The post Bible Hacks: How to Read the New Testament Letters appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the past several weeks, I’ve been co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman have been teaching short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session seven as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed at the bottom of this article:[/callout]

Audio Version:

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Back in Elementary school, I remember having a pen pal. Well, I remember that it was something we did. I don’t particularly remember who my pen pal was. But there was something special about writing a letter to another person and then receiving a response back. Today, we have made communication so easy that we tend to avoid our message receiving mechanism – our email inbox.

But I can remember writing out the letter to send. Dear… Write out what I had to say. Then the closing salutation. Then my name. There was and is a structure to writing a letter. We all know this. And the cool thing is, there is a structure to the genre of Biblical text we are looking at today: the epistles.

Much of the New Testament is in epistle form. An epistle is a kind of letter that also functions as a sort of teaching. Now, it’s important to note that the epistles we find in the New Testament are hybrids between epistles and letters. Some lean more toward epistles and some lean more toward letters. Some are more personal and some are less personal.

An epistle is generally structured with six parts:

There are a few ways we typically distinguish between epistles in the Bible.

First, we have the Pauline epistles which simply means the epistles written by Paul. The Pauline epistles include:

Next are what are typically referred to as the general epistles. These include:

But beyond these two general distinctions, there are a couple of sub-groups among the Pauline epistles. First are the Pauline prison epistles which were written while Paul was imprisoned. These include:

Second, are the Pauline pastoral epistles which were written to individual leaders of the church. These include:

Last week, we talked about the book of Acts and how we need to think in events, not chapters. In epistles, we need to think in terms of the entire letter. Some people recommend we think in paragraphs, but I believe that is too narrow. We must take into account the fact that these letters were read aloud before entire congregations (with the probable exceptions going to the pastoral epistles). But even with the pastoral epistles, they were surely read in one sitting, not in a few. With that in mind, we must begin thinking in whole letters rather than chapters and headings.

If you want to read the epistles well, it would make a tremendous difference if you read the epistle all the way through. But even if you don’t do this each time, either noting in your head or writing down notes as you read of the overall flow of the epistle will help as well.

All this points us to our first key, to follow the author’s flow and to not cut him off. Whenever we simply focus on chapters, we tend to cut the author off in mid-thought – especially in the epistles.

No matter if you grew up in church or not, you have a theology. Everyone does. If you grew up going to a single kind of church, you likely have adopted their theology. It’s what you were taught, directly or indirectly. If you didn’t grow up in the church, you still grew up inside a worldview. Your parents had beliefs that shaped how they raised you and how they taught you about life. See, we all have a theology whether it is biblical or not. And that right there – biblical theology – is even tough to define.

Maybe the hardest things to do is this one: to leave your theological presuppositions at the door when you read the epistles. Because when you don’t, you may fall into the same trap as I have. Here’s an example of how this plays out among Arminians and Calvinists. An Arminian will be tempted to read around passages like Romans 8:30; 9:18-24; Galatians 1:15; and Ephesians 1:4-5. Likewise, Calvinists will be tempted to do the same thing with passages like 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; 2 Peter 2:20-22; and Hebrews 6:4-6.

The only remedy for this is to leave those prior theological conclusions at the door – at least initially.

Epistles are occasional and are typically in response to something in particular. Some, it seems, would be exceptions like Romans and James. But this back and forth can be seen especially in 1 and 2 Corinthians because Paul actually references the fact that they had sent him a letter with questions (1 Corinthians 7:1).

It’s a good practice to begin asking yourself – as you read the text – what was going on in this church community? What was happening? What conversations were going on? The reality is, we have what we need in the Bible. But as we are reading the epistles, it’s going to be helpful to understand what we are reading if we can begin to see the other side of the conversation.

This can be compared to an onion. There are layers. But considering and understanding their culture will give you a great deal of insight into how the recipients of the epistle would have read or heard the epistle you are reading. It will give you insight into things like food sacrificed to idols, head coverings, hair length, and an assortment of other details that otherwise may leave you scratching your head.

Typically a good study Bible will aid you in this.

Every now and then, if we are reading closely, there will be a passage that leaves us with more questions than we know what to do with. When this happens, some guidelines will be helpful. First, realize that these texts were written, not to us, but to people in the first century. Second, even if we don’t entirely understand the passage at hand, it doesn’t take away from us understanding the overall epistle.

BibleHub.com offers a number of commentaries that can be helpful to you if you decide that you want to dive into the passage you are in even more.

In our handout, we’re going to dive into an epistle.

Want to grow your faith even more? Let's be email friends. I'll even give you a free copy of my 4-week audio course and daily devotional called, Journey to Knowing God.

