AI for Academics: Four Great Tools You Can Use Now

How Inclusive and/or Exclusive Are You?

The Jesus of the Gospels is offensive because of how inclusive He is.

The Jesus of the Gospels is offensive because of how exclusive He is.

The church is offended by His inclusivity, and the world is offended by His exclusivity.

Judging Others Makes Us Blind (Bonhoeffer)

"Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are." Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Trials, Tests, Tribulations

John Bevere

It All Ends in Praise - Psalm 150 Meditation by Tim Keller

Where should God be praised? Everywhere.

Why should we praise God? For everything.

How should we praise Him? In every way.

Who should praise Him? Everyone.

Faith Quotes

1. "Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation." - D. Elton Trueblood
2. "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." - Martin Luther King Jr.
3. "Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods." - C.S. Lewis
4. "Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times." - Martin Luther
   
5. "Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into." - Mahatma Gandhi
6. "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe." - Saint Augustine
7. "Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark." - Rabindranath Tagore
8. "Faith is not a power which you possess to create your own future. Faith is a gift from God." - John Ortberg
9. "Faith is not a feeling, nor a sentiment, but a will act." - J.H. Newman
10. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1 (Bible verse)
11. "Faith is not a belief that God will do what you want. It is a belief that God will do what is right." - Max Lucado
12. "Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right." - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen
13. "Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light." - Helen Keller
14. "Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof." - Kahlil Gibran
15. 
    

The 12 Principles of AA

1. Honesty.
2. Hope.
3. Surrender.
4. Courage.
5. Integrity.
6. Willingness.
7. Humility.
8. Love.
9. Responsibility.
10. Discipline.
11. Awareness.
12. Service,

Hudson Taylor in his Old Age

In his old age, he lost his health and became very weak. He wrote a letter to a friend that said "I am so weak I can no longer work. I am so weak I can no longer study. I am so weak I can no longer read my Bible. I can't even pray. I can only lie still in the arms of God like a little child in trust."

It's OK when God Withholds and Things Don't Go the Way You Want

God would give you everything you ask for if you knew everything that God knows.

If we have the perspective that God has, if we can see the end at the beginning, if we could see all hearts, if we knew everything that is to know and all the contingencies, then what God gives us is what we would ask for. Thus, God will always answer your prayers if you know everything that God knows.

Existential Expression and Emotional Experiences of the Christian Life (Acts 13)

• What is your life like/experience as a Christian?
• What do you feel daily as a Christ follower?
• What is your mind's/life's utmost preoccupation?
• What consumes and occupies your thoughts and your plans?
• Does what I believe about Christ translate into my daily experience?
  

Outline. Existential Expression and Emotional Experiences of the Christian Life (Paul's 1st Missionary Journey):

1. Set apart and sent out by the Holy Spirit (Ac 13:2-4; Jn 20:21).
2. Synagogue preaching (Ac 13:5, 14; 14:1; etc).
3. Sincere and intelligent proconsul Sergius Paulus (Ac 13:7, 12).
4. Saul, also called Paul (Ac 13:9).
5. Sorcerer Bar-Jesus/Elymas cursed (Ac 13:10-11).
6. Sadness with John leaving the team (Ac 13:13).
7. Survey summary and synopsis of salvation history (Ac 13:16-22).
8. Savior Jesus (Ac 13:23-37). The sermon's focus: "...they asked Pilate to have him executed. But God raised him from the dead" (Ac 13:28, 30).
• If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.
  
• While God may not protect you from every bad thing that might, has, or could happen to you- ultimately, through the resurrection, you are safe.
• Christ's miracles were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural order. They were a reminder of what once was prior to the fall and a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again--a world of peace and justice.
• Ultimately, the gospel is offensive because the cross stands against all schemes of self-salvation.
• The resurrection of Christ means everything sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for once being broken and lost.
9. Sins forgiven (Ac 13:38-39). Without a knowledge of our extreme sin, payment of the cross seems trivial and does not electrify or transform.
10. Severe warning (Ac 13:40-41). The sermon's conclusion.
11. Speak further about the gospel (Ac 13:42-44).
12. Speaking against Paul (Ac 13:44-46).
13. Salvation to the ends of the earth (Ac 13:47).
14. Surprised by joy (Ac 13:48-49).
15. Stirring up persecution (Ac 13:50).
16. Shaking the dust off their feet (Ac 13:51).
17. Spiritual joy (Ac 13:52; 5:41).
• "Only a heart filled with overflowing joy will want to share the source of that joy with everyone they meet. If you had the cure for cancer, would you keep it a secret? Worship propels us into the world to serve and love." Tim Keller.
• "Mission begins with an explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot be suppressed. It must be told. Who can be silent about such a fact." Leslie Newbigin.

