Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 176 to 200 of 388 results

176. Freedom for Slaves

Jeremiah 34:8-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

34:8–11 The next oracle comes in the context of the royal decision to free Hebrew slaves. To understand the story and the oracle we must begin by reviewing the slave laws of the Torah (Exod. 21:1–11; Lev. 25:39–46; Deut. 15:12–18, though see S. Chavel, “ ‘Let My People Go!’Emancipation, Revelation, and Scribal Activity in Jeremiah 34.8–14,” JSOT 76 [1997], pp. 71–95, for the view that Jeremiah 34 does not follow Pentateuchal legislation). If Israelites became impoverished, they could sell themselves into ...

177. The Witness of Being

Genesis 1:1—2:4a

Sermon

James L. Killen

Things are. The world is. The universe, whatever that is, is. I am. You are. That didn't just happen. Some people believe that is the result of an awesome succession of accidents but I just can't believe that. All of this didn't just happen. It must have been the result of some kind of a miracle. And if there was a miracle, there must be some miracle worker. Nothing that Darwin or anyone else has discovered can deny that. As a matter of fact, for those who are perceptive, the discoveries of modern science ...

178. The Demanding Crowd

Mark 1:29-34, Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

John A. Stroman

And the whole city was gathered around the door. -- Mark 1:33 Jesus was mobbed by the crowds. Because he taught with authority and healed those possessed of an unclean or evil spirit, the crowds sought him out. Everyone with an ailment joined the demanding and pressing mob of people. The text tells us that the entire city was at his doorstep. The crowds came with their brokenness and said, "Fix me." People who were sick, hopeless, and desperate came to him because he offered a glimmer of hope in a hopeless ...

179. The Lord of the Sabbath

Matthew 12:1-14, Matthew 12:15-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

With the torah introduced, Matthew now narrates two controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees about the law; both controversies are focused on Jesus’s practice of the Sabbath (12:1–8, 9–14). The Pharisees (12:2) were a Jewish sect considered to be experts in the law and were zealous in their obedience to it. An important part of their focus was adherence in everyday life to purity regulations intended to govern temple worship. Their desire was “to live out the rigor and piety of what was experienced at ...

180. Job Comes to a Good End

Job 42:7-17, Job 42:1-6

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Job realizes that Yahweh’s ways are more wonderful than he has known before, and he comes to enjoy Yahweh’s renewed blessings on his life. Understanding the Text After Yahweh speaks to Job in chapters 38 and 39, Job replies tentatively to him in 40:3–5. Yahweh’s second round of questions, in 40:6–41:34, with his detailed descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan, then evokes a more definitive response from Job in 42:1–6. In his second reply, Job acknowledges that he has come to a more accurate ...

181. Elihu Makes His Appearance

Job 32:1--37:24

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: The young Elihu claims to know the truth that has escaped Job and his friends. Understanding the Text After Job concludes his words in 31:40, the reader expects to hear Yahweh speak to resolve the debate between Job and his friends. Instead, a young man named Elihu bursts upon the scene, and for the next six chapters he holds the stage. In his long, uninterrupted speech, Elihu summarizes the points made by Job and the friends, often quoting or alluding to their specific words. He agrees with them ...

182. Marriage, Sexual Intimacy, and Spiritual Devotion

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

Big Idea: Husbands and wives must protect each other from sexual temptation and recognize their obligation to take care of each other’s sexual needs. They are co-owners of each other’s bodies. Understanding the Text Although Paul’s discussion on sexual immorality in chapter 6 makes the transition to his discussion on sexual obligations in marriage smooth, chapter 7 introduces a new section that continues through 11:1. After his extended discussion of the Corinthian Christ followers’ troublesome allegiance ...

183. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Final Revelation--The Body: We enter now into the body of the last main revelation of the book of Daniel. There has been some progression in the visions of the book from a more general scope, encompassing larger blocks of history, to a more narrow focus on shorter periods of time. So, for example, Daniel 2 spans four and a half centuries by outlining the four human empires of Babylonia, Media, Persia, and Greece, which are swept away by the fifth—the eternal kingdom of God. Aside from the fact that the ...

184. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

A Call to Ethical Living The author has concluded the main part of his epistle, having argued his points with convincing forcefulness, and now turns to various matters he desires to mention before concluding. chapter 13, therefore, is like an appendix. This is not to say, however, that the material in this chapter is unrelated to the main part of the epistle. Indeed, some of the author’s main concerns are again touched upon here, but in a somewhat different way, fleetingly, in order to bring out the ...

185. Suffering for Doing Good

1 Peter 3:8-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

To All of You 3:8 Finally (not to end the letter but to complete this passage) there comes a general exhortation to the whole Christian community, married and unmarried alike. Peter commends a set of attitudes which together depict what relationships within the Christian fellowship should be. Christian believers must live in harmony with one another, literally, “being of one mind” (a single word in the Greek). The term is intended to convey a unity of aim and purpose, a oneness in attitude. Idealistic? But ...

186. Ezekiel's Call

Ezekiel 1:1-28, Ezekiel 2:1-3:15, Ezekiel 3:16-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

Ezekiel’s Message of Judgment – Intro to Ezek. 1–33: The first major section of the book of Ezekiel is an unstinting portrayal of God’s judgment, communicating this message in seven parts. First, in chapters 1–3, God calls the prophet and gives him the message he is to bear through a shattering vision of the Lord’s Glory. Second, in chapters 4–7, a series of sign-acts and oracles of judgment convey the inevitability of Jerusalem’s destruction. Third, in Ezekiel’s second vision of the Glory (chs. 8–11), ...

187. God's Wrath Against Mankind

Romans 1:18-32

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

Paul now launches into the body of the epistle with an indictment against humanity. He will maintain the charge until 3:21, at which point he will return to righteousness by faith which he introduced in 1:16–17. Romans 1:18–3:20 is a sobering exposé of the dark side of human nature. Throughout the attack Paul labors to demonstrate that there is no distinction between Gentile and Jew in the matter of sin and guilt, a point reasserted in 3:10–12, 3:23, and 11:32. Gentile and Jew are equally guilty before God ...

188. Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Bulletin Aid

Robert G. McCreight

The Order Of Worship We approach the worship of God this evening with a hushed awareness of Christ's presence in our midst. God again breaks through the calm and darkness to reveal himself to us in the stillness of our hearts. Let the praises of your heart and the songs of your voice be "joyful yet restrained" that we might be sensitive to the quiet indwelling of his Spirit. Organ And Piano Prelude: "And He Shall Feed His Flock"Handel Introit: "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence"The Chancel Choir The Call ...

189. Like a Venomous Snake

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Radio preacher and best-selling author Chuck Swindoll once spoke to a group of pastors. He told about a man who was mountain climbing in the Sierra Mountains of California. In one particularly difficult section of his climb, he pulled himself on to a ledge only to find a six‑foot timber rattlesnake looking at him with his mouth open and tail rattling. The man froze. The rattler struck. The man moved so that the snake’s fangs barely missed grazing his neck. Still, the snake’s fangs got caught in the man’s ...

190. Proper 25

Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 22:41-46, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Psalm 90:1-17

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Deuteronomy 34:1-12 is the account of Moses' death on Mount Nebo, his burial by God, and the passing on of his leadership to Joshua. Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 is a prayer ascribed to Moses. The lectionary does not include v. 13, but it is included here since it introduces the prayer ascribed to Moses. Deuteronomy 34:1-12 - "Standing Tiptoe on Mount Nebo" Setting. Deuteronomy 34 is the account of Moses' death. The chapter consists of careful to graps location in Moab and includes a reference ...

191. The Lord's Anger Against Israel

Hosea 13:1-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

No Other God and Savior (13:1-8): Chapter 13 is clearly made up of four originally separate oracles—verses 1–3, 4–8, 9–11, and 12–16. All four oracles probably date from the last years of Hosea’s ministry and from the last years of Hoshea ben Imla’s reign, around 724 BC. Thus, they have probably been set in their present place by a disciple/redactor of the prophet’s work. Shalmaneser V is on the throne of Assyria, soon to be replaced by Sargon II, who will conquer the last remains of the northern kingdom. ...

