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TGOC ANNOUNCES ITS
NEWLY REVISED
TOPICAL SERIES OF LESSONS
We are pleased to announce in this newsletter the availability of the first two lessons that we are making available in our newly revised Topical Series, with James Gravelle as the speaker. In his lesson on "The Use of Miracles in the Bible," James opens with a reference to John's statement in John 20:30-31, "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." Using those two verses as his launching pad, James first defines miracles, and then goes on to explain their various purposes throughout God's past dealings with His people.
When God Himself performed miracles, the purpose was to both prove His existence and to show His power as Creator over His creation. But when God empowered others to perform miracles on His behalf, His main purpose in doing so was to prove to those who witnessed such miracles that the person who performed the miracle was speaking with God's authority and on His behalf. This was true of people like God's prophets (such as Moses, Elijah, and others) in the Old Testament. And it was equally true of people like Christ and His apostles and/or disciples in the New Testament. A good example of exactly how well this process worked can be found in Acts 4:16. When the Jews saw Peter and John heal a man who had been lame since birth, they were completely unable to refute the miracle's implications because, as they themselves admitted, "Indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them [Peter and John] is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it." Exactly! The use of miracles in the Bible was intended to have just such an effect--in order to draw people's attention to the truthfulness of both God's spokesmen and His Word.
As James begins his lesson on "Combating Satan," he first stresses the important series of events recorded in Matthew 4:1-11 when Satan tempted Christ after He had been in the wilderness for forty days and nights. Satan's three temptations, of course, were intended to concentrate on "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 Jn. 2:16). After Christ had been presented with each temptation, however, He masterfully wielded what Paul would later refer to as "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Ephesians 6:17) by reminding Satan, "It is written...."
In his lesson, James reminds us that Satan is "still alive and active today," and that he has numerous tricks up his sleeve that are intended to subvert the truth and to deceive us. But James also reminds us that we have the same "sword of the Spirit" that Jesus possessed, and that if we will rely on God's Word, we can beat Satan at his own game--just as Christ did.
Both of these new lessons are now available on our Website, where you will find them in video, audio, and written transcript formats. We invite you to examine them for yourself, and to share them with others.
MORE BIBLE QUIZZES
IN OUR
"MORE ABOUT JESUS" SERIES
NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
In the April 1 edition of this newsletter, we announced the addition to our Website of the first four Bible quizzes in our More About Jesus Series. Today we are pleased to announce the last four quizzes in that series. Those quizzes can be found on our Website at www.thegospelofchrist.com/quiz. Take a look at them. We suspect you will find that they can teach you new things (or refresh your memory on things you've already known) about Christ as the Savior.
TGOC ADDS NEW
WORD-SEARCH PUZZLES
TO ITS WEBSITE!
In the January 22 edition of our newsletter, we announced for the first time the addition to our Website of a series of new interactive Bible-based crossword puzzles. Two weeks later, in our February 5 newsletter, we commented on the overwhelming response to the new puzzles from readers of our newsletter--a response that generated a real hubbub of activity on our site. A part of that "overwhelming response" was an influx of requests that we not only add more crossword puzzles as quickly as possible (which we have been doing--at an average rate of one new puzzle per week), but that we also consider adding interactive word-search puzzles to our Website as well.
We suspect that some of our readers are old enough to remember the E.F. Hutton television commercial of several years ago that said, "When E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen!" We would like to restructure that sentiment just a tad to suggest that "When TGOC's newsletter readers speak, we listen!" As a result of your suggestions, we are pleased to announce that we now have begun adding interactive word-search puzzles to our Website as well. [The first two word-search puzzles are on: (1) the judges; and (2) the sons of Jacob (Israel).] Thank you for taking the time to contact us about this matter. We always appreciate your suggestions and constructive criticisms. That said, we would like to invite you to spread the word about all aspects of our Website in order to help us take the whole Gospel to the whole world.
TGOC WEBSITE SURPASSES
THE 2,000,000
PAGE-HIT MARK!
The month of April is perhaps best known for two things--April 1 ("April Fool's Day") and April 15 ("Tax Day"). However, for those of us at TGOC, April 2008 had a much sweeter connotation--because in April our Website surpassed the 2,000,000 page-hits mark (in just the first four months of the year!). In the entire year of 2007 we had just a little more than 3,500,000 hits, so you can quite easily see where this is going. Needless to say, we are thrilled that so many people are availing themselves of the materials on our Website.
But that's not all. In just the month of April alone, we have sent free media (CDs and DVDs) to 25 different states in America, as well as to 14 foreign countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Crete, Cuba, India, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Spain and Zimbabwe). And we still have eight months left to go in 2008! Stay tuned for more good news. We're just getting warmed up....
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