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Showing 576 to 600 of 747 results

576. Isaac and Abimelech

Genesis 26:1-35

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... he had lived in Gerar they did not molest him but had treated him well. When they sent him away, they did so peacefully. Abimelech was thus motivated to seek an agreement with Isaac in order to participate in God’s blessing on Isaac. Abimelech’s advocating this treaty is an early example of God’s fulfilling the promise that the nations would find blessing in Abraham’s seed (12:3). 26:30–31 Isaac responded favorably to Abimelech’s proposal, not by words, but by actions. He prepared a feast for ...

577. Dinah and the Shechemites

Genesis 34:1-31

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... between two groups was intermarriage; entering into such unions for Jacob’s small family, however, held the likelihood that they would be assimilated into the larger group. Over time they would lose their identity as the seed of Abraham. In advocating intermarriage Hamor was also laying the basis for the Shechemites to gain the property and animals belonging to Jacob (34:16, 23). The narrative reports that Shechem had himself circumcised, indicating how favorably disposed he and his father were to ...

578. Driving Out the Nations

Deuteronomy 7:1-26

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... of interpretation. They have sometimes been said to be characteristic of Israel’s concept of “holy war.” But the alleged features of such a holy war are neither unique to Israel nor inherently very different from ordinary wars, and more recent scholarship advocates the disuse of the term as a way of describing OT wars. It seems that ḥērem denoted a specific kind of war in which all “proceeds” (booty, animals, captives) were to be renounced by Israel through being devoted to Yahweh alone. But ...

579. Going to War

Deuteronomy 20:1-20

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... we allow ourselves, then, to see past the slaughter of the Canaanites as a moral stumbling block to the other features of Deuteronomy’s rules of war, we can hardly remain unimpressed. Without a Geneva Convention, Deuteronomy advocates humane exemptions from combat; requires prior negotiation; prefers nonviolence; limits the treatment of subject populations; allows for execution of male combatants only; demands humane and dignified treatment of female captives; and insists on ecological restraint. We may ...

580. Signs and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 4:1-5:17, Ezekiel 6:1-14, Ezekiel 7:1-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... you will know that I am the LORD. R. M. Hals, Ezekiel (FOTL 19; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), pp. 41–42, notes that, like Ezek. 6, chapter 7 falls into three parts (vv. 1–4, 5–9, 10–27), each ending with this recognition formula. Wevers, however, advocates the two-part structure we have adopted above: a two-part poem in vv. 1–9, and an “oracle expanding in detail the theme set forth in the introductory poem” in vv. 10–27 (Wevers, Ezekiel, p. 62; see also Greenberg, Ezekiel 1–20, p. 157 ...

581. Jesus Demonstrates Status Inversion in the Kingdom

Matthew 19:1-12, Matthew 19:13-15, Matthew 19:16-30

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most, Wess Stafford argues convincingly that we are called to invest heavily in children as prime examples of the “least of these.” As the president of Compassion International, Stafford advocated for children in poverty, and his book contains numerous examples of what true compassion for children looks like. This might be an opportunity to encourage your listeners to consider supporting a child through an organization like Compassion International. Wealth ...

582. Jesus Is Tried before Pilate and Sentenced to Death

Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 27:11-26

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... with the trial before Pilate (27:11–26), Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ kingly identity (27:11, 17, 22), a theme that will pervade the crucifixion scene that follows (27:27–44). Matthew alone of the evangelists narrates the role of Pilate’s wife in advocating for Jesus’ innocence; this plot element fits the theme of Gentile inclusion in Matthew (e.g., 2:1; 8:5–13; 15:21–28; 28:19). Interpretive Insights 27:1 made their plans how to have Jesus executed. Matthew intimates that although the ...

583. Family in the New Kingdom Community

Mark 10:13-16, Mark 10:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: The emphasis here is on family life in the new kingdom community. Jesus states that the easy-divorce policy advocated by many rabbis was not God’s will, and that divorce was allowed only because of their stubborn sin. He further teaches that children are models for kingdom living; to enter life with God, all must have a childlike faith. Understanding the Text There is both geographical and thematic movement ...

