The title of my DVD course is NT Survey: Acts and Paul with Dr. Kevin Hester. I will be watching four more DVDs this week. The title of my book is PAUL:APOSTLE OF THE HEART SET FREE. The author is F.F. Bruce. I will be reading through five more chapters this week.
Chapter eleven talks about Paul's idea of Jesus as He walked this earth. Paul probably did not know Jesus before His crusifixion. The author thinks that Paul learned about the "historical" Jesus when he went to Jerusalem and met Peter and James. This may be where he got the story of the last supper.
Chapter twelve talks about Paul's visions of the Exalted Christ. Paul first met Him on the road to Damascus when all He could see was light. The glory of Christ was the light. According to Paul's writings, the "historical" Jesus and the Exalted Christ are the same person. Jesus came into a glorified body when He was ressurected.
The DVD that I watched was about Acts 8 and 9. It talked about Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. Then he went to preach in Arabia and we don't hear much about him for awhile. It talked about the vision of Cornelius and the vision of Peter on the roof of Simon the tanner's house. He saw the sheet coming down from heaven with all kinds of animals for him to eat. The DVD session ended with that.
Indeed the historical Jesus and the exalted Jesus are the same person. The term, "historical Jesus," was developed by some liberal (more accurately neo-orthodox) theologians who said that the historical Jesus was created by the memories and speculations of those who lived around the time of Christ. They say that those memories became embellished and began to take on the form of literature known as "legend." They speak of "demythologizing" the historical Jesus. They try to sort out the things that they say are legendary from facts about Jesus. In doing so, they remove all references to what we would call miracles. You can see what a slippery slope they are on.
We are Bible believers. We believe the Bible gives an accurate account of Jesus, and that all of those accounts are facts. So, for us, there is no difference between the historical Jesus and the exalted Jesus.
Tyler, You have three initial comments already started (four actually). You can keep doing chapter summaries, or as an alternative, I encourage you to jump over to Sean's posting area, look at his chapter titles and ask him some questions about some of the titles you find interesting. Look at my posted comment about the danger of practical preaching for an idea of what I am talking about. (Since you will have to have three sentences for a quality post, maybe this will give you an idea of how to comment and then ask your question.) If you go this route, please post at least three questions over there.
I guess I've always been under the impression that after Paul's coversion the next 3 years were fairly quiet, and that it was when he was "learning". I don't know how I came to that thought, I havent studied or read it a whole lot. Also, I've heard it discussed that Paul was actually the 12th apostle, that he was chosen by Jesus. I don't think it matters a whole lot but it is an interesting thought.
Chapter thirteen talks about Paul's mission to the Hellinistic Jews. This is what Paul was and it would have been a good opportunity for him to teach the gospel to them. The first hellinistic evangelism took place at Antioch. This is also where the term Christians originated from. Paul was known as the apostle to the Gentiles.
The DVD that I watched started with Peter meeting Cornelius. Peter had the vision that told him that all people belong to God and what He made is not unclean. Peter then preaches Jesus to these men and they baptized with the Holy Spirit. Peter recognized that God gave them the same gifts that He had given to the disciple at Pentecost. Peter knew that this came from God. Then it talked about Herod's death for not giving God the glory at his public address. Herod had tried to oppose the church by killing James and having Peter arrested. I like the story of the angel comming to free Peter from prison. He thought that he was dreaming until he realized that he was out.
The DVD also talked about Paul's first missionary journey. This jourey was commissioned by God. They first went to Cypress where they met Bar-jesus who was a false prophet and ended up being blinded for his actions. Then they went on to Antioch in Pisidia where John Mark leaves them and goes home. They then go to Iconium where it says that many powerful miracles were performed. At Lystra, they were thought to be gods and they tore their garments and rebuked the people. Paul was also stoned and left for dead here. They then go to Derbe where many believed. Paul and Barnabas went back through the towns to edify the churches and set up elders. When they returned to Antioch, They reported all the things that God was doing.
