The Church of Christ

Greetings to all my family and friends out there! I intended to write this blog post a few days ago, but things keep on getting in the way. No excuses. OK. Here it is.

One of the courses we took this past semester at Sunset International Bible Institute was on The Church of Christ. This was one of my favorite classes. In it we learned the uniqueness of the church of Christ, its fundamentals, and just how the church is supposed to work.

We learned there is a pattern that Paul picked up from Jesus. Paul kept them and passed down to the churches he planted. Those churches, in turn, were to keep that pattern, and keep on passing it down. For example, in 1st Corinthians 11:1 Paul told the brethren there that they were keeping the pattern he gave them of regularly meeting together on the first day of the week and of taking the Lord’s Supper.  In 1st Corinthians 4:17, Paul told them he would send Timothy to them, and he would remind them of all that Paul taught them. All of those were the exact same things he taught in every church. So we see there is a pattern of teaching that must be held on to.

We learned about elders, deacons, and evangelists. Elders have the special work of overseeing the church, shepherding the church. There are three Greek words that talk about and describe elders and their work. In Acts 20:28 we see all three words. Elders are to “keep watch” over themselves and the church to which God set them to be watch over. The Holy Spirit set them to be “overseers”, to watch over the church. And elders are to “be shepherds” and protect the church. Remember the shepherd imagery in Psalm 23? God protects His sheep with his staff and rod. In John 10 Jesus showed Himself to be the Shepherd for His sheep.

Those Greeks we talked about in Acts 20:28 are the same ones we see in 1st Peter 5:1-2. Peter writes to his fellow elders urging them to shepherd God’s flock, to protect their sheep. They are to serve as overseers, watching over the sheep God set them over, to watch after them and protect them.

In this course we learned the importance of baptism. Our word “baptize” is really a transliteration, rather than a translation of the Greek word baptizo. Our teacher suggested (and I whole-heartily agree with him on this) the word should have been translated “immerse”. The word carries the meaning of submerge and overwhelm. The New Testament talks a lot about baptism. From when Jesus was baptized in the early parts of Matthew (3:13-17), Mark (1:9-11), and Luke (3:21-22); Peter teaching the Jewish crowd in Acts (2:14-41); and throughout the book of Acts (10:23-48, 16:29-34, among others). There is also a lot of baptismal imagery through out the New Testament. For example, in Romans 6:1-14. This whole section pictures baptism as a burial underneath water. In 1st Corinthians 1:13 Paul tells the Corinthian brethren not to divide over personalities, because they were not baptized into Paul’s name, nor Peter’s, nor Apollos’. They were joined together in Christ, therefore they belong to Jesus, not to any human. And in Ephesians 5:25-26, Paul is talking husbands loving their wives as Jesus His church; because Jesus washes and cleanses His church, His bride with the waters of baptism.

There was so much more that we learned from this class. The Church Christ was definitely one of my favorite courses. I learned so much in it!

Thank you all so much for reading today. God bless you all! Grace and Peace.

Hebrews

Greetings to my family and friends! I’m so sorry I have not written a blog post in so long. I have intended to write a blog every week, but it has not happened as of yet. No excuses though. I apologize and vow to do better at that.

This past Thursday my classmates and I completed our first final exam. We have now completed our class on the book of Hebrews (the rest of our finals don’t start until Wednesday afternoon).

The book of Hebrews absolutely facinating! In the semester before this we studied the Sacrifical System in Levitcus, Exodus, and Numbers. All of those sacrifices were shadows of Jesus, the reality the shadows pointed to. Hebrews especially points out how Jesus is the fulfillment of all those Old Testament sacrifices. Hebrews has a lot of Old Testament imagry in it. Not only does it talk about the Old Testament sacrifices, but it also shows how Jesus’ priesthood is the embodiment of Melchizedek and his priesthood. In Genesis 14:18 Abraham meets Melchizedek the king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Melchizedek gives Abram a blessing from God and Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all he had (Gen 14:18-20). Melchizedek was a priest of God Most High though he had no priestly linage in his family. Therefore his priesthood had no beginning and had no end. The writer of Hebrews would talk about this in Hebrews 7:1-10. Jesus’ priesthood, likewise, had no beginning and no end either.  Hebrews 7:11-28 talks about Jesus and His priesthood. Verse 17 states Jesus is “… a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek…”. And verse 28 says Jesus has been “… made perfect forever”. Melchizedek’s priesthood was a shadow of Jesus’ perfect priesthood.

