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Showing 151 to 175 of 609 results

151. God’s Judgment on Assyria

Isaiah 10:5-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... used by God is never an index of closeness to God (see Matt. 7:22–23). It also draws out the implication that the purpose of the rod is to save the child, not kill it (Prov. 23:13–14; Sawyer, Isaiah, vol. 1, p. 109). Assyria indulges in war because of its own warlike spirit, its love of killing and destruction, and its appetite to construct an empire out of lands formerly occupied by independent peoples, in the manner of European powers creating their empires or of settlers in America (v. 7). It is ...

152. Time to Get Wet

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ). But there is a new sinful category: you can now add "snack food" to the roster of iniquity. But the most anticipated money raiser for the state is the "sin tax" on are you ready for this? bottled water. From now on if you want to indulge in guzzling a bottle of H2O, it’s going to cost you. Just over the state line in Idaho, eager shop owners are creating water bottle pyramids next to their cartons of Camels, anticipating a stream of thirsty Washingtonians. Every savvy entrepreneur knows that water is a ...

153. Manasseh King of Judah

2 Kings 21:1-18

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... With Manasseh, God’s patience breaks, and hints of disaster give way to explicit prophetic announcements. Fifty-five years of the worst apostasy Judah has seen are just too much to bear. 21:1–9 Manasseh is the very worst of the Judean kings, indulging in and adding to all that has been most reprehensible in the religion of Israel in the preceding chapters. His father’s reforms are reversed; the high places are rebuilt so that idolatry can resume there, and a new Asherah pole replaces the one Hezekiah ...

154. Amon King of Judah

2 Kings 21:19-26

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

155. What On Earth Is God Doing? - 1940

Psalm 76:1-12

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... studied with meticulous care the various devices of "justifiable" selfishness, put them into protracted practice, and insisted they were indispensable to survival. We have glorified greed, excused exploitation, ignored all sorts of injustice to others, or indulged in it ourselves, sought to sanctify our systems of ruthless competition, and, in ways too sickeningly numerous to mention, we have completely fulfilled those conditions which in a universe geared to law must inevitably bring forth awful results ...

156. What Are Christian Liberals? - 1951

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... beyond your reason and that enters into the realm of faith, but the test of the difference between faith and credulity is whether or not it is rational. If it is just irrational and you believe it because you are told to you do not have faith, you indulge in the worst form of superstition and credulity. Anything that is beyond the power of reason adequately to comprehend requires a reach of faith. It is beyond reason but it does not violate reason. We take a leap of faith and then test it in the crucible of ...

157. Grumblers Among God's People

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... church about the sins that hindered the people of Israel in the time of Moses from being what God wanted them to be. Paul writes, "Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ˜The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.' We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did and in one day twentythree thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did and were ...

158. Being A Sheep Is Not So Bad (compared With Being A Goat)

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... work. (2) Maybe more of us need to be called goats. But most of us would not take to it too kindly. Goats are willful, ornery, unpredictable. Did you know that the word "capricious" came to us by way of the goat. We call a person who frequently indulges in impulsive changes of mind, capricious. Generally we use this in a negative manner of speaking. This kind of person is given to wild mood swings. One minute they are lovable. The next minute you would like to give them a good boot. Farmers tell us that no ...

159. The Book of Law Found

2 Kings 22:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... periods when people did obey, any more than the reference to Solomon’s high places in 23:13 means that no king had ever acted against these before, or the reference to “kings of Judah” in 23:5, 11–12 means that all Judean kings had indulged in idolatry. Second Kings 23:12, in particular, shows how we must always reckon with hyperbole when reading Hb. narrative; for taken literally, it would have some kings of Judah building altars near an upper room that had not yet been constructed. 22:20 You will ...

160. On Staying Awake

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... ! How we fall asleep just before the great revealing. How we need to stay awake. I It is perilously easy to fall asleep and miss the prize. Jesus’ parable makes this quite clear. The master had gone off to the wedding and feast. There he would indulge in the celebration - the music, the wine, the dancing - and quite likely would come home in a generous mood. Possibly he would call all the servants together and say that he was going to take their place. They were to sit down at the table; he was going ...

161. Bread Upon the Water

Ecclesiastes 9:13--12:8

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... response comes in 10:19. Bread and wine are to be enjoyed. It is money (and not social standing or hard work?) that solves life’s problems. The warning about propriety (10:20) sounds again like a response: it could be the one who indulges in too much feasting whose thoughtless words bring trouble. The interpretation of 11:1–2 is disputed. If the dialogic interpretation of the context is correct, then these verses may provide a call to take risks, again in response to the warning to be careful ...

162. On Being Picked For The "Rework"

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15

Sermon

King Duncan

... s expectations of what a Hershey's Kiss is supposed to look like when it is unwrapped are so high that only perfection will do! Steve will not allow a defective piece of chocolate to pass his station only to disappoint whoever unwraps it at home. No, when we indulge in a Hershey's Kiss, Steve sees to it that it is exactly 15/16 of an inch diameter at the base, that it has the proper smooth appearance, that it is not leaning to the side, and above all the imperfections his trained and a steady eye checks the ...

163. Choice, Chance, or the Hand of God?

Genesis 50:15-21

Sermon

Will Willimon

... our story, my story, your story, they, too, would be long and complicated, full of twists and turns. And could we tell our story with such unflinching realism and honesty as the story of Joseph and his brothers? Whenever we look at our lives, we tend to indulge in a good bit of cover-up and deceit. We grew up in a happy home, with loving, understanding parents, adoring brothers and sisters. Ozzie and Harriet, David and little Ricky. June and Ward, Wally and the Beaver. Here is a story about a real family, a ...

