The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost - July 26, 2026 (Slides)
The M3 for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Slides)
1 Chronicles 16:11-13
Seek the LORD…Remember All His Wondrous Works
Yesterday’s sermon roots itself in Hebrew poetry structure. Hebrew poetry uses a grammatical construction called parallelism. In parallelism what is said in a first line is repeated slightly differently in the second line to emphasize a nuance or offer an explananation. Yesterday I focused on verses 11 and 12, bringing in verse 13 at the end of the sermon.
I began by showing a clip of Sequan Barkley jumping over an oncoming tackler by spinning and spreading his legs out as far as he could. There was no audio to the clip to identify who was doing this amazing football play. Yet, when I asked the congregation, many responded, “Sequan Barkley.” We know it is him by this wondrous play he did. Seek the LORD…remember his wondrous works!
I then showed a couple images of Las Meninas—first the original by Diego Velazquez in 1656 and then two from Pablo Piscasso, who painted 58 versions of this painting in 1957. I showed the two paintings of Picasso and asked who was the painter. People in the congregation replied, “Pablo Picasso.” He is known by his works. Seek the LORD…remember his wondrous works!
I concluded this demonstration of the point by showing Tug MacGraw throwing the last pitch to win the 1980 World Series. Most knew it was Tug MacGraw. He is known for throwing this pitch. Seek the LORD…remember his wondrous works!
Then I showed a series of images that depict special acts recorded in the Bible: Noah’s ark, Abraham looking to stars, crossing the Red Sea. All these famous Old Testament actions of YHWH identify him as the God of his people—you and me. Seek the LORD…remember his wondrous works!
I then showed how the Hebrew poetry works:
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles and the judgments he uttered, (1 Chronicles 16:11–12, ESV)
Notice that the word “Seek” and “Remember” align in the same spot in the sentence. The meaning of this structural parallelism: to seek is to remember what YHWH has done for you! We often hear a lot of spiritual talk about seeking the Lord. Usually, the explanation on how to do this is over spiritualized! To seek the LORD is explained clearly here: to remember what he has done FOR YOU!
I ended the sermon by showing my favorite resurrection painting, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio. Seek the LORD…remember his wondrous works! We remember Jesus inviting Thomas to touch his resurrected body from John 20:24ff. When we remember this account, we are seeking the LORD!