Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1426 to 1450 of 1533 results

1426. Balaam’s Final Prophecies: The Star and the Scepter

Num 24:15-25

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Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God and Israel’s coming king will overcome Israel’s enemies. Understanding the Text The prophecies of Numbers 24:14–25 conclude the Balaam cycle (Num. 22–24). Three times Balak king of Moab brings the Mesopotamian diviner Balaam to a mountain height to give Israel the evil eye and curse it. Three times God makes Balaam bless Israel instead. Now Balaam foresees how Israel under its star-and-scepter king (Num. 24:17) will crush Moab and how other enemies of Israel will suffer calamity. As before, ...

1427. The Daughters of Zelophehad (Part 1)

Numbers 27:1-11

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Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God’s people will receive their rightful inheritance. Understanding the Text The plague of Numbers 25 and the census of Numbers 26 mark the end of the first generation after leaving Egypt and the emergence of a new one. But how does the unit on the daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27:1–11) fit into this sequence? One answer is that the purpose of the census of Numbers 26 is to determine allotments in the land, and this passage is related to the fair distribution of the land.1 But why does the ...

1428. Ruling in the Fear of the Lord

2 Samuel 23:1-7

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: The Lord expects his chosen servants to promote righteousness and to find hope in his faithful promises. Understanding the Text This poem is titled “the last words of David” (v. 1). It begins with a divine oracle that the Lord’s Spirit has spoken through David (vv. 2–4). This is followed by David’s response, which reflects on God’s covenantal commitment to him (vv. 5–7). The reference to David as the Lord’s “anointed” (v. 1) links this poem with the one that immediately precedes it (cf. 2 Sam. 22 ...

1429. Repentance and Victory

1 Samuel 7:2-17

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: Repentance and renewed allegiance to the Lord are foundational to a restored relationship with him. Understanding the Text This chapter depicts Samuel as a spiritual and military leader. He revives Israel spiritually and politically and delivers them from Philistine bondage. This positive portrait of Samuel continues the contrast with Eli’s house so evident in chapters 2–4. Israel’s defeat was closely linked with the death of Eli and his sons. The text even seems to indicate that it was their sin ...

1430. Be Careful What You Ask For

1 Samuel 10:9-27

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: The Lord decides the form of leadership for his covenant community, yet he sometimes gives his people a taste of what they want as a form of discipline. Understanding the Text In response to the people’s request, the Lord decided to give them a king, but he reserved the right to set the pattern for kingship. Recognizing the people’s need for security, he chose and commissioned a ruler to deliver them from their enemies. The plot tension of chapter 8 appears to be resolved, but new plot tensions ...

1431. Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

1 Samuel 15:1-35

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: The Lord gives greater priority to obedience than to religious formalism. Understanding the Text In this account the narrator’s pro-David/anti-Saul agenda continues to gain momentum. In chapter 13 Samuel announced that Saul would have no royal dynasty, placing the king on thin ice. Chapter 14 did nothing to ease our concerns about Saul, as he exhibited a preoccupation with his own honor and an obsession with religious formalism, particularly oaths. He was ready to execute his own son, and he ...

1432. David Spares Saul’s Life—Again

1 Samuel 26:1-25

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: The Lord vindicates his chosen servants when they look to him for justice. Understanding the Text For a second time in the story, the Ziphites report David’s whereabouts to Saul (cf. 1 Sam. 23:19). Earlier Saul confessed David’s innocence and even asked the Lord to bless David (1 Sam. 24:16–21), but now again the king is ready to hunt David down and kill him. David decides once more to demonstrate his loyalty to Saul. Though the Lord again seemingly delivers Saul into his hands, David refuses to ...

1433. Job’s Hope against Hope

Job 19:1-29

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Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: In a situation that seems hopeless, Job maintains a ray of hope in God. Understanding the Text In chapter 19, Job responds to Bildad’s second speech. Job uses a mixture of lament and legal language to express how abandoned he feels by his friends (19:1–6), by God (19:7–12), and by the full range of people in his community (19:13–19). In the final verses of the chapter, Job pleads with his friends for compassion (19:20–22), he articulates his hope for a redeemer to take up his cause (19:23–27), ...

