By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli
Here are two short parables that Luke groups together. Neither of them appears in the other gospels. Apparently, Jesus meant to convey the same message through them both. Sometimes that message is seen as negative. It is summarized in v. 33 and is shown to not be negative after all. Let’s look at these two parables to get an understanding of this point.
The first parable is found in vv. 28-30. It might be called “The Parable of the Unfinished Tower.” As was often His custom, Jesus introduces it with a “Which of you?” question that expects the answer “No one.” The question is whether a person would start building something without first making sure he has enough to complete it. Obviously, no rational person would do so. Otherwise he might wind up with a building left unfinished. This would make him an object of ridicule. (more…)
By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli Peter has been making passing references to the day of the Lord (7:19; 2:3, 9). Now he comes to the subject in earnest. He makes several important points. First, he briefly mentions the purpose of this epistle (vv. 1, 2). Peter desired his readers have a means of keeping in [...]
By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli Peter has assured us that false teachers are always a danger (2:1-3). Now he launches into an impassioned description of these false teachers. In doing so he utilizes ceremonial language that flows without break through verse 17. Let us look at the various points of this description. First, they “walk [...]
By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli Peter has just been describing false teachers (vv. 10-17). In verses 18-19 he makes a transition from their character to the awful result of the teaching. First, he indicates that immature believers are the false teachers’ prey (vv. 18, 19). The passage says the false teachers “allure” their victims (v. [...]
By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli You might have wondered why Peter made spiritual growth so important in chapter one. The answer is in chapter two: erroneous teaching exists to threaten the spiritually immature. Peter tells us to expect the certain appearance and judgment of false teachers. He deals with each of these characteristics individually.
By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli A message doesn’t necessarily have to last long to have long-lasting effects. The short book of Haggai proves that. The three basic messages of Haggai’s book were all preached in one year. All three of them said and accomplished much. The first message (1:1-15) came on the first day of [...]
By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli Here are two short parables that Luke groups together. Neither of them appears in the other gospels. Apparently, Jesus meant to convey the same message through them both. Sometimes that message is seen as negative. It is summarized in v. 33 and is shown to not be negative after all. [...]
The young pastor must learn early in the ministry the value of a daily quiet time with the Lord. George Mueller wrote, “l have known my Lord for 57 years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King.”
By Brent Nix I just got off the phone with someone who tried to convince me that I should be outraged enough about a recent political scandal to send money to support an effort to do something or other about it. After listening for a couple of minutes, I hung up. Rude, you say? Perhaps, [...]
By Dr. Robert E. Picirilli In the last article I suggested the value of studying a theme through a portion of Scripture. We then looked at the theme of joy in the book of Philippians. Another major theme in Philippians concerns the Christian mind. One’s “mind” is the way he thinks, and that undergirds all [...]
