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Showing 1626 to 1650 of 2844 results

1626. “Love Your Neighbor”

Luke 10:25-37

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: There are no limits to the disciple’s duty to love other people, even the most unlikely. Understanding the Text On Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem, which began in 9:51, much attention is focused on the nature and demands of discipleship. Here a question from someone outside the disciple group prompts Jesus to illustrate the central demand of discipleship by telling one of his best-loved parables. The famous “summary of the law” in the twofold demand to love God and to love one’s neighbor occurs in ...

1627. Getting Ready for the Passover

Luke 22:7-38, Luke 22:1-6

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: It is at Passover time that Jesus is to die, and he is determined to have a last Passover meal with his disciples before his death occurrs. Understanding the Text In 21:37–38 Luke rounds off the account of Jesus’s teaching in the temple courtyard, which began at 20:1. With the mention of the Passover in 22:1 the long-anticipated climax of the story (see 9:22, 31, 44, 51; 13:31–35; 18:31–33) begins, as these verses relate the plotting of the Jerusalem authorities, the fateful decision of Judas ...

1628. Freedom from the Law through Christ, Enslavement to the Law through Adam

Romans 7:7-25, Romans 7:1-6

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul focuses on the Mosaic law’s relationship to new dominion in Christ. A stark contrast emerges: freedom from the law because of union with Christ versus enslavement to the law because of union with Adam. This relationship is paradoxical: union with Christ and with Adam both pertain to the Christian (7:13–25 will expound on this). Understanding the Text Romans 6:23 pronounces that the Christian is in union with Christ and therefore free from the law. This is illustrated in 7:1–6. But things are ...

1629. The Divine Plan of Salvation

Romans 11:33-36

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul offers a hymn of praise to God for his plan of salvation. Understanding the Text Romans 11:33–36 is a hymn of praise to God’s plan of salvation; it consists of three strophes: 1. Three characteristics of God’s plan: riches, wisdom, knowledge (11:33) 2. Three rhetorical questions about God’s plan (11:34–35) a. Who has known the mind of the Lord? (11:34a) b. Who has been the Lord’s counselor? (11:34b) c. Who has given to God that God should repay? (11:35) 3. Doxology to God’s plan (11:36) Note ...

1630. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Phoebe, Paul’s patron, will deliver Paul’s covenant letter and have it read to the Roman Christians. Phoebe’s authority as patron and deaconess will reinforce the reading’s solemnity. The Roman Christians should respond to Paul’s letter by providing hospitality for Phoebe and joining their resources with hers to launch Paul’s mission to Spain. Understanding the Text Romans 16:1–2 continues the document clause of Paul’s covenant letter to the Roman Christians (15:14–16:27). Romans 16:1–27 divides ...

1631. The Four Horsemen

Revelation 6:1-17

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: As Christ opens the first four seals, God allows human sinfulness to run its course, resulting in warfare, violence, bloodshed, economic hardship, and death. Understanding the Text Just as the vision of the glorified Christ in Revelation 1 leads into the messages to the seven churches in chapters 2–3, so the throne-room vision of Revelation 4–5 prepares the way for God’s righteous judgments that commence in chapter 6. Jesus, the worthy one (5:2–5), now begins to open the scroll by breaking the ...

1632. John Called to Prophesy Again

Revelation 10:1-11

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: God calls John to prophesy again about the imminent fulfillment of his plan to redeem his creation and judge evil, a plan that will involve additional persecution for God’s people. Understanding the Text Between the sixth and the seventh seal judgments is an interlude that features two visions: the 144,000 in 7:1–8 and the great multitude in 7:9–17. Similarly, between the sixth and the seventh trumpet judgments we find an interlude consisting of two visions: the mighty angel and the little scroll ...

1633. The Coming Judgment Calls for the Saints to Leave Babylon

Revelation 18:1-24

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: Because God will condemn Babylon for its demonic character, prideful self-indulgence, and adulterous influence, God’s people are called to separate from Babylon, lest they too suffer judgment. Understanding the Text The destruction of Babylon the Great continues (17:1–19:5). The angel’s promise to reveal the punishment of the prostitute in 17:1 is expanded in chapter 18 (cf. earlier allusions in 14:8; 16:19; 17:16), especially as it relates to her economic downfall. Babylon’s coming judgment ...