1434. Zophar’s Final Words for Job

Job 20:1-29

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Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Zophar insists that God always punishes the wicked. Understanding the Text In Job 20, Zophar speaks to Job for his second and final time, because in the third cycle Zophar chooses not to answer him. So this chapter constitutes Zophar’s final answer to his friend. Numerous times he alludes to details in Job’s previous speeches, often trying to turn Job’s words against him, but in particular Zophar responds indignantly to Job’s reproof in 19:28–29. However, he dismisses what Job says rather than ...

1435. Eliphaz Condemns and Counsels Job

Job 22:1-30

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Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Eliphaz accuses Job of sins he has not committed and gives Job advice that does not apply to him. Understanding the Text Job 22 begins the third and final cycle of speeches, and it is evident that Job and his friends are rapidly reaching an impasse. In the third round, the speeches are much shorter than before, and eventually the dialogue disintegrates completely when Zophar’s turn comes but he does not speak (after chapter 26). In addition, the speakers are increasingly frustrated and caustic ...

1436. “The Lord . . . Rules the World in Righteousness”

Psalm 10:1-18, Psalm 9:1-20

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Acknowledging our humanity is prerequisite to a faith that allows and even expects God to act on our behalf as he has acted for the saints of history. Understanding the Text Psalm 7 closes with a vow of thanksgiving (7:17), and Psalm 8 is in effect the fulfillment of that vow. Then follows Psalm 9 with a continuation of thanksgiving, followed by the lament of Psalm 10. This order is a reversal of the usual order of lament and thanksgiving. There are certainly psalms that contain mixed types,[1] ...

1437. “The King Rejoices in Your Strength, Lord”

Psalm 21:1-13

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God’s overpowering strength plus his overpowering love not only saves us but provides a life of joy. Understanding the Text This psalm belongs to the broad genre of royal psalms. Like Psalm 20, Craigie calls it a royal liturgy,[1] which suggests that it was used in worship. It is as if we are standing outside the temple and hearing the voices of worship, and we have a vague idea of what is going on inside the building as we try to picture the action in our mind’s eye. The question that the form ...

1438. “The Lord Most High Is Awesome, the Great King over All the Earth”

Psalm 47:1-9

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God’s covenant of grace with Abraham, far from being exclusive, is an implicit call to the people of the whole world to become members of this covenant. Understanding the Text Psalm 47 is a good example of what Gunkel calls a hymn, and he includes it in a subcategory of Zion songs. Mowinckel has followed Gunkel’s study by proposing a new classification, the enthronement psalms,1postulating that ancient Israel celebrated a fall festival at which they reelevated Yahweh to his throne, or at least ...

1439. “I Will Praise Your Name, Lord, for It Is Good”

Psalm 54:1-7

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Faith affirms God and worships, and in that context confronts the ongoing conflict between truth and evil. Understanding the Text Psalm 54 contains most of the characteristics of an individual lament, including an address to God, petition, lament/complaint, confession of trust, vow to praise, and assurance of being heard.1 It is another of the thirteen psalms that have historical titles (see the sidebar). Psalm 54 belongs to a minicollection (Pss. 52–55) that is joined together by the phrase “A ...

1440. Are You a Pillar or a Pillow?

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a corny story about a little girl in a mountain family who laid her head over on her father’s ample midriff in a worship service and went to sleep. Her mother, seeing her daughter cushion her head in this fashion, whispered to her husband in the mountain vernacular, “There, Clyde, now you know what it means to be a pillar of the church.” Her husband was probably more of a pillow of the church rather than a pillar. But that is the question for the day: are you a pillow or a pillar? I would like to ...

1441. From Adam to Noah

Genesis 5:1-32

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

A genealogy stretching over ten generations traces the lineage from Adam to Noah. Only in the last section does this vertical genealogy become a horizontal one (5:32). In the description of each generation, the same literary structure is followed: (1) the age of the father at the birth of the firstborn, (2) the name of the firstborn, (3) how many years the father lived after the birth of this son, (4) a reference to the fathering of other children, and (5) the father’s total life span. The names of Adam’s ...