192. “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

Big Idea: God delights in the spiritual transaction of repentance that begins in the human heart. Understanding the Text Bernhard W. Anderson calls Psalm 51 “one of the pearls of the Psalter.”1Among the seven penitential psalms,2this one, in Weiser’s estimation, is the most important because it “demonstrates the essence of true penitence.”3This psalm falls generally under the classification of the individual lament, and more specifically, to use Kraus’s subcategory, “Songs of the Sick and Anguished.”4As a ...

193. A Healing Presence

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I want to call you to prayer in a focused sort of way this morning. And we need to remember as we pray, because of who we are as Christians, that word of the prophet Micah, listen to him - he shall judge between many peoples. And how shall decide for strong nations far off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. That’s a dream of the kingdom, a kingdom that the Lord promises ...

194. Job's Reply to Eliphaz

Job 6:1–7:21

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

Impatience Justified: The first chapter of Job’s response to Eliphaz divides into three parts. Initially (vv. 1–13), he defends the sense of growing impatience with his circumstance that Eliphaz has attacked (4:1–6). Job then turns to a counterattack on the fickleness of some friendship (vv. 14–23). He concludes chapter 6 with a pointed demand to know where sin resides within him that is commensurate with the punishment he bears (vv. 24–30). 6:1–4 Job’s impetuous words are the consequence of unbearable ...

195. Job's Second Reply to Bildad

Job 19:1-29

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

God Has Wronged Me Job’s response to Bildad’s second speech alternates between recrimination against his friends’ lack of compassion and lament over the divine attack he is experiencing. The friends attack and torment Job because they are convinced he is at fault (19:4, 28). Job continues to claim his innocence and to call the friends to compassion and mutual support (19:21–22). He concludes with a warning that if the friends continue to align themselves with God’s unwarranted attack on Job, they might ...

196. Nicodemus: A Young Old Man

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David O. Bales

Sermon Note: This story sermon is best read with a “special” voice reserved for the scripture included in the story. Read the scripture with a lower and slower voice so that the congregation realizes that all the rest is the story is “commentary” on the scripture. When the last farmer from the most distant field arrived home to his family and the temple police were tromping their patrols around Jerusalem’s walls and the remaining member of the Sanhedrin set aside the last legal brief and blew out the seven ...

197. Christian Success and Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

Big Idea: When the Christian faith is reduced to a mere complement to cultural norms, churches come to affirm the very things they should despise and despise the very things they should affirm. Understanding the Text First Corinthians 4:6–13 ends Paul’s response to the deeper and broader issues in the report coming from Chloe’s household. Paul brings the tension between Corinthian ideals and true Christian ideals into their sharpest contrast yet by pointing to his own situation. Everything about Paul, both ...

198. Warnings Against Idleness

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Paul returns to the theme of idleness touched on in the earlier letter (see disc. on 1 Thess. 4:11f. and 5:14). Obviously, the problem persisted. Judging by the more peremptory tone of the warning, it appears to have worsened. The amount of space allotted to the matter measures how seriously Paul regarded it. But still his pastoral concern is uppermost. The object of the exercise is to help the erring, not to punish them or make the other members feel good. In all matters of church discipline, this ...

199. How the Lord has Covered the Daughter of Zion

Lamentations 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Lord Is Like an Enemy: 2:1 Alef. The opening word (How) invites the reader to contemplate the extent of Judah’s destruction. It also strikes a tone of lament over that same suffering. One can hear a note of disbelief that God would bring such a horrific judgment on his people. Indeed, it is total as expressed by the fact that the cloud of his anger has engulfed all of the Daughter of Zion. The expression Daughter of Zion is an intimate way of referring to Jerusalem by its most sacred space and then ...

200. When Everything That Matters Has Been Torn Away

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

If I were to ask you what is the average size of an American family today, what would you say? We’re talking about the number of family members living in one household. According to statistics from 2022, the average American household has 2.5 people in it. (1) I feel a little sorry for that half-person, don’t you? For the last century, families have been shrinking in numbers. This trend is consistent around the world. According to U.S. Census Bureau data from 1850, it was fairly common back then for ...

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