Requesting Your Prayers

Dear Reader,

I'm interrupting the normal flow of posts - which are scheduled well in advance anyway - to ask your prayers for my brother-in-law.  For the sake of the family's privacy I won't give his name but the Lord knows him (and he knows the Lord) so God will know who you mean when you pray. 

My brother-in-law had a stroke a few weeks ago and was left partially paralyzed and without the ability to speak.  Some mobility and speech was regained through therapy and he seemed to be progressing well.  Then everything drastically changed 2 days ago and he is now unresponsive and extremely ill. 

Please pray for my brother-in-law and his family as the Lord brings him to your mind.  Thank you.

K.

Timeline: Genesis, Job, and John

Courtesy of Faithlife Logos software

I love studying history sequentially. It just helps make sense of the whole subject when things flow in order.

Studying the Bible is no different, at least for me. I like reading passages within their proper historical context. Let me take a moment to present the overview of the passages you're reading this week.


Genesis (Beginning events happening circa 8,000-4,000 BC and covering almost 2,000 years in the first 10 chapters; recorded by Moses many years later during the years of the Exodus)

The book of beginnings! If you believe that God created the world exactly as He said that He did in Genesis chapter 1 then you believe that there is no such thing as "prehistoric" anything as far as it pertains to the earth. Take a moment to think about that. If history began in Genesis chapter 1 then there is no "pre" history since God tells us exactly about the first moment of earth's existence!

That's exactly what I believe, just in case you're wondering. I believe the world to be no older than 10,000 years.
(****A tip for homeschoolers or anyone who is curious: If you ever want to do a really neat math/history project take sheets of paper or half-sheets of poster board and mark them off in 1/4 inch segments to make a timeline. Allow each 1/4 inch to represent 10 years. That's your scale. Then devote a different color of pencil or marker and make a thin bar line graph for each Biblical patriarch from Adam to Jacob using the book of Genesis as your guide. You'll need some decent math skills to plot on the graph where each man belongs when he is born, when he becomes a father to the son that is given, and when he dies. Don't put the years in BC until later but mark your time in "years of creation." For instance, Adam was created in Year 1, became the father of Seth in Year 130, and died in Year 930 according to Genesis 5:1-5. If you do this you will be amazed by many things! First, you'll see that Adam saw many generations of his "greats," if you know what I mean. Second, you'll see that Methuselah died the year of the Noah's flood. Third, the colorful bar graph will help you visualize just how many generations there were alive at the same time since men lived to be over 900 years old! This is a great assessment of early historical events. Make sure you have LOTS of paper or half-sheets of poster board before you begin. Adam's life alone will cover 23.25 inches which means his life ends 1 1/4 inch from the beginning of the 3rd piece of 8.5 x 11 inch paper taped together longways. Once you've got your generations plotted through Jacob find a Bible commentary to give you an approximation of when he lived and you will be able to go backward through time to assign years in BC notation to approximate the year of creation. We did it ourselves over twenty years ago.)

So starting our reading in Genesis (no matter what your creation theology) probably makes sense to you. But what's the reasoning behind choosing the books of Job and John for this first week?



Job (Events happened approximately 2,000 BC; recorded many years later)

The book itself was written later than the events that occurred in it (as was the case for the creation story contained in Genesis that is credited to the authorship of Moses; the same Moses might have been used of God to record Job's story, too, but no human author took credit for it). Several scholars (including John MacArthur: see The MacArthur Study Bible, c. 2006, notes for Job; and especially Dr. Henry M. Morris The Remarkable Record of Job, c.1988, Chapter 1) think that Job was the contemporary of Abraham. This would be possible because the name of Uz, the probable ancestor of Job for whom his hometown received its name, is listed in Genesis 10 near that of Abraham's ancestors (cf. Genesis 10:21-25).

Morris and MacArthur also point out that the land of Uz was likely near the land of Midian. This could be another reason to suggest the authorship of Moses since he spent time in Midian prior to returning to Egypt and leading the Jewish Exodus.It seems reasonable to place the Book of Job after Genesis 11:9.



