STUDYING A BIOGRAPHY
People are important for many reasons. One of them being; anyone can make a difference. You will want to study the people in the Bible for the differences they made in their time, and the difference they can make in your life. The following people made a significant difference: The Woman who Saved a Nation from Genocide (Esther), The Dad Whose Drunkenness Influenced His Sons (Noah), The Mom who Imparted Wisdom to Solomon (Bathsheba), The Little Girl Who Helped a General Win His Most Challenging Battle (II Kings 5), The Young Boy that Jesus Needed for His Greatest Miracle (John 6). All these people and hundreds just like them are described in the pages of Scripture waiting to be discovered and taught by teachers.
When God chose to reveal Himself to us in Scripture, He often does it through people. More than 3,500 individual people are identified in Scripture, their stories will tell you much about God and yourself. The teacher who is committed to teaching the Bible cannot avoid teaching a biography as part of his or her ministry. But rather than trying to avoid biographies, there are good reasons why teachers may want to use them as often as possible. Teaching biographies can be a highly effective tool to opening up the Bible both for the beginning teacher as well as those more experienced.
Andrew Blackwood, well-known professor of homiletics advocated using Bible stories of people. His textbooks have been widely used to train a generation of preachers. In his book, Biographical Preaching for Today, he states,
"A biographical sermon means that the truth of God comes from a Bible passage about a certain character."
Sunday, 10 July 2016
HOW TO STUDY AND TEACH THE BIBLE
INTRODUCTION
Why do we teach the Bible? What is teaching? What happens in the lives of our students OR congregation when we effectively teach the Bible?
Because the Bible is God's written message to us, it is important to read and understand it. But many cannot make sense of the Bible and apply it to their daily lives. This article is written to help people study the Bible to understand its message. Then this article will help them go a step further; it will help them share its message with others. Therefore, this could be the most important article you’ve ever read because it will help you understand and teach the most important book in the world.
I feel that every book I have ever written could be the most influential. Like every mother dreams her baby will the president of the United States or a great medical doctor, I dream that every new book would bless the world. This project is no exception. The church of Jesus Christ could be transformed if everyone learned how to study and teach the Bible. This article begins where they leave off with general principles of hermeneutics (principles to interpret the Bible). This book tells how to study different kinds of Scripture.
In a Christian context, the Holy Spirit is a guide to help us learn the Scriptures. Jesus promised, “The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16:13). The Holy Spirit working through a human guide is illustrated by Philip helping the Ethiopian eunuch learn the Bible as they rode in a chariot. The Ethiopian had been reading the book of Isaiah but didn’t understand what he was reading. Philip ran alongside to ask,
“Understandeth what thou readest?” (Acts 8:30).
The eunuch was returning from Jerusalem where he probably went to worship God. But he was blinded to spiritual truth and couldn’t understand the Scriptures. The eunuch answered,
“How can I (understand) except some man guide me” (Acts 8:31).
The eunuch was asking for help to understand what he was reading. The human teacher must guide the thinking of pupils by explaining to them the basic content of the lesson. As they do that, the Holy Spirit removes spiritual blindness so the pupil understands the Bible.
This means the human teacher and the divine teacher must work together to produce learning when the Bible is taught. They are dual-leaders in the learning process.
Learning results from teaching experiences3. experiences. Teaching is not telling, it is guiding pupils through experiences designed for their learning. Listening is not learning. When pupils experience the truth of God’s Word, they learn its lessons.
Why do we teach the Bible? What is teaching? What happens in the lives of our students OR congregation when we effectively teach the Bible?
Because the Bible is God's written message to us, it is important to read and understand it. But many cannot make sense of the Bible and apply it to their daily lives. This article is written to help people study the Bible to understand its message. Then this article will help them go a step further; it will help them share its message with others. Therefore, this could be the most important article you’ve ever read because it will help you understand and teach the most important book in the world.
I feel that every book I have ever written could be the most influential. Like every mother dreams her baby will the president of the United States or a great medical doctor, I dream that every new book would bless the world. This project is no exception. The church of Jesus Christ could be transformed if everyone learned how to study and teach the Bible. This article begins where they leave off with general principles of hermeneutics (principles to interpret the Bible). This book tells how to study different kinds of Scripture.
