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Old Testament
Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
This verse encapsulates the essence of Proverbs as a book of practical wisdom. Throughout Proverbs, there is a recurring theme of the importance of fearing the Lord, which is not just about being afraid but rather about reverence, awe, and obedience to God. This fear of the Lord is seen as foundational to acquiring true knowledge and wisdom, contrasting with the folly of those who reject wisdom and instruction.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 – “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
This opening verse sets the tone for Ecclesiastes, which is a reflection on the meaninglessness of life apart from God. The Preacher, traditionally thought to be King Solomon, explores various aspects of human existence and concludes that everything under the sun is ultimately empty and fleeting. This verse captures the overarching theme of existential questioning and the pursuit of meaning in a world filled with impermanence and uncertainty.
Job 1:20-22 – “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”
These verses epitomize the profound faith and resilience displayed by Job in the face of immense suffering. Job’s response to losing everything he held dear showcases unwavering trust in God’s sovereignty and acceptance of His will, even in the midst of unimaginable pain and loss. It underscores the overarching message of the book of Job, which grapples with the problem of suffering and the mystery of God’s ways.
Reflecting on these selections in relation to one another, we see a comprehensive view of biblical wisdom. Proverbs emphasizes the importance of fearing God and living a life of practical wisdom and moral discernment. Ecclesiastes delves into the existential questions surrounding the meaning of life and the fleeting nature of human existence, ultimately pointing towards the need for a transcendent perspective to find true fulfillment. Job provides a deeper exploration of suffering and faith, illustrating the paradoxical nature of human experience and the necessity of trust in God’s providence even in the midst of profound adversity. Together, these sapiential works offer a multifaceted understanding of wisdom that encompasses reverence for God, philosophical reflection on life’s mysteries, and steadfast faith in the face of trials.
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1 John 1: 5-10
The Topic that I decided to use was 1 John 1: 510. 1 John refutes certain false teachings while upholding the truth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. In particular, in 1 John 1:5-10, he addresses two main issues of false teaching: indifference of moral conduct in regard to spiritual communion with God; and denying the very fact of having committed sin.1 The author’s corrective statements have their foundation on verse 5, that God is light. Each statement reveals a responsibility for Christians in light of the context. (Wrassmann, p. 2) The author’s statements are both a refutation of the false teaching as well as a call to adhere to the truth. Verse 9 is of some controversy as it deals with confession of sin: does it refer to the Christian’s need to acknowledge having sin in general, or is it a decree for the Christian to confess everyday sins as they occur in order to stay forgiven? First John 1:9 must be interpreted within the greater context of the passage, and this context must be given its due authority to reveal the meaning.
John gives them recurring test to see if they are truly believers. He gives them tests to test their obedience or morality (2:3-6; 2:28-3:10), love (2:7-11; 3:11-18; 4:7-12), and their belief or doctrine (2:18-27; 4:1-6, 13-15). Also, John writes this letter to combat the false teaching that was happening due to Gnosticism, specifically intellectualism and dualism (1:6, 8, 10; 2:9, 11, 18, 22-23, 26; 3:4, 8, 10, 15, 17; 4:1-3, 5, 8, 20; 5:10). (Taylor, p. 10) The errors centered on the incarnation of Christ, and the nature of sin and the believer’s responsibility. The theme of 1 John is to counteract the pressures that the false teachers were bringing upon the readers and emphasizes the life of a believer in Christ (5:13). (Taylor, p. 10)
This letter’s audience was clearly dealing with problems related to false teachers. John warns against them throughout this entire writing (www.BibleRef.com. John also develops themes of fellowship, Christ-like love, forgiveness of sins, and assurance of salvation. It has been suggested that John’s audience was already aware of the basics of the gospel message, since these are not included in this letter. Instead, John focuses on specific needs related to the congregation.
First John has a strange appeal for those who want to make assent to certain beliefs central to defining who is or is not a genuine Christian (deSILVA, p. 395). This same dimension of the text leads those who place greater stock in “living in love” or “preserving the unity” of the church, two other cardinal values even within the Johannine tradition (see Jn 14-17), to find 1 John less congenial. But the author of 1 John is not dealing with two separate realms of Christian reality as he focuses here on believing and there on loving (deSILVA, p. 395).
This passage reminds the church today that God is the light, and we claim to be in the light and still walk in darkness. We may fool the person right now to us. But we will never fool God, who sees all and know all. Bibliography
deSilva, David A. An Introduction to the New Testament. 2nd ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 2018.
