Category Archives: Bible study

March 19; It’s a Battle

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Deuteronomy 19-21

“When you go to war against your enemy, Satan, and see the media, government officials, and special interest groups that seem stronger than you, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who rescued you from being slaves to sin, will be with you. When you are about to go into battle, our High Priest Jesus Christ Himself, shall come forward and address the army. He shall say, “Hear, O Christian, today you are going into battle against your enemy Satan and his army. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (from 20:1-4)

I think we sometimes forget we are at war. We’re still pretty comfortable here in the US and many of us have been lulled into a false sense of security and peace. But make no mistake about it. We are at war.

I have also heard some soldiers in our army say, “It’s too much. The country is too far gone. The end is near.” Are we really ready to raise the white flag in surrender? I don’t see that battle plan in Scripture at all.

Are you willing to say Satan is too powerful for God? Or are you going to quit with the excuses, put on the whole armor of God, and join an army of Christians ready to stand up  and be counted? Whether it’s a battle for your soul, or the battle for our country and the world, we are at war. And sitting back and doing nothing is doing something.

I pray you will ask the Lord what you can do as a soldier in His army. Remember who the enemy is. It’s Satan. Our enemies are not flesh and blood. Not homosexuals, newscasters, politicians, abortion doctors, or the annoying neighbor next door. But the lies they believe, fueled by evil, are the things I believe God would have us fight against.

Light always overcomes darkness. That is, if someone is shining the Light. It’s a battle God delights in winning. Are you in?

 

March 17; You Must Not Listen

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Deuteronomy 12-14

The first commandment God gave Moses was “You shall have no other God before me.” Now, as the Israelites are ready to take the Promised Land, God inspired Moses to remind them of that. But something he said has me thinking today.

In his warning about worshiping false gods, God inspired Moses to tell the Jews, and us, that there will be people who look and sound religious. Some will be able to perform miraculous signs and wonders. Don’t be deceived. If they preach a doctrine, a gospel other than the one spelled out in the Bible, “You must not listen…” (13:3)

The other day I saw several TV ads from someone who claims to be a minister, selling “miracle water.” There was a Bible verse on the screen, testimonies from people who supposedly received thousands of dollars in the mail after drinking the water. The affordable “seed faith donation” must make it tempting to some. After all, he says he’s a preacher and he talks about the Lord.

Let me ask you this: According to Scripture, did Jesus or the disciples ever charge people for healing them? Was money ever exchanged? Does the Bible indicate that there is even something close to “miracle water.” Did Jesus or the disciples use water as the source of their power to do miracles?

This questionable preacher was already exposed as a fraud a couple decades ago. But here he is again on TV, reeling in a new generation of needy, vulnerable people. Makes me angry.

Friend, please let the Bible be your final authority. Please don’t fall for the lies because you haven’t searched the Scripture for the truth. “You must not listen to the words of the prophet…”

Moses says this is the test: do you love God with all your heart and soul? Follow Him. I know for certain that He is the God who answers prayer without you buying a miracle potion from anyone.

I guess I hadn’t thought that listening to false prophets, giving consideration to doctrines that don’t align with Scripture, (even religious-sounding as some are) is breaking the first Commandment. a form of worshiping another god.

Once again I am encouraging us to be in the Word. Reading our Bibles, not just picking out a verse here and there. Meditating on Scripture and asking God to reveal His Truth. I know it’s tempting to think “I’ll try anything,” when things are difficult. But don’t.

March 14; Listen, Learn, Labor

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Deuteronomy 3-5

The history lesson is over. Now Moses goes on to lay down the Law for the Jewish people ready to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. But before he does, he says this:

Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them. Follow them. (5:1, emphasis mine)

Hear them. Learn them. Follow them. I believe God would have us do the same.

