Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 2:1-46 — Intro: Inauguration Day Well as our countries 58th Inauguration Schedule starts tomorrow, we’ll have our countries 45th President being Inaugurated on Friday. The big transfer of power. What kind of leader will he be? Will he be for the people or for himself? Will those who oppose him continue to protest? Well, nothing has changed in 3000 years. That’s

Psalms 126:1-6 — Intro: Dreams to Sheaves Background of Psalm 126: Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, at feast times, included the singing of Psalm 120-134, the songs of Ascent, the songs of going up. Here, the reminder of when they were slaves to now being Free [Psalm 126, is the 7th of 15 songs of Ascents] BONDAGE TO FREEDOM (1,2a) ​​​​​​​It begins

Psalms 8:1-9 — Your uniqueness? The work of your fingers - Just His fingers(speaking of ease in which He executed it) Reminds me of these ease in which children make castles in the sand, or mud pies. (3b) David is picturing a night scene. (4) Mindful of him - he bears toward him a fatherly love, defends & cherishes him, & extends his providence towards him. Visit him - When Jesus came to earth, it was God visiting men. Like in Lk.1:68,78 Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 — Title: MORE BETTER (1-14) What’s your view on suffering, pain, sorrow, adversity, or hardships? Some seek to escape it, others to despise it...we need to find the value of it. Do you learn more about God during difficult times or during happy times? Do

Jeremiah 12:7-17 — Intro: 12:1-5 was Jeremiah’s Prayer. 12:6-17 was God’s response! Jeremiah was going through his theological crisis!(12:1,4) Then God answered (5-17) MY HERITAGE! (12:7-13) Read vs.6 (Jer.’s bro’s come against him) vs.7 God says, “Jeremiah your tragedy is only a miniature of mine!” “My whole nation has come against me!!!” Take

Jeremiah 31:1-40 — Intro: Last week: clear up Is.42:6 The tragedy of sin is that it keeps God at an arms distance from us! It keeps God from being to us all that He wants to be. Overview: (1-30) Gods everlasting love guaranteed future blessedness despite present mourning. (31-40)

Lamentations 2:1-22 — pass away? – Q: What saith thee? No, the Law was No More…with them! “It is mostly prized where it cannot be had!” For instance in the middle ages 25(lbs)was given for one page of it. See 2 Chron.15:3,4 In contrast to the Law being no more, Martin Luther said, “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me. It has feet, it runs after me. It has hands, it lays hold of me.” Q: Which is a more accurate statement of someone viewing your life? Would

Numbers 6:1-27 — midst of evil but untouched by it.” Separation is contact w/o contamination! Jesus was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26), yet He was “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34). Last week was provisions made for purity of the camp, by the exclusion of the unclean. (i.e.) All infectious diseases; confess w/restitution; expose adultery & false accusations of adultery This week deals w/personal & voluntary

Zephaniah 1:1-18 — reign(age 16), while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year(age 20) he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.” 2 Chron.34:3 Josiah was leading a religious reform…Yet! It was not true revival. For it never got into the hearts of the people! It was only a surface change! The day of the Lord – Historically applies to Babylon’s

Deuteronomy 29:1-29 — redeemed them (from Egypt) and thus they were responsible to obey Him. If they obeyed, He would bless; if they disobeyed, He would judge. COVENANT RENEWED (1-9) (1) Wraps up the last chapter...in the Hebrew text it is 28:69. (2) Starts his 4th address but doesn’t address anything new, he just reiterates what has been said thus far. (4) To this very day suggests that Israel had not yet understood these saving events. Thus apart from divine enlightening, people always remain

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 — book ends just shy of its goal (the promise land). Big Idea: You may leave this world with cheerfulness, if you’ve known God face to face through His Son, and have had the vision of the heavenly Canaan in your eye. 20/20 @ 120 (1-4,7) ​​​​​​​In obedience to the call of God, Moses ascended Mount Nebo, east of Jordan and facing Jericho There Moses put his iPhone.06 on panoramic & took a photo of the land which God had promised