Matthew T. The Alphabet of the Gospel: Learning Letters, Words, and the Good News. Independently published (August 11, 2020). https://seekingourgod.com/the-significance-of-1-jo…
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New Testament
Gloria Brooks
Brother Clarence, I agree with your comments about John’s witness to the True light which is Jesus. And would like to go even deeper at Gnosticism. Gnosticism, is a dualistic heresy that reached its full strength in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. Regarded the spiritual as being inherently good and the earthly (that is the created world) as inherently evil. Asceticism is another response to this concept that the created order is inherently evil. John may have emphasized Christ’s humanity in his gospel in order to combat the beginnings of the philosophical spiritual ideology called Gnosticism. Gnostics believed that the spirit, world contained many different levels of knowledge and that everyone must ascend through them to achieve gnosis a secret inner knowledge resulting in salvation and available only to those who had their consciousness raised to such a level.
However, Gnostics argued that through Christ they had experienced a spiritual resurrection and had arrived at knowledge. Therefore, since the sins of the body were totally unconnected with the spiritual life, they were free on a spiritual plane to worship God through Christ Jesus and on a physicals plane to do as they pleased. Paul strongly taught against this viewpoint as did the early church fathers (2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 4:17-24). First Timothy 1: 3-7 and Jude 3-19 may also refer to teachers of incipient or developing Gnosticism.
Since Gnosticism believed the flesh is always evil, they taught that a sinless Christ could not have become truly human. Gnostics were divided over the incarnation. The Docetic Gnostics claimed that Christ’s human body was only an illusion, while Cerinthian Gnostics taught that God’s divine spirit filled the human Jesus at His baptism but fled before His death. Like all others tenets of Gnostic belief, Scripture refutes both of these positions (Col. 1:15-18; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 4: 2-6; 1 Cor. 1, Heresies; Gal. 4, Christology; Eph. 2, Salvation).
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New Testament Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message. So again, welcome everybody week five and our readings this week are the latest of Paul the introduction uh in our introduction to the new testament, we are Reading Epilepius chapters 11 to 14 Deals with Paul and my lecture also today Will deal with Paul. I want to read for us Paul’s account of his um Of his uh Meeting the lord on the on the way to damascus. So let us read it.
It’s act nine But Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the lord Went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at damascus So that if he found any belonging to the way men or women He might bring them bound to jerusalem Now as he went on his way, he approached the masters and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him Saul saw Why are you persecuting me? And he said who are you lord? And he said I am jesus Whom you are persecuting But rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do The men who were traveling with him stood speechless hearing the voice but seeing no one Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were opened he saw nothing So they led him by the hand and brought him into damascus And for three days he was without sight And neither ate nor drank Now there was a disciple at damascus named ananias The lord said to him in a vision ananias and he said here I am lord And the lord said to him Rise and go to the street called straight And at the house of judas look for a man of tarsus Named saul For behold he is praying And he has seen in a vision a man named ananias Come in and lay his hands on him So that he might regain his sight Ananias answered Lord I’ve heard from many about this man How much evil he has done to to your saints at jerusalem And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name But the lord said to him go For he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the gentiles And kings and the children of israel For I will show him How much he must suffer for the sake of my name So ananias departed and entered the house And laying his hands on on him said brother saul The lord jesus who appeared to you on the road By which you came Has sent me So that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy spirit And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes And he regained his sight Then he rose and was baptized and taking food He was strengthened For some days he was with the disciples at damascus And immediately he proclaimed to jesus in the synagogues saying He is the son of god And all who heard him were amazed and said Is not this the man who made havoc in jerusalem Of those who called upon this name And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priests But saul increased all the more in strength And confounded the jews who lived in damascus by proving That jesus was the cross A beautiful wonderful passage Let us pray dear friends lord. Thank you for the apostle paul Thank you lord for the example that is set for us And that we can follow his footsteps As he followed in your footsteps And now lord, I pray that you will be in our midst this evening. Thank you for every student Pray your blessing upon them Protect us from the evil one guide us with your holy spirit In jesus name we pray Amen Amen Amen Everybody welcome again so um I’ve prepared for us a lecture in in uh, since we are dealing with paul Um, but before I do that, I want to make sure that i’ve answered all your questions And there was a question related to a video um In canvas, so let us have a look here I’m going to share my screen with you guys Yes Very good.
