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 1326 to 1350 of 2815 results

1326. Spiritual Blindness

John 9:35-41

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... , not just theological or illustrative. Though the man born blind is presented as a typical convert from Judaism to Christianity, he is also a real person with a real history. The case study is an actual case, not a made-up one, and clearly not a parable or allegory. The case study ends with the confession of faith at verse 38. From what has happened, Jesus makes a generalization about his mission to the world. He has come for judgment, he says, so that the blind will see and those who see will become ...

1327. The Jews Continue in Their Disbelief

John 12:37-50

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... (Mark 4:12; Matt. 13:13–15; Luke 8:10). There are two differences in the narrator’s use of it in John’s Gospel: It refers to the whole of Jesus’ ministry, not just to his teaching in parables, and it attributes to God explicitly (not just implicitly) the blinding of the people’s eyes and the closing of their minds. The accent on negative election (i.e., on God’s withholding of the truth from some to prevent them from coming to faith) is, if anything, stronger here ...

1328. The Song of the Vineyard

Isaiah 5:1-7

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... and the distance between hope and reality. The men who identified with the man’s desire for vengeance have signed the warrant for vengeance on themselves, like David in his judgment in 2 Samuel 12 (Oswalt, Isaiah 1–39, p. 151). The technique is one Jesus takes up in his parables, as is the vineyard theme. Jesus’ parables will also imitate Isaiah’s technique whereby the prophet then leaves the hearers to work out the implications for themselves.

1329. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 13:1--14:23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... KJV—by that time the passage came to be understood as an account of the fall of Satan. In the Babylonian and Canaanite stories that the poem is using it does have a significance of such a kind, but the Bible uses the picture only as a parable about something happening on earth to a human being. Ezek. 28:12–19 applies the same story to the King of Tyre. The Bible contains no account of the fall of Satan except that of his downfall in Rev. 20, but believers wanting their theological curiosity satisfied ...

1330. Gods of Babylon

Isaiah 46:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... the relationship between Yahweh’s speaking and events. This relationship has provided evidence of Yahweh’s lordship over centuries of events. The carrying of divine images in procession was reckoned to glorify them and was an occasion of great celebration and splendor. The prophet turns it into a parable of their weakness. Gods are supposed to carry you, especially in a crisis. What use is a god who then has to be carried? Instead of being impressed by these images, the Judean community ought to let the ...

1331. An Unholy History

Ezekiel 20:1-29, Ezekiel 20:30-49

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... four parts. First, we will discuss the historical recitation in 20:1–44. Next, we will consider the miscellaneous judgment oracles in 20:45–22:31. Then we will turn to the allegory of Oholah and Oholibah in chapter 23. Finally, we will discuss the parable and sign-act in chapter 24. The great German scholar Gerhard von Rad found the heart of Old Testament theology in the remembrance and recitation of Heilsgeschichte: the sacred history of God’s saving acts on Israel’s behalf. It is not hard to find ...

1332. Tyre, Sidon—and Israel

Ezekiel 26:1-21, Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-19, Ezekiel 28:20-26

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... in verses 1–3a, the only prose in the chapter is an extended description of Tyre’s trade (vv. 12–25; see the discussion of these verses below). Ezekiel’s lament over Tyre is a poetic masterpiece, demonstrating again the prophet’s consummate literary skill. Like the parable of the foundling bride in Ezekiel 16, the lament is based on a single, extended metaphor. Here, the image is of Tyre as a ship. Ezekiel was probably not the first to conceive of Tyre in this way—after all, built as it was on a ...

1333. Sermon on the Mount: Giving, Prayer, and Fasting

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... The centerpiece of this passage (and possibly the whole Sermon on the Mount) is the Lord’s Prayer (6:9–13). The importance of prayer will also be emphasized in 7:7–11, with the theme of forgiveness (6:12, 14–15) reiterated in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew’s fourth discourse (18:23–35). Interpretive Insights 6:1–18 This passage is clearly divided into three sections on the topics of giving, prayer, and fasting. A pattern is also discernible in each section. (1) There is a ...

