Category Archives: Uncategorized

Blog Orientation for New Readers and Old Friends

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

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I try to run this article every so often to orient new followers (and old friends who haven’t yet explored all the nooks and crannies of the blog) to the various features and information available here. I hope you’ll find these resources helpful.

Welcome Tab If you haven’t had a chance to read the Welcome- Start Here tab at the top of this page, it’s a good way to get acclimated to the blog quickly. You’ll learn some fast facts about me, my comment and e-mail policies, and more.

Comments, E-mails, Social Media Messages If you’ve sent me an e-mail and I haven’t responded or you’ve posted a comment on one of my articles and I haven’t published it, this is why: E-mail, Messages, and Blog Comments Policy 

The search bar is your friend. If you want to know my take on something or whether I’ve written on a particular person or topic, the search bar is the best place to start and much faster than e-mailing or messaging me. It’s located at the top of this page immediately to the right of the blog title. 

The tabs at the top are your friends, too. The tabs at the top of the blog are designed to provide quick information to many of the questions I’m most frequently asked. 

“What do you think of Teacher X?” Probably the largest volume of questions I get is readers wanting to know my take on particular teachers and ministries. I would love to be able to respond immediately to each one, but it takes a tremendous amount of time to research these folks. Because I know you need answers right away, and because every Christian should know how to research teachers for herself (you should never just blindly take anyone’s word {including mine} that someone is a false teacher), if you can’t find the information you’re looking for on a certain teacher at the Popular False Teachers tab at the top of this page or by using the search bar, I’ve written this article to help you research teachers for yourself: Is She a False Teacher? 7 Steps to Figuring it Out on Your Own

“Discernment is for doody-heads!” I understand it’s not easy to be told that a pastor/teacher/author you’ve grown to love is a false teacher. I’ve been in that position myself. But Christians are people of the Book. That means we measure everything by Scripture, not by our personal preferences, feelings, or opinions. I’ve written numerous articles on teachers and ministries which can be found under the Popular False Teachers tab (and, just a few of the many awesome teachers out there are under the Recommended Bible Teachers tab). I don’t warn against false teachers because I’m a hater. I do it because it’s Scriptural and because I love the Christian women who are being victimized – often without even knowing it – by false teachers. I tend to hear the same objections to my discernment articles over and over and over again. Answering the Opposition- Responses to the Most Frequently Raised Discernment Objections answers, from Scripture, the objections people raise to my discernment articles. (I don’t answer e-mails or publish comments that are answered by this article.)

Searching for a new church? It can be really hard to find a doctrinally sound church these days, and I’d like to do everything I can to help. Check out the Searching for a new church? tab at the top of this page. You’ll find tons of resources on what to look for in a good church, several church search engines, and churches recommended by readers.

Church Ladies Complementarianism can be difficult to navigate in a feminist world and an increasingly feminist church. You might find my Rock Your Role article series helpful, since it deals with the Scriptures governing women’s roles in the church. I keep Rock Your Role FAQs updated, so long time readers might be interested in giving that one a re-read.

Financial Support I don’t receive any income or compensation from blogging. But if you or your family have been blessed by my work and you’d like to be a blessing to me and my family in return on an ongoing, occasional, or one time basis, please click here.

Speaking Engagements/Podcasts I’d love to come speak at your Christian women’s conference, to the ladies of your church, or on your Christian podcast. Check out my Speaking Engagements tab for more information. I’ve got lots of open slots on my calendar, so check it out and drop me an e-mail.

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The Word on Wednesdays

21 Wednesday Aug 2019

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Hi ladies! I hope you enjoyed our most recent Bible study, 1&2 Timothy: The Structure and Spirit of the Church, which we wrapped up recently.

I’ve been taking a break on Wednesdays, getting ready for our new study. I hope you’ll enjoy it and that it will edify you as you seek to grow in Christ and His Word. (The picture above does not mean we will be studying James. :0) I really had planned to start our new study last week, but I’ve had a family situation come up unexpectedly that I need to devote some time and attention to, and that has to come first. My new plan is to start our new study next week- August 28.

