Discipleship | A People for His Name

Learning Greek Verb and Noun Parsing through English Sentences

February 28, 2012

I am teaching a beginning Greek student about parsing nouns and verbs. I have explained to him the basic concepts of tense, voice, mood, person, and number (Greek verbs) and of gender, number, and case (Greek nouns).

While reviewing these with him yesterday, I recovered an approach to helping students learns these concepts that I first came up with a number of years ago. Using many English sentences and explaining how each word works in the English sentence, I then showed him what Greek would use to convey those same functions for the nouns and verbs.

The following example illustrates this approach:

Tim, Joe gave Frank his book.

Tim – direct address = vocative;
Joe – subject = nominative;
Frank – indirect object = dative;
his – (shows possession) = genitive;
book – direct object = accusative

gave – aorist active indicative

Here are 25 sentences that I made up to use this approach. For nouns/pronouns, give the case. For verbs, give the tense, voice, and mood, unless directed otherwise. Skip the underlined words.

Dave sent flowers to his wife.

Flowers were sent to Dave’s wife.

Dave, have you sent her flowers?

Dave has sent his friends Christmas cards.

The old man had bathed himself until he fell and hurt himself yesterday.

Roy was watching TV.

Mike is listening to the news.

Roy is her husband.

Joe had been mistreated by his boss until recently.

His car is being damaged by hail.

Tim had hoped that he would get a good grade in the class until he failed his test.

Will she do her homework on time?

I had lived in sin until God opened my eyes.

Were you being watched?

The picture showed the accident.

The men of Rome were hating themselves.

Have their children been saved?

The policemen should be arriving home soon. (Present ____________ _______________).

The children may be taught by the new teacher. (Aorist ____________ _______________).

Don hit himself with his racket.

You are hearing for yourselves how bad things really are now.

I will be satisfied when I get to heaven.

Joe has burned himself before.

What should I send mom for her birthday? (Aorist _____________ _____________).

Bill will wash himself.

In Biblical Greek, Biblical Languages

Saved From a Scammer!

February 20, 2012

I praise God that He spared me today from being potentially scammed for a large amount of money. I hope that this testimony may somehow be used to spare someone else from falling prey in a similar way.

A few weeks ago, I posted an ad online for tutoring. I was encouraged to receive two replies the very next morning after posting the ad. The first reply went nowhere, but the second seemed promising.

I followed up on the second one and engaged in a series of e-mails with this prospective client. Supposedly, this client was a person coming from overseas to be in Greenville for a month. During that time, he wanted me to tutor his daughter in Algebra.

He said that he wanted many hours of tutoring each week. Because I had been praying for God to meet an upcoming financial obligation, I was thinking that this was His provision. I rejoiced in thinking how He seemingly had answered my prayer so directly.

As things progressed, he informed me that he would be sending me a check to pay for all the tutoring in advance. He asked how much I would charge and agreed to that amount.

Soon afterward, however, he sent a message telling me that he had made a mistake in making out the check. He said that he had mistakenly written one check instead of the two that he was supposed to have written, one to me and one to someone else.

He then told me that I was to deposit the check upon receiving it, take out the amount agreed upon for my tutoring, and then send the rest by Western Union to another party. Upon receiving this information, I was convinced that this was a scam and informed him that he needed to repent of his sin.

Thinking that this matter was finished, I was shocked to receive yet another e-mail from him today that told me that he had sent a check to me by Federal Express and that I would be receiving it today. He even gave me a tracking number to check. I did so and discovered that the check had already arrived this morning and was waiting for me when I would return from work in the afternoon.

Examining the check, which was more than five times the amount that we had agreed upon for my tutoring, I was appalled at the wickedness of this party. I was also grateful that God had given me helpful input from trusted friends that confirmed to me that this was a scam.

I took the check to my bank, and they assured me that it was a phony check. They recommended that I take it to a local branch of the same bank that issued the check. I did so, and they confirmed that it was indeed a fraudulent check.

Had the circumstances been slightly different, I might have lost a lot of money to this scam. Having never dealt with such a situation before, I find it revolting that there are people out there who prey on others in this way.

