Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 109 results

Joshua 16:1--17:18

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

... Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and the princes. The importance of Manasseh’s request is underlined by its grounding in promises from Moses. Clans west of the Jordan receive ten plots of land in addition to Gilead and Bashan, which were given to clans in the east ( ... the account mentions cities that the tribe did not control. Cities and their surrounding territory in the list remain dominated by the Canaanites: Beth Shan, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo. The narrative explains the problem by saying the ...

2. Warnings and Exhortations for Jerusalem and Judah

Zephaniah 1:1-3, Zephaniah 1:4-13, Zephaniah 1:14--2:3

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... refers to the Tyropean Valley, the zone between the rise where David’s city was built and that further, gentler rise to the west, “the New Quarter.” It is identified as the commercial area by the following reference to merchants and people who trade with silver ... of Yahweh’s day as an occasion when anger burns, hinting at another nod to the fiery destiny of chaff or stubble. Two words dominate the subsection, the words before (3 times in v. 2) and seek (3 times in v. 3); both begin b in Hebrew. The ...

3. I’ve Got a Home in that Kingdom

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... if it would really work, but as the weeks and months passed, and the number of polio cases dropped, my confidence grew. I was no longer dominated by the fear of polio. We live in an age of fear again, a fear of a different kind, a fear of terrorism. We have seen ... dirt farmer and clerk types of Presbyterians, not the lawyer and doctor types. They had been part of the great migration west, pushing back trees and hills and people as they settled the frontier for the young country. They learned — and they ...

4. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... 11:18–19 he will turn his attention to the coastlands. Thwarted in the South, Antiochus launched campaigns in the west, taking Aegean islands and attacking Thrace in 196 BC. The Roman commander Scipio, however, reversed Antiochus’s momentum in ... of this knowledge to his people. Second, God keeps his covenant by bringing a just punishment, requiring an extended and hostile foreign domination of his people. Third, it is futile for God’s people to seek safety in the violent plans of powerful kings that ...

5. The Lord Commands Joshua

Joshua 1:1-18

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

... question of whether Joshua will lead the tribes to their promised rest. 1:2–9 God’s point of view dominates these verses, in which the Lord, speaking directly to Joshua rather than through Moses’ report (Deut. 31:7–8), addresses him ... is to claim the territory on the other side, but the river also threatens to split the forces of Joshua between the east and the west. Thus the Jordan River could become a divisive boundary and a threat to the unity of the emerging people. Moses sought to resolve that ...

6. To the Rescue

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... television with 16 million viewers. People are fascinated with this show about a man who awakens from a coma to find a world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. I don’t know why it is such a big hit. I see people eating like that at the ... verses in all of the Bible. “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12, ESV) How far is east from west? Think about it this way. If you travel west you can go around the world as many times as you want to ...

7. The Cross In My Pocket

Isaiah 52:13--53:12, Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... , take a cross for your pocket or purse, as a reminder of who you are and Whose you are. We Christians are a cross-dominated people. The Christian faith is no set of rules for successful living. It is no philosophy or self-help theory. It is a declaration ... practitioners of healing. Let me tell you about one of them who is a renowned heart surgeon. Bob grew up on a farm in west Tennessee. He attended a small junior college for one semester but dropped out because he was unhappy and making poor grades. In 1954 ...

8. Who Are the Christians?

Judges 1:1-36

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... level, that is precisely what God does for us through Jesus Christ. God removes that old sin-dominated heart and replaces it with a Christ-dominated heart. Sometimes he does this gradually, sometimes suddenly. Have you had a spiritual heart- transplant yet? If ... families murdered each other in the mountains of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. The end of the feud came when a Hatfield with the awful first name of "Devil" met a West Virginia pastor named William Dyke Garrett. Garrett had fought with the ...

