The Blue Collar Scholar

Evangelism is not a popular subject in Christian circles. We envision dutifully sharing the message - that Jesus died to free one from sin, death, and hell - to people who do not want to listen. And yet Christian leaders who strongly preach evangelism create a search-&-rescue mentality about evangelism that quickly leads to frustration and burnout and then makes us feel guilty for not evangelizing...

Worship of the Lord does not require a church building, ... and it doesn't even require a church, a la "where 2 or more are gathered in His Name." Worship of God can be done in private, or in a family. And when done in this way, worship is maximally flexible, and allows for a great amount of creativity in worship. Note: This teaching was recorded on September 5, 2021.

Worship is a spiritual discipline. It certainly takes attendance. We must worship in community. But it takes more than attendance. Worship is not an event to attend. It is a verb, something that you do, and its focus is God. Note: This teaching was recorded on 8-29-2021, and the recording skips a beat every so often.

Prayer Walking is a fantastic activity to jump start your prayers while connecting your prayer life to your community, workplace, or school. One could also "prayer walk" through a news website in order to pray for our community, state, nation, and world with specificity. Note: This teaching was recorded on 8-8-2021, and there are several places where the recording cuts out for a second or two.

Using the words of Scripture to guide your prayer thoughts can be valuable in two ways. (1) It amplifies prayer as a conversation, with God's words intertwined with our words to Him. (2) Having an external guide to our prayer thoughts can jumble up our prayer ruts, so that every prayer does not sound like every other prayer. Of all Scripture, the Psalms make the best prayer guides because the Psal...

I personally find prayer lists to turn my prayer life into a tedium, like a poorly run committee meeting. But it doesn't have to be that way. Prayer lists make it possible not to forget to prayer for things that we want to pray for. But feel free to trim and hone your prayer lists to make sure that the list serves as a tool to make your prayer life more vibrant, instead of a guilt trip about how m...

Prayer is half of a "great conversation." God speaks to us in many ways, but primarily through the Word. So, when you read or study Scripture, you are hearing from God. Any conversation involves communication going both ways, and prayer is our vehicle to communicate with God. So I would encourage us all (I admit that prayer is a weak link in my faith) to invest time and effort into our prayer live...

Before this series moves past Bible intake as a personal spiritual discipline, we need to address why there are so many translations of the Bible, especially in English. These translations are - for the most part - the work of solid scholarship and the translation that you read really is a legitimate translation of the Word of God. Note: This teaching was recorded on 6-20-2021, and the recording c...

To study the Bible is a skill that cannot be completely mastered. There is always another layer, another angle, another untapped resource that can help an individual know and understand a passage of Scripture better. Therefore, the pressure is off. There will be no final test. And you aren't graded on a curve. You don't have to know more than me or your pastor or some Ph. D. in New Testament. Rath...

We live in a day when we don't even memorize each others' phone numbers, because we don't have to. Memorization doesn't feel like a necessary skill, and it certainly doesn't feel like a vital spiritual discipline. But that is wrong. Scripture that is memorized is Scripture that can be meditated upon. And while it is difficult to remember even half of what you read, you remember 100% of what you me...

The topic of meditation can be confusing for anyone whose conception of meditation is based on how eastern religions do it. But Scripture meditation is actually quite simple: Free your mind of distractions and choose to dedicate a certain amount of time to fill your mind with a certain Bible verse or set of verses, dedicating all your attention to understanding that verse. Note: This teaching was...

Holy Mole, it's episode #200! In our last Sunday School lesson, we discussed Bible reading plans, but it is important to understand that there is a wide variety of Bible reading plans, and your plan does not have to look at all like my Bible reading plan. Note: This teaching was recorded on May 16, 2021.

This episode is basically an argument for Bible-in-a-Year plans. However, there are other kinds of Bible reading plans. This episode ends with a bunny trail where I present a list of Bible books in what is roughly in chronological order. Note: This teaching was recorded on May 9, 2021. Also, there are several points where the recording cuts out.

A Christian must be investing the Word of God into their mind and their heart. Bible intake - including listening to, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating upon Scripture - is simply not negotiable. But there are a wide variety of strategies and tools to do this. HOW you invest Scripture into your life is largely up to you. WHETHER you invest Scripture into your life isn't optional. Note:...

This series is long enough to have two introduction lectures. So, before we dig into the individual personal spiritual disciplines, let us prepare ourselves to learn and grow. Note: This teaching was recorded on April 18, 2021.

This was one of the longest Sunday School series I ever taught. From Easter to Thanksgiving, we studied the personal spiritual disciplines, with Dr. Donald Whitney's book "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" as the primary source. Well, I suppose the Bible in the primary source, but you know what I mean! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this Introduction to this series. Note: This teaching was r...

The Protoevangelium (Latin for "First Gospel") is the first Messianic prophecy found in the Bible. It is a pronouncement made by God regarding the serpent and the woman and curses that they receive because of the original sin in Eden. In Genesis 3:15, we are given the first distant glimpse of the coming of Christ, here called the seed of the woman. This sermon attempts to unpack this passage as mu...

Based on what is likely one of the earliest hymns created by and sung by the First Century Church, the Apostle Paul gives us a magnificent poem in Philippians chapter 2 verses 6 through 11. Paul uses this most poignant passage regarding the incarnation of God in the man Jesus Christ to encourage us to be more like Christ in humility and love. This poem/hymn in Philippian 2:6-11 is often called "Th...

As part of a Bite-Sized Theology series about families, I covered the topic of Family Reconciliation and also the topic of Adoption. These two short lessons are part of a larger whole that were taught by others, but I present you these two short lessons out of context.

King David is one of the most inspiring heroes in Scripture, and also one of the biggest screwups whose sin struggles have launched a million sermon series' worth of object lessons. In David's life, at least four times someone important in David's life called him out about an issue. Not every one of these rebukes was fair. Sometimes, a rebuke is simply wrong. But sometimes a timely rebuke is lifeg...

This is the finale of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on Easter Sunday, 4 April 2021.

This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 28 March 2021.

This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 21 March 2021.

This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series over the Book of Daniel. This is also the final Sunday School lesson taught from home during COVID quarantine. Note: This teaching was recorded on 14 March 2021.

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