September 27, 2009 - Matthew 16:13-21: Don't Just Stand There. Do Something!

Happy Homecoming! Let us pray that God blesses Goshen for at least another 201 years if the Lord tarries.

To download the notes, click here. You can download the audio by clicking on the title.

Bible Breakfast Club Interview

I recently was interviewed on the Bible Breakfast Club on WBFI in McDaniels and I want to make it available to you. The interview begins about half way through the following clip. I want to encourage you to visit their site and I want to thank them for the opportunity to be on their show.

Bible Breakfast Club Interview

Let me know what you think.

September 20, 2009 - Genesis 15:1-18: The Patience of Our Deliverer

You can download my notes by clicking here.

Romans: The Just Shall Live By Faith

After several months of walking through the book of Romans chapter-by-chapter, we have finally concluded our series. What follows is all of the links, notes, and audio, from our look at this wonderful book.

Note: You can download all of the notes at the same time without having to click on each chapter. This all-in-one link includes notes on each chapter plus a complete bibliography and additional notes that were not used in our study. To download this, click here. Also, I stopped recording the Bible studies because they became more conversational than monologue which is what I was hoping for.

Notes:

Romans: The Just Shall Live By Faith - The Complete Notes including Bibliography and appendixes.

Wednesday Nights - Romans 1-8

Wednesday Nights - Romans 9

Romans 10

Romans 11

Romans 12

Wednesday Night - Romans 13

Wednesday Night: Romans 14

Wednesday Nights: Romans 15

Wednesday - Romans 16

Audio:

April 8, 2009 - Romans 1:1-17: An Introduction

Romans 2: To the Jew First
Romans 1:18-32: The Depravity of Man - Part 1

Article:

Applying Romans 13

Romans 14 and Theological Triage

For more:

The Fruit of the Spirit: Love

The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

The Last Week of Jesus: From Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Grave Series

Basic Christianity Series

Revelation Study

Wednesday - Romans 16

Here are the notes for chapter 16 of Romans. Click here.

The NIV, the Gospel of Mark, and the AntiChrist: The Lunacy on Display

And I thought I was bad. For those who have been coming on Wednesday nights, we've been discussing textual criticism in our attempt to best interpret a text. The following pastor argues that if you take away the last twelve verses of Mark, that means that there are 666 verses in the Gospel of Mark. There are a number of major problems with this interpretation.

First, there were no such thing as verses (or chapters for that matter) when Mark penned his Gospel. There is no grand conspiracy here. Throughout the centuries, chapters and verses were added in order to help the reader. They are not inspired and Mark was unaware of them.

Secondly, the pastor here has said ridiculous things before. One example comes when he declares that he will be a man who "pisseths" standing up (I kid you not). So the fact that he would only add to such lunacy should not surprise us.

Thirdly, this pastor is a King James Version-only proponent. I have nothing against the KJV. It has its advantages and disadvantages as a translation. But that's the point, its a translation. The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, not in King James. I agree that the NIV (which is what he is referring to here) has its problems, but this is not one of them.

In the end, it is this sort of lunacy that gives Christianity a bad name. As we deal with some of the difficult issues of hermeneutics (the science of interpretation), we must avoid lunacy like this.

For More:
NT BLog - 666 verses in Mark's Gospel in the NIV, or are there?
PaleoBabble -Another Great Moment in Pulpit PaleoBabble
Mark 16:9-20 Available Online
Which Translations Are Best?: A Helpful Chart
Weekly Recommendation: New Testament Textual Criticism

I couldn't resist. I had to post this video. What do ya think? Should we get puppets like this and include them in our worship service? I can just imagine the faces on the congregation if we did.

See You At the Pole - September 23, 2009

I strongly encourage all of the students in our community to participate in the See You At the Pole (SYATP) which is scheduled nation-wide on Wednesday, September 23, 2009. I always participated in SYATP when I was a student and it was always an encouraging time.

For More:
Official Site - http://www.syatp.com/
Baptist Press - 'See You At the Pole' set for Sept. 23

September 13, 2009 - Genesis 13:1-18: The Biggest Loser

Here are the notes. The audio can be downloaded by clicking on the title.

For More:
Genesis 12:1-9 - Faithience: When Faith and Patience Collide - Audio

Wednesday Nights: Romans 15

To download the notes, click here.

Hardinsburg Controversy: Some Links

There is a lot of talk going around town about the baptism of some teenagers. The controversy surrounds the baptism that were performed without (in one case) the parents approval nor were they aware. Here are some links reporting the story. If anything changes, I'll try to post them. This is for those who want to know exactly what happened instead of just hearing rumors.

USA Today - Ky. school trip included baptisms
AP: Ky. mother upset by football player son's baptism
MSNBC: Mother upset by football player son’s baptism: Claims teen, fellow athletes taken to a Baptist revival by their coach
ABC News: Kentucky High School Coach Gets Players Baptized: Coach Scott Mooney's Actions Questioned After Field Trip Includes Baptisms
World Magazine: Coach under fire for church field trip
Courier Journal - Stick to football
National Post: Team road trip ends in baptism
WLKY: HS Players Baptized, Parents Upset: Nine Students Baptized After Altar Call

More could be listed, but this should be enough. This story has spread to the national level. It seems that the culture is appalled by the actions of the coach. It is amazing how angry our culture gets over the salvation and baptism of someone. Obviously, there are other issues here. But the anger over the fact that anyone would encourage someone to get saved and baptized is rather frightening.