The homework assignment in the class was to go through Hebrews and write about Jesus’ high priestly resume’. In Hebrews 1:1-14, we see Jesus’ divinity. In Hebrews 2:1-18 and 5:1-14 we discover Jesus’ humanity. In Hebrews 7:1-28, we learn Jesus’ priesthood. Reading Hebrews 8:1-13 and 9:15-18 we see the new covenant of Christ. The New Tabernacle of Jesus is discussed in Hebrews 9:1-28. Hebrews 10:1-18 talks about Jesus’ new sacrifice. And the Christian privilege is in Hebrews 10:19-39. Learning all of this about Jesus helped me to see our Savior and Lord is perfectly qualified to be our Most High Priest.

I will write about more of our classes next week I hope. Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support that allows me to be here learning about being a better servant for the Lord. God bless you all.

What I Have Been Learning

Greetings one and all. I’m so sorry I haven’t blogged in so long. I have been really busy, but that is no excuse. I will do better. My plan is to blog at least once every week from now on. We have been learning so much this semester.

One thing that has really impacted me is that God wants us all to be out there making disciples. In Luke’s gospel chapter five verses one through eleven we read about Jesus teaching from Simon Peter’s boat. After Jesus finishes, He asks Simon Peter and Andrew to go out to the deap and let down the nets for a catch. But Simon and Andrew had just spent the previous night trying to catch finish and had nothing to show for it. But they do so and had the greatest catch they had ever gotten. They got so much finish they had to call James and John (their bussiness partners) to come and help them. They all got so many fish in their boats that they began to sink. Simon Peter was so surprised he told Jesus to go away, because he was such a sinful man. But Jesus said He could help them fish for men.

In Matthew 28:18-20, we have what we often refer to as the Great Commission. Here Jesus declaires to have ALL authority in heaven and earth. Further He gives all those who follow Him our marching orders: to go into ALL the world making disciples, baptizing them into His name, and teaching them to observe and obey everything He has commanded us. And He has promised to be with us to the very end. These are very comforting words.

In this mission God gave us we all have a part to play. One might have the gift of befriending. This one might make delicious food for friends and neighbors and that will open the door for another to teach that one the gospel. And their are many more gifts we all might have. The point is, we all need to be doing our part to fulfill the Lord’s marching orders: to go and make disciples.

Thank you all for your attention. God bless you all. Grace and Peace.

New Classess.

Greetings everyone! Sorry this is a little late. I meant to do this in the morning.

Our Monday and Wednesday classes this new term are The Church of Christ and Isaiah. On Tuesday and Thursday we’ll have Church Growth and Hebrews (the book not the language). On Friday we’ll have Galatians. Our preaching lab is preaching from the Old Testament.

I’m really excited about this semester! I’m looking forward to what we’re going to learn this semester.

God bless you all. Grace and Peace.

What I have learned: From Sacrificial System

Greetings one and all. So sorry I took a little break there on Friday. Did not plan to do that. I got to spend some time with my parents when they came to visit Jacob, Katie, Allie, and I over the weekend. They came in Thursday night and had to leave Saturday afternoon to get ready for Sunday. It is always great to see them and spend time with them.

