Preparing to Lead Worship

God willing, I shall be leading worship at the College Chapel on a Monday service next month. For 20 minutes of worship and intercession, I have waited on the Lord in the past couple of days for several hours, worshipping and praying what songs I should propose to sing and how to structure the order of worship within a 35-minute service (sermon takes 15 minutes).

"None is Good except one, that is, God" (Mark 10)

It was intense but it was worthwhile to be at the presence of the Lord whenever two or three are gathered in His Name. Yesterday was our College's Day of Prayer. We prayed for about 1 hour at the most with 4 hours given to 3 sermons, sharing, 2 video clips and one sketch on persecution of Christians and an hour-long Communion service at the end. I was really challenged by the 3 sermons. Today was equally intense. I lectured right until the bell rang and stopped when I just finished on explaining the place of Psalm 110:1, The Lord says to my Lord (MT: neum Yhwh  la-adoni) and why Psalm 110 was a Messianic psalm and how Jesus despite being called the Son of David is greater than king David.

Did Jesus Pronounce the Name, YHWH in Mark 12:29?

I have spent two extra days preparing tomorrow's lectures on Mark's Gospel. I plan to give one hour to the question whether Jesus when speaking in Hebrew (citing Deut 6:4-5) in Mark 12:29-32 pronounced the sacred name, YHWH. Obviously the Greek of Mark has kyrios but that is Greek likely following LXX Deut 6:4. But Jesus probably spoke Aramaic and when citing texts from Israel's Scriptures would have used Hebrew.

The Use of the Name YHWH

I came across Sean McDonough's book, YHWH at Patmos (1999) when I just began doctoral study in 2000 and it is a delight to read it again today. The second chapter, "The Use of the Name YHWH" is especially significant where McDonough conducts a historical survey on how the Name was used throughout early Judaism to the NT time up to Philo and Josephus.

Is Jesus Yahweh?

I shall be lecturing on the name of God on Thursday when I turn to Mark's Gospel which records Jesus' recitation of the Shema in Mark 12:29. The name of Israel's God, the sacred four-consonant word, yod he waw he (Yhwh) pronounced by most scholars as Yahweh is probably the most misunderstood name as far as how the New Testament writers' references to the name of God are concerned. First, the NT was written in Greek and secondly when quoting the OT, the authors mainly used the LXX which in most places translates Yhwh as kyrios (Lord).

"No Longer Working a Single Day"

Yesterday I was told of a saying (Confucius?) that "if you found the job you like you will not work a single day". I can affirm this without reservation that if you walk according to God's calling in your life, you will feel as if you are not working for a living at all but a vocation or a calling in which one finds fulfilment and satisfaction.

Preaching Season Begins

I thank the Lord that I have a mini break from preaching for 6 weeks and I shall begin preaching again this Sunday. Yesterday, I have 2 speaking engagements confirmed for next year, one Saturday seminar in KL in March and a 4-day Church Camp in Singapore in June.

The Gospel of Matthew in a Nutshell

I have been in some sort of dilemma and predicament for 6th year in a row, how best to teach four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in 14 weeks, 3 hours per week over the course of one Semester. Today I have just finished the Gospel of Matthew and I gave 3 weeks for the first Gospel.

Biblical Languages Galore

As I entered into my 6th year of teaching, I have become more insistent that students pay more attention in acquiring a proficiency in both Hebrew and Greek. The median age of students is 35 years old and unfortunately for some over 35 years, it is not ideal to start learning new languages when one is nearing 40 years old. I would want to suggest to Christian leaders and theological educators to shift in our thinking that biblical languages must be acquired by early twenties or even during high school years (Junior College).

Still on the Septuagint

I am immersed in the Septuagint today. I brought my Rahlfs' LXX version to Chapel and read LXX Genesis 15:1-10. Amazingly, it sounds so close to Paul's Romans when he spoke about Abraham being reckoned righteous by believing. On Monday, one graduating student preached an outstanding sermon and in his sermon he asked, "if a Tsunami is coming your way, what would you take? your laptop, smartphone, passport? In my mind, I saw myself taking the blue-cover, Septuagint.

Supersabbath & the Septuagint

Mark E. Biddle in his commentary on Deuteronomy in the Smyth & Helwys series calls the Feasts of Israel - supersabbaths.  Yesterday I had a supersabbath, resting without worrying about preparing for lectures but simply reading for enjoyment. I have finished reading Mogens Muller's The First Bible of the Church: A Plea for the Septuagint in three sittings over the week-end. Yes, I am a Septuagint fan.