164. Fighting Over Daddy's Will

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... to the wealthy family for a modest "finder's fee." Charged in the case were a dentist and his wife and their two sons one a former professional football player and the other a lawyer. You and I have a word for a wealthy family that indulges in such behavior: Fools! "The rich farmer," writes Richard Lawrence, "was a fool: an aphron, one who rejects the precepts of God as a basis for life . . . The rich fools' treasures contrast with the treasures of Jesus' followers. The one is on earth. The other in heaven ...

165. Romans 13:8-14

Romans 13:8-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ” was not usually a safe alternative. The next two “dark” activities, “debauchery and licentiousness,” describe sexual excesses. Finally the pairing of “quarreling and jealousy” succinctly describes the emotional harvest that comes from the indulgences in the previous four activities. These last two are “community-killers,” for internecine quarreling and bickering, jealously and envy will rip apart the innards of any community. Instead of these “dark” activities Paul directs believers ...

166. One’s Proper Service

Isaiah 58:1-14

Illustration

Larry Powell

... spirit, going on to the next town, leaving his class and "bands" to multiply. The service of outreach performed by Wesley, even with our precise statistics and access to his faithfully kept journals, is measureless. Isaiah scored the people of Israel for indulging in perfunctory rituals, mistaking them for "service." Instead, he laid down God’s prescription for service: "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke ... to share ...

167. Proclaiming Death

1 Corinthians 11:26

Sermon

Will Willimon

Do you remember when the Lord's Supper used to be sad? An old Presbyterian Service made clear that Holy Communion was an occasion for penitence, a time to talk about sin: "It is my duty to warn the scandalous and the lewd, and all those indulging in any known sin, that if they come unworthily to the Lord's Table; they do eat and drink damnation to their eternal souls." Aren't you glad that, in recent years, we have recovered the ancient emphasis upon the joy of eating and drinking with Jesus. We are joyful ...

168. Remember Lot’s Wife

Luke 17:20-37

Sermon

Don Yocom

... was such that it brought down upon itself the consequences which inevitably follow sexual immorality. The men of the city of Sodom were homosexuals; and from their acts of immorality comes the legal term SODOMY - named for the city of Sodom. No one can indulge in the specific acts of these men without serious effects of their sin in their lives - psychologically as well as physically. Abraham, the great man of faith who was Lot’s uncle, was visited by heavenly strangers who told him that God would destroy ...

169. The Compleat Christian

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... meeting, or your daily gym work-out. Nor is suffering even physical or emotional deprivation. Christian suffering is not about learning to take on additional burdens or problems so much as it is about learning to give up the right to indulge in certain human weaknesses. When we agree to participate in Christ's suffering, that means we forfeit the urge to "get even," take revenge, harbor malicious thoughts or speak vicious words. Shouldering our own cross means returning intentional wounding with love and ...

170. Hosea 11:1-11

Hosea 11:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... vs. "they"). But the direction in which Israel runs is firmly identified toward the local gods of the Canaanites, the ba'als. This blatant disobedience against both God's singularity and power does not ignite a divine rage at rejection. Instead, God indulges in a fond recalling of the nurturing care showered on the son "Ephraim" (Israel). The stanza created by verses 3-4 recounts six different actions that reveal God's unwavering parental love for this "child" Ephraim. Equating the newfound nation of Israel ...

171. Proper 6

2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 1 Kings 21:1-10 (11-14) 15-21a, Psalm 5:1-8; 32:1-11, Luke 7:36--8:3, Galatians 2:15-21

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... motives, we see attitudes that are not consistent with the teachings of Jesus. Some of us pray for peace but are resentful of our neighbors. Some of us are tangled by attitudes, which deny others healthcare and clean water; some of us are enmeshed with friends who indulge in unwholesome habits. Some of us are blinded by our own desires. Some of us have murderous jealousies. Set us free from all deceit and help us learn how to be your hands and mind in this world. Amen. Sermon Idea The 1 Kings story is about ...

172. You're Fired!

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... our lives, the two most universally terrifying phrases are "You have cancer," and "You're fired." Both are perceived as potentially fatal attacks on our very self. So of course, we now have yet another new reality show, another guilty pleasure we indulge in that revolves around the phrase "You're Fired!" Here's a show that broadcasts the most humiliating, ego-crunching, self-esteem destroying moment in anyone's life for the entertainment of others. On Fear Factor contestants spend a lot of time puking ...

173. Keep Going, Today, Tomorrow and the Next

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... tasks to focus on his final goal, his showdown in Jerusalem. Even as Jesus remains level-headed, he isn't spooked by tales about Herod. Even as Jesus remains hard-working, he keeps healing and performing exorcisms as he travels. Jesus can't help but indulge in a momentary daydream. Pondering in his heart the city of Jerusalem, the center of both faith and faithlessness, Jesus faces up to the reality of its temperament: it's "the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it" (verse 34 ...

174. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... if we feel like failures and think we are failures, we are likely to act out our lives as failures too. Freeman and DeWolf note the tendencies by those who have convinced themselves through thought, feelings and action that they are failures to indulge in "revenge fantasies." Obsessed by what coulda, woulda, shoulda happened in life, the only action they can take is in their minds. Scenes of sweet revenge enacted against those whose success we envy, or those who have hurt us, are re-run so frequently ...

175. Judging Others

Matthew 7:1-6

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... two debtors in Matthew 18:23–35, some have seen here the enormous offense of our own failure before God in comparison with the minor offenses between people. In any case, the plank is to be removed from our own eye before we indulge in removing the speck of sawdust from the eye of another. Taken in an unqualified sense, this would put a complete stop to helping others with their moral difficulties. Undoubtedly it is intended to restrict hypocritical correction of others rather than to prohibit all helpful ...

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