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85 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
According to Josephus, nine temple gates were overlaid with silver and gold, but one gate of Corinthian brass "far excelled those of gold or silver." This magnificent entrance, also known as Nicanor's Gate or the Shushan Gate, featured bas-relief lily...
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions. Try it with Acts.
The apostles faced bitter antagonism from those who wielded power against the Gospel.
This term carries profound weight—not mere completion, but restoration to an earlier and better state.
Luke records with precision: "he leaping up stood." The healed man did not merely walk—he leaped, testing the strength of muscles that had never carried him.
First, Christ came on pre-incarnate mission through Old Testament theophanies—manifesting Elohim before the Incarnation.
Charles Spurgeon observed that while one sermon explains salvation, ten are required to exhort men toward it.
Internally: hearts are savingly affected, spirits mightily strengthened.
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's Victorian commentary identifies three dynamics at work.
Stephen presents the portrait of a dying saint: he was filled with the Holy Ghost, lifted above earthly consciousness of his enemies' gnashing teeth, granted a full vision of heavenly glory and his glorified Redeemer, and embodied the spirit of...
First, the apostles felt the impulse of a new undertaking—the resurrection of their crucified Master demanded proclamation.
A human father could scarcely forgive such murderers; it requires the infinite mercy of Elohim to accomplish it.
Our Lord spent this period teaching the apostles *ta peri tēs basileias tou Theou*—the things concerning the kingdom of God.
The Palestinian Jewish believers, though honest in their conviction, proposed what seemed a reasonable requirement: Gentiles must enter through the *thura* (door) of circumcision, the ancient ordinance prescribed by Elohim through Moses.
Brute courage, born of insensitivity to danger, fails the thinking man.
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word (Acts 8:4). The aggressive power of Christianity demonstrates that the Church prospers pre-eminently through...
In the spring of 1924, Eric Liddell was the fastest man in Scotland and favored for Olympic gold in the 100 meters. But when the...
The schedule for the 1924 Paris Olympics arrived weeks before the Games, and Eric Liddell studied it carefully. The 100-meter heats were set for Sunday,...
On August 9, 1943, Franz Jägerstätter knelt in Brandenburg-Görden Prison outside Berlin and was executed by guillotine. His crime was simple: he refused to swear...
On February 18, 1943, Sophie Scholl climbed the marble staircase of the University of Munich's main hall carrying a suitcase full of leaflets. She was...
On the night of January 7, 1610, Galileo Galilei aimed a telescope he had built himself toward Jupiter from Padua, Italy. What he saw puzzled...
In the summer of 1940, Japanese Vice-Consul Chiune Sugihara looked out the window of his consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania, and saw hundreds of Jewish refugees...
Consider the remarkable arc of this one man's life: the persecutor became persecuted.
Peter's response cuts to the heart of a peculiar modern delusion: "Thy money perish with thee." Simon believed, as many in our commercial age believe, that wealth can purchase anything—even the gifts of Elohim.