We started sending out newsletters consistantly after we set up a subcommittee to write them on a regular basis (okay, so we actually just set apart every other Wednesday to work on them). We have also decided to upload them to our website so that new subscribers can see and read past letters, and to provide a place for our letters to dwell as permanent residents.
Our letters are light and to the point. Short, yet hopefully, interesting. They give updates about our webstie, new materials, spotlights on classics, and info on our music group Maskil.
Spotlight on: BEZALEL Gallery Art
Perhaps you have had (or currently have) this problem—you have a wall in your house that you know could use a picture or something but you don’t know what should go up there. You want something meaningful… but something that isn’t too cheesy or tacky… so you scrap your trip to the local craft store and the wall remains bare. But then… (insert dramatic fanfare)… WORD Center’s website comes to the rescue… where beautiful Scripture designs are offered as free downloads!
What is a Scripture design? It’s a graphically designed high-resolution picture from the exact text of a particular passage of the Bible arranged around a background of carefully selected colors to amplify the words—God’s Words! Whew! That was a mouthful! Anyway, all you have to do is simply download the Scripture you like (for free) and print it out for yourself (or take it to a printshop if you choose one of the larger designs).
We already have dozens of different Scripture designs available, but if there is a certain verse or verses that you have in mind which are not already in BEZALEL Gallery Art, we would be happy to design one for you. No kidding! And if you find one already in the Gallery which you would rather have in a different color scheme we can even do that. (Disclaimer: Although getting your design back to you is important to us, we cannot guarantee the timeliness of its completion—like, for instance, if you ask for Psalm 119 we might need a decade or two!)
Seriously though… the benefits of putting a Scripture print in your home or office are not merely aesthetic. God’s Word hanging on the wall is primarily (in our minds) a good reminder for us to place our focus on the Lord throughout the day as we walk past, or sit beneath, the displayed Scripture. And, of course, if the verse is an exhortation, it is a great aid for timely obedience!
But that’s not all! Why not give these beautiful Words of God as gifts to family and friends? Or use them as visual aids in your Bible study group or overheads at church? How about bookmarks or gift cards? You can even use them on your websites or blogs, and send them through social media. The Word of God belongs everywhere!
BEZALEL Gallery Art is free and downloadable for your personal use (not for profit) even though it is copyrighted. We only ask that you do not alter them and that you cite WORDCenterMinistries.org wherever they are used (printed or on the web) in order to make WORD Center’s website available to more people.
Magnifying the WORD of GOD… One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
WORD Center Ministries
Spotlight on: HIStory-From Event to Event the Bible is One Story
The Bible is, without a doubt, the most important book in the history of the world. Christians all over the world would claim that it is the source of their beliefs. But what is it about? What is the main point of the Bible? These two questions might seem simplistic to some, but they are actually crucial questions with vitally important answers.
There are many different misconceptions about the Bible. You hear all sorts of people say it has no coherent theme; that it takes too long to read; and that it is too hard to understand. Many people fervently believe these claims—but the fact remains that they are merely claims, and false ones at that. The truth is that the Bible has a coherent theme; it can be read in less than a year (in only 77 hours, by the way—which we’ve done at WORD Center as a group multiple times); and it most definitely can be understood if we come to it without trying to mold it into our own preconceived notions.
Exactly how do you discover the meaning of the Scriptures? By personally observing the Word which our Creator has spoken to us.
History is HIS Story!
The book HIStory: From Event to Event the Bible is One Story is an overview of the entire Bible designed to help you see it as one story by breaking it down into thirty-two main events and showing you how each event bleeds backward and forward into its neighbors—in other words, each biblical event is a product of its context. The Observation Bible Study Guide is inductive—its purpose is to allow you to discover truth for yourself. In a group setting, it works well to do one event per week.
Two companion resources are also available—HIStory Timeline and HIStory Flash Cards.
