RSM Press

RSM Press

I’ve had the privilege of monitering RSM’s new student-driven blog: http://www.RSM-Press.com. It’s the best, check it out!

Background

This is a short essay written in response to a question posed by my New Testament Survey teacher at the Ramp School of Ministry. I certainly could have put more careful thought into this, but here ya go.

Background

     There is a very important element to Bible study that we cannot afford to ignore: context. Context has to deal with cultures, time-specific situations and historical backgrounds. We must understand the background of the texts we intend to study. The background we must seek are the previous events leading up to the moment of time in a particular New Testament passage. If we do not dig deep enough to understand the Holy Script in it’s proper context, we have not dug deep enough to fully understand it.

     We cannot perceive the main characters in the New Testament the way they were perceived in their day unless we understand the historical events that led up to the moment of their arrival. For instance, the acts John the Baptist preform seem as if they should have made him an unpopular minister. He was telling the people of God that they were as unclean as the Gentiles. John was telling them that they must repent and be baptized. So why did great numbers of people go out to be baptized by John? “Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Matt. 3:5-6 NKJV) The answer to this question can be found in studying the historical background of this text. The people of God had not heard a single word from a prophet in over four hundred years. They knew they needed a Messiah, and they knew John was the voice sent to prepare them. There is nothing that will make you more hungry for the word of a prophet like four hundred years of silence. “For the story of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, the curtain remained closed for four hundred years–four centuries of rearrangement and preparation for the greatest drama in human history.” (Sproul, Wolgemuth 218) Because of this historical context, we now understand more fully how the hungry people must have embraced John’s voice. This is only one small example out of hundreds found in New Testament study.

     We are radically indifferent to the cultures of those who wrote the books of the New Testament. Because of the reality of our indifference, we have no choice but to dig deep into the culture and minds of those who wrote these books. We must be willing to mine the soil of centuries past to find those precious hidden gems that make the Bible the most important book of all time.

New Blog

I’ve decided to give Tumblr a spin. So if you’re looking for my current blog, hit up http://www.kalynrose.tumblr.com. Thanks!

Francis Chan – Hell: We can’t afford to get it wrong

Francis Chan discusses hell and why he has decided to write a book on hell. In this video, Chan presents a very humble and sharp word on the realities of hell and arrogance of men. I loved it so much I was ready to pull jumbo trons into a field and invite the nation’s church leadership to watch this 10 minute video. It’s just that good. God’s thoughts certainly are higher than ours, and His ways higher than our ways.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnrJVTSYLr8&w=560&h=349%5D

Dream Again, Wilberforce!

Tonight I watched one of my very favorite movies, Amazing Grace. If you have not seen Amazing Grace, you REALLY should. It will change your life. It is the story of William Wilberforce’s journey of ending the slave trade in Great Britain. This movie has always stirred in me passion to see  revolution in America and the ending of abortion. Tonight it reminded me of a passion that I have  had for a long time, but allowed myself to let go of. Disappointment has a tendency to disable at  times. And failure has a tendency to make you believe your dreams were nothing but dreams after  all. I had let those things creep in in my own heart. Tonight, watching this movie again, rekindled in  me a flame of dreams that I have has since I was thirteen years old. As I sat there with hot tears  rolling down
my cheeks, I remembered what God has put in me. So I’m writing this tonight to  encourage you. Dream again. There are things that the Father has put in you that He never asked  you to forget. Remember the dreams, remember the passion, remember the fire you burned with  before those let-downs. Do not let go because of disappointment, failure, or the activities of life.  What is there to live for but the dreams of God that He has put in you?  Burn with that fire again.  Allow obsession for imposing His kingdom to overtake you again! Ask Him to rekindle the flame of  desire in your heart.

 

Return, O Wanderer, now return,
And seek thy Father’s face;
Those new desires which in the
burn were kindled by His grace.
Return, O Wanderer, now return,
And wipe the falling tear:
Thy Father calls, –no longer mourn;
‘Tis love invites thee near.
-William Benco Collyer

Temptation vs. Light

I found this short entry that I penned in my journal around two months ago. It is just a small nugget, but I think this is the way to start my new blogging journey. This is a personal one, written more toward myself than toward an audience. Enjoy.

“I want to always look at great temptation as an opportunity for great faithfulness. When I am tempted I have two options. 1) Feed the appetite of my flesh and obtain a temporary pleasure or 2) Kill that appetite, fight temptation, and, as a result, show my love for God by being faithful.”

Temptation is more than the devil trying to attack me, it is warfare of my mind. Oh how easily my mind is deceived. When the enemy speaks lies into my mind, it is my job to STOP trying to reason with those ideas. You can not reason with darkness. It is my job to renew my mind with the truth and light of God’s word. Light reveals darkness, light testifies of Jesus, and light reveals the grace of God to overcome the temptation that wars in my mind. God is light, and darkness and light can not dwell together. I will fight the darkness of temptation with the resurrection power of Jesus’ blood that dwells in me. The Light of the World.