Saturday, March 12, 2016

"In the image of God" by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Saturday, 12 March 2016

 "In the image of God" by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Saturday, 12 March 2016

"In the image of God" by Stephen M. Miller
Bible experts can only guess what God meant when he said “Let us make human beings in our image” (Genesis 1:26 NLT). A few guesses. Like him: we reign, create, have character, and possibly look like him. A Visual Walk Through Genesis, page 23.
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 "How I brainstorm Bible study ideas" by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Thursday, 10 March 2016

"How I brainstorm Bible study ideas" by Stephen M. Miller

THINKING. There’s no trick to brainstorming ideas for Bible study topics. I just sit there and let the ideas come to mind. The good and the bad. Even a bad idea can shake loose a good idea. Photo by Craig Sunter, flickr, CC2.
THIS TIME OF YEAR SCARES ME.
Every spring for the past several years I have led the curriculum team in my Bible study group at church. It’s usually just a half a dozen people, sometimes not that many. We spend the better part of a Saturday assigning lesson topics for the next 12 months.
Some of us come to that meeting with a bunch of brainstormed ideas. Others come with the seat-of-their-pants, more gifted at reacting and filtering than at brainstorming and planning on their own. Which is fine. We need all kinds of brains to pull a trick like this out of a hat.
We meet in someone’s home, usually around 9:30 in the morning, and going into the early afternoon. I bring the doughnuts. The host provides the coffee. Somewhere along the way we order in pizza or sandwiches, to get us through the working lunch hour.
Now I don’t know if it would help you to see how I go about the process of brainstorming ideas for this meeting. But I’m going to do a little of it anyway.
Our meeting is in another week. So I’m going to take a few minutes to kill two birds with one stone. I’m going to finish out this blog article by doing a little of the brainstorming I need to do for the meeting.
Here are some Bible study ideas I will toss into the pot for consideration by the committee. I’m just sitting here right now, typing them up as they come into my head from who knows where, for better or worse.
SERMON ON THE MOUNT VS DONALD TRUMP. 1 week.
That’s actually kind of a joke, but I will take it to the meeting. I think it would make for an intriguing and lively Bible study session. The trick would be to come out of that session without condemning to hell all Christians who vote for Mr. Trump, and to treat those souls with more respect than Mr. Trump treats anyone who disagrees with him.
FINDING CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN POLITICS. 1 week.
One-week standalone session team-taught by one Progressive and one Traditionalist, for amicable balance. Instead of focusing on the plethora of lies, name-calling, and profanity that has erupted during this election cycle, focus on the ideas the presidential candidates have that track with Christian teachings.
GENESIS, 5 HEAD-SCRATCHING STORIES. 5 weeks.
Seven days of creation: history or poetry? (Gen. 1)
How do we resemble God? (Gen. 1:26ff)
God: “I’m sorry I made humans” (Gen. 6)
Abe to the rescue (Gen. 14)
Jacob puts a wrestling hold on God (Gen. 32)
THE GOSPEL OF MARK, A READ-THROUGH. 8 weeks.
We read aloud in class the entire book over a stretch of 8 weeks. That’s two chapters a week since Mark has 16 chapters. Each week we discuss the highlights of each two-chapter section.
THREE MOTHERS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. 1 week, for Mother’s Day. Profile of 3 mothers, for a review of character traits we want to see in mothers.
The Good: Jochebed (mother of Moses). The bad: Herodias (mother of dancing Salome who got the head of John the Baptist). The ugly: Leah (Jacob’s surprise wife and mother of half of his sons).
DON’T FORGET. 3 weeks, leading up to Memorial Day weekend.
  • Week one. Pentecost Sunday. Bible passage is one of the lesser familiar passages in Acts in which people are converted to the Christian faith and are filled with the Holy Spirit. Life application will be to remember and talk about some of our most memorable spiritual experiences.
  • Week two. Precious Memories. Bible passage: Jews in exile in what is now Iraq, remembering Jerusalem and their homeland. Life application will be to talk about memories we have that we go back to for comfort, reassurance, inspiration, or simply as a reminder that God has richly blessed us.
  • Week three. Bible passage will focus on one of the Bible characters whose story is especially inspiring and is retold often. Life application will be to remember and talk about the people we’ve lost and the stories they left behind.
REVELATION AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 1 week. Talk about clues in Revelation that lead many Bible scholars to say that much of Revelation is about Roman times. Example, from the fact that Rome was built on seven hills: “Anyone with wisdom can figure this out. The seven heads that the woman is sitting on stand for seven hills. These heads are also seven kings….The woman you saw is the great city that rules over all kings on earth” (Revelation 17:9-10, 18 CEV).
ADVENT: BACK TO BETHLEHEM. 3 weeks. Childhood events in the life of Jesus, studied in reverse.
The dedication of Jesus. Life application: Our dedication to Jesus. Our dedication of our kids to Jesus.
The honoring of Jesus (wise men). Life application: What do we do that brings honor to Jesus?
The birth of Jesus. Life application: How has Jesus changed our culture and the way we live personally?
EYES ON JESUS, HOW OTHERS SAW HIM. 4 weeks. An Easter series on the various ways people saw Jesus
Pharisees & other Jewish leaders: “He’s challenging our authority.”
Palm Sunday crowds: “He’s the Messiah king who will run out the Romans.”
Pilate: “He’s innocent but he could cause me trouble.”
Disciples on Easter: “He’s out of this world.”
For more about Bible study
Blog subscribers who win books this week
  • Tamra Higgs
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I give away free books each week.
Randomly selected subscribers to this free blog or to my free quarterly newsletter get the option of choosing my newest book: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible – among about half a dozen other titles.
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 "Why Grandpa feels antsy" by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Tuesday, 8 March 2016

