Greetings! My name is Bryan Stallings. I have created this webpage in order to aid and assist any and all persons in their Biblical Studies (whether at home or church) as well as their personal / intimate relationship with Christ Jesus. I am non-denominational and in no way a part of or affiliated any religious group. I was not raised in a or around a church. I spent the first 35 years of my life living the way I thought was right (17 years of the 35 was spent in the bottom of a beer can). On February 21, 2005 I accepted Christ as my LORD and SAVIOR and have been serving HIM ever since. About a year later, I thought to myself there has to be more to this than just simply going to church every Sunday. So, I went to a Christian Bookstore and started looking around and The LORD opened a door...College of Biblical Studies (Houston). After 4 years of studying (no breaks...straight thorugh), I achieved my Associates Degree in Biblical Studies.
I am trying to keep all information located within this site non-bias in nature...nothing influential. However, there maybe certain areas / links that may imploy a religious group but its not there for any purpose other than to inform, enlighten, and possibly deepen your studies. All pictures located within this site are simply taken from the internet (Google). Any duplication of these pictures here within remain purely coincidental. Certain notes and areas contain information that I obtained from Bible College. These areas been shifted around and at times re-orintated. So, it remains somewhat difficult to pinpoint the precise areas to give proper credit. So, I mention them here...Dr. Paul R. Shockley, Professor Israel Loken, Tim Headley, and Professor Steve Sullivan. Without these gentlemen in my life and their tender ears that simply listening along with their deep-felt prayers I may still be lost wondering aimlessly through HIS Word...searching. They have given a sense of direction and...at times...kept me focused on the ultimate prize....CHRIST JESUS MY LORD! I do thank them.
Click on the pdf file below and you get an idea of the time frame for which will be covered. **DON'T FORGET TO CLICK YOUR REFRESH BUTTON...NEW STUFF ADDED EVERYDAY!!!**
I am trying to keep all information located within this site non-bias in nature...nothing influential. However, there maybe certain areas / links that may imploy a religious group but its not there for any purpose other than to inform, enlighten, and possibly deepen your studies. All pictures located within this site are simply taken from the internet (Google). Any duplication of these pictures here within remain purely coincidental. Certain notes and areas contain information that I obtained from Bible College. These areas been shifted around and at times re-orintated. So, it remains somewhat difficult to pinpoint the precise areas to give proper credit. So, I mention them here...Dr. Paul R. Shockley, Professor Israel Loken, Tim Headley, and Professor Steve Sullivan. Without these gentlemen in my life and their tender ears that simply listening along with their deep-felt prayers I may still be lost wondering aimlessly through HIS Word...searching. They have given a sense of direction and...at times...kept me focused on the ultimate prize....CHRIST JESUS MY LORD! I do thank them.
Click on the pdf file below and you get an idea of the time frame for which will be covered. **DON'T FORGET TO CLICK YOUR REFRESH BUTTON...NEW STUFF ADDED EVERYDAY!!!**
timeline5.pdf | |
File Size: | 302 kb |
File Type: |
Biblical Survey: Genesis thru Revelation and all points in between
Can we know truth?
Where is it found?
Can we logically verify it?
Is there an ultimate authority?
Are there absolutes which can guide our lives, our world?
Is there meaning to life?
Why are we here?
Where are we going?
These questions—questions that all rational people contemplate—have haunted the human intellect since the beginning of time .
Ecclesiastes1:13 – 18... “And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. {It} is a grievous task {which} God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge {results in} increasing pain.”
(NASB)
Ecclesiastes 3:9 – 11... “What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” (NASB)
Many claimed to have answers to these ultimate questions, but after research and reflection I found that their answers were based upon their personal philosophies, ancient myths, personal experiences, and psychological projections. During the course of my own personal Bible Study, I found these items to be evidence of
trustworthiness: the historical reliability of The Bible from archaeology, the accuracy of the prophecies of the Old Testament, the unity of The Bible message over the 600 years of its production, and the personal testimonies of people whose lives had been permanently changed by contact with The Bible. However, I have included the opinions, theories, and other in-sights spoken by theologians / professors / scholars in this study. THIS BY NO MEANS ESTABLISHES MY BELIEFS IN THERE FINDINGS but simply allows a total and complete spectrum to be utilized
Where is it found?
Can we logically verify it?
Is there an ultimate authority?
Are there absolutes which can guide our lives, our world?
Is there meaning to life?
Why are we here?
Where are we going?
These questions—questions that all rational people contemplate—have haunted the human intellect since the beginning of time .
Ecclesiastes1:13 – 18... “And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. {It} is a grievous task {which} God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge {results in} increasing pain.”
