Tuesday Talk - Camera Day

According to my National Day of the Year Calendar, it is National Camera Day.  In celebration here are a few pics from my phone camera.

Homiletics Acts 3

 Acts 3:1-26

Content:

1. As was daily practice, crippled man begs money from Peter and John at temple Gate. 1-3
2. Peter calls his attention and beggar looks expectantly. 4-5
3. Peter said "I don't have money to give but I give you Jesus healing. 6
4. Peter helps man up and he is instantly healed. 7
5. Man responds with walking, jumping, and praising God causing great wonderment in people who saw him. 8-10
6. Peter uses as opportunity to address the crowd. 11-12
7. Peter says God glorified Jesus - you rejected him and had him killed. 13
8. You disowned the Holy and righteous one 14
9. You killed author of life BUT GOD raised him. 15.
10. It is by faith in the name of Jesus this man has complete healing. 16
11. You acted in ignorance BUT GOD was fulfilling his promises of suffering Christ. 17-18
12. Repent and turn to God so sins wiped out and you are refreshed. 19
13. Jesus in heaven until God fulfills his promise. 20-21
14. Moses and the prophets point to Jesus 22-25
15. Jesus sent to Jews to bless them through repentance from wicked ways. 26

Divisions:

1. Peter heals cripple man, drawing a crowd. 1-10
2. Peter uses opportunity to tell them about God's plan for Jesus 11-18
3. Peter calls them to repentance. 19-26

Subject Sentence:

    Peter heals crippled man, preaches Jesus and calls for repentance. 

AIM:

TCMT (to cause me to) live by faith in the name of Jesus and the attitude of "BUT GOD" for healing restoration and strength.

(I came up with several possible Aims but this one was the most personal and stuck out the most to me this week.)

Application 

1)  What circumstance or habit do I find crippling or debilitating? What physical means am I looking to for relief or change?

2) How might following up thoughts about such crippling situations with BUT GOD  change my thinking, attitude or action? What would it look like in my life to live by faith in Jesus in such crippling situations?

3) What specific repentance is God calling me to, so I might experience his blessing and refreshing.

Today's Tip - Subject Sentence.

I often find my subject sentence is a combination of the division sentence.  I look for repeated works.  In this case they all started with Peter so it seemed like a good place to start my Subject Sentence.  I look for words that will identify it's passage.  The Subject sentence should make someone think, oh this is about that passage in Acts where Peter heals the crippled man.  It may or may not include a biblical truth or principle.  That comes out in the aim.  The Subject Sentence is the briefest of identifiable summaries of a passage.  I often start by writing out whatever comes to mind after looking at the divisions sentences no matter how many words.  Then I start slashing, condensing and substituting words as well as rearranging in an effort to create a sentence that is 10 to 12 words.  

Tuesday Talk - Peter

 I am grateful that:

Peter takes his meds on his own.

Peter says the meds help keep him from crying all the time.

Peter's meds keep the voices and paranoia away.

Peter is committed to his job at Papa Johns.

Peter is pleasant to be around.

Peter has his sense of humor.

Peter and I have the best relationship we have had.

Peter can accept some of my suggestions.

Peter does not easily get angered or irritated.

Peter went with Mom and I on a road trip last weekend and it was enjoyable.

Peter makes efforts to get out of his room and be around people. 

Peter enjoys the porch swing

Peter spends much of his time listening to music, a fair portion of it Christian music (by choice.)

Peter is always grateful for rides, food, help etc.

Peter is choosing not to drive (which gives me much relief.)

Peter has plans.

I am sad, fearful and concerned that:

Peter is isolated (some by his choices some by others choices.)

Peter's plans and ideas aren't always grounded in reality.

Peter has refused therapy or counseling.

Peter's struggle with room and personal hygiene has decreased following diagnoses last year.

Peter spends A LOT of time looking in the mirror.

Peter is not progressing towards independent living.

Peter needs an advocate and case worker to keep doctor appointments and get meds. It's currently me.

Peter has and continues to experience a lot of rejection.  People don't reach out even when given opportunity.

Currently I serve as Peter's driver, landlord, advocate, case manager, counselor and best friend.  I  feel like I am not doing it well and would like for him to have a broader base of support.  And I don't know how to go about it.

Thank you for praying as so lead.

