First century establishment of the church

Today began the Church history class that I am teaching using Dr. Timothy Paul Jones' book, Chistian History Made Easy. This is a wonderful text - not at all dry or boring like a history text could be. The main story is told as a sort of narrative with a lot of the supporting facts and extra interesting tidbits stripped out and put in the sidebars for the reader who wants to dig deeper into something.

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Today we covered the introduction, which dealt with the questions, "What is the Church" and "Why study Church history?" We also covered the first chapter which dealt with the establishment of the Church in the first century. The following are my notes for today...

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What is the Church?

• "Body of Christ" Col 1:18
• "Bride of Christ" Eph 5:22f
• "God's household...the pillar and foundation of the truth." 1Tim 3:14-15
• "A great cloud of witnesses" Heb 12:1

Westminster COF 25.1 and 25.2

The catholic, or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one under Christ, the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body; the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

Or, as Dr. Jones puts it more concisely,

The church is the local, visible fellowship of baptized believers as well as the invisible fellowship of all God’s people, living and dead. (p143).

Reasons to study the history of the church…

• As a way to fellowship with the invisible church – like a family reunion.
• As an aid to apologetics (1Peter 3:15) and evangelism (Mat 28:19) – we learn about the different challenges and heresies faced by our predecessors and are encouraged by the examples of the saints.

Chapter 1

Who were the Christians in the first century?

• Jews thought Christians were law-breaking renegades.
• Christians thought they were "The Israel of God"(Gal 6:16)
• The Romans thought Christians were just another sect of Jews (Acts 16:19-20)

Because Judaism was a legally protected religion throughout the Empire, Christians were protected along with the Jews – for a while. Why would they need protection?

• Christianity was a new thing – which was bad in itself. (remember these were the Romans, whose Emperors commissioned their poets laureate, like Virgil, to write poetic pseudo-histories, like the Aeneid, to connect Rome's genealogy and history all the way back to the Greek gods and the heroes of the Trojan war.) These folks were not into new innovations.
• Christians rejected all other gods (including the emperor) – which didn’t win them any friends. The Romans liked to hedge their bets spiritually-speaking.
• Christian rites were widely misunderstood because of their jargon. They spoke of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a child and they referred to themselves as 'brother' and 'sister' which were sexual terms in Egypt at the time, kind like 'hot mama' and 'sugar daddy.' So people mistook them for some crazy, cannibalistic orgy cult.
• Christians challenged the social order (i.e. Philemon).

Social and political events conspired to make the Christians hated…

• Nero blamed the Christians for the great fire of AD 64
• Roman vs. Jewish political tensions erupted in rebellion and war in AD 70
• After the rebellion was put down, Jewish leaders cursed the ‘Nazarenes’ every time they prayed.

…but the Christian churches grew and flourished anyway. How could that happen?

• The real answer is found in Romans 8:28-35. But also…
• Christianity provided moral absolutes in a society tired of decadent relativism.
• Christianity offered equality and respect (i.e. Philemon, role of women).
• Christianity offered a personal relationship with a knowable God (Acts 17:22-23)

And I left folks thinking about the following question:

Sometimes the early church may have noticed that God was using social and political factors. At other times God’s work was unclear. Yet the people’s longings became opportunities for God’s work. What do people long for in our community? How (specifically and practically) can our local, visible church use these longings to help people come to know God through Jesus Christ?

Next Week - Chapter 2 - Gnosticism and Canon

Personal pet peeve

Why is it that some bible translations capitalize pronouns referring to the Deity and some do not? Having been taught that you always capitalize He, Him, and His when referring to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, this agitates me when I see it. There's probably more important things to obsess over, but still...

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For instance:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28; NIV)


And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28; NASB)

Thanksgiving

Proudly stolen from Nathan at TDA, who proudly stole it from here:

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor--and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be--That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York

the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Pres. George Washington

Strengthened by grace

This is really rich:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. (Hebrews 13:8-9; ESV)

compare this to:

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:10-11;NIV)

and:

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:27; NIV)

Just as Jesus is the affirmative answer to all of the prayers we can ever pray, Jesus has always been and always will be the daily bread that strengthens our hearts, as opposed to all the diverse and strange spiritual junk-food that ends up giving us bad hearts. Create in me a clean heart, oh God!

Mike Huckabee on evolution

This question, obviously an attempt to toss the candidate a political grenade, could not have been answered better. Bravo! Before today I knew virtually nothing positive about any of the potential candidates for President 2008, but if this is representative of this man, I may have found my candidate.

The relevence of Leviticus

When I was on the pastor nominating committee trying to locate our current pastor, I was put in charge of asking the more theological questions. One of the questions I asked was something to the effect of, “Are there any parts of the Bible that you consider to be irrelevant or out-dated for modern people or people of a different culture since it was written thousands of years ago by and for folks in the middle-east?” I would have personally voted against any pastor candidate who had said that parts of the Bible were irrelevant or out-dated.
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But I have to confess, I’ve gotten into Leviticus in my current reading and have gotten instantly bogged down. I started praying for the Holy Spirit to guide my studies and lead me to understanding of what in the world these Levitical laws have to do with anything. And guess what? The next day I stopped by the Magnolia Library, just aimlessly browsing, and on the discard shelf I found a set of bible commentaries on a variety of the books of the Bible. I bought eight bible commentaries, including Leviticus, for 25 cents apiece. That might sound sort of trite, but it sure seemed like providence to me.
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Anyway, I’m still working through Leviticus and I’m still bogged down but I’m going on the assumption that everything in the Bible is relevant and timely to me today and that everything in the Bible serves to give me a clearer picture of Jesus Christ.