Chapter fourteen talks about Paul's vision when he went to the third heaven. Paul saw things that could not be spoken of. He also talks about the "thorn in the flesh" that he had. He asked the Lord three times to take it away, but the Lord said "My grace is sufficient". There are many different ideas about what the "thorn" was, but most seem to think that it was epileptsy. This would make Paul have to totally lean on Jesus in his ministry.
The DVD that I watched was about the Jerusalem Council and the letter to the Galatians. The problem that arose was one of whether a Christian had to practise Judaism in order to be saved. The debates were heard, but in the end the council said that a Christian did not have to practice judiasm. There were a few things that the council instricted them to do, have no more idols, no more fornication, and no more eating animals that have been strangled or still have the blood in them. Then the instructer went on to talk about the letter to the Galatians. It was written to the churches that Paul had visited on his first missionary journey. The primary theme for the book is justification through faith.
The instructor finished up the discussion on the letter to the Gaatians on the DVD that I watched today. He continued on the themes of the book. It talked about the three purposes of the law. They are; it reaveals sin, limits our transgressions, and prepares us for Christ. It show how much we need Him. He talked about the flesh and the spirit by using the allegory of Sarah and Hagar. The discussion then turned to sanctification. This means to make holy, we can only do this through Christ. We do not have to keep the law, but we do have to keep the law of Christ which is to love one another.
I remember when I came to the realization of what the 10 commandments were about. That it was to show us our fall. And how God sent his Son and He fulfilled it. I Love those moments.
Some also think Paul's "thorn" was a problem with his eyes. Another person said it was "persecution" and he gave Old Testament references to show where he got his idea. Whatever it was, God chose not to remove it even though Paul asked Him three times.
Tyler you have your nine required comments, I do urge you to go ahead and login as much as you can. I want to ask you, though, do you really think that is a picture of Sean reading. I mean it's kind of small. On first glance, I thought maybe he was.............. sleeping. :)
Well, Sean, you are pulling this off. Vacation and class too! I think you have 8 comments, but you can double check. The one I copied over would count too.
Mike Meece said that he thought Tracy was going to be the director of the primary camp which starts tomorrow. I guess I figured you were all gpoing to be together this week in Floriday. If somehow she is going to be at camp tomorrow, would you please let her know that I have a Dr's appointment at 9:00. I tried to reschedule, but they said they tought they would get me in and out quickly. They thought maybe I could get there by 10:00. I should at least be at camp by 10:30. That first session was to be camper orientation anyway.
If she is not the director, is your dad the director?
Personally, I agree with Sean. I think that the works just kind of flow when we get close to God. It should not be a burden to perform works for God. I think that when James speaks of faith and works, he may mean that we could go around our whole lives and say that we are saved, no one would be able to tell. All that they would have to go on is our word, but they will know how we stand by our works.
You will notice some posts below that relate to various topics of discussion by our online community of preachers.
One of the purposes of Preachers' Meeting is to provide a place for young ministers or those recently called to preach to interact around the principles in a course of study recommended by our local group of preachers in the Southern Illinois area.
We invite you to look in on our conversations. If you would like to add comments as a guest, you are welcome to do so. If this looks interesting to you, you may join us as we start a new session. You can look in the side bar (or sometimes it is moved to right below this post) to see the weekly requirements. We start new courses every 8 or 9 weeks. As already mentioned, you are welcome to comment as a guest before that time.
Below these posts, you will see the word, "comments." Just click on it, and you will see a box on the right side of the screen where you may add your comments.
Look around. Enjoy yourself, and come back often!
Weekly Requirements
Here is a review of the general requirements for each week.
You have three assignments each week
(1) Make at least two initial posts in your posting area. The first one will be the name of the course, and the names (or numbers of the DVD's) of the chapters or lectures you will be covering during the week. The second one will be a comment on one of those chapters. You will receive one point for getting the first post in on Tuesday or Wednesday. You will also get a point for getting at least one more initial post in.
(2) Go to your fellow student's posting areas, and ask them a question or make comments about their intial posts. You will recieve one point for completing this assignment before 12:00 a.m. on Friday morning (that would be before midnight on Thursday).
(3) Answer the questions asked.
(4) On Fridays, I will also give directions for making remaining posts during the week. Be sure and read those, and take them into account when making at least one of your remaining posts.
