Prior to the beginning of His ministry, Matthew shares with us two things that happened to Jesus—His baptism and His temptation in the wilderness. These are to be taken together as inaugural and initiatory to His mission. Jesus’ baptism was (among other things), His public manifestation to Israel. John develops this aspect as he tellsContinue reading “This Is Our Savior!”
Category Archives: Opening the Bible
The Man Of Mercy
Jesus, as Matthew presents Him to us, was a man of mercy. He taught mercy. Matthew arranged his gospel into five teaching blocks (chapters 5-7,10,13,18,23-25). Each of these ends with a statement to the effect of when Jesus had finished saying/teaching (all) these things (7:28,11:1,13:53, 19:1,26:1). In the first part of the first teaching section,Continue reading “The Man Of Mercy”
Limping Into The Sunrise (1)
Whatever conclusions you draw about Jacob’s character (or the lack of it), you have to grant that he had some help getting there. His grandfather and father struggled with telling the truth at times (Genesis 12:11ff, 20:1ff, 26:7ff), while his mother, Rebekah, instigated and served as his accomplice in the deception of his father, Isaac (27:5ff).Continue reading “Limping Into The Sunrise (1)”
Godliness And Baseball Gloves
The words godliness and godly are found 25 times in the New Testament with 11 of those occurrences being in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. That’s a high concentration and out of proportion with the words’ infrequent usage in the rest of the NT. In fact, when the words are used, they tend toContinue reading “Godliness And Baseball Gloves”
Learning To Listen To God (1)
We’ve all had the experience of thinking we heard someone say something only to find out what they actually said was quite different from what we understood. For those of us with hearing impairment this is a regular occurrence. Even with our hearing aids in, we can struggle at times to clearly understand people withContinue reading “Learning To Listen To God (1)”
Integrity vs. Image
Simon Chaplin saw the blue lights flashing in his rear view mirror, flipped a switch on the dashboard of his Peugeot and immediately smoke began billowing out from the car in finest James Bond fashion as he raced off. Chaplin had earlier filled a five-gallon bucket with diesel, stuck a pump in it and ranContinue reading “Integrity vs. Image”
“Excuse me, could you help me with this?”
The man from Ethiopia (present day Sudan) needed help to understand the Scripture! That much is clear. Some say it was because there was no New Testament to aid him in interpreting the Old Testament text (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) he was reading. It is suggested that if he would have had the complete Bible he couldContinue reading ““Excuse me, could you help me with this?””
A look at Romans 1:14-17 (1)
Why aren’t more people more enthusiastic about the gospel (i.e., the gloriously good news about what God has done for us through Jesus)? How does this revolutionary message become secondary, peripheral, and even ho-hum? I suppose there are many reasons. I think it’s important to make it clear at the beginning that the gospel isContinue reading “A look at Romans 1:14-17 (1)”
Perplexed By God
Anyone reading through the book of Judges will quickly notice a cycle that is repeated regarding the people of Israel. It goes like this: God delivers them from their enemy, After a period of time, they fall into disobedience, God disciplines them by allowing their enemy to oppress them, They turns from their sin toContinue reading “Perplexed By God”
Approaching Romans
The Louvre in Paris is home to the Mona Lisa—one of the most famous paintings of all time. It was done by Leonardo Da Vinci in the early sixteenth century. If you want to understand what went into the painting and why it is the way it is, the place to start would be with understandingContinue reading “Approaching Romans”
