Bodies of water, part 1

To break down even further the lesson that we had on Monday night, I will now show you some things that you may or may not have know about both the historical and Biblical aspects of the bodies of water that we looked at (from an Old Testament perspective).

The first body of water that we studied was the Mediterranean Sea.  

As you can see in the picture, the first thing that you will notice about the Mediterranean Sea is that it is almost completely landlocked.  There are a bunch of really boring facts about it, those I won't go into!  But it has a total surface area of 970,000 square miles, and it's average depth is 4,900 feet.  So we aren't talking about a little pond here!

Now for the Biblical aspect of the Mediterranean Sea!  

In Exodus 23:31, God is speaking to Moses and telling him many things, but in this verse He is telling him where the boundaries are going to be.  The verse says,  “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you.

So we know that the Red Sea is to the south, the River is the Jordan River, and the Sea of the Philistines that God is speaking of is the Mediterranean Sea.  He says basically the same thing in Numbers 34:6.

It was called the "Great Sea", the "Sea of the Philistines", the "Western Sea", and plain old "The Sea".

Since the Hebrews weren't Vikings, or Pirates not much is made of this body of water in the Old Testament!  There are a few stories written in the O.T. about the Mediterranean Sea.

1.  Solomon had the Cedars of Lebanon transported down the Mediterranean Sea in 1 Kings 5

2.  Jonah left Joppa and headed towards Tarshish on a boat that traveled on the Mediterranean Sea, that was a pretty exciting ride for him!  You can read about that in Jonah chapter 1

When we get to the New Testament, we will see much more use of this body of water - especially in Paul's Missionary Journeys.

The next body of water that we looked at was the Sea of Galilee

Much like our very own Lake Superior, the "Sea" of Galilee is a large freshwater lake.  It is 7 miles wide and 14 miles long.  As opposed to Lake Superior, which is 160 miles wide and 350 miles long!  So you can see that calling it a "Sea" is a bit weird!  

It is located 36 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea and is another boundary for the nation of Israel.

In Old Testament times it was called the "Sea of Chinnereth" or "Kinnereth" depending on what translation you use.

As in the Mediterranean Sea, it was used more for a boundary line than a key geographical spot in the Old Testament.  You can see that in Numbers 34:10-12.

This will change drastically when we start looking at the New Testament as well!  We will see many different stories taking place around, and on this "Sea"!

The final body of water that we will look at today is the Jordan River.

First, the historical side of things.  The Jordan River actually begins north of the Sea of Galilee and flows south all the way to the Dead Sea.  It starts in the heights of Mt. Hermon and drops 2,380 feet into the Dead Sea!  It is an extremely curvy river that actually measures close to 200 miles, although it only covers just over 65 miles of terrain.

Unlike the first two bodies of water that we looked at, the Jordan river is a very integral part of the Old Testament. 

It is once again found in the above references when God was telling Moses the boundaries of the nation.

In Genesis 13, Abraham and Lot parted ways and Lot chose the Jordan River Valley.

In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles God near the Jordan River

In Joshua 1, we see the monumental crossing of the Jordan River.  I say monumental, because this is where the Israelites crossed into the promised land.  Take the time to read this section - it is awesome!  God again parts the waters and they walk through on dry land.

We will again see this body of water come into play in the New Testament - but that's all for now!!!

Monday Night Recap!

WOW!  We covered an insane amount of material last night!  So in case you missed last night, or are a parent wanting to keep up with what we are doing - we will do a recap today.

We started off by seeing how many of you actually remembered the Books of the Bible.  Several of you had at least some of them down.  The only one to successfully say all 66 books in order was Kassondra, so good job to her!  Keep working on them and make it a priority to have them memorized by next week.

The next thing that we covered was the solar system.  We were able to use Google Earth and look at the different markers and see how they corresponded to the planets.  The reason we did that was to make the point that if we can at least slightly envision what they look like - and the layout of where they are, then we will have a better understanding of what we are studying.  This video isn't the same thing that I showed you, but it's pretty close, plus it has a twist at the end!





