John Evdemon

Breaking AI Art Generators

There are a number of AI Art Generators now available and I've played around with a few of them. Most of them seem very overrated. I think a good test for these AI Art Generators is to ask them to interpret an emotion inspired by a work of art. A possible example:

"A painting in the style Claude Monet
inspired by emotions related to
reading Pablo Neruda's love poetry".

You'll quickly see why the "A" in AI stands for "artificial" (the definition for the term artificial includes the term "sham") .   

We just finished reading So Many Lions, So Few Daniels and are starting Acts of the Apostles from the New Testament. I'll be posting my notes and study guides for each chapter on this post.

Shortcuts

• Resources
• Summary
• Chapter One
• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven
• Chapter Eight
• Chapter Nine

Free Course on Acts

• The Revive School has a free course on Acts which you can sign up for here.
• Studylight.org consolidates verse-by-verse commentaries from several sources. I'll be linking to commentaries for each book of Acts.   

Book Summary

• The book of Acts quotes extensively from the Old Testament. Luke tied his account back to Joel, back to Psalms, and back to Isaiah. 
• These supporting notes come from Every Man's Study Bible:
• Acts shows the Christian church's explosion across the Mediterranean region. 
• Acts was written by Luke and addressed to Theophilus (as is the Gospel of Luke).
• Acts covers a 30 year period, beginning with the ascension of Jesus and extends to the early 60s AD. 
• Acts consists of 28 chapters.
• 1-7: The gospel takes root in Jerusalem
• 8-12: The gospel spreads across Judea and Samaria.
• 13-28: The gospels spreads across the Roman empire. 

Chapter One

• Study Guide for Chapter One (PDF)
• Acts 1 Reading Guide
• Chapter One verse by verse commentary 

General Notes:

• Acts 1:1–3: Luke recapped what he covered in his first writing (the Gospel of Luke). As he began this writing, Luke emphasized that Jesus suffered, died, came back to life, and then appeared to the disciples for four days. Jesus provided “many convincing proofs” He was alive, and He talked to the disciples about the kingdom of God. This is the message we should be about today. We need to become more about the kingdom of God than about ourselves or our denominations.
• Acts 1:4–5: While Jesus was with the disciples these 40 days, He told them not to leave Jerusalem. They probably questioned that command since Jerusalem was where Jesus was killed, but Jesus said they had to wait for what the Father promised. Jesus had told them about God’s promise that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In Luke 11:13, Jesus explained that God would give them the Holy Spirit. In Luke 24:49, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus said, “I am sending you what My Father promised.” The disciples heard the consistent message that they were supposed to wait in Jerusalem until they were given what Jesus and His Father had promised to give them.
• Acts 1:6–8: The disciples wanted to know if Jesus intended to restore the kingdom of Israel. They were ready to see the state of Israel reinstated with Jesus ruling as king. The disciples knew Ezekiel 36 and Joel 2 connected the coming of the kingdom with the outpouring of the Spirit. Jesus said that it wasn’t for them to know and then redirected them to what He had called them to do. When the Holy Spirit was given to them, they would be “[His] witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8). The word “witness” is from a Greek word that means “one who dies for his faith.” Jesus was saying that when we actually believe His promise that the Spirit has come to give us power and authority, then we’ll actually die for Him. For some reason, we think taking the good news is a business or an assignment through a Sunday school class. In reality, if we’re followers of Christ, then we’re being asked if we’re willing to be a witness who will die for our faith in Christ, wherever we are. We’ve been given authority and power, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, to walk as ambassadors for the living King; yet, we decide if we want to or not. We’re afraid to walk out the authority that we’ve been given.
• Acts 1:9–14: The disciples watched as Jesus was taken up in a cloud out of their sight. We are to be witnesses who release the gospel and the kingdom of God into this atmosphere, into this earth. We have the opportunity to walk out the Authority of Christ, and we have an incredible model that shows us how to do it. Then two men in white clothes asked why they (the disciples) were standing there looking up into heaven (v. 11a). The two white-clothed men explained Jesus would come again in the same way the disciples saw Him going into heaven. As the disciples returned to Jerusalem—no more than a half mile away, as that was the farthest they could have walked on the Sabbath (v. 12)—can you imagine their conversation? As directed, the disciples waited in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit.
• Acts 1:15–26: As they gathered in the upper room, the disciples cast lots to choose Matthias to replace Judas so that they once again had 12 disciples

What was your favorite statement and why?