"When Jesus crucified and risen is not proclaimed, a beige and unthreatening Catholicism emerges, a thought system that is, at best, an echo of the environing culture." Barron.

Agents of Divine Mercy - Bishop Barron Sunday Sermon

The Main Problem and the Only Solution

The Beauty of Hope - Fr. John Riccardo

Pay Attention to the Root of the Tree, not the Fruit (AW Tozer)

"Our fathers looked well to the root of the tree and were willing to wait with patience for the fruit to appear. We demand the fruit immediately even though the root may be weak and knobby or missing altogether. So we'll imitate their fruit without accepting their theology or inconveniencing ourselves too greatly by adopting their all-or-nothing attitude toward religion." A.W. Tozer.

Discovering the Gospel in Joshua – Tim Keller

Discovering the Gospel in Judges – Tim Keller

Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection, Tim Keller, 2021

• Why is it that "my head believes," but "my heart is not moved"?

Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit and is a mixture of reason [truth] and experience, intellect and emotion, the rational and the existential, the theological and the practical, the head and the heart. Thus, faith is not solely a matter of intellectual assent to certain theological propositions, but also involves the experiential and practical aspects of life.

Only in the cross is divinity and humanity reconciled. With the church there will always be attrition and retention.

• What is the difference between relative hope in human agency and infallible hope in God? 210-211.
• Christian hope means that I stop betting my life and happiness on human agency and rest in God alone.
• If you know--and keep remembering--that resurrection happened and is coming, you won't ever be in utter darkness. 215-216. Epilogue (Ps 118:22-23).

Love Jesus Purely without Self-Interest or Self-Love (Thomas Kempis)

"Jesus has many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few cross-bearers. Many desire His consolation, but few His tribulation. Many will sit down with Him at the table, but few will share His fast. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few will suffer for Him. Many will follow Him to the breaking of the bread, but few will drink the bitter cup of His Passion. Many revere His miracles, but few follow the shame of His cross. Many love Jesus when all goes well with them, and praise Him when He does them a favor; but if Jesus conceals Himself and leaves them for a little while, they fall to complaining or become depressed. They who love Jesus purely for Himself and not for their own sake bless Him in all trouble and anguish as well as in time of consolation. Even if He never sent them consolation, they would still praise Him and give thanks. Oh how powerful is the pure love of Jesus, when not mixed with self-interest or self-love!"—Thomas à Kempis.

All the Way Down (Philippians 2:6-11) Palm Sunday Sermon 4/2/2023

The Social Gospel of Jesus by Michael Bird

Date: Wed, Mar 29, 2023 To: <benjamintoh@gmail.com>

On the topic of social justice, if I had to choose between the Pope and Jordan Peterson, I'm going to go with the Pope. Now, I do not believe in the "social gospel" of old liberalism from 19th/20th century Protestant theology. In old liberalism, the promise of the forgiveness of sins is replaced with the love of God and the brotherhood of man and the eschaton is collapsed into quasi-Marxism rather than working for and waiting for the new creation. Hard pass from me!  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

