The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

In this lesson, we discuss the second phase of the Lord's calling to His disciples.  They had been called to salvation; now they were called to service.  On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Christ called on Peter, Andrew, James, and John to leave behind their careers as fishers of fish and become, instead, fishers of men!

We discuss some very interesting "Basic Princip...

With this lesson, the Lord moved from His "Year of Obscurity" into His "Year of Open Popularity"!  He began this next year of His 3-year ministry by returning in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.  He was ready to establish Himself in the province where He spent most of His Childhood and early Manhood.  

This study includes the Lord's healing of the Capernaum noblem...

This is the continuation of our study of John chapter 4 and the Lord's fantastic conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well.  When she comes to realize Who Jesus is, she forgets her waterpot as she races back to her village of Sychar to tell her fellow citizens (even though they held her in great scorn) about the One she had just met; the One Who knew all about her; the One Who very well might ...

This is one of the most marvelous episodes in the record of Christ's ministry!  Oh, how it shows us His amazing ability to witness and draw people to Himself with His gentle manner, but His blunt exposure of one's sin.  He shows us that God truly is no respecter of persons, for He completely disregarded the sex barrier, the social barrier, and the Samaritan barrier (all of which were sinful barriers ...

In this lesson, we consider John the Baptist's last testimony to Christ's Deity.  His ministry is completed after this final scene.  He decreased, while the Lord would keep increasing - just as the Old Covenant decreased (ended), while the New Covenant increased (Hebrews 8:13).  This study of John 3:22-36 serves as a "bridge" between the Baptist and Christ.  As the Baptist's ministry was to point Isra...

It was during a nighttime interview with a prestigious Pharisee of the Sanhedrin Council of Israel that the Son of God delivered the salvation message concerning the spiritual New Birth and how it works!

The words of Christ in John chapter 3 are the most important He spoke because they tell us how to enter the ultimate, supreme Kingdom of the spiritual and eternal - the ...

Did you know that a number of the early Church "fathers" considered the Lord's single-handed cleansing of the Temple as one of the greatest "miracles" of His entire public ministry?  Did you know that His zealous act fulfilled two specific Messianic Old Testament prophecies (Malachi 3:1-3; Psalm 69:9)?  Did you know that on the Lord's first visit to Jerusalem in His official earthly ministry He predic...

Anyone honestly investigating the matter of Christ's Deity needs to carefully examine both His words and His works.  His works (miracles) demonstrated His Deity in that they displayed His absolute authority over every realm of life: nature, Satan and the demons, sickness, disease, deformities, and death itself.  His miracles not only testified of His Person; they also confirmed the truth of His procla...

Having discussed how Heaven's dove fell (Christ's baptism-lesson 11) and how Hell's devil failed (Christ's temptation-lesson 12), we turn in this lesson to a look at how Earth's disciples followed!  After having seen to it that His Son was publicly identified to Israel, which John the Baptist did when he identified Christ as "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29), God began to see to it that His Son was privat...

Whereas the baptism of Christ declared His royalty, the temptation of Christ demonstrated His royalty!  It was in a desolate and dangerous wilderness that Jesus first demonstrated His power over evil, for it was there He faced the full force of Satan's masterful deception and yet remained untainted from the battle!  By His victory over temptation (even in a weakened Human condition), He accredited Him...

This is the lesson in which we come to the event that launched the Lord's earthly ministry - His water baptism.  He was 30 years old.  He had supported His widowed mother as the son of His earthly, step-father until His brothers were able to assume responsibility and His sisters were likely married.  He was ready to fulfill His obligations to the whole world as the Son of His heavenly Father!  After ...

In this second part of a two-part study entitled, we look at a "sermon" given by the fearless, faithful, Spirit-filled John the Baptist in which he denounced the self-righteous, hypocritical religious rulers who came to the Jordan River to "check him out".  He immediately confronted them for the fake religionists they were, calling them a "generation of vipers"!  He did not pull any punches.  He did ...

Before getting into a discussion of the bold Baptist, we discuss those he confronted and described as "fruitless vipers".  We learn of the various religious and political sects of Israel at the time of Christ.  That may sound "boring" to some, but it is actually quite interesting, as well as needful to know because it helps us better understand their various interactions with Christ, Rome, and with o...

In ancient times, it was common for a herald to precede the arrival of a reigning king.  Along with a contingent of royal servants, the herald would make sure the roadways were smooth and as straight as possible, that obstacles were removed, and roads were safe from highway robbers and wild animals.  As the herald inspected the roads, he was also busy proclaiming to the people of the land that king w...