Loading...
186 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
This narrative reveals the desperate calculus of faith.
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions. Try it with Matthew.
First, the antecedents of healing: the diseased recognized their condition, felt genuine anxiety for restoration, and positioned themselves in the right place—near the Lord.
On the night of Matthew 14:24, wind descended with such fury that experienced fishermen-apostles, after nine hours of *ponos* (toiling), had advanced merely three miles against it.
Canon Liddon identified three marks of our Lord's words: the divine authority that speaks through them, their elevation above earthly discourse, and their awful depth that pierces the soul.
Pilate acted with limited knowledge; we possess the full light of Christian revelation streaming upon that Divine face across two millennia.
Both old cloth and new cloth share the nature of cloth; similarly, old wine and new wine share the nature of wine.
You cannot bring forth the best in someone if you do not believe the best exists within him.
Titus Vespasian, the Roman general, claimed he stood above false reports; if accusations were true, he had more reason for anger with himself than with the relator.
His brother said, "I go, sir," but went not.
This contrast illuminates how Elohim accommodates His truth to each person's capacity to receive it.
First, he framed obedience as *easy*—merely "say the word." Second, he presented *opportunity*: stones lay ready at hand.
The Heavenly Physician addresses those who neglect His healing: those depending upon their own moral virtue, those trusting in religious duties alone, and those resting in correct doctrine without transformation.
First, even bodily wants must be subordinated to religious purposes—we do not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from Adonai.
Exell illuminates this through Alexander the Great's court philosopher.
Yet beneath such plausible disguises lie spiritual impostures that demand our careful discernment.
Luthardt identifies seven critical aspects: God's kingdom surpasses all earthly kingdoms; amidst the collapse of human rule, men seek one that endures; it is founded upon moral goodness rather than external might; it originated in Elohim's *protē noēsis* (primeval thought);...
This intervention—born of her troubling dream—stands as a threefold testimony: the testimony of women to Christ, the testimony of dreams to Christ, and the testimony of suffering to Christ.
Their judgment surpasses that of Sodom, for they rejected not ignorance but revealed truth.
Christ quoted Hosea 6:6 to challenge the Pharisees' misaligned devotion.
This blessedness demands our attention to what purity truly means.
First, the natural seed of Israel—*sperma* (offspring)—recalls the nation called out of Egypt under Moses.
The principle rests on two foundations: love to Christ involving obedience to His word, and living not unto ourselves but unto God and for others' welfare.
Hunger and thirst are primitive, involuntary appetites that govern survival itself; Jesus elevates moral longing to this primacy.
First, it suggests the true measure of workers in the Church's progress.