1634. God’s Judgment of Babylon Calls for Celebration

Revelation 19:1-10, Revelation 18:1-24

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: God’s people are called to rejoice over his judgment of the evil city and his vindication of the saints. Understanding the Text We now enter the final stage of Babylon’s destruction (17:1–19:5). The laments of Babylon’s codependents in 18:9–19 are contrasted with the rejoicing of the righteous in 18:20–19:5. God’s people are urged to celebrate God’s judgment of the “great city” (18:20). This command is followed by the announcement of Babylon’s certain destruction (18:21), which focuses upon what ...

1635. The Sacrifices of the Sacred Calendar

Num 28:1–29:40

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: People can worship God through the regular cycles of life. Understanding the Text In the desert God prescribes a system of sacred space for Israel (Lev. 1–8), whose people camp around the tabernacle while they travel through the desert (Num. 1–4). Leviticus 23 describes the various sacred times that Israel will commemorate upon entering the land. Now in Numbers 28–29, as the conquest draws near, God reiterates the system of sacrificial worship in conjunction with Israel’s sacred times around ...

1636. The Ark Does Some Damage

1 Samuel 5:1-12

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: Even when the Lord appears to be defeated, he remains sovereign and invincible. Understanding the Text This chapter focuses on the ark, which was captured when the Philistines defeated Israel (4:22). Though one suspects Israel’s defeat was due to the Lord’s judgment upon Eli’s sons, the capture of the ark creates tension in the story and raises questions: How could the Lord allow the visible symbol of his presence to be taken away? Have the Philistines and their god actually defeated the Lord? ...

1637. Job Destroys the Friends’ Major Argument

Job 21:1-34

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Job demonstrates that the observable evidence argues against the absolute application of the retribution principle. Understanding the Text Up to this point in the book, Job has been on the defensive as his friends argue that the retribution principle is an absolute pattern for life. In particular, the friends have insisted that Job must be a sinner, because the wicked are always judged by God with adversity. In his speech in chapter 21, Job unhooks the necessary connection between a person’s acts ...

1638. “Come and See What God Has Done”

Psalm 66:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God’s redeeming work in our lives is the extension of his great redeeming acts in history. Understanding the Text This psalm appears to be a hybrid of a hymn, a community psalm of thanksgiving, and an individual psalm of thanksgiving.1It only hints at the adversity that has prompted the psalmist to make and pay his vows of thanksgiving to God in the temple (“when I was in trouble,” 66:14). This hint, though nothing more than that, takes its place parallel to Israel’s trial in Egypt, which he ...

1639. The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

The Handwriting on the Wall (5:1-9): Big Idea: Sacrilege against God can lead to a divine confrontation that worldly wealth, power, and wisdom cannot adequately address. Understanding the Text Daniel 5:1–31 is woven into the book’s overall literary structure in two ways. First, it advances the narrative of chapters 1–6, in which the first four focus on Nebuchadnezzar (chaps. 1–2 with historical markers and 3–4 without) and the last two show the transition from Belshazzar of Babylon to Darius the Mede ( ...

1640. Various Laws

Leviticus 19:1-37

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Instructions in Worship and Ethics: Leviticus 19 contains a remarkably diverse group of laws, mixing moral or ethical injunctions with religious or ritual instructions. Such a combination of categories is not found elsewhere in the ancient Near East, where religious and ethical laws are separated in different collections. This combination of ethics and religion in the Bible emphasizes that for God’s people, every aspect of life is holy and under his control. Thus, the heading in 19:2 calls for the ...

1641. Abner Goes Over to David

2 Samuel 3:6-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

In the years that follow, David continues to enjoy success in the conflict with Ish-Bosheth. One sign of David’s increasing strength is the number of sons born to him in Hebron (3:1–5). Since none of the six have the same mother, we learn that David has taken four more wives. One of these—Maakah, daughter of the king of Geshur—was probably married to David for political reasons, to make an alliance with the Aramean city-state northeast of the Sea of Galilee. It is Maakah’s son Absalom who will kill David’s ...