In all, we want to make at least nine posts during the week. You will receive points for that as follows:
9 or more posts - 12 points
6-8 posts - 10 points
3-5 posts - 6 points
1-2 posts - 3 points
You will have the extra points you had accumulated by getting things in on time. Those are bonus points that will be used only to move your grade closer to 100 if you need them. They will be awarded each week if needed to move your grade up to 12 for the week. If you do not need them for that week, they will be carried over to the next week(s). Remember the posts that count for points will be at least three sentences long.
Thoughts on Application
Roger gave some good thoughts on application:
"Chapter 75, titled: 'Apply Within' is a lesson in application. The writer explains why it is sometimes difficult applying a sermon to real life situations. I will list some of the reasons application is not applied to our lives.
"First it is "hard work", it is hard to find application to every situation in the congregation,
"second, is wrong assumptions, assuming the audience is able to apply any and all biblical truths is totally a wrong assumption,
"third, is fear, fear of being to deep or to simplistic in the text and failing at application, and then there is training or lack thereof,
"many preachers know the text, and the history and the order of things but are totally untrained in application. One gentleman said it this way," how can you be a good football player when you can pass the ball, or when you can kick the ball, or when you can run with the ball but you don't know the rules of the game."
If you live in the souther Illinois area, we would like to invite you to a Couples' Marriage Enrichment Seminar on Saturday, February 27. It starts at 6:00 p.m and will run to 9:00 p.m.
After the welcome, there will be a dinner. Then there will be an opening session, followed by two breakout sessions, then a short closing.
The Keynote Speaker is Dr. Randy Carney (That's me :)!) and Roger and Janet Dutton will be speaking during the breakout sessions (That's Roger, who is commenting on this blog during this term!). Randy and Rhonda (my wife!) Carney will also have a breakout session discussing "Keys to Marital Bliss."
The Keynote Address will be on the topic of "The Way to a Successful Marriage: The Shocking and Surprising Truth."
Roger and Janet will be talking about "Hope for Restoring your marriage."
The cost is $15.00 per couple and that includes a dinner and all seminar materials. A nursery and childcare will be available. (Please indicate that you need these services when you register.) A book table with resources from Handfuls on Purpose Christian Bookstore will be available.
The seminar is for couples of all ages, ranging from newlyweds to marriage veterans!
To register, call 618-627-2228 to let the church know how may will be attending. Payment can be made at the event. (Make checks to TFBC.) For more information, call the church at 618-627-2228.
The Greatest Love
Since Valentine's Day falls on Sunday this year, I imagine there will be a ton of sermons going out on the topic of love.
Paul talked about love and respect in marriage (Ephesians 5), but he was really saying that that was an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church.
Christ
Left Heaven to come to this earth.
He
Overcame adversity while here. He even conquered death!
He
Valued mankind so much that He gave Himself on the cross.
He desires fellowship with us. He reconciled the world to Himself, so that people could have an
Intimate realtionship with Him.
He meets all of our
Needs.
He is the supreme example of
Giving.
Do you see the word, LOVING, there? That is what He is--our LOVING Savior! Because of that, we should love one another.
Course 11 Week 4
Scroll down to the week 4 area to begin commenting.
Dealing with the Closed American Mind
One of the chapters Roger is reading is entitled, (something like) "Dealing with the Closed American Mind." I don't know if it is mentioned in the chapter, but I suspect that if you tak about something where a person has a felt need, you can gain their hearing somewhat.
What are your thoughts?
You may scroll down and comment in the week 3 comments area. Visitors are welcome to comment also.
Connecting with Postmoderns
This is something most preachers do every Sunday. If you have young unchurched visitors in your church, you will be trying to reach postmoderns. Even some of your church youth are more influenced by postmodernism than by their previous Sunday school teaching.
Here is my reply to one of Roger's posts:
"Roger, what tips stand out to you for commecting with postmoderns? I think the term modern referred to an age in history that related to new thoughts in science, etc. (If I am off base, refresh my memory.) Post modern refers to the time following that era. Connecting with postmoderns is something you have to do, whether you realize it or not, almost every time you preach."
