garment and a leather belt (cf. the additional note to 1 Kgs. 19:16). 1:10 Fire fell from heaven: The figure of Elijah appears to stand behind the representation of the two prophets in Rev. 11:1–6, who stop the rain and kill with fire those who try to harm them (cf. also the allusions to Moses here, and the connections between Elijah and Moses in the commentary on 1 Kgs. 19 in particular). Fire is a ...

125. The Lord's Judgement of Ahaziah

2 Kings 1:1-18

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

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