My sources - Where is he learning this?

I know I've referred to it in my header, but I am studying Greek on my own. I'm not a Bible college student (though I'd probably like to be), and so I do not have the benefit of an instructor or someone with about 30-40 years of head knowledge. So you may be wondering, "Where is he getting his information?"

First of all, let me mention a brief website called Textkit.com. What I found here are sources on Greek and Latin which are out-of-print. These are old textbooks, and here you can find grammar books, beginning books, even composition books! These are all academic sources, and best of all they're free :) If it wasn't for this website, www.textkit.com, I doubt my learning would have taken off the way it has.

PS - I am not affiliated with textkit.com, so this blog is not necessarily a reflection of their own educational or academic standards. The above paragraph is simply my own private review, but I do love what I have found!

With that, here are my specific sources, starting with my most frequently used one.

"A Brief Introduction to New Testament Greek" by Samuel L. Green (http://www.textkit.com/)


Truth be told, this book feels anything but brief. It's about 120 pages in PDF, but I'm crawling through it quite slowly. The information is there; it's basic, as it goes for a new language, but accurate.

Advantages:

• First of all, it's free :) This edition of the textbook was printed in about 1911, and so the copyright is gone from it.


• It is what it says it is: An introduction. Nothing unnecessarily complicated, and if you take your time, you'll be able to digest it.


• It's downloadable. It's in PDF format, and so you can put this on your computer.


• Comes with an answer key, downloaded separately. The book contains exercises, and you have a resource for double-checking your answers. There's not a large number of exercises, but involve some real digestion, and are key to understanding the lessons.

Disadvantages:

• It's old. However (this is only my opinion), I imagine that this is not too material, as so far our information on Greek grammar has suited us very well for creating high-quality copies of the New Testament till this day. Do keep in mind though that as we study this ancient language that we do learn more about it, so there are resources with better information, but this book will take you a long ways.


• Non-indulgent. For me, this is a good thing, because I like things that are concise and to the point, but there's no eye appeal. No graphics, no pictures, coloring, etc. All the information is there, you should know, and puts it in chart format when helpful. I think you might have problems if you have never picked up a language outside of English, such as Spanish (which I know), German or French. Depending on experience, this could be a bigger hindrance to some than others.


• Professional language. The book uses a lot of grammar terms (yes, I know how you loved that class), and it expects you know what it's talking about, so you'll have to do a little grammar research to get the point at times (nothing Google or dictionary.com couldn't solve though).


• May be time-consuming. At least because of my own schedule, I've been stuck within the first 30-something pages for 2-3 months, but I do that because I'm also a college student and (at least until last Friday) have been working. This is not 21st century reading. I do not currently use any modern resources though, so I do not know whether I am behind or ahead of the curve in how I crawl through this book. But I am learning :)

Other thoughts: If you will take your time, you'll find it to be a good introductory resource. But you must be focused, as the book doesn't do the work for you. If you want to use this, I recommend taking your own notes, graphing things and laying them out as you see necessary. It's a thin book, but I am already doing some limited reading (and writing) in Greek because of it.

iTunes U "Elementary Greek" Podcast (Concordia Seminary)

There is nothing greater than podcasts to me :) I can find series on any number of things on iTunes, and any great number of resources on iTunes U! Actually, it was finding this that I believe got me jump-started into Greek. After using the podcasts a bit (not as much as the book mentioned above), here are the thoughts.



Advantages:

• More "personal" than the textbook mentioned above. You have the advice, recommendations and teachings of an actual instructor, so you will better get the sense of what he believes needs to be done.


• The topics are easily located and found among episodes. There are a large number of episodes in this podcast, and so you won't have much trouble finding an episode on what you want to learn about.


• Comes in audio and video. You may not feel like watching, so you may just want to listen. Well, it comes with both opportunities, with a chance to download video episodes, or audio-only episodes.


• Includes pronunciation helps. Pronunciation for Koine Greek isn't too complicated, but knowing and having a consistent way of pronouncing something is helpful in learning any language.

Disadvantage:

• Goes along with a textbook you must purchase. Perhaps you could pick up without the textbook, but for the most effective results, you need the one he recommends. Of course, if the textbook should ever become outdated, you may have trouble locating it. You could probably find it on Amazon.com in that case.
  