Homiletics Acts 2

 Acts 2:1-47

Content

1. Gathered disciples experience descension of Holy Spirit, violent wind and tongues of fire resting on individuals. 1-3
2. filled with Holy Spirit spoke in tongues drawing a crowd of nationally diverse Jews hearing own languages. 4-6
3. Crowd utterly amazed and bewildered, they sought understanding while some scoffed. 7-13
4. Peter addresses crowd clarifying they were not drunk but fulfilling OT prophesy. 14-21
5. Jesus was accredited by God through his actions and given over to die. 22-23
6. BUT GOD raised him from the dead 24
7. Peter quotes David's Psalms as testimony 25-28
8. David spoke of one of his descendants, prophesying resurrection of Christ. 29-31
9. Jesus is the Christ, disciples are witnesses to this. 32
10. Jesus is exalted, received promised HS (Holy Spirit) and pouring it out  and that is what crowd is witnessing. 33
11. David's words testify to this. 34-35
12. God has made this Jesus they crucified both Lord and Christ. 36
13. Listeners convicted asking what do we do; Peter responds repent and be baptized and receive HS. 37-39
14. Peter pleads and warns; about 3000 added to followers that day 40-41
15. Followers devoted selves to apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer. 42
16. many miracles done 43
17. believers lived in community providing for each other. 44-45
18. followers meet daily in temple, shared meals in homes, praised God and others added. 46-47

Divisions

1. Holy Spirit descends on the disciples, the evidence drawing an amazed crowd. 1-13
2. Peter addresses crowd, proclaiming Jesus as the promised Lord and Christ. 14-36
3. Proclamation leads to many repenting and joining fellowship of believers. 37-47

Subject Sentence. 

Holy Spirit's descension causes miraculous speech, Peter's testimony and new believers.

Aim: TCMT (to cause me to) point others to the resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ in response to the evidence of Holy Spirit in my life.

Application:

1 Do I believe and wait upon the HS to be evidenced in me?  Am I attuned to the inquiries of others about the evidence of HS in my life?

2 Do I seek to know scripture as to support the truth of Jesus Christ so I can't point others to him. Do I point others to Jesus or myself in response to HS's work in me?

3. Am I connected to other believers mutually offering and receiving support?

Today's Tip: Divisions

In my NIV bible, there are titles.  The one at the beginning of the chapter is The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost.  Above verse 14 is Peter Addresses the Crowd.  And Above verse 42 is The Fellowship of Believers.  These titles can often help guide dividing the passage.  However I try not to limit myself and strictly follow them.  What I may be seeing, may be following a different pattern.  

For example my first division matches the title division in my bible.  However I divided the 2nd division between verse 36 and 37 instead of 41 and 42.  What I was seeing was the progression of 1)  the coming and evidence of the Holy Spirit 2) Peter testifying and explaining it and 3) the people's response to the HS and Peter's testimony.  I saw this response begin to be shown at verse 37 and therefore started the third division at this point.

Tuesday Talk -Need a bible????

I would say my bible knowledge is average.   But after rearranging books this past week I have concluded that I have absolutely NO EXCUSE for not knowing and studying the word of God considering the number of Bibles I have collected.

ALL the books pictured here are Bibles.  And all but one is in English.  They represent different translations, print size, commentary notes and lives.  One is my parent's family bible.  I have two that belonged to my dad and at least two that were my moms. One, I was given as a child and the other when I became an adult.  My current bible isn't even in this picture. One of these each belonged to my Great great grandfather, my great grandmother and my grandmother.  My grandmother proudly presented me with 5 generation of bibles (when one of mine and my mom's was included) for my College graduation. I have a legacy of bibles but the question is, do I put them to use. Is my study of the bible and application of it leaving a legacy for the Lord I profess to follow.  Am I studying the word of God or simply letting it be an ornament.  May this collection motivate me to study the word of God, pray for those who don't have access, and freely share with those in need of the word.

Oh yeah, hear is my hymnal collection.  I like collecting them too!

Homiletics Acts 1

 ** No, it's not Saturday but because I will be away from my computer this Saturday, I decided to be early (I know shocking!!!) and go ahead and post my homiletics.

Acts 1:1-26

Content:

1.  In previous book, author (Luke) wrote about Jesus up to ascension. vs. 1-2
2. After suffering death, Jesus appeared to and taught followers for 40 days. vs. 3
3. Jesus told followers to stay in Jerusalem awaiting promised Holy Spirit. vs. 4-5
4. In response to disciples "what's next question," Jesus says timeframe of God not for them however promises power of Holy Spirit. vs. 6-8 
5. Jesus ascends into cloud and angels appear promising one day Jesus will return in same manner. vs. 9-11
6. Returning to Jerusalem, disciples gather in upstairs room to pray. vs 12-14
7. Peter leads group in discussion regarding Judas who betrayed Jesus and  killed himself. vs. 15-19
8. Peter uses Old Testament to determine another apostle should be chosen from followers. vs 20-22
9. 2 men Justus and Matthias proposed. vs. 23
10. They prayed Lord show us your chosen vs. 24-25
11. Lots cast and fell to Matthias. vs 26.