Deuteronomy 5:20-33 — (23-33) ​​​​​​​He recalled the reactions of the people to the awesome manifestations of God that accompanied the giving of the law (23-27). Fire is, throughout the Bible, a symbol of the divine presence. (23,23,24,25,26) (25-27) They beg Moses to mediate between themselves & God. “Moses you approach the mountain in our place.” The type of fear (terror) that the Israelites experienced was not the type of fear (reverence) which God expected. Israel

Luke 8:40-56 — Intro: 2 Stories in one! One an anonymous poor woman, the other a wealthy religious leader. You’ve heard the saying, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.” A HOUSE CALL REQUESTED! (40-42) HOPE WAITS! (40) He waits with many on the shore line of Galilee. A RULER HUMBLED! (41) Here this rich synagogue ruler lays it all down. WHEN LIFE SLOWS YOU DOWN! (42) Thronged – verb means to strangle. They so pressed

John 20:19-31 — a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it? Do you believe? Do you have faith in Jesus? Do you really trust in Him? Outline: In ch.20 we have 4 reactions to the resurrection: Hearing is Believing! (Mary Mag hearing Jesus say, “Mary”) - Seeing is Believing! (10 apostles) - Proving is Believing!(Thomas) - Trusting is Believing!(us) TRUSTING IS BELIEVING! SEEING

John 7:1-39 — important liquid in the world. Without water, there would be no life. LIFE WATER! ​​​​​​​THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES! (1-9) (1,2) Feast of Tabernacles - occurs in Fall (also called Succoth/booths) Lev.23:33-43 Think of it as a National Campout! [It commemorated the days when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness & lived in tents/booths] Daily, during this 7 day feast, water was drawn from the Pool of Siloam. A priest, accompanied by a procession

Acts 24:1-27 — INTRO: Top Five Things People Put Off Until the Last Minute: #1 House chores/yard work; #2 Holiday gift shopping; #3 Making doctor/dentist appointments; #4 Calling relatives; #5 Changing oil in the car. One of the topics we’ll talk about this morning is procrastination. Paul had to defend himself 5 separate times during the 2 years in Jerusalem & Caesarea. Remember form last week

James 3:1-12 — through the self-control of our speech & the origin of our wisdom. Q: Can you name the muscle in your body that receives more exercise & less control than any other? [The tongue weighs only 2 oz.; it has 8 muscles to change its position; aprox 4” long] It helps us to chew, taste, swallow, & articulate words. It also is used for deceit, destruction, it devours, it is sharp sword, it breaks bones(Prov.25:15), backbites, flatters, & poisons. So it also is known as, “The

1 John 4:1-21 — & evangelical in his preaching & his ministry (early 5th century), & the churches he founded were independent of Rome. So it may be concluded that he was neither Irish nor Roman Catholic. (Exploring Church History; Howard F. Vos, pg.53,54 And, Church History in Plain Language; Bruce Shelley, pg.156) ​​​​​​​FAITH + LOVE! ​​​​​​​FAITH! (1-6) In 3:24. John introduces the role of the H.S.

1 Samuel 19:1-24 — Next, the king sends a hit squad to his house to ambush David. Sensing danger, Michal helped her husband escape through the window, & once more David fled. Faith in God does not exclude a commonsense approach to life. (13,14) Then Michal made up the household idol to like a man sleeping & told the soldiers that David was sick, to give him more time to run. (15-17) Michal, Saul’s daughter, risked her life to protect her husband. Yet, she protected herself by

1 Samuel 26:1-25 — named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German.” Value...what is your value...what are you worth? We’ll discuss this towards the end when David said that he desired his life to be valued much in the eyes of the Lord. (24) THE SPEAR & THE JUG! ​​​​​​​SETTING THE SCENE! (1-5) Once again, David is going to spare Saul’s life. Just like 2 chapters back. This is a different story than ch.24. Many differences. SECOND