1334. Jesus, Messiah and Lord, Is True Interpreter of the Torah

Matthew 22:15-22, Matthew 22:23-33, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 22:41-46

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... (from Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18) narrated here in Matthew (cf. Mark 12:28–31) is reiterated and expanded across the New Testament, sounding something like a musical theme with variations. In Luke 10:25–37 these two commands provide the occasion for Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus subverts the question of “Who is my neighbor?” by telling a story about how to be a neighbor, even to one’s enemy. John highlights the command to love one’s neighbor to such an extent that it becomes “a ...

1335. The Authority of Jesus over Nature and the Cosmic Powers

Mark 5:1-20, Mark 4:35-41

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... –6, 20–30. A few will “hear” (4:9, 23), but most will hear yet be unable to perceive (4:12). Interpretive Insights 4:36 Leaving the crowd behind. This event seemingly takes place on the same day (“that day”) that Jesus finished his discourse on parables. Jesus wants to spend quality time just with his disciples, so he “leaves the crowd,” and to ensure that no one follows, he has them pile “in the boat” to go to the area of Transjordan. The boat in this story was likely very similar to ...

1336. Gentiles Exemplify True Discipleship

Mark 7:31-37, Mark 7:24-30

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... Jesus and the woman as a “duel of wits.”2 On the surface, Jesus’s curt response to her request that he cast the demon out of her daughter seems offensive and rude, even racist. But as several have said, it is another of Jesus’s “parables” to the “outsiders” (4:11)3and as such is a riddle waiting to be unpacked. He speaks from a Jewish perspective and in one sentence sums up their particularism and contempt for the Gentiles. The “children” are the Jewish people as the children of God, and ...

1337. Prophetic Actions—The Temple Condemned and the Fig Tree Cursed

Mark 11:12-19

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... and thereby demonstrates God’s curse upon Israel. So there are two insights: the danger of abandoning the will of God in our religious activity, and the divine judgment that results. Teaching the Text 1. Fruitfulness is a divine mandate. This is the theme in Jesus’s parable in John 15:1–8. If the branches of the vine wither and stop bearing fruit, they will be “picked up, thrown in the fire and burned” by God (15:6). This is intended as a warning for all of us. As Paul says, salvation comes only ...

1338. The Good Life

Luke 6:17-26

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... are thus established for the role that the disciples will play in the developing story. Outline/Structure Luke 6:20–49 is a much shorter “equivalent” to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7. Both sermons begin with beatitudes and end with the parable of the two houses. Most of what Luke includes in between is paralleled in Matthew’s longer discourse (though not always in the same order, and often in quite different words), but Matthew has also integrated a lot of Jesus’s other teaching on ...

1339. Jesus and John the Baptist

Luke 7:18-35

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... separate units make up this complex of material concerning the relationship between John and Jesus. First comes John’s question and Jesus’s answer (7:18–23), then Jesus’s comments about the significance of John’s ministry (7:24–28), and finally a parable about how people have responded to the contrasting ministries of John and Jesus (7:31–35). All this material is parallel to Matthew 11:2–19, where the three sections occur in the same order. Luke has inserted his own editorial comment in 7 ...

1340. Jesus’s Fallible Followers

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

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... as the objects of God’s concern here and in 17:11–19, and he will go on to speak of a successful apostolic mission among them in Acts 8; and most famously, a Samaritan will be the unlikely hero in one of Jesus’s best-known parables (10:25–37). The disciples’ conventional Jewish attitude here is out of step with that of Jesus (and of Luke). Interpretive Insights 9:39 A spirit seizes him. All three Synoptic Gospels describe the symptoms of this boy in a way that sounds similar to epilepsy, and ...

1341. Rejecting or Responding to Jesus

Luke 10:1-24

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... knowledge of the Father to other humans (the “little children” of 10:21). No one knows who the Son is except the Father. It has been suggested that Jesus’s statement here is to be taken not as a literal description of Jesus and God but rather as a parable: just as there is perfect mutual understanding between a father and a son, so there is between God and Jesus. It may be questioned whether that would in fact be a true generalization from human experience. But even if it were, the point of such a ...