• ”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” - when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49)
• After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.
• "Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

What was your least favorite statement?

• Nothing

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• We are to be witnesses who share the gospel. 
• Our instruction is to be a witness for Jesus. We have nothing to fear.

Chapter Two

General Notes:

• Study Guide for Chapter Two (PDF)
• Acts 2 Reading Guide
• Chapter Two verse by verse commentary

What was your favorite statement and why?

• "there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting"
• "flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages"
• "they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers"
• "I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike -and they will prophesy."
• "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"
• "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "

What was your least favorite statement?

• Nothing. 

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• "I see that the Lord is always with me.
  I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
  No wonder my heart is glad,
  and my tongue shouts his praises!
  My body rests in hope.
  For you will not leave my soul among the dead
  or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
  You have shown me the way of life,
  and you will fill me with the joy of your presence"

Chapter Three

General Notes:

• Study Guide for Chapter Three (PDF)
• Acts 3 Reading Guide
• Chapter Three verse by verse commentary

What was your favorite statement and why?

• Peter and John start evangelizing without Jesus. This must have made them very nervous but they trusted in God to provide the confidence and words they needed to be successful.
• Acts 3:6:  Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”
• The lame man had been begging for money. Peter showed the lame man that he was able to heal him with his faith in Jesus. Faith is far more valuable than any silver or gold.
• Act 3:16: “Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes."
• Peter asks why people are surprised that the lame man was healed and explains why and how he was healed. 
• Acts 3:19-20: "Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah."
• Peter begs the crowd to repent so that they can be saved.
• Acts 25-26: "You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the families on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways."
• Peter explains how we are blessed and that we must repent of our sins to be saved.

What was your least favorite statement?

• Nothing.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• Peter explains that he didn't perform a miracle, what he did was only possible due to faith in Jesus Christ. There is power in the name of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
• The lame man had a new life after being healed and began to leap about, praising God. We also have a new life after being saved by Jesus. The lame man's legs were restored by Peter's faith in Jesus Christ. Our life were restored when we accepted Jesus as our savior and turned from our sinful ways. We must be like the lame man that was healed - he didn't go back to his ways of begging and we shouldn't go back to our ways of sinning.  
• Peter didn't want the glory of healing the lame man - Peter instead pointed to God and faith in Jesus Christ.
• Peter and John were only successful in healing the man because they walked in the authority of their faith in Jesus. We also need to walk in authority as we share the gospel with others. 
• Peter showed tremendous grace as he pointed out how the Jews had chosen a killer over Christ and had Christ crucified. Instead of expressing anger over this outcome Peter urged them to repent and turn from their sins so that they could be saved.  

Chapter Four

General Notes:

• Study Guide for Chapter Four (PDF)
• Acts 4 Reading Guide
• Chapter Four verse by verse commentary
• Peter and John are arrested by Sadducees leaders because they saw the early church as a threat to their political structure.  They held Peter, John, and the healed begger in custody overnight because it was too late for a legal hearing. They had to release them the next day to avoid a riot since a large crowd had seen the begger be healed by Peter and John. 
• Peter and John return to the believers to pray with them - the crowd is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
• The believers are united and pool/share their resources so that no one is left needy or wanting.

What was your favorite statement and why?

• "There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” - Acts of the Apostles 4:12 NLT
• When Peter and John tell the Sadducees leaders that God's laws are above any law that man might establish (Acts 4:19).
• But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” - Acts of the Apostles 4:19‭-‬20 NLT.

What was your least favorite statement?

• None

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• The church needs to unite and support one another - just as the early believers did for Peter and John (Acts 4:32-34). 

