aBeLOG
Welcome to the aBeLOG, a series of (hopefully!) fortnightly posts on all matters homiletical. I intend to touch on whatever grabs my attention regarding preaching—issues contemporary and ancient, ideas hermeneutical and rhetorical, personalities conservative and liberal, publications antiquarian and avant-garde. Essentially, I’m going to follow my own homiletical olfactory instincts up rabbit trails and after red herrings. Comments are always invited and appreciated.
Preaching @ Northwest Bible Church
Quick note …
I am preaching at Northwest Bible Church, here in Dallas, on July 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 (9:00 am and 10:35 am).
Doing the five women in Mark who come into contact with Jesus, all exemplars of discipleship.
I am looking forward to this series!
[For other speaking events, see here.]
Judges is out!
Folks, my latest commentary is out: Judges: A Theological Commentary for Preachers.
This follows the scheme of my earlier commentaries on Genesis, Mark, and Ephesians, and subscribes to the same hermeneutic that underlies those.
Check out the free chapter download here.
Endorsements
With Abraham Kuruvilla’s sensitive literary and theological reading of Judges … he shows preachers how to relate its message to the world in which we live and the alternative world Christians are called
Michael Easley: How I Preach
Michael Easley: And this is How I Preach …
[Michael Easley is the Teaching Pastor at Fellowship Church in Nashville, TN, and the host of Michael Easley InContext, a weekly radio program. He is the erstwhile President of Moody Bible Institute. And his pastoral experience spans more than three decades. A DTS grad, Michael is a preacher at heart and pastoring runs in his veins. I had
Genesis 38:1−30
Agents of God’s blessing are selflessly concerned about others and humbly aware of their own fallibility.
In Genesis 34, Simeon and Levi, because of their impetuosity and bloodthirstiness had disqualified themselves from leadership; in Genesis 35, Reuben—the mandrakes and incest guy—also had been disentitled. The next in line was Judah. And in Gen 37, it appeared that Judah’s brothers had begun to follow his lead over Reuben’s. It appears that in Gen 38 Judah
Genesis 37:1−36
Agents of God’s blessing to others can expect misunderstanding and mistreatment from them.
The pericope begins with Joseph bringing to his father an “evil report” regarding his siblings (37:2). While the use of dibbah elsewhere indicates “slander” or “evil report” that may not be necessarily true (Num 13:32; Ps 31:4), in light of Prov 25:10 that employs the word to indicate a true (but disparaging) report, there is no reason to think that the dibbah
Genesis 35:1−36:43
The blessings of God fulfilled in the past, promotes worship of God that, in turn, continues the cycle of divine blessings for the future.
This section forms the formal conclusion to the Jacob Story that began in Genesis 25. Here, we see a collection of scattered accounts (Genesis 35) along with a closing genealogy (Genesis 36).
The structure of Genesis 35 is a travelogue of Jacob and his camp from Shechem to Hebron, a severance of the marked by four burials—three actual
Genesis 34:1−31
Enjoying God’s blessings calls for responsible maintenance of moral standards in the face of worldly evil.
This is a sordid story, with no heroes. Everyone is culpable (except the victims: Dinah, sexually violated and voiceless, and the people of Shechem, brutally slaughtered or kidnapped).
Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, rapes Dinah, the daughter of Jacob (34:2). But, he seems to show some good faith as he and his father enter into negotiations with Jacob
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.