The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

In Stephen's historical narrative regarding Moses, he came to his Divine Commission at the Burning Bush.  Learn how the thorny bush is a picture of Israel!

Stephen's message about Moses was powerfully applied to the Lord Jesus and Israel's rejection of Him when he got to verses 35 to 37.  Dr. John Phillips wrote that Stephen "skillfully dropped his brush and pa...

As Stephen did with Joseph, he likewise did with Moses - he preached Christ (without mentioning His name) by his selective summation of Moses' life (his initial rejection and eventual acceptance as Israel's deliverer).  He wanted them to see that Jesus was very much the Fulfillment of Moses' words about the Messiah being "a Prophet . . . like unto me" (Deut. 18:15).

In the first 16 verses of his amazingly brilliant sermon, Stephen covered Israel's history from Abraham in Mesopotamia to Joseph in Egypt (a fascinating way to attack the Jews' proud obsession with the land, as well as their arrogance toward Jews who lived outside the land).  In his second sermon "division," he dealt with the historical period of Moses and the Law.  In verses 17 to 43, he ac...

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 unjus...

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...

This is the first of ten messages on one of the most influential men for the furtherance of the Gospel of Christ who ever lived, Stephen.  There is a reason why more information is recorded in the eternal Word of God on the martyrdom of Stephen than any other man's death except the Lord Jesus - that reason is twofold.  First, Stephen's words and witness had an IRRESISTIBLE impact on the hea...

The Early Church grows both in numbers and in spiritual maturity, which is not without it's "pains"! 

With growth by multiplication comes “growing pains”; more potential problems arise whenever bigger numbers of people are involved.  With growth, there is always the need to make adjustments; there is the need for the spiritual leadership to wisely...

In this lesson, we are brought back to the issue of whether it is right to obey God when His commandments come into direct conflict with those of men in authority over believers.  Peter and John had asked this question as they stood in trial before the High Court Council of Israel, but it had not been answered.  However, the Lord Himself answered the question through the series of events tha...

Satan's use of persecution in the arrest of Peter and James by the High Court of Israel had not worked to silence either the Apostles or the Church!  The threats of the religious rulers only succeeded in empowering and emboldening all the early believers even more than before they were persecuted!  Thus, the Evil One tried-on another disguise.  He went from being the roaring lion&n...

A very, very interesting lesson!  This is the first recorded serious intrusion of "Sin from Within" the Church!  Learn why this lesson is really "the tale of two men, Barnabas and Ananias"?

What did the married couple of this account do to cause both their lives to be taken by God Himself?  Were they saved (true believers) or unsaved?  How do Ananias ...

In this important lesson on Acts 4:23-33, we learn, by example, how a Spirit-filled Church responds to persecution!  In the previous lesson, we had an example of how Spirit-filled individual Christians respond to opponents of the Gospel.  Now, we are given the example on how the entire body of believers corporately should respond to the persecution of those in the Body of Christ, which is a...

While Peter (accompanied by John and the healed lame man) was still in the midst of his powerful second sermon (Acts 3:12-26), he was interrupted by the sudden appearance of "the priests . . . the captain of the Temple [guard] . . . and the Sadducees" (4:1).  They came to arrest both Peter and John (likely also the former lame man).  These enemies of Christ were not only furious th...

The healed lame man (see Lesson 9) was not only immediately very public about his over-flowing joy, but also about his praise to God and his thankfulness to the men the Lord used to perform his miracle.  Those men were Peter and John.  The Apostolic sign-miracle was divinely orchestrated to draw a large, very willing-to-listen crowd to whom Peter than had an opportunity to preach "The Second...

This lesson is on Acts 3:1-11, Peter's healing (with John) of a lame man (who had never walked) at the Beautiful Gate, begging for alms.  To his plea, Peter spoke the famous words, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee.  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" - and the man who had never stood on his own legs before, much less know how to walk, immedi...

From Acts 2:42-47, Luke takes us into the early life of the Church; the days and weeks that followed as the 3,120 "charter members" of the Church met together and grew, both in knowledge and in number ("deep and wide")! 

The Book of Acts is the record of the first generation of the Church and how that one generation expanded to the uttermost part of the world at that time.  If we really wan...

In the previous lesson (Lesson #6), we discussed "The First Sermon" ever preached during the God-designed period of time known as "The Church Age".  I was preached by a completely restored Peter, who now yielded a new sword, the two-edged sword of the Spirit, the only offensive weapon of the Christian warrior.  It was the "fully come" Day of Pentecost - the fulfillment of all God plann...

This lesson (from Acts 2:14-36) is our look at the first sermon of the Church Age!  It was preached by Peter, who (amazingly) only 53 days earlier had committed the greatest denial of the Lord Jesus in history (it was the greatest because it was committed by a believer - and one who had the fantastic spiritual privilege of being the leader of the Lord's Apostles).  When we hear what "foot-in...

Learn about the amazing morning when the Church was born in light of its prophetic significance!  It will amaze you how God fit everything the Jews did that day in celebration of the Feast of Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) - like read from the Books of Ezekiel and Habakkuk, which speak of whirlwind and brightness around an amber-colored fire that infolded itself,...

A great SUMMARY of the 7 GOD-GIVEN FEAST DAYS, which serve as PROPHETIC PICTURE-TYPES of the MAJOR EVENTS in His OVERALL REDEMPTION PLAN (4 Spring Feasts: Christ's First Coming / 3 Fall Feasts: His Second Coming).  The Feast of Weeks (in Hebrew, Shavuot and in Greek, Pentecost) is the fourth Spring feast given to Israel by God in Leviticus 23.  It comes 50 days after the third Spring feast,...