When I was was about 15 years old, I discovered a surprising Bible study technique when I began reading from an RSV instead of a KJV. The RSV was organized by paragraphs, not verse by verse. When I started reading the Bible by context, it began to make more sense to me. I found I could better remember Bible verses based on how they fit into the context, knowing who said it and in what circumstance.
When I was a young Sunday School student, I remember my dad, Bro. Bob Brinkerhoff, looking agitated. It appeared that something was troubling him. Finally, he stood up in the ecclesial hall and said, “You know brethren, Jesus’s body was not broken! The Apostle’s reference was to the broken bread in this passage in 1 Cor. 11:24.”
November 23, 2020
A few days ago I read Psalms 111 and 112 (which, most scholars agree, are a pair that are linked together). I was powerfully struck, once again, by the lessons in these psalms.
November 19, 2020
What was in Peter’s mind, that he ended up in the courtyard at the high priest’s house while Jesus was on trial inside? What did he think his presence there would do?
November 17, 2020
It’s possible to teach simplified versions of Bible stories to our children, and then feel like we ourselves have outgrown those stories. But the reality is that the originals are stories for grownups. Just because we may have outgrown the simplified version doesn’t mean there’s nothing more there for us.
October 25, 2020
As you might expect, many of the planned preaching activities in Latin America and the Caribbean have been modified significantly during the pandemic. Here’s a brief report on continuing activities to preach the Gospel and how ecclesias are continuing to fellowship.
October 25, 2020
Sometimes in the Bible it is obvious when a parable is a parable and when real events are real events. Sometimes the reader can easily distinguish between things to be taken literally and things to be taken figuratively. But this is not always so simple.
October 25, 2020
The pronouncement of Samson’s birth to Manoah’s wife included important information about the work of Samson.
October 20, 2020
We are at the end of this series, and I would be remiss if I did not say the following, very clearly and simply. No matter how it may sound to you, the readers, I am by no means a paragon of virtue. I am certainly not saying that I have done anything like all the good deeds which our Lord tells us we should do—in fact, I have done very few of them. I want this to be more than a cliché, more than a perfunctory disclaimer when I tell you that I am exhorting myself first and foremost before I ever think of exhorting anyone else.
October 16, 2020
“Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36)
September 29, 2020
On the eve of his death, Jesus made sure to eat the Passover meal with his disciples. With so much on his mind, he took the time to break bread with his brethren.
September 27, 2020
It’s interesting what the book of Chronicles picks out from the lives of the individuals recorded therein. Yesterday it was Mattithiah, and his job making flat cakes. Today it’s to do with the life of Saul.
September 25, 2020
The prophecy of Ezekiel is a hard book to read. A lot of it details the iniquity of the people and the reason why God brought judgments upon them. But, as with many similar prophecies in Scripture, amid the destruction, there is hope.