Chapter Five

General Notes:

• Study Guide for Chapter Five (PDF)
• Acts 5 Reading Guide
• Chapter Five verse by verse commentary
• Acts 5 Study Course
• The believers are united and pool/share their resources so that no one is left needy or wanting. 
• A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphria sell some property but lie about how much it was sold for - they are struck down by God for lying to the Holy Spirit.  
• Peter and John heal many people and large crowds of people come to the Lord.
• Peter and John are again arrested and imprisoned by the arrested by Sadducees leaders who view the early church as a threat to their power. 
• An angel of the Lord opens the gates of the prison during the night and encourages Peter and John to return to the believers and continue sharing the message of life. 
• The guards again arrest Peter and John. Peter and John explain how they must obey Godover any human authority.
• Tha Sadducees leaders want to put Peter and John to death but are convinced by one of the leaders that if Peter and John are actually working for God then the Sadducees leaders would be trying to fight God by killing them. The Sadducees leaders reluctantly agree and release Peter and John after having them flogged and telling them to never preach again about Jesus.
• Peter and John celebrate that God counted them worthy to be digraced for the name of Jesus.
• Peter and John return to the temple each day to continue preaching about Jesus.

What was your favorite statement and why?

• When Peter and John explain that God's laws will always trump man's laws (Acts 5:29).
• When Peter and John rejoice that they were deemed worthy to be digraced for the name of Jesus instead of being sad about being imprisoned and flogged (Acts 5:41-42).

What was your least favorite statement?

• Nothing.  

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• As the Authority in our lives, Jesus - He calls on us to represent Him to other people. If Jesus is not in charge of our lives after we’ve claimed Him as our Savior and Lord, then we are hypocrites. Acts 5 is the story of two people who were hypocrites.
• The death of Ananias and his wife Sapphria help reinforce upon the crowd that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
• God striking down Ananias and his wife Sapphria may initially seem cruel but it illustrates the holiness of God. God doesn't stop being holy just because He's gracious and loving. See 1 Peter 4:17 :  "The time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's Good News?"

Chapter Six

Resources:

• Study Guide for Chapter Six (PDF)
• Acts 6 Reading Guide
• Chapter Six verse by verse commentary
• Acts 6 Study Course

My Notes:

Chapter Seven

Resources:

• Study Guide for Chapter Seven (PDF)
• Acts 7 Reading Guide
• Chapter Seven verse by verse commentary
• Acts 7 Study Course

My Notes:

• Stephen had nothing to lose. He told them they were wrong about the tabernacle. The curtain was torn in two and they were not paying attention to it. Stephen points out how they missed everything that was going on around them.
• Stephen accuses them of making an idol out of the land.  Are we doing the same?
  • We carry around the Word but we don't live it out
  • We need to apply Stephen's testimony in our own lives
• Stephen's face reflected the presence of God yet they still stoned him to death. Stephen told them that the temple and the temple service must come to an end, and it would be the glory of both to give way to the worship of the Father in spirit and in truth; but he perceived they would not bear it. 
• Their guilt stung them to the heart, they sought relief in murdering their accuser, instead of sorrow and supplication for mercy.
• When Stephen saw God's glory Jesus was standing at the right hand of God. God was rising from the throne to greet Stephen.
• They screamed at Stephen when they heard this, throwing him out of the city and stoning him to death.
• While they were stoning him Stephen cried out "Lord Jesus receieve my spirit" and "Lord do not charge them with this sin".
• At that point Stephen fell asleep (died) - his body fell asleep but his soul moved onto heaven. Some believe in the concept of soul sleep: your soul slumbers until Jesus returns
• Stephen was the first recorded martyr, having been killed for Jesus
• Saul heard this testimony and would later become Paul.

Chapter Eight

Resources:

• Acts Chapter 8 Study Guide (PDF)
• Acts Chapter 8 Reading Guide
• Acts Chapter 8 verse by verse commentary
• Acts Chapter 8 Study Course

Questions:

Why did the persecution of the church result in its dispersion?

• Because people feared punishment of men more than the Lord.

Why is it significant that the Samaritans did not receive the Holy Spirit until Peter and John prayed and laid hands on them?

