October 16th, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
KJV Bible versus NIV Bible, Which One is The Best?
I was deeply intrigued upon reading this article concerning the issues against New International Version. For so long, I have found NIV to be a Bible that is very much easy to understand especially that English is not my first language. I have been using New International Version for so long that I have made so many notes within my Bible.
However, just yesterday, a friend of mine forwarded this very intriguing article that I found to be a MUST to read especially if you are a pastor, a Bible interpreter, or a worker. I am not so skeptic against Bible translations. But I think this article is worth my time to read. And I found it very helpful to take note of the things that I need to look at a Bible Interpreter.
By far, as I have remember in my training which includes Bible history, background and some glimpse (not detailed) about these codexes like Textus Receptus, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, its just, its the only available manuscripts out the there that can be a reference for the newer translations.
Now, to set up the reliability issue, let’s put it in this way, Dr. William Grady is a scholar who have his personal opinion about the validity and reliability of Textus Receptus. But how about the opinion of other Bible scholars who would say Vaticanus and Sinaiticus are more reliable? Which scholars are more reliable then if they have the same degree?
By the way, Dr. William Grady is the author of Final Authority: A Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible to which I really wish I could get my hand on this very intriguing book.
Furthermore, I am not so sold out to say that KJV is the “ONLY” true and authoritative translation of the Scripture for the main reason of its historical background. I believe I have already said this several times in preaching. King James is homosexual. To avoid having conflicts with Puritants (which we know one of the major group reformers) he granted them the authority to translate this new English version that came to be known as KJV. This simply means that it was born out of King James’ personal interest. But in fairness, I would certainly admit that King James Version of the Bible is really the finest by far.
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September 19th, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
Illustrations About Humility is a collection of Sermon Illustrations that talks about being humble.
Humility is one of the things that every Christian should possess as Christ demonstrated.
May you enjoy the illustrations below.
Clothed with Humility
The word “humility” means literally a low estimate of self. But this does not imply self-deprecation. When you hear someone deprecating himself, usually you can put it down as a sort of counterfeit humility. Someone has said, “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your full height before some higher nature that will show you how small your greatness is.” “Walk humbly with thy God.” Here is where we learn true humility. Walking with God, seeing ourselves by the side of His greatness, we see how little we are. And seeing how little we are is the first step toward becoming what we can and ought to be.
We never become truly great, we never do our best work until we are “clothed with humility”; until, like our Lord and Savior, we are willing to live to serve others.
John R. Gunn, Facing Life
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The Ambitious Disciples
Jesus and his disciples were coming to the town of Capernaum. As they entered the house where they would be staying, he asked his disciples, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet, says the writer of Mark’s Gospel, because on the way they had argued about who was number one among them.
So, the disciples were human just like you and I are human. Who doesn’t want to stand out? Some of the greatest people who have ever lived were also among the most ambitious.
It is said that Michelangelo prayed: “Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”
Abraham Lincoln often said to himself as a boy studying by the pine log fire at night: “I will study and get ready and perhaps my chance will come.” And, indeed, it did come.
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August 28th, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
There are several kinds of sermons. Each of them has their own characteristics and purposes. I would say that all these can be used in different kinds of occasions but depending on a particular situation and to what God is telling to the preacher.
I cannot say which is the ultimate best form of sermon since I already have used all of these alternately. As for my own preference however, I usually work on Expository sermon and Series of sermons. Doing this allows me to have more topics to discuss and things to learn.
In this part, let us again remember the definitions of Preaching and Sermon. Preaching is a verb which means the act of proclaiming the gospel. While Sermon is a noun that refers to the content of preaching.
Expository Sermon
As the name implies, it is delivering a sermon by Bible exposition. N.M. Van Cleave in his book Handbook of Preaching defined Expository sermon:
“Expository sermon not only takes a subject and main divisions from the text, but all the subdivisions as well. It is usually based on a longer passage than the topical or textual sermon. Often the text is a whole paragraph, whole chapter, or even a whole book. No idea can be introduced into the expository sermon which does not come from the passage of Scripture upon which it is based. It is an exposition of the given passage and that only.”
There are several advantages of expository sermon.
* It is easier for a preacher to create a sermon series in one single context.
* Apostles seems to be using the same mode of preaching.
* It promotes solid Biblical foundation in one single context.
* It protects the preacher to be accused of preaching to individuals and using the pulpit for personal attacks or retaliation especially when conflict inside the church arises.
* It promotes solid exegesis because the message is just within the given passage.
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August 28th, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Introduction
Last time we have discussed facts about the Corinthian Church. We have learned that they are a called church, a religious and knowledgeable church, a waiting church, and a problematic church.