So, if you haven’t quite finished with the 1&2 Timothy study, you can use this time to finish up, and I’ll also be posting some articles from the archives that I think you’ll find helpful as we make our way toward our next study. Here is this week’s article:

sunday school

Sunday School: Chronological Study Lessons

During 2014, I led my ladies’ Sunday School class in a chronological read-through of the entire Bible. Each week I taught a lesson from that week’s reading and posted it here on the blog.

If you’re using the chronological one year Bible reading plan this year, here’s the lesson that roughly corresponds with this week’s reading. (And even if you’re not, I hope you’ll enjoy this lesson anyway.)

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 34 ~ Aug. 17-23
Jeremiah 35-50, Psalm 74, 79, 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36, Habakkuk
Idolatry: No Turning Back

idolatry

Background:
Israel is gone, carried off into captivity by Assyria. Judah has managed to hang on a little longer, due in part to Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s godliness, but, now, Nebuchadnezzar has besieged and overthrown the last of Judah’s fortified cities, slaughtered the king and the nobles, and carried nearly all the citizens off to a 70 year exile in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar left a small remnant of the poorest of the poor to continue living in Judah to work the land, and set up Gedaliah as governor over them. Gedaliah was subsequently assassinated by the Ammonites, and the remnant decided -against God’s clear instruction through Jeremiah- to go to Egypt, and to force Jeremiah to go with them. This is where we now find them in chapter 44…Continue reading.

The Word on Wednesdays

14 Wednesday Aug 2019

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Hi ladies! I hope you enjoyed our most recent Bible study, 1&2 Timothy: The Structure and Spirit of the Church, which we wrapped up recently.

I’ve been taking a break on Wednesdays, getting ready for our new study. I hope you’ll enjoy it and that it will edify you as you seek to grow in Christ and His Word. (The picture above does not mean we will be studying James. :0) I really had planned to start our new study today, but I’ve had a family situation come up unexpectedly that I need to devote some time and attention to, and that has to come first. My new plan is to start our new study two weeks from today on August 28.

So, if you haven’t quite finished with the 1&2 Timothy study, you can use this time to finish up, and I’ll also be posting some articles from the archives that I think you’ll find helpful as we make our way toward our next study. Here is this week’s article:

Wednesday’s Word

Wednesday is Bible study day here on the blog. In my Wednesday’s Word study, you’ll find miscellaneous, one lesson Bible studies from each book of the Bible. One chapter of Scripture followed by study questions. This sampler series demonstrates that there’s nothing to be afraid of when approaching those “lesser known” books and that every book of the Bible is valuable and worth studying.

Wednesday’s Word ~ Obadiah

obadiah 4

 

The vision of Obadiah.

Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:
We have heard a report from the Lord,
    and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
2 Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
    you shall be utterly despised.

 Keep reading…

The Word on Wednesdays

07 Wednesday Aug 2019

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Hi ladies! I hope you enjoyed our most recent Bible study, 1&2 Timothy: The Structure and Spirit of the Church, which we wrapped up recently.

I’ve been taking a break on Wednesdays, getting ready for our new study. I hope you’ll enjoy it and that it will edify you as you seek to grow in Christ and His Word. (The picture above does not mean we will be studying James. :0)

So, if you haven’t quite finished with the 1&2 Timothy study, you can use this time to finish up, and I’ll also be posting some articles from the archives that I think you’ll find helpful as we make our way toward our next study. Here is this week’s article:

sunday school

Sunday School: Chronological Study Lessons

During 2014, I led my ladies’ Sunday School class in a chronological read-through of the entire Bible. Each week I taught a lesson from that week’s reading and posted it here on the blog.

If you’re using the chronological one year Bible reading plan this year, here’s the lesson that roughly corresponds with this week’s reading. (And even if you’re not, I hope you’ll enjoy this lesson anyway.)

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 32 ~ Aug. 3-9
2 Chronicles 32-35, Nahum, 2 Kings 22-23, Zephaniah, Jeremiah 1-9
Jeremiah and His Message

Background:

Hezekiah to Josiah (2 Kings 21:11)
As you will recall, Judah had had a good king in Hezekiah. He had done his best to do away with idol worship and re-institute the proper worship of Yahweh. But outward reforms cannot change individual hearts, and idolatry was already so entrenched in Judah that when Hezekiah died, the people quickly turned back to their old ways under Hezekiah’s son Manasseh…Continue reading.

