Category: Bible Study

“God created the heavens and the earth.” –Genesis 1:1 Do you want God to create something new in your life? Do you want Him to create friendship, freedom, ministry, a job, peace, or hope? God creates the same today as He did yesterday (see Heb 13:8). He begins creation with the mighty wind of the Spirit sweeping over the waters (Gn 1:2). If you want new creations, stir into flame the gift of the Spirit in your life (2 Tm 1:6-7). The next movement of creation is God’s Word. God spoke and it was made (see Gn 1:3, 6, 9,...

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.” –Job 7:6-7 Job was both rich and secure in that he had diversified investments. However, in three unrelated catastrophes, Job’s financial empire crashed in one day (Jb 1:14ff). Job’s bankruptcy was not the worst thing that happened to him that day. In another unrelated incident, Job’s ten children were killed when the house in which they were gathered collapsed (Jb 1:2, 18-19). Later, Job contracted an extremely painful illness “with severe...

“The apostles returned to Jesus.” –Mark 6:30 When Jesus first summoned and named the apostles (Mk 3:13), all hell broke loose. Jesus’ relatives declared He was out of His mind (Mk 3:21), and the religious leaders claimed He was possessed by the devil (Mk 3:22). When “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits” (Mk 6:7), St. Mark believed that all hell broke loose again, for, at this point in his Gospel, Mark inserted the account of Herod’s beheading of John the Baptizer (Mk 6:14ff). When Jesus, through Pope...

“John had told Herod, ‘It is not right.’ ” –Mark 6:18 St. John the Baptizer had the love and courage to tell Herod: “It is not right for you to live with your brother’s wife” (Mk 6:18). The writer of the book of Hebrews had the love and courage to clearly and bluntly teach: “Let marriage be honored in every way and the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge fornicators and adulterers” (Heb 13:4). Paul spoke the truth in love (Eph 4:15) when he repeatedly, clearly, and emphatically proclaimed: “Make no mistake about this: no fornicator, no...

“You have drawn near…to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.” –Hebrews 12:22, 24 Pope John Paul II has taught: “This blood, which flows from the pierced side of Christ on the Cross (cf Jn 19:34), ‘speaks more graciously’ than the blood of Abel; indeed, it expresses and requires a more radical ‘justice,’ and above all it implores mercy, it makes intercession for the brethren before the Father (cf Heb 7:25), and it is the source of perfect redemption and the gift of new life” (The Gospel...