My course this round is a book titled "The New Testament: Its Background & Message" by Thomas Lea & David Black. I will do 3 chapters a week. They are as follow: Ch 10- The Later Judean and the Perean Ministry Ch 11- The Final Week of Jesus' Life Ch 12- Introduction to the Acts and the Role of Peter in Early Chistianity
The title of my course is CHURCH GROWTH. The instructor is Terry Forrest. I will be watching three DVDs a week. The title of my book is SURPRISING INSIGHTS FROM THE UNCHURCHED. The author is Thom S. Rainer. I will be reading one chapter a week.
The first chapter is about the pastors of the churches that are seeing people saved. One common thread through all of them is their drive to see people saved. That affects everything that they do or say. I think that should be the motivation for all of us.
My book is "The Bible Jesus Read" by Philip Yancey. This week I will be talking about chapter 3: Deuteronomy: A Taste Of Bittersweet. It is looking good so far
It begins with a background of what Moses was going through in Deutoronomy. He compares Moses to people who took over when communism fell in some places in asia and Europe, and when Czechoslovakia split. Explaining how Moses was a reluctant leader.
Ch 10 is mostly taken from John & some of Luke. It mentions the adulturous woman story. They say that its mostly accepted that John did not write this. And that it shows up in different areas of the book or not at all in earlier manuscripts. They conclude that this was an actual story. I love that story, THank God for His mercy.
I agree with Tyler on the subject of drive. It to me goes along with having a vision. It takes action then to go on with it. I've found sometimes when I have a vision of something, it requires a step of faith. Has anyone else had this happen to them?
I was reading a devotional this morning about Moses and Joshua on the subject of leadership. It spoke of how God had to somewhat encourage Moses to lead at first, he hesitated. But Joshua immediately answered and took action. Maybe he learned it from Moses that its best to act quickly when the Lord asks. Am I more like Moses, or Joshua?
When I think of Moses, I think of his love for the people. I hope us as ministers can find the same type of love for people that Moses had. I think about the day the sun stood still for the battle. Sometimes when we pray for something, God will make a way for us to receive a blessing. Just because He loves us.
The next DVD talks about ways to create an environment for church growth. We have to create a welcoming environment for visitors. Most churches have greeters or ushers. The whole church needs to be involved and have a burden to win lost souls. We must also expect things to happen. Finally, we need a plan for growth with challenging but reasonable goals. What do you guys expect "reasonable" goals to be?
I try to respond to God's calling in my life. I think what most people are afraid of is doing something when God is not in it. Sometimes we hear of someone doing something that they think God wants them to do. We have to be in tune with God so we don't mistake His will with our own desires.
I also think that people enjoy the prestige that comes with being a leader. It feels good to have others look up to you. Many people have a natural ability to lead others, but are reluctant because it is easy to slip into a bad mindset about it.
Happy Father's Day to all of you guys. I hope your day is wonderful. Thank God for good fathers who raise their children in the ways of the Lord. God bless all of you.
All of the churches in the study from my book have strong leaders. I am afraid for churches who don't have strong leaders. The instructor of the course uses this phrase a lot-"Everything rises and falls on leadership."
This chapter also brings up something that I never thought about and thats that each plague represents an Egyptian god being defeated by the Hebrew God. For example the River god turned to blood. The Sacred fly becoming a pest, and the sun God being blocked out.
I hope everyone had a good Father's Day. Mine was very good. I was able to spend time with my daughter. I am still blown away by being a dad. It is amazing responsibility to be raising another human being. I hope that I am doing a good job.
Ch 11 covers the last week of Jesus' life on earth. It gives a description of each sperate occurances. It mentioned that there some debate on the day of the last supper. Most agree it was Thursday. They claim it tough to interpret because jewis days ended at sundown.
Sorry to hear about your computer Corey. Mine fried on me a couple of weeks ago. I felt the same way about the plauges. I didnt realize they were in conjunction with Egyptian gods. Its awesome when you see how deep Gods word can go.
Ch 12 of course is about Acts. It discusses Luke as being the author. They claim there were more than one textual forms of it and some conclude that he wasnt the author of some of it. Another interesting thing is that they say there is no hard proof that he was a doctor.
It also talks about the replacement of Judas. It says he was replaced for apostacy instead of death. Peter insisted on him being replaced, they said that after this instance the church never used lots to select again. They also say that most people believe that God chose who he wanted with Paul. I've always thought that way myself.
Hey Roger where are you? I hope you're just taking some time off or busy doing something. I hope nothing bad is going on, just wanted to post that I miss your comments. I've had some weeks that I've not been able to post.
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.
24 comments:
My course this round is a book titled "The New Testament: Its Background & Message" by Thomas Lea & David Black. I will do 3 chapters a week. They are as follow: Ch 10- The Later Judean and the Perean Ministry
Ch 11- The Final Week of Jesus' Life
Ch 12- Introduction to the Acts and the Role of Peter in Early Chistianity
The title of my course is CHURCH GROWTH. The instructor is Terry Forrest. I will be watching three DVDs a week. The title of my book is SURPRISING INSIGHTS FROM THE UNCHURCHED. The author is Thom S. Rainer. I will be reading one chapter a week.