The Rundown on Project Breakdown

06 Tuesday Aug 2019

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For those of y’all with a keen eye and a good memory, you might remember that, back in January, I announced that what I’m calling “Project Breakdown” would be commencing. Then, a few weeks later, for reasons I can’t go into right now, I had to suspend the project, announcing that I would start it back up at a later date. Well, I’ve been trying to get back to it all summer, but other things kept getting in the way. But finally that “later date” has arrived, so here’s a refresher on what you’re going to see here on the blog until the project is complete.

Basically, Project Breakdown is just blog housekeeping. You might be familiar with volumes 1, 2, and 3 of my article The Mailbag: Do you recommend these teachers/authors? Each article contains a brief write-up on about ten teachers, for a total of nearly thirty.

I’ve decided to break these lists down into a single article for each teacher in order to make things more user friendly for those who need to present information on a certain teacher to a friend or pastor. There are also one or two teachers whose information I’m going to remove from the blog simply because they’re not very well known and nobody is asking about them.

So, until I get this done, you’re going to start seeing articles on false teachers popping up here and there on (most likely) Tuesdays and/or Fridays. You might see the article and think to yourself, “Haven’t I already read this?”. Yes, you probably have. Most of the content will not be new. I’ll essentially be copying and pasting information from the original articles (volumes 1, 2, and 3) to individual posts. However, since some of these write ups are approaching three years old, I’ll be doing a minor “check up” on the content of each and adding/deleting/updating anything I feel is necessary.

Prior to suspending Project Breakdown, I was able to complete articles on Jennifer Kennedy Dean, Lisa Harper, and Karen Kingsbury.

Due to Lisa Harper’s growing popularity, I have already had to go back and update the article on her, so I would encourage you to re-read it, especially if your church is considering using her materials (which I would strongly caution against). I have also written up an in depth critique of the first session of her study, Job: A Story of Unlikely Joy, and linked the critique to that article.

I hope you’ll find this little project of mine to be helpful as you research various teachers. It’s my plan to add some new articles on teachers to avoid either during or after this project.

The Word on Wednesdays

31 Wednesday Jul 2019

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Hi ladies! I hope you enjoyed our most recent Bible study, 1&2 Timothy: The Structure and Spirit of the Church, which we wrapped up recently.

I’ll be taking a little break for the next few Wednesdays, getting ready for our new study. I hope you’ll enjoy it and that it will edify you as you seek to grow in Christ and His Word. (The picture above does not mean we will be studying James. :0)

So, for the next few Wednesdays, anyone who isn’t quite finished with the 1&2 Timothy study can use that time to finish up, and I’ll also be posting some articles from the archives that I think you’ll find helpful as we make our way toward our next study. Here are this week’s articles:

Bible Study Articles and Resources

Did you know that there are lots of resources here on the blog to help you out as you study the Bible? Below are a few favorites. Click on the link above for more.

The Mailbag: Which Bible Do You Recommend?

The Mailbag: How can I get started studying the Bible itself?

Nine Helps for Starting and Sticking to Daily Bible Study

10 Simple Steps to Plain Vanilla Bible Study

Rightly Dividing: 12 Do’s and Don’ts for Effective Bible Study

Bible Book Backgrounds: Why You Need Them and Where to Find Them

The Mailbag: As a newly doctrinally sound Christian, should I stop journaling?

(Taking notes on the text of Scripture.)

I’m so glad you want to study God’s Word, and I’m excited about our new study that’s coming up. Stay tuned!

The Word on Wednesdays

24 Wednesday Jul 2019

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Hi ladies! I hope you enjoyed our most recent Bible study, 1&2 Timothy: The Structure and Spirit of the Church, which we wrapped up last week.

I’ll be taking a little break for the next few Wednesdays, getting ready for our new study. I hope you’ll enjoy it and that it will edify you as you seek to grow in Christ and His Word. (The picture above does not mean we will be studying James. :0)

So, for the next few Wednesdays, anyone who isn’t quite finished with the 1&2 Timothy study can use that time to finish up, and I’ll also be posting some articles from the archives that I think you’ll find helpful as we make our way toward our next study. Those articles are forthcoming, but first, a little refresher on the way my Bible studies work:

The studies I’ve written are like “training wheels”. They’re designed to teach you how to study the Bible for yourself and what kinds of questions to ask of the text so that, when you get the hang of it, you won’t have to depend on other people’s books and materials – even mine – any more. To that end:

I do not make recommendations for Bible study books or materials other than the Bible itself.

