Matthew BoffeyIf a young preacher stepped into your office asking for your best books on preaching, what would you suggest? Here are a few ideas.
God chose a small group of women to share the greatest news of all time. Why did Jesus appear to the women first instead of the disciples? On Saturday, they rested. But early Sunday morning, the women leaped into action. Motivated by love, they...
The road to learning biblical Greek and Hebrew is a journey of moving from alphabets and words to fluid reading and interpretation—and sometimes, it can feel like climbing a mountain just to reach another false summit. This post is for anyone who’s...
I knew the NICOT and NICNT commentary series was featured prominently on bestcommentaries.com, but I was curious to see just how they stacked up, so I did some digging. Out of 53 volumes, 39 make the top 3. 15 are ranked #1. In fact, only 7 volumes...
Is there a best method for how to use Bible commentaries? As songwriter Sara Groves says, “There’s no way to know it without discovery.” Groves isn’t talking about Bible commentaries (or how to use them) when she sings that line, but...
Look into the future, and you see a blank preaching calendar you need to fill. People are coming through the doors—some for the first time, some for the thousandth—and you have to deliver sermons that meet them where they are, week after week after...
Some versions of the Apostles’ Creed say Jesus descended into hell. Did he? For centuries, Christians have proclaimed, “. . . he [Jesus] descended into hell . . .” Other versions of the creed say “the grave.” Why do we say those words at all, and...
The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 is difficult. It strikes many readers as harsh, a return to Old Testament retribution. Consider why Luke, under the Spirit's inspiration, may have included the story in Acts.
Good Friday commemorates the day Jesus taught us how to die. A caterpillar folds into a cocoon, dies, bursts forth as a butterfly. A seed falls to the ground, gets eaten by the soil, shoots up. A tree sheds its leaves, sprouts buds, dazzles...
If you’re anything like me, you might need help cataloging your sermons. Why you should consider cataloging your sermons I recently guest-taught a four-part series. Given a short turnaround time and other commitments, I needed to draw from...
By Matthew Kim, adapted from Preaching Points: 55 Tips for Improving Your Pulpit Ministry. I once sat under the preaching ministry of a pastor who loved his people. He cared about them. Everyone knew it. Everyone felt it. But after years of...
Breeze through the Paideia commentary series description and you might miss its distinguishing mark: The Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament approaches each text in its final, canonical form, proceeding by sense units (pericopes) rather than...
A couple years ago, we asked some of our team members who attended seminary to share some of their experiences—what is the one piece of advice each one would want to leave for current seminarians. I hope the reflections are helpful to you. Many of...
If you’ve never owned Logos before, and you are a Bible study leader, now’s the time to try it out. Ideal for Bible study and small group leaders, these libraries prepare you to answer the tough questions before they’re even asked. Here...
This morning the great apologist Norman Geisler passed away. It was announced on his ministry page, but I saw the news from my colleague Scott Lindsey, who knew Dr. Geisler personally. Scott has permitted me to share his reflection here, which...
Until 1054, there was simply the Church. No Eastern Orthodox Church, no Roman Catholic Church, no Reformation, and no denominations. There were just two large branches of the same tree: the church in the West and the church in the East. But in 1054...
Heads up: there are nine (9) Yale resources coming to Logos! A wonderful thing about scholars is they surface topics you didn’t even know existed, and then make them interesting. Like how Israel’s geographic instability influenced its language. In A...
There are at least two senses in Scripture in which Jesus is the word of God. Though related, one has to do with the idea of revelation, and the other with the Greek word logos. Jesus as God’s revelation One way to understand Jesus as God’s word is...
The most important work of evangelical theology in modern times. — Kenneth Briggs, New York Times Establishes [Carl] Henry as the leading theologian of the nation’s evangelical flank. — Richard Ostling, Time Magazine A must for every Christian...
Did you know sermon archives function much like commentaries in Logos? This post will show you how to get the most use out of sermon collections in Logos. Broadly speaking, there are three main ways to use sermons beyond manually finding them in...
By Jeffrey Arthurs It was said of Winston Churchill that “he mobilized the English language, and sent it into battle.” I exhort you, send your best words into battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Send language forth like soldiers...
D.A. Carson describes Leon Morris’ writing style in The Gospel according to John as “superb.” Interested to see for myself, I opened the commentary to see how Morris treats my favorite passage in all the Gospels. Indeed, his introduction to the High...
Today news is breaking of Warren Wiersbe’s passing. He went home to be with the Lord yesterday, two weeks shy of his ninetieth birthday. Dr. Warren Wiersbe (May 16, 1929–May 2, 2019) was a beloved Bible teacher and author of over 150 books. Often...
Today marks the beginning of the Days of Remembrance, the United States’ annual commemoration of the Holocaust. Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime systematically persecuted and murdered an estimated six million Jews, as well as millions of...
With collected works in Logos, you bring renowned Christian theologians right into your studies. It’s like having them next to you to say, “Psst, if you don’t mind, I have a thought on that.” For example, let’s say you’re preparing a sermon on...
Last week we posted about whether Jesus went to hell after his death, and in what sense. One of the chief passages on this topic is 1 Peter 3:18–20, specifically verse 19: “in which he [the resurrected Christ] went and proclaimed to the spirits in...
There are certain passages that make you scratch your head, even if you’ve read them before. Luke 11:24–26 is one of them. Here’s how Joel Green, author of the Luke volume in the New International Commentary of the New Testament (NICNT), treats...
“If I could only own one full set of commentaries, the New International Commentary on the Old and New Testaments would be my choice. . . Like a fine wine, it has continued to improve with age.” — Randy McCracken, author and professor Like BDAG...
You will preach narrative far better if you know this literary archetype. The Bible is full of stories, and most of them revolve around a hero. From Abraham to Moses to Deborah to the True and Better Hero, much of Scripture is a hero’s journey...
One quality above all others gives your sermon intro the hook it needs. Here’s how to work that quality into your intro. All ad writers agree that a headline is the most important part of any ad. Famous ad writer David Ogilvy once said, “On the...