7. A Profile of the Unchurched-Reaching Leaders
The first chapter is about the pastors of the churches that are seeing people saved. One common thread through all of them is their drive to see people saved. That affects everything that they do or say. I think that should be the motivation for all of us.
My book is "The Bible Jesus Read" by Philip Yancey. This week I will be talking about chapter 3: Deuteronomy: A Taste Of Bittersweet. It is looking good so far
It begins with a background of what Moses was going through in Deutoronomy. He compares Moses to people who took over when communism fell in some places in asia and Europe, and when Czechoslovakia split. Explaining how Moses was a reluctant leader.
Ch 10 is mostly taken from John & some of Luke. It mentions the adulturous woman story. They say that its mostly accepted that John did not write this. And that it shows up in different areas of the book or not at all in earlier manuscripts. They conclude that this was an actual story. I love that story, THank God for His mercy.
I agree with Tyler on the subject of drive. It to me goes along with having a vision. It takes action then to go on with it. I've found sometimes when I have a vision of something, it requires a step of faith. Has anyone else had this happen to them?
I was reading a devotional this morning about Moses and Joshua on the subject of leadership. It spoke of how God had to somewhat encourage Moses to lead at first, he hesitated. But Joshua immediately answered and took action. Maybe he learned it from Moses that its best to act quickly when the Lord asks. Am I more like Moses, or Joshua?
Sean, you have three bonus points for this week.
Tyler, on Thursday, you had two bonus points for this week.
Corey, on Thursday, you had two bonus points for this week.
(If you haven't already, you have until 6:00 a.m. Friday morning to ask a question for another bonus point.)
When I think of Moses, I think of his love for the people. I hope us as ministers can find the same type of love for people that Moses had. I think about the day the sun stood still for the battle. Sometimes when we pray for something, God will make a way for us to receive a blessing. Just because He loves us.
The next DVD talks about ways to create an environment for church growth. We have to create a welcoming environment for visitors. Most churches have greeters or ushers. The whole church needs to be involved and have a burden to win lost souls. We must also expect things to happen. Finally, we need a plan for growth with challenging but reasonable goals. What do you guys expect "reasonable" goals to be?
Tyler,
You now have three bonus points for this week.
I try to respond to God's calling in my life. I think what most people are afraid of is doing something when God is not in it. Sometimes we hear of someone doing something that they think God wants them to do. We have to be in tune with God so we don't mistake His will with our own desires.
I also think that people enjoy the prestige that comes with being a leader. It feels good to have others look up to you. Many people have a natural ability to lead others, but are reluctant because it is easy to slip into a bad mindset about it.
Happy Father's Day to all of you guys. I hope your day is wonderful. Thank God for good fathers who raise their children in the ways of the Lord. God bless all of you.
All of the churches in the study from my book have strong leaders. I am afraid for churches who don't have strong leaders. The instructor of the course uses this phrase a lot-"Everything rises and falls on leadership."
This chapter also brings up something that I never thought about and thats that each plague represents an Egyptian god being defeated by the Hebrew God. For example the River god turned to blood. The Sacred fly becoming a pest, and the sun God being blocked out.
I hope everyone had a good Father's Day. Mine was very good. I was able to spend time with my daughter. I am still blown away by being a dad. It is amazing responsibility to be raising another human being. I hope that I am doing a good job.
Corey's computer has bit the dust! He is trying to find other ways to get online. This last post was done on a friend's computer.
Corey was contributing very well to the discussion. I hope he will be able to get back on soon on a refular basis.
Also, pray for his Mom, who had a lot of her college classwork stored on that computer.
Ch 11 covers the last week of Jesus' life on earth. It gives a description of each sperate occurances. It mentioned that there some debate on the day of the last supper. Most agree it was Thursday. They claim it tough to interpret because jewis days ended at sundown.
Sorry to hear about your computer Corey. Mine fried on me a couple of weeks ago. I felt the same way about the plauges. I didnt realize they were in conjunction with Egyptian gods. Its awesome when you see how deep Gods word can go.
Ch 12 of course is about Acts. It discusses Luke as being the author. They claim there were more than one textual forms of it and some conclude that he wasnt the author of some of it. Another interesting thing is that they say there is no hard proof that he was a doctor.
It also talks about the replacement of Judas. It says he was replaced for apostacy instead of death. Peter insisted on him being replaced, they said that after this instance the church never used lots to select again. They also say that most people believe that God chose who he wanted with Paul. I've always thought that way myself.
Hey Roger where are you? I hope you're just taking some time off or busy doing something. I hope nothing bad is going on, just wanted to post that I miss your comments. I've had some weeks that I've not been able to post.
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