This last Sunday I had the privilege of starting on another Bible study at Calvary Christian Assembly in Seattle (http://www.ccassembly.org/). What a wonderful group! There were a number of us (over a hundred) who are all lovers of the Word and who love to study and discuss. Join us either in person (9:15am, Sundays, until the end of October 2011), or by following the recordings given below.
The first session was on the nature of Sin, and how it needs to be distinguished from and results in "sins".
Here are a few links, if you'd like to follow the conversation:
Subscribe to video and audio in iTunes
Subscribe to video and audio as RSS Feed
Subscribe to audio (only) in iTunes
Subscribe to audio (only) as RSS Feed
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
(Un)Limited Atonement
Had an opportunity this last Sunday to speak at Renton New Life as part of a series about Thinking Scripture - Thinking Inside the Box. Had a blast - what a great community and a great team!
A link to the audio for my talk on (Un)Limited Atonement is available at http://www.newliferenton.com/index.php?nid=14711&s=gl, as well as links to other talks in the series. We have a great God!
A link to the audio for my talk on (Un)Limited Atonement is available at http://www.newliferenton.com/index.php?nid=14711&s=gl, as well as links to other talks in the series. We have a great God!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
God's Vigor
Our conversation this morning was focused on Hebrews 11 (remember, the podcasts are available at
itpc://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=1c9436a0-d6b2-48ec-869d-ace7f4113d9c&type=mp4 for iTunes and
http://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=1c9436a0-d6b2-48ec-869d-ace7f4113d9c&type=mp4 for other RSS feed readers.
We also discussed a portion of Chesterton's book Orthodoxy, and here's the part I quoted:
Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE.
May your day be glorious and blessed!
itpc://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=1c9436a0-d6b2-48ec-869d-ace7f4113d9c&type=mp4 for iTunes and
http://panopto.northwestu.edu/Panopto/Podcast/Podcast.ashx?courseid=1c9436a0-d6b2-48ec-869d-ace7f4113d9c&type=mp4 for other RSS feed readers.
We also discussed a portion of Chesterton's book Orthodoxy, and here's the part I quoted:
Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE.
May your day be glorious and blessed!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
March 13th class; the Lewis and Clark air rifle
A reminder that we will not be meeting on Sunday, March 13th, as Rosemarie and I will be in Memphis, presenting papers at the Society for Pentecostal Studies conference.
Today's class session is now up and available (links in the Dec 19, 2010 posting on this blog). Looks like I forgot to hit the screen capture box, so that it's audio only - sorry!
Also, I had promised to provide a link to a video regarding the Girandoni air rifle used on the Lewis and Clark expedition. You can see this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI&fmt=18. If you're wondering what this has to do with Hebrews, well, the answer is not too much, directly. However, I had brought up in class that we tend to focus on things that interest us (as we see in the descriptions in Heb 9:1-5), and how in the UK they have many more periodicals than we have here in North America, with all sorts of specialized magazines. Included in these are a number on air rifles, and my rather scattered mind then turned to this video I had just seen, and I mentioned that, and now here we are, with a link in this Bible study blog. Okay, so my brain tends to do some rather random things - sorry!
Blessings on all of you!
Today's class session is now up and available (links in the Dec 19, 2010 posting on this blog). Looks like I forgot to hit the screen capture box, so that it's audio only - sorry!
Also, I had promised to provide a link to a video regarding the Girandoni air rifle used on the Lewis and Clark expedition. You can see this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI&fmt=18. If you're wondering what this has to do with Hebrews, well, the answer is not too much, directly. However, I had brought up in class that we tend to focus on things that interest us (as we see in the descriptions in Heb 9:1-5), and how in the UK they have many more periodicals than we have here in North America, with all sorts of specialized magazines. Included in these are a number on air rifles, and my rather scattered mind then turned to this video I had just seen, and I mentioned that, and now here we are, with a link in this Bible study blog. Okay, so my brain tends to do some rather random things - sorry!
