Expository Preaching

Some notes from my expository preaching class

-EP is an attitude or philosophy that is brought to preaching, not a methodology

-Do you subject the scriptures to your thought? or do you subject your thought to the Scriptures?

-Expository, is exposing what the original author intended to the original audience

-We are to preach the text and not our theology

-A text cannot mean what it never meant

-The job of the interpreter is to determine the single meaning intended by the author

-Preach the main point, meaning and purpose of the text, not secondary applications

-The points of your sermon must come directly from the text

- The purpose of an expository sermon must be the same as the biblical text

- A good communicator matches the right genre with the right meaning

-Adapt your communication style and mood with the genre of the text

- Balance the emphasis of the text, keep the tensions of the bible

- You are not the message, but the messenger

- Have confidence that you have the authority of Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit

Conviction Leading to Repentance

Just a blog about how I haven't been doing well spiritually this summer. But even through a dry season, God has been teaching me a lot about how I approach spiritual disciplines.

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EDIT  AUGUST 29, 2011

I often struggle with meeting my own expectations and trying to do everything right. It's like there's a bar, a high bar for what a Good Christian should be like. If i'm doing bad spiritually, then i often just isolate myself, pretend i'm doing well and withdraw from running to God. It really isn't that hard front and pretend your doing good. I often just hide in the shame and guilt of my sin. But because we have been forgiven and declared righteous in Christ, we shouldn't toil in our unhealthy shame and guilt. As children who've committed a wrong, we should confess, repent and know that there is forgiveness from our heavenly Father. But sometimes Christianity just seems like it's only about the Do's and Don'ts. If Christianity were just that, it'd just be another religion based on performance, works, and not sinning too much. And religion based on ....

Worlds Apart - Mostar Diving Club

Some day you will find me
I haven't gone too far
I miss the way we were back then
How we laughed
I can feel you in my heart

There's a world in your eyes
I can see it getting brighter
All the hours that we turned into days
We were young seemed like life would go on last forever
All I had was you by my side

Some day you will answer
Remember how we were
When all our hopes and dreams
Floated in the air I feel it in my heart

I can feel you in my heart
That's the way that it was in the past you remember
When we ran through the wind and the rain
We were young seemed like life would go on last forever
Now everything has changed

Surrender

When we sin against someone, there are consequences to pay for our wrong doing. When we sin against the most high God we deserve death, wrath, and eternal separation from him. For sinning against a holy and infinite God, we owe God an infinite debt for our transgressions. As finite creations we are unable to reconcile and satisfy our eternal debt. It would take an eternal being, God himself, to pardon our sins. When we come to terms with the reality of our sins and fallen depravity, we recognize our desperate need for a Savior.

The good news is that God saves sinners. God's unconditional love and unmerited grace was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ... (read more)

Being with God and God's Family

We all go through problems. We face difficult circumstances and tough situations. It's not hard to become overwhelmed by the stresses of life. To cope with our anxieties we often turn to media, family members, friends, addictions, or we can hold it to ourselves in hopes that we can derive at an appropriate solution for our problem. When we overly focus on our problems, sins, fears and failures, we feel discouraged, defeated, hopeless, exhausted, frustrated, confused, empty, depressed and lonely.

\/ read move \/

Spring 2011

What I learned this semester at Talbot

This blog is mainly for myself. It helps me to record and reflect, because I don't want to forget
Btw I took 6 classes for a total of 9 credits!

I haven't been sleeping too well for the past month. These last few weeks have been pretty stressful. I only have one more week which is finals week.

\/ HEY READ MORE!  \/

Prince of Egypt - "When You Believe"

Shirat Hayam  "Song of the Sea"  Exodus 15:1-18
(Hebrew children singing at 2:30)

אָשִׁירָה לַיהוָה כִּי-גָאֹה גָּאָה (verse 1)
[ashira la'adonay ki ga'o ga'a] x2
"I will sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously"

מִי-כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְהוָה, מִי כָּמֹכָה נֶאְדָּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ (verse 11)
[mi chamocha ba'elim adonay, mi kamocha ne'edar bakodesh]
"Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you majestic in holiness?"

נָחִיתָ בְחַסְדְּךָ, עַם-זוּ גָּאָלְתָּ (verse 13)
[nachita vechasdecha am zu ga'alta] x2
"You in your mercy have led forth the people which you have redeemed"

אָשִׁירָה ,אָשִׁירָה ,אָשִׁירָה
[ashira, ashira, ashira!]
[I will sing, I will sing, I will sing!]

A God Like No Other - 100th blog!

God is good. He is infinitely good. His perfect plans and purposes are for our good and for His glory. He is one of a kind, a God like no other. He is supreme above all. He is the sovereign Lord. He holds all things together. He pours out His Spirit within His people. He calls us friend, beloved, His chosen people. As fatherless orphans, He adopts us and gives us the right to become His children. We can be forgiven through the blood of the Lamb. The King Himself bore all the wrath of our sins for those who believe. He covers our sin and imputes His righteousness on us. He is a Redeemer, a just Judge, and a Sovereign God. He deserves the highest praise and all glory, for He is good.   READ MORE >>

Romans 3:21-26

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Being with God

For school we had to spend 30 minutes listening to God. Later on I'll have to do a 24 hour retreat outside of home. That's hard to do when your usually pressed on time. But it's refreshing to hear from God especially when I've been absent for so long. Anyway, here's a short meditation..

Our Daily Bread

A hotel in Singapore introduced an express buffet, eat all you can in 30 minutes and pay just half the price! After that experience, one diner reported: "I lost my decorum, stuffing my mouth with yet more food. I lost my civility... and I lost my appetite for the rest of the day, so severe was my heartburn."

Sometimes I think in our devotional reading we treat God's Word like an express buffet. We wolf it down as fast as we can and wonder why we haven't learned very much. Like physical food, spiritual food needs chewing! For those who have been Christians for a long time, we may have a tendency to speed-read through the passages we've read many times before. But in doing so, we miss what God is meaning to show us. One sure sign of this is when we learn nothing new from that passage.

What If We Treated Our Bibles Like Our Cell Phones?

If we treated our bibles like our cell phones we would have a stronger relationship with God. We would know God's heart and know Him more intimately. We would constantly check God's Word every time He had something to text us. We would be updated with divine messages meant for us to hear throughout our day.