Category: Biblical Exegesis & Thoughts
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Great Preaching Isn’t Enough
Here’s an interesting verse: When he [Herod] heard him [John the Baptist], he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. (Mark 6:20) However, when push came to shove—in this case, saving face before others (v. 26) and indulging his sin nature (v. 22)—Herod rejected God’s Word…
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Psalm 109 quote
I’m speaking on Psalm 109 tonight for our Bible study, but just read a great quote– Though they hated and persecuted him for his religion, yet he kept close to it; they laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not laugh him out of it. —Matthew Henry’s Commentary,…
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America’s Child Sacrifice
In Psalm 106 the psalmist praises God for his provision, confesses Israel’s unfaithfulness, and prays for mercy. The bulk of the psalm relates God’s work on behalf of Israel and the nation’s subsequent “forgetting” of God. Note verses 37-38— They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons,…
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The Faith Chapter
Hebrews 11 is a favorite chapter of many Christians–it defines faith (v. 1) and illustrates faith (the rest of the chapter). Why is this chapter where it is in the letter though? What is its purpose? In other words, what is the context in which it needs to be correctly…
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The Fool
In Bible terms a fool is an unbeliever, a practical atheist (one who lives as if there is no God, Ps 14:1). Note these characteristics from Scripture: He hates knowledge (Prov 1:22) but he loves folly (15:14; 17:16; 18:2) Therefore he does not choose the fear of the Lord, 1:29…
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Hail and the 7th Bowl of Judgment
I’m teaching a class on the Book of Revelation for Great Lakes Bible Institute, and tonight we’ll be looking at Revelation 14-16. The close of chapter 16 details the seventh bowl of wrath, and the last verse reads and huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven…
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Genesis 37
A daily event in our home is family Bible time, aka devotions or “chapel.” After the kids have finished their morning chores, we gather in the living room at 8:20 a.m. We read a passage from This Week’s Walk with the Lord, which our church publishes each week. One of…
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Feelings or Faith?
Psalms 42 and 43 have always provided encouragement and challenge for me. The situations, experiences, and feelings expressed by the psalmist find parallels in the believer’s life today: feeling far from and longing for God grief and remembrance of better times a soul that is in despair and disturbed mourning…
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The Place of Prayer in Public Worship
1 Timothy 2 addresses some essential aspects of public worship in the proper order of the church. That public worship is the focal point of this chapter is clear from vv. 8-12. God says that much prayer must occur when God’s people assemble, and that such prayer plays an essential…
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A Fitting Start
God’s intended purposes (“administration,” oijkonomian, v. 5) are never accomplished by “strange doctrines” (eJterodidaskalevw, 1 Tim 1:3). God’s intended purposes involve a heart that produces genuine love, a correctly guided conscience, and genuine faith (v. 5). It is only by biblical instruction (paraggeliva, vv. 5, 18) that one may “fight…
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Diligence
Three times in his second epistle Peter exhorts believers thus: applying all diligence, in your faith supply…(1:5) be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you (1:10) be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless, blameless (3:14) Diligence is to be an essential…
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Future Expectation And Present Employment
Paul’s point in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 is that because the Thessalonian believers are Christians, they will not suddenly find themselves present during the time of God’s end-time wrath, because “God has not destined them for wrath but for obtaining salvation” (5:9). The imminent event believers should expect is not wrath…
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The Assyrian-Philistine God Dagon
While studying introductory material for a sermon series I’ll begin this week with Jonah, a Bible teacher from a past generation (James M. Gray) made this comment: To grasp the significance of the events in this chapter it is necessary to know that the Ninevites worshiped the fish God, Dagon,…
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The Necessity of Gospel Preaching
Yesterday I focused on God’s sovereignty in salvation as evidenced by election (1 Thess 1:4). Listen to Paul’s words from the next chapter: They [the Jews mentioned in vv. 14-15a] are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they…
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Election as Our Motivation for Thanksgiving
At Orwell Bible Church, which I pastor, each week we put out a little booklet called, “This Week’s Walk with the Lord.” Most of my thoughts on biblical passages that I record here are the result of my daily Bible reading from that booklet. This morning I read 1 Thessalonians…
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Dealing With Doubt – Psalm 77
The moment I begin to doubt God because of what I am experiencing (77:1-10) I must recall, meditate, and muse upon God and his great and gracious works (77:11-20). God’s work that the psalmist meditated on was – of course – Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt and through the Red…
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Ephesians 1
Thoughts from reading Ephesians 1 this morning: In love He predestined us… (1:5) I have struggled to understand for some years how God’s attributes of grace and mercy could legitimately be considered attributes. The reason for this revolved around my understanding of the time in which these occurred. If grace…
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Sin and Psalm 51
As part of my scheduled Bible reading this morning I read Psalm 51, a great psalm describing the response of an OT believer to his sin. After reading through and meditating on it, I picked up the new hymnal I was given last night by one of our folks from…
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The Olivet Discourse
This discourse was triggered by questions from the disciples in response to Jesus’ statement about the destruction of the temple. It is one of Christ’s longest discourses, and one of the most challenging to interpret. This account, known as the Olivet discourse, is most fully given by Matthew. Mark’s account…
Dan Greenfield 