We’ve got to be a people who hear what God says. I pray your pastor is faithful to the Truth of Scripture, that you are faithful to attend church and Bible studies, and that you read God’s Word for yourself every day. And I pray that when you hear God’s Word, you really hear Him. Pay attention. Meditate on what you hear. Discern the truth and reject the lies. God’s Word is alive. Let it speak to you. Listen when God speaks.

I pray that you are memorizing Scripture, digging into God’s Word to really learn the Truths it contains. Don’t just listen to a sermon, or read a chapter, then walk away and forget it. Every time you listen to God’s Word you have an opportunity to learn something. I pray that you will listen with understanding. That you won’t just be a hearer of God’s Word, but a student of God’s Word as well.

I pray that you are using what you’ve learned. I pray that your time in God’s Word translates into action. What does your relationship with Jesus LOOK like? Do you base your decisions, your actions, your relationships on what you have read and learned from God’s Word? As you serve God, does your labor come from obedience to His Word?

The thing is, some of us are good at one, maybe even two of the three. We can listen intently on Sunday morning, pat the preacher on the back and tell him how good the sermon was – and mean it. But we walk out of those doors and never give it another thought.

Some of us can quote entire chapters of God’s Word. We can tell you the names of every disciple, and can quote the Ten Commandments in order. But we never hear God’s voice, and our lives are no different than the unbeliever. I am reminded Satan can quote Scripture, too.

Some of us are good people. We volunteer at soup kitchens, give generously, attend church, and serve on committees. We don’t drink or smoke, we don’t use vulgar language, and we love everyone. I know a lot of really good people who have nothing to do with God. And if God isn’t in it, we labor in vain.

Moses suggests we can’t do one without the other two, and please God. Being a child of God takes intention. Listen. Learn. Labor. In that order.

February 24; Road Trip

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Leviticus 24-25

Many moons ago, children, if you were going on a road trip, and if you belonged to AAA, you could go and get what we called a TripTik. An agent would sit down with you, map and highlighter in hand, and help you plan your route.

He or she would look into their files and even tell you where you might run into road construction and delays. He or she would re-route you around busy city streets, tell you about tourist attractions you might want to see. And when it was all said and done, you would walk out with a highlighted map, books on restaurants, motels, and sites to see, and the spiral-bound TripTik itself, including fold-outs with detailed city maps.

You can’t know how fun and how satisfying it was to turn a page after the first 50 miles, then another, and another as your trip progressed. Guess you had to be there. But trust me, glancing at your phone is just not the same.

I read today how Moses, when an Egyptian/Jew blasphemed God, had the young man put in prison until God told Moses what to do. The law was plain about a Jewish person who blasphemed the Name. You stone him to death. But there was no specific direction for a guilty half/Jew. So Moses waited until he got the word from God.

I’ve often considered my Bible a roadmap. But when you think about it, it isn’t really. It’s not like a TripTik that gives you inch by inch directions, including detours. Warren Wiersbe tells us the Bible is more of a compass. It keeps us going in the right direction while we, “…walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) (Be Holy; Published by David C. Cook; 1994; page 143)

My Bible is not a road map. But in its pages are everything we need for our journey. Everything we face in this life is addressed in Scripture. Every decision you need to make has a parallel in the Bible. But you have to know what the Bible says.

It takes a bit of maturity to recognize the treasure that is ours in the Bible. It’s not a quick-fix. It’s not a step by step instruction manual. It’s much more than that. It’s the living Word of God.

We have got to be prayerfully in God’s Word every day, listening to the direction God wants us to hear. It takes patience and intentionality. We may be detoured occasionally as God points out other truths He doesn’t want us to miss. But if we read it, if we use it, it will get us where we are going on this road trip called life.

And we’ll enjoy the journey!

 

 

 

February 23; Prepared

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Leviticus 22-23

As a Sunday School teacher, and a Bible teacher for our Good News Club, I need to be careful. What a privilege I have to be entrusted with sharing the Word of God. But as I read God’s instructions to Aaron, I am reminded that God demands I take care of sin in my own life before I stand before anyone I plan to teach. I’m reminded that my obedience must come before my service.