"Why Grandpa feels antsy" by Stephen M. Miller

PREGNANT WITH EXPECTATION. There’s an addition coming to the family very soon. I’ve got my Grandpa handkerchief in my pocket and my camera batteries charged. Photo by bradfordst219, flickr, CC 2.
I’M KINDA NERVOUS.
I became a grandpa on December 30. A grandson, Owen. I’m gonna become a grandpa for the second time anytime now. A granddaughter I’m calling Patricia. We don’t know her name because my son and daughter-in-law are keeping it as a surprise. So I’m calling her Patricia because her due date was originally St. Patrick’s Day.
It’s biblical to name a child in connection with something related to the birth. You can see it in a short video I made recently: Naming Babies the Bible Way.
So why am I nervous? I’m not the one on the table. Nor is my wife – not this time.
Yet I actually feel more nervous than I remember being when either of our kids were born. I was relaxed enough to take pictures like I was shooting for National Geographic Magazine.
You’d think a daughter-in-law might feel more distant, more loosely connected to you, and less a part of your life.
I mean if we put her on a time card, she would certainly spend much more time with her friends and coworkers than she would with her father-in-law. As it should be.
Still, I wonder how many of her friends fill their eyeballs with running water when they pause to think about what’s coming very soon.
And I wonder how many of her colleagues find themselves stopping right in the middle of doing something, to pray for a healthy baby and a safe delivery.
And I wonder if any of them know ahead of time that they will melt when they first hold her little girl.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
Why would I feel more antsy, unsettled, and less focused these days than I did on the days just before my son was born?
I mean, for heaven’s sake, I’m writing a blog article about it because it’s hard to think of anything else.
Could it be that it’s because after my son was born I fell in love again? An irrational kind of love. Protective. Proud. Unshakable.
It’s a love that doesn’t go away. It doesn’t fade. On the contrary, it grows to embrace everything and everyone our child cares about. Wife. Children. Even the in-laws.
Is there such a thing as a friend who can love someone the way their parents do?
Maybe I’m being selfish.
Maybe I’m so on edge these days because it’s all about me since I know that when I’m dead and gone, the best thing I’ll leave behind is my son and his wife and their children, and my daughter and her husband and their children.
A Jewish songwriter put it this way: “Children are God’s best gift…his generous legacy” (Psalm 127:3).
When I have written my last word and my last book has gone out of print and my name has been lost to the Steve Miller Band, my children and my grandchildren will tell stories about me.
Maybe I will figure out the mystery of my nervousness later. For now, I’m finding it tough to figure out anything or to concentrate on anyone other than my very pregnant daughter-in-law, my son, and my coming granddaughter.
Tell me I’m normal.
For more about family
Free review books
If you haven’t gotten a free copy of a book from me before, and you live Stateside, I have some review copies of my newest release A Quick, Guided Tour Through the Bible.
Send me a note and as long as I have copies available, I’ll send you one at no cost to you.
I get author copies of books from my publishers, and I don’t sell them. I give them away to help get people into the Bible who might not otherwise go there.
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