Salvation, sanctification, and worldview

A Baptist buddy of mine recently emailed me a question:

I have been studying the concept of worldviews and I am asking persons from all walks of life the question: “What is the purpose of life?” You have always been somewhat of an enigma to me. So I would be interested in how you would answer this question.

...to which I responded...

ooh! I know the "right" answer because this is the first question in our catechism (shorter westminster) that we're taught as kids. Yay me, I'm Presbyterian! ;-)

Q: What is the Chief end of man?
A: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Maybe the reason I'm an enigma is because my life is often not behaviorally congruent with that. I'm not always in the Christian mode, but I'm getting better. I think folks that gripe about Christians being hypocrites dont understand that justification is instantaneous but sanctification takes a lifetime. I'm justified ("saved" to you Baptist folks) but God is still working on me. Maybe if I was smitten like Saul was on the road to Damascus (or was that Emmaus?) anyway, maybe then I could be justified and sanctified pretty near the same time, though Paul still accounted himself the "worst of sinners" even after his conversion.

As for worldview, I've had a pretty smart athiest complain to me that the "Christian worldview" doesn't make sense because there is no single, unified set of beliefs that you could call a "Christian worldview." Each Christian or sect of Christians appear to him to have widely divergent beliefs. I don't buy that. I'm sort of in the C.S. Lewis 'Mere Christianity' camp on that one. That is, there are a set of core beliefs that nearly every Christian has no problem confessing. Often individuals differ in how they understand the details, but like the Pareto principle, some 80+% of folks hold some 20% of the doctrine in common.

Worldview seems to really come down to how we behave in response to what we say we believe. If you take that core of what Christians believe in common, what does that tell you (or necessisarily infer) about how the world works and how we should behave in the world. That's the Christian worldview.

I think I'll post this to my blog (with the names removed to protect the innocent)

And he answered...

...I appreciate you answer and would agree. Again, I go back to Phil 1:6 and the idea that although we are justified at salvation, but sanctification is a lifelong process that requires my attention to the development of a deepening relationship with God.

If you take the principle worldviews that exist out there: biblical, secular, socialist, Islamic, etc. and line them up as to how they answer and deal with basic aspects of life. You will find which make sense and which don’t in terms of their consistency. People often contradict themselves in terms of their belief

Means of Grace

Last night I, along with two other men were examined by the Presbytery Organizing Commission for our new church to determine if we were elligible to be elected to the position of Elder or Deacon. The three of us did acceptably well and the commission voted to place us on the elligible list. There was only one question that was asked that completely stumped all three of us...

How would you explain the term "means of grace" to a non-Presbyterian friend who heard it in a service in the context of the Lord's Supper?

We were clueless. I stumbled through a guess but wasn't especially close. When they told us the answer it made pretty good sense - we'd just never hear the term.

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The means of grace, also known as the "ordinary means of grace," are the ordinary (usual) ways through which God graces us with his blessing. They include:

• The Holy Bible
• Prayer
• Baptism
• The Lord's Supper

I did a quick search for the term "means of grace" and found this Wikipedia article. As I understand what the Commission was telling me, the "right" answer was close to the Lutheran camp (as described in the Wikipedia article), but I can definately see the point of the extra means of grace included in the Methodist list in that article. God certainly blesses us through fasting, abstinence, Christian fellowship, etc...

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You know, a good exercise related to this would be to search the Bible for the phrases, "blessed is" and "blessed are," looking for various biblical means of grace.

Philo quote

The other day I posted a really neat quote on my martial arts blog, Mokuren Dojo.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

One of the people that is attributed as having said this is Philo of Alexandria, an interesting character in himself. Turns out he was contemporary with Jesus, and if I remember the novel correctly, Anne Rice uses Philo as Jesus' tutor when Jesus was in Egypt as a child. I don't know of any way we'll ever know for sure, but this interesting extrapolation has at least a little bit of reasonability to it.

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In any case, this is a great quote and a great rule of action. Even though the source is extrabiblical it sounds like something Jesus would have said. It would probably take me a while to do it but I bet I could find a good bit of correlation between the words of Jesus in the NT and this.

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Makes me want to read some of Philo's works...

Ordo Salutis

The Ordo Salutis (literally "order of salvation") is a theological idea that in the salvation of a man there are definite events that take place, and that they take place in a certain order. Of course, there are differing opinions amongst theologians as to how many events and what order, but this is not just a thing that theologians made up to have something to think and write about. The Ordo comes directly from Romans 8.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28f; NIV)

So, according to Paul, the order of salvation goes:

• foreknowledge
• predestination
• calling
• justification
• glorification

Some theological types add a step here or there or separate Paul's steps into multiple steps - all generally justifiable through other bible verses. Here is a discussion of the various forms of the Ordo.

But the thing that is really useful here is the assurance it gives of one's salvation. If you think about it, If you can feel any of these steps or processes at work in your life then you know the previous ones must have happened and the later steps are still to come.

Not me!

You know what is a funny phenomenon? Bias in how we perceive prejudice and evil. Most everybody is willing to admit there is evil out there, but we tend to place it elsewhere.

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For instance, it is pretty easy to find someone to express the opinion that America's public schools are dismal failures (except my school).

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A while back I read a blog by an author from Boston talking about hatred and prejudice in Mississippi and I commented and pointed out that there are hateful, evil people everywhere. As an example, I pointed to a news artcle about a recent hate crime in Boston. This blogger insisted that this was just an isolated case of individual crazy people - not systematic, institutionalized prejudice like in Mississippi.