If I take a position of leadership, I need to be sure my offering is not tainted by sin, like an Old Testament Jew offering a deformed animal to God. I’m not talking about a monetary tithe. I’m talking about the offering of my time as I study God’s Word and prepare a lesson. I’m talking about the time I spend in prayer concerning the lesson. I’m talking about those Sunday mornings and Tuesday afternoons when I share what God has laid on my heart.

If you are a pastor, a teacher, a nursery worker, a song leader I would suggest you approach your responsibilities with the same intentionality as Aaron did. And, really, the same goes for any of us who dare to share the Gospel with people we come in contact with. May we search our hearts and confess sin as God reveals it. And may our ministries be blessed because we did it God’s way. May Jesus be glorified in each of us.

February 20; Not Diseased Any More

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Leviticus 13:47-15:33

Don’t read these chapters while you are eating. It’s pretty disgusting to read about leprosy and mold and body fluids with a spoonful of cereal in your mouth. Trust me.

But don’t let that stop you from reading these chapters. God has some serious warnings, and a beautiful promise for us to hear through His Word today.

Scripture often uses leprosy or disease as a physical picture of the effects of sin in our lives. (Ps 147:3; Isaiah 1:5-6; etc.) So as I read chapter 13 I see that sin goes deep into our souls. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us:

The heart is deceitful above all and desperately wicked. 

Paul even said in Romans 7:18:

For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) no good thing dwells.

If you believe in the innate goodness of humanity, you would be wrong.

The diseased person was considered unclean, and anyone coming in contact would also be considered unclean. So lepers were forced to live in isolation, outside the city. Even then, if a person would come near, the leper had to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” to warn them not to get too close.

The Bible tells us sin isolates us. Oh, we may enjoy hanging out with other sinners, but your sin is your sin, your hangover your hangover, your venereal disease destroying your body. And, be warned: Hell is the ulitmate isolation. Don’t count on receiving an invitation to a party there. Don’t expect to even be chained to the wall next to your buddy. Your sin, your choice to isolate yourself from God, will isolate you from everyone and everything, including God, for eternity. Not into nothingness, but into an eternal state of knowing you are unclean, and without hope.

Don’t stop reading with chapter 13. There is a sweet picture in chapter 14 of forgiveness, of cleansing. I love how the former leper is pronounced clean. It’s a description of Jesus Himself; confined to a clay jar of flesh and bones, blood shed and applied, then He rose again! It’s also a picture of me: bound in a clay jar of sin, accepting the blood of my precious Savior, and free to fly, free from the disease of sin!

If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9) That’s a promise you can count on!

Oh, another thing. Notice in chapter 14 the priest went to the leper. The priest defied the “Do Not Touch” order and went to where the leper was. Does that remind you of anyone?

I love Jesus so much!

Chapter 15 reminds me of my responsibility to others. There is nothing sinful about bowel movements, sex between a husband and wife, (or a sneeze). But allowing myself to do those things without cleaning up, can be harmful to those with whom I have contact. It involves a washing every day, sometimes multiple times a day.

God tells us to be holy, like He is holy. That doesn’t involve a bath, or baptism, at some point then assuming you’re fixed for life. Every time God points out a blemish, a sin, I need to throw it under the blood. I need to repent, receive His forgiveness, let Him clean me up. And once that is done, I am not diseased any more. And I need have no fear of spreading the disease of sin to anyone else.

Thank you, God for drawing us this picture in Your Word. Some of the details of the diseases, the creeping crud, the body fluid are disgusting. But I’m reminded sin disgusts you even more. Thank you also for the picture of forgiveness in the two birds used for the cleansing ceremony. Thank you for the truth that once I was lost, diseased, disgusting, I am found, heal, and holy in your sight because of what Jesus did for me. I love you!