Praise God for His mercy in saving me from this scammer!

In Testimony

Paul's Emphasis to the Saved and the Unsaved

February 18, 2012

Reading through Philippians this morning, I was again struck with Paul’s teaching to the Philippians about his mindset: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (3:10-11). All too often this teaching is reduced so that Paul’s focus is made out to be that of just knowing Christ.

Such reduction does not account for what Paul himself here teaches that he was seeking to attain by any means–the resurrection of the dead! As this passage actually reads, the statements about knowing Christ, etc., are on the way to Paul’s attaining the resurrection of the dead. He thus emphasized in his teaching to believers that attaining bodily resurrection was a paramount motivation for him.

Other passages show that Paul also testified to unbelievers that he had this same focus:

“But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question” (Acts 23:6).

“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:14-16).

From this Scriptural data, we learn that Paul stressed to both the saved and the unsaved that he was profoundly oriented in his mindset toward the truth of the resurrection of the dead. We would do well likewise to focus both our own attention and the attention of all to whom we minister–both unbelievers and believers alike–on this central teaching of Scripture.

In Discipleship, Exhortation

Chromatic Scale

February 16, 2012

Learning the chromatic scale is a good way to start learning to play the guitar. I recently came up with this new handout to teach it.

In Guitar Music

God Wants You to Be Saved!

February 14, 2012

Acts 10 provides us with the wonderful account of how Cornelius, an exemplary man, was saved. The glorious content of this passage reveals three key truths about how God also wants you to be saved!

I. God wants you to be saved by accepting the fact that you need to be saved, even as Cornelius did through the message that the angel gave to him.

Despite his being devout, fearing God with his entire household, giving much alms to the people, praying to God always, being just, having a good report among all the nation of the Jews, and having some previous knowledge about Jesus, Cornelius was not saved. Neither was he saved simply by having a genuine supernatural experience with a true angel of God, who informed him that his prayers had been heard and his alms had been remembered by God.

He, therefore, was not saved even though he was an exemplary man in so many respects. Moreover, even the genuineness of his religious activities and of his supernatural experience did not save him.

Every person must likewise come to the point that he accepts that he is not saved despite however good of a life he may have led. He must also recognize that no mere supernatural experience that he might have can save him, even if it were to be genuine.

II. God wants you to be saved by accepting that the only way you will be saved is by hearing the words by which you will be saved, even as Cornelius did.

The angel that Cornelius encountered informed him that he would have to hear the words by which he would be saved. He thus had to accept that the only way that he could be saved was through his hearing those words.

Every person must likewise come to the point that he accepts that simply being genuinely religious will not save him. To be saved, he must hear the words by which he will be saved.

III. God wants you to be saved by having your sins forgiven through your responding properly to the words by which you will be saved, even as Cornelius did.

Through Peter’s preaching the gospel to him, Cornelius heard the words by which he would be saved. In a nutshell, Cornelius heard that through the Lord Jesus Christ he had to believe in God, that raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, so that his faith and hope might be in God (1 Pet. 1:21).

Cornelius was saved through his receiving the forgiveness of his sins by responding to the gospel message with repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Every person must likewise be saved by receiving forgiveness of his sins by responding to the gospel with repentance toward God and belief in Jesus Christ to be saved.

Have you accepted that you need to be saved?

Have you accepted that the only way that you will be saved is by hearing the gospel, the words by which you will be saved?

Have you received the forgiveness of your sins by hearing the gospel, repenting toward God, and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? (To learn more about the gospel, please see my post, The Gospel of God and His Christ.)

God wants you to be saved by doing so! He wants you to be saved from the eternal punishment that awaits those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8).

In behalf of Christ, I beseech you to turn to God and be saved before it is too late.

In Evangelism, Exhortation, Gospel

Playing Hymns in Four Parts on the Guitar!

February 9, 2012

For several years, I have been working on developing a new guitar method that trains students to be able to play hymns in multiple parts straight from a hymnbook. This week, I had an exciting breakthrough in my own playing that reinforced to me the value of this approach for Christian musicians who want to use the guitar for ministry.