[callout]

More From Bible Hacks

Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman

Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley

Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman

Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley

Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman

Session three: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions – by Brandon Kelley

Session four: Reading the OT Narratives Well – by Daryl Docterman

Session four: Reading the Gospels Well – by Brandon Kelley

Session five: Understanding OT Law – by Daryl Docterman

Session five: Understanding Jesus’ Parables – by Brandon Kelley

Session six: Reading the Psalms Well – by Daryl Docterman

Session six: Reading the Book of Acts Well – by Brandon Kelley

Session seven: Understanding the Wisdom Literature – by Daryl Docterman

[/callout]

The post Bible Hacks: How to Read the New Testament Letters appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post Bible Hacks: How to Read the Book of Acts Well appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the past several weeks, I’ve been co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman have been teaching short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session six as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed at the bottom of this article:[/callout]

Audio Version:

[button href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/abundant-life-brandon-kelley/id1030753835″ primary=”true” centered=”false” newwindow=”false” newwindow=”true”]Subscribe in iTunes[/button]

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The book of Acts is in the genre of historical narrative, but it’s unique because of the details that it leaves out. It was written by Luke, the same person who wrote the Gospel of Luke. So Luke and Acts are a two-part investigation into what Jesus did when He was on earth, what happened at His death, resurrection, and then in Acts we see what the Holy Spirit did through the Apostles. But again, Acts is interesting because it is historical narrative but it leaves out details we might see as important.

For example, Luke spends really no time in talking about the lives of the apostles. He doesn’t seem to be concerned about them as much as he is concerned about something else. Something bigger. Not to mention, the people he does focus on in a big way are really only Peter and Paul. The rest of the original eleven plus their substitute for Judas don’t get much air time in the book of Acts. Again, Luke seems to be concerned about something bigger than these individuals. Even more, Luke doesn’t spend much time at all on church organization either.

Fee and Stuart, in their book How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, offer a good quote in explaining what seems to be Luke’s motivation in writing Acts:

For [Luke], the divine activity that began with Jesus and continues through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the church is a continuation of God’s story that began in the Old Testament. 

The big question we must consider in the back of our minds when we come to the book of Acts is simply this: why did Luke write this book?

Did he write it to give us a do-church-this-way model? Did he write it to show what the apostles did after Jesus ascended to heaven? Did he write it to show the movement of the Gospel outward from Jerusalem and eventually to Rome?

Why did Luke write this book? Keep that question in the back of your mind whenever you read Luke.

One of the best things we can all learn to do is to ignore the headings, chapter breaks, and verse breaks in the Bible. When you dive into the book of Acts, instead of thinking in chapters or even in paragraphs, you must think in events. Luke writes scene after scene, some longer and some shorter. But if we want to read the book of Acts well, we have to think in events. And when we do this, we’ll be able to connect the smaller events to the larger event of what Acts is explaining and showing us.

(1) Make observations and (2) ask questions. Now, most everything we discussed for OT Historical Narrative will apply to Acts as well, but in addition to that, these two things are paramount. Make observations and ask questions.

Make observations: does Luke focus on some kind of theme in the event you are reading about? Is he making a point below the surface? Does something stick out to you?

Ask questions: (1) Who are the key people? (2) What are the key places? (3) What questions come to mind of the text?

Now, I think it’s worthwhile to keep something in mind when we begin asking questions of the Bible. The Bible is not an answer book to every question anyone has ever asked. In fact, many times when we come to the Bible in search of an answer to some random question we have about life or culture or our world, we may be asking a question of it that it never set out to answer.

The interesting thing is that it’s the answers to these questions – the very ones the Bible doesn’t seek to answer – that sometimes cause doctrinal division within the Church. One that sticks out to me is the age of the earth. Does the Bible answer this question? Did it set out to make an argument for a young earth or an old earth or a mid-life-crisis earth? Not that I can see.

But here’s my point: we should ask the Bible all kinds of questions – every one we have – but we shouldn’t expect that all those questions will be answered by the Bible. Sometimes an answer can come from a theological truth that is seen throughout Scripture and applies to the question at hand, but other times, we don’t even have that.

What we’re going to do now is simply read an event from early on in Acts. As we read, make observations and ask questions.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Apply what you have learned by working through a chapter in the book of Acts.

Here’s the worksheet.

Want to grow your faith even more? Let's be email friends. I'll even give you a free copy of my 4-week audio course and daily devotional called, Journey to Knowing God.

