Category: Bible Study

“Bow humbly under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may lift you high.” –1 Peter 5:6 John Mark, later known to the world as St. Mark, learned about the power of communal prayer when he saw Peter miraculously freed from prison through the prayers of those gathered at his mother’s house (Acts 12:12ff). John Mark learned about serving the poor and building unity between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians when he accompanied Barnabas and Paul on a relief mission (Acts 12:25). John Mark learned about spiritual warfare and his own weaknesses when he quit the first missionary...

“This man is the instrument I have chosen.” –Acts 9:15 The Lord often decides to work through people, especially members of His body, the Church. After the Lord knocked Saul to the ground and confronted him, He did not continue His work in Saul’s life as a solo. He called for Ananias to be instrumental in converting Saul (Acts 9:10ff). Saul then became instrumental in converting both Jews and Gentiles. The Lord also wants you to be His instrument. You are one of the Lord’s instruments in His plans to protect children in the womb from being aborted. You are...

“I Myself am the living Bread come down from heaven.” –John 6:51 Jesus said: “The bread I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). At the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread and the cup of wine and said: “This is My body,” and “This is My blood” (Mt 26:26, 28). When many of Jesus’ disciples broke away from Him because of such statements (see Jn 6:66), Jesus didn’t change His words or explain them away as figurative statements. The early Church realized this; therefore, they took Jesus’ words literally, as He clearly meant...

“The members of the church who had been dispersed went about preaching the word.” –Acts 8:4 The Jewish people loved God’s Word. God called them to meditate on it day and night (Jos 1:8; Ps 1:2). They considered it more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Ps 119:72). However, Christians were even more devoted to God’s Word than the Jews. After Jesus spent the day of His resurrection teaching the Bible for about seven miles in the afternoon (Lk 24:27) and for several hours in the evening (Lk 24:45), the early Christians got the message that God’s Word...

“And with that he died.” –Acts 7:60 When we know the risen Christ personally and deeply, our love for Him is stronger than the fear of death (see Sg 8:6; 1 Jn 3:16; 4:18). Satan can no longer enslave, control, or paralyze us through our fear of death (Heb 2:15). Like Stephen, we will speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15), even if it means being martyred. Like Paul, we will consider it a privilege (Phil 1:29) to bear our “share of the hardship which the gospel entails” (2 Tm 1:8) and even to risk our lives daily for love...