With that, let me conclude with what I learned from this past semester with a look at the Sacrificial System. During this class we looked indepth into the sacrifices in Leviticus. All of them are a prototype of Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice for us. We also looked the Passover sacrifice in Exodus 12 and at the Red Heifer sacrifice in Numbers 19. We were to write a paper on either the Passover or the Red Heifer. Several of my classmates wrote their research paper on the Red Heifer. I wrote mine on the Passover. It was so interesting reading other peoples’ take on the Passover and what it means for us as Christians. I was facinated with listening to my classmates talk about writing their papers on the Red Heifer and what it means for us as Christians. It was great! Both of these Old Testament sacrifices shed a great deal of significant light for us as Christians. The Old Testament still has a lot to teach us even as New Testament Christians. A good study of the Levitical sacrifices, the Passover in Exodus 12 and the Red Heifer sacrifice in Numbers 19 will help us appreciate Jesus and His sacrifice so much better. Jesus’ sacrifice did for us what all of these sacrifices could never do, totally and completely forgive sins.

Tomorrow I’ll write about our courses for this next term that starts Monday morning.  And I’ll do much better of writing at least one blog each week. Thank you all so much for reading about me this week. Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. God bless you all. Grace and Peace.

What I have learned: from Colossians and Ephesians.

Greetings everyone! Thank you all for reading about what I have learned this past semester at Sunset. All of my classes were really interesting. This next class is about Colossians and Ephesians. These letters are written by the apostle Paul. They are both the same in a lot of ways. They both talk about the supremacy of Jesus over everything. They both talk about Jesus being the head over everything. They stake the claim we must trust in Jesus, because He has the supremacy over all things. There is no force, human or spiritual, that can force us or make us do anything. Our hope is in Jesus. Our only authority is in Jesus.

In Colossians, Paul says Jesus is the image of the invisible God. In Him all things were created by Him and for Him. He is the ruler over all things physical and spiritual. Therefore, there is no force that can do anything to us, as long as we trust in Jesus. So we must keep our eyes and ears open and make sure we don’t fall for any cleverly articulated ideas that clearly go against God’s word. We must remember we are to trust in Jesus not in the old covenant law that only saved by perfection.

In Ephesians Paul states even clearer that Jesus head over all things FOR the church. The church is the bride of Christ. If we hope in Him we will gain the victory in this life and in the new life to come. We are saved by grace and nothing else. It doesn’t matter how bad you were or how “good” you were, because we are all in need of that grace that can only come from God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Throughout the Old Testament since time began, God had a plan to save mankind. But in the Old Testament that plan was a mystery. That mystery was hidden until God revealed it in Jesus. And even then it was revealed to the disciples and apostles who followed Jesus. And even then none of them actually got it. But they knew Jesus was something special and someone worth following. They got when they all got the Holy Spirit, and He guided the writtings of the entire word of God from Genesis through Revelation. We can trust that this is God’s holy inspiried word. We can trust that Jesus is the whole fulfillment of God’s mystery that He planed to save mankind from their sins, if they will trust in Him. God can and will do much more then any man can think of. We must trust in Him to unify all those who trust in Him for salvation. We must imitate Him as best we can. The best example we can see of how Jesus loves and cares for the church is to look at marriage. A husband caring for and loving on his wife; just like Jesus loves and gave His life for the church, His bride; and the wife submitting to her husband; just like the church, the bride of Christ, submits to Him and His desires for her. We can trust in His mighty power, His strength to make us strong in Him.

This was another great class! Learned so much! I hope and pray I passed!

Tomorrow I’ll write about the Sacrificial System, my last class of this past semester. And Saturday, I’ll write about my classes that start on Monday. From then on, I’ll do my best to write at least one blog post every week.

Thank you all so much for your attention. God bless. Grace and Peace.

What I have Learned: Spiritual Leadership.