"Pocket Lexicon of the Greek New Testament" by Alexander Souter (http://www.textkit.com/)

Simply, a Greek-English dictionary. It's the same story as the Brief Introduction to the New Testament by Green; it's old, no copyright.

Advantage:

• It's free :)


• It's a downloadable PDF

Disadvantages:

• It's old. This item was printed in 1917, and from what I understand, older theories of extracting meanings of words may not be suitable. Could I afford it, I would actually get a more complete and updates lexicon, but there are many other resources you can double-check against. Doesn't mean it's unsuitable though.

(This is the one I'm the most proud of...)

"The New Testament in the Original Greek" by Maurice A. Robinson and William G. Pierpont

This is by far my favorite among the resources. I mentioned that my goal is to read and memorize the entire Bible in its original languages, so this has been instrumental so far. This is the book that I'm using. I'll give you some highlights:

• Includes accents. Some works may exclude accents and diadactic marks for the sake of ease, but at least for me, I want them. They can be worked around, but for me they are a preference.


• Gives information on variations. This is a splendid thing for it, for anyone who knows about textual criticism knows that during the transmission of text, variations inevitably occur. This translation includes common variations in the footnotes.


• Gives information on textual criticism. This could be an advantage and disadvantage, depending on how you look at it. The textform is Byzantine, and some may find odds with that as opposed to Alexandrian, Wescott-Hort or the Textus Receptus, but it makes for interesting--yet technical--learning. There's probably about 60-70 pages worth of reading on this, but if you want their defense for their methods of criticism, it's there for you.


• Doesn't include non-Canonical works. For the sake of book size, this is good. No Shepherd of Hermas or Gospel of Barnabas. No doubt that some of the non-Canonical works may actually be very good (I have not read those ones yet), for practical purposes they are not included.


• Larger print. This would depend on how you look at it, but for me it makes simpler reading. I don't like looking at PDFs and seeing the text so small that I can't discern the accents.


• Books are listed in Byzantine priority. The books aren't in the order that our Bible have today. Here, they are the Gospels, Acts, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Revelation. Little different, but dissected another way, Gospels/Acts/Letters of the Apostles/Letters of Paul the Apostle/The Apocalypse of John.

Academically, this probably isn't the ideal line-up. My textbook is just shy of 100 years old, as well as my lexicon, and certainly we have learned more in the past 50 years alone than ever in the 6000 +/- before, but I also know that Koine Greek isn't changing any. I consider it a blessing that I can simply go on the internet and learn about what it is I need to learn about, that I can get just about any book I want, and there's so many things I can obtain for free. Right now I'm at the very beginning stages, and haven't been doing this longer than 3 months yet, so what I have now, I believe, is suitable. I also trust that the authors of my sources took due professional and academic care into their work. As time goes on, I'll update my library accordingly. For now, this is the blessing of God.

Sola Scriptura!

Jake

3rd John Memorized! Note on numbering, reflections

ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ Φ

('α)Ο πρεσβυτερος Γαιω το αγαπητο, ον εγο αγαπω εν αληθεια.

('β)Αγαπητε, περι παντων ευχομαι σε ευοδουσθαι και υγιαινειν, καθως ευοδουται σου η ψυχη. ('γ)Εχαρην γαρ λιαν, ερχομενων αδελφων και μαρτυρουντων σου τη αλυθεια, καθως συ εν αληθεια περιπατεις. ('δ)Μειζοτεραν τουτων ουκ εχο χαραν, ινα ακουω τα εμα τεκνα εν αληθεια περιπατουντα.

('ε)Αγαπητε, πιστον ποιεις ο εαν εργαση εις τους αδελφους και εις τους ξενους - ('ς)οι εμαρτυρησαν σου τη αγαπη ενωπιον εκκλεσιας. Ους καλως ποισεις προπεμψας αξιως του θεου. ('ζ)Υπερ γαρ του ονοματος εξηλθον μηδεν λαμβανοντες απο των εθνον. ('η)Ημεις ουν οφειλομεν απολαμβανειν τοις τοιουτους, ινα συνεργοι γινωμεθα τη αληθεια.

