Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1726 to 1750 of 4957 results

1726. The Messed Up

John 4:1-26

Sermon

James Merritt

... in Greek, because what Jesus literally said was, “The One who is speaking to you is I am.” Anybody who knew the Old Testament would know that “I am” is what God called Himself in the Old Testament. Jesus is not just claiming to be the Messiah (though He is), but He is claiming to be God. It is the single most incredible statement He ever made to anyone in His life. Never before in any biblical record had He ever come out so blatantly to anyone and declared exactly who He was and He doesn’t ...

1727. When the Golden Rule Isn't Enough - Mother's Day

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... thing a follower of Jesus might do. After two thousand years of Christian history, that shouldn’t be such a radical thought, but it is. We claim to follow Jesus, but we have very feebly sought to live as Jesus commanded us to live, and that is to love as he loves. ... at that moment, Mark Buchanan says he understood in the most visceral way, and for the very first time, that he could not claim to love God and hate his brother. “If I love God,” Mark Buchanan writes, “I’ll love what [God] loves. I’ll ...

1728. When Walls Shift and the Ceiling Collapses

John 8:31-36

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... I am a middle twentieth-century kind of guy trapped in the twenty-first century. “I was raised to 'Buy American Made’” he tells me. “How can I do that today? Multitudes of American manufacturers have moved production overseas. A neighbor even claims she saw an American flag with a 'Made in China' label. My surroundings seem unfamiliar. What happened to the way things used to be?” This retired minister colleague continues. "I understand and accept that technology and globalization have changed the ...

1729. Tranquil: The Blessed Village on a Hillside

John 6:25-59

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... did before. The Giant, you will remember, was the caring ruler of Tranquil. He was widely known as a generous man who cared as much for his people as he cared for himself. When the gold began to accumulate, he changed. To his closest advisors he claimed, "The people have all they need. I will keep this extra gold supply for myself." The Giant began to hide golden eggs in his castle. The people of Tranquil had trusted the Giant's fairness and generosity. They became suspicious. "We are not getting our share ...

1730. Uncovering Cover-Ups

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... 's capital. Colson says we have the highest per capita rate of incarceration in the world. Our prisons are bursting their seams. In the last several years murders committed by those between the ages of 18 and 20 have increased 120%. He quotes some sources that claim 20% of all school children carry a gun. Time magazine had a cover story titled "A Boy and His Gun." Youngsters today are buying and using guns at an alarming rate, says the article. Even in Omaha, Nebraska, in the heartland where it might be ...

1731. The Wrong Gift

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... to Christianity. Theophilus may have been a highly placed government leader, since Luke calls him "most excellent." More interesting, though, is the man's name. "Theophilus" means "friend of God." Whether this was the name given to him by his parents or a nickname he claimed when he became a Christian, it is a marvelous title for all who read about Jesus and call him Savior and Lord. As Luke notes, becoming a Christian is always a kind of homecoming. The gift of God announced to the shepherds is designed to ...

1732. Discipleship: Backward or Forward to God

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... . Who does this Jesus think he is? We have known him from childhood, they said. His mother, brothers, and sisters live among us, and they are just common folk. Who does he think he is to claim that he is anything more than common folk? We remember the houses he built, the furniture he made, and the barns he repaired. Now he claims to be the one fulfilling the messianic prophecy. Their anger grew to the point that they threw him out of the synagogue and tried to push him over a cliff to kill him. (These were ...

1733. How to Get the Job Done

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... anticipation for Jesus' arrival and for his message of hope. Politicians could learn from Jesus and so could businesses and churches. Wouldn't we all agree, he got the job done! After all, one fourth of today's world population, over one and a half billion plus people, claim to be Jesus' people and that doesn't even count the millions who have preceded us in the previous twenty centuries. How do we get the job done in our time? Our text gives us clues. Here they are. I. The first thing we learn from Jesus ...

