THE DARK KNIGHT

Bible 4 Everyone

One of the great discplers God's placed in my life is Dorman Followwill. I think of him as my "Paul" and I am "Timothy."

By God's grace, he's worked with Global Media Outreach to put together 1-2 minute video summaries for each book of the Bible, plus introductions to the Old and New Testament.

Please do check them out by following this link: "Bible 4 Everyone", by Dorman Followill

I hope you're blessed by the Word.

The videos require Adobe Flash.

The Costco Date

No- I didn't take my wife on a date to Costco.

But, yes, we were there yesterday for some fine snacking cuisine with the kiddies. My wife noticed a young (late 20's/early 30's) Chinese couple sitting behind us sharing a Rotisserie Chicken. With no utensils, they were just bare handed tearing into it. At one point, the guy took the chicken, with the black tray it came in, and went over to the condiment counter and churned a huge mound of raw diced onions on top of the chicken. The onions ran into the bottom of the dish and they let it soak up the juices from the chicken. Mmm-mmm-mmm...

Now it wasn't like we were staring, but we were very impressed. 

Economical- sure!, but Romantic? Why not?!

月亮代表我的心 (The Moon Represents My Heart)

My eldest son, almost six years old, loves music. And his latest favorite song is by Teresa Teng. Well, OK, I like it too.



Good thing we're sending him to Mandarin lessons. Maybe he can exposit the song to me soon. ;)

At the Chinese restaurant tonight, they must have been playing one of her Greatest Hits albums because the song came on a couple times. Each time he excitedly asked, "Daddy ask the waiter to turn it up!"

"Take On Me"

This is hilarious. I actually remember this song by A-Ha but still have no clue what the song was actually about. Just remember the music video was so cool and the girl was pretty.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Temptation

Temptation is so subtle.

We all were at Serramonte Shopping Center yesterday- my wife took M to his piano lesson. Little G and I went to Target to get some necessities after he kindly asked for a quick detour to the Disney store. As an aside, I'm quite pleased that my sons have been trained such that we can go to the Disney store without asking to buy anything. Anyways...

Outside of the mall entrance to Target is a McDonald's. Little G said he was hungry, so I happily obliged and got him a Happy Meal. (Tip: Sub the french fries with fresh fruit.) The toy for boys now is Lego Batman. The offered us the Joker Helicoptor or Batman Batboat to which G chose the Helicoptor since they already had the Batboat.

As we settled down to eat, lo and behold, there was a Batboat in the bag! See, G took the helicoptor right away when they let him choose the toy. Whoever bagged the order wasn't aware and put in the toy as usual.

Sad to say, but my initial reaction was not to return the toy. Rather I was glad we got a 2nd toy for free! Then I realized how easy it was to fall into temptation and commit sin right in front of my son.

As G ate, I talked to him about how we would return the 2nd toy because we didn't pay for it. At first he wanted to keep it, just as I did, but as we walked up to the counter he repeated a couple times to himself, "we can't keep it because we didn't pay for it" and he was happy to return it. The girl at the counter was quite shocked and she even offered to let us keep it!

Thank You Lord for guarding our steps.

iPhone Remote App + AirPort Express with AirTunes = Awesome

I just setup the Apple AirPort Express with AirTunes(802.11G version). Combined with the Apple Remote application on the iPhone this is very, very, very cool.

Now, from anywhere in the house, you can control the iTunes library stored on your computer from the iPhone and stream the music to your home stereo system. The Remote application can even control which set of speakers to send the music to- the computer speakers or the AirTunes one.

No more being limited to the music on the iPhone. Ours is 8Gb.
No more having to plug the iPhone into speakers, especially since this one has the recessed headphone jack.
No more having to control the iPhone/iPod by walking up to it since it's hardwired to the speakers.

Now if only the Remote application could control the iTunes library and stream your music to the iPhone.

Anyways, setting up the AirPort Express with Windows wasn't exactly straightfoward. I had to muck with the PC's network settings, then set them back.

Otherwise, this is awesome. My wife was duly impressed but in the next breath said, "What about FM radio reception?" Guess I'm going to go buy an AM/FM antenna tomorrow. At least I can listen to the Giants then.

iPhone OS 2.0

iPhone OS 2.0 was unofficially available yesterday, but not yet officially available via iTunes. So I d/l'ed it and try to install it on G's iPhone. I already installed the required iTunes 7.7 a few days earlier.

July 10, Thursday night-
The iPhone OS 2.0 download was ~250 Mb! Wow.
Plug-in iPhone to computer, hold down Shift key and click the "Update" button to choose the v2.0 bundle. Otherwise, iTunes would just report that the iPhone is up to date.

iTunes backed up the iPhone before it began installing the new OS. This is a good thing.

Installing the OS is fairly painless, but loading the data from the back-up hung halfway through. iTunes would show that the iPhone is being synced, but the iPhone would pop-out of the "syncing" screen to normal mode. "Hmm wonder if something is wrong, or if it's just taking a long time?"

After a few iterations of this stop and starting this cycle (stop/re-install/restore) I decided to let it run through the night thinking it's not hung, but just taking a long time.

July 11 morning-
Nope. It's stuck where it was at when I went to bed.

Ok, let's do it again. Now (!), v2.0 shows up as official update via iTunes. It downloads the 250Mb bundle - again. I have cheap AT&T DSL so this takes a while. =/ But wait, this time it asks me to accept the license agreement. I take this as a good sign, something is going right now.

Alrighty, v2.0 OS is installed and we're good to go! The iPhone is now basically completely wiped aside from the new OS install. Next, iTunes will automatically re-activate the phone. But... Apple's iTunes iPhone activation servers are down because of the huge crush of people activating the new 3G ones in-store not only all across the country, but around the world.

By the now, G's got to leave the house to take the kids to VBS, and I should be getting to work. I give her my phone to use while I finish this up. (haha, yeah right) Being an engineer, I do the "let me try just one more thing..." which I hope will take just 15 minutes, but this is like hitting the snooze button again... "just 15 minutes" becomes a number of hours.

ITunes finally gets through to the servers and begins to restore the phone. After many trials of restoring, I know this takes forever. Is it my computer? Is it the USB cable? And why does it need to ping the iTunes servers before the restore starts?! I think it is to check whether the OS version is up to date.

I bust out my ThinkPad so I can get some real work done as I'm unintentionally unofficially working a 1/2 day from home now. Fortunately, work isn't super busy right now.

After what seems like a couple hours, the restore is finally done. But... all the music, pictures, videos etc., the bulk of the data, was not part of the restore. Now it has to sync all that stuff from the computer back to the iPhone. Aw man... so it's got to push nearly 7 Gb of stuff over. Rrrrrgh! But before if does that it backs-up the iPhone again. Better safe that sorry I suppose, but can't we do this later?

