It’s all about Jesus

Walking With Giants Posted on by

According to Acts, the gospel is all about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:1; 2:36, 38; 4:8–12; 5:42; 8:12, 35; 10:36; 11:20–21; 13:38–39; 15:11; 16:31; 18:5, 28; 19:4; 20:24; 24:24; 28:31).

David Cook (Teaching Acts) notes that:

• At Pentecost Peter preaches about Jesus (Acts 2:14–39).
• At the healing of the lame man, Peter preaches about Jesus (Acts 3:6).
• To the God-fearing, Peter preaches Jesus (Acts 10:34–48).
• To conservative Jews, the apostles preach Jesus (Acts 14:3).…

An unstoppable gospel

Walking With Giants Posted on by

“You will be my witnesses,” declares the risen Jesus to his apostles, “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8)

David Cook observes that the gospel is indeed unstoppable, despite:

• external religious opposition (Acts 4:1ff; 5:17ff; 6:8ff);
• economic opposition (Acts 16:16ff; 19:23ff);
• internal hypocrisy (Acts 5:1ff);
• church friction (Acts 6:1–7; 15:36–41);
• persecution (Acts 5:17ff; 8:1ff; 12:1ff; 13:49–52; 14:19–20; 17:1ff; 21:27ff);
• martyrdom (Acts 7:54–8:4; 12:1–4);
• storms and shipwrecks (Acts 27:13ff);
• courts (Acts 4:5ff; 18:12–17; 24:1ff; 25:1ff);
• imprisonment (Acts 12:5ff; 16:16ff);
• orthodox religious tradition (Acts 15:1ff).…

Are miracles meant to be everyday occurrences?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

We have no reason to think that God will not, still less cannot, grant miracles in our own day.  But before we conclude that they ought to be everyday occurrences, we might pause to consider that:-

  • in the Bible, ‘miracles clustered round the principal organs of revelation at fresh epochs of revelation, particularly Moses the lawgiver, the new prophetic witness spearheaded by Elijah and Elisha, the Messianic ministry of Jesus, and the apostles, so that Paul referred to his miracles as “the things that mark an apostle”.’
…

Ex 14 – Baptised in the sea (sermon notes)

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Exodus 14

The crossing of the Red Sea is used throughout Scripture as a picture of what it means to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 10:2 – ‘They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.’

1. Behind them was a place of slavery

v5 – ‘We have lost their services’(!)

Jn 8:34, “Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”

“Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom.…

Mt 21:1-16 The ‘triumphal’ entry (sermon notes)

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Matthew 21:1-16 (Mk 11:1-10; Lk 19:29-38; Jn 12:12-15)

Grand entrances.  Wedding.  Royalty.

Verse 10 – “Who is this?”  Note:-

(a) the deliberate ‘staging’ of the entrance.  He is in sovereign control, (and yet uses human means).

(b) the nature of the entrance.  Similar to ancient ‘victory parades’.  Solomon, 1 King 1:33.  2 Kings 9:13 – ‘They took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps.  Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”…

Jesus in the Proverbs

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Compared with some other books of the Old Testament, it is not quite so easy to find Jesus in the Proverbs.  So writes David Murray, in Jesus On Every Page, pp175-186.  [The substance of this section of his book can be found here]

But, since all Scripture witnesses to Christ, we will look for him, and expect to find him there.  Of course, the witness of Proverbs to Jesus will be ‘temporary, provisional, preparatory, and prophetic’, because in Jesus himself, “A greater than Solomon is here.”…

Mt 7:13-29 – Two ways to live (sermon notes)

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Matthew 7:13-29

Intro: ‘It ain’t those parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts I do understand.’ (Mark Twain)

Ch. 5 – v4, 11, 20, 22, 28, 29, 32, 48.  ‘You cannot be serious!’

1. Two Gates, vv13f

V13 – “Enter through the narrow gate.”

(a) Wide vs narrow – easy vs confined.  Self-denial, Mt 16:24-26.  Acts 14:22, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God”.

(b) ‘Many’ vs ‘few’ – not about statistics, popular, going with the flow.…

‘In his name’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

‘Jesus’ disciples prophesied “in his name” (Mt. 7:22), cast out demons “in his name” (Lk. 10:17), performed miracles “in his name” (Mk. 9:39), etc. With the use of this expression it becomes evident that the disciples spoke and acted like Jesus, in His place and with His authority, as did the prophets of Yahweh in the OT (see Acts 4:7–10). Similarly, the gospel is to be preached in all the world “in his name,” i.e., by His authority, and thus be made effectual to save people (Lk.…

‘Jesus is Lord’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

‘The most frequent name for God in the OT, Yahweh (LXX Kyrios, “Lord”), now becomes the Church’s favorite name for Christ. The Church’s earliest confession of faith in Christ was in all likelihood “Jesus is Lord” (cf. Rom. 10:9; Phil. 2:9–11). Hence, all that can be said about the name of Yahweh—that prophets prophesy in that name (Jer. 20:9), the righteous trust in that name (Isa. 50:10), people call upon that name (Ps. 105:1), etc.—can be and is said about the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:17f.;…

The book of life

Walking With Giants Posted on by

G.W. Hawthorne notes that ‘expressions such as “your names are written in heaven” (Lk. 10:20), “whose names are in the book of life” (Phil. 4:3), “whose name has not been written … in the book of life” (Rev. 13:8), and “I will not blot his name out of the book of life” (Rev. 3:5), crop up several times within the NT. The figure is taken from the OT (cf. Isa. 4:3; Ezk. 13:9; Dan. 12:1), or from the secular world where a criminal’s name was removed from the civic register to take from him all rights of citizenship.’…