When God was creating the planets, I think He just couldn't help Himself and had to show off!  That last star is insanely massive!!!!  But anyway, back to what we were talking about!


We then "flew" over to the middle east.  We took a look at the map below and started looking at the geography of the Old Testament.




Here is the Powerpoint that I put together.  Once again, I need to make sure that you understand that the maps and graphics were taken from Max Anders' book, "30 Days To Understanding The Bible".  I fell in love with this book and want everyone to pick up a copy of it so that you can follow along even better!!!




Also here is the link to the Arc of Bible History.




You can copy the information down on this spreadsheet.




So like I said last night, I challenge you all to get a nice three ring binder and keep all the handouts that I give you so that you will be able to reference back to them when you need to.  I would love to give you all some, but the money just isn't in the budget!

Why is it important for us to know the geography of the Old Testament?  Why do we need to memorize the different era's in the Old Testament history?  So that we can be like the good employee at the store that knows where to find the product.  If you haven't read the last blog post, please take the time and do that now.  I can't emphasize how important it is to give a ready answer!

When your friend or family member is in need of help.  When you are tempted to sin.  When you are looking for direction in life.  Knowing where to find the information is the key that will unlock the door to discovering God's will for your life!!!  It can also be the key for the people that you know as well.

The Old Testament is filled with stories that we can learn a great deal from.  From the history of the Hebrew people, to the prophesies about Jesus, to the Psalms that help us worship, to practical wisdom found in Proverbs - the Old Testament is way more than just a history book!!!  The popular saying is, "Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it" applies here.  We can learn SO much just by seeing how others both succeeded and failed.  So we can copy the good, and cut out the bad.  I don't know about you, but I would much rather learn from someone else's mistakes then from my own!  It's much less painful that way.

So that's all for today, we will be building off this tomorrow and for the rest of the week.  Please take the time to study this, and grow from it.  It would be a shame to just put the stuff online and let it sit there!  As we search after God, He will reveal Himself to us - He promised it!!!  Let's continue to search after Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength!

God bless,

Chris

Knowing where to find things

So remember my illustration about the guy knowing where to find stuff at the store?  I have another real life example to share with you that happened to me yesterday!

I was getting things set up for the dinner and I couldn't find the cable to hook the computer up to the projector. I was running out of time, so I went over to Radio Shack and was going to buy a new one.  I walked in and waited for someone to help me out.  Then a lady came out of the back room and I asked her if they had a VGA projector cable.  She then asked me what that is and what it would be used for!  At that point I knew it was going to be a fruitless adventure!!!

So I kindly explained to her that it is used to hook a computer up to a projector.  She then gave me this look...

Then she went behind the counter and started typing in on the computer.  Halfway through she stopped and started asking the other lady behind the counter if they had a ...... "I'm sorry, what kind of cable was that again"!

Once again I explained what I was after and the other lady said that they didn't have that part in stock but they could order it for me!!!

Well, obviously I didn't order from them!  Now, I'm not putting this lady down - rather I'm using her to really drive a point home to you guys.  When we don't even know where to find Psalms in the Bible, we can look extremely foolish.  Especially if someone comes into our lives with a major problem, can't wait for you to ask your pastor, and can't wait for you to "order" some insight.

The journey that we are about to embark on will give you the knowledge that you will need to be like the good illustration that I've used over and over again!  To be able to know where to find the answers not only for your friends, but for yourself as well.

I've been there before!  Someone asks me a question and I look like the lady above!  1 Peter 3:15 says this, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have."

So once again, make sure to have the books of the Bible memorized by next Monday night and then we will build off that!

The Books of the Bible

Hey guys, I laid down the challenge this Monday to memorize the books of the Bible.  I can remember sitting in a Sunday school class when I was about 5 years old and learning a song that has been burned into my brain and I still remember it 29 years later!

So I would like to challenge you to find a song that fits your style!  I had fun this morning looking them up on Youtube!!!  There are some really funny ones!!!  Here is a selection of songs that I picked out, just to show you the variety that is out there.  Let me know what your favorite one is!

