Bible Commentaries

Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 — to heaven when they die? Are we any different from animals; we all are born, live, & then go to the grave…so what’s the difference? Life, death, time & eternity, make up the ingredients of our brief experience in this world. www (1-15) told us, What a wonderful plan God has for your life. ​​​​​​​It says our life has: tremendous timing & a perfect purpose...in everything. (vs.1 every purpose, vs.11 everything) Verse16 now screams,

Ezekiel 15:1-8 — threadlike plant part attached to support); etc. Here the focus is specifically on the wood of the Vine! Q: Describe for me what the wood of the grapevine looks like? [show grapevine wood] THE WOOD OF THE VINE! (1-8) THE PARABLE! (1-5) The Vine…a symbol of Israel. Is.5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. The Vine symbolized prosperity, blessing, & happiness in the nation. The Vine had one

Malachi 1:1-14 — During Nehemiah’s day. The Jews had been back in the land for 1000 yrs. The book – Malachi has more verses “spoken by the Lord”(1st person) directly to Israel, at a whopping “47”! (That is out of only 55 verses total!) That is the highest % in the whole bible! Talk about straight talks from God! The book is written as a “verbal tennis match” w/back-n-forth volleys. (Jim Townsend; Minor Prophets, pg.98) See my highlighted

Matthew 24:32-51 — discussed till the end of chapter...I would like to change that to the rapture is not discussed here. [the prob of hearing something taught growing up 1 way, too many times, is that when you see it your brain reverts back to that] Wrap up this chapter w/5 Practical Lessons taught thru 5 Illustrations. A lesson from... a Tree. Noah. a Thief. a Wise Servant. an Evil Servant. God’s great book of nature is full of illustrations for those who have eyes to perceive them. A

Mark 14:27-42 — resurrection [home of Jairus], and the fellowship of His sufferings [Garden of Gethsemane]. Deeply distressed – “being in the grip of a shuddering horror in the face of the dreadful prospect before him.” (LKGNT) Heb.5:7,8 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned

Mark 4:21-34 — subjects. At His return He will fully consummate His reign. Jesus’ current status as cosmic king is invisible. It is the task of the church to give visible witness to the invisible kingdom. LIGHT SHINING (21-25) Parable of the Lamp Big Idea: The Good News that Jesus brought us is not to be kept to ourselves, but to be shared w/others. The River Jordan supplies two large lakes. Sea of Galilee (full of fish/plant life) & the Dead Sea (nothing living in

John 18:1-14 — Arielle; In info booth after service. CCCM has a ministry “Widows Helping Widows” - Weekend Retreat @ Hot Springs. Women who have lost their spouse. Share experiences. Steps of grief. Janie Alfred Speaker. Jan 22-24; $115 (can’t afford let me know) Details on Bulletin Board. Wed Night: Invite you, message entitled “What If” [A personal challenge to Christians in 2010] New Years Eve’s, Eve, Wed night 7pm, not Thursday night. I

John 18:15-40 — from Peter; a Priest; & a Pilate. From this point on Jesus is no longer free. He becomes the property of the state, railroaded through the most fallacious, unfair, disorderly, illegal trials in the history of jurisprudence. (Swindoll, John; pg.52) 6 trials (3 Jewish & 3 Roman) - the charge in the Jewish trials is blasphemy; the trials in the Roman courts is treason. Prayer: Praise God 1 failure doesn’t make a flop! TRIALS & DENIALS! PETER! (15-18; 25-27) As we talked

John 4:31-54 — & pita Jesus teaches them a vital lesson about another kind of food. Jesus is saying, “you should concentrate not on our picnic, but on those people coming across the fields of Sychar, led by the woman I was talking to. PEOPLE! (34,35) (34) The Samaritan woman needed water. The disciples, already quenched from water, needed food. The sinners greatest need it the free gift of salvation. The believers greatest need is to understand & do & finish the will of God. (35)

Acts 3:1-11 — religiously too busy! They were on their way to prayer. Never too busy for individuals…just like their Master showed them. Never too busy in ministry for prayer! And their prayer times were very important to their culture. Ps.55:17 “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.” According to one Talmudic source (B’rakhot 26b) the 3 prayer services were instituted after the fall of the 1st Temple to replace the