I will post some of his answers here if he sees the question in time.
Preaching--Proclamation of God's Word
Preaching, by one definition, is the proclamation of God's Word. As such, a person, can take the Scriptural passage and find some of its main points and emphasize those points.
While I believe we should learn all we can about the grammatical construction of the words of Scripture, and that we should learn all we can about the historical setting for when those words were originally spoken; the nice thing about proclaiming the Word is that you can just take what the text says and emphasize it. Then the Word will not return void.
People with all different types of backgrounds have been called to preach throughout the centuries. Some very "unlearned" (as the world would put it) men have had great results by simply taking the main ideas of Scripture and simply emphasizing them. As long as we do not twist the meaning, this simply shows the amazing power of the Word of God.
New Format
I am going to try putting my comments for each day in this left sidebar. The comments areas for the remaining weeks are displayed to the right. That is where you will place your comments for each week.
22 comments:
The title of my DVD course is NT Survey: Acts and Paul with Dr. Kevin Hester. I will be watching four more DVDs this week. The title of my book is PAUL:APOSTLE OF THE HEART SET FREE. The author is F.F. Bruce. I will be reading through five more chapters this week.
11. Paul and the Historical Jesus
12. Paul and the Exalted Christ
13. Paul and the Hellinistic Mission
14. Man of Vision and Man of Action
15. Conference in Jerusalem
Tyler
Chapter eleven talks about Paul's idea of Jesus as He walked this earth. Paul probably did not know Jesus before His crusifixion. The author thinks that Paul learned about the "historical" Jesus when he went to Jerusalem and met Peter and James. This may be where he got the story of the last supper.
Tyler
Chapter twelve talks about Paul's visions of the Exalted Christ. Paul first met Him on the road to Damascus when all He could see was light. The glory of Christ was the light. According to Paul's writings, the "historical" Jesus and the Exalted Christ are the same person. Jesus came into a glorified body when He was ressurected.
Tyler
The DVD that I watched was about Acts 8 and 9. It talked about Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. Then he went to preach in Arabia and we don't hear much about him for awhile. It talked about the vision of Cornelius and the vision of Peter on the roof of Simon the tanner's house. He saw the sheet coming down from heaven with all kinds of animals for him to eat. The DVD session ended with that.
Tyler
Indeed the historical Jesus and the exalted Jesus are the same person. The term, "historical Jesus," was developed by some liberal (more accurately neo-orthodox) theologians who said that the historical Jesus was created by the memories and speculations of those who lived around the time of Christ. They say that those memories became embellished and began to take on the form of literature known as "legend." They speak of "demythologizing" the historical Jesus. They try to sort out the things that they say are legendary from facts about Jesus. In doing so, they remove all references to what we would call miracles. You can see what a slippery slope they are on.
We are Bible believers. We believe the Bible gives an accurate account of Jesus, and that all of those accounts are facts. So, for us, there is no difference between the historical Jesus and the exalted Jesus.
Tyler, You have three initial comments already started (four actually). You can keep doing chapter summaries, or as an alternative, I encourage you to jump over to Sean's posting area, look at his chapter titles and ask him some questions about some of the titles you find interesting. Look at my posted comment about the danger of practical preaching for an idea of what I am talking about. (Since you will have to have three sentences for a quality post, maybe this will give you an idea of how to comment and then ask your question.) If you go this route, please post at least three questions over there.
I guess I've always been under the impression that after Paul's coversion the next 3 years were fairly quiet, and that it was when he was "learning". I don't know how I came to that thought, I havent studied or read it a whole lot. Also, I've heard it discussed that Paul was actually the 12th apostle, that he was chosen by Jesus. I don't think it matters a whole lot but it is an interesting thought.
Chapter thirteen talks about Paul's mission to the Hellinistic Jews. This is what Paul was and it would have been a good opportunity for him to teach the gospel to them. The first hellinistic evangelism took place at Antioch. This is also where the term Christians originated from. Paul was known as the apostle to the Gentiles.
