When I began a twelve month sabbatical from Urshan Graduate School of Theology [UGST] on July 1, 2017, my intention was to work on the second volume of my commentary on Psalms, titled The Messiah in the Psalms: Discovering Christ in Unexpected Places. The first volume, covering Psalms 1-72, was published in 2007 by WAP Academic, a division of Word Aflame Press.

The goal of finishing this project still lies before me. I have completed Psalms 73, 74, 78, 110, and 132, but I still have seventy-two psalms to go.

It is not that I have neglected Psalms since 2017. I taught a week long course on Psalms in 2018 at the French Bible Institute in Melun, France. Then, I taught a full semester course on Psalms for UGST in 2019. I also taught eleven lessons on Psalms at The Sanctuary UPC in Hazelwood, Missouri, where Susan and I are members.

In the midst of these events, I have collected a substantial number of volumes of the latest research on the Book of Psalms for consultation as I continue my work.

I intend during 2020 to make substantial headway toward completing volume two. If I can finish an average of one psalm per week, I would still have another twenty psalms to go at the end of the year. This is an ambitious goal, and I’m not sure I can achieve it.

In addition to the work I have done in Psalms since going on sabbatical, my newest published book titled Looking Forward: A Clear View of Biblical Prophecy was published in 2017 by Word Aflame Press. The Spanish translation was published in 2019.

I submitted a 275 page monograph titled “The Holy Spirit: An Apostolic Perspective on Pneumatology” to the Pentecostal Publishing House in April 2019. It is currently being edited, and it should be published before the 2020 general conference of the United Pentecostal Church International. This work discusses every mention of the Holy Spirit in Scripture.

In addition to these writing projects, I have written seven articles for publication in the Pentecostal Herald and Pentecostal Life magazines: “The Everlasting Father,” “The Seven Motivators,” Yahweh, Jehovah, and Jesus,” “Bumper Stickers,” “God Chose a Day of Rest,” “You Already Know Some Hebrew,” and “Marriage Without a Helpmate?”

For The Discipleship Series, I have written eight lessons. Four are in a series on “Reflecting God’s Character.” They are titled “A Hearer and a Doer,” “Refusing Prejudice,” Controlling the Tongue,” and “Patient Endurance.” Another four are in the series “Hope for the Last Days.” They are titled “In Like Manner,” “As in the Days,” “Staying Ready,” and “The Best is yet to Come.”

For the adult level Sunday School literature published by Word Aflame, I wrote ten lessons: “The Better Plan,” “The Better High Priest,” “The Better Sacrifice,” “The Better News,” “The Ministry of Prophecy,” “Walking in the Light,” “Rejecting the World,” “Fight the Good Fight of Faith,” “Life and Hope,” and “The Role of the Prophet and Prophecy.”

Over the past three weeks, I’ve had the privilege of hearing the lessons “The Better High Priest,” “The Better Sacrifice,” and “The Better News” taught in the adult Sunday school class by P. Daniel Buford and Harold Jaco at The Sanctuary.

I taught the Easter 2019 Sunday school lesson titled “No More Questions,” based on Psalm 110, at The Sanctuary. Other teaching I have done for an adult class at the Sanctuary since July 2017 includes twenty-one lessons on the Holy Spirit and two lessons on the Book of Daniel. I have also taught two lessons on spiritual gifts to the Hyphens.

Finally, I taught the Purpose Institute course “The Oneness of God” at the PI campus in Jonesboro, Arkansas in September 2019 and stayed over to preach for pastor Darrell Runyan on Sunday morning.

Retirement, anyone?[archive]