Blessings on all of you!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Some truly geeky (in the best sense of the word) wedding stuff
I mentioned Jewish wedding commitments/vows in class this last session (Feb 20th), and promised I'd give a link to a website which had some material related to this. This is not a site about Jewish weddings as such, but is rather a site for Michael (Jewish) and Marina (Vietnamese) and their marriage. The overall site is http://www.mike-short.com/MnM/couple.shtml. The brief synopsis of their customs, as brought to their wedding, is at http://www.mike-short.com/MnM/traditions.shtml, and a truly wild, fully nerd-tech account of how Michael made their wedding rings, is at http://www.mike-short.com/MnM/rings.shtml. Well worth checking out!
I also commented on a terrific resource on the topic of Divorce and Remarriage in the Church, which is the title of a book by David Instone-Brewer. I highly recommend this for anyone thinking through or dealing with issues related to this. Here's an Amazon link (print and Kindle) as well as a bookfinder.com link, giving the best prices (with shipping) for new and used copies.
I also commented on a terrific resource on the topic of Divorce and Remarriage in the Church, which is the title of a book by David Instone-Brewer. I highly recommend this for anyone thinking through or dealing with issues related to this. Here's an Amazon link (print and Kindle) as well as a bookfinder.com link, giving the best prices (with shipping) for new and used copies.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Being, Doing, and Replacing the Old
We worked our way through Heb 8:8-13 today – some excellent
material came out in the discussion.
A couple of things to note:
1.
The mention of wickedness and sins in v. 12 –
interesting in that wickedness, or lack of righteousness, relates to character
and “being”, while sins, or missing of the mark, relates to activity and
“doing”. A major achievement of this new covenant, written on hearts and minds,
is that both the motivation and the ability to live correctly have been
provided for.
2.
The emphasis on the provision of a new covenant,
replacing the old and obsolete one (v. 13), would surely have been a tough sell
for an audience convinced of the durability of the law, of Torah and its
attendant structures. How poignant, then, to realize that both writings, the
prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34) and its citation by the author of Hebrews
(Heb 8:8-12), were followed by the destruction of the Temple existing at that
time. The writers could not have known that was coming, but the overall Author
surely knew how to make a point!
I love it when such insights are suggested in discussion,
and made use of some technology to immediately add this to my notes so that I
could research and explore these ideas further. For more info on what I use to keep
things current, check out the newest entry in my tech blog at http://techroadshow.blogspot.com/.
Another blog worth following (and not just because I think
the author is an incredible and lovely person, to whom I am also married!) is http://peacefulones.blogspot.com/.
Often provocative, never boring.
Yet another resource worth knowing are the sermon mp3 files
from the chapel at Northwest University, where I teach. We’re currently in a
series on Colossians, and our President, Dr. Joseph Castleberry, has preached
two excellent messages that I commend –
have a listen at http://eagle.northwestu.edu/chapel_mp3/20110204.mp3
and http://eagle.northwestu.edu/chapel_mp3/20110216.mp3.
For a chapel schedule and links to existing mp3 files, check out http://www.northwestu.edu/ministry/chapel/schedule.php.
And of course, you’re welcome to come join us. The worship is almost always
pretty exuberant!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Complete Salvation?
We discussed Heb 7:23-28 today, and a big part of the conversation was on v. 25 - "Therefore he is able to
save completely those who come to God through him,
because he always lives to intercede for them." [NIV 2010 edn.] "Completely" has a sense of "forever" (translated thus in the NASB) but also of thoroughly or fully. So why then do we still sin? It is clear from 1 John that those in the community of faith still mess up (1:8, 10), just as it's adequately clear that we also have a remedy (1:9).
I hope there are people out there willing to enter the conversation - maybe you've got an insight here that can help us understand how to better mimic our Savior? Please share it!
On a completely different topic, I've been asked for the link to my tech blog. I'm embarrassed to acknowledge how long it's been since I've posted, but I do have some cool things to share and will update and add those as I have an opportunity. Feel free to check out http://techroadshow.blogspot.com/, and if you've got some great tech ideas to share, please do so in your comments there!
blessings,
w
I hope there are people out there willing to enter the conversation - maybe you've got an insight here that can help us understand how to better mimic our Savior? Please share it!
On a completely different topic, I've been asked for the link to my tech blog. I'm embarrassed to acknowledge how long it's been since I've posted, but I do have some cool things to share and will update and add those as I have an opportunity. Feel free to check out http://techroadshow.blogspot.com/, and if you've got some great tech ideas to share, please do so in your comments there!
blessings,
w
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