Sync is done, but the Apps I downloaded last night weren't synced. There are about 12 apps which are <= 1Mb each, but this takes about 1/2 hr to sync.

Finally it's all done. What should have taken about an hour or so took many hours. Oh well.

Galatians 2

Paul's defense of his apostleship and testimony continues in Galatians 2. Paul has been talking about the gospel that is from God and not from man and that he is a messenger from God, not from man, to present the gospel and that he is to please God, the sender of the message. So far Paul has not spelled it out how the gospel was being perverted in Galatia. In chapter 2, he gets down to it.

After fourteen years away from Jerusalem, Paul returns "because of a revelation" (2:2). It's not quite clear what this revelation was, but Paul earlier said that he received the gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ. I would believe that the Spirit revealed to Paul that he should go to Jerusalem- a revelation of God not of man. This journey to Jerusalem is recorded in Acts 15.

So how was the gospel being perverted? In Acts 15:1-

1Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch at the time and Jews ("from Judea") came down an preached a false gospel. They turned a gospel of grace into a gospel of legalism and works- you had to do a specific work in order to be saved.

Acts 15 and Galatians 2 records the same story- one from the Luke's historical perspective, and other from Paul's personal perspective. Paul says he submitted to those "of reputation" the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, for he feared that he might be running in vain. Paul went to Jerusalem, directed by the Spirit, to submit the gospel he had been preaching to the elders at the Jerusalem church for approval or endorsement.

Note in 2:1, Paul makes a point to mention that Titus, a Greek (2:3), went with him to Jerusalem and that not even he was persuaded to be circumcised. Paul mentions Titus thirteen times in his epistles and was one of his closest brothers.

Remember that the early church came out of Judaism. God commanded the Israelites to circumcise baby boys as a sign of the the covenant made with Abraham. (Genesis 17:10-14) Now, some Jews who had become Christian were teaching that one had to be circumcised to be saved. The gospel was now going out to the Gentiles so this was a sensitive issue, to say the least. Note what Paul says about these "false brothers" in 2:4-

4But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.

Note the terms "secretly," "sneaked in," and "spy." This was an intentional covert operation to cast lies in the gospel. Remember these were Jews from Judea who travelled up to Antioch! Antioch is about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Perhaps the Jews did not want the Gentiles to enter into the Kingdom.

How do we handle people who teach lies? Do not yield; not even for an hour! 2:5-

5But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In 2:7-10, we see that the Peter, James and John accepted Paul into their fellowship and saw that Paul had been redeemed by grace. In effect, Paul defends his apostleship by equating himself to Peter. Peter, an apostle, who brought the gospel to the Jews, the circumcised equated to Paul, an apostle, who brought the gospel to the Gentiles.

But even apostles sometimes err, and Paul calls out Peter(Cephas) here. Peter used to eat with the Gentiles, but when "certain men" sent by James came, he would distance himself from the Gentiles, "fearing the party of the circumcision." Paul calls out Peter for his hypocrisy. Jews were not to associate w/ Gentiles or they would be considered "unclean." (Acts 10:28) For Peter to eat with Gentiles, it was likely that he was eating non-kosher food. Yet, when those Jews were around he'd withdraw, probably avoiding eating with the Gentiles.

In Galatians 2:14-21 Paul quotes his rebuke of Peter. What is he saying here?

"If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (2:14)

14"If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jew?

Paul points out Peter's hypocrisy.

15"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles

i.e. Jews follow the Law, whereas Gentiles (sinners) do not, but...

16nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

Paul is saying, "Even though we are Jews and followed the Law(v15), we know that man is not justified by following the Law, rather man is justified by faith in Christ."

Paul actually repeats himself here to get the point across. Three times in the same verse he says that man is not justified by the works of the Law (highlighted in red) and three times he says that justification comes through faith in Christ (highlighted in green).

17"But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!

Even though we are justified by faith in Christ (building upon v16), we still sin, but that doesn't make Christ a "minister of sin."

18"For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

The works of the Law by the flesh is what has been destroyed and we should not go back to them (rebuild). If we do, then we are proved transgressors.

19"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.

We are dead in our sins in the Law. "So that"- We had to die in our sins to the Law so that we could be alive in Christ (because there is no life in the Law.)

20"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

We identify with Christ in his death on the cross, for He died for our sins. It is we who should be on that cross, yet He took our place. As Christ died on the cross, so did our life by the Law. In Christ's resurrection, we now live by faith because He rose from the dead and He now lives in us, the believer.

21"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."

Living by the Law nullifies the grace of God; meaning- if we life by the Law, then God's grace is worthless to us because we have rejected grace for works. If we reject salvation, the Christ died needlessly. Suppose you bought a gift for your friend. But when you present the gift freely to your friend, he refuses it and insists on paying for the item himself. Paying for it himself requires his own money from his paycheck from his job. Now suppose this gift can not be purchased for one's self, but only purchased to be given away. This is what Christ did for us. Salvation is offered to us by grace. There's nothing we can do to earn it. Trying to attain salvation by works, in the case of the Jews this meant adhering to the Law, is futile. In Paul's time, the Jews tried to impose circumcision on the Gentiles. "Believe in Christ and be circumcised, then you are saved." Today, this legalism can be seen wherever we add things to the gospel- how many times have you done your daily devotions this past week? how much have you given in offering? are you "doing your part" at church? Notice that legalism usually amounts to something that is measurable.

Paul says we are dead to all that, for salvation in Christ is by grace. No more works by the flesh (spiritual dead), rather the life we live in the flesh (physical bodies) is by faith in Christ. Unfortunately, I can't say it any more eloquently that Paul said it himself in Galatians 2:20-

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

1 Timothy 4

Chapter 3 concluded with Paul's purpose for writing to Timothy and a six line presentation of the life of Jesus Christ-

14I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long;

15but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

16By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.

It is key that Paul writes about the church being the pillar and support of the truth, for he continues to write in Chapter 4 about those who "fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." Essentially, people will fall away by following false teachings.

Where are these false teachings coming from? v1-3 is a little hard to parse out in the NASB due to the long sentence. I will try to diagram it here:

1But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith,

paying attention

to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

2by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

3men who forbid marriage and

advocate abstaining from foods

which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.

People will fall away from the faith because they are following false teaching from "deceitful spirits" and "demons." This sounds otherworldly where we may be thinking that this would never happen to us or in our church, or in a modern day church. People following the teachings of evil spirits and demons? Yet, in the very same breath, Paul puts these men teaching false doctrine and alongside the spirits and demons. Apparently some men were forbidding marriage, which is very odd since God instituted marriage in the very beginning with Adam and Eve!

