Blossoms in the Rain

 Good morning folks.  Today we go over the last part of this reading, which is the Cornerstone. I decided to leave this for a separate post because this part of these passages, frankly, confuses me. I put this off way too long, but I'm going to try to tackle it.  I somewhat understand the part about the rejected cornerstone becoming the capstone, but I don't understand the difference between the one who falls on it and the one who is crushed by it. By extension, I also don't know what that means for you and me in our current time and lives. This is where in-depth study and using your resources comes in. There's no shame in not understanding a passage, otherwise, what would I be learning? This is a place to dig in, use my resources if I hit a roadblock, and find out what it means. Will I always understand it correctly after studying it? No, but Lord willing, if I am wrong in my interpretation now, God will bring the correct answer to me in the future, either through some...

 Here is where I am going to consistently update what resources I use in my studies, and some background information on them. Feel free to look through these as you study the Word of God with me.  - Baker Commentary on the Bible: Based on the NIV:  This is a Bible commentary that I do not usually use. I grew up with it, but I have not been overly impressed with it as a commentary, and there are some things in this commentary that I do not agree with. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this as a primary commentary, but it is a fair commentary to use alongside other commentaries if you are wanting the opinions of multiple scholars. -Bible Gateway: Bible Gateway is an online resource for different translations of Scripture, which can be very helpful for Studying Scripture. It also has some commentaries and other resources, most of which can only be accessed if you subscribe and pay for a membership. I generally just use it for the various translations, as I don't have a big enoug...

 Hello, hello! I'm back again! I hope you are well!  This section of my study is focused on the three parallel accounts of this parable found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I may or may not include Jesus speaking of the Cornerstone in this reading. I'll see how much time it takes to get through these passages. Now, Matthew was an eye witness, and Mark and Luke obtained their information through other eyewitnesses, and faithfully recounted the details as they had been passed on to them. You might notice that some of the details vary between the Gospels in some of their recountings of what occurred, but don't let that be a discouragement, as it would be far more disturbing if they were exactly the same. When different people recount a story, there will always be minor differences between their accounts, as one will hear one thing that another might miss, another will notice something that the others did not think significant, and all three might omit things based on what their f...

My hubby and I have talked and he has asked that I share my Bible studies on my blog as I currently have some extra time to share it. While my hubby and I do have a Bible reading plan together, my own personal Bible study is on the life of Christ, going through the Gospels chronologically, which includes studying through the parallel accounts of events in Jesus' life. I may take a number of days going through a small section, or I might breeze through a few sections all together, there is not real time frame in which I study them.  I hope and pray that my studies may be a blessing to whomever stumbles across them. If you wish to discuss, comment, ask questions, or share your insights, I would gladly hear them. Please note: I am studying through an ESV John MacArthur Study Bible, and to save time, I am copying small passages from BibleGateway and pasting them here. As I use other study tools, I will reference them so anyone can follow along.  Context: The first rule of hermeneu...

A s I've been home, waiting for my new job to start tomorrow (yay!!!), I have been sharing tons of stuff on Facebook on what's going on with Israel and with Jews around the world, and I've started noticing, today and yesterday, a surprising increase in other smaller issues. As I've been sharing them, I keep waiting for more information on Israel, and it's not showing up in anything I'm looking at. It's like it's being systematically removed from the system, and replaced with these other concerns. It's like what happened with Hawaii; after a short period of outrage and upset, it got swept under the rug by other, lesser issues, and disappeared from the news, and thus, from people's attention. Please, let me remind you, that this is very much like what happened in WWII. There was, indeed, outrage at what happened to Jews initially, but the powers that be swept it out of the public eye, and as it fell out of the news, it stopped being opposed. That ...

  A few years ago, my pastor started a study on the life of Christ, called "The Harmony of the Gospels," wherein, he was expositing the four Gospel accounts chronologically. While events coincided so that he had to lay aside that particular study, I continued studying the life of Christ on my own and have been doing so for the past few years. In an effort to encourage other women in studying Scripture and perhaps give a little help to their studies, after discussing it with my husband, I have decided to share my studies here.  First, let me clarify a little bit of information before I continue, so that you and I are on the same page. This study is a chronological study through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, following the chronological reading plan designed by John MacArthur. I will be referencing different study books to help me in my study, and I intend to put a list of those resources up soon so you can obtain them for yourselves. This study I have primarily done from the E...