May I just ask if you are not speaking if you could just um, Silence your microphone. Otherwise, we have an echo in the system so, um Let us have a look here So this is week five And we are going to have Have a look here week five Overview explain paul’s life pre-conversion Excuse me, I just want to Okay Discuss paul’s ministry to the gentiles. Look carefully at paul’s letter to the galatians To galatians and solonica and corinth Engage in a study looking at abram as the grand unifier in romans 4 Okay Introduction to the new testament 11 to 14 Join the zoom meeting uh Canvas course references.
Okay. Well, we are here in the zoom meeting now So, let’s see. What else do we have? What Week five exegetical paper number two for this short exodus will submit 650 to 750 On romans 4 keeping the theme of abram as the grand unifier in focus You should include the following And then you should consult three to five commentaries Etc.
So dear friends remember my previous um paper a zoom seminar where I showed you how to Use the commentaries go to the the website best commentary. So here it will be best commentaries on romans And it’s really important that you use at least one but preferably three uh good commentaries Uh recent exegetical comments, it just helps you to go deep wonderful Um, let’s see here This week six no, I do not see anything, uh here Uh who asked again was it alex Yes professor on the previous uh page Um Previous page Yes Yeah, the other one Before this one Here Yes It says watch watch But it didn’t provide anything. No, there’s nothing there Okay, ah forget about it.
That’s okay No, thank you at all. So Glad that you asked though Very good and um Any other questions dear friends? Is everything clear for you guys Yeah Yeah, I think that got everybody got me too is ralph. Uh, I saw that watch and i’m saying well What is there to watch? Yeah.
Yeah. Yes, absolutely Absolutely Yes, you know Now that we’ll just forget about that Good, um, so If you have any other questions you can ask me Uh, but i will i’ve prepared something for you now you will see here on page 437 It says the new perspective on paul and early judaism I want to talk a little bit about the So-called new perspective on paul this evening so let me Open up my powerpoint Here What i’m going to do is what we need to do is this one here Okay Okay, very good. So what is the so-called new perspective on paul Have you heard about it just go ahead and uh Uh, I don’t see everybody so go ahead and just participate Uh unmute and talk to me.
Have you heard about? Ever heard about the so-called new perspective on paul No, no, I haven’t That’s good Um now I want to talk to you about it because it is really very relevant in paulian studies And there’s a page here in 437, but I want to expand on it a little bit uh tonight so I’m saying here the new perspective on paul and introduction and evaluation And then I Um See also david isilva an introduction to the new testament page 437 it has a this page 437 it has A brief very brief discussion and i’m going to to say a little bit more tonight So, let me again say um What is the beginning of theology everything begins with the holy scripture our view of scripture Because they are sanctified and this is from john webster And his book holy scripture Because they are sanctified the biblical texts are not simply natural entities To be defined and interpreted exhaustively as such They are fields of the spirit’s activity in the publication of the knowledge of god And what is interpretation? It is the spirit illuminated Repentant and faithful attention to the presence of god in holy scripture and Let’s let’s let’s all Unmute your your microphone and let’s all say this together. I don’t know how it will work, but we’ll try it so Unmute And uh Interpretation Into the presence of god in holy That was good that was perfect and So very important think about it if you do it if you do, um If you have to analyze the passage And do that when you do your exegetical report I want to take you beyond so some people would say the purpose of exegesis Is to find the original the meaning of the original Or the purpose of the original author And and that is true But we but because the Bible is the word of god. We want to go a step further we actually want to reach god himself experience god himself experience the presence of god In holy scripture, so I challenge you when you do your exegetical essay refer to this definition of Uh of interpretation and then we go a step further There’s a wonderful new testament scholar by the name of father francis martin and he said, um that The real new testament scholar presses through to an experience god himself he talks about the um a heavenly reality In the text what is the divine heavenly reality in the text? And I want you to press through And think about it.
What what does god communicate? What is the spiritual? reality communicated in this text And It’s not really right and wrong Trust on the holy spirit to guide you in the light of all the Um exegetical work that you have done And that i’ve shown you in our previous class So the gospel we preach this is paul I want you to know brothers and sisters that the gospel I preach is not of human origin I did not receive it from any man. What was I doing it rather? I received it by revelation from jesus christ and um So what is the content of this gospel now brothers and sisters first corinthians 15 This is this is the gospel in a nutshell I want to remind you of the gospel I preach to you which you receive And on which you have taken your stand By this gospel you are safe if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you Otherwise you have believed in vain For what I received I passed unto you as of first importance That christ died for our sins according to the scriptures That he was buried that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures And that he appeared to cephas and then to the 12th That you should visit should all memorize this passage. That is the gospel message in a nutshell Paul and palestinian Okay, now now where does the name this name come from Okay, so I just want to ask again if you are not speaking and just mute your microphone and so poor and palestinian, so There was a book published by eb standard.