 

 

February 9; My Bad

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Exodus 22-24

The reading of the law might not be the most exciting narrative in Scripture. In fact, it’s tempting to skim through and think, “This doesn’t apply to me since I live after the cross.” But I believe every verse in the Bible is God-breathed with a purpose.

If you have spent much time with young children, I imagine you’ve cleaned up your share of spilled milk. I also imagine you’ve looked into wide eyes and heard, “I didn’t mean to.” And 99% of the time that would be the case. Spilled milk is an accident.

Are there consequences for accidents? There should be, according to what God told Moses. When a Jew was negligent, or unintentionally did something that resulted in a loss for someone else, there was a guilty verdict and restitution followed. There was never a slap on the wrist or a “Be careful next time,” from the judge. A penalty had to be paid.

Now, the consequence for an accidental crime wasn’t as severe as that for an intentional one, of course. But if your ox died while in my care, I was guilty of killing your ox whether it tumble down a hill and broke its neck, or I slit its throat.

For years, decades really, I have been concerned about what children are taught about rule-breaking. Let’s call it what it is: I’m concerned about what children are taught about sin. I’m afraid we are reaping what we have sown.

Many of the young adults in our world today have never been held accountable for wrong-doing. Parents don’t paddle. They don’t even show anger if their child does something wrong. Heaven forbid we raise our voices. What has three decades of this kind of child-rearing produced? I’m afraid we are looking at thirty year old toddlers.

But I’m going to tell you something. God makes it clear He never turns a blind eye to sin. He never winks, then sends us on our merry way. Sin makes God angry.

No, sin makes God furious. Including the adorable little temper-tantrum your child pitches in the grocery, or that lie you told your boss when you were late yesterday.

Often God’s discipline is swift and painful. The ultimate consequence is eternity without Him. But every sin will be accounted for. Every. Sin.

Next time you are tempted to brush off sin with a “My bad,” stop and think. Would you look into the eyes of God and say that? Would you want your child to?

Parents, paddle your children. If a child is old enough to drink milk from a cup, he’s old enough to help clean up the mess he made when he knocked it over. Let your child know disobedience angers you. Raise your voice. Why would you want your kid to feel good about himself when he has sinned?

Why?

It’s your responsibility to demonstrate in your home what I hope you want your child to do later on. That is to recognize sin. To be ashamed of sinning. To recognize the devastating consequences for sin. To understand that sin makes you (and God) very angry. Then to experience what  it means to be forgiven when they come to you and ask for it.

Raise your children to be accountable for their actions, accidental or intentional. Raise them to want to do what is right for fear of consequences, for fear of your wrath, for fear of the awful feeling that comes when they are guilty of something. Don’t raise your children to say, “I’m sorry,” so they can get out of consequences. But raise them to ask for forgiveness because they are truly ashamed of what they did, and want you to forgive them, to restore a broken relationship between you and them.

Raise your children to be ready to go to their Heavenly Father, and receive all that Jesus died to give them.

February 7; Miracle Food

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Exodus 16-18

Did you eat breakfast this morning? I sure did. I can skip lunch, and an occasional dinner, not so much breakfast. Even if it’s just a bowl of cereal like this morning. I’ve been known to say my motivation for getting out of bed is breakfast! And if you see me in a restaurant that serves all-day breakfast, you’ll most likely see an omelet and bacon on my plate. What can I say. I love breakfast.

The chapters we read today introduce us to manna – the miracle food God provided for His people very morning while they were on their way to the Promised Land. Every day the people received exactly what they needed for the day at hand. Not too much. Not too little. And they could not live on the manna they had collected the day before. If they wanted nourishment, they had to gather the manna every morning.

Did you read your Bible today? It’s the miracle food God has provided for His children. The thing is, some of us are malnourished because we partake only occasionally, or not at all. We put ourselves on a spiritual diet and expect to be fed once a week by a preacher behind a pulpit. We are starving our souls.

