“Those who recline on beds of ivory and sprawl on their couches” Amos 6:4 Sprawl – Before television and print media, spoken words had to communicate visual images. The prophet Amos chose some very picturesque words to create this scene. He wanted to impress upon the people of the kingdom that their pursuit of pleasure…
“Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number” Job 5:9 Number – Do you remember when you first learned about the mathematical concept “infinity”? It was so cool to imagine that no matter how big a number you can think up, there is always one more. Numbers just go on and on to infinity. …
“I will strip her naked and expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness” Hosea 2:3 Naked – Hosea, the prostitute’s prophet. One of the strangest stories in the Bible. If ever a man was asked by God to live out the role of humility,…
“Great wealth is in the house of the righteous, but trouble is in the income of the wicked.” Proverbs 15:6 Wealth – The world places considerable emphasis on wealth. Everywhere we see the results of trying to accumulate fortunes. The sight is not always pretty. When Saddam Hussein was captured, he had $750,000 in cash…
“Talitha kum!” Mark 5:41 Arise, little girl – When we read this story, we may be surprised that Mark and Luke include the Aramaic phrase in their Greek texts. This is not their usual practice. In fact, there are only a few occasions where Aramaic is transliterated into the New Testament. We see it when…
“For we also were once foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” Titus 3:3 Deceived – Have you noticed something important in Paul’s list? The first three words are all about mental processes, not about behavior. This is the third…
“For we also were once foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” Titus 3:3 Disobedient – What is the essential characteristic of disobedience? Did you say, “Not keeping the rules” or something like that? Did you think that disobedience is…
“For we also were once foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” Titus 3:3 Foolish – Airhead! The term was not coined by Hollywood (although it certainly applies there). If you want to meet the original airheads, you have to…
“And he put all things in subjection under His feet,” Ephesians 1:22 Subjection – “You can’t make me!” “Yes, I can.” “Just try!” Have you ever listened to children talk about power? They intuitively know that it is a matter of forced subjection. One will against another. This is the sense of the word hypotasso…
“and if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out” Matthew 5:29 Stumble – This word is all about the cheese. Want to get rid of a mouse? Don’t have a cat? Then you will soon be at the store buying a mousetrap. But the trap won’t do any good at all unless you…
