Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1326 to 1350 of 2157 results

Luke 6:17-26

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Luke's version of Simon Peter's call relates it to an experience of both the words and works of Jesus. This unique combination of events is found only in Luke's text. Of course, Luke knew of and was influenced by the exceedingly abrupt "call" passage Mark relates in 1:16-20. ...

1327. Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... tour of temptations given Jesus by an articulate, Torah-toting, Scripture-quoting devil. Mark's short form of this confrontation is elongated and elaborated by both Luke and Matthew, suggesting that the shared source of these two gospel writers held this longer version, which each then adopted and adapted to fit his own gospel form. Luke opens by affirming the coherency between Jesus' experience at his baptism and his journey into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit, which comes upon Jesus at his baptism, now ...

1328. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

1329. Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ;22:3-16;26:4-18). Both the remarkable, miraculous nature of this event and the personal transformation of Saul the persecutor into Paul the apostle that results from this encounter make it a tale worth telling and retelling. This first and most succinct version of the event that changed Saul into Paul reveals more than the identity of the voice and vision that stunned this fired-up Pharisee. It celebrates the narrative style beloved by the Lukan author, and it offers continuity between the God who revealed ...

1330. Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , as well as Ptah-hotep and Merikare, and may have formed a basis for some of the biblical texts in Proverbs (see Pritchard, Ancient Near East Texts, 412ff). "The Proverbs of Alfred" was published in 12th-century England. Benjamin Franklin published his version of old European proverbs in Poor Richard's Almanac. There are many other such examples, but in every case, proverbial wisdom arises out of an oral, folk tradition which consisted of myths, legends and poems. The wisdom of generations was put in ...

1331. 1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14) 15-21a

1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14) 15-21a

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... be less conversant with Hebrew religious law and custom than he, Ahab changes the details slightly. He says that he offered money for Naboth's vineyard first and a swap second, when, in fact, it was the other way around. Perhaps, he gave Jezebel the version with which she would be most sympathetic. He also modifies Naboth's response. Missing now are not only Naboth's reference to God as the one forbidding the royal proposal, but also Naboth's reference to Hebrew religious and cultural law: the land as an ...

1332. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... : "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" (v.15). Jesus implies that greed and covetousness are difficult to see and to guard against. "Take care" (horao) is a softened version of the stronger and better translated "Watch out! (NIV) or "Look!" "Be on your guard" (phulasso) carries the meaning of "beware" (KJV) as in the "Beware of Dog" signs that might be posted on a neighbor's fence. Such is the insidiousness of greed, the ...

1333. Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... we do not see" (Moffatt). "Faith means the assurance of what we hope for; it is our conviction about things that we cannot see" (Goodspeed). "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Inclusive Version). "Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen" (Jerusalem Bible). But there is another school of interpretation. This school, which dominated in the patristic and medieval exegesis ...

1334. Luke 17:5-10

Luke 17:5-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... (Jesus' journey to Jerusalem) is interrupted rather abruptly in today's text by two distinct thoughts, the first of which is a demand placed upon him by the "apostles" (v. 5) by whom Luke clearly means the Twelve: "Increase our faith!" The request is the Lukan version of the Matthean account in 17:20 where it is attached to an incident in which the disciples, having been asked to cure a man's son of his epileptic seizures, are unable to do so. In that account, Jesus, clearly exasperated, says, "How much ...

1335. Luke 19:1-10

Luke 19:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... beggar's request "to see" (18:41b NIV). Although the other synoptists omit the story of Zacchaeus, they both record another encounter with the blind as Jesus leaves the city: Bartimaeus in the Markan account (10:46), and "two blind men" in the Matthean version (20:29-34). In today's reading, however, Jesus now enters Jericho, where he will find yet another person unable to see Jesus: Zacchaeus. (For a discussion of vision and sight as a Lukan metaphor, see D. Hamm, "Sight to the Blind: Vision as Metaphor ...

1336. Refusing to Quit

2 Timothy 4:5-8

Sermon

James McCormick

... Listen Elijah. I’ve got seven thousand people in Israel who have not bowed down to Baal. So stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get up from there and go back to work.” Now, you won’t find those exact words in your Bibles. That’s the McCormick revised version. But that’s pretty much what happened! I’ve been criticized. Or, I’ve been hurt. Where did we ever get the idea that the Christian life is all sweetness and light? Where did we get the idea that if we do the right thing, people will always ...

1337. Matthew 5:13-20

Matthew 5:13-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... fruitful, the darkness fully banished by the light. Unlike the First Covenant - the covenant of salt, the written law preached by the prophets - this eschatological age will be characterized by an internalized law. This will be the whole law, not some new version, but every nuance of the law ever intimated will be internalized, written on the hearts of the new community. Through the attitudes of the beatitude people, and by the witnessing work from the "city on the hill" of fertilizing salt and guiding ...

1338. Matthew 26:14-27:66

Matthew 26:14-27:66

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ' mind and soul than do any of the other Gospel accounts. All single Judas out as the consummate betrayer. But only Matthew returns to him after Jesus' arrest to reveal his fate. (Acts, of course, does carry a slightly different version.) Jesus' identity as the prophetically predicted deliverer is one of Matthew's most consistently repeated themes. Hence the Gospel writer's special care to develop the Passover/Passion connection, making deliverance a common thematic thread that ties these events together ...