(NASB)
Ecclesiastes 3:9 – 11... “What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” (NASB)
Many claimed to have answers to these ultimate questions, but after research and reflection I found that their answers were based upon their personal philosophies, ancient myths, personal experiences, and psychological projections. During the course of my own personal Bible Study, I found these items to be evidence of
trustworthiness: the historical reliability of The Bible from archaeology, the accuracy of the prophecies of the Old Testament, the unity of The Bible message over the 600 years of its production, and the personal testimonies of people whose lives had been permanently changed by contact with The Bible. However, I have included the opinions, theories, and other in-sights spoken by theologians / professors / scholars in this study. THIS BY NO MEANS ESTABLISHES MY BELIEFS IN THERE FINDINGS but simply allows a total and complete spectrum to be utilized
It is my prayer that during the course of this study, you will develop a deeper appreciation for The Bible as God’s Word and be able to utilize the tools located within for an in-depth study of your own in which you will be able to understand the meaning of a passage of Scripture, as well as the original author’s intent, and be able to communicate that to others. The areas that will be covered (in depth at times) are as follows...Bible Study Methods, The Background of The Bible, Old Testament Survey, Intertestamental Survey, and New Testament Survey, and many more. As you proceed from this point...keep this in mind...
Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, You bring me to the valley of Your presence,
Where I live in the depths, but see Thee in the heights;
Hemmed in by mountains of sin, we may behold the mountain peaks of Christ’s glory.
Let us learn Thy mysteries by paradox:
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to give is to receive,
that to bear the cross is to ware the crown,
that the battle in the valley is the place of your presence.
Therefore, let me find thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy pleasure in my pain,
Thy glory in my valley.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24 - 25)
by Professor Steve Sullivan
Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, You bring me to the valley of Your presence,
Where I live in the depths, but see Thee in the heights;
Hemmed in by mountains of sin, we may behold the mountain peaks of Christ’s glory.
Let us learn Thy mysteries by paradox:
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to give is to receive,
that to bear the cross is to ware the crown,
that the battle in the valley is the place of your presence.
Therefore, let me find thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy pleasure in my pain,
Thy glory in my valley.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24 - 25)
by Professor Steve Sullivan
How to be a Student of Excellence! ~ By Paul R. Shockley
www.prshockley.org
In my observations of college and graduate students who possess a Christ-centered disposition and who stand above the others, honestly distinguishing themselves in their academic studies, are those people who bear qualities and tendencies of intellectual and moral excellence. Below is a list of ten qualities I’ve consistently observed in their lives. To be sure, no one is perfect. However, students of excellence are those who purposefully, willfully, and consciously seek to develop moral and intellectual habits of excellence-for they know that character is the sum-total of individual habits. So, as you examine this list reflectively consider your mindset, behavior, and actions and ask yourself: What kind of person should you be?
1. They are focused. All energy, time, and discipline are bent on becoming the very best. If you want to succeed with excellence, you must focus on what really counts.
2. Their pursuits are inclusive. Daily decisions and interests decisively pursued are those that contribute to the overall goal. Pro-actively make decisions and pursue interests in your daily life that will assist you in obtaining success. Making poor choices, whether they appear to be insignificant or not, could very possibly take you
places you never thought you would go. What is unthinkable today may become thinkable tomorrow.
3. Their lives are undivided. Do not separate one area of life from another for we are organic creatures. Living separate lives or pursuing opposing interests only marginalizes one from success because it divides up one’s energy, time, and attention. Your resources must always be redirected to your goal.
4. They have determination. Academic progress is rough, ever so time-consuming, and ever so demanding. Meet every demand with a determination for excellence. In sum, what will really distinguish you from the other students? Consider why a professor should invest in you? Consider why a firm or boss or leadership team should invest in you and not others? What will make you stand out among all others in your studies and career? Why should your fellow students even listen to you?
5. They possess resilience. Outstanding students do not easily give up. You will fail sometime or another during your program. You may even become depress from the critical, sometimes “biting” words of your professors. When those times come, and they do for most if not for all, you must pick yourself up again--for accomplishing the goal is worth facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
6. They sacrifice. Excellent students purposefully let go of those things that hinder them from success. Willfully discard every hindrance and degenerative, corrupting influence that will keep you from achieving your goal with a passion for excellence. You need to regularly, routinely, scrutinize your life and see whether your environment, influences, and pursuits are encouraging or discouraging you from reaching excellence. When those corrupting influences are identified, they need to be avoided if not discarded.
7. They are holistic. Realize, as Aristotle states, that one area of life impacts all other areas, whether intellectual, physical, or moral. Take very tender care of your mind, soul, and body. You need to always seek to be holistically healthy-for if you are not mentally, physically, or spiritually healthy, you will stumble, easily become fatigued,
develop inner angst, regret, disappointment, and waiver in the completion of your degree.
