Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 140 results

Psalm 25:1-22

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... to an individual on the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin.[15] However, once a student has satisfied the requirements of a twelfth-grade education, the government tends to stop emphasizing the importance of education. Sadly, many Christians carry this notion into their Christian experience. Instead of realizing their need for spiritual continuing education until the day they die, many Christians wrongly believe that all they need to know can be gained through a half-hour sermon once a week ...

2. Paul Speaks to the Crowd

Acts 21:37--22:21

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... become acquainted with Greek language and thought in his early years in Cilicia. This verse and 26:4f. have him in Jerusalem already as a young child, though he must have retained some links with Tarsus (cf. 9:30; 11:25; Gal. 1:21). He had been educated in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel (see disc. on 5:34 and notes). His training had consisted of strict instruction in the law of our fathers (both the written law and the oral tradition; cf. Josephus, Antiquities 13.408–415 and 293–298). Josephus uses ...

3. The Gospel of God in Christ through Paul

Romans 1:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... writes unforgettable stories that are eminently usable in preaching or teaching. In this story based on his experience in the church in Evansville, Wangerin talks about the experience of being ordained and the purity that he felt in his calling. He felt that his “education had come to a climax; [his] knowledge was being validated.”5 He felt the Spirit was with him even though he was in a small parish with a homely office. He began preaching with a certain power. Then, through members of his congregation ...

4. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced . . . more true than truth itself” (Haer. 1.2).5 The best way to resist false teaching is to know well the truth of the gospel. Quote: Franz Kafka. Essayist and educator George Steiner (b. 1929) wants to read books that operate on his affections: “To read great literature as if it did not have upon us an urgent design . . . is to do little more than make entries in a librarian’s catalog.” He then quotes from a ...

5. Feast of Tabernacles

Leviticus 23:33-44

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

... . No doubt the monarchy took major steps to follow that direction at times such as Josiah’s reform (2 Kgs. 23:1–30). This standardization gave the people a framework to articulate and sustain identity, a significant achievement intended by religious education. The standardization also solidified and enhanced the institution of the priesthood. In the early church, the festivals were made part of the community’s life. Passover was linked to Good Friday and the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Easter. The ...

6. Matthew 22:15-22

Matthew 22:15-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of Jesus and his message among the common people. Besides their social and political concerns, the Pharisees may also have resented Jesus' growing popularity as a teacher, a "rabbi," for another reason. Unlike the accepted Pharisaic rabbis, Jesus had received no formal education at the feet of a Torah tutor. Granted no recognized ordination to the status of "rabbi" or "teacher," Jesus was called "rabbi" based on homegrown authority. While first-century Judaism was not homogeneous enough to insist on certain ...

7. Galatians 3:23-29

Galatians 3:23-29

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Christ came." Paul describes the law previous to Christ's coming as being "our pedagogue." Today, that term is usually connected simply with the teaching or schoolmasterly instruction of children suggesting that if this were the law's function, it was perhaps gently educative in its mission. In Paul's day, however, a pedagogue was a specific individual. In Roman and Greek families, the pedagogue was a slave whose entire job was to carefully supervise young children, in and out of the home. The pedagogue was ...

8. Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8:26-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to the Jerusalem temple in order to attend services there. It is as he is returning from such an experience that the Ethiopian eunuch encounters Philip. Yet another mark of this man's uncommon identity is revealed in verse 28. This eunuch is an educated man, capable of reading God's Word for himself. Philip now uses this fact and the Isaiah tradition to evangelize for Christ. The balance between the established Scripture and tradition of Judaism and the new message of the gospel is delicately maintained in ...

9. Mark 8: 27-38

Mark 8:27-30

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the first time that Jesus and his disciples are “on the way.” This “Way” is the revealing of Jesus’ true identity and the unprecedented nature of his mission. What the “way” leads to is Jerusalem and the cross. And although the disciples are educated, tutored, quizzed and drilled again and again, they prove to be pretty poor students. Despite all that Jesus had foretold about the form his mission will take, the disciples are slow learners. They never really catch on until they receive the post ...

10. Jehoshaphat King of Judah

2 Chronicles 17:1-19

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... time, when the difference in function between these groups started to become vague. It is important to note that the king himself promulgates the law, not as his own law but as God’s. Second Chronicles 17:10 details the effect of this process of educating the Judahites in “the Book of the Law of the LORD”: the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah. Other royal narratives in Chronicles portray the Philistines and Arabs as enemies who have battled against Judah, but ...

11. A Workman Approved by God

2 Timothy 2:14-26

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... who oppose him. This last phrase presents some considerable difficulties. The verb (paideuō) can mean either to instruct or “to educate” (cf. apaideutos in v. 23; see esp. disc. on Titus 2:12), or to “correct” or “discipline” (cf. 1 Tim. 1 ... ) by the opponents. Is Timothy to discipline his opponents, as 1 Timothy 1:20 might allow? Or is he to instruct or re-educate those who have been “taken in” by the false teachers? This is not easy to determine, since both are elsewhere seen as entrapped ...

12. What Must Be Taught to Various Groups

Titus 2:1-15

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... (v. 14; cf. 2 Tim. 1:9–10), but it could also refer existentially to the time in Crete when Paul and Titus preached the gospel and the Cretans understood and accepted its message (cf. 1:3 and 3:3–4). That at least is when the educative dimension of grace, emphasized in verse 12, took place. 2:12 If the concern in this paragraph were to present a creedal or liturgical formula, as some believe, then theological logic would demand that the content of verse 14 appear next, since that verse expresses the ...

