naSlovensko » theology

You Will be My Witnesses: To the Ends of the Earth

Todd Patterson — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:55:14 +0000

Jesus’ statement in Acts 1:8, that his disciples would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth; created reader expections that we have been following throughout the book of Acts. So far, everything has happened just as Jesus said it would happen. And now we’ve come [...]

You Will be My Witnesses: In Judea and Samaria

Todd Patterson — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:16:14 +0000

In Jesus’ programmatic statement of Acts 1:8 he says that his disciples will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We’ve already looked at their witness in Jerusalem, to the Jews and in this post we look at Judea and Samaria. Of course, as I [...]

Genesis 1:1-3: The Creation Account and Hebrew Narrative

Todd Patterson — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:47:38 +0000

In this series of posts we’re addressing the question as to whether there is a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 (or 1:2 and 1:3). You can read more about the implications of this in the first post of this series. In this post I’m looking at the plausibility of a gap in the [...]

Expressing Our Gratitude

Todd Patterson — Tue, 17 May 2011 03:19:34 +0000

A few weeks ago I was asked to be the student speaker at a luncheon for the Kenneth Kantzer Society. This is a group of people who have made large donations to Trinity via some sort of planned giving and the luncheon was an expression of thanks from the University. The speakers included the [...]

You Will Be My Witnesses: In Jerusalem

Todd Patterson — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:36:14 +0000

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Lawrence OP

After the Pentecost we read in the book of Acts about the beginning of the apostles’ ministry which takes place in Jerusalem, to the Jews. In this post we’ll look at four key elements or themes that are important for the whole book and at the [...]

Mount Sinai and the Pentecost: Recreating the People of God

Todd Patterson — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:58:16 +0000

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Karl Karl

Luke set our expectations for the book of Acts in 1:8. That’s where he indicated that the disciples are going to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. But first, Jesus told the disciples they would be [...]

My Ministry Manifesto: The Legacy of Viktor Poloha (video)

Todd Patterson — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:30:32 +0000

What follows is a three-stranded interweaving of my Ministry Manifesto, the Legacy of Viktor Poloha, and the quiet calling of the Savior on each of our lives.

Before 1989, when communists still ruled Central and Eastern Europe, we in the West prayed that God would help the saints in those countries persevere through [...]

The Middle of Acts: Continuing the Ministry of Jesus

Todd Patterson — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:19:58 +0000

Warming Up

As we begin to read the book of Acts along the lines of story we want to continually keep in mind that we are reading from expectation to fulfillment (or from tension to resolution).

There are two aspects to that kind of reading. The first aspect is that we always keep in [...]

The Beginning of Acts

Todd Patterson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:21:56 +0000

In the introductory post of this series on The Story of Acts I tried to explain how plots work, that is, that they move from expectation to fulfillment or from tension to resolution. In the second post I used Gen 2:18-25 as an example of How to Read a Story.

In this post we’re [...]

How to Read a Story

Todd Patterson — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:45:44 +0000

In the last post I introduced this series on reading the book of Acts as a story, or, according to its plot. Even though everyone knows how to read a story we’re not used to reading the Bible that way and so in this post I’m going to offer Genesis 2:18-25 as an example [...]