9. Job's Third Reply to Eliphaz

Job 23:1--24:25

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... of the overwhelming power of God, against which no human can stand. While nothing seems to have changed with regard to God’s dominance, perhaps Job has been emboldened by his success in silencing his friends to invest more confidence in the persuasive character of his ... of any search to discover God’s whereabouts in the world of human experience. While the directional terms east, west, north, and south translate the sense of the Hebrew into terms that are meaningful for our modern directional thinking, ...

10. Blazing a Path to Christ

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... in modern history. Columbus was a trailblazer who dared to believe that it was possible to reach the East Indies by sailing west across a vast uncharted ocean. By its very nature the voyage was dangerous and the sailors who braved the challenge were ... Oscar Romero in El Salvador heard the cry of the poor in his land and acted to bring hope and justice to a society dominated by wealth and power. Nelson Mandella and Bishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa provided the light to lead their nation out of the dark ...

11. 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

... what the writer was doing. The priestly writer in Numbers begins in the south, with a clearly marked border, then moves west to the Sea. The northern border is sketchy, as is the eastern border until the Sea of Galilee. The editor of ... the traditional twelve tribes, as Joshua had parceled out the land in ancient days (Josh. 13–19), the returning Zadokites asserted religious dominance throughout the region. 48:30–35 With this brief description of the walls and gates of Jerusalem, both the text of chapters ...

12. How Free Are We?

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... many people who look backward to the “good old days” when the Communist government regulated their daily lives. They did not have to make so many decisions and life, while difficult, was dependable. During the harshest days of Communist domination, any number of people escaped to the West, only to defect from their defection and return to the Soviet Union because freedom was frightening. They are like the man who quit his job sorting potatoes. The job was simple. All he had to do was to sort potatoes ...

13. Are You Going Down?

Luke 2:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... lack of streetlights, billboards, advertising displays, fewer automobiles or whatever, visitors took this striking contrast as significant - for West Berlin is one of the most brilliantly lighted cities in the world. On one side darkness; on the ... of both." Dismiss it as silly sentimentalism if you will. But in our world of power breakfasts and power suits, in our world dominated by the pursuit of pleasure and the almighty dollar, we need the reminder of the Christmas story that the truly important things in ...

14. Power Failures and Power Surges

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... go wireless. Due to a big increase in traffic to the San Juan Islands, a little “spur” called “Washington State Highway 20 West” is being transformed. It used to be a simple two-lane road, dotted with feed processing plants, great breakfast diners, and ... of power. Power is not found in expulsions from hydrocarbons. Power is not found in the ability of one ideology to dominate another ideology. Power is not found in the strong lording it over the weak. For Christians the greatest power surge ever to ...

15. Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem

Micah 1:1-7

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... Hezekiah. Certainly it was a turbulent and uncertain time. After the prosperous and stable reigns of Uzziah in Judah (783–742 BC) and of Jeroboam II in Israel (ca. 786–746 BC), Assyria gained new power and dominance in the ancient Near East under the leadership of Tiglath-pileser III, whose armies marched west to conquer the small states of the Fertile Crescent. In 735 BC, Kings Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel formed a coalition to turn back the Assyrian advance, inviting Ahaz of Judah to join them ...

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

Ezekiel 40:1--43:12

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... are by the initial transport of the prophet from Babylon to Zion as the vision begins. The two-dimensional measurements that dominate chapters 40–42 have misled some interpreters into calling chapters 40–42 a blueprint, or even into proposing that this material is ... courtyard at the Lord’s back, so to speak (compare 2 Chr. 26:18, which describes an open colonnade to the west of the temple; and the Qumran Temple Scroll, which describes a ritual area behind the temple characterized by a multitude of ...

17. But Where is the Lamb? John W. Cobb

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

As one stands to the West of the temple area in the old city of Jerusalem and gazes upon the remains of the Temple of Herod now spoken of as the "wailing wall," then looks beyond to the domineering Dome of the Rock, it is to recall the ... Epiphany, Maundy Thursday, et al. Then there was the Good Friday window with its Cross in the earth, a crown of thorns and nails dominated by somber shades of gray with splotches of red suggesting the wounds of Christ. But perhaps the most significant of all the symbolism was ...