1342. The Four Horsemen

Revelation 6:1-17

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... long-term option. God in his sovereignty exercises patience even as his people suffer injustice. But delayed judgment should not be taken to mean no judgment. One day God will judge wickedness and vindicate his people. Jesus closes his Olivet Discourse with several parables that warn of God’s coming judgment on unbelievers at the end of the age (Matt. 24:43–25:46). Teaching the Text Revelation 6:9–17 offers substantive points of application for the contemporary Christian. 1. We should expect to suffer ...

1343. “Ride Forth Victoriously in the Cause of Truth, Humility and Justice”

Psalm 45:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... king and queen in this psalm was one underwritten by love (“Let the king be enthralled by your beauty,” [v. 11] is more than infatuation) and commitment (“Forget your people and your father’s house,” [v. 10b]). See Ruth 1:16. Marriage as a parable Classic Sermon: Psalm 45 celebrates a royal marriage, and in a sense every marriage is intended to be “royal,” but more than that. Indeed, God has given us the gift of marriage partly to help us to better understand our relationship with him and what ...

1344. “Create in Me a Pure Heart, O God, and Renew a Steadfast Spirit within Me”

Psalm 51:1-19

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... Luke 15:19), and God is responsive to a broken and contrite heart (51:17; Luke 15:21–24). The story of the prodigal is not designed to duplicate the story of Psalm 51, but it is a match for its spiritual character. This psalm, as well as the parable of the prodigal, sums up the teaching of Scripture about God’s forgiveness. There is another story, said to be found in the Talmud, that wraps up this truth in a real-life action. Like the prodigal, a certain son left his father’s house and went away. The ...

1345. “May All the Peoples Praise You”

Psalm 67:1-7

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... invent their own religion—that’s what humans have been doing since the beginning of time. Nor should we be surprised, by the power of grace, when “all the ends of the earth will fear him” (v. 7; Rev. 19:6). It’s not about us! Story: The Parable of the Life-Saving Station, by Theodore Wedel (1953), was written to remind Christians not to lose their purpose. It would be helpful to read the story to your listeners or share it in your own words. The story is about a lifesaving station on a coast where ...

1346. God Has No Grandchildren

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... .” Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [4] That’s what we have to keep in mind—that this is who Christ is—the one who wants to give new birth. Nothing pictured this more clearly than the parable of the Prodigal son. The central truth of the parable of the Prodigal son is this: When the prodigal returned home, his father accepted him as though he had never been away. It will be so with any one of us. “You must be born again.” That’s what Jesus said. In ...

1347. Beyond Judgment

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

James L. Killen

... possibility here for us in each present moment of our lives. His teachings -- the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, and all -- are descriptions of the new and radically different kind of life that God makes possible for us. The two chapters in which Jesus says so ... much about the last days end with the familiar parable of the last judgment in which the Son of Man comes to judge all people and to separate those who are saved from ...

1348. Nathan Rebukes David

2 Samuel 12:1-31

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... deliver a very difficult message (12:1–12). Although many months have passed since David’s sin, he has apparently not reckoned with the significance of his deeds. Nathan’s visit changes everything, as David listens to a parable and pronounces a death sentence on himself. The ewe lamb in Nathan’s parable is Bathsheba, and the poor man is Uriah. David as the reigning king is guilty of misusing the power God has given him. The king is regarded as the shepherd of Israel, and David now realizes what he ...

1349. Psalm 26

Psalm 26:1-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... and sinners (26:4–5), and a man of worship in the midst of a godless society (26:5–12). But does he believe that he is perfect, without sin? Though sounding much like the Pharisee in Jesus’s parable (cf. Luke 18:9–14) who conceitedly announces his “spiritual greatness,” David speaks truth about his actual godliness and, like the tax collector in that parable, recognizes his need for God’s mercy (26:11). David trusts God fully; he does not waiver in his belief in the true God of Israel (26:1).

1350. The Sign of Jonah

Matthew 12:38-45, Matthew 12:46-50

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... plot against him). The rest of this section focuses on Jesus’s judgment of “this generation” for its lack of repentance in the presence of the one who is greater than Jonah and Solomon (12:41–42; cf. 11:20–24; 23:36). A parable about an evil spirit returning with multiple spirits to the person it has left indicates the final condition of wickedness that brings Jesus’s judgment on this generation (12:43–45). Even after experiencing Jesus’s miraculous works and kingdom message, the Pharisees ...

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