[callout]

More From Bible Hacks

Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman

Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley

Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman

Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley

Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman

Session three: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions – by Brandon Kelley

Session four: Reading the OT Narratives Well – by Daryl Docterman

Session four: Reading the Gospels Well – by Brandon Kelley

Session five: Understanding OT Law – by Daryl Docterman

Session five: Understanding Jesus’ Parables – by Brandon Kelley

Session six: Reading the Psalms Well – by Daryl Docterman

[/callout]

The post Bible Hacks: How to Read the Book of Acts Well appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the next three weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session three as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed at the bottom of this article:[/callout]

Audio Version:

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Today, we’re going to dive into Jesus’ parables with fresh eyes. If you’ve read the Bible or have been in church for much of your life, you likely have had interaction with Jesus’ parables. But today, let’s approach them with the eyes of children who are encountering them for the first time.

Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

To help us read Jesus’ parables in an accurate way, I’d like to offer you three principles for reading parables:

From what we can see, who is the audience? A crowd by the sea. But what happened prior? This is important, especially when we see how Jesus explains this parable. At this moment, Jesus is around His hometown of Nazareth. Mark 3:20-21 says:

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

From there, Jesus receives an onslaught of insults from not just His family, but from the scribes from Jerusalem. They accuse Him of being possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. He responds to their accusation and continues teaching. And then we come to the beginning of our passage where He has moved location to what seems to be the Sea of Galilee which is 18 miles away today. A sizable walk.

Now, was there a conversation happening that prompted the parable? No, we are simply told that Jesus was teaching.

What did the crowd identify with in the parable? Certainly the sower and the result of the ground. But what is the intended response? From first look, it seems to be to sow onto good soil. But Jesus does something quite kind for His disciples and for us in the passage following what we’re looking at. He explains the parable.

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that

“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

Let’s pause right here. Jesus refers to Isaiah 6:9 which says, “And he said, ‘Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’” There have been many people who have used this verse to justify an idea that parables have a deeper or even allegorical meaning. But I think if we consider the situation of the parable, we may have an interpretation of what Jesus is doing here that may be more accurate.

Remember, preceding Jesus telling this story at the Sea of Galilee, He was in His hometown of Nazareth and was being accused of being the prince of demons. He was encountering a lot of opposition to His straightforward teaching. So, allow me to propose to you that it could be that Jesus begins speaking in parables because the people were rejecting His plain teaching and showing that they were not perceiving or understanding.

Let’s keep going.

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

For Jesus’ hearers, they understood the idea of the sower, but they had trouble understanding what was being sown. Jesus explains that the seed is the word (His proclamation of the good news). The different versions of soil are the receptivity levels of the people to the word (Jesus’ teaching).

So, before the intended response to the parable seemed to be to sow to good soil, but the intended response now seems to be what? BE the good soil. Then when it is time for them to be the sower, realize that not everyone will receive it.

Apply what you have learned by working through two more parables from the book of Luke.

Here’s the worksheet.

Want to grow your faith even more? Let's be email friends. I'll even give you a free copy of my 4-week audio course and daily devotional called, Journey to Knowing God.

[callout]

More From Bible Hacks

Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman

Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley

Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman

Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley

Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman

Session three: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions – by Brandon Kelley

Session four: Reading the OT Narratives Well – by Daryl Docterman

Session four: Reading the Gospels Well – by Brandon Kelley

Session five: Understanding OT Law – by Daryl Docterman

[/callout]

The post Bible Hacks: Understanding Jesus’ Parables appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post Bible Hacks: Reading the Gospels Well appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the next four weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session four as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed at the bottom of this article:[/callout]

Audio Version:

[button href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/abundant-life-brandon-kelley/id1030753835″ primary=”true” centered=”false” newwindow=”false” newwindow=”true”]Subscribe in iTunes[/button]

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Imagine for a moment that you were asked to tell the story of your last community group meeting. How would you start the story? What happened? Put us in the situation. How would you do it?

Let’s also imagine that every other person in your community group was asked to do the same thing. How would they start the story? What would they describe? How would they do it?

Now, here’s the question: would the stories of your last community group meeting be the same? No, of course not. Right? But a follow-up question is in order: if the stories are different, does that mean they are wrong? I propose no.

The emphasis you put on a specific detail may be different – probably is – than what another person emphasized on a specific detail. Every sentence you and your group write or speak is filtered through what you think is important and what your perspective was in the story. We all know this. But we sometimes forget it. Especially when we read the Gospels.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all books about Jesus. They are all gospels. In terms of a genre, they are quite unique. They contain historical narrative and imperative. In other words, they tell the story of Jesus’ ministry and they dive into specific teachings that Jesus taught.