• I don't understand - they should have had the Holy Spirit when they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.

What does it mean to be a Christian in a hostile environment? How can we overcome persecution and continue to share the gospel?

• Fear the Lord more than what men might do to punish us for our faith.
• Always lead with love, pray for our persecutors.

How can we be more like Philip in our witness to the world? How can we experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives? How can we apply the lessons of this passage to our own lives and churches today?

• Always lead with love, pray for our persecutors and detractors.
• Fear the Lord more than what men might do to punish us for our faith.
• Follow Phillip's approach: know the gospel, lead with love, listen and address their concerns, pray for them, understand it's not our job to ensure they accept Jesus as their savior - our job is only to share the gospel with them. 

My Notes:

• The Apostles scatter and continue preaching the gospel after the stoning death of Stephen. Saul and his men go from house to house, arresting men and women who follow Christ. 
• Phillip goes to Samaria a nd continues preaching the gospel, casting out demons, and healing the sick.
• Peter and John accopmany Phillip and lay hands upon the Samaritans, enabling them to receive the Holy Spirit. Note: I'm unclear why they didn't already have the Holy Spirit after they were baptised?  This is confusing.
• "The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit." - Acts of the Apostles 8:16‭-‬17 NLT
• Simon, a former sorcerer, is so moved by this that he offers to pay the Apostles to give him the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter tells Simon it is a sin to think you can buy something that is a gift from God. Peter tells Simon to repent of so that God could forgive him. This means Peter was questioning Simon’s conversion. Unlike Peterm we should focus on delivering the good news. not judging if the good news has been truly accepted. Simon later asks Peter to pray for him, proving Simon had accepted the Word.
• An Ethiopian eunuch beguns preaching the book of Isaiah. Phillip discusses the book of Isaiah with the eunuch, helping him to better understand it. 
• An angel tells Phillp to accompany the eunich back to Gaza. On their way to Gaza they come upon a pool of water and the eunich asks to be baptised. Phillip baptises the eunich and is carried away by the Holy Spirit. 
• NOTE: Acts 8:37 is frequently omitted from the Bible: "Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”.  This raises the question if belief in Christ is required for baptism. Some people erroneously think this verse is omitted because the church wants to encourage infant baptism. The vast majority of the New Testament passages do not include baptism as a condition for salvation.. I study the NLT translation which includes a note thst some translations include Acts 8:37 but the actual verse is not featured in NLT. 
•   Phillp later appears in Azotus and evangelizes in the towns there until he came to Caesarea.
• Phillip serves as an excellent role model for us, showing how to evangelize to others based on how he evangelized to the eunich:
  • Philip showed the Ethiopian eunuch that he loved him because he ran to the eunuch.
  • Philip listened to what the Ethiopian was reading and engaged him in conversation with a question.
  • Philip recognized that the Ethiopian was open to the Gospel.
  • Philip got into the chariot with the eunuch, and talked about Jesus prior to baptising him.
  • None of this would have been possible if Phillip didn't know scripture. 

Chapter Nine

Resources:

• Acts Chapter 9 Study Guide (PDF)
• Acts Chapter 9 Reading Guide
• Acts Chapter 9 verse by verse commentary
• Acts Chapter 9 Study Course

My Notes:

