by Paul Apple | May 28, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: TRUE GREATNESS IN THE KINGDOM DERIVES FROM HUMBLE SERVICE AS MODELED BY JESUS, NOT THE SELFISH AMBITION OF THE WORLD INTRODUCTION: Donald Hagner: After the immediately preceding announcement of the suffering and death that await Jesus, the two disciples’...
by Paul Apple | May 28, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: JESUS CONTINUES TO PUT THE FOCUS ON HIS UPCOMING BETRAYAL, CRUIFIXION AND RESURRECTION (WHILE HIS FOLLOWERS ARGUE OVER WHO IS THE GREATEST) INTRODUCTION: Grant Osborne: Jesus is aware of his destiny and deliberately chooses the cross, while the disciples,...
by Paul Apple | May 26, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: RATHER THAN INSECURITY OR ENVY REGARDING REWARDS FOR SPIRITUAL SERVICE, BELIEVERS SHOULD FOCUS ON GOD’S GRACE IN GRANTING ETERNAL LIFE AND HIS JUSTICE AND SOVEREIGN DISCRETION INTRODUCTION: This passage raises a number of difficult interpretative questions?...
by Paul Apple | May 25, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: LOVERS OF WEALTH MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN FOLLOWING CHRIST OR CLINGING TO THEIR MATERIALISTIC VALUE SYSTEM (THE IDOLS OF POSSESSIONS) INTRODUCTION: Donald Hagner: The narrative now turns to the story of a young man whose great riches kept him from the full and...
by Paul Apple | May 24, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: JESUS WELCOMES LITTLE CHILDREN AND POINTS TO THEIR HUMILITY AND DEPENDENCE AS IDENTIFYING MARKS OF KINGDOM CITIZENS INTRODUCTION: Grant Osborne: The movement from husband-wife relations to children is a natural progression. Children here become a model for...
by Paul Apple | May 23, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: GOD DESIGNED MARRIAGE TO BE A PERMANENT ONE-FLESH DIVINE UNION BETWEEEN MAN AND WOMAN FOR LIFE INTRODUCTION: Orthodox Evangelical commentators have long been divided on their positions on this passage as it relates to the teaching of Jesus regarding the...
by Paul Apple | May 20, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: HAVING BEEN FORGIVEN MUCH, BELIEVERS MUST NOT PUT LIMITS ON THE FORGIVENESS THEY EXTEND TO OTHERS INTRODUCTION: R. T. France: The opening exhortation to forgive without limit is undergirded by a parable which compares God’s forgiveness and ours; it is...
by Paul Apple | May 19, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: THE STEPS FOR CONFRONTING SIN IN THE BELIEVING COMMUNITY DEPEND ON THE DELEGATED AUTHORITY FROM THE RATIFYING DIVINE PRESENCE INTRODUCTION: Richard Gardner: Having acknowledged the possibility of stumbling or straying, Matthew goes on to treat the question:...
by Paul Apple | May 16, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: 3 REASONS WHY WE MUST NOT DESPISE ANY OF GOD’S VULNERABLE SHEEP SINCE THEY ALL ARE INDIVIDUALLY VALUED INTRODUCTION: David Turner: In addition to dealing decisively with sin in their own lives, disciples must also avoid contempt for fellow members of the...
by Paul Apple | May 15, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: DON’T BE A STUMBLING BLOCK TO FELLOW BELIEVERS OR TO YOURSELF INTRODUCTION: John MacArthur: in Matthew chapter 18 a most-interesting thing is going on. The disciples, children of God, who belong to Jesus Christ, are provoking one another to sin. By arguing...
by Paul Apple | May 14, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: GOD MEASURES GREATNESS BY THE STANDARD OF HUMBLE DEPENDENCE RATHER THAN ACHIEVEMENTS OR WORLDLY RECOGNITION OR SOCIAL-ECONOMIC STATUS INTRODUCTION: One benefit of getting together with your extended family over special holidays like Thanksgiving is that you...
by Paul Apple | May 13, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: JESUS PAID THE TEMPLE SUPPORT TAX TO AVOID OFFENSE DESPITE BEING THE LEGITIMATE FOCUS OF TEMPLE WORSHIP INTRODUCTION: David Thompson: To understand this passage, we must understand the Jewish background. It took a lot of money to run the temple in Jerusalem...
by Paul Apple | May 12, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: REPEATING THE PROPHECY OF HIS CENTRAL MISSION STILL DOES NOT COMPUTE WITH JESUS’ SAD DISCIPLES INTRODUCTION: Charles Swindoll: Jesus and His disciples were inseparable. This became all the more obvious as Jesus entered the final six months of His public...
by Paul Apple | May 11, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: DON’T QUIT ON TRUSTING GOD TO PERFORM THE IMPOSSIBLE INTRODUCTION: Grant Osborne: The disciples have a smattering of understanding (17:13) but a real deficiency of faith (17:20a) and need the presence of Jesus more than ever. In fact, the incredible contrast...
by Paul Apple | May 9, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: THE TRANSFIGURATION UNCOVERED THE GLORY OF MESSIAH TO PROVIDE A PREVIEW OF THE COMING KINGDOM INTRODUCTION: Grant Osborne: This is an epiphany story in which the divinity of Jesus breaks through and “manifests” itself, with Matthew highlighting that glory in...
by Paul Apple | May 8, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: THERE IS NO AVOIDING THE CROSS – EITHER FOR JESUS OR FOR HIS DISCIPLES INTRODUCTION: Grant Osborne: With “from that time on” (v. 21) we begin the second half of this narrative section (13:54 – 17:27), indeed, the second half of Matthew’s gospel. Immediately...
by Paul Apple | May 6, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: THE FOUNDATION OF THE UNSTOPPABLE CHURCH IS THE APOSTLES (AS REPRESENTED BY PETER) WHO EMBRACED THE TRUE IDENTITY OF JESUS AND WERE DELEGATED AUTHORITY TO ENFORCE HIS TEACHING INTRODUCTION: Charles Swindoll: All of us have taken classes that have climaxed in...
by Paul Apple | May 4, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: BE AWARE OF THE SIGNS OF THE TIME AND BE WARY OF FALSE TEACHING INTRODUCTION: Walter Wilson: Once again, a scene depicting conflict gives way to a scene depicting instruction (cf. 15:1–20). This time, Jesus’s opponents are the Pharisees and Sadducees, who...
by Paul Apple | May 3, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: COMPASSION AND PROVISION SHOWN TO THE GENTILES BY THE MESSIAH CONTRASTED WITH THE DISMISSIVE ATTITUDE OF THE DISCIPLES INTRODUCTION: Leon Morris: Matthew clearly regards the two incidents as distinct: the numbers of people are different in the two incidents,...
by Paul Apple | May 2, 2023 | Bible-NT
BIG IDEA: MERCY EXTENDED TO THE GENTILES DESPITE JESUS FOCUSING ON THE PRIORITY OF HIS MISSION TO THE JEWS INTRODUCTION: Stanley Saunders: From the woman’s perspective, this is a story about walls, obstacles, persistence, ingenuity, and faith. The Gospels consistently...
