Starting a Class on Revelation – Any Suggestions

So I have finally bit the bullet and just started a class on Revelation last week. Since this is my first time teaching this book I thought maybe a few of you who have might have some words of wisdom or perspective to offer. Here are my reference books:

• The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation by Keener
• The Book of Revelation (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) by Mounce
• Revelation (Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary) by Reddish one of the best commentaries out there. A must have IMO
• Breaking the Code by Metzger
• Revelation (New Cambridge Bible Commentary)by Ben Witherington

Am I missing anything you think critical to understanding the book? And don’t toss the Left Behind Series at me

Center for Excellence in Preaching Sermon Archive

For those of you who preach or like to hear good preaching, here is a website for you to enjoy. The Center for Excellence in Preaching has an excellent archive of free sermons to download. The archive has Fred Craddock, Tom Long, Will Willimon, Paul Scott Wilson, and many, many others. It is worth a look.

Al Maxey on Kingdom Living Blog Rankings

One of the things this blog has highlighted for some time are the top Church of Christ blogs. One of the front runners has always been Al Maxey’s Reflections. Here are some thoughts from brother Maxey on what these rankings mean to him,

Why is this ranking significant? What does it tell us? After having given it some thought, and discussed it with others, I believe it suggests a growing hunger and thirst for responsible reform and change within the Churches of Christ, and a longing for an increased freedom in Christ to express the devotion of one’s heart apart from the confines of legalistic patternism. Brethren are frustrated over being bound to the past, to the personal and party preferences and practices of their forefathers, and yearn to step boldly into the future, sharing and showing their faith in much more culturally relevant ways. Such is not a departure from Truth, but, in fact, an elevation of Truth to a place of authority above one’s religious tradition!! The overwhelming response to ministries such as my Reflections reflects such a spiritual yearning. Our movement would be well-advised, and indeed wise, to pay attention to this voice of concern that is being raised worldwide, and begin evolving, with the leading of the Spirit, to where we currently need to be in order to better encourage the saved and evangelize the lost. – Reflections #430

I wholeheartedly agree with his thoughts on this and am appreciative of his support of this effort. To see the January 2010 rankings click here.

Church Library Book Giveaway – 150 Free Books

Here is a little boost to get your church library one step closer in its move from an old book graveyard to modern day relevance! Waterbrook, Multnomah Publishing is giving away 150 books to 5 different churches in their church library book giveaway. I am sure by posting this I just cut our odds of winning down but maybe your library needs this more than ours!

Book list.

Enter your church into the giveaway.

John 10:10-11 Abundant Living and Laying it Down

Is there any coincidence that these two verses are side by side?

“¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  ¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” – John 10:10-11

Jesus came to give us life and in order to do so the shepherd had to lay down his life for the sheep. There are few verse pairs in scripture that stand together with as stark a contrast as these. God’s love for us is so vast, so wide and deep and pure and good. Most people would say, “I am here so that I might have life and have it to the full.” Jesus knew the only route to full, abundant living was through self-sacrifice.

If you aren’t experiencing life to the full maybe you are getting in the way of the process.

How Much is There Left to Say?

With thousands of Christian blogs, thousands of sermons, classes, and lectures being presented every single week, small group studies, personal studies…is there anything left to say? Blogging ideas used to jump into my head all of the time and it seems like lately they are fewer and further in between. I am sure that has something to do with trying to balance having a 15 month old, a marriage, a job/ministry, and just life in general that I haven’t had enough “left over focus” to put into the blog. I am sure that old pace will return and in some ways maybe you never even noticed it, but I have.

While I know there are still many more things to say, hundreds more blog posts to write, and profound insights being shared, more in the comments of the blog than the actual posts, of course. Today I just feel like resting in the simple yet not so ordinary words of the Gospel that most of us have already heard thousands of times that its almost like you eventually get this John 3:16 callous on your heart. But maybe there is a reason some things get repeated so often. Maybe they are some of the most valuable truths the world has ever heard and they are worth repeating. Actually, there is no maybe about it. The core of the gospel is the best thing the world has ever heard.

