Category Archives: Preacher beware!

Psa 91:7 – ‘Though a thousand may fall beside you…’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

91:7 Though a thousand may fall beside you,
and a multitude on your right side,
it will not reach you.

The problem with this wonderful psalm is that it seems to promise too much.

What, in particular, are we to make of verse 7?

This verse has sometimes been taken as an absolute and unqualified promise of divine protection.

It is said that many soldiers in WWI recited this psalm daily.  Indeed, there is a story (probably apocryphal) that a Brigade commander gave a little card with this psalm printed on it to his men of the (you guessed it) 91st Brigade. …

2 Chron 7:14 – “If my people…”

Walking With Giants Posted on by

2 Chronicles 7:14 — “…if my people, who belong to me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”

The issue to be explored here is whether this promise is directly applicable to any nation today.

American Christian leaders have often sought to apply it to their nation.

In this article, Tony Bennett points out that in 1981, Ronald Reagan had been sworn in to office as President with his hand on his mother’s Bible, open at this verse.…

Isa 41:7 – ‘The craftsman encourages the metalsmith’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Isa 41:5 “The coastlands see and are afraid;
the whole earth trembles;
they approach and come.
41:6 They help one another;
one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’
41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,
the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil.
He approves the quality of the welding,
and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

Many years ago, I heard a sermon which took verse 7 as its text. …

Eph 2:10 – ‘You are God’s poem’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

‘We are [God’s] workmanship’, exclaims the apostle in Ephesians 2:10.

‘Workmanship’ translates the word poiema, which, according to this article:

‘signifies that which is manufactured, a product, a design produce by an artisan. Polema emphasizes God as the Master Designer.’

‘As the artist seeks to express himself in his work, so God expresses Himself in us.’

‘You are His poem.’

‘Masterpiece- showpiece; blockbuster, success; gem, jewel, prize, treasure…these are the synomyms (words that mean the same) for masterpiece.’

…

Mt 28:19 – “Go and make disciples of all nations”

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Mt 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

What should we make of the fact that, in the original Greek, the word translated ‘go’ is a participle – ‘going’?

Murray Harris (Navigating Tough Texts, p24) comments that the Greek grammar here is often misunderstood.  It is said that there is no command to ‘go’, but only a participle, ‘going’. …

Luke 4:30 – ‘He went his way’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

NET – ‘But he passed through the crowd and went on his way.’

NASB – ‘But passing through their midst, He went His way.’

Bill Mounce writes:

‘I was reminded recently of why every word choice matters. I was visiting a church where the preacher was discussing Luke 4:30, the story where people tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. The verse says, “But passing through their midst, He went His way (ἐπορεύετο)” (NASB). The preacher emphasized that Jesus had “His” own way, different from what the townspeople intended for Him.
…

Isaiah 55:10f – ‘My words will not return void’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

55:10  The rain and snow fall from the sky
and do not return,
but instead water the earth
and make it produce and yield crops,
and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.
55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make
does not return to me, having accomplished nothing.
No, it is realized as I desire
and is fulfilled as I intend.”

In Urban Legends of the Old Testament: 40 Common Misconceptions, David A Croteau and Gary E.…

Is the Holy Spirit a ‘she’?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The problems associated with applying personal pronouns to God are well-known.  Is God a ‘he’, a ‘she’ or an ‘it’?

In A More Christlike God, A More Beautiful Gospel, Brad Jersak writes:

‘Even using the simple pronoun ‘he’ for God is awkward and inaccurate…God is not a ‘him’ or a ‘her.’ Jesus said “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). But God is far more personal than an ‘it.’ Thus, we lean to the language of ‘him’ historically because when God showed up in the flesh, ‘he’ came as a man, Jesus (his ‘son’).
…

Mt 19:24; Mk 10:25; Lk 18:25 – ‘A camel…through the eye of a needle’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Mark 10:25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

See also Mt 19:24; Lk 18:25.

It is occasionally claimed either that:

(a) kamelos (camel) should be read as kamilos (rope): the two words sounded the same in the days of koine Greek (Cole).  According to Garland, the words of ‘rope’ and ‘camel’ are also similar in Aramaic.…

Romans 8:28 – ‘All things work together for good’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

8:28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, 8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Baghdad, July 30th 1919.…