While practicing playing several hymns in two parts, I decided to try playing the SAT for Grace Greater Than Ours Sins. Encouraged by how well I was able to read all three parts and play them on the guitar, I decided to try playing all four parts of the song.

To my great delight, I was able to play measure after measure of the song! Although I played it much slower than it would be sung, just being able to make it through all 32 measures and play every note exactly where it would be sung or played on a piano was a huge encouragement and confirmation of the usefulness of this method.

I praise God for answering my prayers for enabling me to develop a method that should be able to train highly skilled guitarists who want to glorify God by playing hymns in multiple parts in church services!

In Guitar Music, Music, Testimony

Ten Things to Pray For Concerning the Super Bowl

February 4, 2012

The Super Bowl is scheduled to be played tomorrow evening. Many believers will intentionally pay as little attention as possible to it, and some may decry those believers who have any level of interest in the game.

Many other believers will pay attention to the game in various ways. Given that the game will be played barring some remarkable and unexpected providential intervention by God, here are some things that interested believers might consider praying for:

1. God would glorify Himself in an unmistakable way through whatever He allows to take place before, during, and after the game.

2. The number of believers who forsake the assembling of themselves together tomorrow would be amazingly small because of a supernatural working of God at a remarkable level to convince His people not to do so.

3. Success for whatever evangelistic efforts may be made by believers through commercials aired during the game or through attending the game or planning to be present somewhere near the stadium for that purpose.

4. The players would do no evil. It would be great to have a clean game where there are no dirty plays, especially plays that injure players unnecessarily.

5. The officials would have skill to officiate fairly and not miss any calls. It would be especially great if the game were not to be decided by a questionable call by the officials.

6. The team that wins would do so because they have striven lawfully.

7. Both teams would display excellent sportsmanship in everything that takes place.

8. The fans would not do anything to disrupt the game.

9. There would not be any tragic things take place among the fans such as have marred many major sporting events over the years

10. Law enforcement personnel would be supernaturally empowered to have great success in delivering a great number of the victims of the human trafficking that is expected to take place surrounding this event.

Who knows what God might do tomorrow if many of His people were to pray fervently along these lines!

In Prayer

Questions for Conservative American Christians to Ponder about Presidential Politics

February 1, 2012

As a fairly recent newcomer to American presidential politics, I have been pondering the very difficult challenges that our current political situation poses. Here are some thoughts that have come to me recently as I have been prayerfully trying to discern how God would have us to approach answering some important questions.

1. Had there been news polls at the time of Saul, David, and Goliath, what would they have said about David’s chances of beating Goliath?

2. Suppose that at that time there had been an 8-foot tall former Philistine warrior who nominally became pro-Israel and engaged in occasional worship of Jehovah but not in the same way as the Israelites did. This Philistine is an arms producer and decides to volunteer himself to go up for Israel against Goliath. Would the polls not have ranked him much higher than David? If so, would the establishment leaders in Israel not have clamored for him to be the Israelite’s choice to go up against Goliath instead of the comparatively speaking puny David?

3. Ephesians 2 teaches that the children of disobedience are being energized by the prince of the power of the air. Should the righteous support such presidential candidates as the ones who would best advance the kingdom of God and His righteousness in the US and the world because the polls say that they would fare best against the opposing parties’ candidates?

4. Just how exactly does the Bible itself teach us to vote for the lesser of two evils?

5. Does the Bible teach us that the character of a presidential candidate does not matter that much in view of other supposedly more important considerations because we are voting for a president and not for a preacher?

6. Is there not a God in heaven who can turn the hearts of the “precious” moderates to support a righteous candidate for president so that we do not have to settle again for a candidate that we have to tolerate because the polls say that he is the only one who can win?

In Discipleship, Interpretation, Theology

The Marvelous Ending of Psalms

January 30, 2012

The book of Psalms ends with a profound emphasis on praising the Lord. This emphasis is revealed by the following points in the final five Psalms:

A. Each Psalm begins and ends with the same command, “Praise ye the LORD” (146:1, 10; 147:1, 20; 148:1, 14; 149:1, 9; 150:1, 6).

