The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

To be effective in our prayer lives so God is honored and pleased by our prayers, we need to fulfill certain Christian "responsibilities".  In this second lesson on the Lord's "Perfect Prayer Pattern" from His "Sermon on the Mount".  Whereas the first three petitions of the Lord's prayer pattern deal with exalting God, His name, His Kingdom, and His will, the last three petitions (6:11-13) have to...

Prayer is perhaps the single greatest activity in which the human soul can engage, for in prayer we come face-to-face with God.  Prayer is our golden opportunity to give God the opportunity to manifest His power, majesty, love, and providence to His beloved children.  Although prayer is one of the most vital aspects of the Christian life, most of us feel it is the area in which we are the weakest....

In Matthew 6:1-18, the Lord Jesus (in His "Sermon on the Mount) continued to emphasize true, heart righteousness by contrasting it with false, hypocritical "righteousness" in the realm of three practical, religious activities: (1) giving, (2) praying, and (3) fasting.  His words about giving deal with a person's righteousness as it acts toward others; His words about prayer deal with righteousness...

This lesson is on Matthew 5:43-48.  Nowhere is there a greater contrast between the false, hypocritical "righteousness" of the Jewish religious rulers of Christ's day and true, godly heart-righteousness than in the Lord's sixth and final illustration on the section of "The Sermon on the Mount" entitled "Reinterpretations of the Law".  This greatest contrast deals with LOVE.  In no more important a...

This lesson is on Matthew 5:38-42.  In this section of "The Sermon on the Mount" (5:21-48), Christ was contrasting Pharisaic, external "righteousness" (see 5:20) with God's true, inner righteousness, using examples like murder (Lesson 35), adultery (Lesson 36), divorce (Lessons 37 and 38), and oath taking(Lesson 39).  His next topic to use in comparing the teachings propagated by Israel's religiou...

This lesson is on Matthew 5:33-37, part of "The Sermon on the Mount".  Throughout this famous sermon, the Lord Jesus was attempting to convey to His listeners the fact that everything a citizen of His eternal Kingdom says or does is important to God.  If a Christian is to be an effective witness to this world where fake news, half-truths (which are lies), vain philosophies, false religious, evil c...

In his purposely selective account of Jewish history (which kept the attention of the Council members, for they loved their own story), Stephen was making his defense against the accusations that he had blasphemed Moses, God, the Temple, and the Law.  In doing so, he was also (unknown to them, at first) building his case of indictment against his Jewish audience!  He was exposing their unjustified...

It would be good to precede hearing this message with Lesson 37 from our Life of Christ study, "Old Testament Teaching on Divorce".  This study stems from the Lord's teaching in "The Sermon on the Mount," but we also look at Paul's inspired words in First Corinthians 7:10-16 for further information about the subject of divorce.  What are the only two Biblical grounds for divorce?  Listen and find...

In the Lord's famous "Sermon on the Mount," He went from discussing the matter of adultery to the subject of divorce and remarriage (Matthew 5:31, 32).  Coming to a subject like this demonstrates the importance of an expositional, systematic study of Scripture, for it forces us to discuss subjects we may be otherwise tempted to avoid.  This topic is difficult and sensitive for many people; it is n...

Stephen had "an irresistible ministry"!  He was a Scripture-scholar, extremely skilled and astute in using the Old Testament to defend his faith in Jesus.  He was a Christian apologist ("apologia" is a Greek word that refers to "a speech in defense of something"). Stephen's POWERFUL message of Acts chapter 7 was basically a last major appeal to the leadership of Israel (the Sanhedrin Council) to a...

I have interrupted the flow of our Sermon on the Mount study in order to share the ministry, the message, and the martyrdom of a First Century young man named Stephen.  I do this because of the recent murder of a Twenty-First Century young man named Charlie Kirk (Turning Point, USA).  The comparison is remarkable. Listen and see for yourself. My prayer is that Mr. Kirk's influence (already tremend...

In Matthew 5:27-30, the Lord Jesus gave the second contrasting, corrective illustration between the rabbinic teaching the people heard wrongly presented to them and His interpretation of the Law.  In this section, He spoke about adultery, making it clear that the sin is a lot more than just a physical act.  He taught (as He did with murder) that the sin of adultery begins in the heart.  The religi...