1642. Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:6-19

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The glory of God has been visible in Christ in yet one more way. Jesus has revealed God’s name (Greek onoma, “name”; NIV “you”; 17:6). Paul says the same: this Christ who emptied himself is the bearer of “the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). The name of God is a vital Old Testament concept beginning with Moses’s experience on Sinai (Exod. 3:13–15; Deut. 12:5; Isa. 52:6), and Jesus has given this throughout his public ministry in the great “I am” sayings (e.g., 8:28, 58). In the Old Testament, ...

1643. Second Meeting with Jerusalem Leadership

Galatians 2:1-10

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The second meeting with Jerusalem is fraught with far more problems for Paul, as he attempts to indicate his degree of independence from that power base of the early church (2:1–5). If we are correct in assuming that this section represents the same visit as that detailed in Acts 15 (which then causes us to understand “after fourteen years” [Gal. 2:1] as referring to a time period subsequent to the “three years” of 1:18), then Paul has the task of explaining why he went to Jerusalem at all if he did not ...

1644. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

4:17–32 · Therefore walk in newness: Efforts to walk in unity succeed to the degree to which they reflect the indwelling influence of Christ. Confident that he communicates the very counsel of the Lord, Paul negatively urges his Gentile readers to conduct their lives no longer as their fellow unconverted Gentiles do (4:17). This does not imply that Paul recommends a “Jewish” lifestyle; by “Gentile” here he means “pagan,” “Christless.” That is, he warns against living life apart from Christ, according to ...

1645. I Wonder about Life after Death

John 14:1-3

Sermon

Charley Reeb

The assumption of this last sermon of the series is probably wrong for most people. I have entitled this sermon, “I Wonder about Life after Death,” but the truth of the matter is that most of us typically do not wonder about death. Most of us choose to ignore the subject altogether. It scares us too much. When I bring up the subject of death to people, I often get the reply, “Why would I want to think about that?” or “I don’t want to think about that until I am old. I am young now, and I will have plenty ...

1646. No Longer Orphans

John 14:15-21

Sermon

King Duncan

The Rev. Dr. Stephen Hayner was the president of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. Dr. Hayner told a beautiful story about a young teacher he met several years ago in Uganda by the name of Christine Nakalema. Christine grew up in a rural village in Bokeka. When she was five years old and her sister Harriet was seven and her little brother was four, their parents both died within three months of each other of AIDS. The three siblings lived for nearly two years on their own. They had no parents, ...

1647. Playing One Hand

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Tom Garrison

In the beginning of any really significant human endeavor, be it a marriage or parenthood or a business venture, there is usually a high level of idealism and hope. We expect to do the thing we are beginning with great success. This was certainly true of Jesus' ministry. Who can read how he emerged out of Galilee saying, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe the good news," and not sense the excitement and anticipation that was present in that act of beginning? And ...

1648. Signs of the End of the Age

Mark 13:1-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

Destruction and Persecutions to Come (13:1-23) 13:1–2 Chapter 13 of Mark is one of the two large sections of teaching material uninterrupted by other things, the other block of material being the parables discourse in chapter 4. The present discourse begins with a prediction by Jesus that the temple of Jerusalem will be destroyed (13:1–2). This leads to a typical Markan scene in which the disciples ask Jesus privately for the meaning of his statement (13:3–4) and Jesus gives an extensive answer to their ...

1649. Paul's Longing to Visit Rome

Romans 1:1-17

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

The Salutation The first seventeen verses of Romans serve as an introduction to the epistle and fall into three parts. The first part, verses 1–7, is Paul’s salutation. In the second part, verses 8–15, Paul introduces himself and speaks of his desire to visit Rome. The third and final part is verses 16–17, in which Paul broaches the seminal theme of his gospel, justification by faith for both Jew and Gentile. First, the salutation. Letters in Hellenistic times followed a standard literary pattern. Unlike ...

1650. No One Is Righteous

Romans 3:9-20

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

With devastating finality Paul now concludes the long discussion of the guilt of humanity which began in 1:18. The passage falls into three parts: a summation of the argument of 3:1–8 (v. 9); a series of proof texts from the OT on the moral failure of humanity (vv. 10–18); and a conclusion that the law is powerless to save (vv. 19–20). Paul enters the final round against his fellow Jews who suppose that the advantage of the law (3:2) secures favor with God. Since 2:1 he has attacked Jewish presumption to ...

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