Thursday, May 21, 2020

FREE ONLINE SEMINARY: Course of Study, Phase 2

Phase 2 will build on Phase 1 and you will:
  • learn about the attributes of God, 
  • get an overview of the Old Testament, 
  • go deeper in learning sound principles for interpreting Scripture, 
  • make worship an integral part of your prayer life, 
  • get a handle on a basic cumulative case for the Christian faith,
  • learn some practical tactics for having good conversations with unbelievers,
  • finish your first year of New Testament Greek, and
  • continue work on your major project.

1. A BROADER LOOK AT THEOLOGY
*ONLINE CLASS: "A Guide to Christian Beliefs" by Dr. I. Howard Marshall
*ARTICLE: "15 Amazing Attributes of God: What They Mean and Why They Matter"
*MEMORY VERSES: From the online course immediately below, choose one verse to memorize for each of the attributes of God.
*ONLINE COURSE: "The Attributes of God." 
*READING: For each section of this course, a section of Jen Wilkin's book None Like Him is assigned. This book is very reasonably priced, but you may alternatively choose to use the links for "additional resources" which will take you to the appropriate sections of books (some of them classics), which you can read online for FREE.
OPTIONAL READING: 
*Knowing God by J.I. Packer. (Available in Kindle and audiobook) Cheaper at Ebay. This is a classic and "named by Christianity Today as one of the top fifty books that have shaped evangelicals,..."
*The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. (Very cheap on Kindle). Paperback cheaper at Ebay. FREE PDF version. This another great classic.


2. OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY
*SERIES OF SHORT VIDEOS: 
*"The Old Testament in 8 minutes" at the Intelligents YouTube channel
*"Overview: Genesis Ch. 1-11" by the Bible Project (8 minutes)
*"Overview: Genesis Ch. 12-50" by the Bible Project (8 minutes)
*Note about the Bible Project: You may want to watch the rest of their videos giving overviews of the books of the Bible. The videos are excellent and do a great job of laying out the narrative of the Bible as the story of God's plan of salvation. This is an important perspective and central to understanding the Bible; however, the authors have a very lop-sided view of the nature of Scripture that fails to understand (even undermines) other dimensions of God's revelation in Scripture--so use discernment.
*"An Overview of Old Testament History | A Timeline of Biblical Events" by Mario Escobedo (21 minutes). Begins with Moses in the book of Exodus.
*ARTICLE: Chronology of the Old Testament
*READ through the Old Testament in sync with the online class below and take notes.
*WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Keep a notebook or document in which you write a brief summary for each book of the Old Testament. If you can sum it up in a sentence or two, all the better.
*ONLINE CLASS: "Old Testament Survey" by Dr. Douglas Stuart
*PROJECT: Create a timeline of the Old Testament. You can choose to do it on a large sheet of paper or posterboard....or a blank wall in your house or your church....or using an online timeline creator like TimeGraphics (which I have been using lately and really like). Or if you want a real fun challenge, try constructing one in 3-D and making a video of it. There are a seemingly endless number of ways of constructing one. Here are several examples for you to use as resources for information and examples of different ways to construct a timeline:
*Recommended Resources: 
*Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by C.F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch. A 19th Century commentary but still the best commentary covering the whole Old Testament. Find it cheaper on Ebay. FREE at Step Bible or Internet Archive.
*A Survey of Old Testament Introduction by Gleason Archer. Possibly cheaper on Ebay or Addall.
*Also, don't forget that you can find many more FREE resources here: "Bible & Theology Reference Works Online: Massive Selection + My Recommendations"

3. BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
*MEMORY VERSES: Psalm 119:33-34
*ONLINE COURSE: "Biblical Hermeneutics" with Dr. Robert Stein. 
*BOOKS: The first book is an easier read and the second much longer and more in depth. You may want to only read one of these or both.
*God-Centered Biblical Interpretation by Vern Sheridan Poythress. FREE here.
*Biblical hermeneutics: A Treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments by Milton S. Terry. Free at Internet Archive.
*Resources for further study and research: "Biblical Interpretation: Resources"