It’s important to realize that each author tells the story of Jesus and His kingdom in order to address the needs of the Christian communities they were writing to.

Matthew writes to a primarily Jewish audience with what seems to be the goal of showing how Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. He also emphasized that Jesus ushered into the world His kingdom – one they didn’t expect.

Mark writes to a primarily non-Jewish audience with the what seems to be the goal of encouraging Christians in the Roman Empire (maybe even Rome itself).

Luke, being a gentile himself, writes to a “most excellent Theophilus,” but was likely intended for a wide audience with what seems to be the goal of examining and confirming the life, work, and humanity of Jesus.

John’s gospel is unique. He plainly states his goal in writing his gospel, namely, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). His gospel was transferrable to all contexts, Jewish, and gentile alike.

Four gospels, four perspectives, four purposes in writing, and one guide: the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20-21 says this:

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Peter, one of the apostles, tells us that the prophecies of Scripture didn’t come from men’s interpretations, but they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16 says this:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

God is the source of Scripture. He used men to write down what He wanted to be said. It’s vital for us to understand this because it’s not complete to simply say that these men simply wrote about Jesus. They wrote about Jesus while being guided and carried by the Holy Spirit Himself.

All four gospels are equally valuable and equally authoritative.

As mentioned already, there is a lot of narrative in the gospels. It is set in first-century Palestine and it’s important to remember the NT context when we read the gospels. There are details in the narrative that we may miss if we’re not aware of the context of the first century.

When we read the gospels, we likely have a harder time understanding Jesus’ teachings and His parables than we do understanding the narrative portions. We’ll dive into how to read parables next week, but let’s consider some principles for Jesus’ imperatives – or teachings.

We must keep in mind that there are culture gaps and that the first-century context is different from our context. Case in point: Roman soldiers were allowed to force people to aid them in transporting their baggage. So maybe you’re walking down the road and your donkey is carrying your stuff and a Roman soldier tells you to walk with him and carry his baggage. It’s likely you won’t face this situation, so when Jesus says, “if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Matthew 5:41), you don’t really know what to do with it.

But if we take a moment and stop, we can see a principle in what Jesus is saying. In fact, He tells us what the overarching principle of what He is giving real-world application to is in verse 39: Do not resist the one who is evil. If someone is attempting to do evil to you, respond with sacrificial love rather than retaliation.

It’s also important to approach Jesus’ teaching and His imperatives (do this, don’t do that, etc.) with the proper starting point. Gordon Fee and  Douglas Stuart make this point in their book, How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth:

They are not law in the sense that one must obey them in order to become or remain a Christian; our salvation does not depend on perfect obedience to them. Rather, they are descriptions, by way of imperative, of what Christian life should be like because of God’s prior acceptance to us.

They are saying what we emphasized last week: our identity in Christ drives our obedience to Christ. And the imperatives are simply what it looks like to be obedient to Christ.

Work through a passage that is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and see how each author approaches and explains what happened.

Here’s the worksheet.

Want to grow your faith even more? Let's be email friends. I'll even give you a free copy of my 4-week audio course and daily devotional called, Journey to Knowing God.

[callout]

More From Bible Hacks

Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman

Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley

Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman

Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley

Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman

Session three: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions – by Brandon Kelley

Session four: Reading the OT Narratives Well – by Daryl Docterman

[/callout]

The post Bible Hacks: Reading the Gospels Well appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post Bible Hacks: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the next five weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session three as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed here:

Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman

Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley

Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman

Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley

Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman

[/callout]

Audio Version:

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If you really want to read the Bible better, I don’t know that there is anything better you can do than to carefully read one book at a time. Instead of jumping right into a “read the Bible in a year” plan, you may find that it’s better to jump into one book a time and take your time working through it.

This past year, I decided to get a journaling Bible because I wanted to start writing notes in the margins and underlining my Bible (which I had never done before). When I got my journaling Bible, I decided to create a color key for my underlines (I bought some markers that are specifically for marking in Bibles). Three colors are all that I use. And what this has done for me is allow me to see a flow that brought me to this conclusion: our identity in Christ drives our obedience to Christ. 

Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page with these terms. A theological reality includes a lot of things, but let me give you a simplified definition before we dig deeper. A theological reality is something that God says through the Bible that is true about Himself and His creation. For a quick example, consider the theological reality we see in Genesis 1:27, that God created mankind in His image. Just imagine all the implications from this one statement. If we’re made in the image of God, then that means we must consider what God is like and by doing so, we may have an idea of how we are made in His image.

