Passage Sermon
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After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”
At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.
Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
The Egyptians chased them and followed them into the middle of the sea—all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. In the morning watch the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army into a panic.He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving, and the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from Israel, for the Lord fights for them against Egypt!”
And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”
When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you—Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you—and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you. Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred Asherah poles, and burn up their idols. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be his people, prized above all others on the face of the earth.
It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you—for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.
Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
Then the leaders of the Philistines would march out, and as often as they did so, David achieved more success than all of Saul’s servants. His name was held in high esteem.
The king sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours. Indeed, fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. So now, please have respect for my life.”
At the same time they worshiped the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places.They were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.
To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. The Lord made an agreement with them and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them. Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him. You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods. You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods. Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.” But they pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices. These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.
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How precious is your loyal love, O God!
The human race finds shelter under your wings.
From harm and violence he will defend them;
he will value their lives.
All the nations, whom you created,
will come and worship you, O Lord.
They will honor your name.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us and we belong to him;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
and gathered from foreign lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.
She is more precious than rubies,
and none of the things you desire can compare with her.
The righteous person is delivered out of trouble,
and the wicked turns up in his stead.
The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,
and the faithless are taken in the place of the upright.
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IS
Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!
Issue your orders, but they will not be executed!
For God is with us!
He will lift a signal flag for the nations;
he will gather Israel’s dispersed people
and assemble Judah’s scattered people
from the four corners of the earth.
The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel!”
They lift their voices and shout joyfully;
they praise the majesty of the Lord in the west.
When its branches get brittle, they break;
women come and use them for kindling.
For these people lack understanding,
therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;
the one who formed them has no mercy on them.
Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:
“Look, I am laying a stone in Zion,
an approved stone,
set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation.
The one who maintains his faith will not panic.
The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight in the Holy One of Israel.
For tyrants will disappear,
those who taunt will vanish,
and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated—
those who bear false testimony against a person,
who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate
and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.
So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;
their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.
For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them,
they will honor my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;
they will respect the God of Israel.
Those who stray morally will gain understanding;
those who complain will acquire insight.
“You, my servant Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend,
you whom I am bringing back from the earth’s extremities,
and have summoned from the remote regions—
I told you, “You are my servant.”
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!
Don’t be frightened, for I am your God!
I strengthen you—
yes, I help you—
yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand!
Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated;
your adversaries will be reduced to nothing and perish.
When you will look for your opponents, you will not find them;
your enemies will be reduced to absolutely nothing.
For I am the Lord your God,
the one who takes hold of your right hand,
who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’
Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob,
men of Israel.
I am helping you,” says the Lord,
your protector, the Holy One of Israel.
“Look, I am making you like a sharp threshing sledge,
new and double-edged.
You will thresh the mountains and crush them;
you will make the hills like straw.
You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away;
the wind will scatter them.
You will rejoice in the Lord;
you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;
the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.
I have stirred up one out of the north and he advances,
one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name.
He steps on rulers as if they were clay,
like a potter treading the clay.
Who decreed this from the beginning, so we could know?
Who announced it ahead of time, so we could say, ‘He’s correct’?
Indeed, none of them decreed it!
Indeed, none of them announced it!
Indeed, no one heard you say anything!
I first decreed to Zion, ‘Look, here’s what will happen!’
I sent a herald to Jerusalem.
I look, but there is no one,
among them there is no one who serves as an adviser,
that I might ask questions and receive answers.
Look, all of them are nothing,
their accomplishments are nonexistent;
their metal images lack any real substance.
Now, this is what the Lord says,
the one who created you, O Jacob,
and formed you, O Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect you.
I call you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I am with you;
when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not harm you.
the people whom I formed for myself,
so they might praise me.”
This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says—
the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:
“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen!
Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes;
shout out, you subterranean regions of the earth.
O mountains, give a joyful shout;
you too, O forest and all your trees!
