Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

Paul and Barnabas are now in the area known as South Galatia. There were several cities called Antioch, and this is not the place from where they started their missionary journey.   There are a couple of interesting details connected to this location. The first is that Paul, when later writing to the Galatians, said that he first preached the gospel here because of a personal illness. Some scholars think he had contracted malaria when he was down at sea level and, therefore, he moved to the higher altitude of Antioch (it was about 3,600 feet above sea level) to recover. Malaria also affects eyesight, and it could have been the cause of Paul’s vision problems that he also refers to in his letter to the Galatians. The second details is that it is known that this Antioch was the hometown of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul who was converted through Paul’s ministry in Paphos. It is reasonable to assume that the proconsul may have suggested to Paul that he go to Antioch. ...

The book of Esther describes life in the capital city of the Persian empire. No one really knows the exact date, although it seems to be a time of peace throughout the many nations included in the empire. Obviously, there were Jews in the city and scattered elsewhere throughout those countries. They were the descendants of those who had refused to return to Israel after Cyrus allowed them to do so. The book is well-known for one surprising detail, which is that the name of God does not appear within it. This does not mean that he is not in it. We are familiar with the saying that there is an elephant in the room, meaning that an unspoken reality is present and needs to be taken into account. As far as the book of Esther is concerned, God is the silent reality. For many, the feature of God that is emphasised in this book is what we can call his secret providence, his control behind the scenes at many different levels in society. As we can see, this book is part of the Old Testame...

This prophecy of Isaiah is linked together by the phrase ‘in that day’ (11:10, 11; 12:1, 3). The phrase looks back to what is said in 11:1-9, which is the initial description of the day that the prophet has in mind.  The vision of the kingdom One way to help us to understand an Old Testament passage is to ask whether it is mentioned in the New Testament. The second half of 11:4 is quoted by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:8: ‘And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.’ So we can deduce that the prediction of Isaiah is connected to the second coming of Jesus. If we look back from 11:4b, we can trace where Jesus came from and what he did. In verse 1, the prophet says that he will come from the line of Jesse, which is another way of saying that he would be a descendant of David. The mention of Jesse may be a way of pointing to the insignificance of the roots of Jesus’ ...

As we come to this section in the Book of Acts, it is important to remind ourselves what the book is about – it is about the activities of the ascended Saviour on earth. Earlier in this book, Jesus had summarised the spread of the church as beginning in Jerusalem, then going to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Jerusalem was stage 1, Judea was stage 2, Samaria was stage 3, and we are living in stage 4. The development of each stage was under the control of Jesus, and now we see in this chapter how Jesus begins stage 4. The church that sends The previous stages had developed out of the church in Jerusalem and progressed under the guidance and leadership of apostles who had been with Jesus. This is not the case with stage 4. Instead of the church in Jerusalem, it is the church in Antioch; and instead of the original disciples of Jesus we see that those involved are not mentioned in the Gospels as being with Jesus. Luke mentions some details about t...

Paul brings his letter to a conclusion with a doxology and a benediction separated by mutual greetings. Often the purposes of doxologies and benedictions are misunderstood, with some assuming that they have the same function in a church service. A doxology is basically an expression of what we desire for God (it is a statement of praise) whereas a benediction contains what we desire from God (obviously based on what he has promised to give). No doubt Paul included his doxology and his benediction on purpose, aware that they would be read at an important stage in the church service in Philippi during which his letter was read. The doxology would lead the congregation in an expression of praise to their heavenly Father and the benediction would remind them of whom to go to for supplies of grace – the Lord Jesus. The doxology (v. 20) Earlier in this letter, in his famous description of the humiliation and exaltation of Christ (2:6-11), Paul had stated that the ultimate purpose of...