A Sidebar Guide

Herein lies a guide to the metaphors used as sidebar headers in this blog. I don't want to insult anyone's intellegence, but if you haven't guessed the theme, it is Agriculture of the Bible. The opening scripture reference of Amos 9:13 has to do with future blessings for God's chosen people. The study notes from the Geneva Bible on this passage explain that this passage is "Signifying, that there will be great abundance of all things, so that when one type of fruit is ripe, another would follow, and every one in order." In other words, the plowman will have to wait on the reapers to break ground for the next season, because the harvest is so abundant. Some believe that this is a picture of the physical future blessings of the nation of Israel. I believe what we see here is a beautiful picture of the bountiful blessings to be found among the "Israel" of God here and now, but especially later, in the new heavens and the new earth. Enough of that; now on to the meaning of the headers: The Threshing Floor: His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Luke 3:17. The threshing floor is where the laborious task of separating the wheat from the chaff takes place. It is a sweaty, dirty place of hard labor, where a difficult yet needful and rewarding task is acomplished. The items under this heading are all study aids and are dedicated to the high school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist Church, Tulsa. If they happen to be helpful to you, feel free to use them, with our blessings and joy. New Wine: And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. Luke 5:37,38. This is easy enough. Here is where the newest posts will be found. There is no statement inplied here concerning alcohol, although I could make one if you like. The Storehouse: Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! Luke 12:24. This is where all of the previous month's posts are stored, otherwise known as Archives. Apples of Gold: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11. These are just some of the best Christian blogs that I have found. Believe me, there are many more good ones, these are just the ones that I frequent. You will find that some are funny, some are serious, and all of them will make you think. Waterless Clouds: These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; Jude 12. Every farmer needs rain, in its proper season, and there is nothing more discouraging and damaging than for clouds to well up on the horizon, only to pass with a flurry of wind but no rain. There are many out there on the internet who are nothing but waterless clouds, or wind bags. I don't list many of these, because they are a waste of time. Any time I stumble across one, I will post it here. Right now I have only one posted, one that is most harmful. If you believe in sovereign grace, you will see why. Locusts and Wild Honey: Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. Mark 1:6. Okay, who ate locusts and wild honey? John, right? And what was he? A Baptist, right. Okay, just kidding. This header is dedicated to Baptists and Baptist history. Incline Your Ears: Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! Psalms 78:1. To incline your ears means to orient the opening of your ears towards the speaker. This is something that humans cannot physically do without turning their whole head in the process, and that, only one ear at a time. This is an idiom, who knows how old, that comes right off of the farm. Horses and cattle have the ability to physically rotate their ears forward or backward in the direction of sound without moving their head. Even your little pooch can do this, though not quite as dramatically. The links found under this heading are audio links, downloadable, and podcastable. Pruning Hooks: He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:4. This header lists various resources, such as Bibles, commentaries, Baptist confessions of faith, links to disaster relief, etc. I hope that this blog is helpful. If you have comments, please feel free to post them, or email me directly. In it all, may God be glorified and magnified. This post was last updated on January 3, 2006.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (http://www.gnpcb.org/page/esv.copyright)