May I have a WORD with you?

References: Somewhere, over the Swiss Alps… Lessons from “Oz?” or… My year starts with a trip to Kenya. Drowning in guilt - כִּי־תַעֲבֹר בַּמַּיִם  “when you pass through the waters…”  Isa 43:2 and Wm Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” Ps 38 - v 4 - “For my iniquities have gone over my head.” - עָבַר (aw-bar') - pass over, by or through   Abraham and the covenant ceremony of Gen 15 The Exodus - Ps 6...

References: Isaiah 6:1-13 v 3 - holy: קָדוֹשׁ  (kaw-doshe') - sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart Ex 19 - the people of God are holy (see 1 Peter 2:9) 1 Sam 2 - Hannah’s song of praise (see Luke 1:49) Holy, holy, holy - a trinitarian designation vs 5-7 - The consuming fire of God’s holiness Who can stand? Malachi 3:2 v 8 - the call “Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord.” I will go, Lord, where...

References: A New Year is upon us! Again?!? I resolve to … Lose Weight and Get Fit Travel to New Places Get Out of Debt and Save Money Be Less Stressed Learn Something New OR… Philippians 4:8 - fix my thoughts on what is … true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Psalm 1 vss 1-3 - meditating day and night.  הָגָה  (haw-gaw') - to moan, gr...

References: Christmas is a time to marvel at the mystery of God who came among us. John 1:1-3, 14 ESV ἀρχή (ar-khay') - beginning, the first person or thing in a series, the leader, that by which anything begins to be, the origin Gen 1:1 (LXX) Mark 1:1; John 1:1; 1 John 1:1 μονογενής (mon-og-en-ace') - single of its kind, only Of others Luke 7:11-17; 8:40-56; 9:37-43 Heb 11:17-19 Of Jesu...

References: Col 4:2-6 v 2 - προσκαρτερέω (pros-kar-ter-eh'-o) to be steadfastly attentive unto, to give unremitting care to a thing, built on a word that means “endure.” Acts 1:14; 2:42; Rom 12:12 (see esp. MSG) v 3 - God’s mysterious plan (Part 2, Ep 60) v 5-6 - having a heart for the “world” ἐξαγοράζω (ex-ag-or-ad'-zo) to redeem, by payment of a price to recover from the power of anoth...

References: Revisit Col 3:17 as an intro into this next section Col 3:18-4:1 - Relationships under the Lordship of Christ Wives - ὑποτάσσω (hoop-ot-as'-so) Lk 2:51 (Jesus to parents); Eph 5:21 (husbands and wives to each other); 1 Pet 2:13 (to all in authority over you) Husbands - not bitter -  πικραίνω (pik-rah'-ee-no) James 3:11, 14 Children - ὑπακούω (hoop-ak-oo'-o) Fathers, prov...

References: Colossians 3:3-9 Resurrection life is a stripping away of the old nature v. 5 - νεκρόω (nek-ro'-o) - “put to death the sinful nature.”  Early onset rigor mortis of the flesh for the sake of the spirit in faith Rom 4:19 - And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead Heb 11:12 - a whole nation came from this one...

References: Colossians 2:4-12 v 4 - “so no one will deceive you” παραλογίζομαι  to cheat by false reckoning, to deceive by false reasoning, to deceive, delude We can even deceive ourselves (Jas 1:22 v 7 - “Let your roots grow down into him…” neg. Isa 40:21-25; Jer 12:1-3 pos. Eph 3:16-19 v 8-10 - not a mystical polytheistic context v 11-12 - not a Jewish legalism Colossians 2:13-17 v 14 - χειρόγρα...

References: Colossians 1:15-2:3 The Christ Hymn - vs 15-20 Visible image - εἰκών (i-kone') Invisible - ἀόρατος (ah-or'-at-os) - unseen v 16 seen and unseen (visible & invisible) v 17 hold together συνίστημι (soon-is'-tay-mee) vs 18-20 - ἀποκαταλλάσσω (ap-ok-at-al-las'-so) ἀλλάσσω - 1 Cor 15:50-57 “We shall all be changed” mystery Word going out - vs 21-23 Modeling Christ’s...

References: Intro: Paul, Epaphras, Onesimus, Philemon Tradition has Epaphras as 1st Bishop, Philemon 2nd (?) The church at Laodicea, their letter, Rev 3:14-22 Colossians 1:1-8 Faith Love Hope v 5 ἀπόκειμαι (ap-ok'-i-mahee) - reserved to be laid away, laid by, reserved for one, awaiting him Check out MSG translation of v 5 Recall Heb 6:19 - anchor Colossians 1:9-14 Paul’s prayer: complete know...

References: The Apostles Creed Article 3 - The Holy Spirit Article The holy catholic church, the communion of saints Eph 2:11-22 Jews and Gentiles as one people (one communion) v 12: ἀπαλλοτριόω (ap-al-lot-ree-o'-o)  [ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι] - to alienate, estrange, to be shut out from one's fellowship and intimacy ἀλλότριος - Heb 11:9 “he was like a foreigner” Rom 8:35-39 Never separated – not...

References: Reformation Text - Romans 3:9-18ff Luther posted his 95 theses on the 31st possibly so that all the people coming to church on All Saints Day would see it. 2 Cor 4:1-7 (esp. v 2) The follower of Christ is like a jack-o-lantern Eph 4:11-16 (esp. v 14) God gifts His people so that we will not be tricked, but be a treat to the world around us. πανουργία (pan-oorg-ee'-ah) - NLT “trick...