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A couple of years ago a study was published in which a large group of cardiologists were asked if they thought there were ethnic or gender disparities in patient care. Not surprisingly, more African American and female physicians admitted that there was bias in the health care system - but guess what... They almost all said it happened somewhere else - "not in my practice."

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Well, guess what? Evil is everywhere - and it is not just the other guy's problem!

This is a pretty cool, if somewhat obscure quiz

What Scottish Presbyterian Church would you feel at home in? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Disruption Free Church You score as 'Disruption Free Church'. You think that the spiritual independence of the Church is vital, but you do not disapprove of Establishment Disruption Free Church 78% United Presbyterian 68% Reformed Presbyterian 68% Auld Kirk 55% Free Presbyterian Church 45% 18th Century 'Moderate' Auld Kirk 40%

The pope's preface

The pope's preface in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth, contains a great lesson in itself, as well as telling the reader where the author is going with the book. One of the neatest lessons in the preface is contained within the following quotes from the text. This is what the pope calls canonical exegesis.

If you want to understand the scripture in the spirit in which it was written, you have to attend to the content and unity of the scripture as a whole.

This Christological hermeneutic (method of interpretation) which sees Jesus Christ as the key to the whole scripture and learns from him how to understand the bible as a unit presupposes a prior act of faith. It cannot be the result of a purely historical method.

The really neat thing to me is how it mirrors the Westminster confession in its discussion of scrpture. See esprcially, Chapter 1, paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9. The pope and the westminster divines were saying the same thing about understanding the bible - that it is a spiritual activity ad that it must be a holistic thing, taking into acount all of scripture. This canonical exegesis is what Westminster is talking about when it says that the infallible rule of interpretation of scripture is scripture itself (WCOF I;9)

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The pope goes on to debunk the idea that the divinity of Jesus was a relatively late creation historically speaking. The idea that Jesus and his apostles did not see Jesus as divine, but at some point later on the Church created this idea to consolidate its power. The pope brings up the fact that Philippians, which is known to have been written within about 20 years of Jesus' life, contains a fully-developed Christology:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11; NIV)

So, how did such a fully developed Christology, consistent with all of the rest of scripture, come about within 20 years of the events if it was merely a manufactured myth? The pope answers...

Isn't it more logical, even historically speaking, to assume that the greatness came at the beginning and that the figure of Jesus really did explode all existing categories and could only be understood in the light of the mystery of God?

Amen, pope-man! Testify, brother!

Lamour's Education of a Wandering Man

Education of a Wondering Man is such a lovely, rambling autobiography of Louis Lamour that I can hardly tell where to begin. It is a prolonged reminiscence of books that influenced Lamour throughout his life and his remembrance of the varied times and places in which he read them. Lamour was such a fanatical reader that he averaged greater than 100 books a year from the 1930's until his death - and most all of that either nonfiction or 'high' literature. The man was voracious!

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But it is not just a bunch of lists of "I read this, then I read that." It is an treatise on how to educate oneself through reading. Lamour's lack of use for our modern idea of schooling was obvious. It was almost an unschooling book rather than a self-education or homeschooling book.

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Lamour also comes across in this book as the ultimate champion of secular humanism. he cites ideas that pretty much all of humanity's problems can be solved through better education - and that through reading. This verges on a transcendence type idea in this book.

Personally, I do not believe that the human mind has any limits but those we impose ourselves...I do not believe that man has even begun to realize who he is or what he can become...

Several times throughout the book, I got to wondering what such a well-read man thought of the bible, or what his relationship to Christianity was, when all of a sudden, he answered that directly. He appeared to place all religious texts on the same level as other literature. I can't find the quote right now, so I'll paraphrase...

I have read the Christian Bible several times and found it instructive. I have also read the Koran and it was useful too.

While I obviously don't agree with these ideas there is a lot that is instructive in the book. It is a charming memoir of a mind-bogglingly well-read man. The tone of the book is that of slow, patient, patronly instruction. I'd recommend reading it.

If you're interested in picking up a copy, please check out my Amazon store...

Jesus of Nazareth

I am reading a wonderful book by the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church, Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger). The book is titled Jesus of Nazareth and it is surprising, at least to me, in a lot of ways. First of all, the mere fact that the book exists is surprising to me. I can't remember former popes publishing in popular, mainstream venues. But then again, I probably just don't know about all the other popes and the books they've written.

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As you start into the book, Ratzinger makes it clear that anyone in the world is welcome to disagree with him on the topics discussed in the book, so long as they disagree in good will. A pleasant nod to papal fallibility.

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The book keeps coming back around to what appears to be its central topic The historical fact of Jesus - that Jesus is who the bible says he is - not who the liberal modern scholars say he may have been like (or what they would like him to be like).

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The combination of the following things make for a very good read and a refreshing biblical theological message.

• Ratzinger, one of the best-trained theologians in the world with the complete backing of the Roman Catholic Church and the virtually unlimited scholarly resources making a conservative statement about the historicity and reliability of the Holy Bible's account of our savior's life.
• The willingness of the head of the Roman Catholic church to engage the rest of the world in a theological conversation from a position of, if not equal standing, at least collegiality. The tone of dialogue rather than of infallible papal bull.
• The ecumenical tone of the book. Ratzinger quotes C.S. Lewis (Episcopalian) and makes positive or at least neutral references to scholarship coming out of the eastern Church. This book has a tone of catholicism (with a little-c) rather than Catholicism (with a Capital-C).
• Neither last nor least, the wonderful, educational homilies related to Christ's life.