1339. Matthew 16:13-20

Matthew 16:13-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the bishopric of Rome - i.e., the person and status of the Pope. Confessional boundaries once fairly well assured that all Catholic scholars would fall on the "Peter only" side and Protestant scholars on the "Peter as representative" version. In recent years, however, the theological battle lines have blurred greatly. It has become more accepted among scholars, Protestant and Catholic, that Peter's was indeed a single voice proclaiming Jesus' messiahship. Jesus' words, therefore, were intended for the ...

1340. Romans 12:9-21

Romans 12:9-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the other, it always places the needs and concerns of the other first. Verse 11 has a two-fold tradition. While many texts have translated Paul's call for zeal and ardency as characteristics Christians should use to "serve the Lord," some ancient versions have defined this call to serve the "time" or "opportunity." The translation problem here may be based on a scribal error, where kyrio ("Lord") became misread as kairo ("time"/"opportunity") or vice versa. Yet, both translations seem to agree with Paul's ...

1341. Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... well his ability to combine the general with the specific. Verses 3-14 carefully trawl through a travelogue of heavyweight theology adoption, grace, sacrifice, salvation, redemption, forgiveness and Christ's eschatological glory. But immediately following this condensed version of Christian theology, Paul bursts into a spontaneous prayer full of thanks for the Ephesian Christians themselves and of Paul's hopes for their continued growth in faith. Indeed, Paul's enthusiasm apparently ran away with his ...

1342. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Christians to stand "blameless" when Christ returns. Relating the Texts Having looked at Mark's prologue and introduction of John the Baptist last week, the lectionary now offers us the chance to compare John's portrait of this prophet to the synoptics' version. John the Baptist was an inspiring enough figure for John the gospel writer to let him break into the glorious rhythm of the fourth gospel's magnificent prologue. Verses 6-9 work John the Baptist into the "light" motif, clearly distinguishing him ...

1343. Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

1344. Mark 9:2-9

Mark 9:2-9

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... will be challenged to practice faithful discipleship. Jesus' transfiguration apparently affects his whole body transforming even his clothing. (Recall that Moses' mountaintop experience in Exodus 34:30 left its marks only on his face.) While Luke's version of the Transfiguration reveals that the topic of conversation between Elijah, Moses and Jesus was Jesus' impending "departure" (Luke 9:31), Mark keeps the content of their discussion private. Confronted with this dazzling vision, the disciples with ...

1345. Mark 1:9-15

Mark 1:9-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... somewhat unflattering for he is "from Nazareth of Galilee." Furthermore, John apparently baptizes Jesus without a word of recognition or a moment's hesitation (compare this with Matthew's John who balks at baptizing Jesus [Matthew 3:14], or the Gospel of John's version that describes the Baptizer retelling the miraculous moment of Jesus' baptism [John 1:32-34]). Only after Jesus came up "out of the water" (v.10), does Mark's gospel begin in earnest, for it is only at that moment that Jesus' unique nature ...

1346. Mark 14:1-15:47

Mark 14:1-15:47

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... editions and in the NRSV, verse 68 concludes with the ominous observation kai alektor ephonesen, "then the cock crowed." However, since that final phrase is missing from some of the most important codices (Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) as well as several other early versions of Mark, many modern translations omit it. But the persistent maid follows Peter into the shadows. This time, she makes matters worse by revealing her suspicions to other "bystanders" (v.69). We do not have the specific words of Peter's ...

1347. Mark 4:26-34

Mark 4:26-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... this parable (supposedly derived from their reliable "Q" source) the plant sprung from the mustard seed is no longer the Markan "shrub," but is a full-blown "tree" (Matthew 13:32; Luke 13:19), capable of supporting nests of birds. (Mark's version only states that the birds nest in the "shade" of the mustard plant, leaving the strength of its branches somewhat in question.) This positive, strength-oriented interpretation of Jesus' mustard seed parable does fit well with those traditional Old Testament images ...

1348. Ephesians 5:15-20

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... -filled frenzies with the Christian experience of being "filled with the Spirit." Although this may remind us of the experience at Pentecost (Acts 2:13), it is doubtful that this author had access to Luke's record of that event. This positive Spirit-filled version of the pagan's drunken parties does not try to claim any physical ecstatic effects on the believer. There is also a significant grammatical switch that must be noted here. While the pagans are filled with wine, the author breaks up his comparative ...

1349. Mark 13:1-8

Mark 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the disciples are asking chronologically-concerned questions - "When will this be?" and "What will be the sign?" Jesus' answer is not temporally directed. Mark's vague reference to when these things will be "accomplished" is made much more specific in Matthew's version of this tutorial. Matthew's text (24:3f.) is more clearly focused on the disciples' query and the "sign of your coming." Matthew almost needs to be held up alongside Mark's disciples' question to make sense of Jesus' answers. Jesus doesn ...

1350. What Does It Take To Make Up a "Call?"

John 1:43-51

Illustration

Thomas Long

... book when, suddenly, a shaft of light falls upon a penetrating passage and scales fall from the reader's eyes. Or a hillside communion service at a summer church camp begins to glow with all the luminosity and power of the Upper Room. The ministerial version of Christian calling almost always involves a moment of high drama. Muehl does not doubt that such moments do occur, but he does doubt that they occur as often and as predictably as some ministers say they do. Muehl thinks many ministers are guilty of ...

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