The false teaching of abstaining from certain foods was a key issue in the early church. The Law had strict guidelines as to what the Israelites were allowed to eat and what not to eat. We see this today in our supermarkets where foods are labeled as kosher. In Acts we see the Gospel going out to the Gentiles and in Acts 9 and 10, God leads Peter through a series of incidences where He shows him the Gospel is now going out to the Gentiles. The most famous incident is in Acts 10:9-19 where Peter falls into a trance and sees a sheet filled with unclean animals descending from the sky. Unclean meaning non-kosher. The Lord commands Peter to kill and eat, but Peter resists, saying that he's never eaten anything unclean. But the Lord says, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." (Acts 10:15) Also see Galatians 2 where Paul mentions this in another context.

While these men weren't teaching something radical such as worshipping Satan, but the false teaching was a teaching of legalism. I won't get into it here, but Paul chastises the Galatians for turning away from a life of grace and liberty in Christ and returning to a life of bondage in the Law from which Christ set us free. This legalistic false teaching can very easily seep into our lives in the way we think and live out or Christian faith.

One thing to note about the false teaching is that it takes what is intended to be good into something a sin. In v3, Paul writes that food and marriage was created by God to be "gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth." Note the end of the verse- "by those who believe and know the truth." This is in direct contrast to the false teachers! Those who believe and know the truth get to enjoy marriage and food while those who believe in the lies are deprived of that enjoyment.

Paul here shows Timothy the strategy to address false teaching which is to point it back to God, the source of truth!

Continuing on, Paul tells Timothy that if he points out these things (the truth vs. the lies), then he "will be a good servant of Christ Jesus." And a good servant of Christ Jesus is "constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following." Timothy, as pastor of the Ephesian church, was to be a man of the Word and sound doctrine, teaching it to his flock.

Additionally, Timothy was to "discipline" himself "for the purpose of godliness... since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." Paul emphasizes the importance of this statement by saying "It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance." (v9)

v10 Paul again presents the gospel in short form- "For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed out hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers."

1 Timothy 4:6-10 are crucial to having a Biblical understanding the life of a pastor and his and the churches goal. According to the Apostle Paul, a pastor is to be a man of God's Word, continually nourising himself on it. (4:6) He is not to have anything to do with "worldy fables" (4:7) The pastor himself is to "discipline" himself "for the purpose of godliness" because godliness holds promise for this life and for the life in heaven. (4:8) And why is the pastor to do all this? For he is to be an example to the believers.

Without 4:10, the preceding verses are just "a good thing" to do. In 4:8 and 10, Paul gives the whole reason for ministry! 4:10-

For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Yes, this is the gospel in short form as I mentioned earlier. But here, Paul is giving one of the main reasons for the church ministry- to discipline(train) believers for the purpose of godliness because it "holds promise" in this life and in the afterlife in heaven. Why? v10, because of our hope in God who saved us.

Paul is coming back to what he started with in Chapter 1. Recall 1 Timothy 1:5-

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith

He continues to urge Timothy through the rest of Chapter 4-

11Prescribe and teach these things.

12Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

13Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

14Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

15Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

16Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

Paul focuses on what Timothy what must do - "Prescribe and teach these things." Timothy is to keep on prescribing and teaching the truth. Note Paul uses two words here "prescribe" and "teach." Another word for prescribe is command. The Greek word here is "paragello"-

Paraggello:

1. to transmit a message along from one to another, to declare, announce
2. to command, order, charge

In effect, Timothy was to prescribe the Word that people would "take the prescription" so to speak. Just as a doctor writing a prescription for the patient, the presumption is that the patient will take the medicine and take it according to the instructions. So Timothy was just not to teach the Word and people could take it or leave it, but he was to charge them with the Word.

In all Timothy did, he was to show himself an example to those who believe- in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. (4:12)

He was to "give attention to"- (4:13)

• the public reading of Scripture
• to exhortation: "paraklesis"
  
• teaching

Going on, Paul instructs Timothy to not neglect the spiritual gift in him.

4:15 is very interesting- "Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all." These things Paul is instructing Timothy to do are not going to be easy things to do (take pains), yet he is to "be in them" (absorbed in them) to, again, be an example for others.

Finally 4:16, "Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you." Paul was warning against false teaching entering the church and causing believers to fall from the faith. After quickly showing Timothy how to fight lies with the truth from God, he instructs Timothy primarily in what he is to do as a pastor: Teach the Word and be focused on God's Word for himself for the purpose of godliness. Further Timothy, by being immersed in the Word, teaching the Word, nurturing his spiritual gift, being a godly man by example in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity will be an example to his flock and then will ensure the salvation both for himself and for those who hear him(v16).

Paul repeatedly urges Timothy to teach the Word:

v6 "In pointing out these things..."

v11 "Prescribe and teach these things...."

v13 "public reading of Scripture... teaching."

v16 "pay close attention ... to your teaching"

Paul also says twice that Timothy, the pastor, is an example to others...

v12 "show yourself and example..."

v15 "... so that your progress will be evident to all"

Paul's direct instruction to Timothy here is not telling Timothy how he should execute the ministry; i.e. "do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that." Rather Paul's focus is on Timothy, the pastor. The pastor need do only a few things. First is to continually teach the Word to the believers. Second is to be example to the believers of the Word which is alive and at work in him. This is how the gospel message is secured in each persons heart and will not be seduced by false teachings. Lastly note in v16 at the end, that in doing so, Timothy will ensure salvation "for those who hear you." Remember in v1, Paul said the Spirit revealed that in "later times some will fall away from the faith." In v16, Paul has just concluded instructing Timothy in the priorities of a pastor but how to keep people from falling away from the faith.

1 Timothy 3

In 1 Timothy 3, Paul follows on his teaching prayer and the order of men and women in the church with the order of the church itself in the qualifications of overseers (elders) and deacons.

Paul opens the passage in a very interesting way, "It is a trustworthy statement." Paul uses this clause four times in the New Testament, all in the two letters to Timothy:

1 Timothy 1:15 - It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

1 Timothy 3:1 - It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

1 Timothy 4:8-10 - For bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

2 Timothy 2:11-12 - It is a trustworthy statement:

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
12If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

In three instances, Paul is is talking about salvation, value of godliness, and life in Christ. But in the instance here, Paul is talking about the leadership of the church. As sure as our salvation is, the office of overseer in the church is a fine work. It may not seem like much, but put alongside the other statements where Paul uses the phrase "a trustworthy statement" that is staggering.

Further, we can infer that it is a good thing for a man to want to be an overseer for fine work is done in that office.

Perhaps it is inherent in our culture or we are too humble if that were possible, but it seems many are afraid to aspire to the office of overseer because of the high qualifications that are listed by Paul in v2-7:

• above reproach
• husband of one wife
• temperate
• prudent
• respectable
• hospitable
• able to teach
• not addicted to wine
• not pugnacious
• gentle
• peacable
• free from the love of money
• manages his own household well
• keeping his children under control with all dignity
• not a new convert
• good reputation with those outside the church

Whew!