Highly Recommended. I can't wait to get back to it. It's one of the few theological books that reads like a novel without being watered-down pap. If a theology book can be a page-turner this one is.

Can't we just stay here in Gilead?

Yesterday I thought both sermons (morning and evening) were excellent. Lane is doing a series in the mornings of what the bible has to say to us about elders and deacons. In the evenings he is going through the beginning of Joshua, using that as a concrete example of a church leader. Both series are excellent (I wish he'd publish his sermons on the web in MP3 or PDF format - hint hint) but I'm really looking forward to the talks on Joshua.

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Yesterday evening he worked through Joshua 1:10 and following:

And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, "Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, 'Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.'"
And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, "Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.' Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise."
And they answered Joshua, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses! Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous."

In the first part of this passage, Joshua was telling the people to get ready to take a leap of faith. They had no visible means of crossing the Jordan but they were to prepare to cross it within three days. "Get ready for a miracle and get ready RIGHT NOW!" The point that Lane siphoned out of this is a good one, "Be ready to move when the LORD moves."

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The second part of this really stands out to me, and always has. The two-and-a-half tribes had whined to Moses in Numbers 32, "Please let us stay in Gilead. Don't make us cross over the river. We've had it with this awful pilgrimage and we're fine right where we are." Needless to say, Moses was frightfully wroth. He told them they were lazy (just like their no-good parents) and that there was no way they were going to sit on their butts on this side of the river while their brothers were fighting the Canaanites on the other side of the river. They struck up a deal with Moses that they'd help their brothers fight over the river if they just didn't have to move their stuff any more. I personally understand this after having moved 6 times in 5 years. I might have sat on the shores of Gilead and whined too.

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Anyway, Moses died and left Joshua in command and he held the two-and-a-half tribes to their deal they'd made with Moses. As awful as war is, and as bombarded as we are these days with the apparently inept workings of our leaders in our current war, This passage really stands out to me in favor of the idea of Just War Theory. There are times and situations when it is inexcusable to sit in safety and comfort when our brothers are in trouble across the river. In such case we have to get off our butts, take up swords, and go across the river to help our brothers. Then when we have secured our brothers' lands we can return to our comfort.

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Now, of course in the above passage, you might argue that these were true blood relatives - family members that Joshua was commanding the two-and-a-half tribes to fight for. But if you don't think we should go across the river to help folks that are not our own people, read Luke 10:25-37.

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The really neat thing about the third part of this passage is that the people are encouraging Joshua just like God Himself encouraged Joshua. They tell him to be strong and courageous. "Don't worry, Joshua. It looks tough but you're God's man and we will follow you. Be strong! don't worry!" Compare Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, and 18.

New material

Watch out - I'll be having some new material to write about on this blog in the near future. I'm currently reading Louis Lamour's autobiographical Education of a Wandering Man, which is wonderful! i've also got a copy of The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn and On Self Reliance by Emerson. Lamour would have been proud of me. I got these books for ten cents a piece at a used book market!

Orthodoxy and canon

An odd point stuck in my mind during the evening service yesterday. Probably not the central point of his talk, but it stuck nonetheless..

Lane made the point that because we were in a denomination in which the Bible is believed to be inspired and inerrant, we must study and figure out how to make the Bible apply to our lives. How to conform ourselves to the scripture and be transformed by it (as in Romans 12:2). This is not the exact phrasing he used. He said it better. But the interesting part was that his phrasing reminded me of a paragraph in Adler & Van Doren's excellent book, How To Read A Book in the section on 'how to read canonical books.'.

They make the point that anytime there is a canon (literally measuring rod, norm or rule), there is a right reading of it (literally Orthodoxy). Just like there is a correct way to read any measuring device. The interpretation of canon is not left up to opinion. Adherents that beleve that the canon is an inspired rule are bound to read it with the purpose of trying to transform themselves to fit it rather than attempting to transform their interpretation of scripture to fit their whims. As Adler puts it...

The faithful reader of a canonical book is obliged to make sense out of it and to find it true...He reads essentially without freedom; but in return he gains a kind of satisfaction that is possibly never obtained when reading other books.

And speaking of measuring things (canon), don't you love this picture?

Layout changes

I figure to change the blog layout a little. I'll be posting the Scripture memory of the week in the header above so that it is always at hand, just like Deuteronomy 11:18-20 says:

...bind [these words] as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes... teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates...

Awesome song

The Fruits of the Spirit - not the Grapes of Wrath

Last week during church service, I'd given each of my kids a few quarters to put in the offering plate. We sat on the front row and Whit gave his, then Knox gave his, then it was Quin's turn. He dug down in his pocked and fished out a grape. The guy holding the collection plate thought that was cute and laughed. Quin fished around in his pocket again and pulled out... another grape. By this time the guy with the collection plate was getting behind and started to go on to the next row, but Quin told him to wait. Quin went into his pocket again and out came a third grape. The first grape fell on the floor and rolled away and Quin had to go get it. I held his grapes while he finally dug his quarters out and put them in the plate. Quin carefully took his grapes back and put them back in his pocket.
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I told the guy with the collection plate that those were the Fruits of the Spirit. We're all still laughing about that one.

