Tagged: Bible Study

WALKING OFF THE JOB

“I plead with you, then, as a prisoner for the Lord, to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” –Ephesians 4:1 Are you on a job that’s not just a waste of time but even immoral? You may not be a a human-trafficker or a member of a crime syndicate, but does what you produce, package, or sell distract or turn people from Christ? Life is too short to waste it working for perishable food (see Jn 6:27). Eternity is too long to live for self rather than for Christ. Jesus did not die on the cross...

GOING HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME

“Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of His people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!” –Ezra 1:3 The return of the Jews from exile in Babylon is considered a work of God on par with the miracle of the Exodus of the Israelites from brutal slavery in Egypt (see Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8). Yet this freedom from exile did not mean instant bliss. The Israelites had to learn how to live in God’s freedom. They faced hardships, labor, and suffering in their new homeland, along with much risk and ever-present danger. Yet it is...

HATRED FOR CHRISTIANS

“What you desire you do not obtain, and so you resort to murder.” —James 4:2 In the beginning of the book of Wisdom, a group of people decided to beset, revile, and torture a just man (Wis 2:12, 19). They planned to “condemn him to a shameful death” (Wis 2:20). This group opposing the just man believed there was no life after death, “for haphazard were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been” (Wis 2:2). Therefore, they decided to “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (1 Cor 15:32) Today, we call this group...

CHARGE IT

“I charge you to keep God’s command without blame or reproach until our Lord Jesus Christ shall appear. This appearance God will bring to pass at His chosen time.” —1 Timothy 6:14-15 St. Paul said: “I have a solemn charge to give you, Timothy, my child” (1 Tm 1:18). He charged St. Timothy to be fully aware that Jesus could return at any time, and to preach the Word of God accordingly. “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who is coming to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingly power, I...

BASICS-TRAINING

“If we have food and clothing we have all that we need.” —1 Timothy 6:8 The Bible says all we need is food to eat and clothes to wear (1 Tm 6:8). Very few Christians agree with this. Most feel they at least need a house for shelter, insurance for security, a car for transportation, a phone for communication, and Wifi for entertainment. What Americans consider a simple life is extravagant by biblical standards. The Bible considers the typical American lifestyle a “temptation and a trap” (1 Tm 6:9). By our lifestyle, we let ourselves “be captured by foolish and...