In Part Two, the content of the story will be examined. After the context (STUDY THE CONTEXT: Macro Hermeneutics, Part One) is thoroughly researched, the interpreter moves inside to the content of the text itself. Macro hermeneutics looks at the trees. Micro hermeneutics focuses on the tree. Part two is: EXAMINE THE DETAILS OF THE PASSAGE SELECTED TO PREACH (Micro Hermeneutics, Part Two).
Read moreExtended sermon outline on Mark
The extended outline shows many of the preaching or teaching units from the book of Mark. Each unit can be a complete sermon, lecture, or Bible study. The extended outline shows the author’s original intent for his original audience. Each point is a summary statement of the unit. The preacher or teacher will need to change the summary statement into a timeless principle for his/her contemporary audience.
Read moreThe “Factual Data” Sheet for Sermon Preparation for Narratives (Genesis) Part One
The idea of the “Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry who used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted the “Factual Data” sheet to the different genres (Poetic, narratives of Genesis, Joshua, Nehemiah, Mark, and the Epistles) of Scripture instead of the one-size-fits-all approach. The “Factual Data” sheet helps the expositor to be text-driven in preaching and teaching God’s Word.
Read more“The Factual Data” Sheet for the Gospel of Mark
The idea of “The Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry who used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted “The Factual Data” sheet to the different genres (Narratives, Hebrew Poetry, the Epistles, and the Gospels) of Scripture instead of one-size-fits all approach
Read moreThe intermural debate among Christians over creation and evolution and young and old earth!
Today the intermural debate rages between evangelicals over the creation of the earth (did God create the earth in six twenty-four hour days or did God employ evolution and take hundreds of thousands of years). This debate is closely tied to the age of the planet (is the earth young because God created it in six twenty-four days or is the earth old because God utilized evolution). It will be helpful to examine what the early church fathers believed and argued for.
Read moreJustification: Protestant vs. Catholic
I am borrowing my title from Dr. Gavin Ortlund who presents a very informative YouTube video on the differences and similarities between Protestants and Catholics on the doctrine of justification. He notes some important differences such as Protestants hold to imputed righteousness which is forensic. Imputed righteousness transpires at the moment of faith in Christ and is a completed judicial act. Catholics advocate infused righteousness which is based on observing the sacraments throughout his/her life.
Read moreThe Future Coming of Christ will be like the Past Flood`
What do you think is the most important sign that indicates Jesus is coming back? Wars and rumors of wars? Earthquakes? The love of many waxing worse and worse? Jesus in his end time sermon compared his future coming to the past flood. Jesus is referring to his second coming at the end of the Tribulation in Matthew 24:37-39. Jesus prophesied the sinful people before his coming would replicate the sinful people before the coming judgment of the flood who were “marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark.” In Genesis six, the godly were specifically marrying the ungodly before the flood. Being unequally yoked in marriage with unbelievers led to the Genesis flood in Genesis 6-8. Jesus warned his and our generation “to be ready” for the coming of Christ and his judgment just like the generation before the flood needed to be ready. Are you ready for the coming of Christ? Do you know Christ as your Savior? Jesus instructed us to learn from the generation that experienced the flood.
Read moreThe Influence on One Life
The influence of Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” is legendary. It has been called the most well-known sermon in American history. Edward’s influence, however, was greater with his family. Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children. For one hour before dinner, Edwards would gather his children together and help them with schoolwork and talk about their day. Edwards wrote, “Every house should be a little church.”
Read moreFinding Jesus in the Old Testament
When I took high school biology, my biology teacher whom I considered very intelligent, started teaching us the theory of evolution as fact. This view totally contradicted what my pastor had preached and taught from God’s Word. My biology teacher was very convincing, and I began to doubt if God was who my pastor declared him to be. I was very confused. What I was struggling with was a huge worldview question: Where did I come from?
Read moreThey like Jesus but not the church
I am borrowing this title from Dan Kimball’s book by the same title. Dan Kimball is arguing that especially the younger generation has been turned off by what they call “the organized church.”[1] For example, I know a young Christian adult who reads his Bible each night with his family and prays with them. This he said was better than going and sitting in a building on Sunday morning for an hour. What he does is great and more than some who only go to church.
Read moreThe importance of meditating on God's Word
How can our reading and studying of God’s Word take us by the hand and lead us into the presence of God? How can our study of God’s Word actually be a means of grace as it was in Paul’s life (Acts 20:32)? One answer is the meditation of God’s Word. It is easy for us who are bombarded with information not to meditate or process all the input to which we are exposed. We are inundated with news from our car radios, emails at work, texts and tweets from friends, website surfing, and podcasts and TV in the evenings, and endless cell phone calls.
Read moreDid Rahab have to lie?
Do Christians have to tell the truth in all situations? What about situations where telling a lie may save someone’s life?