So if you stand that he was a professor of new testament at u And he published this book I think it was in the in the 1970s 70s And people said this this book was a copernican revolution It focused on the nature of first century judaism And what it said is that in first century judaism acceptance with god Was not earned The righteousness was not based on works um And so this book had a huge impact Now, let’s just think for a moment dear friends in the in the 1960s 70s That was in the post holocaust era. So in new testament studies, there was the very strong Drive to um acknowledge the the jewishness Of jesus and of the apostles and of for a um As a as a as a reaction to the holocaust and as one can understand that There was a fear that anti-judaism can lead to anti-semitism and so what um The new perspective and they’re following epistemic here Is they said that contrary to the reformation Justification by faith is not the center of paul’s message Paul rather was a pragmatic Justification was rather a pragmatic tactic to facilitate The gentile mission now, let me just talk a little bit Why is this new perspective important You will encounter the new perspective in some prominent new testament scholars like jimmy dunn But even people like um, tom, right the Anti-right. He’s a wonderful uh new testament scholar and I believe that on a topic like the resurrection He is probably the best that we have But in paul, he also accepted the new perspective now the new perspective and the problem with the new perspective is It leads to a very um Meager Soteriology in paul soteriology means the doctrine of salvation Because they say that actually, you know, what is in the center of the reformation? We followed um luther when he read um romans 1 16 and 17 and realized That the righteousness of god is not something that god um That god demands from us, but it’s something but it is something that god gives to us He said it was as if the whole burden fell from his back And he knew that we are being saved By the righteousness that jesus christ has earned for us And so the new perspective came as they say that luther actually misunderstood paul and A dear friend that is that leads to a very very weak doctrine of salvation even in a scholar like tom wright so he Has recently uh, it’s already a few years ago.
He wrote a biography of paul tom wright and I read the book And I thought back to it and said but he said very little about Salvation And I read it again actually listened to it on tape again and It was not there and then I realized but it is because tom wright Has accepted the new perspective And um, so you see what let me Continue here and then i’ll take questions So a contrary to the reformation remember judaism is not a religion of work righteousness now Dear friends these people Have they read the gospels? I mean jesus is very clear against the pharisees And their work righteousness um So the new perspective says the jews hardly need to hear The message of justification by faith it was directed solely to the gentiles and so The new perspective said that luther misunderstood The jews of his time now dear friends You must be very arrogant to say That you understand 2 000 years later Judaism of the first century better than Paul did or even better than luther because there is a group of The new perspective who said not only that luther misunderstood paul But would go even further and say that paul misunderstood the jews of his time. That is incredible That yeah that somebody could say that um so in In the stand up. Mr. Stendhal.
I believe he was from Princeton He wrote an article in 1963 The apostle paul at the introspective conscience of the west in which he said that we in the west Have a guilty conscience and so luther we know that luther Did everything he could he could to please god before he came to the insight that We don’t have to please god God has already saved us of course our lives must be changed, but That is the message of the reformation and So standall said well In antiquity people was not so driven by their conscience. That’s a new western thing and luther misunderstood paul But even that is not correct. I can remember a colleague of mine Wrote a phd dissertation some years ago on the whole idea of consciousness in antiquity in which he pointed out that They had the same guilty conscience conscience was just as as a valid a concept in antiquity as today Furthermore the new perspective said that actually paul did not repent on the way to damascus He said there was no conversion to a new faith.