Now I don’t believe morning is the only acceptable time for believers to read God’s Word. The Jews ate manna for lunch and dinner, too. But if you are like me, days can get busy. Schedules are interrupted on a regular basis. And often, time alone with God’s Word is the first casualty.

Let me suggest that you take the time every morning to open your Bible and hear God’s voice, read the words He wrote to you before you jump into your busy day. Even if it means setting your alarm fifteen minutes earlier. The Jews gathered the manna every morning, then used it throughout the day. Doesn’t that seem like a good pattern to follow when applied to time in the Word? Gather its treasure in the morning, then use it throughout your day.

I’m glad you are reading this post today. It humbles me to know you are taking time to read it. I know there are lots of great blogs, and books, and articles that enhance our understanding of God’s Word. But, dear one, there is no substitute for God’s Word. I’d rather you stopped reading what I write, if you use it instead of reading the Bible. Don’t live on snack food.

God’s Word is that miracle food that will give you exactly what you need for today. Don’t neglect it, don’t try to substitute it, don’t even nibble at it. Devour it. Every. Day.

February 4; A Pretty Good Imitation

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Exodus 7:14-9:35

I find it interesting that Pharaoh’s magicians could perform some of the same miracles Moses and Aaron performed. They turned a staff into a snake, water into blood, and made frogs come up on land. I’m not so interested in figuring out HOW they did, just the fact that they did.

Here’s the thing: Satan has been imitating God since the beginning. And he’s pretty good at it. He’s even wormed his way into some of our pulpits, and can quote Scripture with the best of them.

It would be easy to spot the difference between Jesus followers and Satan followers if all non-believers wore black hats and scowled all the time, and all believers wore the white hats and were happy, peaceful, lovely people. It would be easy to tell truth from lies if every time a lie was told, the liar’s nose would grow.

But Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. His lies sound plausible, his twisting of Scripture sounds God-like. And if we aren’t careful, we can easily fall into his trap. After all, it sounds Christian to believe God is love, love, love, that God creates some people to be homosexual, that God rewards good people, or that god can be anything you want him or her to be, just so you are happy. It seems god-like to believe everybody goes to a better place when they die, or that there is only peace and nothingness after death.

You get the picture. I could go on. Do you recognize Satan’s lies when you hear them? Satan does a pretty good imitation of God. But he never has been, and never will be God. Let’s determine to recognize the difference. Let’s be in God’s Word so we know the Truth when we hear it, and can recognize the frogs that come from God and those that come from Satan. The difference is eternally important.

Ezekiel 16-20; God’s Got This

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The elders went to Ezekiel because they wanted some answers from God. God’s response? “I will not be inquired of by you.” (20:3b)

Some people can get frustrated with God because they aren’t receiving the answers to their questions. “When I get to heaven, the first thing I’m going to do is ask God…” Some may hold God at arm’s length, or stop going to church because they have questions and aren’t getting them answered.

If that describes you, hear God ask, “Who do you think you are?”

When the elders came to Ezekiel to ask their questions, instead of getting answers, God proceeded to list their sins. And there were a lot of sins to list.

This is what I feel God is saying to me through His Word today: He doesn’t owe us anything. Not health or wealth or happiness or even answers to questions. We forfeited our right to equality with God the first time we disobeyed Mommy.

God didn’t even owe us His written Word. But He gave it to us anyway. In these pages are the answers to every question God thinks is important for us to know the answers to. The rest is none of our business.

I guess first of all, if you aren’t getting the answers you think you need to know, my question to you is: Are you reading and studying the Bible? If you aren’t getting answers, don’t complain if you aren’t reading the text book.

Secondly, if you aren’t getting answers – trust God anyway. The One who died for you, forgives you, never leaves or forsakes you, and promises you an eternity with Him, can replace your questions with Himself. When that happens, the unanswered questions don’t seem all that critical.

Rest assured, God’s got this whether you understand it or not.