An Easy Bible Study in Revelation.

I have hidden your Word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11

Reading the Bible can be a daunting task.  When it comes to reading, picking up a great novel or reading my blog is so much easier.

Where to begin reading the Bible is only slightly less daunting.  Genesis (first book of the Old Testament) and Matthew (first book of the New Testament) are seemingly good places to start.  Randomly opening the Bible and reading where ever the pages lay can be fun and confusing.  Or following a reading plan can be helpful for those of us that need more direction. (I try to follow the LJRP.)

But if reading the Bible can be daunting, then studying the Bible can be intimidating.  Reading is one thing, understanding is something completely different.  Many of us feel ill-equipped to "study" the Bible let alone "understand" it.  So in an effort to be helpful, here is an easy Bible Study in Revelation.

Seven Churches in Revelation B.S. (Bible Study)

In Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, Jesus has something to say to 7 churches in the Roman province of Asia (modern day Turkey):
          The Church of Ephesus (2:1-7)
          The Church of Smyrna (2:8-11)
          The Church of Pergamum (2:12-17)
          The Church of Thyatira (2:18-29)
          The Church of Sardis (3:1-6)
          The Church of Philadelphia (3:7-13)
          The Church of Laodicea (3:14-22)

When reading any of the above verses for each church, keep these 5 questions in mind:
          1) What did Jesus say about himself?
          2) What did Jesus say as a word of encouragement?
          3) What did Jesus say as a word of rebuke (correction)?
          4) What did Jesus say would happen if the church repented (or overcame)?
          5) What did Jesus say would happen if the church didn't repent (or overcome)?

For example: The Church of Ephesus, Revelation Chapter 2 Verses 1 through 7.

To the Church of Ephesus--

(1)"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: (2)I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. (3)You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. (4)Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. (5)Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (6)But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (7)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

what did Jesus say about himself?  "These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands."

 

what did Jesus say as an encouragement? "I know your deeds, your hardwork and your perseverance."

 

what did Jesus say as a rebuke (correction)? "You have forsaken your first love."

 

what did Jesus say if they repented (or overcame)? "I will give you the right to eat from the tree of life."

 

what did Jesus say if they didn't repent (or overcome)? "I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."

 

 

Try asking these questions for the other 6 churches.  Sometimes Jesus doesn't have something bad to say, and sometimes Jesus doesn't have something good to say.  But overall this can be a quick and easy study of the Bible.  You may discover you have further questions when you read, like: What does the lampstand mean anyway?  If you do, ask them in a comment, and maybe I can answer it for you.  Or you can go to StudyLight.org as a helpful resource.

 

One last question.  Does anything Jesus is saying to these churches feel like something he might be saying to you?  Let me know in the comments and maybe we can encourage and pray for eachother.

A few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad.

I simply remember my favorite things!
And then I don't feel so bad.

(The Bible and Jesus)

(and Daddy Jehovah)

αβάς     יהוה

(Mandy)

(and Anna. Miriam, Caleb, and Micah)

(All of my family and past gatherings)

These are a few of my favorite things.


(Hanging with friends)

http://www.facebook.com/mandyhalverson#!/video/video.php?v=378785468418

(and cool things on Youtube)



(Failblog and Cracked)

Failblog.org
Cracked.com

(and pwning a CoD N3WB)




(Great movies and stories)

(and video games)




These are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad.


I simply remember my favorite things!
And then I don't feel so bad.

*'s or ()'s? That is the question.

There are many odd things about the English language.  Some even consider it one of the most complicated and difficult languages to learn.  In addition to confusing rules and homophones, there is the consideration of punctuation.

Without googling it ... can you name all of the punctuation marks?  (See below for the answers* and tell me how many you guessed correctly in the comments).

This post, however, is going to address asterisks (versus parentheses).  My sister (Laura) recently requested I refrain from the usage of asterisks.  My understanding (correct me if I am wrong) is that they were causing her fingers to get tired (silly Mac).  But it occured to me if anyone else were to read this blog, would they also tire of scrolling?  So please, before you scroll or tire of scrolling and thereby tire of my posts ... consider the following.



Asterisks are voluntary.  You don't have to scroll.  Parentheses further or qualify my thoughts, but asterisks take them somewhere else, sometimes completely unrelated**.  I once said, "asterisks do for the writer what can seldom be done for the speaker."  There are many of us who think tangently, and can easily get side tracked from our thought process, and, when speaking, may never get back to the main point at hand.  With asterisks, I can save you the trouble of following those additional thoughts (unless you want to).

Asterisks are enhancing.  They add to the quality of what you are reading.  If you are even reading a post in my blog, I assume you've come here of your own volition.  Which, I also assume, means you are interested in the content.  So it is my responsibilty to enhance your experience as much as possible.  My parenthitical remarks, I feel, are necessary to expound within context, whereas asterisks are indepentant (though sometimes related) thoughts and can take an article to places that ultimately enhance your reading***.

Asterisks are expressive.  I can share so much more within the confines of this post.  When I say, "asterisks are enhancing," I refer to your benefit.  However, when I say, "asterisks are expressive," I refer to my benefit.  I can have a lot to say.  One could argue, that is the very reason one blogs.  To get their thoughts out their head****.  When I can successfully express portions of a thought (no matter how tangent), I feel satisified I got some of it out.



