Technical Difficulties

Due to some unexplainable technical difficulties I cannot get this next installment of Sunday in the Study... to transfer from Microsoft Word 2010 into to this eblogger dealy-bobber. I did not leave myself enough time to re-type the entire study. Please enjoy this instead of Introduction to I John Part III. Hopefully, next week, we will be back in the saddle!

Due to some other difficulties with anonymous comments, spam, and advertisers of various "personal" junk, I have adjusted my comments to registered users.  I don't think that affects anybody that regularly stops by here and comments. I think it means you have to be signed into something like your Google account, etc. in order to comment. If you have problems email me and I will just go back to that funny word do-dad that is a pain. I am sorry for the trouble and please forgive me. Terrible how a few can affect many.

Pomona, California

If there is one thing you might say about me is I like variety. I like new places and new things. I love new challenges, particularly mental problems that need to be mulled over and worked out to a workable solution. One thing I love is new cities. I love to find the downtown section and slowly travel down the main street of a town and feel its pulse.

Slowly driving or walking downtown streets allows me to hear the past, feel the history, and experience the present life. I love the old buildings and all the historical data I can dig up. Many times Irene and I have driven to a town just to see it and drive up and down the main street. We once drove to Macon, GA (from Jacksonville, NC) simply to see a movie. One time we drove from Jacksonville, NC to Baltimore, MD just to walk the streets of Baltimore like Bobbie Bare's wife did in the song "Streets of Baltimore." If there is a road going somewhere and I have never been on it  I don't know where it leads, at some point I am going to follow it just to see where it goes. Maybe it came from my teen age days of "cruising,"

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My second car was a 1962 Cadillac Convertible and I loved to put the top down on a hot August night just as the sun was going down and cruise the main drag of San Jose. I think then I was more looking at the girls on the street than the old buildings but I developed a love affair with the downtown sections of cities.

Pomona was no different. When we got on Highway 101 Southbound we were headed to new territory. I had stayed a couple nights with my aunt and uncle in Anaheim when my family had first moved to California in December of 1966. We stayed there resting from a long gruelling drive across the United States before heading up to our final destination of San Jose. I had never been to Los Angeles or Pomona. Just typing the words Los Angeles sends chills down my back. The hype, the myth, the lure of that great city is with me to this day. I love LA!

It was an uneventful drive down that California freeway. That is if you can call traveling with a three year old and a two year old couped up in a Chevy Vega uneventful. It was 340 miles to our destination and our new life. 340 miles of homesick, fear of the future, and a child-like amazement to play with one's mind. What have we gotten ourselves into?

We pulled into Pomona about late afternoon. We had directions to her Aunt Sara's house. We pulled up in front of her house and was fortunate to find enough space for both the Vega and the UHaul. Irene had a great reunion with her Aunt and Uncle. Eventually a number of relatives made their way over that night and I got to meet a whole bunch of Torres', Hernandez's, and Diaz's I had never met before. Her family was great. Especially since I was only the second "gringo" to join the family up to that time.

I was anxious to see the college and see Pomona. The next day I unhooked the trailer and took off for quite an adventure.

 I checked the college out first. Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College was in San Dimas. It was only 5 miles or so between the two cities, but in LA one doesn't use miles for travel, one uses time. It was about 20 or 30 minutes to traverse that 5 miles or so and then make the drive up to the Campus.

The College was beautiful. I looked the campus over and had to choke back the excitement and impatience I was feeling until the day of enrollment came.

I decided to drive downtown Pomona. Pomona is the fifth largest city in Los Angeles County, California (after Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, and Santa Clarita). Pomona is located in between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 149,473. In 2005, its population was estimated as 160,815.  

The city is the site of the Fairplex, which hosts the L.A. County Fair and the NHRA Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, (formerly known as Pomona Raceway) Powerade Winternationals Drag Racing competition.

The area was originally occupied by the Tongva or Gabrielino Native Americans. The city is named for Pomona, the ancient Roman goddess of fruit. For Horticulturist, Solomon Gates, "Pomona" was the winning entry in a contest to name the city in 1875, before anyone had ever planted a fruit tree. The city was first settled by Spaniards in the 1830s and the first Anglo-Americans arrived in 1868. By the 1880s, the arrival of railroads and Coachella Valley water had made it the western anchor of the citrus-growing region. Pomona was officially incorporated on January 6, 1888.

Religious institutions are deeply embedded in the history of Pomona. There are now more than 120 churches,representing most religions in today's society. The historical architecture of these churches provide glimpses of the European church design and architecture from other eras.

I loved the city! It was alive, vibrant, and exciting. I loved the Palm Trees that seemed to line almost every street. I loved the Mexican influenced architecture. There were so many cities in LA country cozied up next to each other that you could drive for an hour and be in a dozen cities. It was 1/10 the size of San Jose. Pomona was my kind of town!

I was on top of the world! I had began a new chapter in my life, I was living in and exploring a new city, not to mention the dozens of cities surrounding the college and where we were staying. School was starting in a few days. Life was good!

Little did I know that God had an educational plan for me in addition to the freshman college curriculum. There were some things God needed to to teach me and I had no clue they were coming.

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"Pomona, CA is the third installment in the series "The Metcalf's Walk of Faith." Stay tuned for the next installment entitled, "Lessons Not on the Freshman Guide"

Saturday - "Walk of Faith..." Segments of Christian Testimony

Join us as we take a look at back at the spiritual journey and blessings of the Metcalf's Walk of Faith

Fast Food and the Church

"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. II Timothy 3:1-7, (ESV)

Sadly, this extreme parody is becoming more of a reality as we come closer and closer to the end of this age. Unfortunately people are bringing the "Burger King" mentality into the church - "Have it your way!" Some think the church is like McDonald's -"What you want is what you get!" Maybe we should get back to Wendy's idea and start asking the leadership, "Where's the beef?"