So in the race to find something new to write about I will instead mention something old and maybe we can hear it again not with new ears with new perspective but with old ears and old perspective, timeless perspective that reaches back before how old a scripture or a song was could even be considered. Here are a few I personally need to be reminded of”

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him
will not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:13

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.” – 1 Cor 13:4-8

While it has already been said before, what simple truth do you need to be reminded of today?

Interlinear New Living Translation Online

You can now view an interlinear New Living Translation Online. [HT: Claude Mariottini] If you get a chance, also have a look at his post today on the Election of Israel. It is a good read.

Numbers 13 & Joshua 2 – Lessons in Partnering with God

In Numbers 13 we read about the 12 spies who went into the land and decided that tackling the promised land shouldn’t be on their agenda. Although the produce of the land was good and abundant, ten of the spies believed that land was too formidable for them to conquer. Right away you get a clue that their focus is in the wrong place, “They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.” – (Num 13:27). The problem is Moses didn’t send them. God did (Num 13:1). Their focus has already shifted from a God-initiated and promised activity to a man-initiated one. The next word they say was not what you want to hear at this point…”But” (13:28). Yep…the land is great. It’s just like God said. But. We are took weak. They are too strong. We can’t do it. We are afraid.

This is when Caleb and Joshua stepped up and put their faith in God’s promise into action saying, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” When C&J say “We” you can be their “We” is different than the “we” of the other ten spies who reply, “But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” It is pretty clear that Caleb and Joshua’s we included God and the ten’s did not. If that is true, both groups were right. The ten were right. Left without God in the picture and his power and wisdom they couldn’t do it. The two were right. With God fighting for them it could be done. The question for us is, are the things we doing inclusive of God? Or better yet, are we participating with God in what he is initiating and doing in the world today? or are we going it alone, attempting to find victory through our own power and ability? How you answer that question changes your perspective on what you do in life from “I can or can’t” to “We can”.

Fast forward forty years to Joshua 2. Joshua and the Israelites send two spies into the land saying to them, “”Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” (Joshua 2:1). Ever wonder if that number had anything to do with the last time they sent spies? This time they come back with a favorable report, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.” (Joshua 2:24). What I find interesting about this report is that it doesn’t contain the things one might expect to hear from spies -  No chariot count, no report of the weaknesses of the city, when the gates open and shut, or what kind of weapons they have. Why such a favorable report lacking all the “relevant” military information? They weren’t there to spy out the strategy or strength of the land because their report would have reflected it. All they did was go in the city, talk to a prostitute, and run for their lives and yet they came back with a favorable report! They knew God had given them the land due to Rahab’s report. She confirmed everything God had told them – the land was theirs, the people were afraid, etc.

Sometimes, like the 10 spies in Numbers 13, I am looking for things that aren’t important or confirm the wrong things. If God wants to win a battle what are we looking for? Are we looking for our own strategy of how our power will bring down the walls or are we looking for confirmation of what God’s plan is and how he will do it when we partner with him. God could have said, “Give me thirty seconds and the land will be empty, all destroyed, and you can move in.” But he didn’t. He partnered with them, expected them to act in faith, and he did all that was necessary to win the battle. If our faith is going to grow we have to stop looking for how we are going to get it done and start to try and see how God is going to do it.

It is important for us to realize that we don’t get let in on all the details of what is going to happen or how and that is important because if we were there would be little reason for faith. For instance, ever wonder if the first time they sent spies that the people in the land were already afraid? Think about it, Rahab’s report of what God had done were events that happened forty years ago and yet those events still struck fear in the hearts of the people in the land. Don’t you think the inhabitants of Canaan were quaking in their boots back in Numbers? And yet the Israelites doubted and feared them. When God tells us to be strong and to not be afraid, don’t you think he already knows how it is going to work out? The battles might look impossible but not with God. In Christ the victory is already won. But still there are times we have to step up and march around the city walls and wait to see God bring them down.