Another way of saying our big idea for the day – our identity in Christ drives our obedience to Christ – is our theological reality informs us of and drives us to obedient actions. An obedient action is anything God says through the Bible that we ought to do. Let’s go back to Genesis 1 to see how this plays out:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – Genesis 1:28

Here we see two implications of the theological reality of being made in the image of God: we were created to create and rule. God told Adam and Eve to create more humans and to rule over the earth and all the animals in it. Mankind is creative (meaning, in more areas than procreation) and it is in charge of caring for and ruling over the earth and animals. Remember, we are made in the image of God which means that our creativity and our authority must be submissive to His way and His will. He is the Creator and the Ruler of all.

In order to see this play out even more, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 6 and walk through it together.

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud–even your own brothers!

The tension in 1 Corinthians is seen all throughout the letter, especially here in this chapter. But notice what Paul is doing. What’s the last word of the first verse? Saints. At first, we’re not entirely sure who Paul is referring to as saints, but then he makes it clear in verse four. The saints are those in the church. The unrighteous have no standing in the church, they are not saints. Do you see the theological reality Paul is appealing to? Those who have been saved by Christ are saints which means they settle disagreements in an entirely different way than those who have not tasted of God’s grace. Let’s go on.

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 

Do you see the obedient action? Do not be deceived. Do you see the theological reality Paul reminds them of? Verse eleven spells it out completely. In other words, don’t go to the very people who will not inherit the kingdom you are heirs to in order to settle a dispute that shouldn’t even have gotten this far in the first place. You are people who have been made new and have been forgiven by Christ. Live into who you are.

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”–and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Scholars aren’t decisive on who Paul is quoting in verse twelve and the first half of verse thirteen. Some say that he is quoting from what others were saying to him in order to justify the sin they were participating in. Others say that he is quoting something he had taught the Corinthian Christians but they had wrongly used to justify the sin they were committing. Either way, notice that he moves to a back and forth between theological realities and obedient actions.

Take a moment and work through 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and identify each.

Here’s the worksheet.

If this article resonated with you, subscribe to the blog. As a way of saying thank you, I have a gift to send you. It’s called Journey to Knowing God. It’s a 28-day daily devotional that features 4 audio sessions and 24 daily prompts. It will help you experience God in a real way every single day. Let’s connect!

The post Bible Hacks: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post Bible Hacks: Understanding the New Testament Context appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the next six weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session two as well as the audio of the class.

Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman

Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley

Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman

[/callout]

Audio Version:

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When we open our Bibles to the New Testament (everything from Matthew to Revelation), we are entering into the world of first century Palestine. This fact, in and of itself, means that there are some potential opportunities for a disconnect between us and the meaning of the text we are reading.

What I’d like to do today is to take us back in time to the first century and zoom out a bit before we then zoom in together and apply what we have learned.

In order to have an understanding of what is happening in the first century, it’s important to have a real basic understanding of what had been happening in Palestine leading up to it.

For hundreds of years, Israel had been under foreign rule. This started with the Assyrian Empire taking over the Northern Kingdom. Then the Babylonian Empire conquered the Assyrians and the Southern Kingdom and took people captives. From there, the Persian Empire came into power, defeating the Babylonians. They gave some freedoms to the Jews, but they were still ultimately in charge. From there, Alexander the Great came on the scene and conquered everything in his sight. Once Alexander died, three of his generals fought for power and divided the Empire into three sections. In 142 BC, the Jews regained their independence after fighting against the Seleucids. This lasted for 80 years until the Romans came onto the scene.

When the Romans came to town, the Jews decided, instead of fighting, to become voluntary allies of Rome. This came with perks like having Judaism as a recognized religion in the Empire and other things. But this didn’t mean that everyone was happy with being under Roman rule. The Jewish preference, of course, was to have independence from Rome. But for that to happen, they needed a deliverer.

It is here that we see Jesus coming onto the scene.

James Jeffers, in his book, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era gives us some helpful insight into the world of the first century:

Imagine a society in which the gulf between upper class and all others was so wide that their members had virtually nothing in common. Imagine that you were forbidden by law to marry someone of another class, and upward mobility was frowned upon. Imagine a legal system that always favored the upper class. Imagine a society in which, with very few exceptions, your status at birth determined the course of your future life (p. 181).

The first century was a world divided in as many categories as you can think of. Status was a big deal and it was determined by many means: wealth, education, citizenship, freedom status, ethnicity (Roman or not), ally or conquered enemy, male or female, and marriage status. Your cumulative score so to speak was what determined your status in society.