I'm not going to get into each and every one of these, but will note a few.
Note that Paul says "able to teach" in v2, but he doesn't say " spiritually gifted in teaching." Nor does he say "preach"- Paul just says "teach," which includes things such as teaching Bible Studies, Sunday School, seminars and, of course, preaching. Hence, elders aren't required to be able to preach, but need to be able to teach.

Verse 4 says, "He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity." The NET Bible translates the end of verse 4 as, "keep his children in control without losing his dignity." So the elder must keep his children under control with all dignity. How many times have we seen parents in public completely lose their dignity while trying to keep their children under control?

I want to spend more time on Verses 6 and 7 which I think are very, very key to being an elder-

6and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

7And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Paul says that an elder should not be a new convert, which seems reasonable enough, but the exact reason he gives is very telling of what the heart of an elder should be. The elder shouldn't become conceited (Webster defn: having or showing an excessively high opinion of oneself) or he will fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

Ezekiel 28:11-19, God speaks of Satan, referring to him as the king of Tyre. A beautiful angel who turned to violence and sin and was proud and corrupted his wisdom because of his beauty. Satan was cast down from the mountain of God and was consumed with fire. This is the condemnation uncurred by the devil. Also see, Isaiah 14:12-15 and Revelation 12, 20.

In 1 Timothy 3:7, Paul mentions the snare of the devil. Paul refers to snare of the devil also in 2 Timothy 2-

24The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,

25with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

In both passages, Paul is warning against falling into the snare of the devil and both passages relate to those outside the church. In 1 Timothy 3:7, he says that elders must have a good reputation with those outside the church. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul's telling Timothy how to relate to those outside the church, "those who are in opposition." The snare of the devil isn't referring to what happened to the devil, rather the devil's trap is to ruin our reputation and relationship with those outside the church, thereby ruining our witness for Christ.

I will not spend time on 1 Timothy 3:8-13, but I did note a few things to think about-

1. Paul doesn't mention that Deacons need to be able to teach.
2. These men must first be tested to be beyond reproach (v10), but not mentioned for elders. Look at how beyond/above reproach is used differently regarding elders and deacons.
   
3. What is the meaning of v13? Why doesn't Paul say this about elders?

Finally, Paul tells Timothy why he's writing all this. In v15, "so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God." A key word here is "ought." In the Webster's there are a range of meanings for "ought"-

—used to express obligation <ought to pay our debts>, advisability <ought to take care of yourself>, natural expectation <ought to be here by now>, or logical consequence ought to be infinity>

In Greek, this is the word "dei" meaning "it is binding" or "it must." Hence this is much stronger than "advisable." This was Paul's definite expectation of how one would behave at church and "one" is referring to the elders and deacons of the church. Also, note that Paul doesn't say "If you have elders and/or deacons, then..." No. For Paul it was a foregone conclusion that the church would be lead by elders and deacons. In Titus, Paul's first task for Titus is to appoint elders not just in a church, but in every city (where a church was planted).

Paul the evangelist closes the chapter talking about the church- "the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth" It is key that Paul refers to the church as the pillar and support of truth for in Chapter 4, Paul instructs Timothy guard against false teaching and teach the truth. In classic Paul fashion, all he's written culminates in Christ in the last verse-

By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.

The life of Christ in 6 lines! Remember Paul launches into the gospel at the end of chapter 1, and again at the beginning of chapter 2! He does it again here in chapter 3!

1 Timothy 2

In Chapter 1, Paul gave Timothy his charge as the pastor of the church at Ephesus: To produce love from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith. Chapter 1 is foundational- it states the goal of our ministry. In fact, this is one very simple way we could evaluate our ministries- are the believers in our flock becoming more and more loving people because their heart is pure, their consciences are good and their faith is sincere?

2:1 "First of all" - What is the 1st thing Paul talks about after the foundation of Chapter 1? PRAYER!

1First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

2for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Paul gives four different names to prayer:

1. Entreaties: An entreaty is an earnest or urgent request. (supplication)
   
2. Prayers: Communicating with a deity
   
3. Petitions: Formal message submitted to an authority
   
4. Thanksgivings

And in these modes of prayer, we are to pray "on behalf of all men" (v1) and "for kings and all who are in authority" (v2). In v2, we can infer that the early Christians were persecuted and Paul's instruction is to ask the Lord that the authorities would not persecute them. If Paul stopped here, we could conclude that he's the purpose of the prayers are so that Christian can have an easy life- "tranquil and quite" - to live out our faith.

Yes! God sees this as "good and acceptable"- but the purpose is not for our own comfort and easy living. Rather it is to the heart of God, "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." It always keeps on coming back to God's redemptive plan- that none should be lost. So when our prayers is the beginning of our ministry; the beginning of our part in God' redemptive work.

How are we to pray for "all men" and "authorities?" We pray earnestly, making urgent requests. Do you have a loved one, or friend, or co-worker, or acquaintance that for whom you are praying for their salvation? Is it not easy to lose that sense of urgency? It is not uncommon to be praying for years before we see God changing one's heart to accept Jesus as Savior. So we should continue praying earnestly and urgently to the Lord.

We are to remember we are praying to God- who is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, infinitely wise, full of grace and mercy. Reading the O.T., we see that the Israelites had a complete reverence for God when they were faithful to Him. Consider that no unclean person could enter God's presence without facing certain death! Through Christ, we may approach the Father in prayer directly, but let us now lose our reverence for Him when we pray. We are in fact communicating with the supreme being of the universe!

We are to pray formally- petitions. Similar to having reverence, we are to pray formally. Or to formally pray. Sometimes, I rationalize that our all knowing God already knows my prayer before I even pray, so I merely need to think the request and that's a prayer to him. You may laugh, but perhaps you too have rationalizations for a weak prayer life! It is good to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), yet we sometimes take that to mean that we do not have to stop everything and spend time with the Father in prayer and Jesus did.

Finally, we are to give thanks in our prayers!

If we go back and read v3, 4, continuing on through v5-6:

3This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

Verses 5-6 are a direct follow on from verses 3-4. God desires all me to be saved (v4)- for(v5) or "because"- and Paul again launches into the gospel message for the 2nd time in the first two chapters! There is one God and Christ is the one mediator between God and us and it is Christ who paid for our sins.

Verse 7, Paul re-emphasizes his own calling as a preacher and an apostle. Like in 1:1, Paul reiterates his being an apostle. Remember that some in the early church doubted Paul's apostleship. Finally, Paul is appointed as the teacher to the Gentiles "in faith and truth." A Jew appointed to be the teacher of the Gentiles, writing to a Gentile pastor, at a Gentile church in a predominantly Gentile city!