Greetings one and all. Monday, we talked about what I learned in Minor Prophets. We talked about what I learned in James and Peter on Tuesday. Today, Wednesday, we’re going to talk about what I learned in Spiritual Leadership. In this class we read The Spiritual Leadership Handbook by Dr JJ Turner. Excellent resource! I’ve read several really good books on leadership. This book by Dr Turner was one of the best books out there on leadership. During the class we talked alot about the book. We talked a lot about many different aspects of leadership. Training little children to be leaders when they grow up. Training the men in the youth group and college group to be leaders in their respective ministry contexts and in the church at large. Many other aspects of leadership like leadership in a mission field context, leading by example, and etc.

In this class we had to make two different presentations on leadership. For the first assignment our instructor gave us an assigned topic to do. The second presentation was up to us to decide. Our instructor told us to talk about whatever you specifically are passionate about.

My first presentation was on Jesus: The Master Teacher. I talked about Jesus’ style of teaching. That He talked about things that people already knew about. Jesus’ earthly ministry was in a time before they had refrigerators so they couldn’t put leftover food away. So they used salt as preservative. Salt was used for that and for seasoning. That is how we are to be. When Jesus told us we are the light of the world He meant we are to be out there leading the way for people back to God. Jesus was the Master Teacher in that we are to talk about whatever is culturally relavent that our audience will understand. Jesus was the Master Teacher in that He helped people understand how to apply what they heard and that they needed to apply it. Those who apply well are like those who build there lives on a solid and ferm foundation. When the storms of life come, their lives won’t be destroyed by them. Those who don’t apply these lessons well are like those who build their lives on the shakey foundation like sand. When the storms of life come, those who built their lives on a sandy foundation won’t stand, it won’t last. It will crash. And Jesus told earthly stories with heavenly meanings (parables) to many people. He always started those with “the kingdom of heaven is like …”. And again He told them things and illustrations He knew they would understand. We would do well to follow His example.

In my second presentation I taught on leaders knowing and telling the truth. I wrote a blog post some time ago about the man of God from Judah in 1st Kings 13. The man of God from Judah knew what God wanted him to do, and he disobeyed Him and was punished by being killed by a lion. The prophet of God lied to him, and I believe was held reponsible to God for what happened. We must be sure to know and tell the truth. If we lie to people, we will be held reponsible. We also talked about 2nd Timothy 4:1-5. We should always remember who we are and whos we are. We should always remember who called us to do what we are doing. Always be prepared to do what God called us to be doing. Be prepared when it’s convieniant and when it’s not. Remember there are those who turned away from the One who called you. May God tell us that we fulfilled the ministry He gave us to do.

My other classmates did a fantastic job on their presentations as well. It was an excellent class. It was very practicle and beneficial. I learned so much from our instructor and all of my classmates.

Tomorrow I’ll write about what I learned in Colossians and Ephesians. God bless you all.

What I Have Learned: From James and Peter.

Greetings one and all. One of my classes was on James and Peter.

In the letter of James we learn that God doesn’t tempt any one. We are dragged away from our own evil desires when we are tempted. In James we learn the danger and evil of favoritism and that God doesn’t show favoritim. We are to love and protect the poor, because God loves and protects the poor. In James we learn true and real faith will show itself in works. These works don’t save anyone, but works are done because we are saved and we want to show our immense gratitude to God for saving us. In James we learn we are to submit ourselves to God in all situations. When we submit to God the devil will turn away from us. In James we learn to submit to God and His will and not boast about our own plans. We seek God and His plans. In James we learn to be patient in suffering all things. We learn to pray in faith and be submissive to God’s mighty hand.

In Peter’s letters we learn we are aliens and strangers on the earth. Our real citizenship is in heaven. We are citizens in heaven. We aren’t home yet. We are aliens and strangers here on this earth. Indeed this world is not our home. From Peter we learn to be holy because He is holy. From Peter we learn Jesus is the Living Stone, He is our cornerstone, and we are His chosen people. From Peter we learn we are to be submissive to our government officials, our bosses, our spouses, and ultimately to our God. From Peter we learn we are to suffer for doing what’s right. From Peter we learn we will suffer for living for God and for following Jesus. From Peter we learn we must have self control and not to be ruled by our passion. From Peter we learn we must continually grow in our faith and walk with Jesus. From Peter we learn false teachers are out there to destroy God’s elect. And we learn from Peter that the Great Day of the Lord (Judgment Day) is coming and we better be ready for it.