No change of religion He just he remained a fully faithful Jew And Dear friends as we read from Acts 9 today There was a complete change Of course paul remained a faithful jew But instead of a jew who was persecuting christian jews He now proclaimed the gospel to them a complete change Paul now received the call to bring the gospel to the gentiles And so, um paul’s call and conversion in acts. I just have a few verses here and Recap what we have said earlier Luke introduces saul in acts 8 1 and saul approved of their killing. That was the killing of stephen Paul was there and he approved 8 3 But saul began to destroy the church going from house to house He dragged off both men and women and put them in prison And then chapter 9 that we read meanwhile still Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the lord’s disciples He went to the high priest and asked him for later to the synagogues in damascus So that if he found any there who belonged to the way the christians Whether men or women he might take him as prisoners to jerusalem and Next And then acts 9 as he neared damascus on his journey suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him He fell to the ground that had a voice Saying to him so so Why do you persecute me? Who are you lord? Saul asked And then the lord said I am jesus whom you are persecuting And paul replied um and And Jesus now He replied now give up and go into the city And you will be told what you must do and there was blindness upon paul for three days it was a It was just a huge Experience a very profound experience And so paul repented from persecuting christians to himself By proclaiming the gospel Now there’s a term that the new perspective created namely maybe the term covenantal Nomism and this is what it means law-centeredness in the context of prior experience of so And of course, we know that is true of the old testament that But there’s a difference between the old testament and first century judaism first century judaism We find the pharisees the sadducees Etc.
And um, it has become very legalistic And but but the new perspective said The whole idea of laws in in other words Uh, or we can put it in another way um the the jews actually experienced
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Old Testament Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message. I think they’re going to talk to say, I have integrity. I’m just interested because it’s going to get worse and worse. And they don’t want to be the last person that Biden is competent to train.
And I think they want to get off. I’d expect just the opposite. I think a lot of people are going to say, I knew this the whole time.
I just didn’t say so. I think they’re going to be penable. I don’t see how he’s going to be penable when a federal special prosecutor appointed by his own attorney general says that he’s just essentially unfit to be president of the United States.
What do you do after that? Well, I’m going to get back to Newt Gingrich for a moment. Newt, they’ve tried, but failed to explain this away from the White House briefing room and Karen Jean-Pierre has been pushed on this every lapse, especially the meter on and it’s, it’s so obvious now. This is what she said.
My point is, we talked about having a conversation with a lot of European leaders who were disinvolved as it relates to the names and what he was trying to, what he was trying to say, many people, elected officials, many people, you know, they can, they can make some mistakes. I mean, Newt, at what point did the remaining… All right. Hello.
How is everyone doing? Being inside? Hello. Everyone well? How are you? Thank you. You all sound very tired.
All right. Sorry, we’re beginning late. We just had some issues with Zoom.
We use, I use Regent. There was some issue that was happening. All right.
Let me find out how each one of you has been this week briefly and any highlights. Gary. All right.
Let me use my screen. Sean, any updates? How was your week? So with Sean, Sean Palmer or Sean, the other Sean? Now you. Oh, cool.
My week has actually been barely decent. Except for last Thursday, I found out one of my best friends from a long time ago, being in the army, you kind of connect with people and some people are people you’re closer to than others. He decided that his life wasn’t worth living, committed suicide.
So that was extremely difficult to process for a couple of days. I actually mixed him and another friend of mine together. And so when I found out that he had done this I found out on LinkedIn, which I don’t know why that was that way, but anyways, I had immediately connected to people together and I contacted him and his wife and said, what happened? You know, why did he do this thing? Turns out I was, I was, I was focused on the wrong person.
I don’t, my mind, the trauma had just really just kind of scrambled my brain there for a couple of days. So I’m doing a little better. So, yeah, it’s been, it’s been great.
And I found out then the funerals in another week. So, but other than that, everything has been going well, works well. School and being caught up from starting late and family been sick and that kind of event in my life.
So other than that, everything’s like that. Great. Yeah.
It’s so good to hear about your friend. Thank you. It’s always heartbreaking when we lose our loved ones and friends.
Especially that way. Pray for comfort and peace. Those that are surviving.
All right. Kimberly. Hi, I’m doing pretty good right now.
It’s Mardi Gras here in new Orleans and right outside my door are three parades right now going on outside. So it’s a little distracting, but I’m hanging in there. I’m doing pretty good.
I actually had emailed you last week about the, the research paper. So I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything back, but yeah. And been working on that, working on my discussion thing.
And other than that, everything’s okay. I’m doing good. Yeah.
Did you get my response? No, not yet. No. Do you want me to send it to you again? Yeah.
One of the things I noticed, because I was at Regent as a student, so some of you send your email to my students address instead of the faculty address. So there are two email addresses. Oh, okay.
So as students you have at mail.regent. So staff, you don’t have at mail. We just have at regent.edu. Okay. Yeah.
So sometimes students, because the first name that comes up automatically it is me, it goes to the student email. Gotcha. I’ll check that out.
Okay, great. All right. Troy, do you want to, how was your week? I’ve had a good week.
No, nothing major to report. Just a busy week with work. I’m teaching a class at church and just staying busy.
