Open Scriptures Study Center

11/10/2022

"The Agikuyu kinship system was a government structure. It subdivided the entire community into smaller units which placed an individual right where the society wanted him or her to be for an entire lifetime. It was deliberately crafted to keep the members loyal to the community and its way of life and worship since a person could only participate in higher kinship units and responsibilities by graduating upwards after meeting the community’s set requirements."

Facing Beyond Mount Kenya, pg. 44

This book is written with a person who is already a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ in mind (or one who by God’s grace is considering becoming one); and more specifically, one from the Agikuyu community setting. And not just a believer, but one who is burning with a white-hot passion for the pu....

20/09/2022

"Adams argues that aimless preachers will be dull, lifeless, abstract, and impersonal. They obscure truth, hinder Christian joyous living, destroy dedication and initiative, and stifle service for Christ. His purpose of writing this book therefore is to stir up within the preacher the awareness and sensitivity towards purpose that underlie any sermon he may get to preach such that he can tell even beforehand what he aims to achieve in his people after the preaching is done."

Review by Joseph C. Kihiu The thesis behind the Book In this book, Adams presses into the purpose behind the preaching that is the task and calling of the Pastor. He argues that a preacher must be …

11/09/2022

"This chapter celebrates the riches of the Gospel of Christ. God did not spare His own Son but delivered him up for us all (Rom. 8:32). Through this Son, God has done what the law, weakened by our flesh could not do, which is, overcoming sins’ power in the flesh (Rom. 8:3, 28-30). Having perfectly kept the law, Christ is the source of perfect righteousness for all those that God has chosen to belong to Him (8:4).

This reality is experienced in the believers through the indwelling Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of life thus empowers us into a life of righteousness (8:4-11). Thus, the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation and that unleashes the realities of new creation, beginning now while we are still in this fallen order and culminating in the new heavens and the new earth. And since nothing can hinder this gospel work, believers are more than conquerors through the Christ who loved them, died for them, and who lives to intercede for them in he presence of God the Father."

Editor’s Note: ‘For the African Pulpit’ will be availing preaching outlines and notes from the teaching and preaching ministries of its writers as a way of encouraging other preac…

09/09/2022

“God blesses the world by restoring the voice of His word for the salvation of the lost and the edification of the Church. But He also judges a people by giving them over to the waves of falsehood that their itching ears crave for (2 Tim 4:3-4). We thus see the centrality of the pulpit in cultivating the spiritual health of any people. It has been said: "Like the pulpit like the pew". Those who get the hallowed opportunity to stand before God's people and dare to open God's word to them must be vigilant to teach and preach the truth and nothing but the truth, as it is said in the language of the courts of law. It is the goal of this platform to host thoughts and reflections on preaching to benefit the African Pulpits in this regard.”

I am excited to introduce the ‘For the African Pulpit’ initiative from Open Scriptures Ministries. This is a platform that is aimed at availing Gospel-centered content that is targeted …

30/08/2022

By ignoring history, age-old heresies are coming back as 'new revelations'!

When it comes to defining and staying in the true christian faith, the Scriptures AND history MUST be are our consumate friends. Nothing is more sobering than studying about the heresies that have plagued the church from as early as the first century and how the church has responded to them by searching the Scriptures. The fruit of such faithfulness has been towering creeds (Nicene, Chalcedon, Athanasian, etc), confessions (Westminster, London Confession of Faith, Belgic, etc), Catechisms (Heidelberg, Westminster Longer and shorter Catechisms, etc), letters, books, and hymns. The Church of Christ has been on the battle and quest for truth against nice sounding but destructive lies.

If we, as today's christians, are serious about God's truth, we MUST go back to the Scriptures AND Church history. There is no new thing on Earth. Even lies and heresies. They are the same old ones that get recycled by the same old arch-enemy of God and His Christ. How did our forefathers in the church respond to the gnostic, anti-trinitarian, christological, sacramental, ecclesiological heresies and false teachings, among others? What were the contents and arguments of these heresies? We cannot know that without studying our church history. And the information is not far from us: a book, podcast, a YouTube playlist, a blog, downloadable audio and video teaching series on church history, and so on.