• Saul went to the high priest and asked for letters that he could take to the Damascus synagogues to search for and persecute any potential Christians there.
• As Saul returned to Damascus he saw a great light from heaven and heard a voice asking  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”.  Saul fell to the ground, recognizing the voice of the Lord. Saul got up from the ground and was blind for three days.
• When Saul entered Damascus he began to pray to Jesus. The Lord spoke to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias and asked Ananias to heal Saul's blindness. Ananias initially argued with the Lord because of how Saul had been persecuting Christians. The Lord told Ananias to go heal Saul because He had chosen Saul to evangelize about Him to Gentiles, Kings, and Israelites. God said Saul would suffer for the name of Jesus. 
• Ananias entered the house of Judas, placed his hands on Saul, and told Saul Jesus had sent him to restore Saul’s sight so he could be filled with the Holy Spirit. The scales fell from Saul’s eyes and his sight was restored. Saul was then he was baptizedand began to eat to regain his strength.
• Saul spends time with the disciples in Damascus and begins proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God. 
• The Jews in Damascus plan to kill Saul for his beliefs. Saul learns of this plan and escapes. Saul returns to Jerusalem and tries to join the disciples there but they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he converted. Barnabas vouched for Saul, explaining what had happend and the disciples accepted him.. Saul went out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. Saul spoke against the Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews). The Hellenists were seeking to kill Saul so the brothers brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
• Meanwhile Peter heals Aeneas, a man who had been bedridden and paralyzed for eight years. The helps the church grow, turning others to the Lord.
•   Meanwhile in Joppa a female disciple named Tabitha (meaning Dorcas) died. The disciples in Joppa bring in Peter and ask him to heal her. Peter sends everyone out, tells her to open her eyes, and she returns to life. This causes more people to believe in the Lord.    

#booknotes #review #books

More ChatGPT Fun

I'm not a Python guy, but I love the idea of using ChatGPT to take the drudgery out of development tasks:

• Explaining complex code
• Creating Unit Tests

If It's Digital, You Probably Don't Own It

Yet another reminder popped up today to avoid buying digital versions of media that you care about.  Marvel's digital comic app operated by Comixology is apparently shutting down. Marvel fans who bought comics in the app should be able to access them in Marvel's self-operated app.. This initially seems ok until you realize the monthly subscription fee for the Comixology app was lower than the Marvel app monthly fee. Comixology also had a better user experience and featured comics from many publishers, not just Marvel. Ultimately you should avoid digital versions of media that you love since you don't really own it - the services supporting the digital versions of your media may one day go out of business (which is highly likely given the poor quality of Marvel's newer comics), effectively deleting your digital media collection. If you don't host your own digital media you may one day find it unavailable or, even worse, modfied or removed without your permission.

Bottom line: if you love a book or film, don't buy the digital version unless you are able to download and save the digital file(s) and play them on a device of your choice. If I purchase MP3 files I always download and save them locally - same for movies (download and rip to MP4) and books (audio: rip to MP3, Kindle: save on an external drive). If you can't download and save your digital media then you don't own it and shouldn't buy it.    

Checked into Tim Horton's (Orchard Park Mall)

The coffee at Tim's is not as good as Bright Jennie's but it's still far better than anything you'll get at Starbucks.

Lincoln Unmasked

Fascinating (if swear-filled) analysis of how surprisingly terrible Abraham Lincoln was for America. Lincoln was not the saintly president that we were led to believe. Licoln severely abused the power of his office to maintain the national government and bring the power of government to bear on his political opponents. Lincoln shut down the press, tried to arrest a Supreme Court Justice, and arrested and deported a congressman who spoke out against his policies. 

This video inspired me to add a another book to my to-read stack.  We've been very misled about Lincoln.   

The Psychology Behind Spotify Ads

I finally decided to start blogging again, or a least start keeping a sort of online journal. In the past I attempted to restrict myself to tech posts only but that got very boring, very fast, and I couldn't keep up with it. I'm going to treat this new version of my blog as an online journal. It'll have a mix of tech posts and personal posts. This approach should keep me more interested in blogging on a more consistent basis.

I'm listening to Spotify as I write this and ads are periodically playing. I understand that Spotify has to make a profit, but its ads are so incredibly annoying. The ads are intentionally designed to annoy the user until you get sick of it and pay the fee just to get rid of them. There are ways around it, not that I recommend using them.

Do people still use Pandora? I used to love Pandora until my fiancé converted me to Spotify (also Pandora still isn't available in Canada). If you use Pandora you should try my favorite old Pandora desktop player because it allows unlimited skips and won't play ads. I still sometimes use Pandora because it does a better job of introducing me to new bands. (BTW Media Monarchy has a wonderful daily DJ podcast of interesting new/old music and bands - it's a great way to expand your musical palate).     