	Open in app or online The Social Gospel of Jesus Michael F. Bird Mar 29   Save ▷  Listen   Dr Jordan B Peterson @jordanbpeterson There is nothing Christian about #SocialJustice . Redemptive salvation is a matter of the individual soul. Pope Francis @Pontifex #SocialJustice demands that we fight against the causes of poverty: inequality and the lack of labour, land, and lodging; against those who deny social and labour rights; and against the culture that leads to taking away the dignity of others. 8:00 AM ∙ Mar 2, 2023 2,842Likes297Retweets On the topic of social justice, if I had to choose between the Pope and Jordan Peterson, I'm going to go with the Pope. Now, I do not believe in the "social gospel" of old liberalism from 19th/20th century Protestant theology. In old liberalism, the promise of the forgiveness of sins is replaced with the love of God and the brotherhood of man and the eschaton is collapsed into quasi-Marxism rather than working for and waiting for the new creation. Hard pass from me! That said, Jesus does have his own social gospel, in that the gospel includes Israel's liberation from exile, and the proof that Israel's exile is ending is that the Isaianic signs of restoration are happening: the blind see, the lame walk, the captives are freed, and good news is preached to the poor! Luke 4:14-30 narrates how Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth where he is invited to preach in the synagogue. Jesus stands up, reads from Isa 61:1-2, and then utters a nine-word sermon (in both Greek and English): "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus is then rebuffed by the audience as something of an upstart and he responds by quoting the proverbs of the sick physician and alluding to the stories of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kgs 17:1-24) and Naaman the Syrian (2 Kgs 5:1-14)—scandalous stories where an Israelite prophet heals Gentile outcasts. Jesus, therefore, warns his fellow Jews that if they reject God's messenger then God will extend his blessings to those outside the boundaries of Israel (Lk 4:16-30).  This episode, called the "Nazareth Manifesto," illustrates how the gospel has a holistic vision of salvation. Jesus does not say: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring good news to the affluent middle classes who want enough religion to make them feel secure with God, but nothing that is going to challenge their consumerist, therapeutic, individualist, and indulgent way of life." Rather, the biblical view of salvation means rescuing the poor, the oppressed, the blind, and the captive. If the gospel is to be good news, then it must have a good message for those on the margins of society, for those who know poverty, hunger, alienation, and shame. Accordingly, Luke's favourite words for salvation are aphesis and aphiēmi, which refer to the act of freeing people from their sins (Lk 1:77; 3:3; 5:20; 7:48; 11:4; 24:27; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38-39; 22:16; 26:18), infirmity (Lk 4:39), and debts (Lk 11:4). This perspective does not to reduce the gospel to a social gospel of the love of God and the brotherhood of man or to secular social justice projects with a light sprinkling of Bible verses. Rather, the biblical gospel is a justice-bringing, sin-forgiving, slavery-crushing, illness-healing, debt-remitting, low-status-reversing, sin-cleansing, outsider-including, and truthing-to-power gospel.  That was Jesus's manifesto and it should be ours too! As the church goes forward in its mission it goes forth with the very same Nazareth Manifesto. Upgrade to paid Share Donate Subscriptions Leave a comment   Like Comment Share   Read Word from the Bird in the app Listen to posts, join subscriber chats, and never miss an update from Michael F. Bird. © 2023 Michael F. Bird 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe

Acts Epistles Timeline and Maps

 

• Acts spans about 30 years.
• Paul's 3 journeys are about 12 years from about AD 46-58.

Timeline of Paul's Ministry. Over the course of his ministry, the Apostle Paul traveled > 10,000  miles and established at least 14 churches. Acts records 3 separate missionary journeys that took Paul through Syria, Turkey, Greece, and numerous regions you won't find on modern-day maps.

The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy, 2018

• 
  Introduction: Prodigal Prophet. How can God be both merciful and just? Jonah wants a God of his own making, a God who smites the "bad" people [wicked Ninevites] and blesses the "good" people [Jonah and his people]. When the real God shows up, Jonah can't reconcile the mercy of God with his justice: How can God be merciful and forgiving to people who have done such violence and evil? Jonah points to the ultimate Jonah (Mt 12:41) who is both just and the justifier of those who believe (Rom 3:26). Only the gospel enables us to be neither cruel exploiters like the Ninevites nor Pharisaical believers like Jonah, but Spirit-changed, Christ-like people. The parallel of 2 stories:
1. 1st half Jonah plays like the "prodigal son" (Lk 15:11-24) who ran away from his father; 
2. 2nd half he is like the "older brother" (Lk 15:25-32) who obeys his father but berates him for his graciousness to repentant sinners. His response to God's mercy shows that he still has a great deal of self-righteousness.
• In both cases he's trying to get control of the agenda.