So please, consider the above when encountering my asterisks.  They are voluntary, you don't have to scroll down, or even read them when you reach the bottom of a post. But you may miss an enhanced experience of an article that you are choosing to read. But ultimately, I use asterisks to express myself and further my thoughts. You could say my entire blog is an asterisk.




____________________
*did you scroll down here without even trying? When you are ready for the answer, highlight the rest of this sentence: This site offers 14: the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipses (an asterisk is not a punctuation mark). Some sites also include slash and backslash, and distinguish between single and double quotation marks as well as suggest an underline and underscore as punctuation.

**like this.

***please refer to "asterisks are voluntary".

****writing about asterisks is a personal expression, not necessarily beneficial to society at large.

My Eyebrows Are Broken.

It's true.  My eyebrows do not do what they are supposed to do.

As you know, and Dictionary.com* confirms, an eyebrow is 1) the arch or ridge forming the upper part of the orbit of the eye and/or 2) the fringe of hair growing on this arch or ridge.

But more importantly than what an eyebrow is ... is its purpose.  An eyebrow performs two major functions:  communication and protection.  In regards to communication, eyebrows play a large part in our facial expressions as well as identification**.  This is not the purpose I refer to when I say, "My eyebrows are broken."  If you've ever spoken with me face to face you may have noticed I am a very animated speaker.  Facial expressions with eyebrow functionality.  No, I refer to protection.
 
Some suggest the primary purpose of our eyebrows is to protect our eyes.  To protect them from sweat and water.  Mine don't.
 
I have never really liked being in water (or drinking it for that matter***).  In fact, I used to say about swimming or taking a shower, "The worst part is getting wet."  I have been known to skip a shower so as not to get wet.  And I would only go swimming if I had no reasonable excuse not to (apparently, "I hate getting wet," is an unreasonable excuse).
 
Only recently have I been able to articulate the problem.  It isn't so much I don't like getting wet (which was my presumption all along), as it is I don't like getting water in my eyes.  I had this epiphany when we were playing in the ocean near Lahaina with the Grays (summer '09).  Between the salt water, sunscreen and sweat, my eyes were stinging and blurry the entire time.  I kept having to go back to my towel to wipe them, only to do it again moments later.  But it wasn't until my parents were visiting this last February ('10) that I finally said my conclusion out loud, "I think my eyebrows are broken."  This proclamation was met by silence and stares (presumable at my eyebrows).  Who better to suggest my theory than to my own parents?  (Too late to wonder if it would insult them****.)
 
Since living in Hawaii, I have become acutely aware of this problem.  Between living in the middle of the ocean (salt water is the worst), being in the constant heat (I am a head sweater) and showering everyday (I interact with customers daily), I can't help but notice my eyebrows do not do what they are supposed to do.  Sweat and water get into my eyes.  My eyebrows are failing me, failing my eyes.
 
So now you know.  My eyebrows do not protect my eyes from sweat or water.  My conclusion, therefore, is they must be broken.  Well, it is either that, or my forehead is too high.  Hmm.  Maybe the sweat or water cascades down my forehead gaining more and more speed only to meet my eyebrows like tsunami crashing into a breakwater ...... oh dear.








____________________
*if you clicked on this link and read the definitions ... did you wonder, as I did, why "kicker" was included amongst the definitions for "eyebrow"?

**there is an interesting article about eyebrows being more useful than eyes for identification.  In short, 46% of subjects were able to identify a well known person with there eyebrows edited out of a picture versus 60% when the eyes were edited out.

***drinking water can give me heart burn.

****because they're my parents.  Get it?  It would be their fault if my eyebrows were broken. haha. erm.

Mandy and I are not compatible.

In my life, the Myers-Briggs personality test has reared its head again.


Our church pastors have been encouraging the congregation to know more about themselves. How God has created them. Spiritual tests and Personality tests are good tools towards that end. More of a guideline, really.


You can go to mypersonality.info and take a test for yourself.


Personality profiles are nothing new to me.  I vaguely recall a test where you could be an otter. And another test the church I grew up in used that plotted you as a Dynamic, Itrovert, Common Sense or something that started with an "A".  But periodically you are around people who are going through one, and everyone wants to know what yours is.

We had some friends over Sunday after church. Playing games, eating food, talking story. Our pastor came by around dinner time to hang out for a bit. And the conversation turned to personality types. I wasn't directly involved, I was having guitar battles in Guitar Hero III. But Mandy was, and I got the jist of the coversation.


People were offering their personality types. "I'm an IBST." "Wow, I'm a USUK." "Really, I'm an OHJY." It was all very confusing. And when asked what we were, neither Mandy nor I could answer the question. (How embarassing) "Um, I'm an OTTR?"


After cleaning up and getting ready for bed, I was ready to wind down by saving humanity (Mass Effect 2). Mandy was ready to take the test. So she did. You can read her results here. Since I was scanning planets* (Really Bioware? EVERY SINGLE PLANET!?!), Mandy helped me take mine.  You can see the results here.

I am an INTP - The "Engineer".  Mandy is an ESFJ - The "Supporter".  And according to every website that you search we are not compatible.  In fact, we both fall into eachother's LEAST compatible with category.  But all I see when you combine our personality types is "NEST" or "FIT" or "FJINSTEP"**.

Mandy, you are the love of my life.  You are my perfect fit.  And if compatible means, "not capable of existing or living together in harmony," then this test may be right.  Fjinstep.








____________________
*apparently scanning planets is important to saving humanity.

** Fjinstep, which you'll probably recall, is Norwegian for "I claim you, you claim me!"