Reading the Bible Contextually: An Experience I Will Never Forget
When you zoom out from single verses and begin to read the Bible in more meaningful wholes there are several things that will begin to notice that you may never have noticed before. This can be true from reading a whole chapter to reading hundreds of pages. The benefits of reading larger pieces of scripture […]
Praying Scripture
I just posted something that will be of interest to some of you on praying scripture over at Wineskins — “Bono Gives us a Lesson on Praying the Psalms” Try out the exercise at the end of the post and see how it works for you.
In the Bible Courage is Almost Always Based on Two Things
As I was working through where the word courage is mentioned in both Testaments, something really jumped out. There were two things that came up over and over again as the reason for the courage we are to have. Here are some verses to consider in both Testaments to give you an idea of what […]
The First Eight Greek Words in the Gospel of Matthew
I am fascinated by the opening line of the Gospel of Matthew, Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ υἱοῦ Δαυὶδ υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ. Biblos geneseos Jesus Christ son [of] David son [of] Abraham Matthew starts kicks off the New Testament with an echo of Genesis 1…that this is the Genesis of the story of Jesus who is of […]
4 Words that Connect Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 1 and Ephesians
Dueteronomy 6:4-9 is one of the most popular passages in the entire Old Testament. Those verses serve as instruction about intentionally passing on faith to the next generation before the Hebrews enter the promised land. There are four words in Deuteronomy 6 that are later echoed in Psalm 1 and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians…I […]
The Unusual Question the Sailors Asked Jonah and What it Tells Us About God
Read these verses from Jonah 1:4-8 and see if you pick up on the unusual question they ask Jonah, Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. […]
One Thing More Fearful Than Our Fear of Death
Genesis 3:1-7, Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but […]
The Prayers of Hallelujah, Hurts and Hates
I have been reading a lot on prayer lately and ran across this point from Eugene Peterson in his terrific little book on prayer, “Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer,” It is easy to be honest before God with our hallelujah’s; it is somewhat more difficult to be honest in our hurts; it […]
Parallels Between Jonah and Paul
Both were heading to Spain Jonah 1:3 – heading to Tarshish (in Spain) Rom 15:24, 28 – Paul wants to go to Spain Both sailed on the Mediterranean Jonah 1:3 – boarded a ship on the Mediterranean to get away from the Lord’s calling Acts 27:1 – It is decided Paul would sail for Italy…they […]
The Problem with Source Criticism
is that it comes from a generation immersed in sources. Source criticism is a theory that studies at documents like the New Testament and trying to determine where those who wrote it or even Jesus himself got his initial information from. It assumes there aren’t really many new ideas in the history of humanity but […]