What class are you teaching? It’s a class based on the book, How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart. So do you want to teach this class? I am. Do I want to teach your class? No.
Oh, okay. I’m sure I have stuff to learn. Okay.
No, you’re good. No, you. Yeah, you’re good.
Yeah. That is something that our, the church needs. We need some more teachers within the church because it is an, it’s different from Sunday, because Sunday is all about shouting, but when it gets to teaching and Bible study is more intimate and a small group of people and you pour out into them and they have enough time to ask you questions.
Right. Yeah. It’s a good environment.
Yeah. You don’t get that on a Sunday. Sunday is a lot of chaos.
Yeah. Justice. Hello everyone.
Hi, how are you? I’m good. My week was good. I’m blessed.
There’s no really need, there’s no need to complain and just working in school, trying to stay ahead of my assignments in class. So doing pretty good. I can’t complain.
Oh, are you behind in any assignment? No. So you’re just working ahead. Yes, yes, yes.
Trying to. Well, so you’re not yet there. You’re trying.
I’m getting there. I’m making sure I handed my assignments on time. Okay.
All right. Cause you said you’re trying. All right.
Thank you. Let’s Sean. Um, hello everyone.
Hey, yes. Um, my week was, uh, was good. I was excited.
I gave a test. I’m a second grade teacher. I gave a midterm math test to my students and they have really been struggling and all of them for the most part passed.
So I’m like patting myself on the back cause maybe I’m doing something right. That’s how I was feeling yesterday. So you say they all passed? Yeah, most of them passed.
Were you strict in your grading or you were generous? No. I was, I was strict in what I wanted to do. Yes.
Okay. Yeah. Cause we can all pass if the teacher is generous.
Oh, well then they would all pass if I was generous, but they didn’t all pass. Most of them did though. In spite of you being strict? Yes.
That’s right. Okay. All right.
That’s good. Joshua. Hello everyone.
I’m doing well. It was a busy week as always, just with work, family and school. Nothing too exciting as of yet.
Tomorrow I have the privilege of baptizing my seven year old who approached me and said she wanted to be baptized. And so I’m excited about that. She wasn’t provoked by anybody else other than just hearing discussions of it and teachings on it and decided that she wanted to follow Christ for the rest of her life and get baptized.
So we are excited about that. That’s happening about nine o’clock tomorrow morning. So is you baptizing? I’m sorry.
Are you the one baptizing? Yes. Yes. I will be.
Oh, not, not your wife? No, no. I’ll be doing it. So there’s a gender issue there.
We’ll talk about that. Yeah, that’s a, yeah, that’s a big epiphany. It’s a desire for all parents, you know, as their children grow.
Sometimes it’s one thing for you to tell them. It’s another when they, when they come to, like the prodigal son, the Bible says, and he came to his senses. It makes a difference when it is coming from you, not anyone else.
We pray that she will grow and bring glory and honor to God and to you as parents. Yeah, that’s a good, that’s a good foundation. Paloma, how are you? I’m doing well.
Thank you. My kids have been sick this week. But everything’s, everything’s, we’re very excited.
Everything’s moving forward with our moving to our new house. And so tomorrow’s the last day of school for my kids because we’re moving to a different town. So they have to, it’s too far away from their school to, to commute.
So we’re pulling them out of school and I’ll be homeschooling for the rest of the, of the school year. And they’re excited about that. I’m excited about that.
We used to homeschool back in California. And then when we moved here to Ohio, I got them into a Christian private school. And, and anyway, they, it’s a good school, but they want to be homeschooled instead.
So we’re going to do that. And just, just very happy and, and sort of, I don’t know if anybody else feels this way, but it’s like, it’s like, it’s almost too good to be true, you know, in a way. But just, but just, I’m just kind of trying to rest in the goodness of God for, for me and my family and for our provision, I mean, for his provision for us and just, you know, walking in, in faith and that he knows what he’s doing.
And so, yeah, just enjoying, we’re just in a season of enjoying what’s happening right now. That’s all. Oh, okay.
Have you moved already or no? Moving this weekend. Will that be the reason why the kids are sick? I think my daughter didn’t want to go to school anymore. She was already checked out.
So she’s like, do I really have to go back to school at all? You know? So she’s been out all week and tomorrow is the last day. And I’m like, you have to go back tomorrow. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. It’s still, it seems like you’re still in a dreamland. Yes.
Because of where you are and just enjoying the blessedness. Yes. Yeah.