Verse 8- "Therefore"- here's the bottom line:

8Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, ifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Note that Paul says that he wants all the men in every place to pray. Not just the leader, or the mature Christians, but every man!

Lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. This is a hard one to live up to. Notably, prayer meetings are usually not well attended. And in fact, prayer seems to often times get brushed to the side because there are so many things to take care of at church.

In summary of 1 Timothy 2:1-8, the first thing we must do in ministry, before anything else, is to pray. Our prayers are to be earnest and urgent, formal and in reverence to our God, and full of thanksgiving. Prayer is the first step of our evangelical disciple-making mission- whoever and wherever we are. But here, Paul instructs all men everywhere to pray in holiness and peace and unity with each other! Men, step up, kneel, and pray!

2:9 begins "Likewise, I want women..." So we see that the 1st part of this 1st step of ministry focused on the call for men to pray. Continuing on, still in the context of prayer, Paul instructs the women.
In verse 9, Paul instructs them to dress properly and modestly and discreetly. Rather, he encourages women to adorn themselves "by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness." Perhaps one's initial reaction is that Paul is a sexist! He's playing up the stereotype of women being concerned with vanity, some may say. Yet, we do see this being played out in modern societies where fashion and cosmetic vanity products are overwhelmingly targeted towards women. So the women today are not unlike the women of Paul's time, or the women at the Ephesian church.

Now, in 1 Timothy 2:11-15,

11A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
12But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

I believe that Paul's whole point of this controversial passage is that of headship. The keyword here is "for" in v13, just as it was in v5. Why is Paul saying this? The question here is not primarily of women teaching, but of headship. Who is the head of the marriage? head of the house? head of the church? head of the man? head of Christ?

Paul cites the creation order- Adam was created first, and Eve to be a helper. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul writes about the same topic:

1Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
2Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.
3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
4Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.
5But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.
6For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. 7For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
8For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;
9for indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. 10Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

Here, we clearly see the issue of headship. In 1 Corinthians 11:3- Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. Now, in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul presumes that women would be teaching(prophesying), but the woman having her head covered recognizes that the man is her "head." Prophesying is

Back in 1 Timothy 2:14, Paul points out that it was not Adam that was deceived, but the woman, Eve. Note that Paul is not putting Eve down because she was deceived! In Genesis 3:13, Eve herself said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." I ate is equivalent to, "I sinned." Paul said, "fell into transgression."

But Paul points out the "salvation" (presevered/saved) of women in v15 "through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint." The latter part of this verse must sound so familiar, for in Chapter 1 Paul charged Timothy that the goal of their teaching was love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Here, Paul says virtually the same thing! Women are to continue growing in love, as instructed in Chapter 1, and raise their children likewise. The bottom line here is that Paul is instructing women to disciple their children with the same goal as Timothy- love.

In Chapter 3, Paul lays out the structure and qualifications of leadership of the church. In Chapter 2, he points out the most important thing. "First things first," so to speak, and that is prayer. Further, Paul is clearly defines the order of men and women in the church for he will next teach about the leaders of the church.

Psalm 1:2

A = But his delight is
B = in the law of the LORD, and
B' = on his law
A' = he meditates day and night.

Poetic symmetry :)

We meditate day and night on the thing(s) in which we find delight. I want this verse to be true of my life that I delight in "the law," God's Word, and meditate on it day and night.

1 Timothy 1

Before we look dive into 1 Timothy, let's look at the context of this pastoral epistle by Paul-

Acts 20:17-38-

Paul went to Ephesus and found some disciples there. He taught in the synagogue, but when some of the people developed hard hearts Paul took the disciples and formed the Ephesian church where he remained for two years. Paul proceeded to Macedonia and Greece, then returned to Miletus, about 30 miles south of Ephesus, on his way to Jerusalem. Paul thought that this was the final time he would be with the Ephesian elders, meeting Miletus.

Paul's final instructions to the elders in Ephesus:
v28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

29"I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

30and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

31"Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

v35 "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

After Paul's release from prison in Rome, he ended up returning to Ephesus and Timothy joined him there later. Paul then instructs Timothy to stay in Ephesus to continue as the pastor there.

Here we go!

v1:1 Paul, an apostle

of Christ Jesus

according to the commandment of God our Savior and

of Christ Jesus,

who is our hope

What is an apostle? "men who were commissioned by the Lord Himself and given the task of speaking authoritatively on doctrine and practice in the church."

Though 1 Timothy was a personal letter to Paul's "true child in the faith" (v1:2), Paul knew that his letters would be distributed among the churches. Therefore he identifies the his authority from Christ Himself, for one issue in the 1st century church was a debate of whether to consider Paul an apostle since he was not among the original 12 disciples.

Therefore, we are to likewise heed Paul's instructions as authoritative and from God. Paul identifies Timothy as his "true child in the faith." Perhaps this was also a "vote of confidence" or "stamp of approval" for Timothy in the Ephesian church as he was young (v4:12).


v1:3 Timothy's purpose in Ephesus:
so that you may

instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,

4nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies

which give rise to mere speculation
rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. (NIV: God's work)

v1:5 The goal of Paul and Timothy's instruction is love from:

1. pure heart
2. good conscience
3. sincere faith

Some people wanted to be teachers of the Law, even though they didn't understand what they were saying! (v1:7) Implied that they were not using the Law lawfully. (v1:8) Law is for the anything that is contrary to sound teaching (v9, 10) according to the gospel, with which Paul's been entrusted. (v11).

Note also that Paul and Timothy's instruction is not just for the sake of correcting heresy, but it is to be out of love and to produce love!

Paul has been entrusted with the gospel, hence he is instructing Timothy to teach men not to teach strange doctrines.

Paul continues in the v12-17 to explain how he was entrusted with the gospel:
v12 Begins w/ thanksgiving to Christ Jesus our Lord who strengthened me, because He considered him faithful, hence put him into service.
God strengthens those who are faithful and will put them into service.

v13 "even though I was formerly"-

• a blasphemer
• persecutor
• violent aggressor

Yet shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.

v14 "and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus."

Paul did things in ignorance (unbelief) but was granted mercy- he didn't receive the punishment that he deserved. Rather he received grace, faith and love from God.

v15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
Interestingly, Paul is writing Timothy to teach men not to teach unsound doctrine and in this first chapter, sound teaching is found right here in v15- a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance- that Jesus came into the world to save sinners! We just gotta stick to the truth!

Paul also identifies himself as the preeminent sinner in v15. But because he is the worst of all sinners, Christ demonstrated "perfect patience" to grant Paul mercy. When Paul was known as Saul, the Pharisee persecuting the Christians, I bet many Christians may have thought, "Why does God not act?" Have you ever heard that question posed? It's usually on the topic of pain and suffering. Why doesn't God step in and stop killers, rapists, etc.? Here Paul gives the reason he was granted mercy- because of Christ's "perfect patience."

