Koine Fun: Animals in Biblical Greek is my first children's book released in the Amazon Kindle store. The concept is simple: make learning Biblical Greek fun by reading about animals named in the Koine Greek Bible!
Each page has the name of an animal and a short description of that animal in both Koine Greek and English. Reading words in context with phrases and in connection with pictures not only adds enjoyment to learning the Koine language, but also helps you internalize the language, making it stick. This book is designed for all ages, but especially with a sensitivity to young learners.
My goal is to facilitate the interest of anyone dedicated to learning the original languages of the Word of God. It is my conviction that through effectively learning the biblical languages, many in Christ's body will become better equipped to gain understanding and rightly divide Scripture in God-honoring and Christ-exalting ways. Here is a simple resource to encourage anyone on that journey. Click here to see more.
Jamin Hubner began a series of posts on the Alpha and Omega Ministries blog about basic lessons in logic and argumentation. These lessons will help any Christian who wants to understand better about how to communicate accurately with the gospel, as well as in other areas of life.
This first lesson was very short and outlined the differences between what an argument is and what a quarrel is, as well as what a debate is.
Being in alignment with reformed and calvinist teachings regarding Scripture (2 Tim 3:16), the absolute Sovereignty of God (Rom 11:36), agreeing very strongly with those doctrines known as TULIP (Rom. 3:12; Eph. 1:4; John 10:15; John 6:37,44; 1 Thes. 5:23,24), and enjoy the wealth of Biblical studies and books produced by reformed Christian leaders (see www.monergism.com), makes it very tempting to side with those same theologians on their views of eschatology simply because they say it is right.
In this post, I am simply presenting a resource I have found very helpful in considering a Biblical understanding of premillennialism from a Calvinist Christian perspective. I tend to agree more with the premillennial point of view, while possibly not agreeing with everything. My understanding of the return of Christ and the last times is not very big, but from what I see the Bible saying, I try to understand it correctly and then see who takes the Biblical perspective most accurately as far as I can tell.
So here is a link to some studies done by Fred Butler on his blog, Hip and Thigh, Studies in Eschatology for anyone interested in learning this point of view.
During my trip to the Dominican Republic over a week ago, we visited this orphanage and school called Dominica.
The sad thing was that most of these kids were not really orphans but are the offspring of people who have had multiple sexual partners and/or use alcohol or drugs. It moved my heart to see the great needs these kids have, and not only them but their parents and people all around the world.
This made me think of the greatest need of all, the need for reconciliation and life with God through Jesus Christ His Son.
My brother, Lee, put together this video. He has posted this video, along with other video that he has and will be posting from our evangelism and missions at his You Tube channel called LiveBOLDLYforChrist.
It is a powerful short warning about how self-esteem teachings go directly against the grain of what God really wants for you, which is His revealed will in the Bible).
Consider the striking words of Jeremiah concerning those who promote self-contentment:
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” (Jeremiah 23:16-17)
Here’s another reason I am joyfully committed to expository exultation, that is, preaching.
Look at this amazing statement of what biblical exposition is like when it’s done well—in the power of God’s Spirit and riveted on biblical texts.
Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people.... [T]he Levites helped the people to understand the Law.... They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.... And all the people went their way...to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. (Nehemiah 8:5-8,12)
First, there was a reader of the word of God. Then there were those who explained the words. Then there was true understanding in the minds of the people. Then there was great rejoicing “because they hand understood the words.”
It is astonishing to me how many pastors apparently don’t believe in pursuing the joy of their people in this way. Evidently they think it doesn’t work. I’m sure there are many reasons for this abandonment of biblical exposition.
But I simply want to wave the flag and say: There was joy then. And there is joy today when God’s people see real, divine meaning in texts that they had not seen before.
If you want to see a strong church, keep in mind that it is no accident that in this very context the writer says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
What joy? The joy of verse 12: “All the people went their way...to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.”
God’s truth followed by faithful, Spirit-anointed exposition, leads to great joy, which is the strength of God’s people. So give the sense, brothers. Give the sense!
I think anyone who listens to Paul David Tripp will find it extremely helpful. Go ahead and take a listen on the link below! Paul Tripp Ministries Inc. audio
This post by Paul Tripp about Psalm 73:25 on his blog spoke directly to me, right where I'm at. It is worth a few minutes of your time to read:
"...And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." (v.25b)
You and I are creatures of desire. There is nothing you ever choose, do, or say that is not the product of desire. Desire not only directs your choices, it shapes your dreams. Desire forms your moments of greatest joy and darkest grief. Desire makes you envious of one person while being glad you're not another. Desire keeps you awake at night or puts you soundly to sleep. Desire makes you willing to get up in the morning or causes you to be frustrated at the end of the day. Desire makes you expectant and hopeful in one moment, and demanding and complaining in the next. Desire sometimes makes you susceptible to temptation and at other times is the thing that defends you against it. Desire can lift you up to God or it can make you a willing friend of the devil. Desire can make you a celebrant or drive you to the pit of depression. Desire can make you the best of friends or cause you to drive people away. Desire can cause you to lovingly edit your words or make you willing let it rip with little regard for the damage your words will do. Desire will make you willing to give or cause you to hoard everything you have. Desire will cause you to submit to the King or to set yourself up as king. Desire can cause you to fight for freedom or can be the very thing that causes you to be addicted. Desire can give you power or rob you of the power that could be yours. Desire is your biggest problem and one of God's sweetest graces. But there is one thing for sure; your life is always shaped by desire.