1734. The Good Samaritan (Revised Edition)

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... he was soon speeding to the county seat hospital, the injured driver moaning and half-conscious across the backseat. Several months later, David was surprised to receive notice that he was being sued by the driver he had rescued that dark, rainy summer night. The suit claimed that David had compounded the driver's injuries by pulling him out of the overturned car and by taking him to the hospital. David's body shook with the shock of unbelief and then burned with a slow, silent rage. He cursed his luck that ...

1735. Solomon’s Death

2 Chronicles 9:29-31

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... dominate the Chronicler’s Solomon narrative. Interestingly, the Chronicler sets it in the context of the transfer of cultic functions from Gibeon to Jerusalem. The Chronicler apparently wanted to reconfirm the religious-historical claim of Jerusalem as the chosen place to worship Yahweh. This claim stood over against that of Gibeon, closely associated with the Benjaminites (1 Chron. 21). The transfer of the tabernacle from Gibeon to Jerusalem’s temple forever established the temple in Jerusalem as the ...

1736. Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Acts 1:12-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... ever been) treated as equals (cf. Gal. 3:28), since they were evidently excluded from the meeting beginning at verse 15, which Peter addressed, “men, brothers” (so the Greek). The reference to Mary leads to a mention also of Jesus’ brothers. Earlier they had been skeptical of his claims (John 7:5; cf. Mark 6:4), but they are now included among the disciples. How this came about we are not told, but in the case of James (assuming he is the James of 1 Cor. 15:7), as with Paul, it may have been through ...

1737. The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... a middle course between these two explanations. He refers to the phenomena of modern Pentecostalism: “Perhaps the most striking feature of glossolalia in Pentecostalism for the present discussion is the number of claims of an ‘unknown tongue’ which was actually a foreign language unknown to the speaker.… If such claims can be made with such conviction in the twentieth century, it is more readily conceivable that they were made at the time of the first Christian Pentecost” (Jesus, p. 151). He then ...

1738. Paul Before Agrippa

Acts 25:23--26:32

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... that he was speaking objective truth and that his appreciation of the facts was based on the opposite of madness, namely, “sobriety”—the possession of a right mind. There is nothing irrational in Christianity in the sense of claims that are contrary to reason, though there is much that goes beyond human reason and can only be apprehended by faith. For the title most excellent, see note on 1:1, and for the verb “to speak,” which implies that Paul spoke as a prophet, see the discussion on 2: ...

1739. Paul's Hardships

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... the Corinthians to recognize his God-given ministry of reconciliation (5:16–6:2), Paul continues the discussion of his ministry in 6:3–13 by declaring that he is completely innocent of any aspersions that have been cast on his ministry. Paul claims that, in word and deed, he commends himself as a genuine apostle who is motivated by sincere love. 6:3 The new section opens quite defensively. Paul knows that his ministry has come under fire because of his alleged inconsistency and double-mindedness ...

1740. Paul's Concern for the Corinthians

2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... that “we speak in Christ in the presence of God” (2:17; 12:19), the apostle provides a key indication of the fundamental, structural unity of the letter. It cannot be coincidental that this unity is supported by a repeated statement that expresses the cornerstone of Paul’s apostolic claim and hence a major concern of the whole letter, that is, his encounter(s) with the merkabah. 12:20 For other vice catalogues, cf., e.g., Rom. 1:29–31; 13:13; 1 Cor. 5:10–11; 6:9–10; Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 4:31; 5 ...

1741. Paul’s Second Visit to the Jerusalem Church

Galatians 2:1-10

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... men came to see that he had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jerusalem leaders accept his gospel and understand Paul to be in a comparable position to Peter, who has a gospel for the Jews. Paul’s claim that he was recognized as having been commissioned with preaching the gospel to the Gentiles reads in Greek, “the gospel of the uncircumcision.” This can also mean the gospel with reference to the uncircumcised. Paul’s gospel is contextual, as is Peter’s ...

1742. Paul Opposes Peter

Galatians 2:11-21

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... the actions of faith. And in them Paul now lives. Righteousness translates the same Greek word as “justification” (dikaiosynē). Paul asserts that through the death of Christ God’s righteousness is now available for those who believe, and he will go on to claim that since Christ’s death the law’s role of guiding toward righteousness has ceased. Therefore, the problem is not that Paul is setting aside the grace of God by disregarding the law as a means to righteousness. Rather, the problem is that ...