Breaking the third commandment

Paraphrased, the third commandment says, “Do not take the Lord’s name in vain” (Exodus 20:7, Deuteronomy 5:11). Typically, in common use, perhaps especially in the South and in the Bible Belt, this has been taken to mean do not swear or curse. Frequently it is specifically used as an injunction against the particularly vile curse, “G__D___.”
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This common understanding of the third commandment makes some sense based upon other scriptural references, like Proverbs 17:27, Proverbs 21:23, Ecclesiastes 3:7, James 1:26, and 1Peter 3:10) But I think that interpreting Exodus 20:7 to simply mean, “do not curse” is taking the easy way out. A lot of young people take a while to realize that swearing is not cool, and some people never outgrow it, but most are able to temper their tongues at least somewhat by the time they are young adults.
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The Third commandment is not just an injunction against swearing.
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What does it mean to take the Lord’s name? When Abraham’s descendants said, “we are God’s people” (e.g. Judges 20:2, 2Samuel 14:13, Hebrews 4:9, etc…) they were taking the Lord’s name, just as a bride takes her husband’s name. Similarly, when followers of Jesus identify themselves as Christians (e.g. Acts 26:28, 1Peter 4:16, etc…) they are taking the Lord’s name.
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How does that become an act of vanity? When our lives are such poor examples that we make the Lord ashamed to be called our God as in Hebrews 11:15-16. So, how do we shame God?
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Jesus condensed all the Law and Prophets into the great commandments and the great commission. We are to love the Lord and love other people (Mark 12:28-34), evangelize, baptize, and teach (Matthew 28:16-20).
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When we make such bad examples of ourselves that other people see us and say, “I’d rather die than be a hypocrite like those Christians,” we take the Lord’s name in vain, and we also are violating all of the teachings of the Law and Prophets because it makes us worse than non-productive in the kingdom of God. It makes us counter-productive to the Great Commission.

...let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16; ESV)

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1Peter 2:12; ESV)

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15:8; ESV)

When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Matthew 9:8; ESV)

...in Christ Jesus...

Yesterday I was chatting with Lane about a curious phrase that pops up in the epistles a lot, "...in Christ Jesus." Sometimes the meaning of the sentence is clear but often, this phrase seems to be tacked ontothe end of a sentence and seems to add no meaning. For instance...

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

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do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phillipians 4:6-7)

The phrase "in Christ Jesus" does not really make good English sense in this context. Well Lane pointed out that the preposition "in" in the Greek is sort of vague, and can mean lots of things, including in, on, by, through, etc... In other words, it can signify position (in, on, by, etc...) or enabling (through, by, etc...). So the implication of the phrase could be that Christ Jesus enables us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, etc...

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Lane didn't really feel like he gave me a good answer. He thought it was vague. We decided not to get side-tracked by a preposition. But the more I think about it, the more I think that phrase might be the key to the whole thing. After all, Christ is supposed to be the key to the message of the Bible.

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Lane pointed me to another scripture that really gave this "in Christ Jesus" phrase meaning...

I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:16-20)

This really struck me as awesome the more I thought on it. A while back I posted on God's various ways of answering prayers, including "No, I love you too much to do that." But here it says that God does not vascillate or equivocate, answering "Yes, but No" at the same time. In fact, he doesn't even ever answer prayer, "no." All of his answers are, "yes" (see also, Matthew 7:7).

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And not only that, but this passage tells us that God's "yes" answer to us is Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is the affirmative answer to all of our prayers. Everything that we could possibly need and ask for in prayer has already been given to us by God in Christ Jesus.

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So, the phrase 'in Christ' in the above passages seems to signify that when God sent Jesus, he was answering all the prayers we could ever pray and that Christ is the enabler of all these things (rejoicing, praying without ceasing, giving thanks, not worrying, being at peace, etc...)

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Exciting!!!

So, how did they decide on the canon anyway?

The other day at the High Noon men's study, we were discussing the first chapter of the Westminster Confession. The chapter on scripture. We were talking about how the canonical scriptures came to be accepted as canon. Lane correctly made the point, and Westminster backs him up, that there is no way to prove that scripture is inspired, inerrant, etc... That it is the working of the Holy Spirit that convinces each man of the inspiration of scripture.

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But it's not like a group of old dead saints just got together and each chose five personal favorite texts to include in the Bible. There were several rules that they followed when they chose the books that were eventually canonized.

• The Rule of Internal Consistency - says that a document must not contradict itself. If you were to find a document that said that it was written during the reign of a certain known king but it quotes (not prophesies) later events, that document would lack internal consistency. All of the books of the canonical bible are perfectly internally consistent.


• The Rule of External Consistency - says that a document must not contradict other texts that are already considered canon. All of the books of the Christian canon are perfectly in accord with each other.


• Aristotle's Dictum - says that if you think there is an inconsistency or inaccuracy in a text but you think you may not understand the context perfectly, you have to give the benefit of the doubt to the text. An imperfect individual cannot declare the Bible to be in error based on his own limited understanding of it.


• The Bibliographic Rule - says that you want to use texts as close to the source as possible to avoid error. Texts were selected for the canon that had some direct tie to the apostles of Jesus because they were first-hand witnesses. Most of the NT canon was written within one lifetime of the events that took place. The Dead Sea scrolls demonstrated that the OT canon had not changed appreciably in 1000 years, lending validity to it based on the bibliographic rule.

...but he lingered...

I was reading Genesis last night and it occurred to me that It's really neat how you see something different each time you read through a given story. Even when you've read and heard the story a million times. Last night I read about Lot's flight from the destruction of Sodom. The really funny thing is, even after he was told by the two angels of the Lord, "You'd better run, we're about to bomb this town back into oblivion," (Genesis 19:12) he tarried until the angels had to physically take him and drag him out of the town (Genesis 19:15-16).

