Month: October 2012

  • Local Motion

    He walked in all the way of Asa his father.  He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.  Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.  1 Kings 22:43  ESV Turn aside – Jehoshaphat…

  • Life in the Noose

    “Your life shall hang in doubt before you.  Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.”  Deuteronomy 28:66  ESV Hang – What picture does the word tala paint?  Tala is defined as “to be suspended in the air with the minimal amount of hooks, to be in an…

  • What Is Enough?

    You have not lied to men but to God  Acts 5:4 NASB Lied – This word comes from the Greek word pseudomai.  You will see our English word pseudo in this verb.  It means “what is false.”  Peter confronts Ananias.  It is not a confrontation about the sale of the property.  It is not about…

  • Through-put

     fervently love one another from the heart  1 Peter 1:22  NASB Fervently – This Greek word is ektenos.  This translation is correct.  It means “intently, earnestly.”  But that only tells us part of the story.  The root word here is teino (to stretch).  Did you see the little added prefix ek at the beginning of…

  • Leaving South Africa Again

    As I sit at the Johannesburg airport awaiting the flight to London, I reflect on the last 15 days here in South Africa. Because of YOU I was able to teach more than 600 people about the Genesis account of being human; what it means to be in God’s image. The response was dramatic. Many,…

  • Inside Job

    Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.  Micah 7:19  NASB Cast – This is the Hebrew word shalak.  It has several different senses, all associated with throwing down.  It can mean the physical act of throwing down something, casting aside something or, in an important sense, abandoning something.  Micah…

  • Fastball

    casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.  1 Peter 5:7  NASB Casting – Here is the Greek word epirripsantes.  It means “to throw upon.”  This is not a casual action.  It is a deliberate forceful throwing like throwing an enemy down to the ground.  Peter actually quotes Psalm 55:22 which uses…

  • The Order of Priorities

    and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.  Acts 4:32  NASB Belonging – This is really the Greek word for “possessions.”  It is huparchonton.  Literally, it means things that exist first under ranked order.  We have converted this expression into a…

  • Investigation vs. Information

    Recently a good friend mentioned that sometimes I use material from writers whose life teachings are considered heretical. And sometimes I investigate implications from Scriptural texts that challenge accepted doctrine. So I thought it might be important to comment on my approach. First, in my view, truth is truth no matter where you find it….

  • Stretching Exercises

    but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead  Philippians 3:13 NASB Reaching forward – Greek adds emphasis to a word by attaching the prefix epi.  Paul uses this linguistic construction with this verb – epekteino (epi + ekteino).  It means, “to really stretch out toward something.”  You…