Fights and Quarrels
By Caroline Poon, Singapore One day, while I was waiting for my family to gather for devotions, I decided to flip through the devotions book. While I was doing so, I came across a story that sounded very smilar to mine. It was about two boys who were always fighting. On one occasion, the mother [...]
Faulty Thinking
Four people—a pilot, a professor, a pastor, and a hiker—were flying in a small plane when the engines died. The pilot said, “There are only three parachutes. Since this is my plane, I’m taking one of them.” He put it on and jumped out. The professor said, “I’m brilliant and the world needs me, so I’m taking a parachute,” and he jumped out.
Want to take your study of God’s Word to a deeper level?
Thursday, May 31, 2012
“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
IDEA: It is possible for us to overlook a teaching of the Lord because it doesn’t fit our preconceived concepts.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that a proper interpretation of a passage often reveals to us what we might otherwise overlook.
God’s Wheelchair
Jean Driscoll is a remarkable athlete. She has won the Boston Marathon eight times. She has also participated in four Paralympic Games and won five gold medals. Born with spina bifida, Jean competes in a wheelchair.
Let’s look at what they call “hot passages” in the Bible
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
IDEA: We misread the Bible when we look for the “hot” passages and ignore what we think are the cold sections.
PURPOSE: To help listeners avoid taking isolated verses from the Scripture which can lead us to false applications of those Scriptures to our lives.
祂给了我们先知
本课程初步介绍旧约先知，探讨关于先知的常见误解、提供解释预言的准则，并给予学生信心来学习先知文学。本课程是根据Dr. Richard Pratt “祂赐给我们先知”的DVD系列编写。
Giants in the Promised Land
By Charles Christian, 23, Indonesia The story told in Numbers 13-14 is not unfamiliar to us. Twelve spies were sent to check out the land of Canaan—the land that God promised to the Israelites (Numbers 13:17-20). After 40 days, they returned with both good and bad news—the land was fertile but the inhabitants were strong [...]
Pride And Prejudice
Back in the 1930s, my childhood home was loving and happy, but my parents were often away. On those occasions, the center of warmth in our home was the kitchen and our tiny, joyous housekeeper named Annie.
I spent many hours with Annie, sitting at our kitchen table reading books or playing with toys and listening to her sing and hum spirituals and hymns. From her heart sprang a continual flow of wisdom, cheerfulness, and song.
Practical tools to bring clarity to often misunderstood Bible passages
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).
IDEA: We must submit ourselves to the Scriptures even when the Scriptures are not saying what we think they should say.
PURPOSE: To help listeners be willing to see old texts in a new way in order to live according to the Scriptures.
The Gathering
During Oswald Chambers’ service as a YMCA chaplain in Egypt (1915–1917), he touched the lives of many soldiers who died in World War I. On November 6, 1916, Chambers wrote in his diary: “We have a letter from a New Zealand friend telling us that Ted Strack has been killed. And so Ted Strack has ‘gone to be with Jesus.’ That is just how he would have put it . . . . [He] was a rough beauty of nature and of grace, a fearless, loveable little saint. Thank God for every remembrance of him . . . . So they are gathering one by one.”
The benefit to using different translations when studying the Bible
Monday, May 28, 2012
Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).
IDEA: We must submit ourselves to the Scriptures even when the Scriptures are not saying what we think they should say.
PURPOSE: To help listeners be willing to see old texts in a new way in order to live according to the Scriptures.
A Hideous Monster
By Jasmine Priya, India Lily: Jane . . . erm, I’m sorry to say this, but, er . . . you might want to consider using a deodorant? Jane: Whaaat?! But I don’t have body odor. Do I? Pride is like body odor. It is difficult to detect by oneself but is utterly noticeable to [...]
A Sense Of Dread
In Tennyson’s classic poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” valiant cavalry troops riding into battle are described by the imposing phrase, “Into the valley of death rode the six hundred.” Those words portray a sense of foreboding that anticipated the tragedy that lay before them.
Conversion
Before my husband and I travel, we go to the bank and trade in our US dollars for the currency of the country we’ll be visiting. We do this so we can pay for expenses while we’re away from home.