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What kind of numbskull lays around after a warning like that?

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Well, I suppose there are times in all of our lives that God has to forcibly drag us kicking and screaming out of a bad situation. This seems to me to be a great example of unmerited, irresistable grace. Isn't our God great, to be willing to drag sinners as screwed up and unwilling as us into sanctification?

The Balm in Gilead

Here is another old song that recurs in my memory from time to time, though it is not commonly sung in church anymore. For some reason it is such a striking song to me that I can (I think) recall the 1-2 times that it has been sung in church in the last 20 years. Here is a version of it I found by Karen Clark-Sheard. She really kicks it up a notch!

There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole,there is a balm in Gilead, to heal the sinsick soul. There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead, to heal the sinsick soul. Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work's in vain, but then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again. If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul, you can tell the love of Jesus, and say, "He died for all."

The Spirit in man

We decided to do a shorter, easier memory verse this coming week since the previous couple of weeks were long, more involved ones.

But it is the Spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. (Job 32:8; ESV)

This verse really points in my mind to Psalm 51:10-12:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

I've done better lately about treating my regular Bible reading as a special, spiritual exercise and have taken the time to pray and invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit in reading and understanding God's word and you know what - it really works! I've felt like my Bible reading has been a completely different thing for me lately. I have felt that I've been under the tutorship and guidance of the Spirit in my reading and study. Amazing thing!

If you are interested in making this change in your Bible reading, this is how I am doing it. Treat it like teaching yourself to wear a seatbelt. Try to remember to pray before ever opening the Bible (put your seatbelt on before ever starting the car). If you forget and begin your reading, when you remember, shut the Book (stop the car), pray, and then continue with your reading. Pray for the Spirit to stay with you like in Psalm 51 and to tutor you and guide your thoughts and help you understand, like in Job 32:8. Ask and it (the presence of the holy Spirit) will be given to you (Matt 7:7).

Prayer calendar for our kids

The following is a prayer calendar adapted from a Pray magazine article written by Bob Hostetler. It's been circulated a good bit in various forms on the Net. This particular one came from http://www.eastbrookchurch.org/pray_children.htm.

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Using this calendar will help you to pray thirty-one different biblical virtues into your children. Use it as a guide each month, combining some of the traits for months which do not have thirty-one days. Claim and believe that GOD is working each one, of these virtues into your children's lives.

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I will be circulating a similar form of this at church starting this Sunday. The parents of our youth will get one, as will any other interested people. Our youth crave and covet your prayers. It is the one thing we need most from you. Remember - the character of our children tomorrow is shaped by what they learn from us today. Please pray with us and pray for us.

1. Salvation. "Lord, let salvation spring up within my children, that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory" (Isaiah 45:8, 2 Timothy 2:10.

2. Grow in grace. "I pray that my children may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3: 18).

3 . Love. "Grant, Lord, that my children may learn to live a life of love, through the Spirit who dwell in them" (Galatians 5:25, Ephesians 5:2).

4. Honesty and integrity. "May integrity and honesty be their virtue and their protection" (Psalm 25:21).

5. Self -control. "Father, help my children not to be like many others around them, but let them be alert and self-controlled in all they do" (I 'Thessalonians 5:6).

6. Love for God's Word. "May my children grow to find Your Word more precious than much pure gold and sweeter than honey from the comb" (Psalm 19: 1. 0).

7. Justice. "God, help my children to love justice as You do and act justly in all they do" (Psalm 11:7, Micah 6:8).

8. Mercy. "May my children always be merciful, just as their Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

9. Respect (for self, others. authority). "Father, grant that my children may show proper respect to everyone, as your Word commands" (I Peter 2:17).

10. Biblical self -esteem. "Help my children develop a strong self-esteem that is rooted in the realization that they are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus"(Ephesians 2: 10).

11. Faithfulness. "Let love and faithfulness never leave my children, but bind these twin virtues around their necks and write them on the tablet of their hearts" (Proverbs 3:3).

12. Courage. "May my children always be strong and courageous in their character and in their actions" (Deuteronomy 3-1:6).

13. Purity. "Create in them a pure heart, 0 God, and let that purity of heart be shown in their actions" (Psalm 51: 10).

14. Kindness. "Lord, may my children always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else" (I Thessalonians

15. Generosity. "Grant that my children may be generous and willing to share, and so lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age" (I Timothy 6:18-19).

16. Peace-Loving. "Father, let my children make every effort to do what leads to peace" (Romans 14:19).

17. Joy. "May my children be filled with the joy given by the Holy Spirit" (I Thessalonians 1-.6).

18. Perseverance. "Lord, teach my children perseverance in all they do, and help them especially to run with perseverance the race marked out for them" (Hebrews 12:1).

19. Humility. "God, please cultivate in my children the ability to show true humility toward all" (Titus 3:2).

20. Compassion. "Lord, please clothe my children with the virtue of compassion" (Colossians 3:12).

21. Responsibility. "Grant that my children may learn responsibility, for each one should carry his own load" (Galatians 6:5).

22. Contentment. "Father, teach my children the secret of being content in any and every situation, through Him who gives them strength" (Philippians 4:12-13).

23. Faith. "I pray that faith will find mot and grow in my children's hearts, that by faith they may gain what has been promised to them" (Luke 17:5-6, He- brews I 1; 1-40).

24. A servant's heart. "God, please help my children develop servants hearts, that they may serve wholeheartedly, as if they were serving the Lord, not men" (Ephesians 6:7).