18. Faith, Love, and Fakers at Ephesus

Acts 18:18-28

Sermon Aid

CSS

... route between Asia and Europe. Caravans brought rugs from Persia, spices from India, and all manner of other goods by land routes as far west as Ephesus, where they were stored until they could be sent by sea to Greece or Rome. As a shipping and financial center, ... Writings." Statues and talismans from the great temple were said to possess supernatural powers. But Diana-worship alone did not dominate the religious scene, for when the Romans took control of the city they built a great temple to their god- ...

19. Your Money and Your Life

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... that cross-national surveys of rich and poor nations do not reveal striking differences in self-reported happiness. Egyptians are as happy as West Germans. Cubans are as happy as Americans. The things of this world are powerless to bring us happiness. Worse still, they may even ... then, I want to suggest that you begin to practice "action therapy" against what psychoanalyst Karen Homey said is the dominant neurosis of our day, "the wish to have everything." Take a careful look at your family budget. What does ...

20. The Cry Of Freedom

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... FREEDOM. From Germany to the Soviet Union, from Poland to Romania, from China to Chile, from South Africa to the West Bank, is the cry for freedom. The walls have fallen and Checkpoint Charlie is no more. Structures of political oppression ... be elevated for a greater spiritual journey. We are being FREED TO SERVE GOD, and rendering invalid all the other small gods that wish to dominate and control our lives. It is true: unless we are freed by Christ, no man or woman, regardless of what country they live in, ...

21. From Russia With Love

Acts 3:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in any thing that would hint at a paradise. A cloud of impending doom hangs over that vast landscape. And despair, despair is the dominant mood of the people. As I mentioned a moment ago, I don't usually change my preaching. But I decided to do so this ... Creativity has been killed, at least blunted. Do you wonder why they are fatalistic? Without joy? Now the danger is that the west will seek to substitute a capitalistic materialism, for a Marxist materialism. And we need to confess to them -- and I did-- we ...

22. Land Still to Be Taken

Joshua 13:1-7

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

... land has not ended. In his old age Joshua must depend on others to complete the conquest. 13:2–6 Areas dominated by the Philistines (five southern coastal cities), the Canaanites (coastal areas south of Lebanon), an unknown group (Amorites?) east of the ... living in the northeast area of the land has been deleted from the passage. The land of the Canaanites normally is west of the Jordan. Next, God emphatically states that the Lord will personally drive out the inhabitants of Lebanon, even Sidon. Sidon ...

23. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... scene from the novel, the story of Marie, Prince Myshkin quietly accepts the ridicule that he is an idiot. Myshkin dominates the novel, showing a desire to offer people an alternative to the violent passions and conflicts of nineteenth-century Russia ... plan will culminate in Christ’s return. Second, the gospel is for all—Jew and Gentile alike. Where would we be in the West without Paul’s message of the gospel? There is a strong possibility that without Paul’s mission to Gentiles, the gospel could have ...

24. Nabuchadnezzar’s Dream and Daniel's Interpretation

Daniel 2:1-23, Daniel 2:24-49

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... place in Nebuchadnezzar’s second year, while he was gaining control over his new kingdom in the face of challenges from the west. He made a failed attempt to invade Egypt in his fourth year, and a rebellion arose from Judah in his seventh year ... up on one side (7:5) and a ram with two uneven horns (8:20) appropriately represent this kingdom, in which Persia is dominant. Its inferiority (2:39) may relate to its government, culture, or morality—since silver is less valuable than gold (2:32). Greece (331– ...

25. The Weak and the Strong

Romans 14:1--15:13

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... important characteristic of the Christian faith (cf. Gal. 5:1), but in contrast to the understanding of freedom in the modern West, Christian freedom is not an end in itself, but a means to a greater end. Freedom is not the foundation ... Notes 15:1 Paul’s admonition to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves cuts across the grain of dominance, success, and identity by association which runs through our society. The highest good in a consumer society is usually to please oneself and “ ...

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