Tyler
The DVD that I watched started with Peter meeting Cornelius. Peter had the vision that told him that all people belong to God and what He made is not unclean. Peter then preaches Jesus to these men and they baptized with the Holy Spirit. Peter recognized that God gave them the same gifts that He had given to the disciple at Pentecost. Peter knew that this came from God. Then it talked about Herod's death for not giving God the glory at his public address. Herod had tried to oppose the church by killing James and having Peter arrested. I like the story of the angel comming to free Peter from prison. He thought that he was dreaming until he realized that he was out.
Tyler
The DVD also talked about Paul's first missionary journey. This jourey was commissioned by God. They first went to Cypress where they met Bar-jesus who was a false prophet and ended up being blinded for his actions. Then they went on to Antioch in Pisidia where John Mark leaves them and goes home. They then go to Iconium where it says that many powerful miracles were performed. At Lystra, they were thought to be gods and they tore their garments and rebuked the people. Paul was also stoned and left for dead here. They then go to Derbe where many believed. Paul and Barnabas went back through the towns to edify the churches and set up elders. When they returned to Antioch, They reported all the things that God was doing.
Tyler
Chapter fourteen talks about Paul's vision when he went to the third heaven. Paul saw things that could not be spoken of. He also talks about the "thorn in the flesh" that he had. He asked the Lord three times to take it away, but the Lord said "My grace is sufficient". There are many different ideas about what the "thorn" was, but most seem to think that it was epileptsy. This would make Paul have to totally lean on Jesus in his ministry.
Tyler
The DVD that I watched was about the Jerusalem Council and the letter to the Galatians. The problem that arose was one of whether a Christian had to practise Judaism in order to be saved. The debates were heard, but in the end the council said that a Christian did not have to practice judiasm. There were a few things that the council instricted them to do, have no more idols, no more fornication, and no more eating animals that have been strangled or still have the blood in them. Then the instructer went on to talk about the letter to the Galatians. It was written to the churches that Paul had visited on his first missionary journey. The primary theme for the book is justification through faith.
Tyler
The instructor finished up the discussion on the letter to the Gaatians on the DVD that I watched today. He continued on the themes of the book. It talked about the three purposes of the law. They are; it reaveals sin, limits our transgressions, and prepares us for Christ. It show how much we need Him. He talked about the flesh and the spirit by using the allegory of Sarah and Hagar. The discussion then turned to sanctification. This means to make holy, we can only do this through Christ. We do not have to keep the law, but we do have to keep the law of Christ which is to love one another.
Tyler
I remember when I came to the realization of what the 10 commandments were about. That it was to show us our fall. And how God sent his Son and He fulfilled it. I Love those moments.
Some also think Paul's "thorn" was a problem with his eyes. Another person said it was "persecution" and he gave Old Testament references to show where he got his idea. Whatever it was, God chose not to remove it even though Paul asked Him three times.
Tyler you have your nine required comments, I do urge you to go ahead and login as much as you can. I want to ask you, though, do you really think that is a picture of Sean reading. I mean it's kind of small. On first glance, I thought maybe he was.............. sleeping. :)
Well, Sean, you are pulling this off. Vacation and class too! I think you have 8 comments, but you can double check. The one I copied over would count too.
I believe that Sean is sleeping. If you look at the book, it looks to be upside down. Ha Ha!
Tyler
Sean,
Mike Meece said that he thought Tracy was going to be the director of the primary camp which starts tomorrow. I guess I figured you were all gpoing to be together this week in Floriday. If somehow she is going to be at camp tomorrow, would you please let her know that I have a Dr's appointment at 9:00. I tried to reschedule, but they said they tought they would get me in and out quickly. They thought maybe I could get there by 10:00. I should at least be at camp by 10:30. That first session was to be camper orientation anyway.
If she is not the director, is your dad the director?
Confused,
Randy
So, any more elaboration on the grace and works balance?
Personally, I agree with Sean. I think that the works just kind of flow when we get close to God. It should not be a burden to perform works for God. I think that when James speaks of faith and works, he may mean that we could go around our whole lives and say that we are saved, no one would be able to tell. All that they would have to go on is our word, but they will know how we stand by our works.
Tyler
Yep, good insights!
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