HIStory Timeline is a very handy tool to have around when you need to remember the chronology of biblical events. This pictorial timeline is made up of images, each keyed to an event in the book HIStory: From Event To Event The Bible Is One Story. With each event titled on the front of HIStory Timeline next to each picture, you can clearly see the flow of events. Also, on the back of HIStory Timeline are all of the Scripture references used in the Study Guide lined up with each event title. It folds up into a convenient size and stores in your Bible case, backpack, or purse.
HIStory Flash Cards (which are based off of HIStory Timeline) make great learning tools for all ages (think Bible Studies, Homeschool Curriculum, Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, and Family Night). With the picture on the front and the event title on the back, they are great for working through events you have already studied to help you remember them, and to review with your class or group.
Magnifying the WORD of GOD… One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
WORD Center Ministries
Spotlight on: The GOSPELs
The Gospels are familiar to most of us, right? Let’s see… there are miracles, parables, and sermons on mounts, plains, cities, and sea. Then there are the disciples, the Pharisees, John the Baptist, and the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. That pretty much covers the important points, don’t you think? But do we know the theme of the Gospels (what ties all these different events, teachings, and characters together)? Hmmmm… maybe we don’t know this section of the Bible as well as we think…
The truth is that we probably only know different parts taken from the whole. It’s kind of like saying you know the history of the United States, yet you are only able to name a few of the presidents and a few of the main events—plus, you don’t know how any of them fit together. (Wasn’t there a declaration of some sort at the beginning? And I seem to remember something about a tall hat… or was that a tall man? What about that horse named Paul riding near a felled cherry tree? And didn’t most of it happen four-score and seven years ago?)
Though our fictitious jumble of American history is meant to be amusing, it is sadly true that we do the very same thing with the events of Jesus’ life—mixing in portions of Sunday School stories, Sunday morning sermons, and annual Christmas pageants to complete our own muddled mess of Jesus’ Own three year ministry here on earth.
Sometimes we need to back out of the parking space to which we have grown accustomed. In this case, we need to lay down our “Trivial Pursuit” Gospel story mentality and actually listen to what God has written down for us—word after word—in its entirety.
In order to help you, WORD Center Ministries has some awesome resources available for you—Observation Bible Study Guides and Expository Audio Teachings. Both are free and downloadable.
Observation Bible Study Guides help you to observe the Word better by asking inductive questions about each and every verse in all four Gospels. Check out our four volume study series on the Gospels: Matthew—The Gospel, Mark—The Gospel, Luke—The Gospel, and John—The Gospel.
Our Expository Audio Teachings walk you verse by verse through all four books: Matthew—The Gospel, Mark—The Gospel, Luke—The Gospel, and John—The Gospel. These audios really pull things together because the level of observation is just deep enough to help you learn new things, but not too deep to let you lose sight of the context a chapter or two away! You will be listening at a pace which is slow enough to hear many of the Gospels’ great doctrinal truths, but fast enough to actually see how each and every event fits together with its neighbors.
Context is not only nonnegotiable in the Gospels, but absolutely fascinating—Jesus’ teachings are either the direct precursor to an event or the result of it. In fact, keeping a larger context at hand while moving through the book fairly quickly actually shines light on verses that are sometimes missed during regular study.
Observe the Gospels for yourself by using the study guides and listening to the audio teachings…You will definitely hear the Gospels… and it just might feel like the very first time…
Magnifying the WORD of GOD… One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
WORD Center Ministries
Spotlight on: PSALMS - The SONGS
Hey! Read any good Psalms lately? We hope so. Why do you go to the Psalms anyway? What do you expect to find in them? And, very importantly, have you ever studied them?
We hope you see the Psalms for what they are—not just a “feel good” book for times of trouble, but a book of prophetic songs and doctrine that God wrote because He wants us to learn indispensable truth from them.
In order to help inspire you to study them as you would any other book of the Bible, we are offering a new collection in our Observation Bible Study Guides series entitled Psalms—The Songs.
