Theological term
Parable of the Sower
2 sermons · All terms
The One Thing Needful
Luke 10:38–42 presents two sisters whose contrasting postures before Christ expose a perennial danger for the people of God: the distraction of much serving to the neglect of the one thing needful. The sermon works through Martha's fourfold complaint — impugning Christ's care, demanding he redirect Mary, mingling grumbling with service, and collapsing into self-pity — before turning to Christ's gentle double-named rebuke and his commendation of Mary's humble discipleship. The passage does not condemn service, family, work, or daily necessity, but it does condemn the disordering of priorities that allows lawful things to crowd out devotion to the word of Christ. The lasting and untakeable benefit Christ promises to those who sit at his feet is the governing application: seek first the kingdom, receive the word with a noble heart, and trust that all other things will be added.
The First Missionary Journey, Part 2
Acts 13:4–12 records the opening episode of Paul and Barnabas's first missionary journey: their arrival in Cyprus, their preaching in the synagogues of Salamis, and the dramatic confrontation at Paphos with Bar-Jesus, a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet who attempted to prevent the proconsul Sergius Paulus from hearing the gospel. The sermon examines three movements — the journey to Cyprus, the arrival at Salamis, and the confrontation at Paphos — with extended attention to Paul's Spirit-empowered rebuke of Elymas and the resulting judgment miracle. Central to the exposition is the insistence that the Word of God preached is the irreplaceable means of salvation, that Satan's primary strategy is to obstruct its reception, and that divine sovereignty rather than human merit accounts for every conversion, including that of a powerful Roman official.