What is perfect patience? It may be hard to accept and understand sometimes, but God had a purpose in allowing the Christians to be killed by Saul. Now "Paul," he says that it was so that it may be example for "those who would believe in Him for eternal life." Seeing the persecution of the church by Saul, God could have stopped him in a myriad of ways. But God was patient and merciful and called Saul, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

Acts 1:5-And he(Saul)said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do."

"But" expresses God's mercy on Saul. Mercy in that God could have taken Saul down right then and there.
"And" expresses God's grace on Saul. Grace in that God gave Saul an opportunity to turn around from being the foremost of sinners to an apostle of Christ!

Back to 1 Timothy 1:16, Paul is saying that if he, the worst of the worst of sinners can be reformed by God, then no one is ever totally lost in this life. God has given each of us a time here on Earth to call him Savior and Lord, when that time is up and we've not put our full faith in Him, then we are totally lost to damnation.

Fittingly, Paul breaks into praise, v1:17- 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

The chapter ends with Paul's commission again to Timothy-

18This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight,

19keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.

20Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

v18-19, Paul commissions Timothy again fight the good fight = keeping faith and good conscience
Very similar to v5, love from:

1. pure heart
• no ulterior motives or agenda
  
2. good conscience
• doing what you know you should
  
3. sincere faith
• not a hypocrite
  

In this first chapter, Paul instructed Timothy what to do and how to do it.
What: He was to each men not to teach unsound doctrine. In other words, Timothy was to teach men how to teach sound doctrine, hence preventing them from teaching strange doctrines.
How: Out of love- with a pure heart, clean conscience, and a sincere faith.

Iron Man (Two Thumbs Up! Chick Flick!)

We're usually in the City on the weekends, in from the 'burbs, and stay at my parent's house. Sometimes when the kiddies are in bed, we take off for a late night date while my parent's are at home with the kids.

When "Iron Man" opened, I kinda really wanted to see it, but I wasn't dieing dieing to see it ASAP like "Superman Returns" or "Batman Begins." For those two, we didn't get to the theaters till long after they already moved them to smaller theater screens so my long suffering wife and I saw them on the IMAX screen at the Metreon. I figured, "Hey, if they're moved to small screens, might as well go see these mega blockbusters on the biggest screen available... IMAX baby!" Remember Superman was in IMAX 3-D BTW. And Batman fight scenes were pretty close up by the director's intention... so my wife got a little nauseous in that one.

Anyways, it had been a while since we went out on a late nighter. And my parents were leaving for a cruise to Alaska in a few days, so it was going to be a couple weeks until we'd have the convenience of free babysitting for a date.

But my wife always gives me, "Why can't we ever go to see a romantic movie?" To which I say, "We'd go if there were ever any good ones."

Anyways, I think I'm a loving husband... Sooooo... I was ready to take her to see "Made of Honor" which opened the same weekend as "Iron Man" Really!

Now, don't get me wrong. My wife is awesome. When I gleefully showed her the trailer for "Spider-Man" she sweetly, genuinely, immediately said to me, "I'd love to take you to see Spider-Man." She went to see "Spider-Man 3" with me while we were on vacation in Honolulu. Yeah- she's awesome.

Anyways... we're hustling the kids off to bed and she's browsing the newspaper to see what movies are out and I point out the review for "Made of Honor" in the SF Chronicle. I 100% would have taken her to see it if she still wanted to go. She flipped to the front of the Datebook section and saw the "Iron Man" review.

With the kids off to bed, she reluctantly said, "OK, Let's go." Whenever she's reluctant to go see one of my superhero/action movies my retort is, "Have I ever taken you to a bad movie?" Well, I think the only one would be "The Matrix Reloaded" in IMAX... the Burly Brawl made her a little nauseous.

As the movie came out over a month ago, you already know: Chicks dig Iron Man! So many of our lady friends rave about it. G loved it. Sure, she was tense through out the whole thing, but it was thrilling. She loved the story, the humor, RDJ, Gwyneth (hot!), and the Suit, of course.

I never read the "Iron Man" comic books so I went in pretty "clean." I thoroughly enjoyed it and walked out of the theater in awe thinking to myself that that was probably one of the best superhero movies ever.

So "Iron Man" is two thumbs up from us. And yes, it really is a chick flick.

It will be interesting to see how "The Dark Knight" compares with "Iron Man."

Galatians 1

Paul opens the letter to the Galatians by identifying himself to be an apostle, "not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead." (1:1)

What is an apostle? "men who were commissioned by the Lord Himself and given the task of speaking authoritatively on doctrine and practice in the church." Therefore he establishes that his authority is from Christ Himself, for one issue in the 1st century church was a debate of whether to consider Paul an apostle since he was not among the original 12 disciples. We are to heed Paul's instructions as authoritative and from God.

Paul intended this letter to be distributed "to the churches (plural) of Galatia." (1:2)

Verse 1:3, sounds like a standard salutation:

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

4who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of ^(J)our God and Father,

5to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Paul immediately launches into the gospel and reduces it down to just two verses- 1:4, 5

After the greeting, Paul launches directly into the central issue with the Galatians, they are "so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel." (1:6) "A different gospel" is an oxymoron as Paul explains in 1:7 that it is "really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and what to distort the gospel of Christ."

There is a sad irony in these first few verses of Galatians. Paul opens the letter by briefly procaiming the gospel in 1:3-5, which is the true gospel. Yet, in Chapter 1, the word "gospel" appears five times all within the first 11 verses:

1. 1:6 "a different gospel"
2. 1:7 "distort the gospel of Christ"
3. 1:8 "a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you"
4. 1:9 "gospel contrary to what you received"
5. 1:11 "gospel which was preached by me is not according to man"

In the first four appearances of the word "gospel" it is in the context of being contrary or perverted to the true gospel (1:3-5). Further, Paul clearly points out that the false gospel is from man (1:7, 9) as opposed to being from God and says twice in successive verses that any man who preaches a gospel that is contrary to what he has preached should be accursed! This is really important when we see something repeated two times like this.

Paul then poses the rhetorical question which may seem a little oddly placed. He says in 1:10-

10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Paul was talking about the true gospel being from God versus the false gospel from man. Suddenly Paul is talking about seeking favor from God or men. Imagine that Paul is the messenger carrying the gospel. In modern times, perhaps this is a spokeperson, or in Washington D.C. this would be the White House Press Secretary who conveys the Administration's message to the press. The messenger's job is to deliver the message, but who is the judge of whether that message is delivered accurately and well? Who is the messenger trying to please? The sender makes all the difference- is the gospel of God or of man? Paul of course is preaching the true gospel which is from God, hence he is seeking the favor of God and not of man.

