Geoffrey's Notebook

I've recently picked up studying Romans again and found this old outline that I had scratched down maybe 15 years ago. It was refreshing for me to see and was not something that I had seen in a commentary or heard in a message. 

Below are some various messages and study notes on baptism.  Messages on Baptism Baptism and the Laying on of Hands

Question: Where can I get the audio messages of Stephen Kaung's God Has Spoken series? If I could recommend only one book or series by Stephen Kaung it would be his God Has Spoken series. He shared a message for each book of the Bible, giving a simple overview and revealing the way to find Christ as you read. It is not only his classic set but it's His way with the Scriptures. Our brother could always find Christ and find Him as He's meant to be found. For a new believer and an old believer, this is the first set to have as guide through the Bible and a reference set to go back to later on.  Below are links to each of the original messages.   Old Testament  Introduction to the Old Testament Genesis -The Will of God Exodus -The Works of God Leviticus - The Ways of God Numbers -The Walk of God Deuteronomy - The Word of God Joshua - Possessing the Land   Judges - Possessing all the Possessions Ruth - Recovery of the Inheritance I Samuel - Epoch-...

Intro—The Testimony of Jesus Are you ready to read Revelation? or study it? What about with a group? In this intro to the series, we look at what we need in order to begin studying Revelation. https://youtu.be/j2eean59xNg

 Recently after sharing on 1st John a question came up to do with one of the more difficult Scriptures.  Here's the 1 John series , this question has to do with #6 - Practicing Righteousness. Here's the dialogue:  Q:  Thank God and our brother for this very timely message on practical righteousness, that is so essential if we are to be in readiness for the "presence " of the Lord. However, I was left with some questions regarding the interpretation of 1 John 3:19-20. When I read verse 19, it seems to me to be a warning not to unconditionally follow the heart: In other words,other if we have a definite word from the Lord, then it takes priority over the condemnation of the heart;'likewise if our heart does approve, then we should follow the witness of the Spirit, life and peace.Perhaps our brother would offer some clarification. Again the message was a real blessing. A:  Amen, this is so essential to be ready for the Lord's return. :)  Those two verses in 1 ...

 Pretty amazing recent discovery:  Some solid evidence for an earthquake in the 8th century BC. In the Bible there was a major earthquake referenced during that same time period in Amos and Zechariah: "The words of Amos, ... in the days of Uzziah king of Judah... two years before the earthquake." (Amos 1:1) "And ye shall flee [by] the valley of my mountains ... like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah." (Zechariah 14:5) It's always fun to watch archeology catch up to the Scriptures and even color them for us a little.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologists-unearth-1st-jerusalem-evidence-of-quake-from-bibles-book-of-amos/?fbclid=IwAR2teDM3BUMdzXg5X2XTgQslIlPHFT45Qi6mnxdgbP39jHIMNghTpL0zCMY

Note: For a simplified and shorter set of talks on this topic see the post on Kingdom Talks . Kingdom Series of Messages Some years back (2011) I shared 3 messages in Richmond on Kingdom concepts.  1) Gift & Reward 2) The Kingdom Age 3) The Judgment Seat of Christ It was for those 3 messages that I quickly made some charts and other handouts.  Kingdom Charts Before then I had drawn these out so many times in small talks, Bible studies, or while preaching. I've since used them as hundreds of handouts and email-outs for believers seeking to connect some of these dots. If you're printing them, they're built to be on an 11" x 17" piece of paper. Any local copy shop can do that for you. But you can also print them on regular-sized sheets and just connect two of them together. These handouts need an upgrade in design. In 2011 they were not nice on the eyes and now they seem even more outdated. They do provide some Scriptures and explanations for many q...

 Week 47—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 46 Week 47! normal + Paraphrase of 1 John 5:18-21 Last verses!

 Week 46—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 45 Week 46: normal + Manna & Memory with 1 John 5:18-21

 Week 45—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 44 Week 45: normal + Paraphrase of 1 John 5:6-17 right at the end!

 Week 44—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 43 Week 44: normal + 1 John 5:13-17 manna and memory Just wanted to point out that our "normal" translation is the one we're memorizing from.  We'll continue on until the end of the book, meditating, memorizing, and paraphrasing. This is the time for us to complete our memorization of the book. We'll go through a few more studies before the end, but as we do this our notes may be overflowing.  So let's purpose to faithfully go through these verses and share with the group little gleanings as the Lord gives. I currently have way too many paper notes and am hoping to key all of these in for some fellowship.  Thankful for you all. 🙂

 Week 43—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 42 Week 43: normal + 5:6-12 manna + memory Let's do this one well. Using our normal translation, let's focus in on these verses. With all of our talk about the extras of "Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost", we should try to meditate on these with the option of removing that phrase as well. If your normal translation includes it, and you want to keep it, still try to consider what the blood, water, and Spirit's witness means (apart from trying to link it to the Godhead).

 Week 42—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 41 Week 42: NASB-2020 + paraphrase 4:20-5:5  We talked about ASV (1901), NASB-1977, and NASB's 1995 update. Now they've brought out another update! This one may have a few pieces you cringe at and a few places that are a really good upgrade. I wanted to immediately check 1 Cor 7 which unfortunately ended in a terrible way in the past. They've updated that one to be a lot better (not as perfect as Darby's "virginity" translation, but not as terrible as saying a father can keep his daughter from ever getting married!-yikes). So that's an upgrade for certain.  What you may gasp at is the gender neutrality they've implemented in places where they believed it to be very obvious. So instead of "brethren" or "brothers" it may say "brothers and sisters." The words "and sisters" are in italics, which is a way some trans...