In a Christian context, the Holy Spirit is a guide to help us learn the Scriptures. Jesus promised, “The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16:13). The Holy Spirit working through a human guide is illustrated by Philip helping the Ethiopian eunuch learn the Bible as they rode in a chariot. The Ethiopian had been reading the book of Isaiah but didn’t understand what he was reading. Philip ran alongside to ask,
“Understandeth what thou readest?” (Acts 8:30).
The eunuch was returning from Jerusalem where he probably went to worship God. But he was blinded to spiritual truth and couldn’t understand the Scriptures. The eunuch answered,
“How can I (understand) except some man guide me” (Acts 8:31).
The eunuch was asking for help to understand what he was reading. The human teacher must guide the thinking of pupils by explaining to them the basic content of the lesson. As they do that, the Holy Spirit removes spiritual blindness so the pupil understands the Bible.
This means the human teacher and the divine teacher must work together to produce learning when the Bible is taught. They are dual-leaders in the learning process.
Learning results from teaching experiences3. experiences. Teaching is not telling, it is guiding pupils through experiences designed for their learning. Listening is not learning. When pupils experience the truth of God’s Word, they learn its lessons.
Friday, 8 July 2016
MARRIAGE TRUTH
MARRIAGE is like a shoe. When you wear
oversize, be ready to drag it along through out life, and when you wear under-size be ready to feel the pains through out life".
One thing about marriage is that you don't
drop your shoe or remove it at any point, no
matter how painful or how stressful it is.
That is why I thought it necessary to let you know this.
When you are ready to buy your own shoe please take note of these three things:
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE : Do not look for the
beautiful ones, the nice ones or the cheap ones.
Look for the one that is your size. Not every
handsome, wealthy or intelligent guy is for you,
not every beautiful woman is for you. Look for
the one that is meant for you, the one that aligns with your values and belief, the one who you meet at your life's journey. It is important to know where you're going in life before you think of getting a wife.
POSITION : All sizes of shoes are not placed in the same place. There is a place for court shoes, laced up shoes, sport footwear,
snickers etc. We have Children sizes, young
people's sizes and the adult sizes. Know where to get your own shoe.
Your size cannot be everywhere my brother, your type cannot be everywhere my sister. You cannot be a Christian, and be looking for a wife material at a club. Your wife or husband can't just be everywhere.
Stick to your values and therein you shall find
someone like you,
but when your values are not defined anyone can just match you. Discover yourself and define your values.
PERCEPTION : In this kind of shoe purchasing
enterprise, you are not permitted to try the shoe
before you buy. This is why it is
important to seek guidance and counseling, from people who have bought shoes before or are into the business of directing
people to the right shoes (Pastors and
Relationship coaches).
And most importantly to avoid much time wasting time, simply
consult the SHOE MANUFACTURER to tell you
your size (GOD ALMIGHTY ).
"You do not prepare for wedding, you prepare for marriage."
Ladies these days get so motivated when they
attend wedding and they will quickly want to say yes to that guy. Wait!!! It is not just the wedding oh. The wedding is just one day. After the
wedding WHAT NEXT?
Finally, it is not something you rush to the market and just pick a shoe because you like or can purchase it.
Ask questions
-Where is this shoe made from? (Background)
-What's the size (Values)
-How much (His/Her interest)
-How long will it last (His/Her Character)
-Who made it? (Is she/He of the same faith This is
compatibility)
-Will it match me? (This is whether he/she love
you and will accept you the way you are)
Dear one, remember many are dragging their foot and they would hardly reach their destinies, many are feeling endless pains and wish they could pull off the shoes but no way!!! I have seen people with
beautiful shoes and when they show you their
foot, you will see scars. Beloved, it is not about
the physical, it is the size, you can't know the size from afar so come close, build a relationship first but remember 'you are not permitted to try it before you buy it'.
And for those who have purchased the wrong
shoes, you can still make it your size again if
you'd consult the manufacturer
and let Him have His way in your marriage.