4. PRAYER & WORSHIP
*SERMON: "Pray and Be Alone With God" by Paul Washer
*DAILY DEVOTIONAL: "Praying the Names and Attributes of God." Begin your prayer time by praising God for who he is and asking for a greater glimpse of glory. This is a 30-day exercise.
*READING: After finishing the 30-day exercise above, begin to pray through the Psalms. One each day (or part of a psalm). That is read the Psalms as your prayer and then respond further by worshiping God in what has been revealed to you.
*MEMORY VERSES: As you are praying through the Psalms, choose verses to memorize that most move you to worship.
*READING: The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. FREE at Project Gutenberg.
*OPTIONAL READING: 
*The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. Cheaper at Ebay and Addall.
*The Purpose of Man: Designed to Worship by A.W. Tozer. Cheaper at Ebay
*How to Worship Jesus Christ: Experiencing His Manifest Presence Daily by Joseph S. Carroll. Cheaper at Ebay.

*JOURNAL: Continue your daily prayer journal. Make the entries as long or as brief as you want. Write down prayer requests, answers to prayer, thanksgiving and worship, etc.

5. APOLOGETICS: A CUMULATIVE CASE
*"How to Have Confidence in Christ That Changes the World (Apologetics 101: A Cumulative Case)" by Brad Cooper
*MEMORY VERSES: Luke 1:1-4Mark 12:28-31 
*OPTIONAL READING: If you want to dig in deeper, there are resource links related to each class (at the page linked to above).


6. APOLOGETICS: TACTICS
"A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions" with GREG KOUKL
*ONLINE COURSE: Session 1  Session 2   Session 3  Session 4
*READING: Faith Has Its Reasons by Kenneth Boa and Rob M. Bowman, Jr. Read for FREE! online here.
*MEMORY VERSE: 1 Peter 3:15-16
*OPTIONAL READING (but HIGHLY recommended): 
*Tactics by Greg Koukl (available in Audiobook).
*Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion by Os Guinness. (Audiobook available). Cheaper at Ebay.

*Recommended Viewing: "Suitable For Framing | Full Episode | Columbo" (If you don't know who Columbo is, this will be a great introduction. And if you do, consider this a needed refresher. :) )

7. NEW TESTAMENT GREEK
If you chose "Option 2" during Phase 1, complete the rest of that class:
*ONLINE CLASS OPTIONS FOR OPTION #2: 
*A: Mastering New Testament Greek by Ted Hildebrandt: This is an amazing page filled with every resource imaginable for learning Greek....and it's all FREE (including the textbook)!
*B: Norlan De Groot has a 2-part Introduction to Biblical Greek that can be taken for FREE (see instructions at the top of the page linked to) and you can get the textbook for FREE also: New Testament Greek for Beginners by Gresham Machen. Might find it cheaper at Ebay or AddallFREE here or here. Charts for the various declension charts can be found beginning on p.225. So you can take this course completely FREE. 
*C: Biblical Greek by Dr. Bill Mounce: The class is FREE but the textbook costs money.
*D: More FREE CLASS options that use David Alan Black's textbook: Learn to Read New Testament Greekwhich you might find cheaper (about $8 including shipping right now) at Ebay or Addall"Daily Dose of Greek" by Dr. Rob Plummer is surely the best of these.


*ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: "Learning New Testament Greek: ResourcesYou will find lots of FREE resources here to help you along.

8. MAJOR PROJECT
*Continue working on your major project. 
*If you feel stuck, ask for feedback in our private Facebook group about what the next step in this process should be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THOUGHTS FOR YOUR JOURNEY
You've come a long way already. When you finish this phase, you will be one third of the way through this course of study. Take a moment to think about how much you have learned and grown in these first two phases. Give God praise for what he is doing in you and ask for the wisdom, strength and endurance to finish.

LINK TO PHASE 3



No comments:

Post a Comment