Biblical Reflections

Psalm 7 is an individual lament, David calls on God for help because David has been unfairly slandered and persecuted by a man from the Tribe of Benjamin, the same tribe that King Saul came from.     Psalm 7 starts out with a cry for safety because of the desperate circumstances that David finds himself in.  In the 1st verse, David calls for refuge and deliverances from his pursuers.      David cl...

Psalm 6 begins with a plea for mercy from some life-threatening situation, which comes from God’s displeasure for a particular sin of David. While not all life-threatening situations/illnesses are the result of sin, this one certainly was caused by sin, which David acknowledges. Notice that David pleads to God’s love and mercy. If this sin is not forgiven and if David dies, then he will be cut-off...

Psalm 5 is an individual lament, a plea for help. This is also an imprecatory prayer that prays for the personal downfall of the enemies. These foes are bloodthirsty and deceitful persecutors. The Psalm begins with a calling out to God, followed by praise that God loves justice and hates the wicked, the proud, the evildoer, the liar, and the bloodthirsty men. Their attack against David is really a...

Psalm 4 is an individual lament, a plea for help.      David appeals to the righteousness of God.    Again, David recollects a past experience, where God has rescued him, much like Psalm 3, which emboldens his faith to pray confidently in the present.      David then has a word of rebuke for those faithless people who mock the godly man.      Psalm 4 states with certainty that God hears the prayer...

Psalm 3 is the first Psalm with a title.  Psalm 3 is an individual lament, a plea for help.  David seeks salvation from God for the foes that have come against him, apparently the forces of his rebelling son, Absalom.      David models genuine faith amidst his dire straights.    David remembers past experiences where God has rescued him, and to these past experiences David builds his confidence of...

Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm celebrating the kingship of David and his descendants as God’s anointed representative to rule the people of Israel.  The nation’s prosperity is tied to the rule of the Davidic King.  But it also has a future application.    The Davidic king figuratively is God’s Son, yet ultimately in Jesus Christ, the King will indeed be the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. ...

Psalm 1 states that there are only two ways to live, the way of righteous, those who obey the law and instruction of God, and the way of the wicked, those who deny God.   The way of the righteous, who follow God’s law, will flourish.  But the way of the wicked will perish. 

An introduction to the Psalms with host Andrew. We unpack what we are in for in this length but insightful season on Biblical Reflections. You are encouraged to read each with with host Andrew and keep a prayer journal as you go. 

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story-telling style, I present four-challenges to readi...

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story-telling style, I present four-challenges to readi...

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story-telling style, I present four-challenges to readi...

Part 2 - I cried when I recorded this episode. We all know the simple children’s stories of faith and rescue in Daniel. But there is another faith story in this book; it a very dark, very bitter story. You will quickly understand why we don’t tell this story to children, but why we need to hear it.

I cried when I recorded this episode. We all know the simple children’s stories of faith and rescue in Daniel. But there is another faith story in this book; it a very dark, very bitter story. You will quickly understand why we don’t tell this story to children, but why we need to hear it.

The church in Philippi was the Apostle Paul’s favorite church. Yet, this favorite church, with his favorite people, had what looked like a small problem on its face, yet it was tearing the church a part. How do you talk gently to people you love that they need to fix something? Along the way, Paul gives the clearest expression of the incarnation, the Son of God taking on the nature of man, without...

Psalm 22 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament.  Although written by King David 1,000 earlier, Jesus refers to this Psalm moments before he dies on the cross.  Psalm 22 is beautifully written in poetry and takes some time to unfold.  But you understand why Jesus calls Psalm 22 to our attention before he dies.

This episode unfolds the narrative of Genesis culminating in the Substitutionary Sacrifice of Isaac in Chapter 22. It is the account of Abraham, Isaac’s father. Abraham was a deeply flawed man, yet he was a man of faith. Through Abraham, the man of faith, God’s plan of salvation is offered to all the peoples of the world.

This episode unfolds the narrative of Genesis culminating in the Substitutionary Sacrifice of Isaac in Chapter 22. It is the account of Abraham, Isaac’s father. Abraham was a deeply flawed man, yet he was a man of faith. Through Abraham, the man of faith, God’s plan of salvation is offered to all the peoples of the world.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are siblings who run a lucrative bed-and-breakfast, in the town of Bethany, a two-mile walk outside of Jerusalem. This is where Jesus and his entourage stayed when they visited Jerusalem for the three-annual festivals at the Temple. These are three different people, and Jesus presents the gospel to each of them, but in ways that are a unique to each person. Which sibling...

The Book of Isaiah is challenging, one could say difficult, to read and to understand.  Most Isaiah is written in poetry, including the 4th Servant Song, which foretells the death and resurrection of the suffering servant, who suffers and dies for the sins of others.  This will be an interesting look at poetry.

The Book of Hebrews is written in the most excellent Greek of the New Testament.  It presents the gospel, but it does so by comparing the sacrifice of Christ on the cross to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament.  Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians, who would have understood the Old Testament sacrifices.  In order for us to appreciate the message of Hebrews, we first need to understand...

The letter to the Romans is the Apostle Paul’s magnum opus, or great work.  Here Paul gives a complete and thorough doctrinal basis for the gospel message and for how that should be applied in a person’s life after believing in faith.  Many people witness the gospel from Romans by citing several verses that make statements.  This practice is known as the Romans Road .  In this episode we will pres...

The Gospel of Luke is written by the only non-Jewish, non-Hebrew writer in the Bible.  Luke is the gospel of inclusion, specifically calling to women, underprivileged, and non-Jewish gentiles.  The key verse in Luke is 19:10, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost .  

The Gospel of Mark is short and full of action scenes.  Unlike Matthew, who presents Jesus giving five great oral teaching dissertations, Mark presents Jesus saying very little, and with no long sermons.  Rather than what Jesus says, we learn who Jesus is and why he came by what he does.  Mark and Matthew are two diametrically opposed teaching methods, which carry the same message.  In the Gospel...

The Gospel of Matthew is the transition between the Old and the New Testaments.  Matthew is writing to Jews living outside of Israel to tell them that in Jesus all of the prophecies and the promises of the Old Testament have been fulfilled.  The key verse for Matthew is 5:17, where Jesus says that he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.  Matthew presents Jesus as t...

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is likely his earliest letter in the New Testament and his most stern letter.  He is upset that people in the churches in Galatia are turning from a gospel of “grace through faith” to a different gospel of “grace through faith plus obedience to the Law of Moses” in order to be saved.  This is an intense presentation of the Gospel.  This is the book that turned the he...