John to the Seven Churches -- Part Four

By James Boice

John to the Seven Churches
Revelation 1:4-5
Theme: Who, what, when, where, and why.
This week’s lessons teach us the various theories concerning the authorship and date of the Book of Revelation.

Lesson

The churches to which John writes are the seven churches in the province of Asia (Rev. 1:4). These were actual churches that lay at a more or less circular route. But there were more than seven Christian churches in Asia Minor. There was a church in Troas, for example; we learn about it in Acts 20. There was a church in Colosse; Paul wrote a letter to the Colossians. The letter to the Colossians also mentions a church in Hierapolis, and there were probably others.

Change of Venue

Posted 9/9/13 by Donald Barnhouse

The law is "holy, just, and good." It can never be anything else, since God gave it to men as a standard - it is an expression of His perfection, and shows us that He must demand perfection of men. Secondly, we have seen that Christ accomplished all the law in Himself, fulfilling every detail of it in His own human perfection, yielded and dependent upon the power of God. He amplified it by giving to it an even stronger hold upon man and increasing its demands. Consequently, He showed the sinfulness of man against a sharper background of light. Then, having lived His life of perfection, He could go to the cross and die, and thus redeem us from the curse of the law. How was this accomplished?

Image previewChange of Venue

"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to Him Who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Romans 7:4).

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The King of the Sermon

by Matthew Holst • September 07, 2013

In “the Sermon on the Mount,” the One preaching the sermon is preaching about Himself. Without knowing the Preacher, the message of the sermon will have little significance for the hearer. The sermon would be little more than good morals if we fail to see that the preacher of the sermon plays the most fundamental interpretive role in our understanding of it.

In seminary, we were taught that a sermon should never be about the man who preaches it. John the Baptist’s creed, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” (John 3:30) is the model by which all ministers are to approach Gospel-ministry. There is, however, one exception to this rule. In “the Sermon on the Mount,” the One preaching the sermon is preaching about Himself. Without knowing the Preacher, the message of the sermon will have little significance for the hearer.

DO NOT USE - A Christian Primer Booklet

Submitted by aheibel on Fri, 09/06/2013 - 2:26pm
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Author: 
Timothy Cross
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John to the Seven Churches -- Part Three

By James Boice

John to the Seven Churches
Revelation 1:4-5
Theme: Who, what, when, where, and why.
This week’s lessons teach us the various theories concerning the authorship and date of the Book of Revelation.

Lesson

We ended yesterday’s lesson with speculation as to the date Revelation was written. The late dating of a.d. 81-96 - from the reign of Domitian - is the traditional dating, because it’s been held from the earliest days of the church. The first hard evidence for this is from Irenaeus in his writing about the identity of the anti-Christ.

The Law and the Sermon on the Mount

Posted 9/6/13 by Donald Barnhouse

The Man who stood on the mount to preach His sermon was none other than the God who had stood on Mount Sinai to give the law through Moses. Now He had come to fulfill it. This was done not only through His matchless life which accomplished all of the law's demands, but also through the full flowering of its meaning. Nine times there is the great statement, "I say unto you" (Matthew 5). This is the God of the Heavens who speaks from the mountain. He was fulfilling the law; that is, He was bringing it to its full development.

Image previewThe Law and the Sermon on the Mount

"You have heard it said…but I say unto you…” (Matthew 5)

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Christ and Trials in the Christian Life

by Jason Helopoulos • September 05, 2013

We are reminded of the disciples' question, "Do You not care that we are perishing?"--and Mark is declaring in bold narrative form, "He cares more than we could ever fully know. He is the God-Man. He cares so much that the Son of God became man for our sake." Though they wondered whether He cared that they were perishing, the reality is that He cared to such a degree that the God-Man perished for them. Christ need not answer with words, because He will answer with His life.

"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” These words of the disciples in Mark 4:35 are hauntingly familiar. I think of Job and his questions in response to a life filled with so much pain and trial. I think of David in the Psalms and his being surrounded by enemies and crying out, “How long O Lord.” But mostly, I think about the question that is often upon our lips when bad things happen, "Does God really care?" When we are in the midst of trials this tends to be an all-too-human response.

John to the Seven Churches -- Part Two

By James Boice

John to the Seven Churches
Revelation 1:4-5
Theme: Who, what, when, where, and why.
This week’s lessons teach us the various theories concerning the authorship and date of the Book of Revelation.

Lesson

There is a perfectly good explanation for John’s poor grammatical construction in chapter 1, verse 4: John is drawing from Exodus 3:14, where God revealed his name to Moses as "I am who I am." That’s all in the nominative case. John keeps the name in the nominative case in order to make clear that he’s alluding to this defining passage in Exodus. What he’s trying to show is that God lives in "the eternal present." In other words, John’s alleged grammatical errors are intentional. William Barkley says John has such an immense reverence for God that he refuses to alter the form of the divine name even when the rules of grammar demand it.

Folly of Salvation by The Law

Posted 9/5/13 by Donald Barnhouse

Some have drawn the absurd conclusion that the believer of our day is obligated to keep the law in order to be saved. We must not forget that the law is not merely the code which we know as the Ten Commandments, but that it includes all the ordinances for life and living which were given by God through Moses and which constitute the whole of the priestly code. Christ came to fulfill it all. No one who lived before that moment had ever fulfilled the law. Therefore, everyone who lived under the law was under the curse which was necessarily attached to the breaking of the law.

Image previewFolly of Salvation by The Law

"Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the Law." (Rom.3:20)

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What's With the Dudes at the Door?

Posted on Wednesday, September 4, 2013 by Aimee Byrd on Housewife Theologian

A book that I recommended on the podcast today, that you may not have heard of.

Kevin Johnson & James White, What's With the Dudes at the Door (Bethany House, 1998)---A book I reccomended on the podcast today.

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