584. The Birth of God’s Son Announced

Luke 1:26-38

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... her, contending that she could not learn to speak Chinese. Undeterred, Aylward spent her life savings to get to China, a journey filled with dangers, including a trip across Siberia. Aylward in time became a larger-than-life figure among the Chinese, advocating for prison reform, caring for and adopting orphans, and fighting against the terrible practice of foot-binding, not to mention spreading the good news of the gospel. This movie tells the story of her leading almost one hundred orphans across the ...

585. The Holy Spirit and the Blessings of the New Covenant

Romans 8:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... : through Christ he resides within the people of God, giving them the power to obey all the law of Moses envisioned but without being under the law (8:2–8, 12–13). This is important to note, because Paul is not antinomian; that is, he does not advocate that the believer has no responsibility to live a holy life. Rather, he knows well that the flesh is incapable of obeying the law. Only through the enabling Holy Spirit does one find the capacity to please God. Third, the presence of the Spirit of God, as ...

586. The Reversal of the Deuteronomic Curses and Blessings: Replacing Law with Faith

Romans 9:30--10:21

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... Hitchens are brothers: one is an atheist, the other a Christian. After Peter regained his Christian faith, he wrote a book entitled The Rage against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith. His older brother, Christopher, became famous as an acerbic advocate for atheism and wrote The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice and his bestseller, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Peter understands that logic; as a teen, he burned his Bible and rebelled against everything that he ...

587. Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Growth

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... of love. Without love, gifts lose their effectiveness as Christ-empowered tools of the Spirit. Since the imperative verbs are unequal in force (“pursue” [NIV: “follow the way”] and “desire”), the two statements are not parallel, as if Paul simply advocated two good things for them to do. Rather, the eager desire for gifts is embedded in the pursuit of love. especially prophecy. Paul’s elevation of prophecy over tongues in this section does not imply he thinks prophecy is superior because it ...

588. The Four Horsemen

Revelation 6:1-17

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... in 1996 alone. Persecution is common particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. However, shootings in schools and churches have recently produced young martyrs in the United States. Western Christians have a responsibility to be intercessors and public advocates on behalf of their brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and killed. Current information on the persecuted church can be found on the Internet at www.persecution.com.7 Church History: Ignatius. A famous early martyr was Ignatius ...

589. Seven Angels with Seven Plagues

Revelation 15:1-8

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... love who belong to the Lord. They deceive and manipulate and abuse and bring death all around. God is to be praised for judging evil (16:5–6; 19:1–6). 2. God will be worshiped and glorified by believers from many nations. Revelation does not advocate universalism, but it does strongly suggest that God’s new exodus community will come from many nations, over which God will be king (15:3). People from every tribe, language, people, and nation will “come and worship” the Lord (15:4; Ps. 86:9), thus ...

590. The Conclusion

Revelation 22:7-21

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... of the book’s message. Since the Deuteronomy context addresses the threat of idolatrous false teaching, the warning in Revelation moves in the same direction by targeting the false teachers such as the Nicolaitans and the Jezebel group who are advocating compromise with the world in defiance of the prophetic message.6As Osborne puts it, “it refers to someone who uses Revelation to restructure the Christian faith, like some of the cults.”7The punishment for twisting and falsifying God’s word ...

591. Sabbath Year and Year of Jubilee

Leviticus 25:8-55, Leviticus 25:1-7

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... that Jubilee has foreshadowed. This is a Jubilee that we can still enjoy. Likewise, Paul calls upon Christians to treat slaves decently (Eph. 6:5–9). Paul and the Jubilee rules together planted a seed that eventually led many Christians to advocate for the abolition of slavery in Christian cultures, a goal they ultimately achieved. 2. God wants his people to avoid the trap of permanent poverty. Leviticus 25 notes three stages of destitution. First, an Israelite is forced to sell some ancestral property ...

592. Moses’s and Aaron’s Sin at Meribah

Numbers 20:1-13

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... by Paul for shunning gentile Christians and not treating them as full siblings in Christ (Gal. 2:11–18). Apollos needs correction for his inaccurate doctrinal teaching (Acts 18:24–26). The apostle John includes himself with the “we” who sin but have an advocate in Christ (1 John 2:1). Even spiritual leaders must take heed: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12). Teaching the Text Even mature spiritual leaders can fall into sin. Miriam and her ...

593. Reviewing the Past

Numbers 33:1-56

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... certain things that God has done at those places. What Moses does is a form of journaling. Though no Scripture mandates it, journaling is a good thing for us to do as well. Donald Whitney, in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, advocates journaling: “As a Christian, your journal is a place to record the works and ways of God in your life. Your journal can include an account of daily events, a diary of personal relationships, a notebook of insights into Scripture, and a list of prayer ...

594. Job’s Hope against Hope

Job 19:1-29

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... ’s property (Lev. 25:25), to marry a childless widow and produce an heir for the deceased (Ruth 4:3–5), and to avenge the death of a relative who had been killed wrongfully (Num. 35:12). In addition, the go’el likely served as a legal advocate for his relative. The term came to be applied figuratively to Yahweh as he liberated the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt (Exod. 6:6) and later from their Babylonian captivity (Isa. 49:7–9). Interpretive Insights 19:2–3 How long will you torment me ...

595. “Lord, Who May Dwell in Your Sacred Tent?”

Psalm 15:1-5

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... worship that exists for its own sake, or for the sake of the ritual itself. Adrian Nocent comments: “There must be no acts of worship to which nothing corresponds in a man’s heart. God is fed up with rote prayers.”[16] This advocates an unseverable link between morality and worship and sums up the prophetic urgency. Isaiah censures those who frequent the temple and offer their sacrifices but do not execute justice (Isa. 1:10–17). The antidotal prescription follows: “‘Come now, let us settle the ...

596. “The King Rejoices in Your Strength, Lord”

Psalm 21:1-13

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... done. Or you might want to take a moment for a few testimonies of how God has graciously provided. Joy is God’s partially concealed attribute. Quote: Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton. Chesterton ruminates about God’s public exhibition of his nature and advocates that his joy has often been concealed: Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. . . . The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers ...

597. “His Anger Lasts Only a Moment, but His Favor Lasts a Lifetime”

Psalm 30:1-12

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... is inscribed with “weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (30:5). Understanding the Text Like other psalms that straddle two or more genres, Psalm 30 is sometimes classified as an individual psalm of thanksgiving, or, as Kraus advocates, a prayer song of the sick (30:1–3, 8–9).[1] The more traditional form-critical classification is an individual psalm of lament (it contains complaints against God [30:5a, 7] and against enemies [30:1c]),[2] which also borders on an ...

598. “Trust in the Lord and Do Good”

Psalm 37:1-40

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... he “solves” the problem to his satisfaction in the context of worship, the equivalent of trust (Ps. 37), or in the same spiritual environment he learns how to live with the problem. But he cannot leave the issue there, because he realizes, like Job, that he has an advocate in heaven (Ps. 73:25; see Job 16:19; 19:25), and he moves on to reveal that he hopes, like Psalm 49, for a continuing relationship with God, who will “take” him into glory (73:24; see 49:15). While the “glory” of Psalm 73 may ...

599. “No One Can Redeem the Life of Another or Give to God a Ransom for Them”

Psalm 49:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... . Yet, the question is whether there is such a thing in the Old Testament as hope of immortality revealed. Most students of the Old Testament will admit that the doctrine of immortality is not strong in this Testament, and even those texts that seem to advocate such an idea are controversial. In the Psalms such passages as 16:10; 23:6; 49:15; and 73:24–25 have been viewed as containing some degree of belief in the afterlife, especially for the righteous. Proponents of immortality revealed point to Job 19 ...

600. “You Laugh at Them, Lord; You Scoff at All Those Nations”

Psalm 59:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... the psalm’s message: “You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely” (with a slight deviation in v. 17). To build on the positive refrain, we may call the terms of the psalm that advocate this statement “friends of the refrain” (like “friends of the court”). The first “friend” is God’s identity as expressed by his names: ’elohim occurs nine times and God’s covenant name (YHWH) three, with ’elohim framing the psalm (59:1, 17). But it is ...

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