I just started reading Ray Comfort's new book for the Men's Bible Study group that I'm in (T3: Truth Talk Tuesdays). I am a huge fan of Ray Comfort. I think he's an incredibly thoughtful speaker and evangelist. He's very open with the process that he uses for evangelism which I find to be quite helpful.

My Bible Study group will be reading and discussing this book a chapter at a time. I will post my notes for the discussion here on an ongoing basis. 

Prologue and Chapter One - The Unlikely Hero

General Notes:

• Analogy of God's light and driving into/away from bright sun. Hard to go against, easier to see when you go with it.
• No one uses the name Judas anymore. The name is apparently illegal in Germany.
• An unsaved world is a nightmare for the compassionate Christian. If we truly love others as we claim then we should be doing all we can to try and save them.
• The thief on the cross was evangelizing to the other thief, even though they were both crucified. If he can evangelize while being crucified, we should be able to do it too, especially since we aren't facing such challenges.
• Jesus didn't need defending, he could have called upon an army of angels at any time to help Him. Jesus didn't do this because of the scripture had to be fulfilled.
• I love that Ray examined the words "legions of angels" and determined exactly how many angels that would be (288,000 per legion).
• The evangelism role-playing section at the end of the chapter reminded me of Comfort's School of Biblical Evangelism book. It's a massive volume sharing Ray's tips and best practices for sharing the gospel. I've been slowly working my way through it. I'm really glad that the role playing used someone that is Jewish. It continues to puzzle me how the Jews don't believe in Jesus even though He walked among them. They saw Jesus peform miracles and witnessed Him resurrected and rising into Heaven, yet they still don't believe Jesus is the Messiah. I really don't understand it.

What was your favorite statement and why?

• Are we as complacent as Pilate's wife when it comes to confronting sin and sharing the gospel?

 What was your least favorite statement?

• I listened to the Prologue and Chapter One on an audiobook while driving to Canada. The beginning of the roleplay section at the end of Chapter One was a little hard to follow. It eventually smoothed out and became much easier to understand. I'm sure this part would have been easier to read instead of listening to it.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• If the thief on the cross can evangelize while dying of his crucifixion then surely we can do it too.  We must not let the world intimidate us from spreading the gospel.

NOTE: I got married to my incredible wife on 4/22 so took a bit of a break between Chapters One and Four to go on a honeymoon. I'm in the process of catching up to my Bible Study Group and will continue with my notes below..

Chapter Two - The Mistake We Make

General Notes:

• Discussion of JFK and John Lennon - both achieved great fame and both died as a cause of it. When we die it's important to have been forgiven of your sins, regardless of how famous you might be.

`What was your favorite statement and why?

• Belief in God is not the same as having faith in God.
• Proof of God is all around us.  We can believe in His existence but do we trust in Him?
• See Psalm 14:1
• Trust is oxygen to the Christian - without it we will die 
• "Analytical perfectionism" is a slow and quiet killer of faith. It will suck the life out of your soul.
• Don't over analyze - just  trust.

What was your least favorite statement?

• The discussion around "analytical perfectionism" went on long after the point was already made.
• The witnessing section of this chapter will seem very familiar to anyone who has seen Ray Comfort's evangelism videos on YouTube. Listening to this section on audio was a challenge.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• Unbelief paves the way for sin. 

Chapter Three - Daniel: The Risk-Taker

General Notes:

• Chapter starts commenting on the phrase "like a pit bull" for people that are very focused and determined to get a given task done. We should be ""pit bulls" when it comes to evangelizing and leading people to Christ.

`What was your favorite statement and why?

• The discussion about Daniel overcoming his fear of being eaten lions by focusing on his love and trust in the Lord to protect him. Daniel decided to risk being killed by lions rather than going against his allegiance to the Lord. We need to have Daniel's trust in the Lord when we face challenges and struggles in our lives. If we fear challenges or the future it means we're not trusting in the Lord's plan for our lives. We need to trust in the Lord's plans for us, even when it doesn't seem to make sense. I loved this statement: "Whether we are fearful or faithful depend on if we are faith-full when it comes to the promises of God".
• I also liked the reminder about the Great Commission to ""Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". It's yat another reminder to me that I'm not doing enough to evangelize and lead others to Jesus.