This is a very important point for all of us to heed, for we all carry the gospel message wherever we go. And I hope you are praying for oppourtunities to preach the gospel wherever you are. We must remember that we are seeking to please God as we carry forth His message, and not men. "Men" could our parents, our pastor, our Christian friends, our manager at work- it could be anyone other than God! The gospel is not of man, but of God, so let us please the true Sender.

In 1:11 does Paul finally refer to the true gospel is "not according to man," "received it from man," "nor taught it" and then proceeds to explain that it is from God (1:12). Note how Paul talks about the gospel. We(man) do not give the gospel, nor teach it, but others received the gospel by revelation by Jesus Christ Himself!

Following, Paul recounts-

1. His life before Christ as a persecutor of Christians (1:13-14).
• "My former manner of life" 1:13
  
• Note the "I" pronoun.
  
2. How he became a Christian by God's calling through grace and by the revelation of Christ (1:15-16)
• Subject is God, not "I" - God is the active participant in a person's salvation.
  
• Pronoun is now "me"
  
3. His life after becoming a Christian: preaching the faith (1:16b-23)
• "I" pronoun again.
• Parenthetical statement ("Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying") likening to 1:1.
  
4. What it means to be a Christian (1:23-24)

• "They" pronoun
• Others would glorify God because of you!
  

In short, Paul is giving his testimony!

Note that Paul says that he was called to the Lord "through His grace." (1:15) Grace is receiving things you do not deserve. Grace is central to the salvation of Christ. "Not by works so that no one can boast." Notice that when Paul talks about his personal salvation story, the focus is not what he did to be saved, rather the focus is on what God did. In verses 1:15-16, God is the subject and the verb clauses are "set (me apart)", "called (me)", "was pleased to reveal." God is setting us apart (another way to say being made holy), calling us to Him through His grace and not by our works, and revealing His Son in us so that we might do what God's called us to do. For Paul that would be to preach Him among the Gentiles. Paul could have phrased it differently, but he says "to preach Him." (1:16) Very interesting. This kinda of recalls John 1, where the Word refers to Jesus. So Paul is to preach Jesus, the Word!

In 1:16-24, Paul recounts his early days as a Christian and makes a point to say that he was nor influenced by man-

1:16 "I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood"
1:17 "nor did I got to Jerusalem to whose who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus(Acts 9:2?)"
1:18 "The three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days.
1:19 "But I did not see any other of the apostles except James..."
1:21 "Then I went into the regions of Syria(Acts 15:23, 41) and Cilicia(Acts 6:9?)"
1:22 "I was still unknown by sight tot he churches of Judea which were in Christ"

Paul seems to be saying that he spent very little time with other Christians in his early days and even when he did they were apostles(Cephas) or an early church leader (James). This isn't revisionist history by Paul either. Looking back in the book of Acts, after Saul's conversion in Acts 9, Luke writes very little about Saul. Is whisked away from Jerusalem for the Hellenistic Jews there were seeking to kill him. We don't hear anything of him until Acts 11, when Barnabas brings him back from Tarsus to help with the church in Antioch.

I belive Paul is making a point of this "gospel of God vs. Man" thing because this establishes the foundation for the rest of this letter. And so he must establish that he is sent from God as an apostle and not sent by man.

Remember the innocuous salutation at the beginning of the chapter? In 1:3-

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Paul is in fact greeting the Galatians with the whole point of his letter. The thesis is to live by the true gospel of Jesus Christ, a gospel of grace, liberty and freedom, which is from God, as opposed to living a gospel from man which is of the flesh, bondage and the Law.

No-Slip Socks

At home, I prefer to go barefoot or just my socks. G reminds me to wear slippers, but I keep telling her that she can remind till we're in our 80's and I'll probably still resist wearing slippers.

Yesterday I was running around the house playing with little G and at one point cradled him my arms and was about to jump onto the sofa. Wearing socks, I slipped on the hardwood floors and took the brunt of the fall on my hip and right elbow; the latter to protect little G's head from hitting the hardwood floor, underneath which is the concrete slab foundation.

Still sore this morning, I joked that I wish there were socks for adults with rubber on the bottom like they sell for kids. For toddlers, that rubber is usually just text to note the company (i.e. "Old Navy") and the size (4T-5T), but that little traction really helps them from slip sliding all over the place.

A quick Google for "no slip socks" came up w/ this: How to Make Slip-Proof Socks
Seems pretty simple to just put rubbery fabric paint on the bottom of regular socks. I've seen no-slip socks in hospitals but they're usually very bulky- mine have to be able to function like regular every day socks. Anyways, when I have time (haha) I'll try it out. Maybe I'll stencil my name with glow in the dark colors.

What? (LOST is back!)

Lost is back tonight for to finish Season 4. Saw this referenced at EW.com a few weeks ago-

Manna from Heaven

We were reading Bible bedtime stories with the kids tonight and we got to the story of the Exodus. My wife was reading from a children's Bible where God provides manna for the Israelites while in the desert.

Of course, toddlers don't know what is "manna" so G explained that it's like bread. M, the older one, immediately asked, "Do they have any butter?" Little G followed with, "Do they have any cheese?" M takes after my mom and likes to butter his bread at restaurants. Little G likes cheese on his bread, especially for breakfast. Hilarious.

To reinforce the idea of manna, G asked them something, I don't recall what. But M's response, "Yes, they have good mannas" - A word play on manna and manners. He's only 5 years old!

LOST Madness

The Washington Post is doing LOST Madness, a play on the NCAA Baskteball March Madness.

There's a bracket you can print and fill out, click on the bracket on the page to vote for the first round.

Tonight, I'll scan and post my bracket here. But I have Jack, Christian (Jack's father), Jacob and the Smoke Monster in the Final Four.

Between the Lines

Sometimes you just gotta read inter linear. What a cliche'!

Discovered this cool site for Old and New Testament Interlinears: http://www.scripture4all.org/

There's also a downloadable version to install on your computer: http://www.scripture4all.org/download/download_ISA20.php

Interlinears are a great Bible study tool, even if you don't know Hebrew or Koine Greek. It's helpful to just look up the the words in a Bible Dictionary or Lexicon.

I use The Interlinear NASB-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English. Don't have an Old Testament one yet.

How do you interpret the Bible?

Stumbled upon a pretty interesting Hermeneutics Quiz.

Click here to take the quiz: http://buildingchurchleaders.com/assessments/individuals/hermeneuticsquiz.html

Which of the three categories do you fall into? Agree? Disagree? What do you think?

I scored a 32.

Perhaps the title of this entry should be, "Why do you interpret the Bible the way you do?"