God bless us all.
👠👡 👢 👞👟 👠👡 👢 👞👟
Saturday, 2 July 2016
7 WOMEN PASTORS SHOULD WATCHOUT FOR
ALERT
Here are 7 women, pastors should watch out for on their way to blemish free ministry...!
1) The woman who wants to be your wife.
She is unhappily married. Her husband has disappointed her in a hundred ways. Sitting in church week after week, it occurs to her that you are everything she has ever wanted in a husband. You are kind and gracious, thoughtful and spiritual. You love the Lord and are devoted to your family. You earn a good living and you do not drink or smoke or hang out in bars. So, she fixates on you.
Now, if she were rational, she would know that by seducing you–or winning you, however she would put it–all of those wonderful qualities she admires would suddenly go away: your ministry, your family, your income, the respect with which you are held in the town, your joy in life even.
In most cases, she thinks clearly enough not to actually try to break up your marriage (although that has happened often enough). She merely feels a strong attraction to you and puts herself in a position for you to pick up on it. Consciously or unconsciously, she becomes a trap for the unsuspecting minister.
2) The woman who wants to be your mother.
She will smother you with attention, inundate you with goodies she cooked “just because I knew you liked these,” and make life miserable for you. If you never suffered from claustrophobia before, you do now.
It’s not so much that she poses a sexual danger to you as that by allowing and encouraging this attention from her, you will give occasion to gossips to ply their trade. Avoiding “the appearance of evil” is always a good principle (I Thessalonians 5:22).
3) The woman who wants to be your lover.
This one has a particular allurement to the minister whose relationship with his wife has grown stale. This really is the woman the Proverb-writer describes. And, in case one wonders, I seriously doubt that Solomon wrote this. The man with 1,000 girlfriends is in no position to offer such advice as we find in Proverbs 4! (Although he surely knew the truth of it!)
Such a woman seems to be amoral, without a sense of wrongness about anything she does. She justifies making herself available to the minister by statements such as: “You deserve this,” “God wants all of us to be happy, don’t you agree?” and “No one ever has to know; I certainly won’t tell.”
The thing to keep in mind, pastor, is that this woman making herself so available to you with no strings attached–that’s what she says, although we know better!–does not look like a Jezebel, painted and padded and bejeweled. You will not know her by her adornments.
She may be the pretty wife of a deacon, the friend of your wife, or a church member who came to you for counsel. No one would ever pick her out of a crowd as a party-girl. But she is your biggest enemy.
4) The woman who wants to be your best friend.
She wants to confide in you as to who is doing what with whom in the church. She is a gossip.
She wants you to (ahem) “feel free to come to me anytime you need to talk to someone.” She wants to be your counselor.
In order to pull that off, her primary tactic involves a) spending a lot of time around you, perhaps volunteering in the office but more likely volunteering as your personal assistant, b) telling you intimate things about her own life, and c) asking you to unburden yourself with her.
If she cannot worm her way into your life any other way, look for her to befriend your wife and begin showing up in your home on a regular basis. Unless your wife is on your team, nothing about this is good from that moment on.
5) The woman you want.
There she is, the girl of your dreams. Maybe not the most beautiful woman in the world, but all things considered–her looks, her personality, her laughter, her spirituality, and a few other qualities that defy description–she is everything you ever wanted in a woman.
You get all swimmy-headed around her. You wonder if she does not pick up on all the vibrations your body is sending out.
There are a few problems, of course. You’re married and she’s married, for
starters. And so you wisely tell yourself this can never be, that regardless of
how wonderful she is, she is off-limits to you.
The problem is you keep being drawn to her and thrown with her (committees,
work projects, etc). Because proximity fosters intimacy, unless you do
something quickly, you are a goner.
In most cases, you cannot tell your wife this. You need a mentor who will be
tough with you. If you have none, find yourself one now! Confide in him before
you make the mistake of your life.
6) The woman who doesn’t know what she wants.
In most cases, this mixed up lady has come to you for counsel, asking you to
tell her what to do. You listen to her whole complex life story.
Nothing about her is your ideal. You have never fantasized about her or anyone
like her.