I really enjoyed this class, but it was one of my harder classes for some reason. I’m really worried I failed it and would have to take it over again. If I passed it, I’ll be hopping for joy!

Thank you all so much for reading about what I’ve been learning. Tomorrow I’ll write about Spiritual Leadership. Thank you all so much for your love, support, and prayers. I wouldn’t be where I am today without it! God bless you all. Grace and Peace.

What I Have Learned: From the Minor Prophets.

Greetings one and all! This past Friday my classmates and I finished the first term of this current school year. I’m sorry for not blogging much. But this week I’m going to write about my classes and what I learned. Today, I’m going to write about some of the Minor Prophets.

Studying the Minor Prophets was so interesting! Reading about what each of them encountered day in and day out mirrors almost exactly what we are dealing with in our own culture day in day out. It’s shocking.

One of the most interesting of the Minor Prophets was Hosea. I don’t know what Hosea’s marriage plans were, but God told him to marry a woman who would become a harlot, a prostitute. This woman was Gomer. Hosea’s marriage to Gomer mirrors God’s relationship with Israel. Gomer would run around seeking love and affection from other men just like Israel would run around seeking love and affection from other deities and idols. Gomer gave birth to three children each of whom Hosea knew weren’t his, but he still loved them as if they were his children. Hosea continually sought Gomer out and brought her home begging her to be his wife. That was an image of how God sought out Israel, dispite Israel going out seeking other idols and deities to follow. Israel, as a nation went out as prostitutes both physically and spiritually as well. But God still wanted Israel to be His wife. Just as Jesus wants the church to be His bride. Hosea’s heart breaks as he longs and yearns for Gomer to come to him and let him be a husband to her and for her to be a wife to him and a mother to the children. Just as he strives to be a father to the children he knows aren’t his. Likewise, God longs and yearns for Israel to honor Him as their God and creator and for them to stop seeking other deities that aren’t real and giving them the glory and honor that is due to God. It is such a heart wrenching story. The story of Hosea and God their yearning for their respective brides would make a great soap opera like no other.

The other Minor Prophets are real interesting as well. In all of them, God is trying desperately to get Israel’s attention and get them to repent and turn back to Him. To get Israel to be God’s people and to devote them selves to God and make Him their God. In Joel, God tells His people that if they will just turn to Him He would stop sending them calamity (eg, the locust plagues). In Obadiah, God tells His people to stop trusting in strong holds that aren’t really so strong. God promises to bring them down from the mountain tops where they thought they were so safe that no one could get them. In Malichi, God tells the people that He really does love them and protect them,  even though the people ask, how have You loved us? And God tells them they are robbing Him. Even though the people asked, how have we robbed You? God promised them as He does us in the New Testament age, that if we seek Him first then He’ll take care of us.

I’m going to stop with the Minor Prophets now. Tomorrow, I’ll write about James and Peter. I hope and pray this post blesses each of you who read this. God bless you all. Grace and Peace to all of you in Jesus.

I Was Made For This review

Greetings one and all. I was supposed to write this review Monday through Friday. Opps:) Sorry about that. But here it is, such as it is.

This books is a new book from Bruce Wilkinson published by Waterbrooks Publishing.

It was an interresting read. It was mostly about prayer and living a life that honors God. And because of your prayer life and the way you live God will beliver miracles for His faithful children.

Quite frankly, I don’t particularly agree with that philosophy. Mostly this is referred to as the “health and wealth gospel”. It says that if youy say the right prayers and live the right way God will bless you. This means God is kinda like our little puppet that we can control. I don’t believe that by any since of the imagination.

I wish that could be true. But the fact of the matter is, it’s neither true nor biblical.

So no, I wouldn’t recommend this book.