The Gospel of John (References creation c. 8,000-4,000 BC but deals with the life of Jesus c. 4 BC - AD 29; recorded by John circa AD 80-90)

John was not the first gospel account written but it is the first that we'll read. Actually, John's gospel was probably the last of the four written yet I enjoy reading the Gospel of John alongside the Book of Genesis. "In the beginning . . ." they both begin. Unlike the synoptic gospels, John references Jesus as the creator of the world! This opening statement is enough to immediately establish Jesus' claim to deity.

Each of the four gospels concentrates on a different aspect of the nature of Christ. John focuses on Jesus as God and there's no beating around the bush! He boldly proclaims this by going back to the creation account to do so. That's why we're reading the Gospel of John first even though other gospel accounts were written earlier.


In conclusion, our Old Testament timeline covers about the first 2,000 years of the world's history (c. 4000-2000 BC) and the New Testament timeline is of the life of Christ from eternity past (which is the only "pre" history I believe existed) through to the life of Christ (birth c. 4 BC - death c. AD 29).

Memory Monday

Mondays are usually such tough days but some of us are off work this week. Even though most of us are getting our first holiday break of the year today doesn't mean that our minds should be totally on vacation even though most of this week's verses are probably familiar ones. Consider them mental warm up exercises for the weeks ahead and my gift to you. :)

There's something for everyone here. Are all of the verses familiar to you? If so, great! Review them this week. If not, well then, pick one of the unfamiliar ones and see if you can master it. Don't worry if it takes longer than a week to commit it to memory. We're not keeping star charts here (although you're free to keep one yourself if it makes you feel any better). And if the verses listed are just too easy then give the longer Scripture Passage a try. You might know each of them individually but in order as a complete block.

Give it a try! And if you need some help on how to begin try some of the ideas below. Feel free to post your own ideas in the comment section. My aged addled brain is always looking for new ways of remembering things, and not just Bible verses either!

• Genesis 1:1-2
• Genesis 1:27
• Genesis 2:7
• Genesis 7:15-16
• Genesis 9:15-17
• Job 1:21-22
• John 1:1
• John 1:2
• John 1:3
• John 1:4
• John 1:5
• John 1:12
• John 3:16 (or John 3:16-18 if this verse is just too easy an assignment)
• John 4:24
• John 5:24
• John 8:31-32

Scripture Passage to Memorize: *Give yourself extra credit, perhaps a piece of chocolate (or two).

• John 1:1-14

MEMORIZATION HINTS:

I memorize things in a variety of ways and the teacher in me likes to help children memorize in ways that seem best suited to their learning types. I seriously doubt there are any children reading this, but I find that some of the things that helped me memorize school assignments as a child still help me learn new things as an adult. See if any of the following suggestions help you.

Some verses can easily be coupled with sing-songy tunes like children's nursery rhyme music and some can be written in phrases such as poetic couplets or rhyming techniques.  Others require lots and lots of writing. 

Do you know your learning style?  If not, an activity listed below might help you have one of those "Ah ha!" moments where one recognizes him/herself from the description.  These are just some of my suggestions.  See if you can think of others.  And if you do, leave me a comment telling me what works for you or someone you know.  I'm always looking for creative ideas for teaching memory verses to children in our summer Vacation Bible School and it isn't too early for me to add to my memory toolbox!

Auditory learners

• putting the verse to music
• listening to an Mp3 of the verse
• having someone else say the verse and repeating it to the person a phrase at a time
• read the verse aloud to themselves

Visual learners

• reading the verses after they have been arranged in stanza or phrase form
• drawing icons or other mnemonic pictures over the top of words in the verse (picture cues)
• putting the verses on index cards and placing them strategically around the house
• diagram the verse grammatically (Oh, those English majors!)

Kinetic learners

• physically write (or type) the verse
• write each word of the verse on a separate index card and arrange them in correct order
• place each index card (see above) in proper order onto the floor and step from card-to-card while reading the word.
• "air writing" each word of the verse
• act out the verbs in the verse 

I'm a combination learner, as are many, who does well when I see it, sing it, and muscle it around.  Depending on the difficulty, it can take a bit of creativity to make something "stick" in my memory.

God bless you this week as you memorize His Word.  Actually, I think Psalm 1 (just to name one) promises that He will!

Happy New Year!

From our family to yours:

Happy New Year!

May ". . . the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, . . . keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus . . ." this coming year is our prayer!

Phil 4:7 (KJV)

In Christ,

Pastor Dad, Gram, and The Bear