References: David selected five smooth stones to fight Goliath. 1 Sam 17 Our fifth “smooth” Biblical stone for fighting the giants Exit, way out - ἔκβασις (ek'-bas-is) 1 Cor 10:13 He who fights and runs away... Context - 1 Corinthians 10 OT examples The way out God provides is not cowardice. It preserves purity of faith through orthodoxy koinonia (the faith community) The meal and prayer 1 Ti...

References: David selected five smooth stones to fight Goliath. 1 Sam 17 Our fourth “smooth” Biblical stone for fighting the giants Fight - Resist, oppose - ἀνθίστημι (anth-is'-tay-mee)  Eph 6:10-12, 13 , 14-18 withstand & stand (ἀνθίστημι & ἵστημι) To stand - ἵστημι Acts 12:6-17 - great story, not the usage as our smooth stone 1 Cor 10:12-13 - we’ll come back to this passage next wee...

References: David selected five smooth stones to fight Goliath. 1 Sam 17  Our third “smooth” Biblical stone for fighting the giants Rebuke - ἐπιτιμάω (ep-ee-tee-mah'-o)  To honor (non-biblical), to adjudge in the sense of merited penalty, to censure severely, rebuke We need rebuking - from the Lord When we are right with the Lord, rebuke becomes a tool for the good of His Body,  And a weapon...

References: David selected five smooth stones to fight Goliath. 1 Sam 17  πρὸς καθαίρεσιν ὀχυρωμάτων - “pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4) Our second “smooth” Biblical stone for fighting the giants Opportunity - τόπος (top'-os), place, quarter Mat 14:13 - Jesus made a discipline of going to solitary places (ἔρημον τόπον) Silence, solitude - disciplines of spiritual warfare The battle: Eph...

References: David selected five smooth stones to fight Goliath. 1 Sam 17  ὅπλα τῆς στρατείας ἡμῶν - “weapons of our warfare” (2 Cor 10:4) Our first “smooth” Biblical stone for fighting the giants Thoughts - νόημα (no'-ay-mah), mind The peace of God keeps our νόημα in Christ - Phil 4:7 The battle: 2 Cor 3 & 4 Our preconceived notions about what is “right” The brilliance of the covenant and...

References: Sticks and stones… words can be powerful hapax legomenon - a word that appears only once within a document or corpus The works of William Shakespeare — known for wide variety in his vocabulary — are estimated to contain more than 6,000 hapax legomena (the plural form). Honorificabilitudinitatibus - "the state of being able to achieve honours" Wm Shakespeare's “Love’s Lab...

References: Job 13  רִיב (reeb) - to contend, argue, quarrel  Job 23:1-14 with humility Isaiah 29:13-16 (pre-exhilic) Jeremiah 18:1-12 Isaiah 45:1-11 (pending post-exhilic) Acts 5:27-41

God’s Conspicuous Favor and the Word of Your Testimony References: Acts 1:3-8 Jesus proved He was REALLY Alive! He talked to them about… What? The Kingdom of God! “You will be my witnesses” - Acts 1:8 λόγον τῆς μαρτυρίας Martyr The starting point of one’s witness  1 Timothy 1:15-16 I am an example of God’s great patience If God can redeem me, He can redeem you! Peter’s μεγάλεῖα John 21 Acts 3-4 Ac...

God’s Conspicuous Favor for You References: The story of how I came to understand our word. Teaching in Myanmar 1 Peter? No. Acts! Jesus’ Authority, His Kingdom and  His Commissioning of Ordinary People Who, with Boldness will Join Jesus on His Mission without Hindrance  Acts 2:1-13 The gift of the Holy Spirit The mighty works God has done μεγάλεῖα (megaleia) - v 11 What was it that people were he...

References: Luke 8:22-25 Obey - ὑπακούω (hoop-ak-oo'-o) Preposition - of, by, under, with, etc. Root - acoustic - hear, hearken, etc. To undergird one’s hearkening with response Mt 21:28-32 Do the will of… Mt 28:16-20 Teach them to observe Think “Simon says” Mt 15:1-6 Obey command over tradition 2 Thess 2:15 - tradition can still be a positive thing  Rom 6:16

References: 2 Timothy 3:10-17 To be firmly persuaded of - ἐπιστώθης (πιστόω) (pis-to'-o) A form only here in NT from common root words μανθάνω - (man-than'-o) verb “to learn” Mat 9:13; Mat 11:29 All Scripture - the “canon” of Scripture. Authoritative.   Gal 6:14-16 The “rule” or “standard” κανών - (kan-ohn') a rod or straight piece of rounded wood to which any thing is fastened to k...

References: Back to work - Prov 21:25 Sluggard, lazy person - עָצֵל (aw-tsale') Appears 14 times in Hebrew OT, all in Prov How not to be a sluggard? “Work!” -  עָשָׂה    (aw-saw') Different than אָסָא  (aw-saw')  Mark 4 Jesus is hard at work teaching in parables He wants to get a break and rest - vs 35-36 The weather doesn’t cooperate - vs 37 Jesus is called back from rest to fix th...

References: Wrap up Season 2: taking a break for July Season 3 will begin in August July 4 is a day of honoring what has been sacrificed for the sake of this country My connection to the preservation of the Union Iron Brigade Pride What would you do if you were 100%, totally free? Student stories Gal. 5:1 - For Freedom you have been set free… stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke...