My high school chemistry teacher was a good man. Patient during class and willing to work with those that needed help after. He openly confessed his belief in Jesus. As I said, a good man, but one who didn't think long enough, or hard enough about his theology. He was more than a chemistry teacher to me, however, as I also served as his student assistant. I would prep the classroom for next day, making sure everything the students would need. It was on one occasion when I was diluting a mixture of hydrochloric acid that we had an opportunity to talk about our mutual faith in Jesus.
During our series on the book of Acts we learned that most of the apostles had more than one name, specifically a Hebrew and a Roman name. For example, Saul didn't become Paul, Saul was his Hebrew name and Paul his Roman. This is a practice that had its roots in ancient times. Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel — names given by God. One of the most mysterious, however, is Joseph who was given the name Zaphenath-Paneah by Egypt's Pharaoh. One would think this was an Egyptian name, though no Egyptologists today can decipher it's meaning.
Last week the world was informed of the death of of Reverend Billy Graham. Born in 1918 and not only witnessed a century of human advancement, but spent the bulk of that time in ministry to our God. He became a believer in 1934 at a tent revival meeting led by Reverend Ham in Charlotte, North Carolina and a couple years later began attending Bible college. He was ordained by the Southern Baptist church in 1939. In 1943 he became the pastor of a church, and his life as a minister of the Word of God began. It would last another 75 years.
Last week we highlighted one Olympic athlete who stood boldy for her faith, but there are many others. There are a number of athletes, and a few Hollywood actors and they have earned the respect of the Christian community for their boldness. With such public examples, why do so many Christians timidly go about their lives? For too many work or attend classes anonymously, hardly ever showing their true identity as followers of Jesus. It flies in the face of good Biblical teaching. "For God did not give us a spirit of fear," Paul writes, "but of power and love and self-control."
I'm just home from a one-night event. the showing of a documentary titled Fragments of Truth by Faithlife Films. The script was put together by Dr. Craig Evans, professor at Houston Baptist Seminary and whom appears in the film frequently. The narration, however, was performed by none other than John Rhys-Davies — also known as Gimli in The Lord of the Rings or as Indiana Jones' friend Sallah. This movie can be considered an apologetic discussing the reliability of the Bible we hold in our hands today, and as such it does a fine job.
We have exciting news to relate from Think-Biblically.com headquarters. We've been working on a few projects for you, our faithful readers, and a couple of them are close to completion. I'll be sharing more of the details of these projects with you here, and on our Facebook group, when they are ready for your review. As exciting as this is, there is one problem. Time. There are only so many hours in a day, and it is nigh impossible to finish these projects at our current pace of publishing. For this reason we are making a temporary change.
Over the past couple days we've been discussing the non-sign gifts of the Holy Spirit Paul discussed in 2 Timothy 1.7. So far we've looked at the first, power, and the second, love and today we complete the series by examining self-control. The idea of self-control is all about restraint and is based on the Greek word sophronismou which means moderation and soundness of mind. It is an appropriate time for this discussion, as we exercise self-control during this season of Lent. The Holy Spirit empowers us to successfully complete our promise to God but it begs the question, if the Holy Spirit helps us is it really self-control?
Last week the 23rd winter Olympic games began. Back in 1896, when the modern Olympic games were first observed, the goal for international competition was to break down cultural barriers and to bring people together. Such noble goals are often stated and are sincerely attempted, but it is infrequent to have success in doing so. It would appear success was reached this year, as North Korea joins in the games being held in South Korea, the two leaders getting together to talk. As inspirational as it may be, there are even greater things to learn from the Olympic games.
We've talked a lot about connecting with God here at Think-Biblically.com, about how building multiple connections draws us nearer our Creator. Our goal, however, isn't simply to draw near to, but to walk closely with, the heavenly Father over the course of our lives. We've been trained to think of "walking with God" as a figurative exercise but nothing could be further from the truth. Today I suggest to you that you can begin literally walking with God every day of your life. Despite the work schedule, the business of family and the good times with friends.
The Shema is one of the most ancient revelations of God about himself. It is the first prayer a Jewish child learns to pray, and the last every bellieving Jew hopes to have upon his lips. But what is the Shema? It is broken into three parts, and comments on how we are to live and addresses the issues of polytheism, monotheism and even the Trinity. These truths make it one of the central teachings of the Bible itself, even though it is rarely preached on in Christian churches. This is a shame, especially since it is a central conviction of Paul's theology.
Last week I heard from a few of our readers, and of their disappointment that we didn't have a Valentine's Day post. In point of fact, we've never addressed the holiday here at Think-Biblically.com and it's not an oversight. We've never talked about the holiday because it's not a Biblical one. I assure all our readers that it probably isn't because I happen to be single. We have done articles on how to have Godly relationships, however,which are easily searched for. While this post is titled "Love", I sense it isn't what our readers are hoping for either.
This November Hollywood will release a movie that should be interesting to believer's everywhere, Paul, Apostle of Christ. The movie will chronicle the life of Paul as told in the book of Acts. The title role is played by James Faulkner (of Game of Thrones and Downtown Abbey) and is accompanied by Jim Caviezel (The Passion and Person of Interest) playing Luke. The movie is being directed by Andrew Hyatt (Full of Grace, The Last Light, and The Frozen). In anticipation of the movie, we've produced this brief introduction to the man so you will be able to judge if the movie hits the mark.