 What was your least favorite statement?

• No real statement - I loved this chapter. The part I 'didn't like was the ongoing reminder to me that I'm still not doing enough to lead others to Jesus or make them aware of the opportunity to build a relationship with Him.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• No real statement - I loved this chapter. The part I 'didn't like was the ongoing reminder to me that I'm still not doing enough to lead others to Jesus or make them aware of the opportunity to build a relationship with Him.

Chapter Four - Daniel's Good Courage

General Notes:

• Chapter starts out observing the different types of courage - "good"courage is being brave enough to do a noble act.

`What was your favorite statement and why?

• "Courage pleases the Lord and balms the soul".  This is on page 61. I find this statement to be extremely comforting. I also love the statement that occurs later on the page: "Courage accelerates on the highway of faith". This, to me, means we can become as courageous in our faith as Daniel was is his if we spend time each day in the Word and strengthen our relationship with Jesus. Our faith is our rations to sustain us in our daily battles for our faith.

What was your least favorite statement?

• The dental floss analogy was a bit clumsy. The concept to evangelizing about sexual issues to women is challenging and not one I would feel comfortable doing.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• I loved the closing statement of this chapter (page 68):
  "Grab hold of the truth with both of your hands. Never forget it. Then take courage and reach into eternity by totally trusting in an almighty God".

Chapter Five - Great Gain

General Notes:

• Chapter starts out analyzing what happiness means. Everyone wants to be happy but we're not all in agreement as to what happiness actually is.  Our happiness is usually dependent on what happens. This is not the best way to approach happiness because we will face challenges in our lives that can impact our happiness. We need to build our happiness on the foundation of our relationship with Jesus. 

`What was your favorite statement and why?

• We need to pursue godliness, not happiness (page 80). This will ensure our happiness is not fleeting since it won't be based on what happens, it will instead be based upon our relationship with Jesus. If we put the will of God first we will always be content, even when we face hardships.

What was your least favorite statement?

• I didn't care for the story about when Ray was working in a surf shop - it didn't appeal to me.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• Page 85: "The world is a kingdom that values sin and darkness. God's kingdom values light and righteousness. The two can never be reconciled". 

Chapter Six - Daniel and the "Weeping Creator"

General Notes:

• The chapter starts out discussing an individual who desperately wants to be a man of God but cannot understand how it is possible since he had done some pretty bad things. The author compares this to David - King David was a man of God but also did some terrible things. The enemy is always trying to make us believe we aren't good enough but we can be if we have a relationship with Jesus. Jesus is our advocate when we will face God's judgement.

`What was your favorite statement and why?

• At the bottom of page 93: "Jesus commanded us to reach out to them with the gospel. 'He said 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature'.  We are not to miss anyone - we need to be warning everyone and always strive to do God's will. This was yet another reminder to me that I'm not doing enough to lead other's to the gospel.
• Page 95: "His personal love for me is magnified by my understanding of the seriousness of my sin. The more I see my sin, the greater His love seems to me. I deserved wrath but was given mercy." 
• Page 101: "To be a Daniel is to come out from this world."

What was your least favorite statement?

• This was a longer chapter and seemed to lose focus a bit towards the end. Despite this I still enjoyed it. 

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• The statement above was another reminder to me that I'm not doing enough to lead other's to the gospel. I periodically post verses and images to Facebook and sometimes engage my atheist friends but I'm reallly not doing enough to speak with strangers about the importance of having a relationship with Christ.

Chapter Seven - The Coming Trumpet

General Notes:

• Chapter starts out lamenting the world's fascination with evil and wrong doing. We should stay positive because we know Jesus is coming back.

`What was your favorite statement and why?

• I liked the comaprison of Daniel's dream to a courtroom when a judge makes his entrance. Jesus is our judge.  I like that he said the coming of Jesus is close and we must use this time to reach out to those who are lost as often as possible. It's another reminder that I don't do enough evangelism.

 What was your least favorite statement?