B. Commands to praise the Lord occur at least 36 times, with a magnificent crescendo consisting entirely of commands to praise Him in Psalm 150:

—146:1 [2x]; 10;

—147: 1, 12 [2x]; 20;

—148:1 [3x]; 2 [2x]; 3 [2x]; 4; 5; 7; 13; 14;

—149:1; 3; 6; 9;

—150: 1 [3x]; 2 [2x]; 3 [2x]; 4 [2x]; 5 [2x]; 6 [2x]).

C. Through these commands, God teaches us many truths about the theology of praise:

1. Praise must be given to the LORD, who is my God, your God, and our God: His name is to be praised!

2. The commands to praise Him are directed universally—all must praise Him: everyone who reads these Psalms; the believer’s own soul; Jerusalem and Zion; all His angels and His hosts; the sun, moon, and all the stars; the heaven of heavens; the waters that are above the heavens; the dragons and all deeps; fire, hail, snow, vapors, and stormy wind; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings and all people; princes and all judges; young men, maidens, old men, and children; everything that has breath.

3. God must be praised everywhere: from the earth and the heavens; in the heights; in the congregation of the saints; in the dance; in His sanctuary; in the firmament of His power.

4. God demands praising Him with singing and numerous musical instruments: upon the harp, the loud cymbals, and the high sounding cymbals; with the timbrel, harp, psaltery, the sound of the trumpet, stringed instruments and organs.

5. God must be praised for a vast number of reasons:

—He is the help and hope of His people;

—He keeps truth forever;

—He executes judgment for the oppressed, feeds the hungry, looses the prisoners, opens the eyes of the blind, raises up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, preserves the strangers, relieves the fatherless and widows, and turns the way of the wicked upside down;

—He will reign forever;

—He builds up Jerusalem, gathers together the outcasts of Israel, heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds, and tells the number of stars and calls them all by their names;

—He is great, of great power, and His understanding is infinite;

—He lifts up the meek and casts the wicked down to the ground;

—He covers the heaven with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass to grow on the mountains, and gives food to the beasts and the young ravens;

—He delights not in the strength of horses and does not take pleasure in the legs of man;

—He takes pleasure in those who fear Him and hope in His mercy;

—He has strengthened the bars of the gates of Jerusalem and blessed her children within her;

—He makes peace in her borders and fills her with the finest of wheat;

—He sends forth His commandment on the earth, and His Word runs very swiftly;

—He gives snow like wool, scatters the hoarfrost like ashes, casts forth His ice like morsels, and none can stand before His cold;

—He sends forth His Word and melts His ice;

—He causes His wind to blow and the waters flow;

—He shows His Word unto Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel;

—He has not dealt in this way with any other nation, and no other nation has known His judgments as Israel has;

—His name alone is excellent;

—His glory is above the earth and heaven;

—He exalts the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, even the children of Israel, a people near Him;

—it is good to sing praises to our God;

—praising Him is pleasant and comely;

—He commanded and all things were created;

—He has also established His creation forever and made a decree that will not pass;

—He takes pleasure in His people and beautifies the meek with salvation;

—His mighty acts.

6. God specifies that we praise Him according to His excellent greatness, and with thanksgiving and dance.

7. All His saints have the honor of having His high praises in their mouth along with a two-edged sword in their hand in order to execute vengeance on the heathen and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, and to execute upon them the judgment written.

D. In addition to these commands, statements of resolve to praise the Lord occur two times (146:2 [2x]).

In view of the immense divine emphasis directing us to praise Him that we find in this marvelous ending of the book of Psalms, let us with the Psalmist resolve to praise Him while we live, while we have any being!

Praise ye the Lord.

In Exhortation, Music, Theology

"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" in Bass Clef Solfeggio Method

January 26, 2012

Here is When I Survey the Wondrous Cross in my bass clef solfeggio method.

In Guitar Music

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