For the Lord protects Jacob;
he reveals his splendor through Israel.
Turn to me so you can be delivered,
all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!
For I am God, and I have no peer.
I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away;
I am bringing my salvation near, it does not wait.
I will save Zion;
I will adorn Israel with my splendor.”
Listen to this, O family of Jacob,
you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’
and are descended from Judah,
who take oaths in the name of the Lord,
and invoke the God of Israel—
but not in an honest and just manner.
So now the Lord says,
the one who formed me from birth to be his servant—
he did this to restore Jacob to himself,
so that Israel might be gathered to him;
and I will be honored in the Lord’s sight,
for my God is my source of strength—
Look, they come from far away!
Look, some come from the north and west,
and others from the land of Sinim!
Look all around you!
All of them gather to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;
you will put them on as if you were a bride.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your children will conquer nations
and will resettle desolate cities.
“For a short time I abandoned you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument
that will be better than sons and daughters.
I will set up a permanent monument for them that will remain.
Look all around you!
They all gather and come to you—
your sons come from far away
and your daughters are escorted by guardians.
Who are these who float along like a cloud,
who fly like doves to their shelters?
Indeed, the coastlands look eagerly for me,
the large ships are in the lead,
bringing your sons from far away,
along with their silver and gold,
to honor the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, for he has bestowed honor on you.
Their descendants will be known among the nations,
their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will recognize that
the Lord has blessed them.”
Nations will see your vindication,
and all kings your splendor.
You will be called by a new name
that the Lord himself will give you.
Through all that they suffered, he suffered too.
The messenger sent from his very presence delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times.
We existed from ancient times,
but you did not rule over them,
they were not your subjects.
“I made myself available to those who did not ask for me;
I appeared to those who did not look for me.
I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
to a nation that did not invoke my name.
“For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain.
As your words came to me I drank them in,
and they filled my heart with joy and happiness
because I belong to you.
But at that time they will affirm them with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.” At that time they will live in their own land.’ ”
So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,
you descendants of Jacob, my servants.
Do not be terrified, people of Israel.
For I will rescue you and your descendants
from a faraway land where you are captives.
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them.
For I, the Lord, affirm that
I will be with you and will rescue you.
I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you.
But I will not completely destroy you.
I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure.
I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.”
“You descendants of Jacob, my servants, do not be afraid;
do not be terrified, people of Israel.
For I will rescue you and your descendants
from the faraway lands where you are captives.
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them.
I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,
you descendants of Jacob, my servant,
for I am with you.
Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,
I will not completely destroy you.
I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure.
I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.”
Then you will remember your conduct, and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you.
“ ‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated. He ordered strong soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed by the leaping flames.But those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the furnace of blazing fire while still securely bound.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, “Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied to the king, “For sure, O king.”
She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer have pity on the nation of Israel. For I will certainly not forgive their guilt.But I will have pity on the nation of Judah. I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by sword, by military victory, by chariot horses, or by chariots.”
When she had weaned ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah) she conceived again and gave birth to another son. Then the Lord said: “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you are not my people and I am not your God.”
However, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are children of the living God!” Then the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, and will flourish in the land. Certainly, the day of Jezreel will be great!
“The Lord who rules over all asserts, ‘I am about to save my people from the lands of the east and the west.
When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour.
Now when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying down, sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve them. When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to him. He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.In this way what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled:
“He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.”
Now when Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake.Then an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.And a great storm developed on the sea so that the waves began to swamp the boat. But he was asleep. So they came and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” But he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was dead calm. And the men were amazed and said, “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
may serve him without fear,
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.
came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come!
and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord.
You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?Have you suffered so many things for nothing?—if indeed it was for nothing. Does God then give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?
Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,so then, understand that those who believe are the sons of Abraham.
For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.
Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to?
Listen! I am going to make those people from the synagogue of Satan—who say they are Jews yet are not, but are lying—Look, I will make them come and bow down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.