Category Archives: Bible

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John The Baptist: An Introduction By Matthew

Matthew 3:1-6

Last year, I began a study through the book of Matthew. After a few posts, I put that study on hold until I finished my run through Psalm 119. So this year, I’ll be picking that study up where we left off. Matthew 3 begins with an introduction of John the Baptist, and his involvement in preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry.

Matthew 3:1-6

In Matthew 2, we read about Joseph taking the baby Jesus to Egypt and then returning. In Matthew 3, we see the ministry of John the Baptist, preaching a message of repentance. With the change to a new chapter, Matthew skips over a period of nearly thirty years. Only in Luke do we see any details of this period, with the description of Jesus visiting the temple at age 12 (Luke 2:41-51).

As you read through Matthew 3, take a look over at the parallel passages in Mark 1:1-11, and Luke 3:1-22. These will help you better understand the big picture of what is happening here.

Matthew 3:1 begins with the phrase ““Now in those days…” This is an expression in the Hebrew language that isn’t very time specific. It means “in that age” or “in that era,” much like our own phrase, “the good old days.” Matthew is referring back to a time when John was actively ministering, and the ministry of Jesus was just beginning.

This is our first introduction to John the Baptist. He was a cousin to Jesus, according to Luke 1:36. Their mothers were together for a period of three months just before either of them were born, and you can imagine, with the angelic announcements and special circumstances surrounding both of their births, these two women repeated the stories of their births often. John probably grew up with a solid sense of his mission, as revealed to his parents before he was even born.

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Don’t Just Read It … Study The Bible In 2020

How To Gain A Deeper Understanding Of God And His Word

There are three different levels when it comes to reading the Bible, I think, and each has it’s place in our lives. So if Fox News is right, and 2020 is the “Year of the Bible,” then how do we gain the most from it? I think that comes primarily from good study habits.

Study The Bible In 2020

I think that there are three main ways that we should ingest the Bible into our lives, and all three have excellent benefits for us. Some people may break it down a little differently than I do, but I think this is a good, basic overview.

The first way is a simple reading of the Bible. I believe that every verse of Scripture has value for my life, and it’s worthwhile to expose myself to every bit of God’s Word on a regular basis. For many, that can come though a tool like an annual Bible Reading Plan. I use something that helps me read every passage more than once a year, which utilizes ten different sections of the Bible. It’s a bit more ambitious, but I have found it really useful.

The second way to use God’s Word is to study it, not just read it. That’s what this article is about, so more on that in a moment.

The third aspect is Bible memorization. Simply taking God’s Word and committing it to memory so that it can become a part of your mind and your thinking habits. Bible memorization is a discipline that I think we neglect more than we should, and have tried to incorporate it into my daily life for several years now, most recently tackling Psalm 119.

We may accomplish the first, perhaps employ the third occasionally, and completely overlook the second. The result of neglecting Bible study has created a culture of biblical illiteracy, and most of us know far less about God’s Word than we should. But I think that’s reversible, and all it takes are a few key study disciplines incorporated into our lives.

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Openings

How God Often Reveals Himself To Us

Sometimes, I am amazed by what God points out to me when I spend time in his Word. It is completely true that Scripture is living and vibrant. Every time you read it, you can find something new, something that you may have never noticed before. This happened to me recently, as I was researching some words for another study.

Openings

Our church is currently in a sermon series that we have called Upside Down, where we are looking at God’s view of money, finances and stewardship. What God gives us about this topic in his Word is completely flipped from most of what we hear from the world’s perspective.

I was studying a passage in Malachi 3, preparing for a sermon, and was digging into the meaning of the phrase “windows of heaven” or “floodgates.” As I dug into the passage, I determined that the idea of an “opening” was really what God was trying to convey to Israel, and to us. So I expanded my study, and began looking for passages that spoke of openings.

One of the passages I found is from the final chapter of Luke, where a couple of disciples have an encounter with Jesus on the road to a town called Emmaus. How many times have I read this passage? How many times have I wondered what it was like for those two disciples as they encountered Jesus? How many times did I miss this process by which we often learn more about God and his work and will in our lives?

Luke details the event, and right in the middle of it, there are three openings, which I think are progressive in nature, helping us to see know God wants us to understand. Luke explains three different actions, or openings.

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Epiphanies In The Psalms

Insights Revealed With Startling Clarity

Have you ever had an epiphany when reading the Bible? One of those moments when something becomes so suddenly clear that it almost catches you by surprise? That happens to me occasionally, and it’s always an exciting moment for me.

Epiphanies In The Psalms

First of all, let’s define the word “epiphany.” According to dictionary.com, and epiphany is “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.” In other words, in a normal, everyday reading of God’s Word, something can jump out at you so suddenly, and with such insight, as to catch you by complete surprise.

