Emphasis Preaching Journal

1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) and Psalm 138
So often some don’t want the present ruler God has set over us. The big question is who do we know the Lord has set over us and HOW do we know it?  The Lord seems to be saying that we should not want anyone else but God’s appointed to rule over us.  Too many of the kings that the people were given to rule over them were a disaster.  Even David drafted the people’s children to fight in his army.

Samuel, the Prophet was appointed by God to lead His people but they wanted a king like  other peoples and not just a prophet.  It is surprising how many requests of the people God allowed them to have.  In a way it was “democracy”--- the people wanting their will to be done, but then even democracy was a total disaster in the Bible.  If democracy were God’s will, we would be worshiping a golden calf that the Israelites elected while Moses was in the mountains getting the 10 commandments.  It was also the majority who voted to crucify Jesus.

Even  today we are struggling to decide whether to obey the American constitution or God’s word.  Should we allow abortion under certain circumstances? Should we allow ALL Americans to carry guns.  Should we allow people from all over the world to be welcomed into our country by us when they come to us for protection. There are many more that which fill the news.

We count on our church to help us with important decisions, but even our church leaders are elected by a majority.  God help us!

We need to spend our time singing praise. God’s message can be sent and received in our worship. Jesus comes to the ones who praise Him. He will help us find leadership of Hs choice.  We have to remember that just as David and Saul were not perfect, neither will any we select today be perfect. So we need to keep our praise for our Lord and listen to and obey Him!
Bob O.


1 Samuel 8:4-11 (12-15),16-20 (11:14-15)
This is a story about government.  Things are not going well for us, like they were not for the ancient Hebrews.  According to a 2017 Pew Research Center poll only 18% of us trust the federal government.  A certain amount of skepticism about power in government, as it is reflected in this Lesson, is healthy according to famed 20th-century Christian Ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr:

Government is never completely under the control of a total community.  There is always some class, whether economic overlords or political bureaucrats, who may use the organs of government for their special advantages.  Powerful classes dominate the administration of justice...  (Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, p.58)

This realism about political life needs to be balanced by John Calvin’s good news about real power in government belonging to God.  He wrote: “For God was so pleased to rule the affairs of men, inasmuch as He is present with them and also presides over the making of laws and the exercising of equity in the course of justice.”  (Institutes [Westminster Press ed.], p.1489)
Mark E.


Psalm 138
Commenting on this Psalm, John Calvin once wrote: “... the greatness of God does not prevent His having respect for the poor and humble ones of the earth.” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VI/2, p.202)  Elsewhere he commented, “The very nature of God makes it impossible for Him not to be merciful.” (Ibid., Vol.VI/1, p.131)  Praise is good for us, a pioneer in Christian radio M. R. DeHaan once commented, offering us good advice: “If we would talk more about the Lord and praise Him, we would have less time to talk about ourselves.”  The title of a book by famed modern Methodist theologian Phillip Watson nicely summarizes what this Lesson and praising God is all about: Let God Be God!
Mark E.


2 Corinthians 4:13--5:1
On February 12, 2015, twenty-one Egyptian (Coptic) Christians were beheaded on the coast of the Mediterranean at the hands of ISIS fighters. Just before each man was beheaded, he was offered the chance to live –if he would deny Jesus. These brave men loved Jesus more than their own lives. They were unwilling to give up that which had eternal consequence for life on this earth.  They knew, perhaps as powerfully and as profoundly as anyone ever has, that what this world has to offer is temporary. They were willing to undergo one of the most horrific means of execution because they saw it as a “momentary affliction” compared to the eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. 

     Paul makes it clear in this passage that the things of this world don’t matter. Helen Lemmel understood this passage, too.  She wrote the words that still speak to our hearts today.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the savior
And life more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.

May we keep our eyes on Jesus and the things that matter.
Bill T.

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1).

It's interesting that Paul speaks of our bodies as an "earthly tent," when of course he was a tentmaker by profession. The apostle spent a year and a half in Corinth, during which time he evidently set up shop with his friends and fellow tentmakers, Priscilla and Aquila, and practiced his trade in the marketplace.

With this in mind scholar Ben Witherington in his book "The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Historical Commentary," makes an intriguing suggestion. Although the Olympic Games are more famous, plenty of sports enthusiasts would have traveled to Corinth for the Isthmian games that took place between each Olympics. Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila would have done a brisk business manufacturing and selling tents to those who came to the games. This would have given him the opportunity to meet people from every economic bracket, and a great opportunity to talk about the good news of Jesus Christ.
Frank R.

2 Corinthians 4:13--5:1
Rupert, who grew up in Gaul, which is the ancient name for France. As a young man he strove to live a life of holiness. As a young man he lived an austere and charitable life. He also demonstrated an ability to heal the sick. The leaders of the church recognized Rupert’s discipline to live a life of holiness, and for that reason appointed him the bishop of Worms. Having accepted that position, the inhabitants of Worms, unwilling to accept his call to holiness, beat him and drove him away. For two years Rupert lived privately until Duke Theodon invited him to preach in his territory. Rupert accepted that calling and for decades preached the gospel as well as establishing churches and monasteries. During his journeys Rupert was struck by the beauty of the region that surrounded the ruined Roman city of Juvavia. He asked Theodon for land in that area, which the Duke granted. Rupert renamed the city Salzburg and became its first bishop. Rupert brought his sister Erentrude to serve as the abbess over the female convent. Years later Rupert realized that death was near. On March 27, 718, Rupert celebrated Easter mass. An old manuscript reports, “When the Divine Liturgy was over, he prostrated himself and prayed to Christ his Savior. Commending his spirit into the hands of the Heavenly Father, he fell asleep in the Lord.”

Application: The Apostle Paul taught us, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Rupert now dwells in that heavenly house that is not made with hands.
Ron L.


Mark 3:20-35
In a 2017 poll, Pew Research Center found that over half of American Protestants (52%) are not certain that they are saved, for they believe that they must do good works in order to be saved.  If we can do good works to save ourselves, we are not relying sufficiently on the Holy Spirit or the need for forgiveness.  Martin Luther offers a penetrating critique of these beliefs:

If a person becomes so pious in his works and his being that he does not require forgiveness or grace but regards his works in themselves good and pure enough to render grace and forgiveness superfluous, he remains outside the kingdom of grace and sins against grace.  (Luther’s Works, Vol.19, p.48)

To the uncertainty which a concentration on good works creates (for we can never be sure we have done enough works to be saved), Luther’s principal colleague Philip Melanchthon wrote: “If anybody, therefore, is not sure that he is forgiven, he denies that God has sworn to the truth; a more horrible blasphemy than this cannot be imagined.”  (The Book of Concord, p.196)
Mark E.