1743. Sons of God

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... Cor. 1:17). What he says in letters other than Galatians about baptism accords with what he says here—baptism is into Christ (Rom. 6:3) and results in unity, even the unity between Jew and Greek, slave and free (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13). Romans 6 elaborates on the claim that baptism is baptism into Christ. Baptism is into Christ’s death (Rom. 6:3), which is a death for sin (Rom. 5:6–8) and which deals with sin (Rom. 5:10). Being baptized into Christ saves one from sin’s power and allows one to become as ...

1744. Not Circumcision but a New Creation

Galatians 6:11-18

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... in Paul’s letters. Elsewhere he refers to Jews as “Israel according to the flesh” (1 Cor. 10:18). In Galatians at least, he did not think of Israel according to the flesh as the true Israel (cf. Rom. 2:17–29; 9–11). While he does not elsewhere claim the name Israel for believers in Christ, he does so here. This phrase is similar to the “church of God” (Gal. 1:13). It may have been used by the circumcisers to assert that they were the true Israel of God, in which case Paul is here coopting the ...

1745. A Prayer for the Ephesians

Ephesians 3:14-21

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... goal. No matter how much power of comprehension one has, Christ’s love surpasses knowledge; it exceeds one’s “capacity of comprehension” (Beare, p. 679). What an indictment of those people who claimed such knowledge for themselves! Though it is legitimate and necessary to seek such comprehension, it is folly to claim full attainment of it. (For another discussion of love and its superiority to knowledge see 1 Cor. 8:1–3; 13:1–3.) Although believers never fully understand Christ’s love, it ...

1746. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... , p. 80). 4:30 It appears that the author refers to the Holy Spirit because of his connection with a person’s speech. “The Spirit,” states J. A. Robinson, “claims to find expression in the utterances of Christians … (cf. 5:18). The misuse of the organ of speech is accordingly a wrong done to, and felt by, the Spirit who claims to control it” (p. 113). Improper speech grieves (lypeō) the Holy Spirit of God. “The sins against the brotherhood are also an offense against the divine Spirit which ...

1747. Paul's Labor for the Church

Colossians 1:24--2:5

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... to imply that the previous proclamation of the gospel from Epaphras was somehow deficient or incomplete. Paul probably has the scope of the gospel in mind (Rom. 15:19). He already has alluded to the universality and the growth of the gospel (1:6); now he claims that God has appointed him to share in that task as well. The word of God will be fulfilled when it has been preached “to every creature under heaven” (1:23). However, given the situation at Colossae, it is not impossible that Paul is thinking of ...

1748. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Faith

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... of us and of the Lord (see note on 1:1). Lifestyle is the only evidence that others have of our standing with God. Paul is thus sure that the Thessalonians are in good standing. Paul appears to claim in this verse that he and his colleagues are to be imitated equally with the Lord. Such a claim would be too presumptuous by far. Rather, what he means is that the preachers so mirror Christ in all that they do, that they themselves are models of Christ to others: “You became imitators of us and therefore ...

1749. Warnings Against Idleness

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... off working became impoverished and a problem for the church and possibly for non-believers. Von Dobschütz, on the basis of the classical meaning of the terms that Paul uses (“to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business,” 1 Thess. 4:11) claims that this group was warning not only believers about Christ’s return but non-believers in public places (p. 182). J. Frame adds that the idle demanded that the leaders instruct other members to support them, but this demand was tacitly rejected (1 Thess. 5 ...

1750. Suffering for Being a Christian

1 Peter 4:12-19

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... that evil gang!” Jesus forewarned the disciples of this type of persecution (Matt. 5:11; John 15:2), and it came to pass from the earliest days (Acts 5:41; 9:16; 21:13; James 5:10; 3 John 7; Rev. 2:3). The proverb may claim that “Hard words break no bones,” but something more injurious is meant by Peter’s reference to Christians being insulted. Their very characters are being assailed, and this in itself could easily lead on to mistrust or worse. Many social and civic activities of the day involved ...

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