That happened to me a few days ago. I have been reading through C. S. Lewis’s book, Reflections On the Psalms, and I had an insight that I have never thought of before. It caught me off guard, and it has been bouncing around in my mind ever since. I’m not certain I understand it completely, and will probably have to reflect on it for some time before I do. But I feel like it is one of those nuggets of truth that I just can’t seem to let go of.

The Psalms were written before Christ obviously, and are included in the Old Testament. As such, they were a primary part of the Hebrew Scriptures. Throughout them, you can find the concept of God’s judgment all over the place. This idea is common in the New Testament as well, and pervades almost every page of Scripture to some degree. It’s a very integral theme of God’s narrative with mankind.

For the Old Testament Jewish reader, the judgment of God brings to mind the scene of a courtroom, just as it does for us today, but with one very significant difference. In our minds, we see that scene as a criminal court, and we are the ones on trial, about to experience the judgment of God. For the ancient Jew, the scene wasn’t a criminal court, it was a civil court. An ancient reader would see the courtroom scene in a very different way, with himself as the plaintiff. For us, we seek God’s mercy, and an acquittal. The ancient Jew would have sought justice, punishment for those who have wronged him, and damages paid to make it right.

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The Words Of My Mouth

A Daily Prayer From Psalm 19:14

There are times when I am reading through the Bible and a particular passage seems to reach out and smack me. Has this ever happened to you? It’s rather disconcerting and refreshing all at the same time.

The Words Of My Mouth

I strive to spend some time daily in the book of Psalms. As I have grown older (and hopefully, grown more mature), I have found that if Scripture consisted of nothing more than the Psalms, I could be content with that. I’m not downplaying the rest of God’s Word. It’s all inspired, and it’s all useful. And I love many, many different parts of it.

It’s just that I have found, especially recently, that the book of Psalms seems to contain most of what I seem to need at this season of my life. It gives me the encouragement I need, from passage such as Psalm 106, or Psalm 95. I receive reminders of God’s love for me in passages like Psalm 100. There are passages like Psalm 23, which comforts me and reassures me of God’s presence.

The Psalms give me the challenges that I need to grow, they convict me in areas that I fall short, and they strengthen my resolve to stay as closely connected to God as I can.

Not too long ago, I came across this passage in my reading of the Psalms. I’d encourage you to go read the whole chapter, but look especially at Psalm 19:14.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

What an incredible idea to keep before myself daily!

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The Wiersbe Study Bible

A Book Review for The Randleman Review

The Wiersbe Study BibleThe first time I was introduced to the writing of Warren W. Wiersbe was when I was a student at Ozark Christian College, in a preaching class. One of our assigned readings was a small book called Elements Of Preaching. It was simple and yet profound, and formed some of the basis upon which I still craft my sermons and lessons twenty-five years later.

It didn’t take me long to track down a few other books by Wiersbe to add to my library, each as helpful as that first one. When I saw that there was a new Wiersbe Study Bible, I was immediately interested in looking it over. And I was not disappointed.

Of course, the text of the Bible is not what is on review here; it is the study notes that accompany the text itself. And these notes are phenomenal. Warren Wiersbe has a very intellectual mind, and that is very apparent in any of his books that I have read over the years. But these notes, while containing much that is challenging to the thought process, also remain very approachable and are not above the head of the average Bible reader.

The Wiersbe Study Bible has several great features that can help anyone striving to learn more about the Bible. Each book has a detailed introduction and an outline. Along with the overview, each book contains a section called “Be Transformed,” which is a practical application section, outlining several key aspects of each book for daily growth. Add to this the study notes, special notes, and cross references, and you have an excellent tool for spiritual growth.

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Out Of Egypt

Matthew 2:19-23

Matthew 2 closes out with the return of Jesus and his family from Egypt. Having fled there from Herod’s desire to kill the baby who threatened his reign, the family could now return, fulfilling prophecy in the process.

Matthew 2:19-23

Joseph was guided by a dream from God in which he was told to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt in order to avoid Herod. It’s not clear just how long they stayed in Egypt, but they were again guided to return by an angel in a dream after the death of Herod. It’s likely they were not in Egypt for very long at all.

Herod the Great died in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, when he was seventy years old, in the spring of the year 4 BC, just before the Passover. This event was God’s timing for Jesus to return to Judea. Matthew tells us that another angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and gave him these instructions.

When Joseph came back to his homeland, he settled in a small town named Nazareth. Verse 22 seems to indicate that Joseph’s intention was to return to Bethlehem, probably to make the ancestral city of David their permanent residence. God’s plans were different, and he sent the family back to their Galilean home.

So Nazareth becomes the home of Christ. At this point in history, it was an an obscure village, nestling on the hills about 500 feet above the Plain of Esdraelon. Now, it has become a large city of more than 75,000 people.