This is Discipling from The Foursquare Church on Vimeo.

What would it look like if, as leaders, we focused less on the things that make our churches entertaining and more on making disciples? As shown by Kelly Tshibaka at Foursquare Connection 2011.

Kelly and Niki Tshibaka own all the rights to the video and are happy to distribute it free of charge. For more information or questions about it, please contact Kelly Tshibaka at kellytshibaka@hotmail.com.

In the movie “The Castle” (1997) Darryl Kerrigan gets a letter from the local council telling him his house is about to be “compulsorily acquired”……he explains to the family that that means the house is about to be “acquired compulsorily”.

In a later scene Darryl’s lawyer Denis Denuto tells the court that it’s the “vibe” of the law that’s important, not necessarily the actual words.

How should we interpret the Bible?  Should we read the scriptures and consider the audience of the text, their culture and the times they were written in or do we assume that “the vibe” of what is written has a superior meaning.  Or should it be both? Does it depend on the literary style of the text?

2 Timothy 3:16 – “All scripture is God breathed……” (NIV)

If we take a historical – cultural approach to interpreting Bible verses we then observe the text and ask questions such as:

• who was this written to? an individual? a nation?
• where were they living? what was their culture like?
• what point in history were they living? what else was happening in the world?
• what rules and traditions did they live under?
• what style is this written in? historical? poetical? instructional? is it a dream?
• what were their values?
• what purpose was the writer writing?

In doing so we learn to be observant and and read the text carefully in it’s completeness.  We probe issues, things which don’t make sense at first can usually become incredibly complex.

Next, we should ask – “what are the differences between the Biblical audience and me/us?”.  Reflecting on this question will help us see the theological principle in the text.  Understanding and living these theological principles will reveal more of Christ to us and through us.

Our goal as believers in Christ is to find the meaning of Bible text not create it for ourselves.

The big problem I have with a strictly allegorical approach to interpreting scripture is the potential for meanings to be brought out of a text by someone in a “fast and loose manner” (described by Klein et al, 2004). If a Bible chapter is read out word for word, then the preacher goes on to talk for 30 minutes about “the vibe”, with no relevant connections to any of the basic theological principles of the passage, people miss out on the richness of God’s intent.

I’m sorry, but in that case “the vibe” just does’t cut it….

It can be hard to discuss Bible verse interpretations with someone who is saying ” I read this verse and God told me that…….”, but we need to be gentle and gracious and faithful to God’s word and help explain the meaning if their interpretation is clearly in error.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37.4 (NLT) Someone I know once quoted that verse as if it was a promise from God that He would make something possible based on the fact that it was a personal desire of theirs – despite the sinful fulfillment of that desire being described in many other places in the Bible.

Again, sometimes the vibe isn’t right…..

We must be observant when reading scripture.  All those involved and understand that God inspired the actual writers of those words and the editors over the years who have translated and published etc etc, inspired them all by the power of the Holy Spirit – a power which we can still have difficulty fully comprehending.

Darryl’s mate, lawyer Mr Hammill summed it up at the end of the court session when he asked the judges to consider the original intent of the people who wrote the law and what they had in mind when writing it.  We should do the same.

We should read the Bible knowing it comes from God.  It contains words written to many people over hundreds of years, but with the knowledge and intention that you and I are reading it now, in our culture and in our time, and in our own situation -  and we can have our hearts and minds opened to His very voice, through the Holy Spirit and have the fullness of Jesus Christ revealed to us through those words.

Celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible

Join the 25th Anniversary of the C. S. Lewis Foundation

Write A 2000-word essay on:
Bible, Literature and Transforming Hope

Stories of C. S. Lewis inspire readers to choose good, resist evil and risk suffering. This is generally true of classic English literature. In contrast, Europe’s pagan myths created a fate-and-spirit governed culture of fear that bred corruption. The Bible inspired many English writers to transform their world by inspiring firm hope. Explain and illustrate what elements of the Biblical worldview brought hope into English literature. Please feel free to use Lewis or any other writer of your choice. In order to help aspiring writers, you may post and consult questions, essays, videos, and links on www.RevelationMovement.com

Post your essay by March 1, 2011  On www.RevelationMovement.com

Ten best essayists will win All-Expense-Paid Literary Tour:

• July 20 – 25, 2011 —- Guided Literary Tour of London
• July 26 -August 3,2011—- Oxford and Cambridge for the C. S. Lewis Summer Institute Oxbridge 2011, “Paradigms of Hope:Transcending Chaos & Transforming Culture” (tinyurl.com/oxbridge2011)

The Summer Institute at Oxbridge is renowned for the quality of its speakers and leaders. Speakers for 2011 conference will include:

• Os Guinness
• Charles Colson
• Vishal Mangalwadi
• George Marsden

100 Essayists will win:

• Vishal Mangalwadi’s The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization

500 Essayists will win:

• Guptara Twin’s Novel, Conspiracy of Calaspia
• (Winners will need to pay the shipping costs)

To watch the video of 2008 Oxbridge Conference go to www.tinyurl.com/oxbridge2008

Meet The Promoters:
www.RevelationMovement.com
Sponsored by:
BOM International Inc
1605 E. Elizabeth St.
Pasadena, CA 91104 USA)

C. S. Lewis Foundation
www.cslewis.org

Schuman Centre for European Studies
www.SchumanCentre.eu

What do we think of when hearing the word technology?

I think I heard the term best described as “stuff that has been invented in my lifetime”.  For me I grew up with television, it was no big deal.  But getting a colour TV was massive.  It arrived the week that the Olympic games in Montreal began.  I still remember the opening ceremony.  I remember my last year of high school the school bought a video recorder – a huge device capable of recording things off tv.

For my kids who have grown up with these things…………………….and, internet, mobile phones, mobile internet, digital video, pens that record video etc etc I am interested in the things they will call technology.

Technology is really anything that we use to get something done.  God used the technology of some stone tablets to communicate some laws to man. The apostle Paul used the technology of letters when he wrote to the churches he visited and couldnt return in person to.  Neil Armstrong used the technology of video and long distance comms to transmit tv pictures of man stepping on the moon’s surface for the first time.

A man was carried for three days on the stretcher in the photo below to reach a remote airstrip in Papua New Guinea.  While most likely not the most comfortable three days he’s ever had I guarantee he was thankful for the technology of that stretcher.  Was he aware of the radio technology used to communicate with the MAF aircraft?  How much did he appreciate the technology of the aircraft itself?  The technology used by doctors in treating him?

Hosea 4.6 – “My people are perishing for lack of knowledge”

Jesus

• John 15.16 – You did not choose me, I chose you”

Paul

• Romans 8.28 – “and we know in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
• Titus 1.1 - Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness

The Gospel Coalition

• Chronology of articles on “Love Wins” teaching
• http://carm.org/1-tim-24-2-pet-39-and-universalism
  

Interview with Rob Bell  - actually admits to not believing in Hell – here

John Macarthur

• answers “What is the doctrine of election?”
• answers a young girls question – “Why didn’t God choose everybody to be saved?”
• interview with Don Mayhue, Phil Johnson – “Election and Predestination“
• answers “What does the Bible teach about election?”
• video – 2010 Shepherds Conference Q&A

JI Packer

• Election: God chooses His Own

RC Sproul

• video – “Does God really want all people to be saved?”

Tim Keller

• sermon – What is the doctrine of election?

Mark Driscoll

• article – “Predestination: Duck, Duck, Damned?”
• video – “Election and Grace”
• video – Predestination?

Scott Thomas

• Acts29 Network: “Theological Clarity and Application” – list of “things to know”

Wikipedia

• Predestination
• Doctrine of election
• Universalism
• Calvinism
• Arminianism