We cannot write them all at once (Psalms has 150 chapters, we’ve heard!) but we have decided to tackle this treasure trove one Psalm at a time. And guess what? That is exactly how you study the Psalms—one Psalm at a time! So far, we have Psalms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 83, and 99 on board—with Psalm 15 in the works! Uhh… that’s ummm… 10.66666% of the book of Psalms finished! I guess that doesn’t seem like a lot when you do the math, but that many Psalms is a great start for any Bible study student who really wants to hear what God has said. Sixteen down—134 to go!
Check back often on the Psalms page (WORDCenterMinistries.org/BibleStudy/Psalms) for new individual Psalms available for download. We will try, on our part, to let you know through email (and the front page of our website) whenever new gems are available for you.
Magnifying the WORD of GOD… One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
WORD Center Ministries
P.S. In addition to observing and studying the Psalms using our Observation Bible Study Guides, we also have Maskil’s music album Now I Will Arise available, which contains the first 12 Psalms word for word. The perfect companion to studying is listening—and memorization is a significant byproduct!
Spotlight on: ZEALOUS FOR HIS GLORY! Blog
In a previous newsletter, we told you about the Observation Study Series we are offering on the book of Revelation in Zealous for HIS Glory! Blog.
But did you know there is much more to this blog than the series on Revelation? This isn’t your typical soggy blog filled with foggy feelings and groggy analytics. (FYI Here is a list of the rhyming words that didn’t make the cut: cloggy, doggy, froggy, and smoggy.)
What you’ll find here is more of what you find in the rest of what we do, and that is expository teaching from the Bible. Sharon started writing Zealous for HIS Glory! Blog sometime ago as a way to offer short Biblical teachings online and we have been surprised to see just how popular it has become on our website. Hopefully the blogs will pique your interest to study the Word of God for yourself in depth!
There are many articles in a wide range of specific topics, but each is focused on one single purpose—the Glory of the One True God and His Son, Jesus Christ! Here is the link for Zealous for HIS Glory! Blog.
By the way, if you don’t want to sift through Zealous for HIS Glory! looking for all the adrift Revelation blogs… here’s a lift (our gift to you)… just swiftly shift on over (our rhyming substitute for “click”) to the Revelation Bible Study page where you will find all the Revelation Observation Study Series in one location in a downloadable pdf format. (The rhyme rejects this time were: rift, sniffed, and thrift. Sorry… consuming a glucose laden DQ ice cream cake while writing newsletters might not be the best way to go…)
We hope you will be blessed as you read the blogs. Be sure and sign up for the RSS feed while you are there so you can receive updates in your web browser when each blog goes online.
Magnifying the WORD of GOD…One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
WORD Center Ministries
Revelation “Read-Thru” Blog Series Begins!
The mystery of the book of Revelation intrigues us, yet there is an incredible amount of misunderstanding and misinformation about it. How do you sift through all the false teaching and artistic liberties that pass for truth? You don’t. (Honestly, you really shouldn’t.) You need to go back to the WORD that God spoke and listen to Him—by studying it for yourself.
We are offering a series of blogs to help you walk through Revelation by means of expository teaching (the first ones just went up and the rest will follow daily, at least for awhile). While this is not meant to explain everything in the book (years can easily be spent studying this amazing letter) you will become acquainted with the main, plain things (which are much easier to see than you might have supposed!)
You see, God gave Jesus this revelation of the future—Jesus, in turn, sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John. John then testified to the WORD of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw, and wrote to the seven churches. (Revelation 1:1-2) Since God gave this to His Son to reveal to us the things which must soon take place, we absolutely know for certain we can understand this book!
So… why study the book of Revelation? Revelation inspires us in several ways. Understanding the book of Revelation prepares us to stand firm when the future happens (and it will happen very quickly), and it should give us a passion to tell others about the gospel of Christ now (so they can be saved from the wrath that is to come). And, as we learn about the things which must soon take place, we will be able to discern truth from error whenever we hear someone add to, or take away from, this WORD. We will be able to take a stand for the truth, and we will be able to warn others of false teaching.
The link to Zealous For HIS Glory! Blog is: http://www.wordcenterministries.org/blogs--videos/zealous-for-his-glory/. While you are on the website be sure and download the expository Revelation audio teaching, as well. The link to the audio teaching is: http://www.wordcenterministries.org/bible-study/books-of-the-bible/revelation/.