• The witnessing encounter was extremely dark. Totally unexpected.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• Jesus is coming back soon. We should use this fact as a forcing factor to drive and motivate us to evangelize to others as much as possible, leading the lost back to Christ.

Chapter Eight - Action Movie

General Notes:

• The chapter begins with an argument against Evolution but I believe it's possible to believe in both Evolution and God. I believe that God guides evolution.

`What was your favorite statement and why?

• I love the example he gave about using evident love to reach unbelievers.
• I like the analogy of how we have been saved from certain death similar to how Daniel was saved from the Lions.
• The world will never find a cure for death if they don't know the cause.
• I like that he was witnessing to a Muslim at the end of the chapter but I wish it would have dug deeper into potential protests that the person he was witnessing to may have raised.

 What was your least favorite statement?

• I think it's wrong to attack Evolution the way the chapter started out. I believe it's possible to believe in both God and evolution, God guides evolution according to His plan.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• When we come before God being sorry for our sins and saying we won't do it again is not enough. This is why we need Jesus as our advocate.

Chapter Nine- A Serious Apologist

General Notes:

• Chapter starts out with someone doubting the Bible because of when it was written. 

What was your favorite statement and why?

• The skeptic doesn't want truth.  He's determined to fight tooth and nail to hold onto his sins.
• The average sinner is proud, knows nothing, has a corrupt mind, and is destitute of the truth. 
• The law leaves sinners with nowhere to run. 

 What was your least favorite statement?

• I am unclear why the author doesn't seem to be a fan of apologetics.  Perhaps I don't understand what apologetics actually is. 
  • Jim explained it to me: Apologists explain how something is true, hopefully explaining it from scripture. Ken Hamm is very good at this as is Ray Comfort. Apologetics is an imprtant discipline for plausability discussions - it serves Christians far more than non-Christians. Apologetics helps Christians remain steadfast in their faith when confronted by non-belivers with difficult questions. 
• I don't really enjoy the examples of Ray evangelizing at the end of each chapter.  This is better illustrated by his videos than in a printed form. 

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• The urgency is to preach the gospel, not to get distracted by arguments made by unbelievers. 
• The evangelization section of this chapter mentioned the concept of a false conversion. False conversion is believing you are saved when you are not. It's not possible to be a "backslider" if you have truly repented from your sins and accepted Jesus as your savior. See Luke 9:62
• How do I ensure I haven't gone through a false conversion? 
• Those who claim to be Christians should display the characteristics of true Christians: sound doctrine, obedience to God’s Word, and love.
• They should unashamedly work to spread the good news of the gospel, as we are called to do (Matthew 28:19–20), knowing well that they might be mocked and ridiculed by many in these increasingly secular times. 

Chapter Ten - When The Push Comes

General Notes:

• I love the short story at the beginning of the chapter about Ray accidentally calling Ken Ham and Ken pointing out that God is Sovereign and nothing happens by accident.
• I also loved how he used the analogy of his lost car keys to pull out keys in the passages of 1 Thessalonians 2.

What was your favorite statement and why?

• The keys that he called out in 2 Thessalonians 2: even though we go through suffering, find ourselves in conflict, or are horribly treated, we must be bold in Our gospel proclamation.
• We have been interested with the precious gospel, that you keep us free from error to always preach salvation by grace, uncleanliness such as sexual lust and deceit such as hidden pride or covetousness.
• Repentance comes before faith. 
• Ray Price that in some way, this book will help create more warriors who will act as brave Daniels for the fight.

 What was your least favorite statement?

• I'm sure the stories in the emails that Ray received and included in this chapter were quite but they kind of felt like filler and I skipped them.

An important thought or question raised in the text.

• We keep our boldness because we strive to please God, not men. God will hold us accountable.
• Modern evangelism doesn't open up the Ten Commandments to show the true nature of sin. It's not obvious to Sinners that repentance is necessary. It's not enough to believe, we also have to repent of our sins. We must open up the Ten Commandments before we preach that sinners should trust in Jesus for forgiveness of sins.
• Showing love in the face of hatred is a better witness than a thousand eloquent sermons.
• Hebrews 11 is an open chapter. May your name be added to it.

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