An Epistle Is the Wife of an Apostle, Right?
January 23, 2009
Biblical illiteracy has long been a concern for many in the church, but obviously not for most. (Just watch a couple of hours of "Christian TV" and you will agree!)
What has been done to address this problem? Precious little in most local churches!
A recent story in WorldNetDaily gives little comfort to those of us who have lamented the tragedy of biblical ignorance that appears all around. The story's headline is shocking:
1 in 3 'Christians' says 'Jesus sinned.'
WND cites a January 12 report from The Barna Group that found that half of American adults "pick and choose" their beliefs from the Bible, from organized denominations, from secular philosophy, and from non-Christian religions. Among those under 25 years of age, 82% (a little over 4 out of 5) prefer this "cafeteria" approach to faith.
Such an "al a carte" method of building a belief system would not exist if members of local churches had been taught in convincing fashion that God Himself has spoken to man in the Bible--His inspired, inerrant, understandable, and authoritative Word! (Former students of mine will recognize that last sentence as the crux of my "Seven Presuppositions" lecture.)
But we who have been given the stewardship of Truth have not been disciplined about teaching the Truth; so what do we get? Barna reports:
"Among individuals who describe themselves as Christian . . . close to half believe that Satan does not exist, one-third contend that Jesus sinned while He was on earth, two-fifths say they do not...
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barna, bible institute, biblical illiteracy, worldnetdaily
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Line Upon Line in 2009!
January 14, 2009
Remember? I bought every family a One-Year Bible. The idea was that everyone in our church will read the daily selection every day of every week, and each Sunday sermon in 2009 will come from one of the daily passages that we read together the preceding week (probably the OT passage).
Last Sunday was the first such sermon (we had previously invited a guest preacher the first Sunday, and his message on "Unity" was providentially the perfect introduction to this plan of reading the Bible together as a family).
So for last week's sermon I introduced the book of Genesis and linked several of the week's passages together in a biographical message called "Abraham and Lot: Two Different Kinds of Believers; Two Different Kinds of Living." The message was organized around the story of Abraham's walk on "The Path of Faith" and Lot's walk down "The Path of Flesh."
It went over very well. Those who had been faithful in their reading nodded with familiarity as I brought out gems from the several chapters they had read the preceding week, and those who had not been so faithful were encouraged to "get on board" so that they could make discoveries with the rest of us in the coming week and get more out of the Sunday "reviews."
Biblical illiteracy is such a problem...
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Eight Hundred and Nineteen (819) Count 'em!
January 7, 2009
A couple of years ago I met a guy online who has become my good friend and mentor when it comes to online ministry.
He is waaaaay ahead of me in this arena and has been very generous with his time and advice, eventhough he has a demanding full time job outside of his Bible teaching ministry.
I'm talking about my good friend Dr. Glenn Brooke. Glenn has created a great product for Bible Teachers called Teach the Jesus Way (TTJW). You've probably read my recommendations for it, but that's not what this post is about.
Instead, I want to point you to Glenn's blog: http://teachtochangelives.blogspot.com/ where you will find 819 short, to the point, and very helpful articles and resources to help you in your ministry of communicating Bible Truth. For regardless of what you do for the Lord, the most important aspect of your ministry is communication of His Truth.
Check it out and see what Glenn has uploaded to help you. After you have browsed through this mountain of material, you will understand the value of learning how to teach like the Master from this master teacher!
I think you will really enjoy Glenn's perspective on what the coming year might bring in our Bible teaching ministries. And if you are interested in the book he mentions at the very end of the video, you can get it here (along with a packet of FREE teaching helps!)
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bible teaching, glenn brooke, how to teach the bible, teaching tips
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