Journey to The Journey

For the next 5 weeks at The Journey we're going to be dissecting each line of this prayer to get at the root of what prayer is to be. I believe that understanding this prayer can revamp and re-energize your prayer life because it's so rich in meaning. Prayer has a purpose and when you latch onto it you'll be different. Failure to understand prayers role in your faith will deprive you of one of the most necessary components of faith itself.

Don't let this book's position in the Bible fool you, there's more to Amos than you may realize. Amos is located in a section of your Bible known as the "writing prophets" or to label it as Jesus did "the prophets" (Matthew 5:17, Luke 24:27). Now typically when we think of Old Testament prophetic books the big-dogs come to mind like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel (the major prophets). Beyond those major prophets are twelve smaller prophetic books (Hosea - Malachi) known as the minor prophets, they're labeled "minor" ONLY because of the length of their books in comparison to the larger major prophets. In fact, the Hebrew Bible lumps all of these minor prophets into one book called "Book of the Twelve."

The resources below are books that have read or I am currently reading in preparation for our upcoming series over the 5 Solas of the Reformation. In a nutshell, the 5 Solas were the mantra of the Reformation, which was an effort to return to biblical Christianity.

On November 23rd we're starting a new teaching series through the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes! This peculiar book will have you experiencing the complete gamut of human emotion. The feelings expressed in Ecclesiastes are raw, real and at times will leave you scratching your head in despair. In fact, due to the perplexity of its content many over the years have wondered why this book is even in the bible.

Calvinism cannot be summed up in it's entirety with 5 points. Nevertheless, the 5 points of Calvinism are critically important to understanding the depths of God's amazing grace as taught in Scripture. No matter if you want to deepen your understanding of these 5 points for growth or refutation (if that's your pleasure), I'd highly recommend this quick, simple 100 page read.

Below are 6 commentaries I'm currently working through or referencing while teaching through Revelation as well as links to other end-time resources that have inspired me over the past year. These aren't necessarily in any specific order as I've used them all fairly equally thus far.

Roughly 9 months ago in preparation for our study over the book of Revelation I started reading books regarding various Christian views on Scriptures dealing with the end-times. Over that span of time I've blogged book reviews in an effort to be able to promote/recommend worthwhile readings for those who may want to dig a little deeper while we're in Revelation. With that said, this is the last end-time review before the Revelation series begins this March. However, at some point after the series kicks off I'll blog about my primary commentary & teaching resources that I'll be using while teaching through Revelation.

When I get the chance I've found that I really enjoy blogging about resources that I use to teach and preach. There are so many great God-honoring resources out there on John and I can't help but want to share those blessings with others in the hope that they would be encouraged in that same way I feel like I have been. Probably the biggest blessings to me while teaching through John has been finding out that people in my own congregation have been picking up some of these resources and studying for themselves the riches of wisdom inspired by John.

The section of this book that interested me the most was Part 2 where Riddlebarger discusses how one is to interpret Old Testament prophecies in light of what New Testament authors say about them.

There is NEVER a point in your life in which God's grace shouldn't SHOCK you! Author Tullian Tchividjian not only has a ridiculous amount of consonants in his last name but also delivers a message that so many people are desperate to hear.