Douglas Jacoby Podcast

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. This lesson covers 5:1-17 (the first half of chapter 5) The fall of Israel is a kind of death; this requires a song of mourning (v.1). Israel is alone, desolate (v.2). Her population has been drastically reduced (v.3). Yet there is a glimmer of hope here (vv.4,6,14). The Lord urges them to seek him . Not that this will avert the nation...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. This lesson explores Amos 4:1-13. By this point in the book of Amos all the major themes of the book have been introduced. From here to chapter 7 the material in Amos is more personal: directed against unfaithful Israel in more personal terms, and opening a window into Amos' personal life. The boom will fall (by the 720s, Assyria will...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. This lesson explores Amos 3:1-15. Introduction (vv.1-2) Redemption, then mission. With privilege comes responsibility! Hearing the roar and responding accordingly (vv.3-8) Stimulus and response Action and reaction Cause and effect The lion has roared; we must respond! The true prophet cannot ignore the voice of Yahweh any more than a s...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. Introduction Israel: instead of viewing themselves as belonging exclusively to God, they viewed God as belonging exclusively to them. (See also 3:2.) This next section in the book of Amos serves as a bridge between the seven shorter oracles against the nations and the longer series of oracles against Israel, including a number of theme...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. Introduction There are oracles against nations in most of the prophetic books of the Bible. In 1:3 to 2:5 there are 7 doom oracles. Yahweh is lord over the gentile nations , so why should we think Israel will be judged less strictly? The seven oracles of doom Damascus (1:3-5) is the chief city of Syria (Aram) It may be the world's olde...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. O.T. background Remember separation of Israel and Judah, two centuries earlier (1 Kings 12:25-33), under Jeroboam I Rival shrines – with idolatry Rival priesthood – low standard of leadership Rival holidays – to prevent northerners from choosing to blend the two religious systems This evil king is immediately challenged by a prophet (1...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. If you prefer  not to listen to the audio, but prefer only to read the questions below, that is fine -- but the answers are in the podcast file. Click on the arrow to play the podcast (16 minutes), or right click here , in order to save the audio file and listen later. How many confessions of faith do we find in John's gospel? In John...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. Review of the first two lessons and the idea of the third. Introductory matters, and Rev 1  A Tale of Two Cities Rome The  Heavenly Jerusalem Selections from 17-18, 21-22  Three keys to interpretation, and three vital lessons. Two ultimate outcomes, two kingdoms, two cities. One God, one gospel (14:6), one faith. The Christian version...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. Review of Rev A: John contributed 50 chapters to the NT (out of 260). The book is called Revelation (no 's') or the Apocalypse. Geographical locations are important, like Patmos, Rome, Asia, and Ephesus. The book combines three literary genres (types): Letter, Prophecy, and Apocalyptic. [The text read in the last lesson was Rev 1.] Thr...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. (1) General 1 Paul 87 chapters ~ 1/4 of NT 2 Luke 52 chapters ~ 1/4 of NT 3 Thus P + L = 1/2 of NT 4 Matthew 28 chapters 5 Peter 24 chapters 6 John 50 chapters Heb, Jas, Jud (19 chapters in all) 260 chapters in the NT, of which John's contribution is about 15% (by pages). 2) Name Revelation Not ‘s’ (even though multiple things are reve...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. Scripture for memory  1 John 1:7 -- But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.   Importance : Ongoing forgiveness: walking in the light is not sinless perfection. It is also integral to genuine Christian fellowship. 1 John 2:6...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Third John is a personal letter written from one friend (the elder) to another (Gaius). Gaius was a common name in the ancient world. For example, it was the name of the emperor Caligula (37-41 AD). A conflict has arisen between supporters of Demetrius and supporters of Diotrephes...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 2 John has been called "1 John in miniature." As with 1 John, Gnosticism is the central theological issue in this epistle. Matter is evil (or irrelevant). Thus the body is treated in licentiousness or asceticism. The biblical God is an inferior deity, levels beneath the true deity. Enlightenment is intellectual and mystical more than m...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.   00:00     00:00     Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.   5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christhas been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesusis not from God. And...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will se...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 18 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them be...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. Forgiveness (v.1) -- this is great news! Not that we s...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 1 We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 we...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. In the late first century, there were false concepts of Jesus circulating in the Christian world. Just as today there are numerous false Jesuses (perhaps best known is the one begging you to "accept" him, in exchange for nothing -- no commitment), so at the turn of the second century there was a false and idolatrous Jesus. This was bei...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 12:24 -- Jesus to Andrew, Philip, and the Greeks: "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Importance : Key to effectiveness. Corresponds to the self-denial passages in Mark 8; Matt 16; Luke 9. 13:34-35 -- Jesus to the Eleven: ...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. After breakfast, it's time to talk (v.15ff).  Notice the setting: the charcoal fire. Here Jesus will serve Peter breakfast; previously, standing by the fire, Peter had denied his Lord. The rest of the chapter is about Peter, and also his relationship to the disciple whom Jesus loved. 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to S...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. As noted in the last message, it is possible that the Gospel of John concluded with chapter 20, and that chapter 21 is an addition, either by the original author or by someone later on. 20:30-31 seems a natural conclusion, and perhaps a better conclusion than 21:25. The miraculous catch related here seems to be another "sign," whereas...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. John 19 concludes with the burial of Jesus. Now, in John 20, it is Sunday morning, the third day since the crucifixion -- and the tomb is empty! 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.  Only the Romans were permitted to open...

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website. 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. 24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the sc...