Divisions:

1. Following resurrection, Jesus teaches and prepares disciples before ascending into Heaven. vs. 1-11
2. Peter leads disciples in choosing replacement for Judas who killed himself after betraying Jesus. vs. 12-26

Subject Sentence:  

• Disciples witness Jesus ascension, await Holy Spirit, and choose Matthias.

Aim: 

• TCMT (to cause me to) trust the empowering of the Holy Spirit to witness for Jesus as I seek to follow him

Application:

1. Is there some future event that I am worried about and how I will respond? Do I believe and trust in the empowering of the Holy Spirit when the time comes so that I can rest today?
2.  Do I seek scripture for guidance in moving forward? Do I ask God to guide my decision making trusting he will do so?

Today's Tip - Content

Typically a content list will have 10 to 20 points in the list. One of the tricks I use in determining how detailed to make the content list is to come up with an average number of verses per list number.  I take the number of total verses in the passage and divide by 20 and then 10. In Acts 1 there are 26 verses.  Divide by 20 and its 1.3. Divide by 10 and its 2.6.  So I know this list can be fairly detailed with an average of 1 to 3 verses per point.  This isn't a rule, just a guideline that is helpful to me, particularly with longer passages.

Tuesday Talk - Mama's in Uganda

I am on "vacation" this week as the Preschool is closed for the church's VBS.  I have been using the time off to "flip" my house by purging, painting, and re-purposing the inside.  Its fun.  It will be an ongoing project this summer but excited about what I am getting done this week.  Plans are for Peter, Mom and I to take a little trip over the weekend.  Several stories have emerged in my house projects today but I have decided it is more important to share a little update from my friend Isabelle and ask for prayer for her ministry to moms with preemie babies, Mama Tulia.

According to Isabelle today, Uganda has had an increase in Covid cases with many deaths and the country is shutting down again, she said for 42 days! No church and no schools, they can't meet in large number and public transport has been hiked.  This becomes a big issue for most all people  because the majority don't have stocked fridge, freezer and pantry.  They buy to eat, day by day. Also "working remote" really isn't an option for the majority of livelihoods in Uganda. Therefore, not working means no money for rent and food.  Isabelle said people are desperate to leave Kampala for the village as they can not afford life in Kampala without work. In the villages they can live off the land easier. 

This greatly affects the mamas and preemie babies that Mama Tulia serves because without the transportation and ability to gather, it is hard for Isabelle's team to get food and supplies to them. These moms and babies already live in an extremely traumatic state, the lock down just increases it.  I would ask that as you peer into your well stocked fridge or order whatever you think you "need" from Amazon for the next month, would you please pray for the people of Uganda, especially these mamas and babies as well as Isabelle and the Mama Tulia team who seeks to help them.

Homiletics, the basic Recipe

Way back in the beginning as a class member of BSF (Bible Study Fellowship), I often wondered what "Homiletics for Leaders" meant at the bottom of the BSF lesson.  When after a couple of years I became a children's leader, I finally learned what it was.  Part of our leadership prep was doing Homiletics on the scripture passage for the week.  It would then be briefly discussed during Leader's Meeting.  I soon learned from conversation with others, that it tends to be like fruitcake, you loved it or your don't.  And just like Fruitcake, I loved doing Homiletics.  It is this tool that I used as the basis for writing lectures while as a Teaching Leader for BSF.  Since leaving BSF leadership 14 years ago, I had kind of abandoned the practice until my Aunt Sue suggested I teach it to my  bible study group.  With the revival of using this tool I realized it really is one of my favorite ways to study the bible and discover application of biblical text.  (For clarification,  Aunt Sue isn't really my Aunt but my beloved mentor and friend who is a BSF legend and wise, God-centered woman.)

Personally I approach homiletics much like I do recipes.  It provides the general framework of ingredients and steps but I take liberties to modify ingredients and procedure as time and supplies dictate. I find it helpful to my soul, not to be rigid about following it exactly.  People are different though, and I know some are more comfortable following recipes in detail.   Today I am going to present the basic recipe and will let you know places I tend to modify.  