Stay there. That is a place of testimonies. Amen.
Yeah. God is good. Jeannie, last week, last time you ran away from us.
Yeah. Last time I was in Arizona with our daughter. So things are going good.
This week has been really full. I have a new boss. And so just getting to know him.
And how he leads and what it’s going to be like to work with him. And then I just finished a really big writing project at work as well. That I’m super grateful for the opportunity and I’m glad it’s finished.
So that’s, yeah, things are going good. And right now we are in the middle of wedding planning for our daughter. And so that if I’m not at work and not doing school, I’m doing wedding stuff.
So that’s where we’re at right now. It seems like your plate is full. Do you still want to do this class? It seems like your plate is full.
I love this class. Yes, I’m doing great. Thank you.
That is good, Jeannie. I love this opening. Kevin, how are you? I’m actually doing well.
It’s been a pretty uneventful week. So that’s a good thing. Just working lots of hours in church and school and plates full and all of that.
But everything’s going good. Yeah. It’s like a lot is happening.
Gary. Yeah, like everyone else, I wish I was like Jeannie with the planning for a wedding. My sons don’t seem like they want to get married.
You want to exchange phone numbers so she can talk to your sons? Yeah. So, yeah, so that’s one thing. The other thing is that I’ve been dealing with my mother’s contracted COVID that I found out yesterday.
And so as the only child, everything falls on me. So and she’s in another state. So I’m constantly dealing with that.
But and, you know, I’m preparing to teach a class to teach next week. We have a weekly class called Bible Studies. A weekly Bible study based on the International Sunday School lesson called a weekly walk in the Word.
And there’s like four people who take turns teaching the class. I’m the new kid on the block. So other than that, everything is going good.
Okay, that is good. Barry. Hi, Professor.
Before I start, Doc, I just want to say I also sent two emails to you, one in reference of the research paper and another one in regards to assignment. I tried to copy the email that you had at the bottom of your email to us. So hopefully it went to the right spot.
If not, I could send it again. But my week has been, as Gary and a couple of others on the site know, typical for a pastor. You know, it’s Monday’s prayer, Wednesday is Bible study and Tuesday you’re trying to do some schooling and Thursday you’re trying to get ready for your sermon and doing your research and Friday and hopefully you’re interning your assignment.
So it’s been one of those between that and calling congregants. So it’s always a busy week. Okay, I was just checking your emails.
I don’t think I see any coming through. By the way, I also sent you one. Yeah, I think we are meeting.
No, I mean, I sent you one on the, about the paper. Yeah. I mean, about the research paper.
Yeah. And then we are meeting after Christmas? Right, right. Yeah.
I will resend to this email. But like I said, I thought I was using the email that when you send notes to us at the bottom of it, I thought I was using that when I was sending you emails. But I’ll send it again, Doc.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Send it to this. Okay, sir.
Yeah. There are a few that I responded to. Yeah, and I will figure that out.
Thank you, sir. Yeah. Robeline.
Hello, how is everyone doing? I’m doing well. I’ve had a good week. I’m blessed and no problems.
That’s no problem. That’s a good way to put it. Jen, how are you? Hi, good evening.
I’m well. Thank you so much for asking. Yeah, a lot like everyone else.
Just busy keeping up. It’s always about this time of the session. I’m always like, why am I doing this? But I’m loving it.
The studies are good. But keeping up is a challenge. Yeah, I know.
There’s a lot of work in eight weeks. Yeah. Yeah, but you have three more weeks to go.
No problem. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a little bit of a challenge there.
Yes, Christopher. How are you doing? I’m doing well. One of my sons is a senior in high school, and he’s in the process of applying to schools.
He received a scholarship to one school, Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. So that’s like a $120,000 scholarship. That’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
I have seven children, so not having to worry about one of them going to school is a great thing. That’s definitely a blessing. So the other six, did they receive scholarships too? Well, the one older than him, well, there’s one older than him.
He’s in medical school right now. The rest are younger. So we’ll see what happens.
The next, they’ll be coming up after him. Okay, so you have to worry about the other five. Yeah.
That is good. Right. Yeah.
Congratulations for the scholarships. Thank you. Jenny.
Howdy. My week, like many of my classmates, has been super busy between work and covering for, or helping to cover for a coworker who is out ill. And so trying to juggle doing multiple jobs as well as, so a part of what I do with my church in addition to accounting and finance is, I’m one of the ministers on staff for our student ministry.