This first one brings me back to my youth.  It's from the band PID (Preachers in Disguise) an old school Christian rap group.  This song was released in 1988!!!






Not quite your style?  There are many more to choose from!

Here's kind of a cool one.  I mean it's got auto tune - so it's pretty cool.






And here is another one that is a little catchier.






Here's another one that uses the idea of getting on a train!  They speed it up and slow it down, so it's kind of cool to add that element in to help you memorize.






Go Fish did a version, if you want to be entertained - here it is.  Personally I think there is way too much "other stuff" in it.  But it might work for you!






And finally, if you want a really good laugh, here is one that made me chuckle...






So you see, there are many different ways to learn the books of the Bible through song.  Why use a song?  The very reason that I put in the beginning - it sticks with you forever.  You know that first song by PID?  When I started playing it, all the words came back to me like I listened to it yesterday!!!  It's been over 20 years since I've listened to it!

We can use the power of music to embed these books in our brain.

If you don't like any of these, make up your own!  I will try and come up with something as well so that in a couple of weeks we might learn it together.

God bless,

Chris

Understanding the Bible

In case you missed yesterday, I wanted to put down the basics of what we talked about.

First off, we introduced the book, "30 Days to Understanding The Bible" by Max Anders.  It is an awesome book and I more than highly recommend ALL of you purchasing a copy.  Here is a link to Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Days-Understanding-Bible-Max-Anders/dp/1418545945/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321388532&sr=1-1

We started in Chapter one and took a very "zoomed out" look at the Bible.  You can get some of the handouts that I gave out last night by following this link  http://thomasnelson.com/consumer/dept.asp?dept_id=1117220&TopLevel_id=210000&category=30_Days_to_Understanding_the_Bible_Presentation_Images

Like I said, we started looking at the Bible as if we were looking at the Earth from outer space!  We can see in the picture above North America.  If we were to use Google Earth, we could zoom in to America, then Wisconsin, then Rhinelander, and then even to your house!!!

That's what we tried to do last night - give you the "globe" perspective of the Bible.  We will in coming weeks "zoom in" and look at more specific things, but for now we wanted to get a firm understanding of the basics.

You will remember a couple of weeks ago when I was talking about the guy at the grocery store!  "Where's the canned beets" I asked.  "Oh they are in aisle 6, halfway down on the third shelf from the top".  We wouldn't stop and worship him because he knew where the canned beets are (I really don't know why I chose canned beets - they are nasty!!!), rather we expect him to know where things are in his store.

That should be the same thing for us as Christians - we should know where things are in the Bible.  That way when a friend is in need you can say, "Why don't you check out ....." and God can really use you in a mighty way.  But unfortunately, most Christians - adults included have very little knowledge of where things are in the Bible.  We are attempting to change that!

Here is the Powerpoint from last night.  Remember, the information that is in this comes from Max Anders' book "30 Days to Understanding The Bible".

To set the stage, it is important for you to understand the basic "skeleton" of the Bible.  Go through the slide show and review the information there.  A couple of things aren't spelled out in it - they are:

1.  In the Old Testament there are:

17 Historical books (Genesis through Esther)
5 Poetical books (Job through Song of Solomon)
17 Prophetical books (Isaiah through Malachi)
               Isaiah through Daniel are the Major Prophets
               Hosea through Malachi are the Minor Prophets

2.  In the New Testament there are:

5 Historical books (Matthew through Acts)
13 Pauline Epistles (Romans through Philemon)(Books written by Paul)
9 General Epistles (Hebrews through Revelation)



Why is this important?  When you need to study the history of the nation of Israel, you wouldn't go to the General Epistles!  When you want to learn about Jesus' life you wouldn't go to the Poetical books!  Knowing where to look to get specific information will help you in studying the Bible.  Rather than getting frustrated and giving up - you can be confident about knowing exactly where to look!!!

Here is the worksheet that we passed out as well.  Download it and fill out the information.  My goal would be for you to start a folder with all the handouts in it!





More to come this week.  Work on memorizing the books of the Bible.  Memorize the number of the different types of books as well.

God bless,

Chris