For Jews themselves, there was a distinct chasm between them and everyone else. They believed that they were God’s chosen people and for good reason, everything in their history had pointed to that. They viewed themselves as having special status in the eyes of God because they were given the Torah – Mosaic Law.

On top of that general idea of being the chosen people of God, there was also a specific tension between them and their neighbors to the north – the Samaritans. The Samaritans had been looked down on by the Jews because they intermarried with foreigners and worshiped idols.

So suffice it to say that there were plenty of areas of division in the first-century culture.

Religion in the Roman world included A LOT of gods. Polytheism was dominant everywhere you turned – except in Israel where they freely worshiped Yahweh. Since the Jews voluntarily submitted to the Romans, they were able to have Judaism acknowledged as an accepted religion in the Empire. But again, the Jews (and later the Christians) were surrounded by pagan worship and practices of all sorts.

Then when Christianity came onto the scene, it was initially seen as a Jewish Sect, but by the late first century, it was understood that Christianity was something different.

Religious tensions were quite high in the heart of Jerusalem when the Christians began to live out their mission once Jesus ascended to heaven. Persecution of Christians in Jerusalem caused many Christ followers to go to other cities to live. In 64 AD, Emperor Nero wrongly blamed the Jews and Christians for fires in Rome which led to them being tortured and put to death in the Roman arena. By the second century, executions were happening in parts of the Roman Empire for simply being a Christian.

Genre: Epistle

Geography: Galatia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey)

Scholars think that Galatians was written during Paul’s third missionary journey and was probably written around the same time as he wrote Romans, about 56 AD. So, with just that as our starting point, let’s dive into the first 10 verses of Galatians 1:

Paul, an apostle–not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead– 2 and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Right off the bat, we have a big context clue into what the situation of Galatians is. What is it? It’s typical in Paul’s epistles (like a personal letter) to take some time and greet the recipients as well as to offer thanks and prayer for them before he gets into the reason for his writing. But here he doesn’t do that. He jumps into his astonishment that they are deserting God and His gospel.

Then at the end of verse 6, we see two words: different gospel. Apparently, the Galatian Christians were believing some kind of alternative gospel than the one Paul and his ministry team had preached to them. But what is that different gospel?

In Galatians 2, Paul explains his own experience with the people who were preaching this different gospel. Take a minute and read Galatians 2:11-14. But this wasn’t the only time Paul ran into this group of people. They made their voice heard at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15:5: “But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.'” So, in short, this different gospel is one that says Gentiles can become Christians, but upon conversion, they should begin practicing the law of Moses and be circumcised.

And the Galatian Christians began following this teaching. They began believing that the promise of blessing was found, not so much in Jesus, but in being Jewish.

Let’s jump into more of Galatians and see if knowing this context helps us in understanding the message of the book of Galatians.

For application, go through this worksheet and apply what we have learned.

If this article resonated with you, subscribe to the blog. As a way of saying thank you, I have a gift to send you. It’s called Journey to Knowing God. It’s a 28-day daily devotional that features 4 audio sessions and 24 daily prompts. It will help you experience God in a real way every single day. Let’s connect!

The post Bible Hacks: Understanding the New Testament Context appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post Bible Hacks: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

[callout]For the next seven weeks, I’ll be co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman will teach short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes as well as the audio of the class.[/callout]

Audio Version:

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I never liked reading much. But I was intrigued so I gave it a shot. I started reading the Bible every night before I went to sleep. I’d read a chapter one night, a few chapters another night, and sometimes just a paragraph or so. I didn’t understand everything – I probably understood a small percentage of what I was reading. But I kept going. I didn’t understand the Old Testament much. I didn’t know the popular Bible stories. So, I started with the Gospels and read about Jesus.

But then something happened. As I continued to learn as much as I could about my new-found faith, I discovered something that changed everything for my Bible reading. What is that something? The Bible is a singular, grand story telling us of the glory of God and how He has, from the point in which sin came into the world through Adam and Eve, been orchestrating the grand rescue of mankind.

And now that we have a good handle on the Bible as one story [listen to Daryl’s session on the Bible as one story], we can move toward being able to see the Gospel – the good news of what Christ has done and is doing – in every crevice of the Bible (even the Old Testament).

Once sin entered the world, everything began pointing toward Jesus and His arrival on earth. Once Jesus came and initiated the rescue of mankind through His sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead, everything begins pointing toward living in Christ (on mission, indwelled by the Spirit) and toward His return (when He will complete all things). And it is with this pointing in mind that we ought to read Scripture.