We have seen that one of their early problems was division among them (1 Corinthian 1:10-17). Many of them have their own favorite ministers. Ironically, Paul is thanking that he was not able to baptized any except for some people among them.
Today, we will be studying about how God works in the lives of the people.
How God Works?
We really cannot fathom the vastness of God’s wisdom for it is beyond our understanding. Furthermore, Isaiah 55:8-9 says ”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Obviously, there is nothing in this world that can explain how God works. The things that we will be seeing today is just a small glimpse of the impossibilites where God made it possible.
God Chose The Foolish (v. 27)
“God chose the foolish things in the world to shame the wise.” Salvation is not through human wisdom. Unlike the beliefs of the pagan world, salvation is by grace through faith. It cannot be attained by knowing the fullness of the doctrine of Christianity.
Corinth was predominantly influenced by Greek culture at this time. This is why most people are interested in philosophies of the Greeks. But what does we benefit from wisdom? The book of Ecclesiastes teaches us that wisdom is a chasing under the wind. It is vanity unless used for the things that is of God.
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August 17th, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
Preaching with passion is preaching with feelings with reality in the preacher’s life. This means that not only that he feels the message but also lives with it. It is hard to preach when the things that you preach is not true to your life.
Preparing Yourself Just Right Before You Preach
It is very hard to preach when there is something bothering us at the back of our minds. Sometimes these things comes from our own homes. There are times that it was caused by circumstances and problems within your family, and there are also times that it was caused by outside factors. I enlisted here some of the causes of a pre-occupied mind.
* Lack of devotional / personal time with God. Being a messenger of God’s word compels us to study and know God’s word or else, we will never know what God is saying to us and to our church. And all the more that we need to devote a personal time with God in our everyday life.
* Lack of prayer life. If we cannot have a personal devotional life, then it is also difficult to have prayer life. Without a prayer life, our daily battles will always be a failure.
* Conflict with a friend or a family. From my experience, this is one of the most common problems with those whom I am training. It is very difficult to have conflicts against other people and all the more if the conflict is within your family especially if it is between the spouses. It would be hard for a husband to preach when he sees his wife frowning at the back seat.
* Problems. Problems may also cause us to have a pre-occupied mind. When we have problems, we cannot think well about our preaching because we are thinking about the solution for that problem.
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August 1st, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
Now we have come to the point of implementing what we have written. It is now the time to get ready and preach what we learned from our study. In this chapter, we will talk about the things to prepare before preaching and the things to remember and to while preaching.
Preparing Your Sermon Manuscript
Some pastors don’t prepare sermon manuscripts. All they do is to write the outline of their sermon. However, I would still recommend that you write a sermon manuscript because if you use to write it, you can still use it for many other things such as blogging, documentation of sermons by your Church, and book writing in the future.
These manuscripts can be a good source of knowledge in the future. As for my experience, I used my manuscripts in my blogs, authored ebooks, training disciples, and even writing books. These sermon manuscripts can be useful more than you can imagine.
Being now in the modern world, the use of computer now is almost a necessity. This is why I strongly suggest that you encode your sermon manuscripts and print it if you know how to use the computer, at least for typing purposes. This will enable you to save a hard copy of the hardwork that you just did. Furthermore, the digital format of your manuscript can be used for blogging, making ebooks, and even starting a future book.
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July 21st, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
Illustration is a very powerful tool in delivering a sermon. Jesus Christ used parables in delivering his teachings. Though some parables were not clearly understood by his audience, rest assuredly, he has made his hearers think about it.
In our time, illustrations are widely used not only in preaching, but in public speaking, teaching in classroom, and even during presentations. Some were expressed through a story, some by riddle, some by plain narrative, some by experiences, some by demonstrations. There are lots of creative ways in presenting illustration. Though we may not be able to mention all of them, I do hope that this will be a good start to know them.
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July 17th, 2009 by Ptr. Vince
How to Prepare For More Topics
Most people struggles on what to write. After making a sermon, many of them do not know what comes next. Where are they going to get the next lesson? This a very common problem especially if a preaching student depends so much on the tools that he has. Furthermore, he will have the same problem if he just copy the work of others.
From my own experience, I began to see more things to discuss when I started not to depend on the works of others and from the tools available. I am not saying that I do not use any more tools because I do use them. But the more you work on your study, more open doors for ideas will be opened.
Using the tools is totally different from depending on it. Using the tools will enhance your knowledge of the passage that you are studying. On the other hand, depending on it is simply copying what were written in the tools that you are using and you do not even mind on meditating on it anymore. People who do this will always find it difficult making their sermon.
Now, how are we going to make more possible topics. It is always better to plan ahead of time. As I said, the more you dig, the more you learn, and more doors for topics will be opened.
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