25. Hope. "May the God of hope grant that my children may overflow with hope and hopefulness by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

26. Willingness and ability to work. 'Teach my children, Lord, to value work and to work at it with all their heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (Colossians 3:23).

27. Passion for God. "Lord, please instill in my children a soul that 'followeth hard after thee' (Psalm 63:8, KJV) one that clings passionately to you.

28. Self -discipline. "Father, I pray that my children may acquire a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair" (Proverbs 1:3).

29. Prayerfulness. "Grant, Lord, that my children's lives may be marked by prayerfulness, that they may learn to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests" (Ephesians 6:18)

30. Gratitude. "Help my children to live lives that are always overflowing with thankfulness and always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20, Colossians 2:7).

31. A heart for missions. "Lord, please help my children to develop a desire to see your glory declared among the nations, your marvelous deeds among all peoples" (Psalm 96:3).

Job's hell on earth

I'm reading Job right now in my daily chronological Bible reading. I don't enjoy Job. Much of it I don't understand, so I pray for the Holy Spirit to open up the meaning of the scriptures to me and help me to understand.

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Then this morning something occurrs to me. I don't want to understand Job. Job was literally in a hell of a time in his life. Satan was gunning directly for Job simply in order to show God up (Job 1:8-12) and Job had lost all his wealth and all of his family (Job 1:13-20) except for his wretched wife (Job 2:9). His friends were awful to him (Job 16:2) to the point that he said, "I despise my life." (Job 9:21)

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What's worse, Job takes place post-fall and pre-law, which means that his relationship with God was ruined before he was even born and Moses had not yet brought the Law to provide a way for him to have a relationship with God - or even to highlight the need and the hope for a Savior. Job had no hope and could have no hope. The same must have been true for all the people in this in-between period. They were living in spiritual limbo. All their lives were hell on earth!

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:12-14)

God help me if I ever grow to understand Job's plight in more than an intellectual sense! You have to be careful what you pray for (Matthew 7:7). This story of Job highlights the awesome thing that God did for us through Christ. We must thank and praise Him for this.

Put your hand in the hand of the Man

This is cool. Every so often this song pops into my mind from when we used to sing it 25 years ago in youth group. Today It popped in there out of the blue and I looked it up on the net. Give it a listen (click on the picture above or on the link below) and see don't you end up humming it for the rest of the day.

Put Your Hand in the Hand

More great hints on Scripture Reading

http://members.aol.com/rbiblech/MiscDoctrine/Helphints.htm

Memory verses

This week's memory verse comes from the beginning of Psalms, and deals with the reason we're doing this emphasis on Bible reading, prayer, and scripture memory in the first place.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

Next week's verse is going to be on the same theme, and is going to be a long one, so you may want to get a head start.

Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates... (Deuteronomy 11:18-20).

And the previous weeks verses...

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2; NKJV)
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Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1st Thessalonians 5:16-18, NKJV)
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Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7, NKJV)

New ESV Bible

This weekend I got a new Bible for myself. For a while I've had a creeping discomfort with study bibles in general. It is really easy to get distracted and spend a lot more time reading about the Bible than you spend actually reading the word of God.

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For that reason, I purchased a new ESV bible in 2-column format with a center column of cross references and a little bit of concordance and map section at the end. The complete lack of study notes helps keep me from getting distracted and the concordance helps finding half-remembered passages. The cross-references allow you to use the Bible as its own commentary anyway - you know, let Scripture interpret Scripture.

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An added benefit of a non-study bible is that a bible that is studded with lots of commentary and essays and chapter notes, etc... can be incorrectly proportioned. For example, on day-one of bible school long ago, you learnt that Psalms is right in the middle of the Bible and you learnt how far back you have to open the book to find the New Testament. Well, in a study Bible the proportions of the pages can be all wrong. Psalms may not be in the middle. So finding your way around can be harder.

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I still like my old Reformation Study Bible (though I'm not really hip on the NKJV's lack of readability), and I also like Zondervan's NIV Study Bible for the notes and essays. But for my dollar, a non-study Bible seems better.

Memory Verses

Memory verse of the week is in red. Previous weeks below in black letters for review.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2; NKJV)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1st Thessalonians 5:16-18, NKJV)

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7, NKJV)

How to Study the Bible

So, we've been talking about sanctification. Specifically about getting better at prayer and scripture reading so that we can be transformed into people who will be useful in God's plan. This week we're getting into how to study the Bible. Most of the following is excerpted from a five-part radio address by Dr. Chuck Missler of Koinonia House Ministries. The link is at the bottom if you want to check it out.

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The Bible is not one big book – It is 66 books of diferent kinds written in Hebrew and Greek over the course of thousands of years by about 40 people. But, it has one unified message (Jesus Christ) that is spread throughout it. The OT points forward through time toward Jesus, while the NT points backward through time toward Jesus.

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Prerequisites for effective Bible Study

You must already be a Christian. If you have not been saved then Bible study will be an intellectual exercise instead of a spiritual one. You can learn a lot about the Bible but this is not the purpose of Bible study. The purpose is to fall in love with God’s word and let it work its spiritual power on your mind and your life.

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:3-6, NIV)

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:14, NIV)

The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: " 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Mat 13:10-17, NIV)

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." (Mat 16:23, NIV)

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8, NIV)

Always start and end with prayer. Since this is a spiritual exercise, we need the guidance of the author of the scriptures, through the Holy Spirit. Don’t open or close your Bible without praying for guidance.

