Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Faith

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... final and fullest sense (see note on 2:12). This expectation can be traced in the OT, although the title Messiah is hardly, if at all, applied there to the coming one. In that connection, the title belongs to a later period, including the period of the NT. At this time, according to A. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1890), vol. 2, pp. 710–41, the rabbis understood 456 OT passages to refer to the Messiah. Thus, when Paul called Jesus by this title, he was ...

2. Wives and Husbands

1 Peter 3:1-7

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... here (and also in v. 6) refers to the conjugal relationship. See Horsley, New Documents, vol. 1, p. 36. Although women generally lacked official status, their influence was well recognized. As Edersheim notes, the rabbis commented on the creation of woman from a rib of Adam: “It is as if Adam had exchanged a pot of earth for a precious jewel.” More caustically, the Jewish wit had it: “God has cursed woman, yet all the world runs after her. He has cursed the ground, yet all the world lives off ...

3. The Living Stone and a Chosen People

1 Peter 2:4-12

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... 28:16 is applied to the council of the community (1QS 8.7–8), not to an individual. The Targum, by contrast, applied Isa. 28:16 messianically (Edersheim, Life & Times, vol. 2, p. 725). Zion, strictly speaking, is a hill of Jerusalem, south of the temple and north of the Siloam quarter. In the Bible it usually is identified with the city as a whole, viewed as a religious center that often symbolizes the heavenly city (Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:1). Peter’s use of Zion at this point is doubly appropriate, since ...

4. To Elders and Young Men

1 Peter 5:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... is to become the food of worms” (Aboth 4.4). The downcast pessimism of the rabbis contrasts with the opening Beatitude which bids the believer to look up: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). See Edersheim, Life and Times, vol. 1, p. 531. Under God’s mighty hand: A frequent OT metaphor for divine deliverance (Exod. 3:19; 6:1; Deut. 7:8; 9:26; Neh. 1:10; Ps. 136:12; Jer. 32:21; Dan. 9:15). That he may lift you up uses the same Greek verb as in Christ’s ...

5. Be Holy

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... various stages of growth, such as newly born (Isa. 9:6), suckling (Isa. 53:2), weaned (at the end of two years; Gen. 21:8), sexually mature (Isa. 7:14), ripe to choose (Isa. 62:5). See Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, pp. 103–21. A man was made a proselyte to Judaism by a threefold process: by circumcision, by immersion in water, and by the presentation of an offering in the temple. In 1 Peter, these three elements are again seen: “Rid yourselves of all malice … like newborn babes” would ...

6. Praise to God for a Living Hope

1 Peter 1:1-12

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... not unknown before Christian times. The Aaronic blessing of Num. 6:25–26 (see commentary) was daily repeated in the temple. See Edersheim, The Temple, Its Ministry and Services, p. 141. It was also integral to Qumran worship (1QS 2.2; 1QSb 3.4). ... 1:25; Jer. 9:7; Zech. 13:9; Mal. 3:3; 1 Cor. 3:15; so too e.g., Didache 16:5. Peter’s vocabulary often suggests a close acquaintance with the Wisdom of Solomon, as here: “As gold in the furnace, he proved them” (Wisd. of Sol. 3:6). Glory: The Greek noun ...

7. What Kind of Sheep Are You?

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... will make them afraid. I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer ... a sign to you,” the angels said. And it certainly was. Jesus, the messiah, would become the ultimate and final sacrifice to save God’s people. He would be the Shepherd of God, who would bring God’s children home. *Holman Bible Dictionary, “Shepherd.” **Olive oil was used in healing cuts or wounds a sheep might incur. The oil would be poured on the animal to salve the wound. ***See Alfred Edersheim ...

8. Living for God

1 Peter 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... in this respect. The rabbis declared that hospitality involved even greater merit than early morning attendance at an academy of learning—praise indeed from such a source. Understandably, the rabbis also taught that to entertain a sage and to send him away with presents was as meritorious as offering the daily sacrifices (b. Ber. 10b). See Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, pp. 47–48. Without grumbling: The splendidly onomatapoeic gongysmos is the word used of the murmuring of the Israelites in ...

9. A Woman Of Substance · Mary Magdalene

Lk 8:1-3

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... the town had 300 shops engaged in this endeavor. Be that as it may, however, something of the traffic's impact on the area as a whole is suggested by the fact that just twenty minutes north of Magdala caravans plying between Nazareth and Damascus passed through a wady known as the Valley of Doves. In fact, such was Magdala's commerce, as Alfred Edersheim points out, that the city was one of three which forwarded their taxes to Jerusalem by wagon. These were not the only resources, however, offering ...

10. John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Matthew 3:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... in the New Testament, pp. 31ff. For the view that John took over the practice of baptism from the Essenes (but gave it a more profound meaning), see Albright-Mann, pp. 25–26. 3:7 The wrath of God is not the emotion of anger but that part ... from it” (p. 27). 3:9 Stones … children: There may be a play on words here, since in Hebrew the word for children (bānîm) sounds very much like the word for stones (’āḇānîm). Abraham: Edersheim notes that in Jewish tradition Abraham is pictured as sitting at ...

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