The great spiritual war that is being fought for control of our hearts is a war of desire. (See James 4:1-4 and I Peter 2:11). Remember this biblical principle; whatever rules your heart will control your words and behavior. You and I are human beings. We do not live by instinct. We have been designed by God with the capacity to desire. This means that everything you do or say is done or spoken out of the want for something...
Another very encouraging sermon from my pastor on Romans 12 about how Christians are to relate to one another. The body of Christ is made up of believers with different gifts and different levels of faith, yet they are all members of one another and are called to serve one another in love as Christ first loved us.
(Click here to go get the mp3, or listen to the player below.)
Practical Christianity can only work when Christians deal properly with their relation to God, to the love of Christ and to ourselves. Then we will be filled with God’s love for our fellow believers in a right way.
We are called to love true brothers and sisters in Christ, as the Lord Jesus loved us, by suffering for them. True obedience to God must be motivated out of His love for us, then demonstrated by our love for other Christians, and in all our relationships to other people.
Sometimes pain is too much for words, other times peace escapes us, and even burdens laden us while we are crying out to God in prayer. Yet, is there no wonder to the reason why God has orchestrated songs to comfort us in hard times? It is a wonder, and I am thankful that my grandmother knows so many of my favorite songs, because now we are singing them together every Thursday night after we spend a little time talking, reading the Bible, meditating on God's wonders and praying for people. Here are some songs we love to sing, and did sing tonight as we comforted one another with the words and our voices:
1. Great is Thy Faithfulness 2. What a Friend We Have In Jesus 3. Teach Me Lord to Wait 4. Just and Right is He
Here are the lyrics with some presently meaningful lines highlighted (and below are the You Tube videos):
1. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Refrain
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Refrain
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Refrain
2. What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer. Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer! In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.
Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer. Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.
3. (This song is one my grandma taught me)
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength They shall mount up with wings as eagles They shall run and not be weary They shall walk and not be faint Teach me Lord, teach me Lord to wait.
Teach me Lord to wait, down on my knees 'till in your own good time you've answered my pleas Help me not to rely on what others do but to wait in prayer for an answer from you
4. (This one I was also taught by her, but she learned it from an old pastor who would sing it every Sunday in front of his congregation before he preached. I had the privilege of seeing him do this one time on resurrection Sunday. This song is from Deuteronomy 32:4).
He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is He Just and right is He Hallelujah! Just and right is He A God of truth and without iniquity Just and right is He.
I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:21).
People today are taught to glorify contradiction, to embrace that which is absurd, to prefer that which is subjective, and to let feelings (rather than intellect) determine what they believe.
Scripture itself is completely free of all errors and deficiencies. "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17). That is how Christ viewed Scripture, and anyone who takes a different approach is not in that respect a genuine follower of Christ.
Scripture should be both the starting point and the final test of truth in all our thinking. If Scripture is wholly true, then anything that contradicts Scripture is simply false, even if we're talking about the fundamental beliefs upon which the world's most popular ideologies are based.
That sort of black and white rationality is one of the main reasons biblical Christianity is intolerable in a generation that despises the very idea of absolute truth.
(From the small book, Why One Way? by John MacArthur. Recommended reading for everybody!!! IF I WERE RATING THIS LITTLE BOOK, IT WOULD BE AT THE TOP OF THE LIST, even before all those other books you are reading! and the good news is that its on sale at gty.com or get it at Amazon.com.).
George Whitefield's sermon titled, The Method of Grace, has continued to impact souls even after more than 200 years since Mr. Whitefield's death. This is a message worth listening to.
I recorded a reading of this sermon a few months ago for some fellow Grace Laborers, and so far, they tell me that almost 50 of them have been passed out on the streets.
Let me know what you think after you listen. May the Lord continue to be gracious to such a worms as we! (Isaiah 41:14).
"they returned... strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:21-22).
Following the link below is a sermon preached by Dr. James White from Alpha & Omega Ministries. It is a very good reminder of how Christ is our example as Christians to be obediently humble and consider others as better than ourselves.
Philippians 2:5-11 NKJV: 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
God is out of this world! My desire to know God has been so blessed, as well as charged, as I've learned more about His attributes. Check out A. W. Pinks' study here: The Attributes of God. (You can either listen to it read by mp3, or read it on a PDF).
"What makes you better than anyone else?" 1 Corinthians 4:7
Reader, are there not the same lusts lodging in your heart--which are reigning in wicked men's lives? The reason why there is so little self-condemnation, is because there is so little self-examination.
If we were left to ourselves but for a moment--we would destroy ourselves in that moment! We can defile ourselves--but we cannot cleanse ourselves. The sheep can go astray alone--but can never return to the fold, without the assistance of the shepherd.
This Video came at the right time for me. It has confirmed so much of what I've learned over the past 2 1/2 years. Watch the whole thing if you can, because we need to hear these things and tell them to others!
"When you refuse to preach on the radical depravity of men, it is an impossibility that you bring glory to God, His Christ and His cross. Because the cross of Jesus Christ and the glory thereof is most magnified when it is placed in front of the backdrop of our depravity. 'She loved much, because she has been forgiven much.' And she knew how much she had been forgiven because she knew how wicked she was. Ah, we are afraid to tell men of their wickedness, and they can never love God because of it. We have robbed them of the opportunity to boast not in themselves, but to follow the admonition: 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"
- Paul Washer, Ten Indictments Against the Church sermon.
I am trying hard to refrain from spewing out threats to anyone who has not yet downloaded this book for free: All of Grace by Charles H. Spurgeon. I already listened to it in the car to and fro my work. It is well worth every word Mr. Spurgeon prayed over and took his pen in hand to write.
Go ahead and download it before the month is over... there is still one day left! :)
P.S. And I would love to hear what people think who have been listening already. Thanks, grace to you!
