Talbot Davis's Blog, page 41

The Pronouns Have It AGAIN: Part 2 Of Ancient Greek Speech Making And Not Modern American Letter Writing. And Why It Matters.

Yesterday, I shared some insights regarding the differences between ancient Greek speech making and modern American letter writing, and as an example took you through the first fourteen verses of Ephesians. Once readers make the proper distinction between the “we” and the “you,” they are much more able to get to the heart of the entire book.

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How To Read New Testament Epistles: Ancient Greek Speech Making And NOT Modern American Letter Writing

Over the last month, my Men’s LifeGroup at Good Shepherd has been reading through a series of Paul’s letters, starting with First Corinthians and continuing through Ephesians. Every morning, I have been sending them thoughts on the chapter assigned for the day.  I trust it has been helpful for them to read; I KNOW it

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Up In Arms, Week 2 — The “Justified” Sermon Rewind

Yesterday’s message … Preached the RIGHT message (I hope) at the WRONG time of year; Shifted the focus from Peter’s denial to Peter’s tantrum; Shifted the focus from Peter to the servant girl who was “on to him.” Generated a lot of moments of silence throughout the room on Moss; Landed at this bottom line: 

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The Value Of Sleeping On It

Earlier this week, I was wrestling with a bottom line for an upcoming sermon. The passage in question was tricky. The opportunity to go in multiple directions was both alluring and bewildering. The temptation to “borrow” the insights of another preacher was real. The late Tuesday night attempts at wordsmithing resulted in nothing but frustration.

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Why Don’t We Have A Calm System?

A friend of mine recently told a group of us that he has a minor condition with his nervous system.   —————————————————- And I asked what I thought was the obvious question:  “Why don’t we have a calm system?” We have nerve endings, after all. Why not calm endings? Many times we suffer from an

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Forty Years Ago Yesterday

Forty years ago yesterday, January 7, 1979, I became a Christian. I had been baptized as an infant in the Episcopal Church, but by the time I was four or five, my mom stopped going herself or taking her kids.  So I never went to Sunday School, never attended VBS, never was confirmed, never went

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Up In Arms Launches — The “Yellfest” Sermon Rewind

Yesterday’s message … Started what might be our most timely series ever, Up In Arms; Presented Proverbs as one of the few places in the bible where context is something, not everything; Had a rare “two phased” bottom line.  For most of the message it was People who yell the loudest have the most to

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Up In Arms Launch — Why Are People So Angry These Days?

Have you noticed? Have you noticed how so many people are so mad these days? Mad at each other.  Mad at traffic.  Mad at politicians.  Mad at themselves. And … have you noticed that the same people keep getting mad at the same things?  And maybe, just maybe, have you noticed that you’re one of

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Words Make Worlds. Again.

Each week, our staff receives Prayer Cards from our Children’s Ministry.  The Prayer Cards contain prayer requests from the youngest folks in our church. Here’s the one I received last week:   ————————————- A first grader praying to have “a liven relat[ion]ship with God.” Getting our language, inhaling our culture, demonstrating for the umpteenth time

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What The Creed Says … And What It Doesn’t Say

I love the last line of the Apostles’ Creed: [. . . I believe] in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. While the Creed may not have the same level of authority as inspired Scripture, it nevertheless represents the best of the collective wisdom of early Christians. And they described our

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