I do not provide answers for the study questions in the studies I’ve written.

All of the studies I’ve written are suitable for groups or individuals. You are welcome to use them as a Sunday school or Bible study class curriculum (for free) with proper attribution.

You are also welcome to print out any of my Bible studies (or any article I’ve written) for free and make as many copies as you’d like, again, with proper attribution. I’ve explained more about that in this article (3rd section).

I’m so glad you want to study God’s Word, and I’m excited about our new study that’s coming up. Stay tuned!

Hurricane Barry

14 Sunday Jul 2019

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Hi, friends. I wanted to send out a brief heads up and a prayer request. As you might have heard on the news, Hurricane Barry is impacting south Louisiana. As of Saturday morning (7/13), when I’m writing this, the models (see above) have the track skirting to the west of Baton Rouge, where I live, but they are still predicting 10-15 inches of rain.

Saturday 10:00 a.m.:

Everybody in my area would greatly appreciate your prayers. The main concern is flooding, since the Mississippi River has been at flood stage for so long. Additionally, we had a major flood in 2016 – to which the Amite River (see pic above) was a major contributor – and a few people in this area still aren’t back in their homes from that. (The Amite is just a couple of miles from me. The Mississippi is 15ish miles from me.)

Sunday 11:30 a.m. Update: Barry has finally arrived and brought some rain with him, but, to be honest, we’ve had regular thunderstorms that have been worse. The only way this storm seems different is the occasional minor gust of wind. We did have 3 or 4 tornado warnings about 90 minutes ago (after, of course, I sent my 19 year old to the store for a gallon of milk for breakfast! Mom of the year, here.) I don’t know if any actually materialized or touched down, but we didn’t see any if they did. A few twigs and sticks have fallen out of our trees.

If you caught the Fox News report on Barry from Baton Rouge this morning, why weren’t you at church? :0) Anyway the reporter was standing on the (Mississippi) river side of the levee and you could see that the water level was up past the tree line. That’s not because of the hurricane. That’s because the river has been at flood stage for a while. It has looked like that for weeks. That’s good news because that’s the most dramatic shot they could find to get on camera. So far we haven’t heard of any flooding in my immediate area, and they have re-forecast the crest of the Amite River at Denham Springs (see pic above) to 24 feet which is below flood stage.

At my house, we still have power and internet. Our satellite has gone out, but if you have satellite TV, you know that it goes out any time it rains anyway. Hopefully, Barry is on his way out like an unwelcome house guest. :0)

The heads up part is that the winds and flooding may cause us to lose power, so if you don’t see me blogging as usual this week, it’s not that I suddenly became a millionaire and ran off to Hawaii. :0) I’ll be back as soon as power is restored and things are settled down.

This week’s Mailbag article is already pre-scheduled and coming your way tomorrow.

Blessings to you and thanks for your prayers.

What’s Our Next Bible Study?

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Ladies, as our study of 1 & 2 Timothy draws to a close over the next couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about our next Bible study. I’ve narrowed it down to two options, but I wanted to get your input as to which one you’re up for. Or down with. Or whatever. The two options are:

A topical study on prayer
My thought here is to study about 5 to 10 prayers from various Bible characters, Old and New Testament, to learn more about prayer and how to strengthen our prayer lives. For example, the Lord’s Prayer, Solomon’s prayer for wisdom, etc.

An expositional study of a New Testament book
Similar to the 1 & 2 Timothy study, my study on Mark, and so on. I’m leaning toward Galatians or Philippians, but I’m not 100% settled on a particular book yet.

We will most likely do both of these studies, it’s just a question of which one to do next.

Here’s where y’all come in! Leave a comment below and let me know two things:

1. Which study would you like to do next?

2.a. If you prefer the prayer study, what are some prayers from the Old or New Testament that you’d like to see included?

2.b. If you prefer the expositional book study, which book of the New Testament would you like to study? (We have already done Mark, Colossians, 1&2 Timothy, 1, 2 & 3 John, Philemon, and Jude)

I’ll take everybody’s input into consideration, pray about it, and let you know soon what our next study will be!