I Was Blind and Now I See - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

The Prayer of St. Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today

Set Apart and Sent Off (Acts 13)

"...the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off" (Ac 13:2-3).

• Are all Christians called and "set apart" to be "sent" to the nations in some fashion or another? Do you have a personal sense of being "set apart" and "sent" (Jn 15:16)?

Discovering the Gospel in Deuteronomy – Tim Keller

The Way to Love, Anthony de Mello

• “If you look carefully you will see that there is one thing and only one thing that causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is attachment. What is an attachment? An emotional state of clinging caused by the belief that without some particular thing or some person you cannot be happy.”

Persecution, Prayer and Deliverance (Acts 12:1-24)

• If you live out Acts 1:8, you will experience Acts 8:1 (Ac 12:1-4; 2 Tim 3:12).

Acts 12 is one of the most colorful and entertaining narratives in all of Acts with the humorous scene where Peter is prodded by an angel to put on his clothes (Ac 12:8), and how later he was left standing and locked out at the gate of the home of his Christian friends by an excited gatekeeper (Ac 12:13-14) after having been led through numerous gates manned by his captors (Ac 12:9-10)!

When Christians were First Called Christians (Acts 11:1-30)

1. How should the church in Jerusalem have received the news of "the Gentiles [receiving] the word of God" (Ac 11:1, 23)? Why were "the circumcised believers" critical of Peter (Ac 11:2-3; Lk 5:30; 15:2; 19:7)? What did they expect of Gentile converts (Ac 15:1, 5; Gal 2:11-14)?
2. What can we learn from Peter's response to their criticism (Ac 11:4-17)?

"The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch" (Ac 11:26b).

How the early Christians described themselves. They spoke of being

• disciples,
• believers,
• saints,
• brothers and sisters,
• Nazarenes (Ac 24:5), or
• followers of the "Way."

By being "called Christians" (Ac 11:26), Luke is indicating that the followers of Jesus were first perceived to be a group clearly distinct from Jews in Antioch. He wants his audience to be able to distinguish Christians (both Jews and Gentiles) from Jews who are not followers of Christ. Thus, this distinction is not ethnic but social on the basis of adherence or religious loyalties. 

Present Suffering and Future Glory (Romans 8:18-39)

Key Verse: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Rom 8:18).

1. How did Paul view present sufferings and future glory (Rom 8:18)? What does the creation expect (Rom 8:19)? Why does creation suffer (Rom 8:20; Gen 3:17-18)? For what does it groan in hope (Rom 8:21-22)?
2. Read Rom 8:23. How does Paul describe believers? For what do we groan inwardly (Php 3:20-21)? What is our true hope and how does it enable us to wait patiently (Rom 8:24-25; Jn 16:33))?
3. What are our weaknesses, and how do they affect our prayer (Rom 8:26a; 7:18-20)? Who helps us and how (Rom 8:26b-27; 1 Cor 2:10-14)? Why is the Spirit's intercessory prayer effective?
4. What conviction do believers have, and on what basis (Rom 8:28)? What is the good which God works for (Rom 8:29-30)? How does Paul describe the process of God's work in a believer's life?
5. What does Paul emphasize in his rhetorical questions in Rom 8:31-35? What problems do we confront and how can we overcome them?
6. How should believers regard sufferings (Rom 8:36)? What does it mean to be "more than conquerors" (Rom 8:37)? Who tries to separate us from God's love, and why can they not (Rom 8:38-39)?

Exclusivity and Inclusivity (Acts 10)

• How can you be both exclusive (Jn 14:6; Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22; Ac 4:12; Eph 3:12; Heb 10:20) and inclusive (Jn 3:16; Mt 5:45)--like Jesus (Mt 5:46-48; 1 Cor 5:21)? What happens when you're exclusive or inclusive or both?

1. As Cornelius and Paul encountered God (Ac 10:3, 13), has God ever "said" or shown anything to you? How do you "hear" or "listen" to God (Ps 1:2; 119:97)?
2. Why did Cornelius call together his relatives and close friends (Ac 10:24)? Should one with a higher status expect to be honored more than others (Ac 10:25-26; Jas 4:10; Mt 11:29)?
3. How many Acts messages by Peter are there (Ac 2:14-39; 3:12-26; 4:8-12? How does God show no favoritism (Ac 10:34; Mt 5:45)? How can we (Mt 5:46-48)? How should we regard others (Dt 10:17-19; Ac 10:28, 34; Gal 3:28)? Who does God accept (Ac 10:35, 4, 22)? Does fearing God and doing what is right save us (Jn 1:12)?

