Topic > Biblical Studies
Focus on this encouraging verse in Scripture and discover the real power behind it!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
IDEA: Statements seldom have unlimited meaning in life or in the Bible.
PURPOSE: To help listeners keep from giving to words more value than they should have.
Understanding the biblical context surrounding a verse to avoid missing the point
Wednesday, May 13, 201
” ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope’ ” (Jeremiah 29:11).
IDEA: We have a tendency to ask “What does this mean for me?” before we ask, “What did this mean for the original readers”?
PURPOSE: To help listeners apply the Scriptures accurately in their lives.
Are you looking to bring your grasp of the Bible to a new level?
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me!” (Psalm 66:16-20).
IDEA: Sometimes the Bible applies great ideas in unusual ways.
PURPOSE: To help listeners see that putting a verse in its context can lead you to applying it in an unexpected way.
Practical advice on how to accurately interpret the Scriptures
Friday, June 8, 2012
“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law: you have fallen from grace” (1 Corinthians 15:29).
“What will they do who are baptized for the dead if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” (Galatians 5:4).
IDEA: Misinterpreted or misapplied passages of Scripture have different degrees of consequences.
PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate the dangers of reading a meaning into a passage rather than getting the meaning out of a passage.
Discussion on the delicate issue of reconciliation
Thursday, June 7, 2012, Part 2
“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
IDEA: To understand the passage we have to give credit to the author for being as reasonable as we are as we read it.
PURPOSE: To help listeners see that the flow of thought often helps us as we study the Bible.
Practical ways to repair a broken relationship
Monday, June 4, 2012, Part 2
“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
IDEA: When we decide what a passage does not mean, it’s important to establish what it does mean.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that there is little value in being critical unless we can also be helpful.
The steps laid out by Jesus, that lead to the restoration of a broken relationship
Friday, June 1, 2012, Part 1
“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
IDEA: When we decide what a passage does not mean, it’s important to establish what it does mean.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that there is little value in being critical unless we can also be helpful.
Want to take your study of God’s Word to a deeper level?
Thursday, May 31, 2012
“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
IDEA: It is possible for us to overlook a teaching of the Lord because it doesn’t fit our preconceived concepts.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that a proper interpretation of a passage often reveals to us what we might otherwise overlook.
Let’s look at what they call “hot passages” in the Bible
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or more witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:15-20).
IDEA: We misread the Bible when we look for the “hot” passages and ignore what we think are the cold sections.
PURPOSE: To help listeners avoid taking isolated verses from the Scripture which can lead us to false applications of those Scriptures to our lives.
Practical tools to bring clarity to often misunderstood Bible passages
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).
IDEA: We must submit ourselves to the Scriptures even when the Scriptures are not saying what we think they should say.
PURPOSE: To help listeners be willing to see old texts in a new way in order to live according to the Scriptures.
The benefit to using different translations when studying the Bible
Monday, May 28, 2012
Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).
IDEA: We must submit ourselves to the Scriptures even when the Scriptures are not saying what we think they should say.
PURPOSE: To help listeners be willing to see old texts in a new way in order to live according to the Scriptures.
An intriguing dialogue about the history of Israel when the prophet Hosea came on the scene
Thursday, May 24, 2012, Part 2
“When the Lord began to speak to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.’ So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son” (Hosea 1:2-3).
IDEA: God commands the prophet to marry a promiscuous woman. People in our culture are not upset by her sexual looseness, but that God commanded it.
PURPOSE: To help listeners grapple with the fact that God seems to commend what we think He should condemn.
Discover how a passage in the book of Numbers is still relevant for us today
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
“Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.’ So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” (Numbers 21:4-9)
IDEA: The bronze serpent is not “magic,” but an instrument of redemption.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand why this isn’t superstition.
Discover fresh insight to familiar Bible passages
Monday, May 21, 2012
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hid from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:12-16).
IDEA: The Christ who knows us also represents us in heaven.
PURPOSE: To help listeners think about Christ the Word.
Let’s reveal the true hope behind this often misunderstood familiar verse in the Psalms
Friday, May 18, 2012, Part 2
“In the Lord I put my trust. How can you say to my soul, ‘Flee as a bird to your mountain? For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous. But the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked he will rain coals, fire, and brimstone and a burning wind; this shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous, he loves righteousness; his countenance beholds the upright” (Psalm 11).
IDEA: We can misrepresent God when we use a sentence in the Bible out of its context.
PURPOSE: To help listeners to look at who is speaking as well as at what is said.