When we neglect the Scriptures AND the history of how God's faithful people have wrestled with Satan's lies and schemes against the truth of Christ, we fall pray to advancing the same lies. This should haunt everyone who has any influence on one or many souls in terms of teaching, preaching, or discipleship. We should earnestly pray and act to the effect that we will not be the agents of Satan in our generation. We should feel the weight of James' warning that we who teach will be judged even more strictly!

James 3:1-2
[1]My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
[2]For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

28/07/2022

"Breaking altars is a teaching that is gaining force in most “Christian” circles. Partly, it is built on a misunderstanding and a confusing of some aspects in the Old Testament and the reality to which they pointed in the New one. The other contributing factor in this teaching is pure superstition, that is, a misguided perception of spiritual realities and how to respond to them. When speaking about altars, there is a need to move beyond what they were and appreciate the reality they pointed to in Christ."

Breaking altars is a teaching that is gaining force in most “Christian” circles. Partly, it is built on a misunderstanding and a confusing of some aspects in the Old Testament and the r…

11/06/2022

A good book is a podium through which the author opens up the minds and imaginations of his readers to the subject at hand. In these 349 pages, John Grisham opens our eyes to the plight of the poor and the homeless, rebuking our tendency to ignore them in our clamor for more and more. It is a worthy read.

07/06/2022

“Paul knew that a gloomy God could not be the source, let alone the center, of all-satisfying good news. No. If Jesus came into the world with ‘good news of great joy,’ as the angels said (Luke 2:10), then God is not a gloomy God, but a God of overflowing joy.” —John Piper

Download the book free of charge: https://dsr.gd/3Ml84aq

25/05/2022

"The news reached Joseph while he was at the Pharaoh’s court. Jacob, his father, was ill and near death (Gen. 48:1, 21). Joseph did his best and rushed to see Jacob before it was too late. And he brought his youthful sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. They too needed to bid farewell to their aged, and soon to die, grandpa. But neither Joseph nor his young sons anticipated what would transpire at the meeting they were heading to. They would soon behold sweet arrays of God’s grace written all over the old man’s eventful life."

The news reached Joseph while he was at the Pharaoh’s court. Jacob, his father, was ill and near death (Gen. 48:1, 21). Joseph did his best and rushed to see Jacob before it was too late. And he br…

24/05/2022

"Currently, in addition to the creation of online teaching and discipleship content, we are training sixteen (16) young leaders every Saturday through an informal theological education. We are also running a study center where we interact with the community throughout the week for gospel-conversations. At the center, we have started a weekly bible study through the gospel of John and invited community members. Lastly, we have commitments from three high schools for participation in their student ministry this term.

It is towards these ministry outreaches that we invite your support and partnership. That support may be in terms of prayers as well as material: books, booklets, tracts, bibles, and finances."

Join our Partners and Support Team Greetings to you from Open Scriptures Ministries. We are a teaching and discipleship ministry with an online presence and physcal location in Gilgil Town in Kenya…

12/05/2022

In this book, we will go through an exegetical study of the book of Hebrews to see how the author presents Christ in his diverse manifold excellency over all Old Testament persons, ceremonies, elements, and institutions. In addition, the book reflects on the epistle’s theology in light of complex religious beliefs surrounding an African Christian. This contextual application serves as an illustration of how readers can use the epistle to the Hebrews to think biblically about their unique theological contexts. For an African reader, such challenges range from those familiar to any context, such as prosperity theology, cultic and new age beliefs, atheism, and so on, to African Traditional Religions (ATR) and their philosophies that inform the basic worldview through which an Africans interacts with reality

In this book, we will go through an exegetical study of the book of Hebrews to see how the author presents Christ in his diverse manifold excellency over all Old Testament persons, ceremonies, elements, and institutions. In addition, the book reflects on the epistle’s theology in light of ...