Top Church of Christ Blogs – January 2010

I had to scale this down to make it more manageable. It is now a top 25 list rather than 50 or 60. I have the information for the rest if anyone is interested in how they did. I wanted to ask if this is helpful and interesting to anyone out there. The only reason I continue to do it is because some of you work very hard on your blogs and give the rest of us great reads, information, etc. and I think people should be highlighted and recognized for their work. So I am not sure if this will be the last “Top Church of Christ Blogs” list or not but if it is I will probably move in the direction of highlighting individual blogs each month and giving recognition and appreciation that way. Let me know what you think.

Like last time this list is a combination of Alexa and google subscribers. Those two were ranked from 1-25 for each blog, an average rank calculated and the blogs ranked by the average of those two. Alexa was the tiebreaker in the event of any ties. The two most notable moves are Edward Fudge down (from #2 to #17) and Craig Ford up (from #18 to #3). If I really had to guess who has the most traffic of these I would go with Jay G.

Blog (December rank, Alexa, Google Subscribers)

1. Al Maxey (1, 128k, 0)
2. Laura Coppinger (3, 280k, 1235)
3. Craig Ford (18, 372k, 245)
4. Jim Martin (4, 422k, 250)
5. Matt Dabbs (8, 268k, 122)
6. Jay Guin (5, 314k, 128)
7. Trey Morgan (9, 1.2m, 311)
8. Mike Cope (7, 1.3m, 438)
9. Christopher Heard (6, 730k, 238)
10. Patrick Mead (11, 1.4m, 147)
11. Bobby Valentine (19, 2.5m, 275)
12. John Mark Hicks (10, 2.0m, 198)
13. Tim Archer (14, 1.0m, 35)
14. Tim Spivey (12, 1.2m, 40)
15. Wade Hodges (15, 2.8, 110)
16. John Dobbs (17, 2.4m, 91)
17. Edward Fudge (2, 2.2m, 0)
18. Larry James (13, 3.4m, 164)
19. Grace Conversation (16, 1.8m, 40)
20. Milton Stanley (20, 3.9m, 117)
21. Mitchell Skelton (24, 692k, 10)
22. Brian Nicklaus (22, 3.3m, 47)
23. Peter Horne (27, 466k, 5)
24. Darin Hamm (30, 1.1m, 16)
25. Kinney Mabry (31, 4.2m, 81)

Was Rahab a Prostitute or an Innkeeper?

Have you ever noticed the footnote in the NIV on Joshua 2:1 that says Rahab may have been an innkeeper rather than a prostitute? If that is true, imagine all the grief she is going to get in heaven when everyone keeps going up to her saying, “Oh…so you’re Rahab the prostitute!” and her constantly correcting people that she was really just an innkeeper. While the word for prostitute and innkeeper are similar there are many other clues that still points to Rahab being a prostitute:

1. Joshua 2:1 calls her a prostitute. That is what the word means. Although innkeeper is similar it is not the word being used here.
2. The suggestiveness of her name. The verb root of Rahab means “to open”. In Ugarit this word was used in reference to female anatomy.
3. The Talmud talks of Rahab in a sexual way (Megillah 15a)
4. The New Testament witness to Rahab as a prostitute (Heb 11:31 & James 2:25). This one pretty much puts the whole thing to rest. If the inspired New Testament writers refer to her as such then that is as strong a witness as you can get (right there with Joshua 2:1).

The beauty of it all is that God was able to use Rahab to complete his plan. Remember, she eventually became Boaz’s mother, the mother in law of Ruth, and great grandmother of King David, ending up in the lineage of Jesus. While the skeleton in her closet was her profession at the time of the battle of Jericho her fear of the Lord shown through more brightly.