Deus Misereatur

Every month I gather with some Oklahoma City area pastors from different denominations: other kinds of Presbyterians, Nazarenes, Calvary Chapel guys, Baptists, Methodists and Disciples of Christ. We talk about what's going on in our particular worlds - family, church and community - and then we spend time praying for each other. Today (4 January 2017) our congregation hosted the monthly prayer gathering. And so I thought I'd take our prayer time in a slightly different direction, and I wrote out what's in the photo at the top on a whiteboard. Our answers to these questions were encouraging, personal and very much about the progression of Christ's Gospel. This got me to thinking about 2017, and how to pray forward into this year. Therefore, I've printed out a copy of this photo and have put my answers underneath it, and will use it as I pray all through 2017. This got me thinking about you. Here are some suggestions that might be a help for you: Print out t...

Shaolin Long Fist Kung Fu 4-DVD Set Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming and Nicholas C. Yang YMAA Publication Center, Inc. PO Box 480 Wolfeboro, NH 03894 ISBN: 9780940871633; 9781594391071; 9781594393021; 9781594392313; $169.99 5 stars of 5 Historical and Instructional Where does a particular martial art come from? How did it develop and why? Is there a genuine rationale beyond these sequences? How can a particular succession of steps and strikes be employed in real-life real-time situations? These are just a few of the questions an astute martial artist asks when pursuing their particular tradition so as to beef up and fortify the value of what they are being trained in. Since 2005 Dr. Yang, renowned author and teacher of Chinese martial arts and Qigong, and Nicholas Yang, award winning martial artist in bare-hand and weapons, have been composing and compiling a four volume DVD series that has been bundled together as the “Shaolin Long Fist Kung Fu 4-DVD Set”. These instructional...

The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: Newly Discovered Commentaries by J.B. Lightfoot My rating: 5 of 5 stars If you have ever picked up a J.B. Lightfoot commentary, you know the precision and thoughtfulness that is wrapped up in the material. You also quickly recognize that the writer was serious about the Scriptures and about understanding them. That's what makes the J.B. Lightfoot Legacy Series a joy. As many of his uncovered manuscripts become published and presented, it will help to re-establish a renewed sense of taking the biblical texts in their contexts, grammar, linguistics, chronology, etc. and build a revived earnestness. An example of this has just been published in the third volume of the Lightfoot Legacy series, "The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: Newly Discovered Commentaries." This 362 page hardbound volume brings out the incomplete notes Lightfoot had been compiling on both 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter, and binds them to several articles pub...

Almighty God, though a man’s heart plans his ways, it is you who directs his steps (Proverbs 16.9); therefore we pray for this world and your church. Lord God, as we plan our ways for this year, guide us step-by-step. May our confidence in you increase throughout 2017. May we come to know you more than ever before, love you more deeply than we have in the past, and serve you with greater enjoyment and enthusiasm. May we have eyes to see you doing great things – even in the modest and mundane moments. May we have hearts and voices ready to rejoice in your great goodness, even if the wind gets kicked out of us. May we be known as a people who enjoy making much of you! We ask you to alleviate the suffering, angst and fretfulness of those who are in dire need of your healing or help … For all of them we ask you to restore them by filling them with your unsurpassable peace to guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and give them rock-hard reasons to have hope in you throu...