The following is an adult Sunday School lesson based out of James 1:2-18 that I taught at my church, Lake Drive Baptist Church, in Milwaukee, WI on July 8th, 2012.
Biblical Studies
Live Worthy of The Gospel by Means of the Gospel (Sermon on Philippians 1:27-30)
Having just posted my Greek exegetical commentary on Philippians 1:27-30, it seemed rather fitting to me to post the manuscript of a sermon I preached on Philippians 1:27-30. Unfortunately, although I’m somewhat sure the sermon was recorded, I have not been able to get a copy of the mp3 due to some difficulties. I believe the audio is lost forever. So, posting the manuscript is about all I can do. But if the audio ever shows up and I get access to it, I will surely post that as well. In either case, here is the introduction to the sermon, just to wet your whistle.
“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
“For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosever believers in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16).
These are things many of us have all learned from our youth, either when we were young physically or young spiritually. But have the truths of these words lost their impact on us?
Greek Exegetical Commentary on Philippians 1:27-30
For one of my classes last semester (Greek Exegetical Method), outside of translating the book of Philippians, all I did was study the original text of Philippians 1:27-30. It was a rather laborious process and task, but at the same time the study was extremely beneficial, both in helping me develop my exegetical skills and in understanding God’s word more. At the end of the semester I wrote a lengthy, and I warn you, very technical and academically minded commentary on these four verses. I certainly trust it will not only answer questions you may have concerning the text but also tell you more than you wanted to know. For those of you who know Koine Greek, you will find this more helpful than those who don’t. However, most of the technical discussion takes place in the footnotes, so even if you don’t know Greek you will still benefit from the body of this commentary (and possibly the footnotes too).
The Paradox Isaiah 6:9-10
This is a paper I wrote as a requirement for a class on Isaiah I took my senior year (Fall semester) at Maranatha Baptist Bible College. The introduction to the paper is as follows:
“Seminaries should train their students to preach sermons that will cause their listeners to become spiritually numb.” If one was to make such a claim, he would most assuredly be ridiculed, disregarded, and considered as absolutely ridiculous. However, a similar concept seems to exist in the words of Isaiah 6:9-10. In this passage God commands Isaiah to preach a message in order that the recipients of the message might be hardened. Should this be taken literally? Is something missing that would clarify these verses? How can one explain this? Some attempt to handle these verses by discarding or explaining away their paradoxical nature all together. However, in light of various sound explanations that will be presented, the apparent paradox in Isaiah 6:9-10 should be taken seriously.
Kirk E. Miller 