('θ)Αγραψα τη εκκλεσια, αλλ' ο φιλοπρωτευων αυτον Διοτροφης ουκ επιδεχεται ημας. ('ι)Δια τουτο, εαν ελθω, υπομνησω αυτου τα εργα α ποιει, λογοις πονηροις φλυαρων ημας, και αρκουμενος επι τουτοις, ουτε αυτος επιδεχεται τους αδελφους, και τους βουλομενος κωλυει, και εκ της εκκλησιας εκβαλλει. ('ια)Αγαπητε, μη μιμου το κακον, αλλα το αγαθον. Ο αγαθοποιων εκ θεου εστιν -ο κακοποιων ουχ εορακεν τον θεον. ('ιβ)Δημητριω μεμαρτυρηται υπο παντων, και υπ' αυτης της αληθειας. Και ημεις δε μαρτυρουμεν, και οιδατε οτι η μαρτυρια ημων αληθης εστιν.

('ιγ)Πολλα ειχον γραφειν, αλλ' ου θελω δια μελανος και καλαμου σοι γραφαι. ('ιδ)Ελπιζω δε ευθεως ιδειν σε, και στομα προς στομα λαλησομεν. Ειρηνη σε. Ασπαζονται σε οι φιλοι. Ασπαζου τους φιλους κατ'ονομα.

Ok, that was typing by memory, made a few appendages. Those are where the boldfaces are, and consequently where I made mistakes. Missed one small two-word phrase, had the declension wrong in the last verse, and had some spelling errors, though other than that, rather decent :) I didn't bother with accents and other diadactic marks because they are a pain on the keyboard, and I cant' really fight them them right now.

Most frequent errors?
1. Typing θ instead of υ. On my keyboard, for the Greek Polytonic setting, the U key is the θ, and the Y key is the υ.
2. Using the wrong form of ου/ουκ/ουχ. The first comes right before a consontant word, the second before a soft-breathing vowel, and the last before a rough-breathing vowel.

You're probably wondering about the way I wrote out the verse numbers? Well in Greek, letters are used for numbers. The apostrophe usually is meant to indicate that it's a number.

'α (1)
'β (2)
'γ (3)
'δ (4)
'ε (5)
'ς (6)
'ζ (7)
'η (8)
'θ (9)
'ι (10).
For 11 through 19, just add one of the first nine listed to the "ι" ('ια, 'ιβ, 'ιγ, etc.). That's about as high as I can make it for now.

Strange that I'm even doing this. I've wanted to do this for so long, it's kind of funny to think of it actually happening now.

If there's something I'd hope you would learn, learn to get a passion for the Bible. It doesn't matter what language you do it in--I do it in Greek for my own particular reasons--but do get to know the Word of God. Write it on your heart everyday. Don't just take short bits of passages, but get entire chapters and books, and study them in and out. Dig into commentaries, theological textbooks, whatever it takes to understand. There is not a more important book on the face of the Earth than this one, because it is the only book by which you will know about, and know personally, the Supreme Author.

God bless you brothers and sisters. I hope that these articles and posts provide inspiration for you as you read.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Jake

John 1:1-18 - Got it! About memorization too

Ἐν τη φρήν εστίν ὁ εργος τοῦ Ἰωάννου ἡ μαθητής.

And yes, I understand what it says :)

And I tell you, that is not easy stuff :-S.

I'm working on the rest of John 1, got verse 19 down, but I'm taking a detour to ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ Γ. That's 3rd John :). Four verses down there, but the way I'm going, I'm learning vocabulary and grammar as I go, so in a ways it's like learning your first language, and it's certainly interesting, but it takes a lot of focus, a lot of stamina, and a lot of time.

Speaking of which, why memorize the passages? Well, for one I want to have the Bible memorized, so there's one reason, and I decided that the original language would be best. Second, memorizing this early in my Greek study provides to be useful too, as I found that something is best remembered when it's in a particular context. Context gives meaning to something. Suppose I say, "Have you ever met Johnny?" you'd probably say, "Who's Johnny?" I would go onto say, "You know, the one who always sits in the back of the class in the far right corner in our Biblical Languages IV class?" You'd snap and say, "Oh yes, that Johnny! Yeah I've met him, he's a pretty cool guy, saw him at church yesterday morning." In the example, you know about Johnny, but you don't yet get what Johnny I'm talking about. However, when I provided details, you immediately knew which Johnny it was. Those details are called the context, from which you recognized immediately what Johnny I was talking about. It's the same with vocabulary, in my book; the verses they are found in provide the context.