But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. (Job 32:8, NIV)

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Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared (Psalm 119:33-38; NIV)

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A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears. (Isaiah 11:1-3; NIV)

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Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. (Luk 24:45; NIV)

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Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (2Tim 2:7; NIV)

Prepare to surrender yourself. You have to be willing and ready to put the spiritual lessons you learn into practice in your own life right away. Throughout the Old Testament you can see this pattern at work; call-obedience-revelation.

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. (Gen 12:1-4; NIV)

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And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. (Acts 20:22-23; NIV)

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Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. (Romans 6:16-17; NIV)

Pitfalls

Avoid paralysis by analysis. Watch that you don’t get into an intellectual game of taking the scripture apart to the point that you can’t put it back together again. Read and study the Bible to get it’s message. Don’t get so deep into analysis that you don’t enjoy falling in love with the message and its author.

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Avoid arrogant skepticism. Watch out for so-called scholars that try to analyze one part of the Bible but just create doubt about another part. Like whether or not Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Some scholars will say he couldn’t have, but Jesus explicitly says he did (Mat 8:4; Mat 19:7; Mark 7;10). This sort of thing tears down the credibility of part of the scriptures in order to try to gain understanding of another part.

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Hints

• Study your Bible when you are at your best – when you’re mentally sharp and undisturbed. (Exo 22:29)
• Approach the bible like a child, not to prove a point or using worldly wisdom. (Prov 3:5; Mat 18:3)
• Strive for balance. Read in context and allow the scriptures to interpret themselves.
• Get breadth by reading through the whole bible regularly. You might go from front to back or chronologically or break it into pieces so that you get some OT and some NT and some poetry each day. Don’t get stuck on the parts you don’t understand but read for the big picture. Do this every day.
• Get depth by picking a book and studying it deeply. Follow all the cross-references and read related material like commentaries and study notes. Do this every day.
• Occasionally you may want to do special topical studies or word studies to deepen your understanding.

Good places to start

• In the beginning – Genesis
• The answers at the end of the book – Revelation
• A small book you can wrap your head around – Jude, 2nd or 3rd John,
• Stories about what Jesus did (Mark) or said (John)
• A book with a lot of action – Acts
• An amazing prophecy – Daniel

We will be selecting a book of the Bible to begin our book-by-book exploration - so pray about it and figure out which you'd like to see us work on first...

Other resources

• Koinonia House Ministries http://www.k-house.org/.
• John MacArthur http://www.gty.org/resources.php?section=articles&aid=231240

Why didn't i think to say it like that?

Our teen sunday school class is currently working on the idea that prayer and scripture reading are part of the sanctification process, in which God makes you ready to serve his purpose for you. We talked about how prayer and scripture reading and scripture memorization mold your mind along lines that God wants. Today I came across perhaps the perfect verse to support that...

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2, NKJV)

Certainy one of the more often-quoted verses in the New testament - especially with it being R.C. Sproul's slogan for Ligonier Ministries. Why didn't I think to say it like that, or at least to cite that verse? I guess because I'm not Paul!

But it is exactly what I was talking about. reading scripture and praying and memory work renews your mind and transforms your whole self so that you can figure ut what God wants you to do (...prove what is good and acceptable and perfect...) and get on the track that God wants you on!

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Memory verses

Today begins the second week of the memory verse of the week. The teens that showed up today pretty much had the first one down. I even enlisted one of my coworkers in the scripture memory plan. Here's this week's and last week's (you have to keep up with all previous verses - not just this week's.)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1st Thessalonians 5:16-18, NKJV)

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7, NKJV)

Great song

Thanks, Maggie for pointing me at this. It is so cute and awesome I had to paste it to my blog too.

Prayer gets answered, right?

We’re supposed to pray. It’s part of what Christians do that makes us Christian.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1st Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

God answers prayer, right? A couple of weeks ago we talked about how St. Augustine’s mom prayed so long and so hard that it turned her whole family’s life around. The bible also assures us that we’re not just talking to ourselves. Prayer gets answered.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:13-18)

At that time Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel. (Joshua 10:12-14)

Sometimes it seems like our prayers are not as effective as these we see in James and Joshua. Why is it the bible says things like Matthew 7:7 and Matthew 18:19 and Matthew 16:19 when we don’t always seem to get what we want?

The following are several ways that Luis Palau says he has seen God answer prayer. Check out the whole article here. There are some good stories at this website of how God has answered prayers in each of the following ways:

• "No, I love you too much."
• ”Yes, but you’ll have to wait.”
• "Yes, but quite different from how you thought I would answer."
• "Yes, and here's more!"
• "Yes, I thought you'd never ask."

When we were discussing these, a couple of great biblical stories about prayer came up. First, compare Jeremiah 42:7 and Jeremiah 21:3 and you can see that sometimes prayer is answered right away and sometimes you have to persist in prayer for a while. Another great example is the parable of the unrighteous judge and the persistent widow.

One final hint:

We talk to God when we pray.

God talks back to us when we read the bible.

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More good websites on this topic:

• http://www.everystudent.com/wires/prayers.html
• http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/does_god_answer_prayers.shtml

Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage,

And the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

“Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision.

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,

And distress them in His deep displeasure:

“Yet I have set My King

On My holy hill of Zion.”

“I will declare the decree:

The LORD has said to Me,

‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

Ask of Me, and I will give You

The nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth for Your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron;

You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

Now therefore, be wise, O kings;

Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

Serve the LORD with fear,

And rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Psalm 2 is ascribed to David in the Book of Acts and is also described as the second Psalm, indicating that the ordering of the Psalms is at least somewhat constant.

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'--(Act 4:24-26, ESV)
.
But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, "'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.' (Act 13:30-33, ESV)