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Friday - "Friday's Features" 

Join the Gospel-driven disciples for a "pot-pouri" of topics from jokes, humor, videos, stories, summaries, and a collection of anything.

The Lampstand

"And thou shalt make a lampstand of pure gold: of beaten work shall the lampstand be made; its shaft, and its branches, its buds, its knobs, and its flowers, shall be of the same." Exodus 25:31, (KJV)

As the priest approached the Tabernacle he stopped first at the Brazen Laver. There he performed ceremonial washings in order to cleanse himself from the sacrifice he had just made. The priests hands would be dripping with blood and his feet would be dirty from the sand and dust of the Tabernacle Court. The priest would move quickly to the Brazen Laver in order to become ceremonially clean. The words of Moses would probably race through his mind as he cleaned his hands and feet - "...they shall wash with water, that they die not." (Exodus 30:20)

Now that he is clean the priest would move quickly and reverently toward the Tabernacle entrance. He would draw back the heavy curtain and enter into the holy place. There were three pieces of furniture in the holy place; the golden lampstand, the table of shewbread, and the altar of incense. The golden lampstand was placed on the left side of the holy place.

The holy place had no windows. It would be dark behind the curtain without this lampstand. The golden lampstand was designed to shine light in order for the priest to perform his duties. One of the important duties of the priest was to ensure this lampstand remained lit at all times. The priest filled the lamp with olive oil everyday and trimmed the wicks replacing them when needed. The lamp was perpetually burning and therefore perpetually giving light. (A few scholars think the lamp only burned at night.)

The size and measurements of this lampstand were not given to us in Scripture. Since it represents Christ who is the light of the world, its size, measurements, and beauty would have been in keeping with the indescribable greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This lampstand was composed of seven branches, it had a central shaft which rested on a pedestal and from which three branches projected on each side. The central stem and the six branches each ended in a lamp which provided light for the holy place. Golden accessories to tend the lamps were provided.

Every day the priests would use golden tongs and snuff dishes to trim the wicks and they would remove any burned or dead debris from the wick or the oil that would possibly keep that beautiful light from shining through that holy place.

Jesus said, "...I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of light." John 8:12, (KJV)

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Thursday: "Theological Thursdays" - Studies in Christian Theology

Be a part of Theological Thursdays as we unlock the meaning of various terms, news, and definitions. Words mean things and we need to correctly understand biblical terms.

Who Are You Like?

Many Christians have what we might call a "cultural holiness". They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them. As the Christian culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy. But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God. --Jerry Bridges




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Wednesday - "Developing Disciples" - Steps to Christian Triumph

Join us each Wednesday for articles, news, and teachings on the subject of discipleship. Come and follow along as we provide the basics for Gospel-driven Disciples.

Praise God for Spiritual Blessings

Ephesians 1:3

o eulognsas hmas - "who has blessed us." 

The reason God is to be praised is because God has blessed us. The verb form is an aorist participle which comes from the word eulogew. This word means "I speak well." It can refer to the ability to speak well but it primarily means  "speaking well of," "praising," or "extolling" someone.

eulogew in the Old Testament

eulogew is used 461 times in the LXX. It is a translation of Hebrew word which has the basic meaning of "to bless." When God is the object of a person's blessing, this word carries the meaning of "praise." When it is used in conjunction with a human being as the object it gives the idea of "happiness, success, an increase of earthly possessions."

When you and I pray and ask God to bless "bless someone" we are actually asking God to grant success to that person. To be blessed by God means to receive benefits from God in the sense of possessions, prosperity, or power.

eulogew in the New Testament

eulogew in the New Testament is used 42 times.

It is used 13 times as "praise" where God is the object

It is used 7 times of people who praise or bless Jesus

It is used 8 times of people blessing other people

It is used 5 times of people who desire to bless or desire good for people who have cursed them

It is used 2 times of Jesus blessing people

It is used 7 times where God is the subject who "provides with benefits."

In our text (verse 3) God is the subject and He provides benefits to "us" (hmas). The "us" refers to believers. Believers are the object of God's blessing, enrichment, or provision of benefits. The us in verse 3 refers to both Paul and the Ephesian believers. The summary of God's activity is what is being referred to in this verse. In other words, believers bless God, or praise God, because God has blessed believers or benefited believers.

With what did God benefit the believer? How did God bless us? 

To be continued...

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Tuesday: "Priceless Pearls" - Stories of Christian Truths

- Weekly Devotions for Disciples

Follow along on Tuesdays as we offer filling and fruitful devotional commentary on various Scriptures.

What Does It Mean To Be Content?

"Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious

 frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's

wise and fatherly disposal in every condition." 

— Jeremiah Burroughs

Today's Bonus

Allow the circumstances that come upon you to humble you, since God gives grace to the humble and will lift you out of those circumstances in His timing, by in a one time determined throwing of those concerns upon God because God cares for you, refusing to allow those circumstances from distracting or dividing your attention from God.

 (I Peter 5:6-7 - literal translation) 

--Gregg Metcalf

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Monday: "The Monday Mentor" - Summaries of Christian Topics

Come along with us on Mondays and be "mentored" as we examine various points of interest from book reviews to pertinent events in church history. We hope to challenge, stimulate, and encourage you as we share various facts about people, places, positions, and performances of interests.