In Matthew 5:21-26 of His "Sermon on the Mount," Christ drew a strong contrast between His teaching on certain key matters of life and the teaching that had been presented to the Jewish people by their leaders for centuries - teaching from the Old Testament that they had both altered and expanded upon so that it was not anything similar to God's original meaning.  In each of the six subjects of th...

Since the remainder of the Lord's teaching in "The Sermon on the Mount" was based on the Old Testament, He prefaced the remainder of the sermon with a "prologue" (Matthew 5:17-20).  In just four very significant verses, Christ affirmed to His listeners the absolute "Reliability of Scripture"!   The Lord's words in this critical passage confirm for us He did not come to destroy the Law and the prop...

In Lessons #29 and #30, we looked at the characteristics of Kingdom citizens as presented in the Beatitude virtues.  This lesson is about the function of Kingdom citizens!  After we have entered onto "The Highway to Happiness," we have a responsibility to the insipid, dark world around us.  What is that responsibility as followers of Christ?  We are to "Shake and Shine"!  We are called by Him to b...

The Beatitudes of the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount are referred to as "The Sacred Paradoxes" (Thomas Watson), for they tell us that opposites often can and do co-exist.  The Lord Jesus is "The Master of the Paradox"!  Think about some of the seeming contradictions He taught - the first shall be last; giving is receiving; losing is finding; dying is living; serving is ruling, weakness...

  On both a national and a personal level, mankind has a natural inclination toward fighting, quarreling, and warring.  Peace has been the most elusive of all goals in the world.  According to James (Christ's half-brother) conflicts come from our inner lusts (selfish desires) waging war in the heart (James 4:1, 2).  This is not only true for non-believers; it is true for Christians.  James was wri...

In this continuing study of the Lord's Beatitudes, we come to the next three beatific virtues: hungering and thirsting after righteousness, being merciful, and being pure in heart.  There is really no better "self-examination" a person can give himself (herself) with regard to his (her) Christian profession than to ask the Matthew 5:6 test question, "Do I genuinely hunger for the things of God?  D...

There must have been an expectant atmosphere among the assembly gathered on the green hillside northwest of Capernaum to hear Jesus speak.  Hearts were high with hope for future glory; Rome might soon be chased from their land by an Israeli army under the leadership of this God-sent miracle-worker (another Moses was among them)!  No longer would they be poor and hungry as they filled Rome's coffer...

The greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest Preacher Who ever lived - the famous "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 4:23-7:29; Luke 6:19-49)!  The words of this sermon have been compared to X-rays of our souls; they expose us to ourselves.  They convict us to an uncomfortably GOOD place, where we make some serious self-examination regarding the reality of our salvation, the authenticity of our C...

With this lesson, we come to the time in Christ's early public ministry when He commissioned twelve men to be intensely trained by Him so they could carry on His work after His departure.  In our two-part outline, we first discuss "God's Beloved Servant" as we see how Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 42:1, 2.  Then we discuss "Christ's Beloved Servants" and briefly talk a bit about...

In this second lesson on "The Lord of the Sabbath," we look at the fourth and final division of our outline for both Lessons #25 and #26.  It is called "Three Truths about Sabbath Reverence and Practice".  The Lord Jesus gave three reasons, each illustrated, to explain why neither He nor His men had broken the Mosaic Law regarding the Sabbath.     The three reasons given were: (1) God's Law Allowe...

In this lesson, the Lord gave the second recorded sermon of His earthly ministry.  Interestingly, most people do not know this sermon by its name; nor do they realize how powerful it is, for it is Christ's defense of His claim to equality with God!  It is called "The Sermon on the Judgment and Resurrection Power of the Son" (John 5:19-30, 40-47).   In the sermon, Jesus gave Israel five significant...

In this second half of our lesson on Jesus "Tackling Tradition," He performed the well-known miracle of healing a man who had spent 38 years of his life sitting at the Pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem waiting and hoping he would be healed.  He was an invalid; he could not walk.  It was a Sabbath when the Lord Jesus came near the pool, looked over the multitude of impotent people w...

The Lord Jesus was going about Israel authenticating His Messianic credentials through His works, which demonstrated His supreme authority over nature, over Satan's realm, and over diseases of all types (including leprosy).  He also demonstrated His divine authority to preach, to purify, and to forgive sin.  Now, in this next two-part study entitled "Tackling Tradition, we see Him demonstrate His...