1Proper 11 • Ephesians 3:14–21 • July 26, 2015
The good news is that the Gentile believers now fully belong as household members (3:19) to the God of Israel, the Father of Jesus (Eph 1:3)
The good news is that the Gentile believers now fully belong as household members (3:19) to the God of Israel, the Father of Jesus (Eph 1:3)
Witnesses of the Living God This approach focuses on the comparison of the God of creation who formed man with the gods formed by man from what God has created
By Paul R. Raabe The Gospel lesson appointed for the ninth Sunday after Pentecost is the Mary and Martha account. It illustrates the priority of the word over food. The psalm for that day prays, “Teach me your way, O Yahweh” (Ps 27:11). That prayer expresses the desire of Mary. When tempted, Jesus himself said, ..
By Jeff Gibbs I say to my students with some regularity, “Careful exegesis often makes the text harder to preach.” What I mean, of course, is that the concerns of a particular text of Scripture might not, at first glance, be the sorts of things that concern a Christian/Lutheran congregation in twenty-first-century North America. When this is the ..
By Tony Cook Isaiah 44:6–8 is nestled within a larger discourse of the chapter that glorifies the God of creation over the idols made by man, while reminding the reader that the Creator God is also a redeeming God. Below are three approaches to preaching this text. Each one utilizes the text and the surrounding context to explore different ..
By Robert Weise Reconciliation: Ministry and Mystery We all love a good mystery; a mystery where we don’t find out until the very end who the “mystery person” is. This may be likened to, “Oh, he/she is the one!” And when we see and hear who this “mystery person” is, the whole story line is ..
By Timothy Dost Jeremiah 23:1–6 presents a challenge to the preacher of appearing to be too narrow in scope in terms of the law to be useful to the congregation. The lament of Jeremiah, while directed at clergy, can also be applied homiletically as a complaint about generally being unfaithful to one’s calling within the ..
By Travis J. Scholl Consider this act two in the grand dramatic entrance of the parables into the Gospel of Matthew and the Matthean lectionary, the second of three consecutive readings of Matthew 13’s “parables of the kingdom.” The lectionary divisions essentially follow what exegetes have found to be the triadic pattern of the chapter (for ..
By John Loum General approach to preparing your sermon A. Start the process by praying about the subject or topic area B. Select and clearly state to the audience the subject area that you plan to address. C. At the point of your sermon delivery, start with an arousing statement or illustration in order to ..