Linda's recipe for Homiletics

Ingredients: 

• Bible, 
• paper (I keep a notebook) and pen.  (Paper and Pen can be substituted with some electronic devise)
• Commentary (OPTIONAL - for clarifying or enhancing after personal homiletics attempted.)
• Other Bible Translations (OPTIONAL - can be helpful for clarification)

Time: extremely variable; may take as little as 30 minutes, may take hours or even days

Procedure:

• Pray
• Read passage of scripture
• Read passage again this time writing as you go a list of 10 to 20 summary statements or sentences that summarize the passage. Follow up sentence with verse numbers it covers. This is called Content List *
• Looking at the summary list (and bible passage), divide the list into 2, 3 or 4 divisions, writing a sentence that summarizes each division.  Write down verse numbers the division covers. This is the Division List **
• Looking at the divisions and pondering the whole passage, write a 10 word sentence that summarizes the passage. This is referred to as the Summary Sentence. ***
• Considering all that has been discovered so far, write an aim based on the passage.  This sentence starts with To Casue Me (or the Audience if used for teaching preparation) to know (do) … This is the application. Basically you are answering the question, how does the passage change or inspire one's thinking or actions. This is known as the Aim ****
• Finally for each division, write an application question that brings action to the Aim. *****

Recipe Notes 

* Sometimes when impatient, I combine the first two steps, writing content list from the beginning. However reading the passage one or more times prior to beginning the list really does increase familiarity with the passage. I also often forget to start with prayer and find praying at any point and throughout the process redeems a rushed start.

** When stuck on knowing how to divide the passage, a short cut is to look at any bible headings your bible might provide.  Sometimes my divisions match this and sometimes they don't. Complete sentences are helpful here.

*** I was taught by people who believed 10 or less words was the only acceptable number of words in a subject sentence however correct grammar was not emphasized.  I tend to believe 11 or 12 words are just fine and often necessary.  And I will never be one to be a stickler for proper grammar (as my blog indicates.) 

**** I was taught to start with TCATK (To Cause Audience to Know) and then write out the Aim.  Recently Aunt Sue said Miss Jonson (BSF Founder) taught her TCATD (To Cause Audience to Do). I tend to interchange them now. 

*****As a teaching leader this is where I developed a principle for each division as well as questions to support that principle and bring it into action.  A biblical principle is a timeless truth about God or Man.  So now when I do homiletics, I sometimes write a principle or a application question or both.

I will conclude this post with this important thought. I view homiletics as very personal.  You are not looking for a cookie cutter outcome. What God speaks to you and me will often be different.  Personally I think it is important to go into the process looking and listening for God to speak to me and not to go in search of "the right answers."  Sharing homiletics with others is very helpful, insightful, encouraging, and stretching.  But comparing can be defeating and counter productive.

So for my next homiletics post I will share my homiletics on Acts chapter one to demonstrate what the process can look like on paper.

Tuesday Talk - Starfish

 “Once, on ancient Earth, there was a human boy walking along a beach. There had just been a storm, and starfish had been scattered along the sands. The boy knew the fish would die, so he began to fling the fish to the sea. But every time he threw a starfish, another would wash ashore. "An old Earth man happened along and saw what the child was doing. He called out, 'Boy, what are you doing?' " 'Saving the starfish!' replied the boy. " 'But your attempts are useless, child! Every time you save one, another one returns, often the same one! You can't save them all, so why bother trying? Why does it matter, anyway?' called the old man. "The boy thought about this for a while, a starfish in his hand; he answered, "Well, it matters to this one." And then he flung the starfish into the welcoming sea.”

― Loren Eiseley, The Star Thrower

The above poem from the essay of Loren Eisley was a "theme song" when I worked at the special needs school, Challenged Child and Friends (now SISU.)  It was often read to us or given to us on a token gift as a reminder of the value of our work.  It was just a story until a month ago.

While walking on the beach at Pawley's Island we encountered a large number of petrified starfish.  Honestly I was worried if they were really dead when I picked up one to take back to the beach house.  I heard another guest ask the house manager about it and he said he didn't know why but there were times when large numbers of starfish or even jelly fish would wash up on the shore.  The next morning when I went for a Sunrise Walk I encountered a patch of freshly washed up Starfish.  These were obviously alive by the movement of their tentacles and star points.  I was fascinated and overwhelmed by the need to rescue.  Much like the little boy in the story, I started picking up starfish and flinging them into the ocean.

In the process I broke off a star point of one.  I only helped a few in comparison to the large number presented.  I became discouraged that it really didn't make a difference or matter. I wondered if it really made a difference to that starfish as it was "just a starfish" And was I "messing with it's destiny" by my interference. I felt silly and foolish as other people simply walked by.  And I couldn't help but keep thinking of that poem. 

However in that process, I learned the better way to pick up the starfish and fling it into the ocean.  Meaning as I practiced helping, I learned the better way to help. The practice improved my throwing, thus my skill refined.  When I finished there were a few (a little few) squirming starfish left on the shore,. The act most likely had a greater impact on me than the starfish. My thinking about starfish and "making a difference " was impacted by my involvement.  And maybe, just maybe there is a starfish out there thriving at it's starfish life because I took time to pick it up and throw it back in.  And I am sure he would send a note of thanks if he had my address.