Tagged: Bible Study

Taught by God to love…

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; (WEB) I love the tender picture that the Apostle Paul paints in today’s Scripture reading. He is so impressed with the love that the Thessalonians showed to their brothers in Macedonia that he tells them that he really has nothing to teach them about brotherly love… because God...

THE PRIVILEGE OF TOTAL GIVING

“If a man wishes to come after Me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in My footsteps.” –Matthew 16:24 Jesus “makes no bones” about it. If we are to be Christians, we must deny our very selves (Mt 16:24). This is not an option but a necessity. In fact, we must deny ourselves to the point of taking up a daily cross (Lk 9:23). We must simply lose our lives (Mt 16:25) by being crucified with Christ (Gal 2:19). The lives we live become no longer our own, but lives “of faith...

Peace in all times…

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all. (WEB) We have a promise of a peace from God that passes our understanding in Philippians 4:7. It is a peace that will guard our heart and our mind. Our elder brother, the Prince of Peace, has also promised to give us His very own peace (John 14:27). In today’s Scripture reading, Paul prays that the Lord of peace himself will give us peace at all times in all ways. Now that’s a lot of...

LISTEN TO HIM, NOT HIM

“As they were coming down the mountain…” –Mark 9:9 Peter said to the transfigured Jesus: “How good it is for us to be here!” (Mk 9:5) Peter may have been “beating around the bush.” He may have been speaking not so much of the goodness of being on the mountain as of the badness of carrying the cross with Jesus in “the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps 23:4, RSV-CE; see also Mt 16:22). Compared to the valley of the shadow of death, the mountaintop looked great. After Peter had made his remarks, “a cloud came, overshadowing them, and...

God’s family model…

1 Timothy 5:1-2 Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity. (WEB) God is all about family. In Ephesians 3:14-15, the Apostle Paul says… For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (WEB). The community of love that exists within the Trinity itself is made up of a Father, a Son and their common Spirit. When God created Adam and Eve, it...