Olive Tree Blog
Author

Brad Hoffman

Browsing
Commentaries

Wrestling with God

Can you imagine grappling with God? Can you imagine wrestling with him, going toe-to-toe, mano a mano? We may use that language to express struggling with God, say in prayer. But Jacob physically wrestled with God. Let’s look at this strange encounter in Genesis 32 that occurs while Jacob is…

Keep Reading
Commentaries

Our Anchor and the One Who Went Before Us

Who will go first? That’s probably a question that’s been asked countless times on the playground or in the backyard. While most of those occasions create a feeling of excitement or thrill, there are some that can cause a sense of trepidation or even dread. No one wants to be…

Keep Reading
Commentaries

Look Inside: The New Covenant Commentary Series

Are you looking for a commentary series that engages “in the task of biblical interpretation and theological reflection from the perspective of the global church”? Then look no further than the New Covenant Commentary Series! We’ve recently released the New Covenant Commentary Series for our app and would like to…

Keep Reading
Commentaries

Salt and Light

Jesus used vivid and memorable images to describe his followers. In his most famous sermon, he calls his followers the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” (Matt. 5:13, 14). In the Believer’s Bible Commentary, William MacDonald unpacks how those who original heard Jesus’ teaching understood these…

Keep Reading
Study Bibles

The Seven Dispensations

How should we understand the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption throughout human history? One of the ways some theologians answer this question is with the system known as dispensationalism. A key and influential proponent of this system was C.I. Scofield. Let’s learn a little more about how Scofield articulates…

Keep Reading
Study Bibles

A Chronological Reading of Jesus’ Birth

The Chronological Study Bible is an excellent resource for reading about the birth of Jesus. Since it arranges all the biblical events in chronological order, you’ll read through John’s prologue first, then move back and forth between Luke’s and Matthew’s accounts. We want to give you a glimpse of what…

Keep Reading
Commentaries

What Did Jesus Teach in His Parables?

Matthew summarizes Jesus’ teaching with these words, “All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable” (Matt. 13:34). Rather than being easy-to-understand illustrations of his message, Jesus uses these parables to overturn people’s expectation and cut to the heart of…

Keep Reading
Commentaries

Preaching About the Tongue in Proverbs

The book of Proverbs can be difficult to preach since it seems like a collection of unrelated sayings. That’s where a resource like Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old and New Testament can be a great aid. Instead of a detailed exposition of the entire book, Wiersbe groups some of…

Keep Reading
Load More