The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

In this next section of the Lord's "Ordination Sermon" to His Apostles, Matthew 10:16-23, we find that the Lord really had something important to say to all His "helpers" (followers), not only the ones present with Him at that time, but also to those who would serve Him in the future (us and the Tribulation believers).

As we cover the information of the Lord in verses 16...

In this lesson, we further discuss the Lord's "Ordination Sermon" to His men.  We discuss the men in their groups of four and then in the pairs by which they were sent forth.  Also important is why they were to travel in pairs - we talk about the various wise reasons for that.  Jesus explains to them what their ministry was to be, as well as the message they were to give and the miracles they would be...

Matthew 9:35-10:42.  This is the record of the very first ordination that ever took place among those who would serve as the foundational, living stones of Church, the lord's Apostles.  In the fourth recorded sermon of Christ's ministry, He gave the ordination charge to His men before sending them out, in pairs, on their first mission venture without Him.  

To this point in His ministry, Jesus was doi...

There are two kinds of blindness that afflict the human race: physical and spiritual.  The Lord encountered both types in this lesson, "Binding Blindness".  He healed the physically blind eyes of two man whose eyes may have seen nothing, but whose spiritual "eyes" were enlightened to "see" the Light of Christ!

The Lord also encountered the spiritual blindness that abunda...

Mark 5:25-34 (also Matthew 9:20-22 and Luke 8:43-48) is the record of the Lord's encounter, as He was on His way to Jairus' house to see his 12-year old daughter, who was dying, with a woman who suffered from an issue of blood for 12 years.  Not only did the woman suffer physically (never finding any physician who could help her), but she also emotionally and socially.  Her ailment made her ceremonial...

Mark 5:22-24, 35:45 (also Matthew 9:18, 19, 23-26; Luke 8:40-42, 49-56).  This is the account of the "healing" by Jesus of the third humanly incurable situation in Mark chapter 5 (the first two were the healing of dehumanized demoniacs - Lesson #61 and the healing of the disgraced daughter of Israel - Lesson #62a).  The third consecutive healing miracle of the Great Physician (Jesus) in this chapter ...

Mark 5:1-20.  The fifth chapter of Mark is often referred to as the Bible chapter for "incurables" because it contains the written record of Christ's confrontations with three humanly incurable cases.

First, He had "a divine appointment" with two men who were mentally deranged because of demonic possession.  That will be the subject of this first of a three-part study on...

America, and, in fact, the world, is in the midst of a "storm" this very hour.  These are unsettling times as we face the potential for World War III or some kind of nuclear or cyber attack, terrible inflation, open borders, anti-Semitism on the rise, inflated grocery prices, the continual possibility of another pandemic, government corruption on every level, the dangers of AI technology in the hands...

From Matthew 13:44-52, the Lord continued to teach what theologians call "The Mystery Parables Discourse".  In the next two parables: "The Parable of the Hidden Treasure" and "The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price," He spoke of what God Himself would gain during the intermediate stage of His Kingdom.  He would gain a precious treasure and a valuable pearl.  

In the s...

In this lesson from Matthew 13:24-43, the Lord Jesus fulfilled another Messianic prophecy, which is that the coming Messiah would speak in parables (Psalm 78:2), for in teaching His men on the inter-advent Kingdom of God on earth (roughly equivalent to the Church Age), He gave seven parables.  It was followed with an eighth parable, not directly related to the others, but one that taught a Biblical pr...

Witnessing the rejection of Jesus by both Israel's religious rulers and even His own step-brothers would cause the Lord's disciples and other followers to wonder what would happened to the promise of the Messianic Kingdom if Israel rejected the King?  The answer is the primary focus of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 13 (with parallel accounts in Mark 4 and Luke 8).  Through a series of parables, He told H...

A deeply tragic truth about the Lord Jesus is how greatly misunderstood He was - not only by His foes (jealous of His power and popularity), but also by those closest to Him, His family.

In this lesson (Matthew 12:22-50), Israel's religious rulers gave their "official" decision that Jesus performed His works with satanic power.  At this same time, we also find that His o...

From Matthew 11:20-30, we discuss what the Lord had to say about greater spiritual privilege bringing greater judgment.  The citizens of the Galilean cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum had greater spiritual privileges and opportunities for repentance and salvation than any other people, for Jesus Christ, God's Son, spent more time in their vicinity than anywhere else on earth.  However, alt...

From Matthew 11:2-19 and Luke 7:18-35, we see more of the Lord's great heart (see Lesson 53 regarding His compassionate response to faith and to despair) as He responds compassionately to the doubts of those who belong to Him.  In this case, He had just received word from John the Baptist, who had been in prison for about one year after publicly denouncing the adulterous marriage of Herod Antipas with...

There are two fantastic demonstrations of the Compassion Saviour in this lesson. We discuss His compassionate/gracious/merciful/miraculous response to the great faith of a Roman centurion (Jesus healed his dying servant boy) from Matthew 8:5-13 and to a grieving widow of Nain (He raised her dead son on the way to the cemetery) from Luke 7:1-17!

A terrific study about the magnificent love in the heart...

This lesson is on Matthew 7:24-29, the final words of the Lord's great "Sermon on the Mount" in which He talks about "Two Builders".  After having given an invitation to salvation in Him with His discussion of "Two Gates" (Lesson 50) and "Two Trees" (Lesson 51), He went on to say that the person who responds to His invitation is like a wise man who builds his life on a solid foundation of rock.  The ...

In Matthew 7:15-23, the second part of Christ's "Sermon the Mount" extended invitation to salvation  (first part is found in Lesson 50 on Matthew 7:14), He gave a solemn warning about two prevalent dangers that deceive many to think they are going to Heaven, when they are actually on the broad road to destruction.  In this important, but difficult lesson to hear, entitled "The Two Trees," He warned t...

In the Lord's seventh and final section of His "Sermon on the Mount," He invites His immediate audience - and all of us - to choose between God's Way to Heaven (by God's grace through faith in Christ) or man's way to TRY to get to Heaven (by some form of a merit based works' system).  Divine accomplishment or human achievement. Grace or works.  Only God and only by His grace in sending His Son to die...