Weekly Recommendation: "The Faith"

What does it mean to be a Christian? What is a Christian? Sadly, most Christians in America today don't know the answer to such questions. Some use moral terms, Christians love their neighbor, and other terms to describe the Christian life. Not long ago, I read a book by Charles Colson called, "The Faith: Given Once, For All What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters." Colson answers these questions with biblical truth, theological pricision, and cultural and practical application.

Christianity is not a boring faith. Christian theology should not be a dry uptaking. Colson walks the reader through the various doctrines of the Christian faith and shows them how critical they are, how unshakale they must be, and why it all matters. What I loved most about Colson's book was that he took Christian theology and applied it. He shows why it is important for us to believe in God, that the Bible is inspired, that God created, why Jesus death was substitutionary, etc.

Colson is an excellent writer who has experienced much in his life who is deep in his theology and cultural analysis. I strongly encouage everyone to pick it up and read it. It is well worth the time and let us hold firmly to the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

I have given a fuller review of the book. To read it, click here. I consider this book to be among the best of the books I read all of 2008.




For more:
"The Faith"
How Now Shall We Live
The Body
My Top 5 Must Reads
My Best of 2008
"Breach of Faith"

September 6, 2009 - Faithience: When Faith and Patience Collide

Download notes here.

Which Translations Are Best?: A Helpful Chart

We have spent some time here and there discussing the issue of translations. Which one's are best? Why are there so many? Etc. The following is a helpful chart that helps explain some of the issues raised with the various translations. It is broken up into three categories: Word-for-Word, Thought-for-Thought, and Paraphrase.

Word-for-Word translations begin with the original languages (Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New Testament) and seek to give a word-for-word translation of the text. Therefore, the Hebrew/Greek word son is translated son, and so forth. There are a lot of advantages of this. One, the attempt of the translators is to present the Biblical text as-is without any interpretation on the part of the editors and translators. The main problem with this is oftentimes readability. There is a huge cultural gap between the ancient near east during Moses day and our day. Also, issues like translating monetary words like denarii are lost in today's culture.

Thought-for-Thought translations look at the original language and try to word it in the way that is more readable and understandable to the reader while trying to grasp the meaning of the text. This means that if one looked at the original languages and then compared it to a Thought-for-Thought translation, they will not be very similar. However, upon closer review, the two will essentially be saying the same thing. The advantage of this approach is readability. It avoids some of the odd language in Word-for-Word translations. The problem, however, is that it only gives the idea of the text, not the actual text.

Finally, Paraphrases are simply paraphrases of the text. The editors do not seek to capture the actual wording of the original or even the main thrust of the passage. Rather is is a much easy read that seeks to give the reader the basic point of the passage. The advantage of these is the simplicity of the readability. The problem, however, is how drastically different they oftentimes are from the original language which threatens to loose the original message of the text.

My preference is Word-for-Word. I want to know what the text actually says, not what the translators think it says. I am not saying that the others are useless and bad (although I am not a fan of paraphrases), but that Word-for-Word translations best represent the text as God wrote it.

Here is the chart:

The chart above, and I think their right, considers the New American Standard (NASB) to be the most accurate translation. It is my favorite translation for that purpose. On Sunday mornings, I used the New King James Version (NKJV) not because it is my favorite, though it is a good one, but because the King James Version (KJV) is so prevalent and common in the Bible belt. The NKJV is similar to the KJV minus the thees and thous.

What translation do you use and why?

For More:

Defending, Contending - Bible translation comparison chart.

Translations and the Subjugation of Women: Emergents Make a Stretch

Zondervan - Biblica Announces First Update in Quarter Century of the World’s Most Popular Bible

Baptist Press - NIV to be revised in 2011; TNIV to be discontinued

"On the Seventh Day the Lord chillaxed" - Conan on the NIV Translation

King James Only?

John MacArthur and the Authority of Scripture

Sola Emergent: The Emerging Church and Revelation - Part 1

Sola Emergent: The Emerging Church and Revelation - Scripture is Reaction Part 2

The Bible in One Minute or Less

"The Blue Parakeet"

"God's Secretaries"

Mohler on the Archaeological Study Bible

"3:16: The Numbers of Hope"

September Newsletter

Due to issues with the copier, I have not been able to make the newsletter available at church. But in the meantime, it is available online. Click here to download the newsletter.

September Newsletter

The Fruit of the Spirit: Peace

After 6 weeks, we finally finished looking at the third Fruit of the Spirit: peace. Here is all of the audio, the notes, and the books recommended for the past 6 weeks. Next up: patience.

Sermons
August 2, 2009 - Psalm 23:2: Peace of Rest
August 9, 2009 - Psalm 23:3: The Peace of Restoration (notes only)
August 16, 2009 - Psalm 23:4: "The Peace of Comfort"
Sunday Night - The Agony of Job and the Sovereingnty of God
August 23, 2009 - Psalm 23:5: The Peace of the Shepherd's Sovereignty
August 30, 2009 - Psalm 23:6: The Peace of the Shepherd's Providence

Books:
Weekly Recommendation - "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23"
Weekly Recommendation: "Traveling Light"
Weekly Recommendation - "Restore My Soul"
Weekly Recommendation - "A Grief Observed"
Weekly Recommendation - "Finding Peace"
Weekly Recommendation - "Heaven"

For more:
The Fruit of the Spirit: Love
The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy
The Last Week of Jesus: From Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Grave Series
Basic Christianity Series Revelation Study

August 30, 2009 - Psalm 23:6: The Peace of the Shepherd's Providence

Notes