 Week 40—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 39 Week 40! normal + paraphrase 4:7-19 + Guy King Let's use our normal study translation this week, especially helpful as we're trying to memorize. Now we're paraphrasing this great section in chapter 4 on love. I'd love to see what anyone comes up with for this.  Here is just a section of Guy King's commentary on 1 John which seems fast and full of little gems. After some large commentaries, this one is great to grab. I've pulled the section that includes the "sin unto death" verses. You can get the full commentary at this link: First General Epistle of John by Guy King Each section is there and you can download them. They're quick to read.

 Week 39—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 38 Week 39! normal + 1 John 4:15-19 manna and memory Let's just read and meditate/memorize for the rest of this week. We've had a lot of commentaries placed on the table. Some of these I've been hunting down and purchasing also since I liked them so much. Not sure about you all, but I'm on the computer so much during the day for work that I love to read physical books. Audiobooks are great for when I'm still moving around or driving. But sitting down with a physical book is like a campfire to me--just perfect.  I thought it'd be helpful if some can share some highlights from any parts in any of the commentaries that they've checked out. Anything new discovered? Most of us will only get to read a portion of each commentary so it'll help a lot of you could bring out something you've discovered.  This week I ended up finally getting back to the 1 John...

 Week 38—1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 37 Week 38 - Moving along into manna and memory of 4:11-14 + Robert Law + normal translation. We've read through 1st John now with a good number of different translations. It's probably been enough to catch most of the possibilities though it's still interesting to see how other translations do this. If you have a suggestion for a new one let me know. I have a few more odd ones to share, but I also like to just use the normal translation that you use as a default.  Robert Law's commentary: The Tests of Life I like even the very title of this classic commentary. He brings out how throughout 1 John there are so many tests given to show that you have eternal life or are begotten or are in fellowship etc. "if we say" "he that saith" etc.  I also noticed that he purposed to group some subjects instead of the typical talk through each verse in its order....

Week 37 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 36 Week 37!  NET + Manna & Memory with 4:7-10 + Findlay Let's try out the NET translation. Have you ever used it? I've noticed it but never read through it before. I may try to listen through the audio of it sometime soon, but it won't give its full value. This translation has an easy text with a nerdy bunch of footnotes. The translators wanted to show their reasonings throughout the text for certain words or passages coming out the way they did. They said it's a fresh translation (not based on another). I checked into some of the story and think it's pretty neat what they hoped to accomplish. We can see how we feel about it with 1 John, especially after reading through with other versions. With so many notes you may want to just read through the Scriptures (not checking notes) and then especially check the notes on the section we're focusing on (4:7-10). ...

Week 36 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 35 Week 36 - normal + paraphrase 4:1-6 + FF Bruce!  Let's paraphrase this small interesting section (4:1-6) this time, and it actually goes well with the beginning intro notes from FF Bruce's book on John's Epistles. FF Bruce is possibly my favorite nerd-study teacher when it gets to the nerdiest of things. With his brethren background and ultimate scholarship he ties in belief and revelation in the Scriptures along with the study of those details of background, language, archeology, etc. that most associate with spiritual death. This man handled the most difficult aspects of study and became the teacher of modern times to all of the other teachers. Every book I've caught of his has been great. Some of them, like his books on the Dead Sea Scrolls, are great if you need something to put you to sleep at night 🙂 But others, like his book on difficult questions, are ones...

Week 35 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 34 NASB (77' vs 95') + 4:1-6 + Westcott 1 John (NASB 1977 vs 1995 plus both versions) I know we're deep in the study now - but remember to always, first thing, devote the "searching" to the discovery of Christ. Only if the sword of the Spirit is able to slice into our depths will the same Spirit reveal the truth hidden within that sword. For the translation this time I'd like to settle the issue of 1977 vs 1995 with NASB (at least for 1 John). I remember talking with some like John Saunders (who introduced me to NASB) how they despised the updates in 1995. The more literal translations were still there but now in the footnotes instead of the text itself. Plus, if you're used to Thee's and Thou's then the update ruined it. The 1977 version kept that archaic language for things like Psalms and prayers. In studying 1 John I figured it'd be a gre...

Week 34 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study *Missed last week?  Click here  for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 33 DRB + Paraphrase 3:14-24 + John Wesley 1 John (DRB) 1 John (Wesley) Hey Bible nerds! Let's do some paraphrasing this time with a somewhat easily confused Scripture on the heart.  John Wesley's commentary is refreshing as a break from very thorough nerdy ones. Remember his life-story and work, his much preaching and passion for souls. Riding around from town to town by horse, this man of God studied the word much, but with the heart to preach the word. Some of the scholars study and make very neat discoveries that will never make it into messages it seems. But his commentary reads a little bit more devotional. Not saying one is better, but it is nice to get this variety. Some commentaries are so thorough (long) that we've suggested finding one section to read. This one is nice and short (at least on 1 John). It's just a few sentences for each verse. So we may all be...