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Ahaz: King of Idolatry

Jeff Miller
Date Added: 2008-05-12
This is the thirteenth audio message for the Heroes & Villains series.

Abstract

Nothing bad is recorded about Jotham in 2 Chronicles. This week we look at his son, Ahaz, about whom nothing good is written. Ahaz had a problem worshiping God alone, preferring instead to follow the latest and greatest religious trends. He embraced an unfocused syncretism, which tries to simultaneously embrace many different gods-saying yes to every religion and no to none. His life teaches us that worshiping God on Sunday is completely unsatisfactory if we are worshiping something else on Monday. God does not want us to worship Him; He wants us to worship only Him. God does not want to be our Lord; He wants to be our only Lord. God does not want our devotion; He wants our complete devotion. Anything less simply won't do. I think He's deserved as much.

Are Women Second Class Citizens? (Part IV - Questions Answered)

Bob Deffinbaugh
Date Added: 2008-05-09
This is the eleventh audio message for the Can We Serve Church "Cafeteria Style?" series.

Lesson 3: The Church at Ephesus: Lost Love

Bob Deffinbaugh
Date Added: 2008-05-09

Introduction

The letter which is written to the church at Ephesus is but one of seven contained in chapters 2 & 3 of the Book of Revelation. If we are to correctly interpret and apply the message contained in this passage we must first pause to look at the first three chapters as a whole. In chapter 1 the entire Book of Revelation is introduced as the "revelation of Jesus Christ" (v. 1). We have taken this to mean not only that it is a revelation belonging to our Lord because it was given Him by the Father, but that it is also a revelation of (or about) Him. In verses 1-8 the Lord Jesus is described by the use of propositional statements about Him, while in verses 12-18 He is depicted by imagery which describe His character and His majesty. The entire revelation of this book is addressed to the "seven churches that are in Asia" (vss. 4, 11, 20; cf. 22:16).

In chapters 2 & 3 we find spe... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

Jotham: King of Simplicity

Jeff Miller
Date Added: 2008-05-08
This is the twelfth audio message for the Heroes & Villains series.

Abstract

An uncomplicated life is as precious as it is rare. Because of the myriad of opportunities presented to us, we tend to live life reactively rather than proactively. Life gets complicated when we lose our focus. The Apostle Paul writes about "the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." While Paul accomplished many things during his life, he had but one focus. Jotham, likewise, had but one constant focus: to please the Lord his God. How refreshing to find someone who is willing to focus on the right things and strong enough to resist tempting distractions. What is your focus? Is it the right focus? Is it constant? Does your life bear any evidence of your focus?

Leaders - A Gift from Mothers

Bill Lawrence
Date Added: 2008-05-08

Abstract

The women in Moses' life (Exodus 1 &2) exemplify the enormous role that women in society have had throughout time in preserving and influencing godly leaders.

Lesson 2: The Preeminent Person of Prophecy (Revelation 1)

Bob Deffinbaugh
Date Added: 2008-05-07

INTRODUCTION

Martin Luther didn't think much of the Book of Revelation, just as he did not think much of the Book of James. You will recall that he referred to the Book of James as "a right straw-y epistle."¹In 1522 Luther was said to have made this statement about the Book of Revelation:

"My spirit cannot adapt itself to the book and a sufficient reason why I do not esteem it highly is that Christ is neither taught nor recognized in it."²

It probably should be noted that he later qualified these words, but nevertheless we can see that his estimation of the Book of Revelation was not what it should have been. Luther's value judgment was based upon a faulty premise: that “Christ was neither taught nor recognized in it.”

I cringe when I read Luther’s appraisal of the Book of Revelation. Having said this, I fear that Luther̵... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

Uzziah: King of Boundaries (part 11)

Jeff Miller
Date Added: 2008-05-06
This is the eleventh audio message for the Heroes & Villains series.

Abstract

It's important to know where our responsibility ends and someone else's begins. In short, it's important to identify the boundaries in our lives. We experience an amazing amount of freedom and fruitfulness when we faithfully serve within our appropriate boundaries. When we go outside of our boundaries, by definition we encroach on others' territory. We trespass. We rob others of the opportunity for faithfulness by doing what they were meant to do. And we also abdicate our own roles, thus neglecting our own stewardships. Have you identified your roles? Do you stay within your own boundaries? Do you respect others' boundaries? Doing more than we're asked to do (by crossing boundaries) doesn't earn us bonus point; rather, it reduces our effectiveness and undermines the contributions of others.