13. The Birth of Moses

Exodus 2:1-10

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... ensured his protection and continued life, but it also reunited him with his mother. She would actually be paid to nurse her own son by the one who had ordered his death. When she adopted him as her son, the daughter of Pharaoh also insured Moses’ education in the ways of Egypt. God’s deliverer grew up in the very court from which he would deliver his people. Only this environment could sufficiently equip him to speak to the next pharaoh (v. 23). When the child grew older, Moses’ mother took him to ...

14. Do Not Forget the Lord

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... a verb, ʾānāh (in Piel), that is often used in the sense of “to afflict” by abuse or humiliation (e.g., Gen. 16:6; Exod. 22:21). When God is the subject, it can mean to punish in discipline (1 Kgs. 11:39; Isa. 64:12) or for educational purposes, as here (cf. Ps. 119:71, 75). As a response to their rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, the wilderness was indeed punishment. But as a place of learning, it was an ideal classroom. The irony is that in that very classroom the Israelites thought they were testing God ...

15. John Called to Prophesy Again

Revelation 10:1-11

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... all hell has broken loose in this sorry world but also that, in Christ, all heaven has come to do battle. Christ the warrior has come to defeat worldly power, to move the world over onto a new foundation, and to equip a people—informed, devout, educated, pious, determined people—to follow him in righting what’s wrong, in transforming what’s corrupted, in doing the things that make for peace.8 We live in the already/not yet. Object Lesson: The “already/not yet” tension can be described by using a ...

16. The Ordination of Aaron and His Sons

Leviticus 8:1-36

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... , expresses that kind of sentiment. Our desire should be, like these priests, totally dedicated and consecrated to God, even down to the level of our body parts. God calls ministers to set an example. Education: In an article describing how young children learn, educational researcher Jeanne W. Lepper comments, In a natural, almost unconscious, process, children follow the examples set by others, modeling both behavior and the accompanying emotional tone. When children see their parents reading regularly ...

17. Job Hears the Whispers of God’s Works

Job 26:1--31:40

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... zone. He wore tissue boxes on his feet to protect them, and he burned his clothing if someone near him became ill. Quote: Ernest Hemingway. Today great emphasis is placed on education, and because of this, cities, states, and the federal government all devote vast resources to it. The assumption is that if people get more education, it will lead to a better quality of life for our whole society. Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), an intelligent and influential writer of the twentieth century, once wrote that ...

18. God Subjugates Judah under Babylon

Daniel 1:1-21

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... their readers to ponder complex images to discover tiny, hidden details. For example, a tableau of a medieval castle siege might contain hidden characters or accoutrements that must be spotted. The idea of the series has continued to live on in puzzles, board games, educational tools, and online games.11 One can see the little details in the complexity of the entire scene only by looking for them with more than a casual glance. In the same way, God is constantly moving behind the scenes, acting on our ...

19. The Preparation of Daniel and His Friends

Daniel 1:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... three years, during which time the young men were to develop into competent statesmen to be used for the advance of the Babylonian kingdom. The royal grant was to perpetuate the Babylonian system of cultural, political, social, and economic values. The education was intended to brainwash the youths and to make them useful Babylonian subjects. The process of cultural exchange is also evident in the change of names. Daniel (“my judge is God”) becomes Belteshazzar (“may Nebo [Bel or Marduk] protect his ...

20. Timothy’s Encouraging Report

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 22; 20:1–6; 1 Cor. 16:5; 2 Cor. 1:16; 1 Tim. 1:3). The reason he wanted to return was to make their faith complete (“supply”; Luke 6:40; Heb. 13:21). The verb appears in educational contexts that refer to the process of training and completing the education a student receives. The Thessalonians were ignorant of certain fundamental theological tenets (1 Thess. 4:13) and had forgotten some teaching they had already received (5:1–2). They had not appropriated all of the apostles’ moral teaching (4:3 ...

21. A Lifestyle in Accord with Sound Doctrine

Titus 2:1-15

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... to a brave—and not necessarily welcome—service to their younger sisters. They are to urge younger women to honor their responsibilities to their husbands and children, especially in showing sexual faithfulness to their husbands and in educating their children (Winter, 141–69). To younger men, Paul addresses but one command: control yourselves. As unoriginal as the instruction may appear to us, it would have been altogether countercultural—and exceptionally community-formative—for Cretan young ...

22. Acts 17: 22-31

Acts 17:16-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the earth. Paul first uses this commonality to affirm the uniquely created status of all human beings. But he will later use this shared heritage to demonstrate the universal participation of all men and women, regardless of their nationalities or social status, education or ethnicity, in the Divine’s judgment of the world (v.31). The one God who created the whole world will also judge all creation together. The underlying oneness of humanity is further demonstrated by Paul’s use of classical texts to ...

23. Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... authority of the words that followed. “The voice” in the wilderness will now be identified by Mark as the voice of John the Baptist. John’s location “in the wilderness” immediately puts him on the scene as part of God’s ongoing communication, education and redemption of the world. In Israel’s history, “the wilderness” has always been the place the Word is encountered, where divine plans are revealed. John, then, is a divinely sent messenger (as the Exodus 23:20, 23 text suggests) or the ...

24. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... a fascinating end in itself. Paul concludes this first portion of his discussion by once more asserting the unity of the Spirit that imparts all these gifts. The freedom of the Spirit to act as it will, bestowing its gifts as it sees fit without regard to status or denomination, education or gender, race, class, or wealth, confirms Paul's emphasis on the unified power of God's Spirit.

25. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... "conviction" (v. 14) is presented in verse 16. Through a radical change in his own existence, Paul now perceives everything in a new way. While in his pre-conversion skepticism Paul had regarded Christ with the cool, calculating eye of a well-educated Hellenistic Jew, he now sees Christ altogether differently. But his new perception of Christ is only the most extreme example of Paul's adjusted vision - for now everyone must be examined through the eyes of faith. Paul has been given divine depth-perception ...

Showing results