No matter where you are in Scripture, there is a connection from there to the Gospel of Christ. Any idea when the first proclamation of the hope of the Gospel is found in the Bible? You don’t have to get far. Genesis chapter 3. It is here that God responds to the serpent after he deceived Adam and Eve with this promise, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Her offspring, the woman’s offspring, is ultimately realized in the incarnate Jesus who came to deliver a blow to Satan and to defeat sin and death. Upon Jesus’ second coming, the serpent will once and for all be defeated and dealt with.

In every genre of writing in the Bible, you can see paths that lead to the cross. The Bible is full of prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus. It is full of types that foreshadow the coming of Jesus. It is full of God laying the groundwork for the coming of Jesus.

If from reading the passage at hand, you determine that a proper application is something for you to do, then you must approach this in a certain way as a follower of Christ.

To apply the do, you must point yourself to your reality as someone who has been freed from sin and indwelled by the Spirit of God to mold you, shape you, encourage you, intercede for you, and empower you to do the do at hand. Without pointing yourself to your reality, a works-based faith creeps in. You must be reminded of your gospel reality.

Now, let’s dive into some examples so we can see this reality in action.

Timothy Keller, in his book, Preaching, highlights this connection. Genesis 3 is the chapter where we just read that Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent. Later in that chapter, God kicks Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden – a place where He and them fellowshipped, a place where they got to experience paradise. He sent them out of the Garden so that they didn’t eat from the tree of life. They had sinned and the tree of life wasn’t meant to be taken from by sinful hands. So Adam and Eve are kicked out and God places the cherubim (a heavenly angel) and a flaming sword in the garden to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:22-24 points us toward the reality we all live in if we have sinned. We are unable to take hold of the tree of life. But then Jesus comes on the scene and changes everything. As Keller puts it, “Because Jesus got the tree of death, we can have the tree of life.” Or in other words, because Jesus wipes us clean of our sins, we are given the tree of life as a gift by God. Because of Jesus, we get to be restored to the relationship Adam and Eve had with God before they sinned and receive true, real, abundant, and eternal life.

Let’s jump to Moses and the Israelites. God’s people had become slaves in the nation of Egypt. We don’t have time to go through all the backstory as to how they got there, but suffice it to say, they were there. God calls Moses to go and get His people out of Egypt. Ten plagues later, God’s people were freed from slavery in Egypt and on their way away from their old home and to something new. They escaped through the Red Sea that God parted so they could get away from the Egyptian military that was trying to bring them back.

Yay. They were freed from slavery. They were free! They no longer had to bow down to their old way of life, for God gave them a new one. God told them that He would take them to the promised land – a place He would show them and take them to. But for 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, in the desert. They had experienced freedom, but they were not yet in the promised land.

How does that connect to the Gospel of Christ? The Exodus (that’s what this period of history is called for the Israelites) is a type of (or a foreshadowing of) the Christian experience. Think about it like this: We were all slaves to sin. But then Christ came and set us free. And He has told us of a new heaven and a new earth – a new and better promised land – that Christ followers get to inherit one day. But meanwhile, we are here on this earth. We are free, but wandering (in some sense) and waiting to be able to enter into the promised land. We call this the 2nd Exodus. In the midst of this 2nd Exodus, we follow God’s leading (just like the cloud and fire) and we receive from Him our needs (just like the manna from heaven).

As one more example, let’s consider the book of Ruth. It tells about the journey of Naomi, a woman who had dealt with tremendous loss. First, her husband died and then her two sons died. She decided that she was going to move back to Judah so that she could start afresh. She had two daughter-in-laws and one of them, Ruth, decided to join her on the journey back to Judah.

Now, in that time, two widows would have a very hard time making ends meet. When they arrived in Judah, Ruth decided that she would go to the fields to collect grain for food. While there, a man named Boaz took notice of her and asked about her. After hearing her story, he invited her to join his household for dinner and invited her to collect grain, from then on, in his field among the rest of the people who were collecting grain.

When Ruth returned to Naomi, her mother-in-law and told her about Boaz, Naomi told her that Boaz was actually related to her late husband and because of this, was a “redeemer” of hers, otherwise known as a kinsman-redeemer. A kinsman-redeemer was a male relative who, according to various laws found in the Pentateuch, had the privilege or responsibility to act for a relative who was in trouble, danger, or need of vindication.

Naomi had land in Moab, her former home, that needed to be purchased from her so that she could have wages to live on. To make a long story short, Boaz ends up taking action as the kinsman-redeemer for both Naomi and Ruth. He buys Naomi’s land and marries Ruth. This allows Naomi to have a continued line of descendants because Ruth gave birth to Obed who was the father of Jesse, the father of King David.