For example, the word κράζω (krazo) means "to cry out." I remember this from verse 15, where is says that John the Baptist cried out about Jesus. There's another odd definition of it which means to croak, or cry like a raven, and so I know John as having been a bit different than others, it's a small trick that helps me remember it (although I am not asserting that this crow-related definition is what κράζω actually means in John 1:15; I have no such experience to say so, so don't worry, your translation's probably right there). But these facts help me remember it. Another, I'll always remember λόγος (logos) because of all I've learned in connection with it, but until then it seemed like little else than another word.

You want to know a secret to getting a language down good? Application. Extensive application. You might be learning Spanish, for example, so the best thing for you to do is start talking to people in Spanish, start writing in Spanish, reading, or perhaps translate Spanish into English and vice versa. Considering the church culture today, I imagine that much of what is taught in the four grueling semesters of Greek at seminaries is quick forgotten as church life gets complicated and busy, so for anyone wanting to master a language, remember...

TIME IS YOUR ENEMY!

That's not a suggestion, that's a command. that makes eleven, if ya count 'em ;) Even a few days of not studying or practicing, you feel like it falls out of your head, so reinforcement is your key.

Well, I'll put in a few more things on John 1:1-18 when I have time, including some verb dissection and perhaps a thing or two that could be learned from the Greek. Though John 1:1-18 is an all around piece of artwork in my book. A beautiful synapsis of the deity of Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jake

In the beginning was the logos

NOTE: This information in this entry is slightly inaccurate. Check blog entry "Clearing up the Articulars."

Have you ever seen the movie "Luther?" Not the old one, but the newer? There is a line in that movie that stuck with me, as Martin Luther is busy translating the Bible from Greek and Latin into German. He comes to the word "will," which in German has the connotation of power, authority, as in bending one to your will, but in the Greek, it means things along the lines of fire, passion and desire. After he ponders it a moment he says, "It's not the word that's important, but what it says about God."

I thought of that as I pondered this word λόγος (logos), which is found in John 1:1-2. I know I've already done bits and pieces on this chapter, but it gets better. I think it's amazing what this word says about God.

(1) Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. (2) οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

John 1:1 - In the beginning was the word (logos), and the word (logos) was with God, and the word (logos) was God. He (the logos) was with God in the beginning.

This is my own personal analysis in this paragraph, but you'll notice that in John it says ὁ λόγος, using an article, "The word." It's characteristic of divine expression in this case. This is not any common word, but is the word. This is similar to the Greek phrase αἱ γραφαί, which translated to us as "Scripture" or "The Scriptures." In Greek, it literally means "the writings," but a writing could be any piece of work, so the definite article makes it specific. What writings? The writings. To the believers in Yahweh, those could mean only one set of writings; thus following, the word can only refer to one word, and it the word originated from God, and to a culture that treasures God above all things, there is nothing so specific, unique and set apart as that which originates from God (which, truthfully, is how we should all learn to think); yet we haven't touched yet,"Just what is this logos?"

I read something very interesting today about that word "logos." In Greek, there are two words for "word." One is rhema (ῥῆμα), the other is logos (λόγος). A question occured to me, "Why is it that one of these is used and not the other? Why not rhema?" My mother had bought a copy of the MacArthur Study Bible, and I began reading the commentary, and there it was! I have my Strong's Concordance with me, and there's nothing really unique about the word "rhema." Here's what it says:

"An utterance (collective, individual, specific); by implication, a matter or topic." Nothing very special about it.

However, logos is a different story.

According to John MacArthur, the word, and John's meaning behind it, drew both from Old Testament meaning and Greek philosophy. In Greek philosophy, logos meant another kind of word, which was usually impersonal, and signified principles such as divine reason, the mind or perhaps wisdom. This of course is a closer to John's intentions in talking about Jesus Christ than is the word "rhema." John doesn't rely on Greek philosophy itself to get the meaning across, but its cultural implications are needed to make it work. Instead, John uses it in the sense that it was used in the Old Testament; as God's divine and powerful expression, such as in Genesis 1:3. Read over John 1 and notice the glory that John attributes to this logos, and you can see immediately it is something unique, something unlike anything else. The beauty of the word though is that both the Greeks and the Jews would understand what was meant by it, and it's that Christ is something more than just mere words.