1442. The Rich Young Man

Matthew 19:16-30

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

In counterpart, Matthew narrates a story illustrating how persons of great status, the rich, do not have priority in God’s reign or kingdom (19:16–26). In fact, the story of the rich man who comes to Jesus asking the way to eternal life concludes with Jesus teaching his disciples the difficulty the rich will have entering God’s kingdom (19:23–24). Jesus’s initial response to the man’s question is that obedience to God’s commandments brings life (19:17–19; with his examples drawn from Deut. 5:6–21). The man ...

1443. Correcting Cephas

Galatians 2:11-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The incident related in this section (2:11–14) indicates that in spite of the basic agreement reached at the Jerusalem council, certain ambiguities continued to exist. The incident at Antioch is significant, for it moves us on to the next logical step in Paul’s argument regarding his authority on the matters troubling the Galatians. We need to take careful note of the situation as Paul has developed it. The authorities in Jerusalem had recognized Paul’s equal status relative to them, but in Paul’s view ...

1444. Therefore Walk in Unity

Ephesians 4:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

4:1–6:20 Review · Re-creating the Human Family: What God Is Doing: The “imperative” second half of the letter is structured around five occurrences of some form of the phrase “therefore walk” (4:1, 17; 5:1–2, 7–8, 15). Each of the five presupposes the “indicative” first half of the letter (“therefore”) and specifies walking in a particular way. All five may relate individually to chapters 1–3, or perhaps the first is unpacked by the following four. 4:1–16Re-creating the Human Family: What God Is Doing On ...

1445. True Christian Faith seen In Its Works

James 2:14-26

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

James has firmly upheld the doing of the word as absolutely essential to valid religion. He has even warned that what we do will be taken into account in the judgment (2:12–13). How, one might ask, does all this square with the crucial role given to faith throughout the New Testament (and by James himself; see 1:6–8)? Is James replacing faith with works? In this passage he answers that question with a decisive no by showing that true Christian faith necessarily and of its very nature produces those works ...

1446. The Beast out of the Earth

Revelation 13:11-18

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The second beast speaks with the authority of the dragon and promotes the worldwide veneration of the first beast (13:11–12). The second beast symbolizes the wealthy social elite of Asia Minor, its magistrates, city officials, and trade guilds, who not only held political office but were also priests in the imperial cult. They erected imperial temples, set up “the image” of the emperor on statues and other icons (13:15; cf. Exod. 32:1–35), and sponsored extravagant festivals. Since the success of the ...

1447. Accept His Peace

John 4:1-26, Romans 5:1-11, Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

It was the deciding round of play of the 1983 U.S. Open golf tournament. A player named Larry Nelson was tied for first place. But then he hit a difficult situation. His approach shot to the sixteenth green left him sixty-two feet from the hole. His fans groaned. In the world of golf, sinking a sixty-two-foot putt is about as likely as a hole-in-one. Larry Nelson paused for a long moment. Then he raised his head, sized up the terrain, and stroked his ball. It rolled downhill for a spell, then up an incline ...

1448. No Greater Love

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

"When Jesus Christ calls a man, he bids him, 'Come and die!' " Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian wrote that sentence in his cell on April 9, 1945. He was within hours of the hangman's rope being placed around his neck in the Flossenburg concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Son of a leading authority on psychology, neurology, and a university professor, as a young man Dietrich had turned away from the life of prestige and privilege that would naturally befall him in order to pursue his ...

1449. The Biggest Prayer Ever Prayed Under Heaven

John 17:1-11

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Come with me to Christ's last night on earth and the greatest prayer ever prayed under heaven! It is also the longest prayer we have from Jesus. As we read the gospel of John, we see Jesus' grace demonstrated in saving sinners. We see his compassionate heart as he brings healing to sick people and food to the hungry. We meet his power revealed in raising the dead. There is no more heartening book in all scripture than this gospel. Every chapter is given for our benefit. In this book we find the love of God ...

1450. The Real Thing

Matthew 5:21-48

Sermon

James L. Killen

Once an amateur archeologist saw a man wearing a bolo tie on which was mounted what appeared to be an almost perfect Indian arrowhead chipped out of obsidian. His imagination began to run away with him. He imagined a time in the distant past when someone had quarried the stone from a place far to the north, where obsidian is to be found. He imagined it being crafted by an ancient artisan and sent along some long-forgotten trade routes to be traded to a member of one of the southern tribes. He wondered if ...

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