Joseph Fletcher had what is described as the “one norm ethic of love” in his controversial “Situation Ethics: The New Morality.” He wrote that the situation trumps Scripture: “Situation ethics ... goes part of the way with Scriptural law by accepting revelation as the source of the norm while rejecting all ‘revealed’ norms or laws but the one command----to love God in the neighbor .... We are only ‘obliged to tell the truth, for example, if the situation calls for it; if a murderer asks us his victim’s whereabouts, our duty might be to lie.”[3]
Read moreAre We Celebrating Independence or Insurrection on July Fourth? (Part 2)
The late Dr. Jack L. Arnold agreed with John MacArthur that the Revolutionary War was a rebellion against God:
“In our own American Revolution, Christians were divided over how to understand their responsibilities to the state and over the right to revolt. Some, especially those of the Church of England, fought on the side of the British in an attempt to be faithful to Romans 13:1. Others fled to Canada. Yet the Reformed Churches, especially the Presbyterians, felt the revolution justifiable. This revolution was somewhat different from others as it did not result in a breakdown of law and order. Political, social, and economic order was maintained. In fact, the Congress of 1774 had no thoughts of revolution and tried for two years to gain equal representation by lawful means. History shows that Britain, not the Colonies, forced the issue. It was in 1776, after much prayer, that the Continental Congress decided to declare its independence. This ultimately led to the formation of our Declaration of Independence, which acknowledges God as the Creator of all men. Our Constitution and form of government were set forth to a nation that was God-fearing, Christ-living, and biblically oriented. However, this does not prove it was biblically correct to revolt …. To resist government is to resist God because the government is merely an instrument of God.
The Founding Fathers had a starkly different view of the American Revolution. The Founding Fathers believed and preached two theological positions to justify their civil disobedience.
Read moreThe "Factual Data" Sheet for Sermon Preparations for Narratives (Joshua)
The idea of The “Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted the “Factual Data” sheet to the different genres (Poetic, Epistles, Narratives of Joshua, Nehemiah, and Mark) of Scripture instead of the one-size-fits-all approach. See David Howard, Jr.’s An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books for move helpful background material for Joshua.
The “Factual Data” sheet helps an expositor be text-driven in preaching God’s Word.
First, the “Factual Data” sheet enables the Bible student to interpret a text in the context of the Biblical passage. It is like a funnel that is big at the top and narrows down to the text itself. The interpreter starts with the remote context (context of the genre) and works his way to the immediate context (the book of the Bible in which the text is found).
Next, the “Factual Data” sheet helps the Bible student get inside the text itself. This is where, in the case of narratives, the unique characteristics of this genre are helpful in interpreting the text and also finding the Main Point of the Sermon (MPS), and outlining or developing the MPS. We begin with the context.
Read moreAtheists Love The Old Testament Command To Kill The Canaanites
New Atheists Richard Dawkins marshals his arguments against believing in God by using His Old Testament command to kill the Canaanites:
The Bible story of Joshua’s destruction of Jericho, and the invasion of the Promised Land in general, is morally indistinguishable from Hitler’s invasion of Poland .... The Bible ... it is not the sort of book you should give your children to form their morals .... Joshua’s action was a deed of barbaric genocide.”[1]
Dawkins goes on to call God a moral monster: “What makes my jaw drop is that people today should base their lives on such an appalling role model as Yahweh—and even worse, that they should bossily try to force the same evil monster (whether fact or fiction) on the rest of us.”[2]
Read moreWhy do Christians suffer depression and what is the cure?
Jared Wilson was the founder of Anthem of Hope, a non-profit dedicated to mental health and suicide prevention. Jared was a pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. He was also an author who wrote the books Love Is Oxygen: How God Can Give You Life and Change Your World and Wondrous Pursuit. He was known for being an outspoken advocate for mental health and talked publicly about his own struggle with depression. Jared Wilson ended his life on September 9, 2019. He tweeted the following at 5:01 PM on September 9: “Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure suicidal thoughts. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure depression. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure PTSD. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure anxiety. But that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t offer us companionship and comfort. He ALWAYS does that.”
Read moreTwenty-five Advanced Soteriological Questions
Question fifteen: Is salvation instantaneous or a process?
The word “salvation” comes from a Greek soteria which means deliverance, primarily spiritual deliverance. This salvation or spiritual deliverance has three tenses. We have been delivered from the condemnation of sin, we are being delivered from the control of sin, and we shall be delivered from the very circumstances of sin. I got tired of the p’s (penalty, power, and presence).
Read moreTwenty-five Advanced Soteriological Questions
Question Fourteen: Does God’s Word teach Infant Baptism?
Covenant theologians like Robert Murray advocate the necessity and salvic merit to infant baptism. Robert L. Saucy points out "the difficulty involved in trying to distinguish the efficacy of baptism as it applies to adults and infants is noted by Reformed theologian John Murray. His attempt to maintain the same significance for both in the following quotation appears to contradict the clear biblical principle of salvation by faith.”[1]
Read moreTwenty-five advanced Soteriological Questions
Question Thirteen: What was Jacob Arminius’ view of the atonement?
Jacob Arminius believed in unlimited atonement as the following quote reveals: Christ died for all men; that He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world; (1 John ii. 2;) that He took away the sin of the world; (John i. 29;) that He gave his flesh for the life of the world; (John vi. 51;) that Christ died even for that man who might be destroyed with the meat of another person; (Rom. xiv.15;) and that false teachers make merchandise even of those who deny the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction; (2 Pet. ii. 1, 3.)[1]
Read moreTwenty-five advanced Soteriological Questions
Question twelve: What are the five articles of the Remonstrance?
In 1609, the Five Arminian Articles or the Remonstrance were written by the followers of Jacob Arminius “in opposition to those parts of the Belgic Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism which stressed what came to be known as the five points of Calvinism, which were later set forth at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619).[1]
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