TMS Banquet

Last night Ann and I had a wonderful time at the TMS annual banquet at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Beside the great food (jumbo shrimp, cheese and bread for ordorves, salmon, steak and potatoes for dinner, chocolate cake (more like a piece of fudge cake) with rasberry sause for dessert), the great service, the beautiful library...besides all of that, the people were just wonderful. As a believer, one of the things we enjoy the most is to talk about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To be around hundreds of people, who wanted to talk about the Lord and the meaningful eternal things of scripture, was a blessing.

We sat at a table with 3 other couples of whom either Ann or I was already aquainted. This was a nice touch of the providence of God because we didn't pick who we sat with. That was assigned by the University based on when we signed up. The girl Ann sat next to is also at her table for Seminary Wives. She and I had a great time.

Jerry Bridges was our speaker. Ann had read and studied his book called "acceptable sins" (which are the sins we unfortunately tolerate). So it was nice for her to hear him speak after having read one of his books.

Dr. MacArthur and his wife Patty were also there. We enjoyed the whole experience.

May you continue to seek the Lord while He still may be found.

Dave

Great Week

It was a great week of work for Ann and I. She is enjoying teaching her student in Math and I am enjoying the physical labor of delivering construction materials.

I had my first exam in Hebrew this past Tuesday. It went great! God is so very good to me. A few things to keep you up to speed with the ministry opportunities I have.

I will be teaching the Young Married's Class at our church the next two Sundays; preaching at the senior care facility across the parking lot from our church every other month; teaching the Sr. High school every other Wed night; and continuing to take my small group of men verse-by-verse through Ephesians every Wed morning. Needless to say the Lord has provided many opportunities for me to develop my skills and to begin even now preaching His word.

The family is doing well. We are enjoying using "Skype" with my parents in Maryland. They get to see and talk to the kiddos over the computer. Tomorrow I get to take Cameron to a "Revolutionary War Adventure". Just Dad and Son. Pray I get to give Ann some time to herself as well.

Praying for your salvation and your sanctification.....Dave

Jehovah Jireh

Jehovah Jireh - means "The Lord provides". Since Dec 18th I have been unemployed. My wife, Ann, and I have been praying for a job that would work with my new schedule. We have also been praying that Ann would be able to start tutoring students in Math. Well, next week we both start work. Ann has her first student to tutor, and I start delivering materials for a construction company (owned by a family in our church).

This will not cover all our bills, but it is a good start. Praise the Lord for His goodness to us.

Per school, this Tuesday is my first big Exam. It's a cumulative Hebrew vocab and grammar exam. I'm looking forward to it, in that I am already seeing the benefits from knowing the original language. Once I can articulate it better I'll share some of those insights my professor is sharing with the class.

If you would, keep my PaPaw (Bill Jones, my Mom's Dad) in your prayers. He is 89, living in West Virginia and no longer able to take care of himself. He most likely will move in with my parents in Maryland or move into an assisted living place near them. He is a believer, so we know he will live forever with Jesus, in a new body that won't decay.

Again, God provides.

I praise Him as well for yesterday was my 11 year Anniversary with the love of my life. I love you Annie!

God is so good

Eph 2:1-10

1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not at a s a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Notice in v 4 that "God...made us alive". Subject (God) verb (made alive) and object (us). Salvation is a gift of God. Notice in v8 that a believer is saved by God's grace! Not by works! There in is the major difference between Christianity and all other religions of the world; which is, that good works follow salvation for the believer as opposed to good works saving a person, which accounts for the other religions. Only God can change a man's heart!

Believer: preach this to yourself daily.

Non-believer: take note - it is God who changes a person once you repent (turn) from your sin and believe. Believe what? That you are a sinner! That Jesus died for your sins, which you could not pay. That He rose from the dead on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God. Because you repent and believe you now live for God, and not yourself.

May God be with you.

Dave

Hermeneutics

The science and art of biblical interpretation. This is the notion that God's Word is not only God's Word, but that there are historical and grammatical methods to help determine what the author meant or intended the original audience to understand. In other words, what does the Bible mean by what it says?

For you and me, as we try to learn what God means by what He says in scripture, the biggest rule to remember is that "context is King". Words do not have ability to communicate complete thoughts on their own, with extremely few exceptions. So we have to read the words based on their context, which includes the cultural and historical settings among other things.

Once a system of "Hermeneutics" is established, the proper interpretation of any given passage becomes much easier to understand. This is different from the application of a passage which can be many, while there is only one singular interpretation of any given text. If there wasn't a singular interpretation, how would one know if they ever applied the scripture in an accurate manner. Hopefully this peaks your interest in the subject. You can learn much more about this here: http://calvarybiblechurch.org/teaching.aspx/how_to_study_the_bible_2009

Every believer should have good tools to study the Bible. I pray the material on the above link proves helpful in helping you seek out and know God Almighty!

praying for you...

Christopher

Christopher, my brother in the Lord from Uganda, has been preaching for 20 years. Upon graduating with his undergrad degree, he spoke to the small crowd and told of God's grace in his life. He doesn't have much money or material things in life. His riches are stored where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal...his riches are in heaven.

At the end of class yesterday, Christopher was waiting around to ride home with me. We just had a Bible software presentation from Logos. It's the leader in having a digital library for pastors worldwide. The professor asks Christopher what he thinks of the software. Christopher likes it very much, but says it is very expensive. The prof, who is an adjunct professor of preaching, and full time pastor, then hands him a form and says he'll pay for it (they had this conversation in private and I found out about it later). What a gift! Pastors don't make much money.

Christopher will also be living rent free in the master bedroom of a new house that his roommate just purchased. Christopher's wife is due to have their first baby in Uganda soon, and then will move here to live with him in that room for the next three years. God, Jesus Christ His Son, is pouring out his blessings and grace on this young preacher from Uganda. May the Lord be praised!

Turn up the heat...

And so the fire is getting hotter. What class? Hebrew Grammar. (Notice my independent clause with a noticeably dependent thought, to start out the post). Yes, Hebrew is getting more intense by the day. We are getting into the intricacies of the Masoretic vowel system. Vocab is cumulative and growing at about 40 words per week. Daily quiz on classroom exercises including vocab. The Prof is a very gracious man and has much patience in teaching this course to us first semester guys. (There are no women students at this school as TMS trains men for the pastorate and adheres to the Bible's role determination of men doing the teaching. Other theologically similar schools may teach women who enter the mission field and teach women overseas.)

I'm enjoying my time with Christopher. I give him a ride home and he tells me about life as a pastor in his native land of Uganda. Quite different from the US. He's a joy to be around. Much wiser than his age, though not privy to the cultural and social ways of our country. He was witnessing to a lady and asked her why she was living with her boyfriend and not simply marrying him. A sound question for one who might seek to please the Lord, but in the self pleasing land of the USA, it's almost an odd question. He told me of many other questions he asked that he later found out were inappropriate here....what a good laugh we had. The lady he witnessed to was nice enough not to mention it.

Enjoying my prayer class very much. Prayer time is becoming a fond time in my daily routine. Before I would pray throughout the day and in small increments. The class is encouraging me to do that and much more. Why pray? Here are some things God promises to believers who seek Him in prayer: joy, mercy, grace, needs met, victory over sin, peace and fellowship with Christ. I'm loving the academic accountability to my spiritual vitality!