Editor’s note: the following homiletical help is taken from David Schmitt’s sermon series “God’s Greater Story: A Sermon Series on Romans 6–14,” which is available for download here. By David Schmitt This morning, Paul’s words to us are strange. Strange, in that he joins two very different things together. In just a few short verses, Paul ..
By Erik Herrmann Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” The parables of the “lost” in Luke 15—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son—are perhaps the most well-known parables of ..
By William W. Schumacher The text of this passage from the Epistle of James is interesting both grammatically and lexically. The passage is rich in imagery, and the vocabulary is rather unusual. The preacher is invited to echo the colorful, creative language in a sermon that does not reduce the message to simplistic platitudes and ..
By William W. Schumacher The two alternatives for this pericope suggest rather different directions for a sermon, with the briefer reading perhaps lending itself to a clearer focus on the gospel and the longer risking a distraction by vivid depictions of sins. The shorter version (vv. 12–17) is preferred, in which Paul offers himself as ..
By Travis J. Scholl Allow me a roundabout way to this text from Isaiah. Because I find today’s epistle lesson (James 3:1–12) to be a deeply incriminating word, especially to the preacher who, as Frederick Buechner so evocatively describes him, pulls the little cord that turns on the lectern light and deals out his note ..
By Dale A. Meyer “In this Christian church, he…” Though not our usual style, this text invites an expository approach. The familiar subsections of this reading could lead you to preach a sermon narrowly focused on one aspect of repentance, but neglect the depth of care that Jesus shows for sinners throughout the whole lesson. This ..
by Jonathan F. Grothe Editor’s Note: The following homiletical help is adapted from Concordia Journal, March 1984. Please note that the homiletical help covers only verses 11–16 in detail. Introductory remarks Chapters 33–48 of Ezekiel are dominated by the themes of restoration and renewal. But the corruption of the recent past is always in the picture, ..
By Tim Saleska Sermon Notes The question that presses the characters in this text is the same one that often presses modern Christian readers of this text. It is the question that the preacher himself must face and answer: What authority does Jesus really have? Put more simply: Can Jesus help us or not? The question ..