Magnifying the WORD of GOD…One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
WORD Center Ministries
UPCOMING! New MASKIL Album!
When we finally got to the end of producing MASKIL’
s first album, Now I Will Arise, we knew we had something really special and unique. We put the first twelve Psalms to music in a way to amplify the meaning of Scripture, using all of the words straight from the text, to help people actually memorize the Psalms. Caleb Jensen, founding member of the band, had assembled the gear for the studio, set it up, and did the vast majority of the recording and programming. He learned a lot, so when he looked ahead to producing the next album he knew he wanted to improve the studio (which would involve a bit of renovation). The studio had been in an open area of the downstairs, right next to the stairwell, which brought in lot of noise (and retakes) to the recording zone. Building a soundproof wall to isolate the studio would not only reduce unwanted noise during recording, but would also improve the overall sound.
It took tons of time, bunches of thinking, and piles of effort, but a few months ago the wall was finally completed, the downstairs was finally cleaned (construction chaos), and we were ready to finally begin recording. It didn’t take long to realize just how valuable the investment of building the wall was. You see, Caleb had used an electric drum set for the first album and when he set it up in our new studio there were problems with the control module. What do you do? Well, since the room was isolated, Caleb decided to try recording his acoustic drums with microphones. The resulting sound was amazing and the electric drums were taken down.
The next album, A Clean Heart, is actually already in the recording process. While the original album we recorded was the first twelve Psalms in order, this album will be themed on repentance and forgiveness with Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 as the foundations. Great and Marvelous, the glorious song of praise from Revelation 15 (also called The Song of Moses), will be an extremely special element, along with the entire text of Isaiah 53. You are really going to be blessed by this album!
Pre-ordering will be available by… hmmm… well… shall we say, at least before the album is finished?
In case you missed it, here is MASKIL putting Psalm 99 to music on YouTube. There is also the link to view it at YouTube online.
Magnifying the WORD of God… One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
—WORD Center Ministries
Reintroducing Ourselves
Hey! Remember us?
You may have met us at a Worldview Weekend event in Branson, at a homeschool convention, just have come across our website, or perhaps you are acquainted with Caleb or Sharon Jensen. We are a ministry dedicated to teaching people how to study the Word of God inductively. Why? For the saved—studying the Bible gives them the opportunity to know God and obey Him in order to Glorify Him in their lives through sanctification. For the unsaved—it gives them the opportunity to find God in His Word and believe in His Son, Jesus, so they can be saved.
At the previously mentioned events, we were promoting our HIStory Bible Study Guide, our HIStory Timeline, an album of songs by Maskil (the musical outreach of WORD Center), and the abundance of other Bible Study materials available on our website including our blog—“Zealous for HIS Glory!!!”. Since we have last been in contact, many more audio teachings and study guides have been added (check them out here: http://www.wordcenterministries.org/bible-study/books-of-the-bible/). If you quickly browse our entire website you will find even more great resources like professional HD Scripture prints you can download for free—actually, almost everything on the website is free.
We are currently in the process of editing an Inductive Bible Study Guide Ezra—The History, and getting very close to releasing Isaiah—The Prophecy and an expository teaching book called Spirituals—The Gifts.
We have been getting a lot of work done here on our ministry grounds, as well. We have added a sidewalk around the ministry building (instead of grass) and steps down to the basement (instead of mud and a few wobbly boards). We have also installed new lights and fans (which replaced decrepit shop lights and no fans) and generally undesirable, damaged, faded, poorly installed, used siding was swapped-out for new siding (a highly fashionable grayish-taupe) thanks to an incredibly beneficial hail storm.
We just want you to know that we are continuing in the work that the Lord has given us to do and that He is accomplishing great things here. Please pray for us that the Lord would continue to provide for us and support us in His good works.
Magnifying the WORD of God… One Book at a Time… Verse after Verse… Word by Word by Word…
—WORD Center Ministries