Toddlers

One day, Little G didn't take his nap. He's much more stubborn compared to his older brother, M. Usually when I get home, their play area's a mess, so before dinner, I ask them to clean up to get ready for dinner. M said this to his little brother, "It's OK G, I'll clean up for you. You're tired because you didn't take your nap today."

Some people think Little G is "daddy's boy," while M isn't. When the little one was 1st born, I held him and fed him milk into the wee hours of the night until he'd finally fall asleep. This was in the 1st few months when you're totally sleep deprived. I think in doing this, G got pretty attached to me. Of course, M being older always wanted Mommy. Anyways, I love one just as much as the other even though it may seem I'm more affectionate with the younger one. Last night, M wanted me to carry him to his bed and stay with him until he fell asleep. That was like the best part of my day. I told my wife, "See! I don't favor the little one! It's just that M is more grown-up and independant."

Finally... we're expecting a new toddler to be in our family!! "Our family" being my sister and her husband are expecting their first child! Our gut feeling is that it will be a girl.

"Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue"

Update: Well, just one week later, and HD-DVD has surrendered.


That is unless that baby is Blu-Ray high def disc.

Big sigh of relief here. Blu-Ray is going to win the high def disc war over HD-DVD. Netflix is not going to offer HD-DVD anymore at the end of the year. And BestBuy is going to push Blu-Ray exclusively now, though there may be still some HD-DVD stuff in the back somewhere. All this after Warners pledged to go Blu-Ray only, and halt HD-DVD releases in May 2008- all major movie studios save for Universal and Paramount are Blu-Ray only.

"What? There was a high def disc war?" Yeah. Most people don't even know there was a war on.

Anyways, I got a PlayStation 3 (60Gb) sometime last year b/c I traded in my original PS2 and a bunch of accessories at GameStop. And paid for the PS3 using a new Sony credit card which gave $150 cash back after the 1st purchase. So $599 Ps3 - $100 PS2 trade-ins - $150 Sony credit card offer = $350+tax!

I haven't had time to play games since getting married almost 7 years ago now. (Wow. Time flies.) So I got it primarily for the Blu-Ray capability, but at the time, the hd disc war victor was still undetermined. I did pick-up LEGO Stars Wars for PS3 a while back, but of course, haven't had time to play at all.

We're in S.F. at my parents on the weekends, so I've left the PS3 there for my dad to enjoy w/ his 55" Sony LCD projection set. And I watch a few scenes on Blu-Ray while folding laundry or reading the newspaper. Pretty pictures, baby.

When DVD first came out, my dad being an amateur audio/videophile got the top of the line $1200 Sony DVD player at the time. Still has it. Of course, that thing doesn't do all the things that a <$100 DVD player can do today like upconvert to 1080i, progressive can, HDMI out etc. It can't even play some CD-ROMs and DVD+/-R discs. Can't play MP3. My cousin, who worked at Sony at the time, helped us get it at the employee store, so my dad ended up paying just under $700 I think.

Now, my dad had the gaul to ask me what's the Ps3 good for since it costs $600. I was like, "Dad, dollar for dollar the Ps3 is a waaaaaay better buy today than that 1st Gen $700 Sony DVD player was back then." Plus I got it for just $350! Anyways, he's sold on the PS3 now.

My dad likes the PS3 b/c:
1. It streams his digital pictures and mpg movies from his WinXP across the home network.
2. It has memory card reader so he can just plug in his SD cards and view pictures.
3. It is also an upconverting DVD player now, after one of those software updates.
4. It's a Blu-Ray player.

Ironically, I thought the Blu-Ray part would be what he'd like the most. But funny thing is that's what he likes it for the least!!

It's also pretty easy to find Blu-Ray discs for pretty good discounts now...
Feel free to borrow:
Superman Returns
Mission Impossible 3
House of Flying Daggers (amazing colors)
Curse of the Golden Flower
Kung Fu Hustle
Ratatouille
Cars
Spider-Man 1, 2, 3
Casino Royale
LOST Season 3

Note that LOST is broadcast in 720p on ABC TV, but the Blu-Ray is full 1080p. It looks amazing compared to the already beautiful HD broadcast. Can't wait for them to release Seasons 1 and 2 on Blu-Ray too.

"Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue" is a reference to an old Expose' song.

Lenovo ThinkPad T61 15" Widescreen

I finally got around to replacing the good 'ol T42, which is still in perfect condition, with a brand new Lenovo (bye Big Blue, hello Big Red) T61. IBM logo is gone. The T42 was 6 months out of a 3 year warranty and if anything happened to it that'd be it- IT won't support it.

So I've had the T61 for almost 2 months now...

The first impression is that it's thick and heavy. Carrying the bare laptop around (no case), it just feels bulky. The T42 size to weight ratio was so awesome, but I wanted more screen real estate so went w/ a 15" Widescreen which is the same height as the T42 LCD, but is wider. The screen is brilliant- like the T42's when it was brand new. The T42 screen is dim by comparison now.

Also, b/c of the size+weight, I realized that on family vacations the T42 will be the one tagging along since it's smaller+lighter. Usually this is just to Web surf a little bit and to offload pictures from camera memory cards each night. Then again, our Nikon D40 uses SD, which is so cheap now. Buying an 8Gb SD card would be worth not having to lug a laptop along. And for the Web, G has the iPhone. So, maybe the T42 will be keeping the T61 company now when we're away.

Design Issue #1:
Upon opening the lid, the bottom of the machine tipped up- the hinge is too tight! Need a lower static coefficient of friction there. My manager had the same problem on his new T61 14" LCD std. aspect ratio.

Design Issue #2:
Open lid. Screen turns on. Scan fingerprint to login. Screen turns off. WHAT? Hmm.
Close lid. Open lid. Screen turns on. OK now ready to work. Whew.
The fingerprint reader could be a little snappier.

I thought it was funny that you have to save at least two different fingerprint scans. You know, in case the Triads cut off one of them.

Battery life is amazing. The T42 was not Centrino, so the battery life was not so good. The T61 is Centrino Pro. So even w/ a 15" LCD cranked all the way up, Bluetooth and WiFi on, and NVIDIA graphics (not Intel bulit-in) and using only a 6 cell battery (doesn't protrude out the back like the 9 cell) plus the extra Adv. Ultra Bay battery, this baby lasts a loooong time.

Gripe: The docking connector on the T60/T61 is different from the T42. So my old docking station won't work. I think this is just a big ploy by Big Red to make Big Green by making us buy new docking stations, which aren't cheap btw.

Gripe: The power connector has changed too. Mo' Big Green.

The T61 shipped w/ Vista, but my Co. is still on XP. So IT had to wipe the drive and image XP. I wonder if that's why there are some software glitches.

Aside from the minor gripes, I'm thankful to have a brand new company issued laptop to use. Now G can use the T42 at home.

Get LOST!