Bible podcasts, videos, blogs, printables, and more to help you know, trust, and apply the Bible.

from Yvon Prehn to help you know, trust, and apply the Bible

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The Bible Didn’t Say That! A brief introduction to Hermeneutics

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Hermeneutics is the art and science of interpreting the Bible—in other words helping us understand what it means for our everyday lives. Instead of a list of rules that are hard to tie to actual verses and even more to life application, this lesson takes the popular verse of Jeremiah 29: 11 that says, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” and uses it as an example of how people often incorrectly interpret this verse and then get mad at God if He doesn’t do what they expect. It then goes on to show how by correctly applying Hermeneutic principles to interpret this verse, ultimately this passage can give us great hope in all situations For downloadable notes and links to the video and other Hermeneutics is the art and science of interpreting the Bible—in other words helping us understand what it means for our everyday lives.

Instead of a list of rules that are hard to tie to actual verses and even more to life application, this lesson takes the popular verse of Jeremiah 29: 11 that says, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” and uses it as an example of how people often incorrectly interpret this verse and then get mad at God if He doesn’t do what they expect.

It then goes on to show how by correctly applying Hermeneutic principles to interpret this verse, ultimately this passage can give us great hope in all situations.

Below are links to the podcast and video of the lesson.

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How we got our English Bibles, The long and winding road from Greek and Hebrew to English translations

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How we got the English BibleAfter the decision was made as to which books would go into our Bibles, it was still a long, complex, and difficult time before most people had what we take for granted—our own Bibles in the language we speak.

When we see staid, serious, old-fashioned pictures of Bible translators we have no idea of their sacrifices and heroics involved in bringing us God’s Word as we have it today.

In this lesson we will talk about the history, but also how we got the translations we have, the value of listening to the Bible, and which translation is the best one for us for our study and application to our lives.

Below is the Podcast, video, a chart of Bible Translations, and notes of the lesson.

A SPECIAL BONUS: the image of the challenge from the lesson that  “You are writing a gospel” is a downloadable, 8.5×11 PDF, free for you. CLICK on the image to download it. Other versions of the image, many sizes for print and social media use are available Bibleverse Shop at: https://payhip.com/b/lNHB7
You are writing a gospel
The chart below is from the Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Time Lines and is not part of any sales but copied for educational purposes. Click on the chart to download it.
Chart of Bible Translations from Rose Publishing use for Educational Purposes Chart of Bible Translations from Rose Publishing use for Educational Purposes


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Canonicity, the Bible, and Us—how we discover, not determine God’s Will

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Who decided what books are in the Bible?

Many have heard the term “Canonicity” used with this topic—what does it mean?

Did the Church make the decision of what’s in the Bible? How did they or whoever was responsible, decide?

These are incredibly important questions for us to answer because if the books that make up our Bibles, the “canon” of Scripture are merely the result of human effort and decision, it doesn’t matter if we read them or what we do with them.

However, if they are from God Himself, given to us through human authors, they are authoritative for our beliefs and how we should live.

The process of canonicity is how the church decided these important issues and that’s what our lesson talks about. Below are links to the podcast, video, and notes, plus a PDF download of the Easter Letter of Athanasius that first listed the 27 books of the New Testament and is also an excellent summary of some of the important points of canonicity.

If you would like to teach this lesson as well as others from Bible805, go to the Bible805 Academy at this link: https://payhip.com/b/Ryipz

Links to the podcast, video, PDF of the Easter Letter of Athanasius, and the NOTES/Transcript of the class follow—

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Athanasius Easter Letter Defining the Canon

 

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How we got the New Testament, Part 2—why the Gnostic Gospels aren’t part of it & implications for today

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Why the Gnostic Gospels are not part of the New TestamentA primary criticism of the New Testament is that critics say that Christians intentionally left out and/or suppressed certain writings, primarily what we call the Gnostic Gospels and that they should be part of our New Testament and aren’t.

It isn’t just scholars who are affected by these views. Consider this quote:

“It seems to me that the only true Christians were the Gnostics, who believed in self-knowledge, i.e. becoming Christ themselves, reaching the Christ within, the light is the truth. Turn on the light.”

That was the opinion of John Lennon of the Beatles and this idea, along with many other New Age and alternate ideas about spiritual truth have caused many to doubt the solid foundation of our New Testament, which is the ONLY source that truly tells us both how to be saved by faith in Jesus AND how to live our lives after we accept Him as Savior in ways that are pleasing to Him.

But there are alternative voices, and ways to be saved and live a “spiritual” life. These ideas have been the inspiration of books and movies that promote the idea that you need to discover the “god within you” (without Jesus) and the Gnostic Gospels are the origin of where much of this comes from.

This lesson looks at a textual analysis of where they came from and why in every way they are not equal to the Gospels in our Bibles.

Included in the lesson are excerpts from them that will help you see how they have little in common with the true Gospels.

Below are links to the podcast, video, downloadable chart, and eBook mentioned in the lesson, plus a transcript/notes following them.

Chart Comparing NT & Gnostic Gospels ImagePDF eBook Excerpts of the Gospel of John and Gnostic Gospels

Bible Reading Plan, a short intro

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Halloween as a time for evangelism—please consider it with the Apostle Paul as our inspiration

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Halloween as outreach
We don’t normally think about it in this way but Halloween can be an incredible time for evangelism as people are thinking about death and we KNOW the one who conquered death–Jesus!

When the Apostle Paul went to Athens it says he was “very distressed” (Acts 17:16) at the pagan idols he found in the city. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is that a few days later he is asked to speak before their council and when he does, here is how the Bible describes it:

Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. (Acts 17:21-23)

Instead of berating them for what he knew was evil, he took their interest in what they didn’t know, an “Unknown God,” and used it as a bridge to tell them about Jesus.

I think we can use Halloween in the same way. 

Yes, there is much that is terrible and evil about it and it seems to get darker and darker in how people are celebrating it yet, think about it—it is also a time when people are obsessed with the afterlife, death, the spirit world and all sorts of related things.

As Christians, we know the one person in all of human history who died and who came back from death. He didn’t do it to scare us or demonstrate evil powers, Jesus did it to secure the salvation he freely offers us.

For years I’ve used Halloween as a primary evangelism time in several ways. On my own, I like to go to the Halloween Superstores and spread gospel tracts around in various places (the pumpkins work well). They are also great to give out along with Halloween treats.

Through my ministry of Effective Church Communications, I’ve created additional challenges and resources

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