Sermon and Worship Resources

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2 Corinthians 5:18-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... at war. I looked at that man and I said, "Dan, do you understand the terms ‘unconditional surrender?'" Immediately, as if he were snapping to attention, he said, "Yes sir, I do." I said, "Dan, I am asking you to make an unconditional surrender of ... But that spike represents what some engineers to this day call perhaps the greatest engineering accomplishment in the history of the world. Steven Ambrose wrote about this engineering feat in a great book entitled Nothing Like it in the World. If you like good ...

2. Blessed Are the Abnormal

James 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... abnormal? Do you think Warren Buffett is normal? Buffet is, of course, one of the richest men in the world. Listen how Dan Miller described Buffet in his 2008 book, No More Dreaded Mondays: “He runs his $136 billion company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., from a ... a better place? Let me tell you about an ordinary man who was at the same time abnormal. Many years ago when author Steven Mosley was teaching at an English school in Japan, he met a young woman named Yasuko. Yasuko’s family had a history of ...

3. Can A Christian Brag?

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... that our good works flow from our acknowledgment that Christ died for us and by faith in him and faith alone, we are redeemed. In Steven Spielberg's movie Saving Private Ryan, a squadron of young soldiers is sent on a mission to find one soldier behind enemy lines and bring ... us. 1. Kay Allenbaugh, CHOCOLATE FOR A WOMAN'S SOUL, Simon & Schuster, N.Y. 1997. 2. "Why in the World?" From: Dan Cole, 40plus_humor@onelist.com. 3. W.C. Heinz, "Ghost of the Gridiron," in THE FIRESIDE BOOK OF FOOTBALL, ed. Jack Newcombe ...

4. If We Had Known You Were Going To Win . . .

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... for evermore. As we ponder the meaning of Easter Sunday, we would do well to reflect on something that happened years ago to Representative Dan Kuykendal of Tennessee. A man walked up to Kuykendal after he had won a hard-fought battle for election to the U.S. Congress. ... by BrianL.Harbour, Broadman Press, Nashville, 1990. 11. “Live to Tell” words and music by Geoff Moore and Steven Curtis Chapman, Starstruck Music, copyright 1993. 12. And the Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado, p. 124, “Surviving Life.” ...

5. The Power of One Passion and One Prayer

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... The rules of improv can make you funnier. They can also make you more confident” by Oluwakemi Aladesuyi, Life Kit, November 29, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/19/1129907651/improv-can-build-confidence-heres-how-to-apply-it-to-your-everyday-life. 5. Steven J. Cole, https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-52-one-thing-necessary-luke-1038-42. 6. Dr. William H. Willimon, What’s Right with the Church (Harper & Row, 1985), p. 112, cited in St. Paul’s Letters to the Philippians by The Reverend Eric S. Ritz ...

6. Signs, Sayings, and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-11, Ezekiel 14:12-23

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

Laying the Blame and Taking Responsibility: The typical Ezekielian expression “the word of the Lord came to me” recurs throughout the chapters between the second vision of the Glory in chapters 8–11 and the oracles against the foreign nations in chapters 25–32—except in chapter 19. Indeed, in the twenty-six chapters between Ezekiel 11 and 38, this is the only chapter in which that characteristic phrase does not appear. This chapter stands out, therefore, in the larger structure of Ezekiel. Further, after ...

7. A Prophecy Against Gog

Ezekiel 38:1-39:29

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

Gog of Magog: Both Gog and his kingdom, Magog, are a mystery. Apart from Ezekiel 38–39, the name “Gog” appears in the Old Testament only in 1 Chronicles 5:4, where Gog is a descendant of Reuben—clearly not the foreign ruler Ezekiel describes. Magog appears in Genesis 10:2//1 Chronicles 1:5 as second in the list of nations descended from Japheth, youngest son of Noah, whose descendants populate the lands north of Israel. These texts group Magog with other nations in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), ...

8. Tyre, Sidon—and Israel

Ezekiel 26:1-21, Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-19, Ezekiel 28:20-26

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

In the final form of Ezekiel, a collection of oracles against the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (26:1–28:19) interrupts a series of short oracles against the minor kingdoms surrounding Israel (beginning in 25:1). The pattern of short oracles resumes with a brief oracle against the second major Phoenician port city, Sidon (28:20–23), followed by a summary and conclusion to all the oracles against the nations (28:24) and a promise of salvation for Israel (28:25–26). It seems likely, then, that this series of ...

