Friday, January 6, 2006 - Special Prayer Request

Today's prayer request:        From Megan and Brad Douglas 

 

Please make Laura and Robert Moore the prayer request for today...they are family friends of Brad and I, Brad's best friend growing up.  They are having their 2nd baby sometime today...a month early.  Laura had alot of trouble after the last baby and nearly died, so we need to pray that everything goes smoothly.

 

Friday, January 6, 2006

Good Morning!

 

Our email system is down this morning, so this is probably getting to you late.

 

Our books came in yesterday, so I will have those on Sunday.  Let me know if you can't be there on Sunday to pick up a book, and I will be more than happy to drop one in your mailbox.

 

I think for the class reading, we will be starting with the Introduction section of the book, which has a lot of good background information.  One of the sections is the idea that there is a difference between prophecy and apocalyptic writing.  In a technical sense, Revelation is not a prophetic book, but an apocalyptic book.

 

Barclay outlines the difference in two dimensions.

 

-- Prophets thought in terms of the present world.  Their call was for justice (political, economic, etc.) and call to serve God in this place and time.  Prophets were generally optimistic, for they generally had the opinion if people heeded their call, the current world could be saved and reformed.  Also, prophets generally delivered their message in spoken form (though what they spoke was written down)

 

-- Apocalyptic writers thought of the world to come -- the current world could not be saved, and it had to be destroyed to make way for new world where things can be made right.  Also, apocalyptic messages were always written, not spoken -- primarily because the apocalyptic messages are generally written in symbolism and obscure references -- if they were spoken, no one would understand them -- they have to be on paper for people to read them and revisit them to get the meaning of the book.

 

Which is where we are with Revelation.  We'll start on Sunday.

Today's Scripture

At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in an cloud with power and great glory.  When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Luke 21:27-28

Today's prayer request:       The mining families of Tallmansville, West Virginia

 

It is a small community where this mining accident happened, and they have had their lives and their faith shaken to the core by the way this event has played out.  We need to remember all of them beginning today, as today will have the first of the 12 funerals to be held in that small town.

 

 

Today's class member prayer:

Brandon Herring

Have a great day.

Jay

Thursday, January 5, 2006

Good Morning!

 

Some more quick thoughts as we get ready for starting our study:

 

In my study Bible, they identify five "mega themes" that are touched on in Revelation.   I've cut and pasted those comments below

 

God's sovereignty -- God is greater than any power in the universe, and not to be compared with any leader, government or religion.  He controls history the purpose of uniting true believers in loving fellowship with him.

 

Christ's return -- Christ came to earth as a "Lamb" the symbol of his perfect sacrifice for our sin.  He will return as the triumphant "Lion", the rightful ruler and conqueror.  He will defeat Satan, settle accounts with all those who reject him, and bring his faithful people into eternity.

 

God's faithful people -- John wrote to encourage the church to resist the demands to worship the Roman emperor.  He warns all God's faithful people to be devoted only to Christ.  Revelation identifies who the faithful people are and what they should be doing until Christ returns.

 

Judgment -- One day God's anger toward sin will be fully and completely unleashed.  Satan will be defeated with all of his agents.  False religion will be destroyed.  God will reward the faithful with eternal life, but all who refuse to believe in him will face eternal punishment.

 

Hope -- One day God will create a new heaven and a new earth.  All believers will live with him forever in perfect peace and security.  Those who have already died will be raised to life.  These promises for the future bring us hope.

 

In the descriptions of those themes, there are the seeds of why people find this a scary book -- the idea of Christ "settling accounts"; God's anger being fully unleashed; eternal punishment -- a lot of people hone in those themes in Revelation, and for good reason.  But that view overshadows a lot of other messaging, and that it what we need to get at in our study.

Today's Scripture

At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in an cloud with power and great glory.  When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Luke 21:27-28

Today's prayer request:      Our troops in Iraq and Afganistan

Again, just a reminder that this story has been somewhat pushed off the front pages of the media, but we still have a lot of troops in harm's way overseas, and we need to pray for their continued safety and strength for their families back home in the US.

Today's class member prayer:

Danny Walker

Have a great day.

Jay

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Good Morning!

Some quick background notes:

-- While it is commonly called "Revelations" or the "Book of Revelations", it is actually "Revelation" -- singular.  This is just one revelation. 

-- the author of Revelation is given as the apostle John, who also wrote the gospel of John, based on, among other things, the fact that the author identifies himself in the text.  Biblical scholars have some issue with that -- noting a number of differences between the Gospel of John and Revelation -- particularly the quality of the language used in each.  Other scholars assign the difference to different scribes that John may have used to help him take down his thoughts.

-- John wrote this while in exile on the island of Patmos, where the Roman authorities had sent him during their persecution of Christians.  Note that this was written in 95 A.D., and many scholars think that John was the last living apostle at this time.  There is something about that fact that makes Revelation make more sense to me -- it seems like the book that the last living apostle would write in his last years.

-- The seven churches to whom the book is written were all located in what is today Turkey.

Today's Scripture

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinithians 13:6-7

Today's prayer request:      The West Virginia mining families

What are terrible, terrible roller coaster of emotions these people have gone through in the last 48 hours.  We need to pray for their emotional and spiritual recovery from this tragedy.

Today's class member prayer:

Jodi Findlay

Have a great day.

Jay

Tuesday, January 2, 2006

Good Morning!

So, time to start a new year.

To start the year, we are going to start on our study of Revelation.  We will be using William Barclay's Daily Study Bible as our primary reference, with some supplemental materials.  We should have our books for class on Sunday, Fed Ex and Cokesbury willing.

In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to start reading some Revelation, because it is a difficult read, and will probably take a while to get into the rhythm of the writing.

On our web site (leapclass.blogspot.com) there is a link to the Wikipedia entry on the web about the Book of Revelation that is a good starting point, though a little "technical" or "theological" in nature.

For today, let's start by setting the context for the book -- when you tell someone that you are going to be studying Revelation, the first reaction that they will have is probably something like "Hmmm, that's pretty scary."  I think in general, Revelation is seen as a scary book, with a reputation that no other book in the Bible has.  Undoubtedly, that is because of its content -- not just the future, but the talk of wars and tribulation, of the beast and the dragon, of persecution and judgement.

In the preface to Revelation in my study bible, they call Revelation a book of hope, which I took as odd, but it is correct - Revelation is a book about the return of Jesus, his victory over evil, the reward of the faithful and the judgement of the wicked.  That is true, but it seems like that message is lost in the conventional view of the book.  One of the things that I think we should try to understand in our study is how we can get to the point where we see Revelation as a book of hope, rather than one of fear, danger or dread.  Part of that will be how we develop our point of view on the book, but I have a since that most of that will be in how we develop our confidence in our own relationship with Christ.

Today's Scripture

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription" "The Lord knows those who are his", and "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.".

2 Timothy 2:19

Today's prayer request:      Michelle's friend Jim Bozeman and his family.

 

They were on our prayer list for his mother, who had a turn for the worse right before Christmas.  She passed away very shortly after our last prayer request, and we need to remember that family who is dealing with the loss of a loved one.

 

Today's class member prayer:

Lynn Rocksvold

Have a great year.

Jay