So, how does she become a problem to you? By her repeated visits to your
office.
It’s a matter of focus. In sketching perhaps a hundred thousand people over
these many years, I’ve found that everyone has a certain beauty and
attractiveness about them. By focusing on the individual and not comparing
them with anyone else, we can see it. In the seclusion of the counseling room,
as she unburdens herself with intimate details of her life, the minister may
feel emotionally drawn to her.
The problem then becomes you, pastor, and not her.
Pastors should almost never become professional counselors. When church
members come to you for help with problems, if it cannot be solved in a session
or two, refer them to a trained professional.
Pastor Ed Young of Houston’s Second Baptist Church told some of us pastors
once that we should not counsel at all. “All you need is for someone–man,
woman, or child–to run out of the office accusing you of something, and your
ministry is gone!”
He’s right. Pastor Young said when someone says to him following a church
service, “I need to talk to you sometime,” he says,”Let’s sit in this pew right
now and talk.” It’s in public and it will be done quickly.
I hate that life has come to this, but it has, and we have to deal with it.
7) The woman you work most closely with in ministry.
Once again, it’s a matter of focus. The minister of worship meets with the
organist (or pianist or his personal assistant or whoever) on a regular basis to
plan the services. The youth minister has frequent conferences with his
secretary or a young woman in the church who assists in programming. The
pastor meets with his children’s director or ministry assistant or the head of
the women’s ministry or the chair of his personnel or finance committee.
Beware, minister. You must be proactive in heading off any possibility of a
compromised situation.
Billy Graham decided early in his ministry never to be alone with a woman at any
time. Some might find that extreme, but say what you will, his long and very
public evangelistic ministry was never tainted in the least by sexual scandal or
innuendo.
The most important woman in the church to you the minister.
Your wife must be your lover, your intimate friend, your best adviser and
strongest counselor, and your “mother” (the one who cooks your favorite
dishes and is always there for you).
Let the home fires get cold and you are setting yourself up for trouble, pastor.
This is why the writer of Proverbs urged the young man he was mentoring to
“drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well.” He
says, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your
youth” (Proverbs 4:15-23).
A pastor I know makes frequent mention of his wife from the pulpit. He makes
it abundantly clear that he loves her dearly and, may I say, you get the
impression that their intimate relationship is strong. He makes sure the
church knows and supports his devotion to his wife and family, which means
(among other things) that his off-time is as holy as his time in the office.
When he counsels women in his office, my pastor friend takes care. The door
has a small window which allows anyone to see inside. At an agreed-upon time,
his assistant phones to allow him an excuse to end the session. He is not a
hugger.
Resist the devil by being strong in the Lord...
This article was published by my Spiritaul Parents
APOSTLE & PASTOR MRS PEACE PHILEMON EHIMARK.
Thanks for their Permission to republish this in this forum.
Here are 7 women, pastors should watch out for on their way to blemish free ministry...!
1) The woman who wants to be your wife.
She is unhappily married. Her husband has disappointed her in a hundred ways. Sitting in church week after week, it occurs to her that you are everything she has ever wanted in a husband. You are kind and gracious, thoughtful and spiritual. You love the Lord and are devoted to your family. You earn a good living and you do not drink or smoke or hang out in bars. So, she fixates on you.
Now, if she were rational, she would know that by seducing you–or winning you, however she would put it–all of those wonderful qualities she admires would suddenly go away: your ministry, your family, your income, the respect with which you are held in the town, your joy in life even.
In most cases, she thinks clearly enough not to actually try to break up your marriage (although that has happened often enough). She merely feels a strong attraction to you and puts herself in a position for you to pick up on it. Consciously or unconsciously, she becomes a trap for the unsuspecting minister.
2) The woman who wants to be your mother.
She will smother you with attention, inundate you with goodies she cooked “just because I knew you liked these,” and make life miserable for you. If you never suffered from claustrophobia before, you do now.
It’s not so much that she poses a sexual danger to you as that by allowing and encouraging this attention from her, you will give occasion to gossips to ply their trade. Avoiding “the appearance of evil” is always a good principle (I Thessalonians 5:22).