Peter Replicates Jesus' Ministry (Acts 9:31-43)

• Are you healed? From what?
• Since Jesus and Peter (also Elijah and Elisha) healed a paralytic and raised the dead, should we expect this today?
• What "paralyzes" people (Jn 8:34)? What causes them to be "dead" even though they're still alive (Eph 2:1)? 
• If I trust God should I expect to be healed if I have a terminal illness? If "No" why are healings recorded in Scripture?
  

The church continues to expand into new areas--cities on the Mediterranean coast. In preparation for the great event of the conversion of Cornelius [the 1st Gentile convert] in Acts 10-11, Peter travels to Lydda and then to Joppa, moving further and further away from Jerusalem into Gentile territory.

• Distances: Jerusalem to Damascus (Ac 9:2) - 135 miles.
• Jerusalem to Caesarea (Ac 9:30) - 65 miles north.
• Jerusalem to Lydda (Ac 9:32) - 25 miles north.
• Lydda to Joppa (Ac 9:36) - 12 miles northwest of Lydda on the coast.
• Joppa to Caesarea (Ac 10:1, 5) - 35 miles north.

How Paul Started His Christian Life (Acts 9:19-31)

1. How did Saul/Paul begin his Christian life (Ac 9:20)? How did he finish (Ac 20:24)?
2. How did you start your Christian life? How comfortable are you to teach and preach that "Jesus is the Son of God" (Ac 9:20)? And to prove that "Jesus is the Messiah" (Ac 9:22)? How could Saul do so?

Paul's early Christian life. Immediately after his conversion, Saul began his Christian life by preaching in Damascus (Ac 9:20) after spending just a few days with the disciples in Damascus (Ac 9:19) without being instructed by those who were Christians before him (Gal 1:11-24), and without the Jerusalem apostles' prior approval, for their role in verifying individuals and missions (Ac 8:14-17; 9:27-28; 11:1-18, 22-24).

• Saul goes from persecutor of Christians (Ac 8:3; 9:1) to preaching Christ (Ac 9:20) and proving that Jesus is the Messiah (Ac 9:22), to being persecuted (Ac 9:23, 29) and needing protection (Ac 9:25, 30).

The Greatest Conversion in History (Acts 9:1-18)

• Video recording, Sun, Feb 12, 2023: The greatest, most famous and perhaps most radical conversion in history.
• ** What is your conversion story? This is my magical mystical supernatural conversion of meeting God for the first time in 1980.

What happened when Saul met Jesus?

1. Contact (Ac 9:3), confrontation (Ac 9:4a), conviction (Ac 9:4b; 2 Cor 3:18; 4:6; 1 Jn 1:5; Jn 1:4-5; 15:25).
2. Command (Ac 9:6; Mt 28:19).
3. Communion (Ac 9:9), conversation (Isa 1:18), connection, contemplation (Phil 4:8), confession (Ac 22:4; 26:10; 1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13).
4. Call (Jn 15:16; 1 Pet 2:9) and commission [through Ananias] (Ac 9:15-16); from God (Ac 26:16; 1:8; Mt 28:19).
5. Conversion (Ac 9:3, 17; 22:8; 1 Ti 1:15; Phil 3:7-10; 1 Cor 15:3-4).
6. Cost (Ac 9:16; I Cor 15:31) and contentment (Phil 4:11-12; 1 Tim 6:6).

Providentially Led by the Spirit (Acts 8:26-40)

Video recording 1/29/2023: Providentially Led by God.

God providentially ordained a divine rendezvous. God told a certain man (Philip) to go to a certain place (a desert road) to meet another certain man (Ethiopian eunuch) in a certain carriage who is reading a certain OT book (Isaiah), a certain chapter (ch. 53) and a certain verse (vs. 7-8). God was creating a co--incidence.