When I think about it, I believe John is conveying something through this word that actually gets into the mind of God, for John Chapter 1 is a powerful overview of Jesus Christ and all that He came to accomplish. All the things that Christ is, are the things that are even now in the heart of God. Think on these things:

He is not just the spoken words of God; He is the powerful expression of God.
He is the embodiment of what is in the mind of God.
This logos was there when the world was created, and before.
This logos was His companion when He created the world, a funnel (if you will) through which everything was run.
This logos was the mind and thoughts that God used when creating the world.
This logos was the revelation of God that the world had been waiting for since Genesis 3:15.
And He has come and been revealed to us, and is the one by which God even now speaks to us (Hebrews 1:1-2).

You know why the world hates Christ and disputes Him so much? The thing that the world hates about Christ is just what was mentioned above; He is the ultimate expression of the mind of God, all of Himself wrapped up in skin and bones, all brought down to something which we could potentially understand. Everything about Him was in the mind of God; He did not live a moment outside the will of God, for Him and the Father are One. The unity is very hard to comprehend, but when you see Christ, you see the Father! In no former moment in history did the light so shine in the darkness as to shatter it the way that Christ has. All is now in the light, and a sinful world cannot take it.

ὁ λόγος ἐστίν. He is the Word.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jake

John 1:6-8

Copied directly from greekbible.com:

Ἰωάννης 1.6-8

(6) Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης: (7) οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι' αὐτοῦ. (8) οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς, ἀλλ' ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός.

English (NIV)
(6)There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. (7)He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. (8)He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

I boldfaced a couple of words in each one, so that you could get a corresponding idea. I'm going to try and go into a little detail on what's going on in each word.

ἀπεσταλμένος -apestalmenos -Verb, taken from the stem ἀποστέλλω (apostellw), which means according to the Strong's Concordance, means "to send out." You see where we get the word "apostle?" GreekBible.com states "one who is ordered to go to a particular place."
Tense: Perfect, as in "has been sent"
Voice: Passive, equivalent to "was sent"
Mood: Participle, a "verbal adjective," if you will. Usually relates to duty, capability, quality, etc. "Loving," "caring," etc.
Case: Nominative, the case of the subject. In English, we might say in a nominative statement, "the one who was sent."
Number: Singular
Gender: Masculine

I see a few things in here. The mood interests me the most, as it's as if to say that John was the one to do this work, that he was made for it. He was fulfilling his God-given role.

ἦλθεν - Eelthen - Verb, from the stem ἐρχομαι, which means "to come," usually in reference to a person, and either coming or going from one place to another. My Stron'gs concordance says this verb is usually only used in the present and imperfect tenses.
Person: Third
Tense: Aorist, same as past indefinite, absolute fact. "He came."
Voice: Active, meaning the subject actively doing the verb.
Mood: Indicative, which would be like saying, "He comes."
Number: Singular

μαρτυρίαν - Marturian - Declension of the word μαρτυρία, which means to testify or give witness. The word is accusatively inclined, being like the case of the object. Think of it this way: In the same way we capitalize a letter "j vs. J," you see how the letter changes, and what it does. The accusative, in a way, is modifying "he" (οὑτος) in the verse, saying something about it. In other ways, it's the object of a preposition (ie., as a WITNESS, in the FIELD, for the CAUSE)

ἵνα - Hina - In order that, so that, to the intent (that), so as

πιστεύσωσιν -Pisteuswsin - Verb, from the word πιστεύω, which is where we get the word "faith." For more precise definition, (from GreekBible) "To be sure of, to think true, be persuaded of, to have confidence in a conviction." A good definition in here is, "the NT of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul ," and also describes the ability to trust in either God or Jesus as being able to aid or do something.
Person: Third
Tense: Aorist, see ηλθεν
Voice: Active, see ηλθεν
Mood: Subjunctive, conveying a desire, wish or hope ("that they might," "in hopes that they might")
Number: Plural. The verb is referring to the preceeding word παντες which is translated as "all men."
I notice that GreekBible.com does not provide a case for it. The aorist, when combined with an indicative cast, represents a "pure and simple" action, but without a case, there's no such thing. I looked on a few other sites, and it's not given there either. I take this to mean that what John stated, the intended effects run through till today.

ἦν - Een - This is just the past form of the word "to be." It's third person, so it's the same as saying, "he was."

