Verse After The Verse

John Shear

Description

Rev. Dr. J. Clinton "Clint" McCann, Evangelical Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Eden Theological Seminary and an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church USA."It was a pleasure to teach Doc Shear at both the masters and doctorate level, and now it is a pleasure to read his new book! In THE VERSE AFTER THE VERSE, Doc Shear demonstrates both his ability as a faithful biblical interpreter and his talent as a story-telling preacher. Each chapter both instructs and inspires. Good reading for both church leaders and laypeople!"Dr. Shirley Kaczmarski, retired school principal, church musician and author. She works at John Calvin Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri."Everyone loves stories, and Doc Shear has an unending supply. His masterful connection of these stories to scripture is always engaging and this book is a prime example. I had not thought to connect a well-memorized verse to the one that follows until I read this book. A great resource to push readers to think of a unique approach to Bible study."

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Book Venture Publishing LLC
• Date de parution: 16 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781641667302
• Langue: English

Extrait

Copyright © 2018 by Doc Shear.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
 
BookVenture Publishing LLC 1000 Country Lane Ste 300
Ishpeming MI 49849 www.bookventure.com
Hotline:
1(877) 276-9751
Fax:
1(877) 864-1686
 
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address above.
 
Printed in the United States of America.
 
Library of Congress Control Number
2018904429
ISBN-13:
Softcover
978-1-64166-727-2
Hardback
978-1-64166-728-9
Pdf
978-1-64166-729-6
ePub
978-1-64166-730-2
Kindle
978-1-64166-731-9
 
Rev. date: 04/05/2018
Contents
Description of the Book   
Dedication   
Acknowledgment   
Introduction   
Chapter 1: Practice What You Preach  
Chapter 2: More Than a Plan  
Chapter 3: Just Being There 
Chapter 4: All Things New  
Chapter 5: The Glory of God’s Grace 
Chapter 6: Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus  
Chapter 7: A Good Night’s Rest for the Soul 
Chapter 8: For I Am Your God  
Chapter 9: Walk a Straight Path 
Chapter 10: The Power of Prayer  
Chapter 11: Let’s Eat and Drink but Not Stumble 
Chapter 12: Making Sure You Have All the Equipment  
Chapter 13: "Final Thoughts” When God Redirects a Plan  
Bibliography   
About the Author  

Description of the Book    
The four gospel writers depict much of the teachings of Jesus to be in the forms of metaphor, simile, and/or stories which have come to be called parables. These parables in one sense take occurrences in life, whether real or invented, and relate them to some important theological principle. Today we call those, “Sermon Illustrations”.
I have found myself needing to teach theology in the church, in a couple different, formal settings. The first is what I would characterize as an “academic” setting. These are detailed teaching moments where I will focus on a revelation in scripture and using all sources available to me will unpack the text. These are settings such as a weekly Bible Study or Sunday School Class. The result will be a better understanding of both the words of scripture and the theology they postulate. This teaching mode requires much conversation between the parishioners as students and me.
But I spend a lot of my pedagogical time in sermon preparation and delivery. The theology must be sound, but it is also a moment to make important points in a very short period. I have found in more than two decades of preaching, that the use of story, as Jesus did, is the “glue” that holds the moment together. This is not only from personal experience, but also the result of my investigative work on my doctoral project.
In that project, I explored the use of all five senses in the delivery of the preaching moment to do the following: increase attention and retention. Not only did my project result in a direct correlation between incorporation of multiple senses and the desired results but I also discovered that human interest was exponentially increased by the use of story. Jesus must have known what he was doing!
Thus, as I began to look at connections between a familiar verse and the one immediately after, I began to unfold the theology in terms of story. Every chapter looks at a unique correlation between these two verses and explains the theology with real-life stories. I have plenty of stories. Of course I am also a theologian and an academic and so you will find throughout the pages, an interpretation of theology from within my own context.
I encourage the reader to not only reflect on the scriptural text, but to also read the stories and in that process not only connect the stories to the text, but also think of stories in your life where God has been present or where a personal story has spoken to you.
Good reading…
Doc Shear

Dedication    
When I met Jackie in seminary I told my children that I had not met a godlier woman until I met her. Years later I feel the same way. She is the source of my inspiration and helps me be a better person and minister and reminds me to keep God at the center of everything. I therefore dedicate this book with all my love to my wife, the Rev. Jackie Havis-Shear.

Acknowledgment    
It is with much appreciation that I acknowledge the work of Tara Barnum who designed the front and back cover and who did the artwork for the beginning of each chapter. The artwork that begins these chapters represents a story or a teaching within that chapter. Though at first you might wonder the meaning, when you read the chapter you will see how it applies.
I also give much thanks to Rev. Dr. Clint McCann and Dr. Shirley Kaczmarski for review of the manuscript and providing important endorsements. They are both colleagues with me in ministry. I appreciate the work each one contributes to the Basileia tou Theou (The Kingdom of God).

Introduction    
Why did I write this book? Both Jackie and I went to a more liberal seminary that was absolutely determined to discourage any student from proof texting. What is proof texting? It is where you use just one verse of scripture, perhaps even out of context, to be the foundation of your sermon. The seminary taught that every single verse was really part of a pericope (This is a seminary word for passages of scripture) and to get the full meaning, you had to look at the verse’s inclusion in the larger text. Take for example in the book of 1 Thessalonians (using the NIV version).
Most scholars agree that Paul is the author, so he writes, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Now that is a pretty clear statement, and it comes from scripture, so let’s build a sermon on the notion that God requires each one of us to work or we should starve to death. That would be the result of simply proof texting. But if we expand our thinking and look at 1 Thessalonians 3, we find several things. First, this is Paul’s final challenge to the people—it is a rah-rah speech. Second, he begins talking about the importance of prayer and then he addresses a warning against being idle. Third, he ends this writing with a “Final Greeting.”
As Paul talks about idleness, he proclaims that he and his entourage, for as long as they were with them, never took a free lunch. Even though they had many preaching and teaching duties, they also worked hard for what they were given to eat. Some scholars have reflected that during this period, a multitude of Christians were so convinced of the immediate return of Jesus that they questioned why they should do anything. Including, why even go into work and support your family. This writing, thus, does not address a punishing God who demands everyone work, but rather there is still so much work to do, that the church cannot use the excuse of being idle because they are simply waiting for Jesus.
I think as a minister prepares a sermon and unpacks the text (called exegeting), it is good to not proof text, but rather explore the verses in their context and their surrounding placement in the scripture.
But that is not the only way to look at scripture. Over the past two thousand years of scripture, people have been spoken to by the Holy Spirit in the reading of a single verse. And this is something that cannot be overlooked. For this book, I have developed a list of favorite verses that people like to quote all the time.
I was sitting in the doctor’s office the other day, and a lady and her daughter came in. Obviously, they had some tests done and the mom was very nervous about the test results. The mom looked at the daughter and said, “The Lord is good, his love endures forever” from Psalm 100:5. It was just a simple verse but brought an overflow of assurance to this mom. She did not care about exegeting the text or that she was proof texting.
So I had been wondering if some of the more popular verses, the ones most everyone knows, might be followed be another verse in scripture that would add some thickness to the verse everyone knows so well. And I did find just that. So, I wrote this book, using twelve familiar verses while also looking at the verse that immediately follows, hence the title “The Verse after the Verse.”
You will find as you read, that each chapter uses a common verse that most church people have heard, and it looks to see how that verse may be impacted by the verse that immediately follows. I have made some wonderful discoveries in my writing thus far, and you will see exactly what I mean in the following chapters.

Practice What You Preach
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,