3) The woman who wants to be your lover.
This one has a particular allurement to the minister whose relationship with his wife has grown stale. This really is the woman the Proverb-writer describes. And, in case one wonders, I seriously doubt that Solomon wrote this. The man with 1,000 girlfriends is in no position to offer such advice as we find in Proverbs 4! (Although he surely knew the truth of it!)
Such a woman seems to be amoral, without a sense of wrongness about anything she does. She justifies making herself available to the minister by statements such as: “You deserve this,” “God wants all of us to be happy, don’t you agree?” and “No one ever has to know; I certainly won’t tell.”
The thing to keep in mind, pastor, is that this woman making herself so available to you with no strings attached–that’s what she says, although we know better!–does not look like a Jezebel, painted and padded and bejeweled. You will not know her by her adornments.
She may be the pretty wife of a deacon, the friend of your wife, or a church member who came to you for counsel. No one would ever pick her out of a crowd as a party-girl. But she is your biggest enemy.
4) The woman who wants to be your best friend.
She wants to confide in you as to who is doing what with whom in the church. She is a gossip.
She wants you to (ahem) “feel free to come to me anytime you need to talk to someone.” She wants to be your counselor.
In order to pull that off, her primary tactic involves a) spending a lot of time around you, perhaps volunteering in the office but more likely volunteering as your personal assistant, b) telling you intimate things about her own life, and c) asking you to unburden yourself with her.
If she cannot worm her way into your life any other way, look for her to befriend your wife and begin showing up in your home on a regular basis. Unless your wife is on your team, nothing about this is good from that moment on.
5) The woman you want.
There she is, the girl of your dreams. Maybe not the most beautiful woman in the world, but all things considered–her looks, her personality, her laughter, her spirituality, and a few other qualities that defy description–she is everything you ever wanted in a woman.
You get all swimmy-headed around her. You wonder if she does not pick up on all the vibrations your body is sending out.
There are a few problems, of course. You’re married and she’s married, for
starters. And so you wisely tell yourself this can never be, that regardless of
how wonderful she is, she is off-limits to you.
The problem is you keep being drawn to her and thrown with her (committees,
work projects, etc). Because proximity fosters intimacy, unless you do
something quickly, you are a goner.
In most cases, you cannot tell your wife this. You need a mentor who will be
tough with you. If you have none, find yourself one now! Confide in him before
you make the mistake of your life.
6) The woman who doesn’t know what she wants.
In most cases, this mixed up lady has come to you for counsel, asking you to
tell her what to do. You listen to her whole complex life story.
Nothing about her is your ideal. You have never fantasized about her or anyone
like her.
So, how does she become a problem to you? By her repeated visits to your
office.
It’s a matter of focus. In sketching perhaps a hundred thousand people over
these many years, I’ve found that everyone has a certain beauty and
attractiveness about them. By focusing on the individual and not comparing
them with anyone else, we can see it. In the seclusion of the counseling room,
as she unburdens herself with intimate details of her life, the minister may
feel emotionally drawn to her.
The problem then becomes you, pastor, and not her.
Pastors should almost never become professional counselors. When church
members come to you for help with problems, if it cannot be solved in a session
or two, refer them to a trained professional.
Pastor Ed Young of Houston’s Second Baptist Church told some of us pastors
once that we should not counsel at all. “All you need is for someone–man,
woman, or child–to run out of the office accusing you of something, and your
ministry is gone!”
He’s right. Pastor Young said when someone says to him following a church
service, “I need to talk to you sometime,” he says,”Let’s sit in this pew right
now and talk.” It’s in public and it will be done quickly.
I hate that life has come to this, but it has, and we have to deal with it.
7) The woman you work most closely with in ministry.
Once again, it’s a matter of focus. The minister of worship meets with the
organist (or pianist or his personal assistant or whoever) on a regular basis to
plan the services. The youth minister has frequent conferences with his
secretary or a young woman in the church who assists in programming. The
pastor meets with his children’s director or ministry assistant or the head of
the women’s ministry or the chair of his personnel or finance committee.