Lesson 1: The Purpose of Prophecy

Bob Deffinbaugh
Date Added: 2008-05-05

Several months ago, a friend of mine came by the house to help me with a project. I couldn't help but observe that his tail pipe was rattling noisily, and found that the bracket had broken. Now it just so happened that I had recently acquired a welder and was eager to practice what little I had learned about welding. I was under the car, sparking away, sticking the rod to the metal, and doing an all-around sloppy job. Graciously, my friend looked on with what appeared to be a sense of wonder and respect for such "skill." That's when I remembered that my friend, who had so patiently and silently endured my meager efforts, was an industrial arts expert. He had welded far more than I. He could easily have pushed me aside and said, "Let me show you how it's done."

As I begin this study of the Book of Revelation I have the same kind of feeling as I did that day I was welding. We are a church in Dallas, Texas, the home of Dallas Seminary... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

Amaziah: King of Pride (part 10)

Jeff Miller
Date Added: 2008-05-02
This is the tenth audio message for the Heroes & Villains series.

Abstract

God is so very gracious. Perhaps the greatest ongoing evidence of God's grace resulting from the cross is that He does not smite us when we sin each day, but invites us to confess repeatedly and picks us back up over and over again. In the Old Testament, God would sometimes send prophets to kings who sinned. We often view prophets as preachers of doom. But these messengers were actually agents of God's grace whose threats of judgment were in fact invitations for repentance. Some kings accepted that invitation and turned away from their sins. Other kings responded with hardness of heart and pride. They would rather suffer imminent consequences than bend their knee in acknowledgment of an Authority greater than themselves.

Are Women Second Class Citizens? (Part III: The Benefits of Silence and Submission)

Bob Deffinbaugh
Date Added: 2008-04-29
This is the tenth audio message for the Can We Serve Church "Cafeteria Style?" series.

The Intelligent Design Controversy

Ray Bohlin
Date Added: 2008-04-29

What's All the Fuss?

There's a strange phenomenon popping up around the country. Scientists are stepping out of their laboratories and speaking to the media about something that has them quite concerned. It's not the threat of a new flu pandemic; it's not the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation, or even the possible threat of global warming. It's something called Intelligent Design.

In this article we will explore what has so many people upset about Intelligent Design. To do that we will need to establish just what ID is and what the major complaints are about evolution that may be answered by a theory like ID. We will take a closer look at some of the most common examples of ID from astronomy and biology. Then we will take a closer look at the cultural confusion and reaction to this rather simple hypothesis.

So what are scientists and journalists saying? A Baltimore Sun reporter put it this way: "In t... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

Are Women Second Class Citizens in the Church? (Part II - Arguments Against the Submission of Women in the Church)

Bob Deffinbaugh
Date Added: 2008-04-28
This is the ninth audio message for the Can We Serve Church "Cafeteria Style?" series.

Are Women Second Class Citizens? (Part I: Overview)

Bob Deffinbaugh
Date Added: 2008-04-25
This is the eighth audio message for the Can We Serve Church "Cafeteria Style?" series.

More on "Expelled" scientists

Ray Bohlin
Date Added: 2008-04-24

On April 18, a film opened across the country starring Ben Stein. Titled EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed,¹ this film documents the dark underside of academia in America and around the world, exposing what happens when someone questions a ruling orthodoxy. In this case, that orthodoxy is Darwinian evolution.

Evolution is routinely trumpeted as the cornerstone of modern biology, indispensable even to modern medical research. Therefore, if someone questions Darwinian evolution and its reliance on unpredictable mutation and natural selection, you are questioning science itself. At least that's how the gatekeepers of science explain it.

Never mind that over seven hundred PhD trained scientists from around the world have openly signed a statement questioning the ability of Darwinism to account for the complexity of life. You'll find my name among them (here.)

Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel

James M. Arlandson
Date Added: 2008-04-21

Mission, Possible!

This article rounds a corner from the traditions transmitted before the Gospels were written to the Gospels themselves, as we have them now. Do they enjoy eyewitness testimony at their foundation?

