Finally, a new FMag editorial. And then some

And a prayer for the remaining month of 2013:

Then there was a poem, Cloudburst variety:

Not to mention a BNc story:

And Bulletin Gold picked up a quatrain of mine in their December issue:

http://www.bulletingold.com/goldvol13_10.html#p2

Still to come: a GoSpeak report with two baptisms on Nov. 30.

My Thanksgiving short list of things to be thankful for

Here was my short list of things to be thankful for, posted yesterday, after Rafael and I finished up the evangelistic studies Thanksgiving morning.
 
The plan is still for him to be baptized Saturday at our area-wide fellowship in the city of Tremembé. Please pray for his salvation and for his growth as a new convert.
 
Continue to prayer for our plans for the new year as well.

I've enjoyed reading many of your thanksgiving lists and of others.

We pray the Lord bless your every good effort for the gospel.

Sarcasm and contempt

Got the Portuguese devotional set to go last night, so it appeared automatically this morning. Before my 9 am study at the office, I got the English translation, "Repeat," done and posted.

Great personal evangelistic study this morning with someone who wants to get his life together, find salvation, and make up for lost time. Next one set for Monday, since tomorrow is a holiday. Pray he carries through with his intent to be baptized by month's end.

Translating J.G. Williams's book, Practical Guide to Bible Study, over halfway through. One spot gave me cause for thought, where he talks about figures of speech:

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Our first parents

"After God had so bountifully offered proof of His goodness, our first parents behaved as though the Devil intended only good and God intended only ill."

—Franz Delitzsch, co-author of OT commentary with C.F. Keil.

The quote was too long for QBT, and I didn't want to mutilate it. Source: Wikipedia.

Thoughts?


Host blocking me

The web host for many of our sites (FMag, BNc, my personal blog) is again blocking our IP server. This has happened before, and we are not amused, as the Queen used to say. Friends in southeast Asia and New Zealand are constantly blocked. I have complained to no avail. Entire countries are included in their blocking, which makes no sense.

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No lack of reading material

Yesterday was a good day for writing. Instead of giving you all the links here (I'm lazy this morning), they're all on my jasrandal Twitter account, and I've narrowed the time frame down to yesterday here. What's "here"?

  • Believing Prayer that The Missus raved over (more than usual)
  • A devotional from Proverbs, translated from the Portuguese, written same day
  • A Forthright Mag editorial, "Good things that have happened"
  • A BNc story, "Preacher shares what happens 'five minutes after death'"
  • A Quick Bible Truths quote

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Psalms and Proverbs kick

In the devotionals I'm writing in Portuguese and translating into English, I'm on a Psalms-and-Proverbs kick. If all works out well, I'll put them in book form at year's end—in Portuguese, no plans for English. I went back and picked out the ones I'd already done in 2013 from these two books. So far, I have 52 pages in a 10.5 x 18 cm format.

The working title is "God Is Good and Does Good" from Psa 119.68. The title sounds better in Portuguese ...

New study series at Taubaté

This afternoon in Taubaté for the Bible study we began a new series, by request, on the New Testament church. The first section deals with the church's essence. Three points will define it, and we covered the first of the three today, which are:

  1. The church as a project in God's mind.
  2. The church as the prophecy of the Spirit about new times.
  3. The church as the people of Christ's kingdom.

We started late today (our time is 4 pm) because of a government entrance exam held at the University of Taubaté right behind us. There was no parking on the street anywhere for blocks around us.

We had 18 in attendance today, a good number for us at Taubaté.

Teaching God's word

My turn to preach this morning in SJC. My text is Psa 119.130: "The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand" NLT. We'll look at who are the simple (inexperienced), the meaning of light (salvation), and the role of teaching (How can I understand, unless someone guide me?).


Passion fruit and capers

For lunch, since The Missus went to the ladies' event this weekend, I walked down to the avenue and lunched at the emporium. They offer plate by weight. One of their dishes is salmon with passion fruit sauce and capers. Hard to beat that! That is, when The MIssus isn't cooking ...

After several days of work, the third edition of Ministério & Missão, our new electronic magazine for kingdom workers, is out. The main content of this issue is an annotated bibliography for hermeneutics and homiletics—good books on how to study and teach the Bible. I was asked to put this together for the guys at the seminar last Saturday, so now it's out there.

Vicki took the last issue of the print mag, Edification, to the ladies' event. This issue has gotten a good circulation.

Now for a GoSpeak report! And a sermon for tomorrow! And ...

What have you got cooking?