9. Egypt

Ezekiel 29:1-21, Ezekiel 30:1-26, Ezekiel 31:1-18, Ezekiel 32:1-32

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

The last four chapters of Ezekiel’s oracles against the nations consist of a loose collection of seven prophecies, all concerned with Egypt: an allegorical oracle depicting Pharaoh as a dragon in the Nile (29:1–16); a late appendix to the book promising Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar (29:17–21); a lament over Egypt (30:1–19); a second oracle against the Pharaoh (30:20–26); an allegory depicting Egypt as the World Tree (31:1–18); a lament over Pharaoh, recapitulating the dragon allegory (32:1–16); and a funeral ...

10. Oracles of Restoration

Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Ezekiel 37:15-28

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

Ezekiel’s Message of Hope and Restoration: Ezekiel 34–48, the second major part of this book, is concerned with a message of hope for the exiles and with the promise of Israel’s future restoration. That message has broken through in a muted sense in chapters 1–33 (11:14–21; 16:53–63; 20:33–44; 28:25–26), but it now becomes the central theme. These fifteen chapters fall into three sections. The first, chapters 34–37, is a series of seven oracles dealing with the restoration of Israel. The second section ...

11. 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), ...

12. The Glory Departs

Ezekiel 8:1-18, Ezekiel 9:1-11, Ezekiel 10:1-22, Ezekiel 11:1-15, Ezekiel 11:16-25

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

These four chapters contain the second of the three great visions of the Lord’s Glory that punctuate Ezekiel’s prophecy. As with the first (chs. 1–3), Ezekiel dates this second vision to the precise day (8:1), refers to the hand of the Lord (8:1), and titles it “visions of God” (8:3). Further, he makes explicit reference to the earlier vision (8:4; 10:15, 20, 22), including summary descriptions of some portions (e.g., compare 8:2 with 1:26–27) and virtually repeating others (e.g., compare 10:9–12 with 1:15 ...

13. Prologue to the Law of the Temple: The Lord Comes Home

Ezekiel 40:1--43:12

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

The Law of the Temple – Intro to Ezek. 40–48: The book of Ezekiel ends as it began: with a vision of the Glory of the Lord. Like all four visions in the book, this one begins with Ezekiel’s favorite expression for entry into the visionary state, “the hand of the LORD was upon me” (40:1; see the discussion of 1:3, and compare 3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1). However, chapters 40–48 are linked particularly with chapters 1–3 and 8–11, the other two visions of the Lord’s Glory. Not only theme, but also structure join ...

14. Epilogue to the Law of the Temple: River, Land, City

Ezekiel 47:1-12, Ezekiel 47:13-23, Ezekiel 48:1-29, Ezekiel 48:30-35

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

47:1–12 With the vision of the river of life in verses 1–12, we return to Ezekiel’s original vision report. Although the insertion of material belonging to the Law of the Temple interrupted the original continuity between 44:1–2 and 47:1, the technique of resumptive repetition still signals the connection. The same Hebrew verb, shub (“return”) occurs in 44:1 (Heb. wayyasheb ʾoti, NIV “Then the man brought me back”) and 47:1 (Heb. wayeshibeni, NIV The man brought me back). The connection is also apparent ...

15. Signs and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 4:1-5:17, Ezekiel 6:1-14, Ezekiel 7:1-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

The material between Ezekiel’s call (chs. 1–3) and his vision of Jerusalem’s destruction (chs. 8–11) falls into two parts. Chapters 4 and 5 present a series of four sign-acts depicting Jerusalem’s siege and fall (4:1–3, 4–8, 9–17; 5:1–17). Chapters 6 and 7 are oracles of judgment directed against the mountains of Israel (ch. 6) and the people, particularly the leaders, of Jerusalem (ch. 7). However, these two sections are neatly interwoven. In the fourth sign-act, the Lord calls down destruction upon ...

16. Riddles and Metaphors

Ezekiel 15:1-8, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 17:1-24

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

As a priest, Ezekiel was literate and well educated. His learned background is apparent in his imaginative use of a variety of literary forms and styles. The effect of this creativity on his original audience was evidently mixed; some contemporaries dismissed him as a teller of riddles (20:49; the NIV renders the Heb. meshalim “parables”) or “one who sings love songs” (33:32). Certainly, though, this variety makes Ezekiel one of the most interesting, as well as the most baffling, of the prophetic books. In ...

17. Personal Accountability

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

The introductory formula The word of the LORD came to me in 18:1, and the concluding formula declares the Sovereign LORD in 18:32, clearly demarcate the first unit of this section. Unconventional, but equally clear, markers set off the second unit, 19:1–14. In 19:1 the Lord commands the prophet: “Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel.” The final verse of the chapter repeats this identification: “This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.” The common theme connecting the sermon in chapter ...

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