Beware, minister. You must be proactive in heading off any possibility of a
compromised situation.
Billy Graham decided early in his ministry never to be alone with a woman at any
time. Some might find that extreme, but say what you will, his long and very
public evangelistic ministry was never tainted in the least by sexual scandal or
innuendo.
The most important woman in the church to you the minister.
Your wife must be your lover, your intimate friend, your best adviser and
strongest counselor, and your “mother” (the one who cooks your favorite
dishes and is always there for you).
Let the home fires get cold and you are setting yourself up for trouble, pastor.
This is why the writer of Proverbs urged the young man he was mentoring to
“drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well.” He
says, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your
youth” (Proverbs 4:15-23).
A pastor I know makes frequent mention of his wife from the pulpit. He makes
it abundantly clear that he loves her dearly and, may I say, you get the
impression that their intimate relationship is strong. He makes sure the
church knows and supports his devotion to his wife and family, which means
(among other things) that his off-time is as holy as his time in the office.
When he counsels women in his office, my pastor friend takes care. The door
has a small window which allows anyone to see inside. At an agreed-upon time,
his assistant phones to allow him an excuse to end the session. He is not a
hugger.
Resist the devil by being strong in the Lord...
This article was published by my Spiritaul Parents
APOSTLE & PASTOR MRS PEACE PHILEMON EHIMARK.
Thanks for their Permission to republish this in this forum.
Wednesday, 29 June 2016
SIX REASONS WHY TRUST IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN LOVE
6 Reasons Why Trust Is More Important Than Love
Most people believe that love can conquer all, and that the only thing you need in order to make your relationship successful is just pure and honest love. I would beg to differ! After 21 years of living and two long relationships, one thing I’m completely sure of is the fact that trust is the most essential component of a successful relationship. In its absence, you can end up feeling constantly worried and hurt.
If you don’t completely trust your partner, you end up wasting all your time worrying about where your partner is, who they’re with, and what they’re doing, and ultimately end up feeling psychotic. I’m pretty sure that’s not the kind of relationship you would ever sign up for.
Here are 6 reasons why trust is always more important than love:
You can only love a person truly if you trust them
Love is always built on trust and not the other way around. Being rational human beings, we tend to love the people we already trust. And if we enter a relationship without building its base around trust, it is bound to fail as soon as the hard times come.
Trust is used to control our emotions
We are all emotional beings. In most situations, we tend to place more emphasis on the means rather than the final end. We tend to engage in relationships that are meaningful, relationships that we can truly value.
And how do we decide in the start if a relationship will prove to be that way? We use trust! We use it to gauge the kind of relationship we have with others. And we use it to decide exactly how much of our own self we should give to others.
Trust is the building block of all relationships
Once we truly trust a person, once we find the comfort to open ourselves to them and to share all the deepest, darkest thoughts in our minds, that is the moment when a relationship truly becomes unbreakable. – Continue reading on next page
Love can cloud your judgments but trust illuminates them
We always believe that love can be our one true savior in times of need. But the truth is, we’re usually too blinded by love to actually make sane judgments. We get too involved in trying to gain the acceptance, approval, and admiration of those we love. And we fail to realize the fact that love is suppressing our ability to reason.
This is where trust comes in. It helps you get back to the real reasons behind your relationship. It helps you realize whether the person standing in front of you is actually worth the effort. And it helps you distinguish between the people who you’ll have a lifelong connection with and the people who will eventually leave.
Trust conquers all
We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘Love conquers all’. But the truth is that trust is the one thing that can truly push us to believe that we can and we will conquer all obstacles. It holds everything together when all the things around you seem to be falling apart. It’s the glue that fills every gap and every difference you might have with your partner.
Trust is what makes you love again
When all is said and done, when you feel like life keeps pulling you to the ground, when you get your heart-broken a thousand times over, the only thing that can help you bring back the hope in your life is trust. It enables you to believe in something bigger and better than all the heart breaks. It helps you get yourself back on track in life. And it helps you get the motivation back to find your one true soul mate.
Talk to me
Has your trust ever been broken before? Let me know about it. Post a comment
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