Romans 14:1-13 — opinion ESV Background: A lot of issues in that day on how the food was prepared, if it was sacrificed to a pagan god? So here it was: the Carnivores vs the Herbivores; the meat-eaters vs the plant-eaters; the Juicers vs the Vegans; In-n-Out vs 5 Guys! The abstainers had concluded that what was wrong for them was wrong for everyone! (3) Do you consider yourself a mature believer? – If so, love demands that you defer to the immature believers in the family. Love protects

Romans 3:21-31 — being fools for Christ's sake (1 Cor. 1:20, 21); we are made free by becoming His bond servants (Rom. 6:10); we wax strong by being weak (2 Cor. 12:10); we triumph by defeat (2 Cor. 12:7-9); we find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5); and we live by dying (2 Cor. 4:10,11). Title: Supreme Paradox [How can a holy God forgive guilty people?] Outline: Three Metaphors & Three No’s. As a teaser...I will prove at the end, we can be saved by works! THREE

1 Corinthians 13:8-13 — Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works. (Richard Selzer, M.D., Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery, 1978, pp. 45-6) Pray: Ps.2:12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,...blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. We long for a day when the abstract will be made concrete; where narrative will boldly illustrate the didactic(teaching). (adapted from

1 Corinthians 15:35-58 — hopeless the Greeks were when they thought about death. Inscriptions on tombs in ancient Greece & Rome indicate that death was their greatest enemy, that they saw no hope beyond the grave! In Christ we have life & hope! In ch.15 Paul has gone to great lengths to prove the resurrection of the body of the Corinthian believers, by proving 1st the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus from the tomb was only the beginning of a great harvest! TWO

1 Corinthians 4:1-21 — prominent or authoritative, all believers are merely oarsman on a ship, responsible to their Captain, Jesus Christ. Its entrusting someone else to steer the direction you are going. You just row. I think the greatest imagery of this...was the Epic 1959 film, Ben Hur. Ben-Hur or Charlton Heston was a galley slave for 3 years, as slave "Number 41." Watch 3 min. Clip! ​​​​​​​Battle Speed; Attack Speed; Ramming Speed. Rest. Steward

2 Corinthians 1:12-24 — Jesus - George Whitefield said, “When I die the only epitaph that I desire to be engraved upon my tombstone is "Here lies George Whitefield; what sort of man he was the great day will discover." WHAT YOU HEARD IS NOT WHAT I SAID! (15-22) ​​​​​​​Here they misjudged Paul by his Words! [Paul you don’t keep promises!] (15,16) Paul’s writing this letter from Macedonia (ad55-57). Read 1 Cor.16:5-7 where he “promised”

2 Corinthians 2:1-17 — didn’t come to Corinth, but wrote them instead. He wrote hoping the church would get some matters straightened out before he visited them. Paul’s goal was never to knock a man down, but to help him to get up! FORGIVENESS! (5-11) ​​​​​​​General Oglethorpe(Gov. Of Georgia) once said to John Wesley, “I never forgive and I never forget.” To which Wesley replied, “Then, Sir, I hope you never sin.” Background:

Philippians 2:1-11 — necessarily bring millions to tears or to attention. Why, then, the shock here?But the person most responsible for the emotional impact of the disaster is the one known at first simply as “the man in the water.” (Balding, probably in his 50s, an extravagant mustache) He was seen clinging with 5 other survivors to the tail section of the airplane. This man was described by Usher and Windsor as appearing alert and in control. Every time they lowered a lifeline and flotation ring to him,

Philippians 3:1-11 — &...] Yep...all my works, squished right there on the bottom of my foot! (9) Faith in Christ is the sole ground of acceptance with God! [Luther called, The great exchange!] This was why the whole reformation was fought. The 5 solas (5 Latin phrases) emerged during the Protestant Reformation & summarize the Reformers' basic theological beliefs in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of the day. Sola scriptura (Scripture alone) is the

Titus 1:10-16 — of us who make motion pictures are teachers, teachers with very loud voices.” (George Lucas, accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Academy Award ceremonies, March 1992 (quoted by Edwin A. Roberts, Jr., in the Tampa Tribune, April 5, 1992). Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 8.) (12) This quote wasn’t invented by some tourist who had a bad stay at Crete’s Quality Inn. Paul quotes from Epimenides, a famous figure of Crete, who was considered to be a prophet…who