Gospel of John Class

For my last course at Pacific Rim Christian College, I will teach a Gospel of John class (my area of specialty) at the beginning of the summer. It will be an intensive course for only two weeks, May 24-June 4, 9:00-1:00 every day. It can be taken as a graduate or undergraduate level course (with different assignments depending on level), or you can audit it for about half price.

It is only a few weeks away, so if you want to take the class, call up the registrar at Pac Rim (853-1040).

The picture: 12th century manuscript (codex 666) of the Gospel of John. The title is in the older majuscule style (all caps), while the text is in miniscule (cursive).

NT Survey Class at BIH

I will be teaching a short New Testament Survey Course for the Bible Institute of Hawaii (BIH) in April and May. The class will meet weekly on Thursdays from 7-9 at Kalihi Union Church. Details are available in the flyer above, and you can register (for only $40!) at the BIH website.

New Podcast

I have a new sermon podcasted in the "Eutychus' Podcasts" section in the right column of this blog. I preached on Exodus 34 / 2 Corinthians 3 on Feb 15, 2009 at Hope Chapel West Oahu. DJ Garces and I worked on the sermon outline together; if you would like to hear his sermon, it is posted here along with other HCWO sermons.

New Podcast

I spoke recently on the topic of how to interpret the Bible at New Hope's Doing Church As a Team Conference. You can access the podcast under "Eutychus' Podcasts" at right.

Radio Interviews

Last week, I recorded two radio interviews with Keli'i Akina, host of YFC for Parents. They will be aired on KGU 760AM on Tuesday, January 20th and Tuesday, January 27th at 6:00pm. They will be re-aired on Saturday, January 24th and Saturday, January 31st at 5:00pm. They will also be available as podcasts (see the right margin of this blog for podcasts).

On both shows, Keli'i and I discussed a passage of Scripture and talked about how to interpret. During the first interview, we talked about John 21 and the common misconceptions among Christians about the Greek words agape and phileo. In the second interview, we looked at the call of Abraham in Genesis 12.

I will be speaking at some of the services at my home church, Hope Chapel West Oahu, on February 14-15. DJ Garces will do the other services. We will be speaking from the book of Exodus. I will also podcast that sermon.

Salvation in Luke's Christmas (Luke 1, Luke 2)

This weekend, I will be giving the sermons at my church, Hope Chapel West Oahu. For the three weeks before Christmas, we are (very roughly) following the outline of Rick Warren's new book, The Purpose of Christmas. This week, the sermon title is Christmas is a Time for Salvation, and I will be preaching mainly from Luke 1-2. As I studied, I was impressed with the amount of references to salvation in Luke's birth narrative.

Notice these lines from Mary, Zechariah, the angel, Simeon and Anna:

• And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46-47)
• His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David… salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— (Luke 1:67-71)
• to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. (Luke 1:74-75)
• And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins… (Luke 1:76-77)
• But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)
• And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him... Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:25, 28-30)
• At that very moment [Anna] came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Salvation is a central theme in Luke's story of the birth of Jesus. Jesus is the "horn of salvation" and even salvation itself - and of course, Jesus' name means "salvation."

Zechariah talked about both salvation from enemies and from sin. In most of the NT, the emphasis is on deliverance from sin - in fact, sin is the enemy from which Jesus delivers us. The salvation that Jesus brings is also salvation to something - Zechariah rejoices that we are saved "to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness." This is good to remember today - the message of salvation is not only deliverance from sin and its consequences but deliverance to a life of positive righteousness and usefulness to God.

Here, at the beginning of Luke, the emphasis is on salvation for Israel: "redeemed his people," "redemption of Jerusalem," "consolation of Israel." The angel's message is "good news for all the people" - but "people" (laos in Greek) refers to the nation of Israel, not the whole world. Luke doesn't leave out Gentiles (Jesus is "a light to the Gentiles," according to Simeon), but he downplays them at the beginning of his gospel. Luke raises the profile of Gentiles slowly in his story, culminating with his focus on Paul's mission to the Gentiles in the second half of Acts.

The picture: The Nativity, by Martin Schongauer, 1470s.

More Preaching

I am speaking at Mililani Community Church on Sunday, June 29, 10:15 am. The sermon will be on Eutychus in Acts 20:7-12 (of course!), and the title is "Eutychus Rising: The Church as it Ought to be." Actually, I have never given a sermon on this passage, so this will be a first. I will also be teaching at their adult Sunday School class (9:15 am) on the topic of Challenges to Faith, in which I will address some of the major controversies concerning Jesus and the Scriptures in the last two years.

I will also be speaking at Kailua Baptist Church on Sunday, July 6, at 10:00 am. Same sermon! But probably a little better second time around.

I'll try to have the sermon podcasted as soon as the church I am visiting posts it (see podcasts at right).

Preaching on the Exodus

I will be preaching this Sunday, May 14, at Hope Chapel West Oahu, at the 7:45 and 11:00 services. We are still in the series "Against All Odds," and this week's sermon will be on Exodus 14-15, the parting of the Red Sea. Service information and the podcast can be found on our church website.

Update, thanks to Anonymous: Oops... May 18, not 14.

Josiah Sermon - correction

I know a few of you were planning on hearing me preach this weekend. There is a correction to my preaching times. I will preach at 7:45 am at our Waikele site, and then at 10:00 am at our Mililani site. You can get directions to both sites at our church website.

Note: The podcast is now available at the above website.

Josiah Sermon

This coming weekend, April 12-13, I will be preaching at my home church, Hope Chapel West Oahu, at 6:00 pm Saturday, and 9:00 and 11:00 am Sunday. Sumo Sato, our associate pastor, will be preaching at the other services. The series is "Against All Odds" and I will be preaching on the life of King Josiah from 2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chronicles 34-35. All of our sermons are available for listening or download on the church website.

Romans 1 Radio Show

I was a guest on Keli'i Akina's radio show, YFC for Parents, as I mentioned last week. The first week aired this evening, and both shows are now available here.

Romans 1 Radio Show

Today I had the pleasure of being a guest on a local radio show, YFC for Parents. I have known Keli'i Akina, the host, since my days in Youth For Christ twenty years ago. Keli'i asked me to come on the show and talk through a passage of Scripture together. The goal was to show how we can interpret Scripture and how we can talk together about its meaning and application. Keli'i decided to pick a passage just before we recorded so that we could talk through it without formal preparation. We both thought the discussion was profitable, but I would love to hear your feedback, since we are considering doing more shows like it.

If you would like to hear the show, it will be broadcast in two parts on KGU 760. The first should be Tuesday, April 1st at 6:00 pm, and the second on on Tuesday April 8, at 6:00 pm. It will also be available in a month or so as a podcast here. (By the way, I am not in the picture - but Keli'i is the one on the right)