And so I got the privilege of speaking and delivering the message for a chapel service this week, and then had some counseling sessions as well with some young ladies. So it has been a very, very full week. But good stuff.
Well, you’re doing a lot. I am. Yeah.
Sounds like all of you have something else you’re doing besides this class. Yeah. That’s keeping you busy.
Yes. Raymond. Hi, everyone.
Not a busy week. Besides just work and also church stuff that I do on the side. Hasn’t been too eventful.
I did start a new book that our church is going through. It’s called Becoming the Voice of God, Next Level Training for Prosthetic People. So, I mean, that’s very interesting.
Oh, so that is eventful. As you said, you didn’t have an eventful week. Yeah, I didn’t have an eventful week, but it was, I had stuff to do nonetheless.
I mean, like everybody else, nothing really major out of the ordinary. Oh, I thought you were like Kevin. Yeah, it sounds like.
Yes, Timothy, you’re in two places at the same time. Can you hear me? Yes. I’m doing okay.
Just plodding along, working school. I had a question. I posted my discussion question and I didn’t see anybody else on there.
That’s a good question to the class. How are you going to respond to Timothy? I didn’t post mine yet. Okay, well, if that’s the case, I’m not trying to point any fingers.
It just looked weird that it’s Thursday and I’m all there by myself. Yeah, yeah, please answer, answer Timothy, anyone. Well, I posted late.
Mine didn’t come in till like 1030 last night, but it should have been there. But I think aren’t we split into groups? So you’re not seeing the whole class. Is that correct, doctor? I’m not seeing anybody, just me.
You’re right now, it’s between you and Timothy. You answer Timothy. Let’s see, because Timothy is not happy.
Yeah, we are in different groups. Like I’m in group three. Yeah, there’s different groups.
So it could be that no one in your group had posted already, I suppose. But I posted last night. Well, we’ll see.
Okay, all right. I’ll be okay. So if you’re in Timothy’s group, can you respond to Timothy? I think I’m in group three.
This is Ana Maria. I’ve just been swamped with work. I work two jobs.
I just got a lot going on. And I work during the day. It’s a miracle that I posted two days early.
So that’s not typical of me. But anyway, it’s all good. I posted already.
You’re in group one. I don’t know what group I’m in. Yeah, all of you are in the groups.
If you go to your groups, you’ll see. I think I see your post. Okay.
Yeah, I’m glad you look at it. You can only see people’s posts that you’re in your group, right? Right. Yeah.
But Timothy may be speaking on behalf of other group members. Okay, all right. Yeah, because right now I see there are only nine posts.
And how many are we in class? 24. Right now, there are 32 of you. So out of nine.
So is Timothy right to complain? Well, wait a minute, doctor. All right, you’re good, Timothy. Yeah, you’re good.
You’re good. Yes, Ana Maria, since you’re already with us, how was your week? How was your week, really telling us how your week has been? Busy. Just had a lot going on.
Nothing special to share. Just super, super busy. The children are doing their thing, and we’re just doing our best to be adults and survive.
Yeah. One positive thing, I will. Not one positive thing.
We have a lot of good things going. But since last week, it’s been really challenging with behaviors of students. And we have a local minister who comes by and visits our school once a week.
And he just walks the hallways, and he offers prayer. And I got stuck in traffic this morning. And usually, I’m the one who will say, come on in here.
Let’s pray for us or pray for this group. And this morning, when I walked into my office, I’m in the suite. And he was in there praying.
And there were several students in there, several teachers. And they were so excited. And they said, look, we got Reverend Rob, Minister Rob to come in and pray for us without you giving us instruction.
I said, well, good. So yeah, they are enjoying that. That’s good to see that they are taking the initiative to ask for prayer.
So many times, people think that they’re hesitant to ask for prayer because they don’t want to share why they need prayer. But it’s just the ability to ask for it. You don’t have to tell me why you need it.
Just that you do need it. I don’t need the details. So amen.
That is good. That makes a difference. Jessica, I think we have a couple more.
My week is going well. It’s going well. Any bad thing that happened to you this week? No.
No, sir. Any that you anticipate? Just a job offer that came that I wasn’t expecting. But I’m still talking to God about it.
Okay. I pray that you get it. Absolutely.
Thank you. It’s a good opportunity. Oh, and then two more.
Geneva. Hello. Pretty, not the best week.
But also, I’m sick right now, which is why my camera’s off. I apologize for that. So when you’re okay, we shall see your camera.