Each day I receive an email reminding me of a significant event that happened in Christian history on that given date. Today, October 31, is the 503rd anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church building door in Wittenberg. This date is widely celebrated in Reformed and Evangelical churches as the birthday of the Reformation. you can read more about the remembrance of “Reformation Day” on Wikipedia.
Here are a few resources I would encourage my readers to check out about this event in Christian history: Continue Reading
God’s purpose and plan from before the beginning of time is that the church, both as individuals and as a body, be to His glory (honor and praise) and to display His glory through out all generations. That can only happen if every one of us lives worthy of the calling we have received. As we begin Chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul’s emphasis changes; he moves from presenting God’s Great Plan to discussing how believers live out that Plan.
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” (Ephesians 4:1, ESV)
With my fondness for things in Bible study and teaching which are related to printing, I listened today to the latest podcast from 5 Minutes in Church Historywith more than usual interest. Dr. Stephen Nichols spoke about the coming of Reformation ideas (Lutheran) from Germany to Iceland around 1533. Soon, many of the Catholic churches in Iceland were converted to Lutheran churches.
I have mentioned before that I see printed materials as a key part of teaching and preaching. Most classes I teach include printed handouts. My Store section of this website features a few of my audio teaching series which have printed guides accompanying them.
Now I am blessed to work at Sunset International Bible Institute where I have access to several commercial full-color copier printers. This allows me to do short runs of my study guides when I need them along with handouts for various Bible classes I might teach. But copying, folding, stapling and trimming study guides is a labor intensive process even for 5 to 15 copies. And the quality, while good, is still not quite “print” quality to my eyes.
The immeasurable riches which we have already experienced in Christ are not the limit of what God will do for us. He is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think!” And it is His desire that He is praised, honored, worshiped and glorified through the church and Christ for ever and ever!
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21
The Gospel of Judas? Gospel of Thomas? Gospel of Mary Magdalene? In the last few years the popular media has made it seem like new “gospels” have been discovered which should compete with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for a place in the New Testament. We almost never see magazine articles or TV stories about why they do not belong!
To help my church history students know “the facts” about this imagined controversy, each year we watch a 45 minute video by Dr. Michael J. Kruger. Dr. Kruger is the President and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC. He is a renowned scholar on 2nd Century Christianity and the New Testament canon (i.e., the books that are in the Bible). Here is the video to watch:
Back in March, 2020 we recommended the Sunset Digital Library app. This is a project I have been working on along with two teammates for almost 3 full years now. Go back and read our earlier post for all the details including how to download the app free and access the website.
However, I am now recommending it again, primarily for two reasons:
In Ephesians 3:14-21 Paul returns to the thought he began in chapter 3, verse 1. After his parenthesis about his ministry and God’s plan to demonstrate His Great Plan through the church, he now prays that the Ephesians will experience even more of the “glorious riches” of the Father. He prays that they will be strengthened, that Christ will permanently dwell within them, and that they will be able to fully grasp how great God’s love for them is.
Every epistle by Paul except II Corinthians and Titus contains one or more explicit prayers by him. One such list can be found here. Our present passage is the second of three prayers found here in Ephesians (1:15-23; 6:19-20). He will then complete his “theological” teaching, and begin the next chapter with how the believers should live out God’s Great Plan in their lives and in His church.
Perhaps this article will seem strange to some, especially since it appears on a website about effective Bible study. However, I think it is important for those who teach and preach to know that you should and can draw inspiration and illustrations from a wide variety of sources.
Currently there is a movie available only through Apple TV+ starring Tom Hanks called Greyhound. It is a movie of historical fiction; in other words, it is a fictional story of events firmly rooted in history.
It was important that the Ephesians (and us along with them) understand exactly what Paul’s ministry was about. He was entrusted along with others (3:5) with declaring God’s revealed mystery. This secret (Gk. musterion) is that in Christ all become one people redeemed by God’s grace in Christ. According to Ephesians 3:10, God’s “intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known,” not just to all mankind, but even to all those in the heavenly realms (spiritual world).
I am very excited about an upcoming series I plan to write for Effective Bible Study (this website!) about Johann Gutenberg and the “Gutenberg Bible.” My enthusiasm is for several reasons:
I am a trained printer with a background in letterpress (what Gutenberg Used), offset press, and digital.
I have owned or helped operate several printing companies as a means of support over the years for my ministry.
I have recently purchased a small tabletop letterpress and some other equipment and hope to spend time in the near future teaching my grandchildren here in Lubbock the joy and satisfaction of printing using this method. (For those with the interest, I purchased a 5 x 8 Kelsey Excelsior Press and am waiting for new rollers to be custom-made for it.)
The invention of printing as done by Gutenberg literally changed the world, including Christian evangelism and education.
The story, as much of it as we know, is a fascinating story.
Ephesians 2:11-22 now reveals the great mystery that God had kept hidden even from the Jewish people as He foretold the coming of their Savior. In Greek thinking and language, a “mystery” was a “divine secret,” something that only a divine being could reveal. And this secret of God was that the riches of His salvation through Christ was not only the forgiveness of sins, but the making of two completely different peoples – Jews and Gentiles – one new people shaped into a holy temple where God is worshiped.
“In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.” – Isaiah 2:2