I believe that if place your faith in Jesus, believing He is God, who died on the cross for your sins and rose again, you will honestly have peace with God and will discover in that love-relationship what meaning, purpose, and hope really means. Life for you both now and for eternity will be qualitatively fulfilling.
If you already intimately know the God of the Bible, then pro-actively maintain a Christ-centered mindset by being dependent upon Him, yielding to Him in the moment-by-moment details of living. This involves intimately know the Scripture, inculcating the Scripture into your affections whereby you imitate Jesus Christ in both thought and deed. Be a prayerful person. Lastly, be ever so careful not to entangle yourself with the captivating but fleeting affairs of the world or cultivate fleshly appetites; the attractiveness is illusionary. Rather, cultivate a Christ-like disposition that reflects the mind and habits of Jesus Christ; only in Him is there authentic life, freedom, and contentment.
If you are a believer and your life is one whereby you are not honestly experiencing meaning, purpose, hope, and contentment in your life, then I suspect you that Jesus is not #1 in your life. Other pursuits, activities, idols, or sinful appetites have taken the preeminent position that belongs to the God of the Bible.
8. They have a nurturing network of support. Students of excellence typically cultivate a network of people who love and care for them; they are those who are ready to support these students anyway possible. Always remember who honestly loves you and who only says they love you. Turn to those who honestly love you for support, listen to their wisdom, and find ways to return that love. Also, you be a minister to your fellow students; this is your sphere of ministry. We demonstrate our love to God by loving others. Active support in a sincere and active Christ-centered congregation can offer outstanding love and support.
9. They possess an inner desire for excellence. Successful students realize the importance of cultivating a disposition, i.e., an inner character, which desires intellectual and moral excellence. Routinely examine your desires. If you don’t desire excellence in all things, you need to know why. Struggling to even have a desire of excellence reveals a deficiency in character. This lack of desire for excellence is evidenced in vices such as laziness, apathy, lack of discipline, ignorance, and making poor decisions. Rather, pro-actively cultivate habits of excellence in every aspect of living. Once again, character is the sum-total of your habits.
10. Live Consistent with their Worldview. A worldview is simply a habituated way of seeing life; it is the sum-total of your beliefs about the world that govern your daily behavior and actions. Acting insincerely or contrary to who you are and what you believe because of such things as situational setting or peer pressure, invalidates your testimony, promotes deception, hypocrisy, and fosters skepticism and cynicism among those observe you. Living inconsistently leads to a loss of respect.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, always remember in your studies that the Christian faith has the best answers to the deepest problems; we have the best facts and the best arguments. In fact, the God of the Bible provides the greatest explanatory power among the other worldviews for the Christian faith provides both a stable and consistent metaphysical foundation for explaining the important realities and phenomena encountered in our world and lives today. Consider the following: The God of the Bible accounts for the physical beginning of the universe, order, design, and complexity that is empirically evident, morality (moral values, duties, and accountability), beauty, the human need for God, the inherent human drive for purpose and meaning, miracles, the uniqueness of Scripture, and the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Lastly, always know why you believe what you believe. Examine your basic presuppositions and biases and see if they are rooted in truth, the greatest facts, and the best evidence. If you encounter a problem or philosophical argument in your studies that runs counter to your worldview, investigate the Christian response (s) to the problem (s). I would encourage you to carefully examine the Christian responses that have stood the test of time, endured the greatest scrutiny, and bear the most substantive response. Therefore, always study the best material.
In conclusion: Make your life an expression of worship regardless if you are pursuing studies in the liberal arts, business, medicine, or math and science. Like the apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “9 So we make it our aim to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
1. They are focused. All energy, time, and discipline are bent on becoming the very best. If you want to succeed with excellence, you must focus on what really counts.
2. Their pursuits are inclusive. Daily decisions and interests decisively pursued are those that contribute to the overall goal. Pro-actively make decisions and pursue interests in your daily life that will assist you in obtaining success. Making poor choices, whether they appear to be insignificant or not, could very possibly take you
places you never thought you would go. What is unthinkable today may become thinkable tomorrow.
3. Their lives are undivided. Do not separate one area of life from another for we are organic creatures. Living separate lives or pursuing opposing interests only marginalizes one from success because it divides up one’s energy, time, and attention. Your resources must always be redirected to your goal.
4. They have determination. Academic progress is rough, ever so time-consuming, and ever so demanding. Meet every demand with a determination for excellence. In sum, what will really distinguish you from the other students? Consider why a professor should invest in you? Consider why a firm or boss or leadership team should invest in you and not others? What will make you stand out among all others in your studies and career? Why should your fellow students even listen to you?
