Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

I am 22 years old now. You might say that I have been attending Baptist Churches for 22 years and 9 months. That is the kind of home I grew up in. We were at church every Sunday and Wednesday night, for as long as I can remember. My Grandpa was a Baptist minister; When he was a kid, his mother moved their family from Louisiana all the way to Waco, specifically so her kids could attend a Baptist college. That is how strong her belief in the Baptist faith was. So my family is deeply rooted in the Baptist tradition of faith, and so am I. Like my Grandfather, my Mother, my aunt, and numerous other relatives, I also attended Baylor University. There I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Film and Digital Media. I graduated last December and started Truett in the spring. In June I began working as a Youth Pastor at a Church near where I live. After Truett, I plan to go into the ministry in some form or fashion. I do not know if youth ministry is where I am going to be long term, but that is where God has me right now. So I hope that this class will help me to understand the Scriptures better and what they mean. Hopefully, this will transform my life and in turn I can better teach the scriptures to the students God has blessed our ministry with as well!

Welcome to Personal Learning Environments. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Welcome to Personal Learning Environments. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

The church I grew up in was a Southern Baptist church in Pittsburg, TX that gave me a strong foundation for my faith.  I attended college at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX.  During college, I was involved in a non-denominational church that held a similar theology and organizational structure to the Baptist church from home.  At this church I really learned how to dig in and study God’s word.   My husband and I currently attend Harris Creek Baptist Church.  We are involved in a small group on Sunday nights with other married couples from the church.  We serve by helping with preschool care on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. 

From Texas A&M I obtained my Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish.  I am currently working towards a Masters of Divinity in Missions and World Christianity at Truett. 

Our plans after Truett are not completely laid out just yet.  My husband and I both just want to serve the Lord wherever he leads us to go.  My personal calling is to serve in the area of missions.

As a Christian leader and minister my whole goal of attending Truett is to obtain more biblical knowledge to better equip me to disciple and serve people on all levels of biblical understanding.  I need to be intentional and diligent in studying the Bible to be able to teach it effectively to others.  Seminary has been a bit of an informational overload for me, but I always just think back to my main goal of wanting to know more than I do now.  So I may not be able to grasp or hold onto every bit of information from this class, but I expect that it will move me  closer to my goal of knowing and understanding more about the Bible.

Hello my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ:

I, Jermany Jamal Henry was raised and I  received my  spiritual education from both Baptist and Church of God in Christ denominations. I admire and I respect both denominations, soooo I consider myself a Bapti-Costal. I became a Christian and the age of 13,and on the same date I received my calling into the ministry June 10,1996. So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I been preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ for fithteen years now. And I came to Truett, because I believe that God himself has a higher calling of ministry on my life  and I believe that God wont’s me to learn  more about him  and his Holy Word from a in depth perspective that involves learning correct Doctrine and Theology of his Holy Word. After this semester, I hope to have learned the correct bibical infromation that I can share with others, that will help save souls, and inspire peoples lives for Christ. Future plans: If the Lord say the same and its in his will, after Truett I would like  to become bi-vocational where I’m Pastoring and Coaching sports at the same time. Until next time I send you my Blessings with God’s Grace and Peace.

I did the assigned reading for 1 and 2 Chronicles.  I thought it was very interesting that the chronicler painted a very flawless picture of David as opposed to the book of Samuel.  I think that it is interesting that we often refer to David as a man after God’s own heart, but we also preach the David and Bathsheba story.  Of all the crimes David committed, we still, at times consider him as a model of strong character.

1. What was the name of the priest who helped Joash ascend the throne and who then helped him restore the temple?  Jehoiada 2. On what site did David decide that the temple should be built?  The threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite

As I was reading through 1 and 2 Chronicles, I came across the story of a priest named Jehoiada who served as something of a spiritual advisor to Joash, King of Judah.  His story seemed especially appropriate to those involved in church work.  In 2 Chron. 24:2 we are told, “Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of the priest Jehoiada.”  During Jehoiada’s lifetime, he was able to have positive influence on the young King Joash.  In fact, it is amazing to see what Joash accomplished under Jehoiada’s tutelage.  The youg king reinstituted a Mosaic tax for the repair of the temple and then oversaw the process of reconstruction.  Though the restoration of the temple is a feat in itself, Joash was also able to levy the tax in a positive way through the use of his now famous collection boxes. 24:10 tells us, “All the leaders and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until it was full.”  Thus, Joash harnessed the good will of the people for a much needed renovation of the temple.  After this task was finished, the temple ran as it was designed, offering burnt offerings regularly.  This fact, however, is accompanied once again by the ominous note that this state of affairs lasted “all the days of Jehoiada”.

Then Jehoiada died, and things started going south.

In verses 17-18 the chronicler notes, “Now after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and did obeisance to the king; then the king listened to them.  They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and served the sacred poles and the idols.  And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.”  All of the progress to this point was put to a halt because the priest Jehoiada was no longer there to assert his influence.  In his absence, the king who had done so well under Jehoiada’s tutelage ran astray and took the entire nation with him.  And both he and the nation became objects of God’s wrath.

This to me is a parable for ministry.  We should strive for our influence to outlast our physical presence.  Indeed, we should seek to supplant our own influence with that of God himself in order that those whom we lead may follow something stronger than the forces of our personalities.  How to do this is, of course, up for debate.  But it should be pursued with diligence.  If it is not, we run the risk of leading people in postive directions while we are present while failing to equip them to continue in those positive directions in our absence.  It strikes me that the latter is the true test of our ministries.

As of 8/30/2009, I have completed the reading of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Why was Nehemiah, the cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes, afraid to answer the King when he asked Nehemiah what was troubling him?  The text words the Kings question like this: “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick?  This can only be a sadness of the heart.”