Now, how does that point to the Gospel? As a kinsman-redeemer, Boaz points us to our great Redeemer, Christ. Because as Boaz provided, protected, redeemed, and gave a new legacy to Naomi and Ruth, Christ provides, protects, redeems, and gives us a new legacy in an infinitely better way.

For application, go through this worksheet and apply what we have learned.

If this article resonated with you, subscribe to the blog. As a way of saying thank you, I have a gift to send you. It’s called Journey to Knowing God. It’s a 28-day daily devotional that features 4 audio sessions and 24 daily prompts. It will help you experience God in a real way every single day. Let’s connect!

The post Bible Hacks: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post TAL: The Reality of 132 Million Children Will Break Your Heart appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

This is painful to research. It is even more painful to share. I’m sure it is even more painful to hear. But research, share, hear, and do something, we must. The heartbreaking reality of 132 million children is that they are orphans. Young and without parents, many are homeless, starving, and end up dying very young. 

Let’s jump in…

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Full Transcript: Here

[shareable]Will we stand idly by as millions of children suffer from having no hope, no family, and no way to get food in their bellies?[/shareable]

Donate to the Orphans and Widows Fund through World Vision.

[youtube id=”kHgR-ht6jkg”]

Donate to the 20/20 campaign through Show Hope.

Consider looking into the National Adoption Foundation that provides grants and loans to help with the financial difficulty of adopting.

Other sites to look into if you are considering adopting:

AdoptionServices.org

ShowHope.org

ChristianAdopt.org

LifeSongForOrphans.org

AdoptionHelp.org

[shareable]A Gospel-infused life must take action when confronted with the cultural crises of our time.[/shareable]

If this podcast resonated with you, subscribe to the blog. As a way of saying thank you, I have a gift to send you. It’s called Journey to Knowing God. It’s a 28-day daily devotional that features 4 audio sessions and 24 daily prompts. It will help you experience God in a real way every single day. Let’s connect!

The post TAL: The Reality of 132 Million Children Will Break Your Heart appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post TAL: We’re Causing 7 Times as Many Deaths as the Holocaust Every Year appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

When numbers get this high, it’s hard to comprehend. We live in a world where, every year, 40-50 million are systematically killed for the worship of self. Individualism is the culprit, manifested specifically through the acts of abortion. Every year, 40-50 million children in the womb are aborted and killed by mothers who have chosen self above them (Source: worldometers citing World Health Org.).

Let’s jump in…

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Full Transcript: Here

Source: Is this what you mean? Project

“Question: Can the heart of a fetus or embryo still be beating during a suction curettage abortion as the fetus or embryo comes down the cannula? Answer: For a few seconds to a minute, yes.” (Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Harlan Raymond Giles, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.) 

“The fetus passes through the catheter and either dies in transit as it’s passing through the catheter or dies in the suction bottle after it’s actually all the way out.” (Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Martin Haskell, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.)

“A long curved Mayo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus…” (From the medical textbook Abortion Practice – Dr. Warren Hern, p.154, describing legal activity).

“The friction causes the fetus to tear apart. For example, a leg might be ripped off the fetus as it is pulled through the cervix.” (US Supreme Court, Gonzales vs. Carhart, April 18, 2007, describing the D&E procedure, which is legal).

“We would attack the lower part of the lower extremity first, remove, you know, possibly a foot, then the lower leg at the knee and then finally we get to the hip.” (Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Martin Haskell, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.)

“Typically the skull is brought out in fragments rather than as a unified piece…” (Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 9)

If this podcast resonated with you, subscribe to the blog. As a way of saying thank you, I have a gift to send you. It’s called Journey to Knowing God. It’s a 28-day daily devotional that features 4 audio sessions and 24 daily prompts. It will help you experience God in a real way every single day. Let’s connect!

The post TAL: We’re Causing 7 Times as Many Deaths as the Holocaust Every Year appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

The post TAL: Purging Anger in Our Lives appeared first on Brandon Kelley.

It was natural for me. It was motivating. It produced results. It’s the reason why I showed up early and stayed late. Driven. My fuel? Anger. Revenge. As an athlete, this was natural for me. People would wonder if I was actually having fun when playing sports. I was. But my face showed my motivation. I had a chip on my shoulder – a large one.

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Full Transcript: Here

If this podcast resonated with you, subscribe to the blog. As a way of saying thank you, I have a gift to send you. It’s called Journey to Knowing God. It’s a 28-day daily devotional that features 4 audio sessions and 24 daily prompts. It will help you experience God in a real way every single day. Let’s connect!

The post TAL: Purging Anger in Our Lives appeared first on Brandon Kelley.