5. They possess resilience. Outstanding students do not easily give up. You will fail sometime or another during your program. You may even become depress from the critical, sometimes “biting” words of your professors. When those times come, and they do for most if not for all, you must pick yourself up again--for accomplishing the goal is worth facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
6. They sacrifice. Excellent students purposefully let go of those things that hinder them from success. Willfully discard every hindrance and degenerative, corrupting influence that will keep you from achieving your goal with a passion for excellence. You need to regularly, routinely, scrutinize your life and see whether your environment, influences, and pursuits are encouraging or discouraging you from reaching excellence. When those corrupting influences are identified, they need to be avoided if not discarded.
7. They are holistic. Realize, as Aristotle states, that one area of life impacts all other areas, whether intellectual, physical, or moral. Take very tender care of your mind, soul, and body. You need to always seek to be holistically healthy-for if you are not mentally, physically, or spiritually healthy, you will stumble, easily become fatigued,
develop inner angst, regret, disappointment, and waiver in the completion of your degree.
I believe that if place your faith in Jesus, believing He is God, who died on the cross for your sins and rose again, you will honestly have peace with God and will discover in that love-relationship what meaning, purpose, and hope really means. Life for you both now and for eternity will be qualitatively fulfilling.
If you already intimately know the God of the Bible, then pro-actively maintain a Christ-centered mindset by being dependent upon Him, yielding to Him in the moment-by-moment details of living. This involves intimately know the Scripture, inculcating the Scripture into your affections whereby you imitate Jesus Christ in both thought and deed. Be a prayerful person. Lastly, be ever so careful not to entangle yourself with the captivating but fleeting affairs of the world or cultivate fleshly appetites; the attractiveness is illusionary. Rather, cultivate a Christ-like disposition that reflects the mind and habits of Jesus Christ; only in Him is there authentic life, freedom, and contentment.
If you are a believer and your life is one whereby you are not honestly experiencing meaning, purpose, hope, and contentment in your life, then I suspect you that Jesus is not #1 in your life. Other pursuits, activities, idols, or sinful appetites have taken the preeminent position that belongs to the God of the Bible.
8. They have a nurturing network of support. Students of excellence typically cultivate a network of people who love and care for them; they are those who are ready to support these students anyway possible. Always remember who honestly loves you and who only says they love you. Turn to those who honestly love you for support, listen to their wisdom, and find ways to return that love. Also, you be a minister to your fellow students; this is your sphere of ministry. We demonstrate our love to God by loving others. Active support in a sincere and active Christ-centered congregation can offer outstanding love and support.
9. They possess an inner desire for excellence. Successful students realize the importance of cultivating a disposition, i.e., an inner character, which desires intellectual and moral excellence. Routinely examine your desires. If you don’t desire excellence in all things, you need to know why. Struggling to even have a desire of excellence reveals a deficiency in character. This lack of desire for excellence is evidenced in vices such as laziness, apathy, lack of discipline, ignorance, and making poor decisions. Rather, pro-actively cultivate habits of excellence in every aspect of living. Once again, character is the sum-total of your habits.
10. Live Consistent with their Worldview. A worldview is simply a habituated way of seeing life; it is the sum-total of your beliefs about the world that govern your daily behavior and actions. Acting insincerely or contrary to who you are and what you believe because of such things as situational setting or peer pressure, invalidates your testimony, promotes deception, hypocrisy, and fosters skepticism and cynicism among those observe you. Living inconsistently leads to a loss of respect.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, always remember in your studies that the Christian faith has the best answers to the deepest problems; we have the best facts and the best arguments. In fact, the God of the Bible provides the greatest explanatory power among the other worldviews for the Christian faith provides both a stable and consistent metaphysical foundation for explaining the important realities and phenomena encountered in our world and lives today. Consider the following: The God of the Bible accounts for the physical beginning of the universe, order, design, and complexity that is empirically evident, morality (moral values, duties, and accountability), beauty, the human need for God, the inherent human drive for purpose and meaning, miracles, the uniqueness of Scripture, and the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Lastly, always know why you believe what you believe. Examine your basic presuppositions and biases and see if they are rooted in truth, the greatest facts, and the best evidence. If you encounter a problem or philosophical argument in your studies that runs counter to your worldview, investigate the Christian response (s) to the problem (s). I would encourage you to carefully examine the Christian responses that have stood the test of time, endured the greatest scrutiny, and bear the most substantive response. Therefore, always study the best material.
In conclusion: Make your life an expression of worship regardless if you are pursuing studies in the liberal arts, business, medicine, or math and science. Like the apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “9 So we make it our aim to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”