ἐκεῖνος - Ekeinos - "That one; often intensified by the art," according to Strong's Concordance. GreekBible.com, "he, she, it." I'm thinking that this is an intensified version of "he/she/it," so as to be translated "He himself."

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jake

katalambanw (καταλαμβάνω)

καταλαμβάνω


Ἰωαννην 1.5 - ...καὶ ἡ σκοτία εν τῃ σκοτία φαίνει, καὶ ἠ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

John 1:5 - That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

Copied directly from greekbible.com:
1) to lay hold of 1a) to lay hold of so as to make one's own, to obtain, attain to, to make one's own, to take into one's self, appropriate 1b) to seize upon, take possession of 1b1) of evils overtaking one, of the last day overtaking the wicked with destruction, of a demon about to torment one 1b2) in a good sense, of Christ by his holy power and influence laying hold of the human mind and will, in order to prompt and govern it 1c) to detect, catch 1d) to lay hold of with the mind 1d1) to understand, perceive, learn, comprehend

As I look at this definition, and one of the reasons I like the idea of studying Greek, is the general essence of character that you could get from a word. Some translations will translate this as "overcome," the KJV translates it "comprehend." But do you realize how this is used to characterize darkness?

Darkness is a captor. It seizes opportunities to oppress. It doesn't just take opportunities to conquer, but takes prisoners. Yet all of a sudden, here comes this thing called LIGHT. Perhaps the forces of darkness were at first confident, gathering weapons and chains so as to oppress, capture and bind the intruder, yet much to their surprise, the light was far too powerful. The 4,000 years of practice and planning had come to nothing!

And when you think about it, this verse is a foreshadow of the rest of the Gospel. Jesus comes in; He heals the sick; He drives out demons; He nourishes people with truth; He gives up Himself so that men may be free from sins; He sends the Holy Spirit. Satan had done everything within His own power to subdue this light, by murder, by oppression, by persecution, by unnatural self-righteousness, and hoped in the end to have taken what would have been just a rather difficult prisoner, but this time He couldn't. People pursued righteousness. Demons fled instantly. People were wholly healed. To assist us, the Holy Spirit was given. When Jesus came, He showed this darkness for what it was; utterly powerless in the presence of God.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jake

Discipline - The breakaway key

I'm reading through a book right now called "Meat for Men" by Leonard Ravenhill, and chapter 4, "The Harness of Discipline," broke through to me, because it described what I am not in many different ways. I am accomplished, and disciplined when need be, though I read through and realized that I can afford to really tighten the reins.

My biggest weakness is how easily I'm distracted, or lose track of something. For example, today at work I tried reviewing Greek in my head (the work is rote enough to where I can dual-focus), but it amazed me that it took no more than, I'm positive, ten seconds to forget the Greek and start thinking about something else.

I also realized that I do not have my learning schedule for Greek down-pat. If you want an exhaustive analysis of how I have been going about practicing and studying Greek, it looks like this:

Day 1: What do I feel like studying today?

Day 2: What do I feel like studying today?

Day 3: What do I feel like studying today?



That's about the furthest it's broken down.

And I forget that I have other things I'm trying to do. For one, I'm an accounting student, working towards an MBA with an Accounting focus, and my goal is to pass both the CPA and CFE exams my first time through, so I need to be thinking ahead for that.

In this sermon, Ravenhill talks about how a crucial item lacking in churches today is discipline. A time ago, when you became a new believer, you would get two books: A bible, and a book on discipline. Nowadays, you pretty much only get the former and not the latter. However, this is what separates the tenor from the choir boy.

Ravenill gives the story of an opera singer named Maria Callas, who was one of the most demanded opera singers of her time. She was the kind that managers would clamor for her signature, who had to hold the music business at arm's length. She was an opera superstar of her time. It wasn't always this way though; she had fought many battles to get there. She used to weight 250 lbs--in four months, she cut that down to 130. And she took that same discipline and applied it to her voice. It was no longer her begging for the audition, her seeking the contracts; as she grew and the world saw her disciplined talent, they came to her. That is what got her out of the choir.

With whatever you want to do, you have to be disciplined. Those who are diligent and disciplined are the ones who are at the forefront of the field, ahead of the game. Those who put in the average effort, get average results, and you're in the choir with everyone else.

One more quote:

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept
Were toiling upward through the night

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jake