A rich Gospel like Matthew has multiple purposes working at the same time. But surely a main one is the mission of Jesus and his commission of the Twelve and some key women, particularly Mary Magdalene.

Matthew is keen on showing us that the Twelve and certain women embody authoritative, participatory eyewitness testimony. They receive their special status by their proximity to Jesus, while he trained, discipled, and commissioned them.

This article is Part Nine in a series on the historical reliability of the Gospels. The series has nothing to do with their inerrancy and inspiration, because if we cannot establish their historical reliability, then how can we move on to discuss... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

The Significance of the Scribal Corruptions to the New Testament Text

Daniel B. Wallace
Date Added: 2008-04-16

Ancient scribes who copied the handwritten texts of the New Testament frequently changed the text intentionally. Although unintentional changes account for the vast majority of textual corruption, intentional alterations also account for thousands of corruptions. In some cases, to be sure, it does seem that the scribes were being malicious. But these instances are few and far between. The majority of the intentional changes to the text were done by scribes who either thought that the text they were copying had errors in it or by scribes who were clarifying the meaning, especially for liturgical reasons.

Some of the commonest intentional changes involve parallel passages. This is where the passage that the scribe is copying out has a parallel to it of which the scribe is aware. For example, about 90% of the pericopes (or stories) in Mark’s Gospel are found in Matthew. When a scribe was copying Mark, after he had just finished copyi... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

Rock, Sand, Formulas

Bill Lawrence
Date Added: 2008-04-15

Introduction

I don't know if you've discovered the writer, Donald Miller, but I find him a breath of fresh air. He may be too fresh for some, but I like his kind of iconoclastic, cut through all the silliness, sort of earthiness.

His Blue Like Jazz is just the book for people turned off by the phoniness that marks some elements among us and his Searching for God Knows What grabbed me as an insight into one of the core realities of the Christian life.

Development:

Sometime back Donald flew from Portland to Memphis to attend a seminar on Capturing literature for the glory of God. When he got to the seminar room on the first of the two days he was there he found about twenty people present-him and nineteen women. It seems few men were interested in capturing literature f... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

Did Some Disciples Take Notes During Jesus’ Ministry?

James M. Arlandson
Date Added: 2008-04-15

Securing the Gospel Traditions: the �write' stuff?

This is a question that must be explored.

The three previous articles analyzed how the traditions about Jesus were handled and handed on during this gap:

Jesus' Ministry | | Written Gospels

This article explores a possible way the traditions were treasured during Jesus' ministry, with a glance at afterwards, during the gap.

Were at least some of the traditions about Jesus written down, if only in notes, before the four Biblical Gospels were written? Strong circumstantial evidence says yes. Maybe - just maybe - nearly direct evidence affirms this possibility, also.

The goal of the series, including Part Eight here, is to bring onto the web what scholars say in their books, specifically, scholarship that upholds a traditional view of Scri... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

The Dreaded D. D.

Bill Lawrence
Date Added: 2008-04-10
See the Stormology Series Description for more information on this lesson.

Introduction

Illustration:

I scored a goal for the other team!

Question:

Why did I score a goal for the other team?

Answer:

Because my heart shackled my hands.

Development:

Because I felt I had to look good in front of the other players. Because I never thought of admitting my need once I walked onto that field. Because I became so taken up with my success that I totally missed the reality that I had never played the game before, that I had never been a goalie before. Because I thought I could fake my way through to victory.

Point:

Because whatever is in our hearts comes out our hands.

Development:

We have a need to look good,

a need not ... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)

What is the Q 'Gospel'? The Gospel According to 'St Q'?

James M. Arlandson
Date Added: 2008-04-09

Q Ser� Ser�? Or Right on Q (and other Qt puns)

In this article (Part Seven) and the previous two, we explore what was happening between Jesus' ministry and the written Gospels. Here we turn our attention mainly toward so-called Q. This article is a Q & A on Q. The question is - is Q OK?

Once again, this article deals with this gap:

Jesus' ministry | | Written Gospels

The disciples were learning and observing important aspects of Jesus' ministry while it was fully active. The disciples transmitted their observations and lessons to the earliest churches after his ministry. So the little vertical bars are not intended to be firm.

Concerning that gap, though, we can still ask these questions: Do sources, such as so-called Q, feed into the Gospels? Did these sources exist at all, o... (This page has been truncated; please continue reading here.)