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10,045 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
The possessions of the world often lighten life's sorrows and increase its enjoyments; the Word of Yahweh itself recognizes prosperity as a subject for gratitude.
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions.
*Didymus* means "the twin," derived from his sibling relationship—whether brother or sister named Lysia, born simultaneously with Thomas.
Its rarity made it precious; it formed an essential ingredient in incense throughout the ancient world.
There is no tribulation—in kind or degree—that Elohim cannot comfort.
Exell observes a crucial two-fold aspect in this verse: the same divine way operates as *strength* (Hebrew *maoz*, fortress) to the righteous and as ruin to the wicked.
Just as miners extract precious metals from the earth's hidden depths, believers discover spiritual wealth concealed in the shadowed places of their experience.
First, he remembers the medicine—the Word of Elohim that he has treasured, now becoming his sustenance in affliction.
Isaiah 25:11 presents a figure of Yahweh frustrating the drowning efforts of Moab in the dungpit—a scene that Professor S. B. Driver interprets as divine power subduing iniquity. The homiletic tradition that follows offers this vivid image: God as a...
When the Macedonian emperor sat for his portrait, the painter faced a difficulty. A sword-wound had left a terrible scar across the monarch's right temple—a mark of battle and suffering. Yet the master craftsman possessed wisdom. He positioned the emperor...
God's plan encompasses society comprehensively—threading millennia from earth's earliest dust to the emergence of new heavens and earth.
Proverbs 3:5 presents not a rejection of reason, but its proper boundary. The question posed by Joseph S. Exell remains vital: what are reason's limits? Shall we accept only what our intellect comprehends, refusing truth that transcends rational explanation? Consider...
First comes the hopeful resolve: "I will keep thy statutes." The believer plants his feet firmly, determined to walk in obedience to Yahweh's ordinances.
Exell's 1887 commentary frames this as a mirror for self-examination in two categories.
This inward witness operates with formidable power, speaking either for or against the person in whom it resides.
The Paschal moon flooded the landscape nightly with splendor as pilgrims from across Palestine and beyond arrived in Jerusalem in family groups and bands, filling the city to overflowing.
First, he is a *hagios* (saint)—a separated one, taken out of the world and set apart for God's purposes.
The Apostle envisions perfection operating at two inseparable levels.
This declaration yields us a threefold warrant for Christmas observance.
When mortals undertake an enterprise, unforeseen difficulties arise and baffle our best calculations.
2:13), where every meat-offering required salt as a preservative, Christ establishes a profound contrast between two destinies.
Growing old, Paul refuses further interference in his calling, appealing to the Master whom he serves and by whom alone he shall be judged.
Few win laurels; many lose by a hair's-breadth, never glimpsing the goal.
Maclaren captures this with penetrating imagery: "God, as it ere, lays His right hand on Cornelius, and His left on Peter, and impels them towards each other." The magnitude of this transformation cannot be overstated.
Exell observed in 1887, this earthly life proved too shallow a vessel to hold peace, righteousness, worship, and divine love.