Category: Bible Study

THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF GIVING AND GIVING ALL

“He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” –2 Corinthians 9:6 “In the measure you give you shall receive, and more besides” (Mk 4:24). The Lord promises that we will never out-give Him. If we give bountifully, we will harvest more than we sow and receive more than we give. Then we are to give generously again and receive even more, spiritually and materially. After a few rounds of giving and then receiving more, we have significantly greater spiritual and material resources than before our rounds of giving and receiving. This may not...

“TASTE AND SEE” (PS 34:9)

“Be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.” –Ezekiel 2:8 Picture a baby in a highchair. No matter what the parents do, the baby refuses to eat, shutting its mouth. That is the picture of many Christians today. We Christians are spiritually anorexic. We refuse to eat what God gives us because we are stuffed with the things the world has brainwashed us into eating (see Prv 13:19). The food of the “feel-good culture,” materialism and consumerism, is much more appetizing to us than God’s scroll with “lamentation and...

HOW COULD YOU!

“Above the firmament over their heads something like a throne could be seen, looking like sapphire. Upon it was seated, up above, One Who had the appearance of a man.” –Ezekiel 1:26 Ezekiel saw in a vision a stupendous, moving, multi-colored, fiery, angelic chariot (see Ez 1:15ff). Above this was the firmament, and above the firmament was a throne on which sat God surrounded by a rainbow in glory (Ez 1:28). God is far beyond anything we can imagine (see Is 55:8-9). He is transcendent and awesome. Considering Who God is, we are shocked that God ever created us or...

AN OPEN-BOOK TEST

“By faith Abraham, when put to the test…” —Hebrews 11:17 By preparing our hearts to serve God each day, we will not be caught off-guard when the time of testing comes (Lk 12:36-40). It will be second-nature, in fact, our new nature, to “seek to serve Him constantly” (Ps 105:4). Daily we ask for the grace to “serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps 100:2). Each day, give to God your life, will, health, desires, hopes, and dreams. Then, when the test comes, your daily practice has trained your nature to offer everything up to God. Our Master’s will is “known...

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW (GAL 6:7)

“He will repay each man according to his conduct.” —Matthew 16:27 The prophet Nahum foretold the downfall of Nineveh, “the bloody city,” the capital city of Assyria (Na 3:1). The nation of Assyria brutalized and destroyed many cities and nations for several centuries, including wiping out the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. As Nahum prophesied, Nineveh was defeated (Na 3:2ff). As Jesus prophesied, Nineveh was repaid by the Lord “according to [its] conduct” (Mt 16:27). Our conduct is extremely important for our eternal future. We are to conduct ourselves as “a member of God’s household” (1 Tm 3:15)....