In high school I was visiting the girl who lived next door to my grandparents. A bit cliché I know, but she was very pretty and from a Christian family. Her cousin was visiting and, being into chess in a big way, he asked for a game while I was waiting for her to finish getting ready for our date. I’m not much of a chess player, but consented. He beat me solidly and afterward very logically told me why. It wasn’t a boast, he wasn’t trying to belittle me, he simply wanted to explain.

Read more: The Problem of Evil II

Over the course of this study one of our readers asked about the name Yeshua. For the uninitiated, Yeshua (also Yehoshuah) is the Hebrew name of Jesus and it means “salvation.” If this is Jesus’ Hebrew name, how did we come to know the Son of God as Jesus? More scholarly men than I have tackled this question, but the simple answer is language. When the Hebrew name was translated into Greek it became Iesous (as anyone who has seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade knows, there is no letter J in Hebrew). When translated from Greek into Latin it became Iesus, and from Latin into English we derive Jesus. Simple? Well, kind of.

Read more: God's Name, Part Five

Yesterday we started a study on the names of God and began with the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, the most personal name for God that us usually translated LORD (in all capital letters) in English Bibles. We started there for good reason, it is not only the most basic and personal name God gives himself, but is the foundation for many of the names for God found in the Scriptures. We mentioned yesterday that even though YHWH is written in the Bible many times it was only ever spoken by the priests in the Temple. When outside the Temple the priests used the name Adonai. This name for God means “Master” or “Owner” and represents God’s right to rule as he is the creator and owner of every person. This name for God occurs nearly 300 times in the Old Testament.

Read more: God's Name, Part Two

Though not Spiritual Gifts, the following have been seen as gifts from God’s Holy Spirit at some point in Scripture. These gifts are different from the spiritual gifts of the New Testament in that they are temporary. While the Holy Spirit played a role in the lives of believer’s before the time of the Messiah, he did not permanently indwell believers. This explains David’s plea in the Psalms (51.11), “Take not your Holy Spirit from me” and the description in 1 Samuel 16.13-14.

Read more: Other Gifts

Today I’m taking a break from the usual flow of this site to mourn the loss of a spiritual giant: Dr. Jonathan Smith. Jonathan was a professor at Western Bible College (WBC), then Colorado Christian University (CCU) and a founder of Rocky Mountain Bible College and Seminary (RMBC). He was a founder of Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, Colorado and a co-founder of Dare2Share Ministries. It was my honor to call him my teacher and my friend.

Read more: Jonathan Smith

Today we continue last week’s study of the names of God. Knowing God’s various names and their meanings can improve your prayer life and relationship with God. How can that be? Think of the names of God as a stark relief of God’s activities at the moment it is proclaimed. You may want to go back to yesterday’s post and re-read the names of God and visit the Old Testament references to see just what God was doing when that name came into being. This tells us something about the name itself, to be sure, but more importantly it tells us something about our Creator.

Read more: God's Name, Part Four

Most of the articles written on this site are for one of three purposes: (1) to get us to connect with God through a more personal relationship with him, (2) to get us to connect with God through a better understanding of his Word, (3) to get us to connect with God through service to him, his people, and the world. We’re going to take some time this week and for as long as we need to connect with God a little differently. It’s time we properly introduced ourselves to him.

Read more: God's Name, part one

While it is important to discover one's spiritual gift through serving the body, there is one more aspect to the gift and the service we have not yet discussed: how it is to be exercised. Our gift, exercised as a service, is to be done out of love. As we grow in love for one another, we never miss an opportunity to serve each other. By serving we learn what gifts God has already given us, and we leave ourselves open to God's enabling us with another gift. Why does God give good gifts to his children? Because he loves us. Why do we exercise our gifts in service to each other? Because we love God and each other. And what is the greatest gift ever given to mankind? Love. Immediately following Paul's lengthiest discussion of gifts, he concludes, “Let me show you a more excellent way.” That most excellent way, far more excellent than any gift he discussed before, is the way of love. God has modeled his love for us in the following ways.

Read more: The Greatest Gift

Why did John think it so important to teach believer’s how to identify false teachers? In large part, of course, it was to curtain a serious threat to sound theology. In some small part, however, it was to teach us how to become good teachers. Whether or not we teach professionally, we are all teachers. Some to their children, some to their siblings, and others to their friends and co-workers. Teaching isn’t something that comes naturally, so I thought it would be appropriate to share a paper I wrote when I worked at Valor Christian High School as a techie while working toward becoming a certified substitute teacher. The paper is a philosophy of education that reviews the most important aspects of teaching from a biblical perspective. Download and enjoy!

Read more: Philosophy of Education

Today we continue learning about the compound names of God. If you have not read parts one and two of this study, you should start there.

Read more: God's Name, Part Three

The following is a brief description of spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament. There is no way of knowing if this list is complete as there may be other gifts not named in the Bible, but is a good place to start in understanding how God may have gifted a person.

Read more: Spiritual Gifts of the New Testament

The New Testament talks about spiritual gifts in several places, yet the knowable facts surrounding them are few. On the other hand, there is a whole lot of opinion that is often taught as fact regarding gifts. Some may wonder, “Is it important to speak in the tongue of angels?” What language do angels speak anyway? As far as I can prove Biblically they speak Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. I can guarantee that many who claim this gift do not speak (or pray in) any of those languages. So how do we separate the fact from the fiction? We have to go back to the Word of God.

Read more: Spiritual Gifts: Fact and Opinion